Nizâmü’l-ʿUlemâʾ ilâ Hâtemi’l-Enbiyâʾ İsimli Otobiyografik Eseri Ekseninde Bosna-Akhisar Kadısı Hasan Kâfî Akhisârî’nin Ben-Anlatısı
Hasan Kâfî Akhisârî, Kanuni Sultan Süleyman devrine denk gelen Ramazan 951’de (Kasım/Aralık 1544) Bosna-Akhisar’da doğmuş, İstanbul ve Çatalca’da eğitimini tamamladıktan sonra memleketine dönerek ömrünün sonuna kadar Akhisar ve çevresinde kadılık ve müderrislik faaliyetlerinde bulunmuş bir Osmanlı alimidir. Kendisi mantık, belagat, usûl-i fıkıh ve akaide dair bir kısmı bugün dahi okutulmakta olan başlangıç seviyesinde metin ve şerhler telif etmiştir. O, medrese müfredatına uygun olarak telif ettiği bu metin ve şerhlerle ulema arasında, III. Mehmed’e arz ettiği devlet ve toplum düzenine dair yazdığı Usûlü’l-hikem fî nizâmi’l-ʿâlem isimli ünlü eseri ile de ümera arasında haklı bir itibar edinmiştir. 13 yıl süren (1593-1606) OsmanlıAvusturya savaşlarında bölgede kadılık yapan Akhisârî bu çalkantılı süreçte bölgeye gelen Osmanlı Devleti’nin kudretli paşaları ile de görevi gereği yakın ilişkiler kurmuştur. Damat İbrahim Paşa’ya ithaf ettiği Nizâmü’l-ʿulemâʿ ilâ hâtemi’l-enbiyâʿ isimli eseri ekseninde Bosna-Akhisar’ın en meşhur alimi Hasan Kâfî Akhisârî’nin ben-anlatısını konu edindiğimiz bu makalede onun hayatı ve eserleri yanında hocaları, şahit olduğu önemli olaylar, devlet ricaliyle olan ilişkileri ve onlar hakkındaki duygu ve düşünceleri de kendi dilinden aktarılmaya çalışılmıştır. 1024’te (1615) vefat eden Akhisârî’nin 1009’a (1600) kadar olan ben-anlatısını içeren bu eseri yanında hayatının geri kalan kısmına dair diğer eserlerinin baş ve son taraflarında verdiği bilgiler de dikkate alınarak hayatı ve eserlerinin tam bir kronolojisi oluşturulmaya gayret edilmiştir.
Self-Narrative of Bosnia-Aqhisar Judge Hasan Kāfī al-Aqhisārī on the Axis of His Autobiographical Work Named Nizām al-Ulamā ilā Khātam al-Anbiyā
Hasan Kāfī al-Aqhisārī was born in Bosnia-Aqhisar, during the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, in the month of Ramadan, 951 Hijri (November/ December 1544). After completing his education in Istanbul and Chatalca, he returned to his hometown and spent the rest of his life engaging in judicial and teaching activities in Aqhisar and its surrounding areas. He wrote texts and commentaries on logic, rhetoric, principles of jurisprudence and creed, some of which are still being taught today as introductory materials. He gained a well-deserved reputation among the ulema with these texts and commentaries in accordance with the madrasa curriculum, and among the umāra with his famous work Usūl al-hikam fī nizām al-ālam on the order of state and society, which he presented to Mehmed III. During the 13-year Ottoman-Austrian wars (1593-1606), Aqhisārī served as a qādī in the region and established close relations with the mighty pashas of the Ottoman Empire who came to the region during this turbulent period. In this paper, we focus on the self-narrative of Hasan Kāfī al-Aqhisārī, the most renowned scholar of Bosnia-Aqhisar. The subject revolves around his work titled Nizām al-ulamā ilā khātam al-anbiyā, which is dedicated to Damat Ibrahim Pasha. The paper attempts to convey his life, teachers, authored works, important events he witnessed, relationships with the state dignitaries, and his feelings and thoughts about them in his own words. Aqhisārī died in 1024 (1615). In addition to this work, which contains the narrative of his life up to 1009 (1600), an attempt has been made to create a complete chronology of his life and works by considering the information he gave at the beginning and end of his other works regarding the rest of his life.
