Âşıkî, Manzume 142: Muhammed Han ki Hak mu'în oldı

Manzume 142 — Muhammed Han ki Hak mu'în oldı

Amasya05 Editorial Board • Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk • 01 October 2026 • Updated: 14 October 2026 • 3 min reading

Seven couplets signed Âşıkî on the Conqueror's Morea campaign, Mahmud Paşa's conquests in Serbia, the rise of the farm tax and the author waiting at Skopje.

Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Muhammed Han ki Hak mu'în oldı
Gāziler cümlesi mün'im oldı

Bu han kim kâfire saldı kılıcın
Kamu kâfir cihanda magbûn oldı

Bu hanuñ heybeti tutdı cihanı
Bu han kamu handan key muhsin oldı

Salâbetin işiden hep selâtîn
Tagıldı 'aklı bunlar mecnûn oldı

Çü toldı şarka garba 'adli bedli
Menâkıb Âl-i 'Osmân mevzûn oldı

Bu hana kim mutî' oldı cihanda
Se'âdet buldı tâli' meymûn oldı

Âşıkî Âl-i 'Osmâna du'âcı
Du'â ehli cihanda makbûl oldı

In English

1. Muhammed Han, whose helper God became: all the gazis became prosperous.

2. This khan who swung his sword at the infidel: all the infidels in the world were deceived.

3. This khan's majesty filled the world; this khan became more beneficent than all khans.

4. All the sultans who heard of his sternness lost their wits; they went mad.

5. When his justice and generosity filled east and west, the legends of the House of Osman became measured verse.

6. Whoever in the world submitted to this khan found felicity; his fortune became auspicious.

7. Âşıkî prays for the House of Osman; the people of prayer became accepted in the world.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The Morea and Serbia

In the hundred and twenty-eighth chapter a man from Serres sees Muslim women held captive at Patras and reports it, and the Conqueror turns towards the Morea. Conquests are made in the Morea. In the same period Mahmud Paşa takes Golubac, Resava, Kuruca and Branikvac; the Hungarian army is routed at Tahtalı, many great bans are captured and their banners brought to the khan. On this campaign the sovereign raises the farm tax taken from the peasants from twenty-two to thirty-two akçe; the author says, "This thirty-two akçe now taken was established at that time." The author also speaks of himself: "The poor writer too had gone to Skopje at that time hoping for the sovereign's bounty; and the bounty came, with more besides." Moreover Mevlânâ Gûrânî had returned from Arabia and was given the judgeship of Bursa on that campaign. The date is the end of 861.

Legends in Metre

The Conqueror is praised as a ruler whose help comes from God, whose sword leaves the infidels deceived and whose majesty fills the world. The fourth couplet says that the sultans who heard of his sternness lost their wits. The weight falls on the fifth: when his justice and generosity filled east and west, the legends of the House of Osman became "mevzûn", measured verse. This is an allusion to the author's own work, to the verses set among the prose: the dynasty's glory has turned into poetry. The last couplet defines the author's own role: Âşıkî prays for the House of Osman, and the people of prayer have become accepted in the world. Read together with the detail in the prose of waiting for bounty at Skopje, this couplet hints that a return for the prayer was also expected. Through all seven couplets the refrain "oldı" never changes.