Photo: Wentiu, CC BY-SA 4.0

Manzume 46 — Süleymân geldi dünyâya Süleymân

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

Süleyman Paşa asks Orhan for settlers, nomad households from Karasi cross over and the advance turns to Tekirdağ, in four couplets that play on the name Süleyman.

Contents 4

1Original Ottoman Turkish Text
2In English
3Literary and Historical Commentary
4Bibliography

Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Süleymân geldi dünyâya Süleymân
Ki kâfir divlerine virmez amân

Bırakdı velvele küffâr iline
Ki Türk'üñ oldı bugün devr-i zamân

Şu dîv kurtıla Süleymân elinden
Gelüp Süleymân'a getüre îmân

V'egerni cümle 'ömri habsde kaldı
Hemân dîvligidür kendüye kalan

In English

1. Süleyman has come into the world, (a new) Süleyman; he gives no quarter to the infidel demons.

2. He has set the infidels' land in uproar; for today the turn of the age has become the Turk's.

3. Let that demon escape from Süleyman's hand and come to believe in Süleyman.

4. Otherwise he has stayed in prison all his life; all that is left to him is his demonhood.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The Settlement of Rumelia

Süleyman Paşa sends word to his father in the thirty-ninth chapter: a beginning has been made towards the conquest of Rumelia and the infidels are very weak; many Muslims and able gazi companions are needed to man the fortresses taken and to people the lands. Orhan rejoices greatly. Many nomad "Arab households" have come to Karasi; at once they are driven across to Rumelia and stay for a time in the district of Gallipoli. Süleyman Paşa marches to the coast of Tekirdağ, takes the fortresses he finds, some peacefully and some by sack, makes the fortress of Odgönlek his frontier base and turns towards Hayrabolu. The people of Karasi too begin to come every day, settle and join in the gazâ.

Two Süleymans

The whole piece grows out of a play on a name. Süleyman Paşa's name calls up the prophet Süleyman, Solomon, who is said to have held the jinn and demons under his command. In the first line the name occurs twice: "Süleymân" has come into the world, that is, a new Solomon. The infidels are called "dîv", demons; in the third couplet the demon is asked to escape from Solomon's hand and believe in him, and in the last it is said that one who does not believe will remain in prison all his life. Solomon's imprisoning of the demons is a motif known from Islamic stories; here the call to conquest and conversion is told through it. The line "Türk'üñ oldı bugün devr-i zamân", today the turn of the age has become the Turk's, in the second couplet is one of the places where the work openly uses the word "Turk" for its own identity. The piece has no refrain; its "-ân" rhyme is made by Süleymân, amân, zamân, îmân and kalan.