Taşköprülüzâde İsameddin Ahmed Efendi

Scholar of kalam, fiqh and tafsir, calligraphist. He wass the author of “Şekâiku’n Nu’maniyye”a well-known encyclopaedia (B. 2^nd December 1495, Bursa – D. 16^th April 1561, Istanbul). His real name was İsameddin Ahmed, but he is known as Taşköprülüzade, Taşköprizade and Ebulhayr. He was the son of Muslihuddin Mustafa Efendi, a lecturer at Ankara Akmadrasah. He spent his childhood in Bursa, and then he moved to Ankara to live with his father. There he memorized Koran. After his father’s assignment to Skopje, he attended a madrasah first in Bursa, then another one in Istanbul. Afterwards, he took lessons from his uncle Kıvamüddin Kasım Efendi, a lecturer at Bursa Molla Husrev Madrasah. When his father was appointed to Amasya Hüseyni Madrasah, he continued his education in Amasya. He took lessons from Şehzade Muhyiddin Mehmet Kocevî, Mahmut b. Kadızade-i Rumî, Muhammed Tunisî and completed his education.

Taşköprülüzade was appointed to Oruç Paşa Madrasah in Didymoteicho in 1525, and to Hacı Hasan Madrasah as a lecturer. Upon his father’s death (1529), he was appointed to Üsküp Alaca Ishak Bey (1530) and İstanbul Kalenerhane (1536) madrasahs. He showed a very good progress in his profession and became a professor at prestigious madrasahs like Koca Mustafa Paşa, Sahn-ı Semân, Edirne Üç Şerefeli, Edirne Sultan Bayezit (1544). In 1545 he was appointed as Kadi (T.N. Islamic judge) of Bursa. Later he was again appointed to Sahn- Semân Madrasah as a lecturer and in 1551 he became the Kadi of Istanbul. However, he resigned from his position since he went blind due to a sickness. He passed away on April 16^th, 1561 in Istanbul. After a religious ceremony at Fatih Mosque he was laid to rest next to Seyyid Velâyet Tomb, Fatih Âşık Paşa Mosque.

Ahmet Efendi was the author of numerous books about kalam (explanation of principles of faith by rational reasoning), fiqh (Islamic Law) tafsir (interpretation of Qur’an), morals, logic, biography, Arabic language and literature, history of science, medicine and of nearly thirty risalahs (booklets). He wrote his books in Arabic and maintained the tradition of şerh (exegesis) and haşiye (annotation). He discussed theology on the basis of the ideas of scholars who were members of Eş’ariyye (a widespread branch, second only to Maturidi) like Fahreddin er-Râzî, Seyfeddin el-Âmidî, Seyyid Şerif el-Cürcânî but he still remained in Maturidi. It is conspicuous that he regarded Maturiddi as the founder of kalam school of Sunni Islam while he was giving information about Kalam and history.

Taşköprülüzade Ahmed Efendi was famous for his works on history of science and biographies as long as he was a religious scholar. Particularly, his encyclopedia work “Şekâ’iku’n-Nu’mâniyye”, which gives information about scholars of Ottoman Empire, and his work “Miftâhu’s-Saâde” which was about history are one of the most important and most known works of him. Taşköprülüzade showed interest also in Sufism and joined Khalwati Order thus representing an eclectic scholar who combined philosophy, kalam and Sufism. Besides, he was a calligraphist who was an expert on thuluth, naskh and ta’liq and he spent the money he earned from calligraphy for his students. There are many post graduate theses, doctorate theses and associate professorship theses on Taşköprülüzade Ahmed Efendi.

The most well-known work of Taşköprülüzade is “el-Şekâik el-Numaniyye fî ulemâ el-devlet el-osmaniyye”, which he began to write at the age of 63 after four years in professorship and five years in judgeship (1588) and which was about biographies of scholars and sheiks of Ottoman Empire from the foundation of the empire until the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (1566). Ahmed Efendi was aware that the number of scholars and sheiks he didn’t mention in his book was much more than those he mentioned. He basically mentioned scholars and sheiks who were important people in Association of Scholars of Ottoman and who were followers of Davud el-Kayserî - Molla Fenârî - Ali Kuşçu - Mirim Çelebi whom he himself was follower of, too in his book. Within this framework, he recorded 521 people, 150 of whom were sheiks and 371 of whom were scholars and who lived in a period of a particular king in 10 categories.

Şekaik was translated into Turkish by many people like Aşık Çelebi (died in 1572), Belgradlı Muhtesib-zâde Mehmed Hâkî Efendi (died in 1567) and Amasyalı İbrahim b. Ahmed after Taşaköprülüzade had passed away. The best translated version of it was Hadâk el-şekâik by Edirneli Mehmed Mecdi Efendi who gave additional information in it. Thus, Şekâik of Ahmed Efendi was a starting point for many works on the biographies of scholars, sheiks and poets of Ottoman Empire. It continued until twentieth century to compose works in Arabic with the help of Arabic version of Şekaik, and to compose works in Turkish with the help of Turkish version of it, thus forming a ‘Şekâik Külliyâtı’.

Şekâik was translated into German by O. Rescher in 1927. In 1975 it was published in Beirut together with zeyli Ikd el-manzûm fî zikri efâdıl el-Rûm an Arabic book. Lastly a critical version of it by Ahmed Subhi Furat was published in Istanbul in 1985.

WORKS:

Miftâhu s-Saâde ve Misbâhu’s-Siyâde fî Mevzûâti'l-Ulûm (encyclopedia and bibliographical work about history of science and classification, Haydarâbâd 1328-1329), eş-Şe kâiku n-Numâniyye fî Ulemâ^-i’d- Devleti’l-‘Osmâniyye (Published by: Ahmet Suphi Furat, Istanbul 1985), Nevâdirü’l-Ahbâr fî Menâkıbi’l- Ahyâr, el-Meâlim fî  İlmi’l-kelâm, Risale fi’l- Kazâ ve’l-Kader (Published by Muhammed Zâhid Cûl, Cologne 2008), Haşi­ye alâ Hâşiyeti’s-Seyyid eş-Şerîî alâ Şerhi’t-Tecrîd, Ecellü’l- Mevâhib fî Marifeti Vücûdi’l- Vâcib, Letâ’ifü’n-Nebî, Risale fî Beyâni Esrâri’l-Hilâfeti’l-in- Sâniyye ve’s-Saltanati’1-Maneviyye, Hâşiye ^calâ Hâşiyeti’l- Keşşâf li’s-Seyyid eş-Şerîî el-Cürcânî, Şerhu Mukaddimeti’l-Ce zerî (Mecca 1303),  Şerh ^calâ Risale fî ^cilmi âdâ- bi’l-bahş ve’l-Münâzara (Published by Muhammed Hasan Âl-i Yâsîn, Istanbul 1299), Şerhu Dîbâceti’l-Hidâye,  Şerhu’l-Ferâ’iz,  Şerhu Mukaddime ti’s- Salât, Şerhu’l-Ahlâkı’l-‘Adudiye, Münyetü’ş-Şübbân fî Muâşereti’n-Nisvân, Şerhu’l-Avâmili’lmiye, Şerhu’l-Fevâ’idi’l- Gıyâşiyye fî İlmeyi’l-Meânî ve’l-Beyân, Risâletü’ş-Şifâ fî Edvâ’i’l-Vebâ (Cairo 1292).  

REFERENCE: İbrahim Alaeddin Gövsa / “Taşköprülüzade Ahmet Efendi” (Türk Meşhurları, 1946), Cihat Tunç / “Taşköprülüzâde Ahmet Efendi’ye Göre Kelâm İlminin Yeri ve Önemi” (1992), Murtaza Korlaelçi / “Taşköprülüzâde ve Kâtip Çelebi'ye Göre Türk Kültüründe Felsefe’nin Yeri” (Felsefe Dünyası, sayı: 7, 1993), Cevat İzgi / Osmanlı Medreselerinde İlim (1997, c. I, s. 69-77), İhsan Fazlıoğlu / “Ahmed Efendi (Taşköprülüzâde)” (YYO Ansiklopedisi, c. I, 1999, s. 122-124), Yusuf Şevki yavuz / “Taşköprîzâde Ahmed Efendi” (TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi, c. 40, s. 151-152, 2011), İhsan Işık / Resimli ve Metin Örnekli Türkiye Edebiyatçılar ve Kültür Adamları Ansiklopedisi (2006, 2007) - ) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Famous People (2013).