Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Zi mâl kim hayr işe harç idesin
İdesin andan bahş her işiñe
Ne vech-ile anı cem' eyledüñ sen
Çıkarurduñ göz ki baksa işige
'Âşıkî mâl dime senden kalana
Ya 'ikâb ya hisâb gele başuña

In English

1. How fine the wealth that you spend on good works, that you may give from it to every task of yours.

2. By what way did you gather it; you would gouge out the eye of whoever looked at your door.

3. Âşıkî, do not call what is left behind you wealth; either torment or reckoning will come upon your head.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Wealth Is What Is Spent on Good

The examples go on: Mirza Şah, sovereign of Khorasan, also hoarded much wealth and perished like the others; İbrahim Beg of Karaman, among the sovereigns of Rum, also hoarded wealth, and everyone has heard what he did in the end. Then comes the chapter's main counsel: "Now, O dear ones, wealth is that which is spent on good." The friend of sovereigns is one whose belly is full and who is upright; and a strong army is one that is well fed, with no care of its own hunger. This thought follows the same line as Murad II's words on lawful food in the previous chapter.

The Eye at the Door

The two faces of wealth are set against each other. The first couplet praises wealth spent on good: from it gifts are given to every task. The second asks a harsh question: by what way was that wealth gathered? The line says that the one who gathered it would gouge out the eye of the poor man looking at his door; that is, he grudged even a glance to the needy who came to his door. At the close the author addresses himself and says that what is left behind is not true wealth: what remains from a man is not to be called wealth; it brings upon his head either torment or reckoning. This is a view of the world in keeping with Âşıkpaşazâde's identity as a dervish. Standing in the middle of a series of three verses on wealth, this piece too belongs to chapters that seem added after the main text. The rhyme among işe, işiñe, işige and başuña is kept loose.

Bibliography

  • Âşık Paşazade, Osmanoğulları'nın Tarihi, ed. Kemal Yavuz, M. A. Yekta Saraç, Istanbul: K Kitaplığı, 2003, p. 568 (transliterated text, bâb 170).