Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Var git Yezit var git bulaşma bize
Ahrette haliniz bilmem nicolur
Bizden her gün teberrua oluyor size
O zaman haliniz bilmem nicolur
Hak Muhammed Ali gelip durunca
Hasan Hüseyin’den sual sorunca
İmam Zeynel urbaları bulunca
O zaman haliniz bilmem nicolur
İmam Muhammed Bakır ermeyince
İmam Cafere talip olmayınca
Ol Rıza’dan Kazım’a varmayınca
O zaman haliniz bilmem nicolur
Muhammed Taki’yle Şah Ali Naki
Firdevs bahçesidir göğsünün bağı
Yakındır zamanı Askerin çağı
O zaman haliniz bilmem nicolur
Hak emir eyleyip türap bitince
Olanca varını yere atınca
Mehdi gelip yakanızdan tutunca
O zaman haliniz bilmem nicolur
Kul Hüseyin’im bu iş böyle olunca
On İki İmamlar sual sorunca
İyisini ulu Mevlam bilince
O zaman haliniz bilmem nicolur

In English

1. Go, Yezid, go, do not meddle with us; I do not know how you will fare in the hereafter. Every day we turn away from you and renounce you; I do not know how you will fare then.

2. When God, Muhammad and Ali come and stand, when account is asked for Hasan and Hüseyin, when Imam Zeynel finds the garments, I do not know how you will fare then.

3. When you have not reached Imam Muhammad Bakır, when you have not become a disciple of Imam Cafer, when you have not come from Rıza to Kâzım, I do not know how you will fare then.

4. The garden of the breast of Muhammad Taki and Şah Ali Naki is the garden of Paradise; the age of Askerî is near. I do not know how you will fare then.

5. When God commands and the life of the earth comes to an end, when man throws down all he possesses, when the Mahdi comes and seizes you by the collar, I do not know how you will fare then.

6. I am Kul Hüseyin; when this matter comes to pass thus, when the Twelve Imams ask for the reckoning, when the great Lord knows who is good, I do not know how you will fare then.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

Each of the six quatrains closes on the refrain "O zaman haliniz bilmem nicolur" (I do not know how you will fare then); in the first quatrain a close variant, "Ahrette haliniz bilmem nicolur" (I do not know how you will fare in the hereafter), is heard in the second line as well. Işık writes that both forms are widely sung in the region and that "nicolur" is a contraction of "nice olur", made to fit the eleven-syllable syllabic metre. The first three lines of each quatrain meet on the suffix "-ınca, -ince" (when): "durunca, sorunca, bulunca", "ermeyince, olmayınca, varmayınca", "bitince, atınca, tutunca". Caner Işık counts the poem among the düvaz-ı imam. The poet names himself in the last quatrain as "Kul Hüseyin'im" (his pen name, or mahlas); the text rests on the account of the informant Halil Sezgin.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The düvaz-ı imam is the Alevi-Bektashi poem that names the Twelve Imams in order and praises them; it is recited in the cem by the zakirs. Kul Hüseyin joins this genre with a reproach: the poem addresses Yezid and those who follow his road directly. In Alevi belief "tevella" is to love the Family of the Prophet and those who love it, and "teberra" is to keep away from those hostile to it; the line "every day we turn away from you and renounce you" states this second principle plainly.

The quatrains on the one hand list the imams and on the other ask what will become on the Last Day of those not attached to them. The reckoning asked for Hasan and Hüseyin, Zeynelabidin finding the garments left from Karbala, the naming of Bakır, