Âşıkî, Manzume 6: Gazâ kim itdiler Allahu ekber

Manzume 6 — Gazâ kim itdiler Allahu ekber

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

Four couplets, each ending with the refrain "Allahu ekber", spoken after the battle in which Osman Gazi defeated Kalanoz and his brother Saru Yatı fell as a martyr.

Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Gazâ kim itdiler Allahu ekber
Didiler her nefes Allahu ekber

Salındı seyf-i İslâm kâfir üzre
Urıldı nevbet-i Allahu ekber

Kılıçlar kölgesinde cennet-i Hak
Resûl'den bu habar Allahu ekber

Bozıldı çañ çañlıklar kilîse
Makām oldı dîne Allahu ekber

In English

1. They waged gazâ crying "Allahu ekber"; with every breath they said "Allahu ekber".

2. The sword of Islam was swung over the infidel; the martial music of "Allahu ekber" was struck.

3. God's paradise lies in the shade of swords; this news comes from the Prophet, Allahu ekber.

4. The places of clanging bells, the churches, were overthrown; they became a station for the faith, Allahu ekber.

Literary and Historical Commentary

From Kulaca to İkizce

Having heard his dream interpreted, Osman Gazi in the fifth chapter binds "the sword of resolve to the waist of his heart" and one night plunders and burns the little fort of Kulaca near İnegöl. Next morning the infidels of the district send word to the tekfur of Karacahisar: these are not Turks who settle on land and water, and if they are not driven out regret will be of no use. The tekfur's brother Kalanoz comes with a large force. The two sides meet at İkizce, where they crossed the pass of Domaniç. Osman's brother Saru Yatı falls there as a martyr; the author relates that at the place of his death there is a pine called "Kandillü Çam", the Lantern Pine, where a light is seen from time to time. Kalanoz is also killed, and on Osman's order his body is buried like a dog's; for that reason the place is called "İtecenis". Saru Yatı is buried in Söğüt beside his father. After the verse the author gives the date: the year 685 of the Hijra (1286).

The Force of the Refrain

Five of the eight lines of the four couplets end with "Allahu ekber". The takbîr here is both a battle cry and the sound of the nevbet, the royal music of drums and shawms: "nevbet-i Allahu ekber" in the second couplet joins the two meanings. The third couplet rests on the hadith that paradise lies in the shade of swords. In the last couplet the churches becoming "a station for the faith" describes the conversion of a conquered town's place of worship into a mosque; in the chronicle this scene will be told again and again, for Karacahisar, İnegöl and Bilecik. Saru Yatı's death is not mentioned in the poem; the verse does not mourn, it celebrates the gazâ that was won. Âşıkpaşazâde often uses his verse pieces this way: the event is left to the prose, and the poem is given its religious meaning.