Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Biz Muhibbi Hanedanı Haydar-’ Kerrar’danız
Sâfi sâdık ümmeti has Ahmed-i Muhtar’danız
Rehnümamız işareti Hüccetimiz Kur’an-dır
Küntü kenz’ in sırrını keşf eyleyen esrardanız
Severiz cânı gönülden biz Ali’nin A’lini
Zümrei Ehli nâciyen sahibi ikrardanız
Düşman-ı A’li Abâya teberra eyleriz herdem
Hak aşkına Kerbelâda ser veren serverdeniz
Turabi’yiz, Rafaziyiz cümle alemden ednayız
Velâkin And-ı Mevlâda Gufran-ı Gaffar’danız
Gece gündüzde zikrimiz aklımız hemde fikrimiz
Fiyi Kurbâ’nın Kurbanıyız ismi bâ Ekber’deniz
Sorsalar kim FEDAYİ sen Mezheb’i kandesin
Has sülâle Resulullah, İmam Ca’ferdeniz

In English

1. We are among those who love the house of Haydar (Ali), who charges and never turns back; we are of the pure, loyal and true community of Ahmad (Muhammad), the Chosen One.

2. What guides us is his sign, our proof is the Qur'an. We are among the people of secrets who unveil the secret of the saying "I was a hidden treasure".

3. We love the family of Ali with heart and soul; we are of the company of the saved community, of those who have given their vow.

4. We always keep away from the enemies of the People of the Cloak; we follow the lord who gave his head at Karbala for the love of God.

5. We are Turabis, we are Rafidis, lower than all the world; but in the presence of the Lord we are among those who attain the forgiveness of the All-Forgiving.

6. Night and day our remembrance, our mind and our thought are on him; we are the sacrifice of the verse "love for the near kin". The end of the line ("ismi bâ Ekber'deniz") is not clear in the transmission; it may refer to the name of Ali Ekber or to the words "Allahu Akbar".

7. If they ask, "Fedâî, of which school are you?": we follow Imam Ja'far, of the true lineage of the Messenger of God.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This poem of seven couplets is built in couplet units and in the pattern of a ghazal: the two lines of the opening couplet and the second lines of the following couplets end with the redif "-danız/-deniz" (we are of), and the rhyme rests on the "-r" sound in the words "Kerrar, Muhtar, esrar, ikrar, server, Gaffar, Ekber, Ca'fer". The pen name appears in the last couplet. Cafer Özdemir notes that, under the influence of his madrasa education, Fedâî used the couplet unit and the quantitative aruz metre alongside the quatrain and syllabic metre, and that the language of his poems in the divan style is heavier; this poem is an example of that style, though the metre falters in places in the transmission. Özdemir quotes the third couplet from page 107 of the divan as "Severiz cânı gönülden biz Ali'nin âl'ini / Zümre-i ehl-i nâciyen sahibi ikrardanız".

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The poem is a declaration of faith and speaks on behalf of a community, saying "we". Each couplet names one of the basic concepts of Alevi-Bektashi faith: love of Ali and the Prophet's family (tevellâ), keeping away from the enemies of the People of the Cloak (teberrâ), the vow, the "saved community" and the Ja'fari school. Özdemir records that concepts such as tevellâ, teberrâ, the ritual companion, the devotee, the vow and the saved community appear frequently in Fedâî's poems, and that he has poems in which he says that his own people are the community destined for salvation. "Küntü kenz" in the second couplet is the beginning of the sacred saying often cited in Sufism, "I was a hidden treasure and wished to be known".

The fifth couplet is the most striking point of the poem. The poet takes upon himself the name "Rafidi", used by the other side for Alevis, and the name "Turabi", derived from Ali's epithet "Abu Turab", and by saying "we are lower than all the world" turns humility into a matter of pride; but in the second line he recalls their forgiveness in God's presence. This contrast reflects an attitude that answers exclusion with spiritual exaltation. The question and answer of the last couplet give a clear reply to the question of school: "the true lineage of the Messenger of God" and Imam Ja'far.

Bibliography

Online sources