Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eight-syllable syllabic metre

Kurulunca bu meydanlar
Kan ile yaş dolmadı mı
Şimir’in kızı Zeliha
Hasan’avu vermedi mi
Şah Hüseyin’diryaremiz
Zeynel, Bakır’dır çaremiz
İmam Cafer rehberimiz
Cümleye pir olmadı mı
Musa-i Kazım pirimiz
Cümle içinde canımız
İmam Rıza’dır yolumuz
Horasan’da durmadı mı
Taki’den tuttum elimi
Naki’den bağla belimi
Ali Asker’in kanını
Mehdiy’(e) ikrar vermedi mi
Ali’ye bağlandım durdum
Muhammed’e ümmet oldum
Ol zaman kırklara girdim
Selman keşkül sunmadı mı
Kırkın gönlü bire bağlı
Hemi haktır hemi tanrı
Cihan zülüfünde bağlı
Muhammed yar olmadı mı
Derviş Edna’m hak nazarı
Gönülden eyle pazarı
Cümle okunan yazarı
Bir noktadan olmadı mı

In English

1. When these squares were set up, were they not filled with blood and tears; did Şimir's daughter Zeliha not give poison to Hasan.

2. Şah Hüseyin is our wound; Zeynel and Bakır are our remedy. Imam Cafer is our guide; was he not pir to everyone.

3. Musa-i Kâzım is our pir, our very soul among all. Our road is Imam Rıza; did he not stay in Khorasan.

4. From Taki I took hold of my hand; from Naki, bind my waist. For the blood of Ali Asker, was a pledge not given to the Mahdi.

5. I bound myself to Ali and stood firm, I became one of Muhammad's community; then I entered among the Forty. Did Selman not offer his bowl.

6. The heart of the Forty is bound to one; he is both the Truth and God. The world is bound to his lock of hair; was Muhammad not a friend.

7. I am Derviş Edna, this is God's gaze; make your trade from the heart. Did the writer of all that is read not come from a single point.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

Questions make up the frame of this düvaz-ı imam: the second and fourth lines of the quatrains end with the interrogative "-madı mı, -medi mi" (did it not) ("dolmadı mı, vermedi mi, olmadı mı, durmadı mı"). In most quatrains the first and third lines half-rhyme ("yaremiz, çaremiz, rehberimiz", "elimi, belimi, kanını", "durdum, oldum, girdim"). The seven quatrains are in eight-syllable lines. In the last quatrain the poet says "Derviş Edna'm" (his pen name, or mahlas). The düvaz-ı imam, the genre to which the article assigns the poem, is an Alevi-Bektashi poem that names the Twelve Imams in order and praises them; it is recited by the zakirs in the cem.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The poem names the Twelve Imams in order: Hasan and Hüseyin, Zeynelabidin, Muhammad Bakır, Cafer-i Sadık, Musa-i Kâzım, Ali Rıza, Muhammad Taki, Ali Naki, Hasan Askerî and Muhammad Mehdi. To each imam an epithet or an event is attached: Hüseyin is the wound, Cafer the guide and pir to all, Rıza lies in Khorasan. In the first quatrain the poisoning of Imam Hasan is recalled in the form found in folk narrative; the one who gave the poison is said to be "Şimir's daughter Zeliha". This name differs from the account in historical sources and should be taken as a variant of folk tradition.

The name "Ali Asker" in the fourth quatrain can be understood in two ways: since the sequence places it where the eleventh Imam Hasan Askerî would stand, it suggests him; the word "blood", however, recalls the infant Ali Asgar martyred at Karbala. The source gives no explanation. The fifth and sixth quatrains recall the assembly of the Forty: according to Alevi belief, at this gathering, which Muhammad attended on his return from the Ascension, Selman offered a bowl and the hearts of the Forty became one. The last quatrain ties all this multitude to a single point: the writer of all that is read came from the same point, a folk expression of the idea of the unity of being.

Bibliography

Online sources