CHIEF MUNAJJIM SEYYID MEHMED ARIF EFENDI, WHO WAS A MATERNAL RELATIVE
From the 15th Century to the 20th, Chief Munajjims were in charge in Ottoman Empire. The Chief Munajjim was meticulously selected from among the palace astrologers who attended the classical ma¬drasah or school and were well trained in astronomy and astrology. This position became official during the period of Beyazit (r. 1389-1402) and came to end in 1924 with the 37th and last Chief Munajjim, Huseyin Hilmi Efendi.
On a personal note, learning that the 35th Chief Munajjim Seyyid Mehmed Arif Efendi, was a maternal relative (the father-in-law of my mother’s aunt) was both surprising and thrilling news.
Arif Kaman, a senior member of our family, who was named after his grandfather, told me he had some booklets, seals, and medals that belonged to his grandfather. One of my cousins arranged a family gathering and I vis¬ited them before publishing a version of my book on horary in Turkish.
Seyyid Mehmed Arif Efendi (hereafter, Seyyid Mehmed), who served as the Chief Munajjim in the palace between 1903 and 1909, was born in September 1853 and died in 1934. He was buried in Eyup Cemetery. As he was born in the city of Iz¬mit, one of the streets in Izmit is named after him. During his career as a Chief Munajjim, he bought a mansion in the Suleymaniye district of Istanbul so as to be close to the palace.
My relative Arif also reported from his father that Seyyid Mehmed was trilingual, also speaking Arabic and Persian. He was a productive man, who worked across many disciplines, spending days on calculations in his library where he also wrote several books. While he was alive, his family gifted his works to the Islamic Arts Museum. Some are currently in Suleymaniye Library, and some Beyazit library now. I hope one day to research these books and make a compilation of them.
Seyyid Mehmed took great efforts to act at propitious times, which is why he al¬ways cast election charts for new ventures and arrangements in daily life, such as the time to go to the cottage, buying new garments, or putting them on. He prepared the nativities of his children and told them what was fated for them. For instance, he told his son Sacit (Arif’s father), he would not achieve high status, but nor would he be disgraced. He would be neither very happy nor very unhappy and he would have an average life.
He also predicted his time of his death and told his family to be prepared on a certain day and time. Of course, no one in the family realized what he had prepared them for, until they were invited to their father’s house. When they arrived, they realized why their father told them to be there at that specific time.
Arif carefully kept some things left by his grandfather, including a photograph of him in his official uniform. Arif and another cousin kept the medals, which are on the breast of his caftan in this photograph; this caftan was exhibited in a museum. An¬other of Arif’s cousins kept his professional license. Arif also showed me the official seals used by Seyyid Mehmed during his career as a Chief Munajjim. One of them, on which is written es-Seyyid Mehmed Arif 1316 is illustrated in Ayduz’s thesis, which is on the Chief Munajjims in the Ottoman Empire.
Öner DÖŞER, AMA, CAPISAR
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