Original Ottoman Turkish Text

'Azîz Hak 'ahd idüpdür âdem-ilen
Sözüm dahı benüm hem âdemî-len
Didi cennet virem size sözüm tut
Sakın yörime İblîs yalan-ılan
Hak'uñ va'desi 'ahd oldı i cânum
Melek ü hayvân u hem âdemî-len
Bu âdem 'ahdı bil kim andan almış
Budur ahdüñ yolı her âdemî-len

In English

1. Almighty God has made a covenant with man; my word too has been given together with man.

2. He said, "Let Me give you paradise, keep My word; take care not to follow İblis with his lie."

3. O my soul, God's promise became a covenant, with angel, beast and man.

4. Know that this man has taken his covenant from Him; such is the way of the covenant with every man.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The Road to Karasi

What led to the conquest of the land of Karasi is told in the thirty-fifth chapter. Aclan Beg of Karasi dies; one son, Tursun Beg, is with Orhan, the other has stayed with his father, and the people of the land do not want him. The vizier of the Karasi house, Hacı İlbegi, and the notables send word to the son at Orhan's side. He comes to Orhan and proposes that Balıkesir, Bergama and Edremit be Orhan's and that the district of Kızılca Tuzla and Mahram be given to him. Orhan marches from Gölbaşı, takes Bilüyüz and Ablayund and reaches Kirmastı. The ruler of Kirmastı is a woman named Kalamestorya, who comes out with her brother Mihalcı bearing gifts; Orhan confirms them in place. But the tekfur of Ulubat, earlier left in place, has not kept his pact; he is seized, and "they gave him no quarter and finished him at once".

A Theology of the Covenant

After the punishment the couplets set a theological measure. God has made a covenant with man: He promised paradise to whoever keeps His word and asked him not to follow İblis's lie. This covenant can be understood as an allusion to the Quranic "elest" assembly, in which souls at creation affirmed God's lordship. The covenants men make among themselves share in this first covenant: the tekfur of Ulubat who broke his pact has defied this cosmic order as well as Orhan. The refrain "-ilen/-ılan", that is "with", stresses in every line togetherness with man or with another: âdem-ilen, âdemî-len, yalan-ılan. The third couplet says the covenant was made with angel and beast as well as with man; this points to the idea of a compact embracing the whole of creation.

Bibliography

  • Âşık Paşazade, Osmanoğulları'nın Tarihi, ed. Kemal Yavuz, M. A. Yekta Saraç, Istanbul: K Kitaplığı, 2003, pp. 370-371 (transliterated text, bâb 35).