In this article, I have tried to focus on the people, events, and phenomena in which Hasan Kāfī al-Aqhisārī, the qādī of Bosnia-Akhisar, emphasized his self-narrative. At the center of the study was al-Aqhisārī's Nizām al-ulamā ilā khātam al-anbiyā, a work on the lineage of knowledge that includes his partial self-narrative. I also used the fragmental data included in his self-narrative at the beginning and end of some of his works. In Nizām al-ulamā, which also includes his autobiography, al-Aqhisārī gives the lineage of knowledge up to the Prophet in 28 layers and then mentions himself in the 29th layer and a few of his students in the 30th and last layers. When this part of the book and the information he provides at the beginning and end of his other works are analyzed in terms of his self-narrative, it is seen that he emphasizes the ulema in his scientific lineage, his family, his educational life, the teachers he took lessons from, his activities as a qādī and mudarris, the works he wrote, his relations with the sultan and pashas of the period, the campaigns and wars he participated in with them, and the political, economic and social problems experienced for various reasons. al-Aqhisārī thus presents a scholarly self-narrative centered on the teacher-student-work as seen in classical works of the fehresesebet-icāzetnāme-silsilenāme genre. His self-narrative does not include all the experiences we encounter in the genres of writing that in the past were referred to as cerīde, mecmua, sohbetnāme, sergüzeştnāme, and today as diary, memoir, autobiography, etc. His feelings and thoughts, joys, sorrows and anxieties about his wife, children, property, health and well-being, relations with other people around him (neighbors, friends, enemies), which today are more commonly referred to as “cultural history”, are almost never included in his narrative.
However, when we read his self-narrative in his own language, we could see many details that are not included in the second-hand sources that mention him and correct some errors and omissions about his life and works. For example, we can draw a general chronology of his life. This is how we learn about the scholars in his scholarly lineage and the teachers from whom he studied. During his 40 years of life as a mudarris and qādī in Aqhisar and its environs, he wrote basic texts and commentaries on logic, rhetoric, usūl al-fiqh and al-aqāid, all of which were part of the madrasa curriculum, and which students could easily understand and memorize. It is possible to see these works and their dates of composition in his partial and fragmentary selfnarrative, which is still remembered more than 500 years after his death.
Another noteworthy aspect of al-Aqhisārī’s self-narrative is his mention of the conquest of Egri Castle, the Battle of Hacova, and the second conquest of Esztergom Castle, which he participated in with the statesmen in the region and Sultan Mehmed III during the long OttomanAustrian wars between 1593 and 1606. Among these statesmen were the Bosnian-born Grand Vizier Damat Ibrahim Pasha, the husband of Murad III’s daughter Aisha Sultan, to whom he dedicated his work Nizām al-ulamā ilā khātam al-anbiyā, the Albanian-born Beylerbeyi of Bosnia Hadım Hafiz Ahmad Pasha, to whom he dedicated his work Usūl al-hikam fī nizām al-ālam, and another Bosnian-born Lala Mehmed Pasha, grand vizier of the reign of Ahmad I, known as the “Conqueror of Esztergom” to whom he dedicated his work Nūr al-yakīn fī usūl al-dīn.
al-Aqhisārī's partial and fragmented self-narrative also includes important historical data such as the internal turmoil caused by the Ottoman-Austrian wars, epidemics, and the cost of living, which deeply affected social, economic, military, and political life. Despite all these difficulties in this period between the ages of 50 and 64, al-Aqhisārī did not hold back from his educational and literary activities, composing his best works in this period and writing his famous work on state and social order, Usūl al-hikam fī nizām al-ālam, which earned him a well-deserved reputation among the ulama and umāra, in accordance with the saying “difficult times raise strong men”, He left texts and commentaries written at the introductory level of sciences such as rhetoric, aqāid and usūl al-fiqh, some of which are read and studied in classical educational activities even today.
