Photo: Zeynel Cebeci, CC BY-SA 4.0

Manzume 89 — Çürük sôfî dili Allah'ı söyler

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

Lying Sufis who chase pilaf and feasts are mocked in four couplets, once the question whether the kadı's son of Simavna died in the faith is answered "God knows".

Contents 4

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

Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Çürük sôfî dili Allah'ı söyler
Göñülde altun u akçayı soylar

Gāyet eyüsi dir olsa pilav çok
Çalıcılar bigi ol toyı soylar

Yalançı sôfîler çok kopdı şimdi
Uyup delülere soyını soylar

Kimi dir şeyhümüz sultân olısar
İnanur aña uyar zankı soylar

In English

1. The tongue of the rotten Sufi speaks of God; in his heart he counts gold and silver.

2. The best, he says, is "if only there were plenty of pilaf"; like musicians he keeps telling of that feast.

3. Now many lying Sufis have sprung up; following madmen, they recite their lineage.

4. Some say, "our sheikh will become sultan"; they believe him, follow him and tell their fancy.

Literary and Historical Commentary

"God Knows"

After the hanging of the son of the kadı of Simavna the author asks: "Did he die in the faith, or what?" His answer is measured: "God knows; but we do not know what his belief rested on in his life and in his death, and we do not know whether he gave up his soul in that belief." Beside the harsh judgement of the previous verse, the caution of this answer stands out at once: Âşıkpaşazâde openly condemns a man's political ambition but refrains from judging his faith. He directs his judgement less at the man than at the "lying Sufis" gathered around him.

Pilaf and Feast

Opening with "Çürük sôfî", the rotten Sufi, four couplets give a portrait of these Sufis. Their tongues name God, their hearts count gold and silver. The image in the second couplet is mocking: the best, he says, is "if only there were plenty of pilaf", and like musicians he keeps telling of the feast. The third couplet turns with the word "now" to the author's own time: lying Sufis have multiplied, following madmen and reciting their lineages. The fourth couplet recalls once more the belief of the kadı's son's disciples that "our sheikh will become sultan". The refrain "soylar" occurs in four couplets with different meanings: counts, tells, recites his lineage. This many-sidedness gives the couplets the air of a play on words. Âşıkpaşazâde's stand, as both Sufi and historian, against fraud within his own circle takes its plainest form in this chapter.