Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Zamane halkının yanına varma
Her cahil âdeme sırrını verme
O seni görmezse send’onu görme
Budur bu âlemde halın makbulu
Hal içinde hallar vardır görürsen
Eğer bu sözümden ibret alırsan
Hak kelâmı fark eyleyip bilirsen
Al-i İmran okur dilin makbulu
Dinimiz Muhammed, dilimiz Kur’an
Aliyyülazim’dir dersimiz veren
Elham suresinden süzülüp gelen
Birlik makamıdır yolun makbulu
Yolu kuran kurdu böyle aslından
Er olanlar belli olur zatından
Körler seçemedi Hakk’ı batıldan
Akrabadan hoştur elin makbulu
El mi olur biri birin bilenler
İkiliği atıp biri bulanlar
Cife-i dünyadan elin alanlar
İkilikten geçer birin makbulu
Birlik makamına sahip olmalı
Sabredip de selameti bulmalı
Kaf u Nun’un haberini almalı
Cennet-i Âlâ’da şarın makbulu
KUL FAKIR’ım bizde geldik o şardan
Getirip götüren ol Şah-ı Merdan
Evveli kulluktur ahiri sultan
Doğup dolunandır nurun makbulu

In English

1. Do not go near the people of the age; do not give your secret to every ignorant man. If he does not see you, do not see him either; this is the most acceptable state in this world.

2. If you see, there are states within states; if you take a lesson from these words of mine, if you discern and know the word of God, the most acceptable tongue recites the sura Âl-i İmrân.

3. Our religion is Muhammad's, our tongue the Qur'an; the one who gives us our lesson is Ali the Most Great. What comes distilled from the sura Elham is the station of unity, the most acceptable of paths.

4. The one who founded the path founded it thus from its root; the true men are known by their essence. The blind could not tell God from falsehood; better than a kinsman is the most acceptable of strangers.

5. Can those who know one another be strangers; those who cast off duality and find the One, those who withdraw their hand from the carrion of the world. The most acceptable of the One passes beyond duality.

6. One must possess the station of unity; one must be patient and find salvation. One must receive the tidings of Kâf and Nûn, the letters of the command "Be"; this is the most acceptable of cities in the highest paradise.

7. I am Kul Fakır, we too came from that city; the one who brings and takes away is that Şah-ı Merdan. Its beginning is servanthood, its end sovereignty; the most acceptable light is the light that rises and grows full.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The deyiş is a koşma of seven quatrains in the eleven-syllable syllabic metre. The last line of each quatrain ends with the redif "makbulu" (the most acceptable); the words before the redif, "halın, dilin, yolun, elin, birin, şarın, nurun", form the rhyme. In each quatrain the first three lines rhyme among themselves: "varma, verme, görme", "görürsen, alırsan, bilirsen", "Kur'an, veren, gelen" and so on. The syllable count is ours. The pen name appears in the last quatrain. When the deyiş was sung is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The deyiş begins with counsel on how the people of the path should live. İsa Çolaker, quoting the first quatrain, sees here the stance of a poet who teaches by example: not telling one's secret to an ignorant person, not seeing the one who does not see you, that is, counting pride towards the proud as a kind of alms. Throughout the deyiş the word "makbul" is used in the sense of what is accepted before God, what is most right, and in each quatrain it names the most acceptable of something different: of states, of tongues, of paths, of strangers, of the One, of cities, of lights.

From the third quatrain onwards the deyiş turns to the idea of unity. "Elham" is another name for the sura Fatiha; in the Sufi tradition it is said that the essence of the whole Qur'an is gathered in the Fatiha. In the fifth quatrain "Cife-i dünya", the carrion of the world, is a familiar phrase in Sufi poetry used to belittle attachment to the world. The "Kâf u Nûn" in the sixth quatrain are the two letters of "kün", that is, "Be", God's command of creation; the âşık says that one who attains the station of unity will also attain the secret of creation.

In the last quatrain "o şar", the city in the highest paradise, is named as the true homeland from which man came and to which he will return. The line "Getirip götüren ol Şah-ı Merdan" expresses the exalted station given to Ali in Alevi belief. The line "Evveli kulluktur ahiri sultan" is a summary of the path: the path that begins with humility and servanthood brings one in the end to a spiritual sovereignty. The words "Akrabadan hoştur elin makbulu" in the fourth quatrain may express that the brotherhood of the path is held above ties of blood; this is our interpretation.

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