Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Kendi Hacı Bektaş evladı resul
Makamı Ali’den kalktı gidiyor
Cihadı emretti envarı Celil
Sağına soluna baktı gidiyor
Terki vatan kıldı azmi rah ile
Dilinde tespihi illallah ile
Şanında hel eta seyfullah ile
Zülfikar eynine taktı gidiyor
Tevhit sancağını aldı destine
Nameyi gönderdi muhip dostuna
Üç yüz otuz birde düşman üstüne
Adulerin bağrın yaktı gidiyor
Devahı Horasan Kerbela arzı
Veliler seyyahta gezerler bazı
Yanınca beraber Müseyyib Gazi
Tığı gamzesine aktı gidiyor
Seçildi muhipler serverler ile
Şehitler gaziler yanında bile
Ehl-i Beyt içine düştü vaveyla
Şehzadeler kaşın yıktı gidiyor
Serteser dünyayı düz etse gerek
Mahbubu sedası söz etse gerek
Batın erlerine göz etse gerek
Celal Abbas kaşın yıktı gidiyor
ESRARİ’yim bu din Muhammet nesli
Zülfikar batında gönüller yaslı
Mühleti bekadır bunların aslı
Haydar aşikâre çıktı gidiyor

In English

1. He is himself a descendant of Hacı Bektaş, one of the Prophet's line; he has risen from the seat of Ali and is going. The lights of the Glorious God commanded him to holy war; he looked to his right and to his left and is going.

2. He left his homeland with firm resolve; with the rosary of "illallah" on his tongue, with the sura Hel Etâ and the title "sword of God" to his glory, he girded Zülfikar to his side and is going.

3. He took the banner of tawhid in his hand and sent letters to those who love him; in the year three hundred and thirty-one he marched upon the enemy, he burned the hearts of the foes and is going.

4. On the roads from Khorasan to the land of Karbala some saints wander as travellers. Müseyyib Gazi is at his side; as if his blade had flowed into his glance, he is going (the first word of the stanza, "Devahı", is unclear in the source).

5. The lovers were chosen together with their leaders; the martyrs and the warriors of faith are beside him. A cry of lament fell among the Family of the Prophet; the princes knitted their brows and he is going.

6. He must surely level the world from end to end; the voice of the beloved must surely speak, he must surely watch over the hidden saints. Abbas in his wrath has knitted his brows and is going.

7. I am Esrarî; this faith is the lineage of Muhammad; Zülfikar stands hidden, hearts are in mourning. The root of these things is a respite reaching into eternity; Haydar has come out into the open and is going.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

In the collection this deyiş is called "Gidiyor", and the name comes from its redif (refrain word): each of the seven quatrains ends "gidiyor" (is going), preceded by the rhyme "kalktı, baktı, taktı, yaktı, aktı, yıktı, çıktı". In every quatrain the first three lines also rhyme among themselves ("ile, ile, ile", "destine, dostuna, üstüne", "nesli, yaslı, aslı"). The koşma is composed in eleven-syllable lines; since the source does not state the metre, the syllable count is our own. The pen name (mahlas) in the last quatrain takes the form "ESRARİ'yim". The first line of the fourth quatrain is hard to make out in the form given by the source; our reading is approximate.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The poem tells of a pir setting out for war in the language of Karbala and the legends of Ali. The man who departs is a descendant of Hacı Bektaş and rises "from the seat of Ali"; he girds on Zülfikar and takes the banner of tawhid in his hand. Hel Etâ, the sura al-Insan, is held in Shiite and Alevi tradition to have been revealed in honour of Ali and his family; "sword of God" is also one of Ali's epithets. The çelebi is thus identified with Ali the warrior. Müseyyib Gazi is known in popular narrative as the hero who avenged Hüseyin after Karbala, and Abbas is the son of Ali who carried the standard at Karbala. By placing a new campaign beside these heroes the poet joins the old with the new. In the last quatrain the line "Haydar has come out into the open" expresses the belief that a power long kept hidden has now been revealed.

Historical Context

Akbulut's collection regards this deyiş as dedicated to Cemalettin Çelebi (1862-1921) and infers from it that Esrarî was still alive after 1914. The year "three hundred and thirty-one" in the poem corresponds to the Rumi year 1331, that is, March 1915 to March 1916. According to Hürü Sağlam Tekir's study, preparations for the volunteer Bektashi Regiment under Cemalettin Çelebi's command began in Sivas in May 1915; the regiment fought the Russians on the Caucasian front, and after the fall of Erzurum on 16 February 1916 the çelebi returned to Erzincan with his retinue. That the deyiş was composed on this campaign is our inference, but the date and the content agree with it.

Bibliography

  • Ali Cem Akbulut, Gazilerovacığı Âşıkları, İstanbul: KaraMavi Yayınları, 2010; text: "Esrari", Alevi Deyişleri Nefesler Hakk Âşıkları, 21 August 2019, poem no. 2. https://www.deyisler-nefesler.com/esrari/
  • Hürü Sağlam Tekir, "From the Dervish Lodge to the Front: The Bektashi Mujahidin Regiment in the First World War", Türk Kültürü ve Hacı Bektaş Velî Araştırma Dergisi, no. 115, 2025 (abstract). https://doi.org/10.60163/tkhcbva.1681738

Online sources