Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Ta ezeli kainatın binası
Hak Muhammet Ali nuru Feyzullah
Yerin göğün semavatın ziyası
Hak Muhammet Ali nuru Feyzullah
Vasi-yi resulün sahip zamanın
Göklerin şemisin mahı tabanın
Şemail-i mahşer sahip zamanın
Hak Muhammet Ali nuru Feyzullah
Nuru sulpten sulbe nur oldu geldi
Evlad-ı mürselden pir oldu geldi
Cümle enbiyaya sır oldu geldi
Hak Muhammet Ali nuru Feyzullah
Yed’ iklim çar köşe emri fermanın
Cennet-i alada huri gılmanın
Yar-ı garı Kamber ile Selman’ın
Hak Muhammet Ali nuru Feyzullah
ESRARİ niyazım vardır Feyzi’ye
On iki İmama on dört kuzuya
Kutb-ül aktab oğlu Sultan Feyzi’ye
Hak Muhammet Ali nuru Feyzullah

In English

1. From eternity the edifice of the universe, the radiance of the earth, the sky and the heavens is the light of God, Muhammad and Ali; that light is in Feyzullah.

2. You are the executor of the Prophet's will, the master of the age; the sun of the heavens, the shining moon. You are the countenance of the Day of Gathering, the master of the age; the light of God, Muhammad and Ali is Feyzullah.

3. The light came passing from loin to loin; it came as a pir from the line of the prophets, it came as a secret to all the prophets. The light of God, Muhammad and Ali is Feyzullah.

4. The seven climes and the four corners of the world await your command, and so do the houris and servants of highest paradise. You are the bosom friend of Kamber and Selman (the line is built on yâr-ı gâr, literally "friend of the cave"). The light of God, Muhammad and Ali is Feyzullah.

5. I, Esrarî, make my plea to Feyzi, to the Twelve Imams and the Fourteen Innocents; I beseech Sultan Feyzi, son of the pole of poles. The light of God, Muhammad and Ali is Feyzullah.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The refrain "Hak Muhammet Ali nuru Feyzullah" carries the name of the man being praised: it stands in the second and fourth lines of the first quatrain and returns in the fourth line of the later ones. In those quatrains the first three lines rhyme with one another ("zamanın, tabanın", the lines ending in "oldu geldi", "fermanın, gılmanın, Selman'ın", "Feyzi'ye, kuzuya, Feyzi'ye"). The poem is a koşma of five quatrains in eleven-syllable lines; the source does not state the metre, and the syllable count is ours. In the last quatrain the poet writes his pen name (mahlas) as "ESRARİ". The text comes from Ali Cem Akbulut's 2010 collection of the minstrels of Gazilerovacığı; according to that work Esrarî's deyiş are recorded in the local manuscript songbooks (cönk).

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The deyiş is a eulogy of Feyzullah Çelebi (1811-1878), head of the Hacı Bektaş Velî lodge. The doctrine of light, common in Alevi-Bektashi poetry, is the backbone of the poem: the divine light that existed before creation appears in the triad of God, Muhammad and Ali and passes "from loin to loin", from father to son, down to the pirs descended from the Prophet's line. Esrarî sees the last link of this chain in the çelebi of his own time. The word "Feyzullah" in the refrain is both the çelebi's name and a phrase meaning "the grace of God"; the poet must have used this double sense deliberately.

In the second quatrain attributes belonging to Ali, "executor of the Prophet's will" and "master of the age", are turned towards the man being praised; the images of sun and moon make his light concrete. The fourth quatrain names Kamber and Selman, Ali's close companions. The phrase "yâr-ı gâr" recalls the companionship in the cave during the Hijra; here it seems to be used in the general sense of "closest friend", a reading that is ours. The last quatrain names the Twelve Imams and the "fourteen lambs", that is, the Fourteen Innocents, and gives the title "pole of poles", the highest rank among saints, to the çelebi's line.

Historical Context

Since Feyzullah Çelebi is known to have died in 1878, the deyiş was most probably composed before that date. According to Akbulut, Esrarî was one of the âşıks devoted both to Feyzullah Çelebi and to his son Cemalettin Çelebi (1862-1921). The source does not say where or on what occasion the deyiş was performed.

Bibliography

  • Ali Cem Akbulut, Gazilerovacığı Âşıkları, İstanbul: KaraMavi Yayınları, 2010; text: "Esrari", Alevi Deyişleri Nefesler Hakk Âşıkları, 21 August 2019, poem no. 1. https://www.deyisler-nefesler.com/esrari/

Online sources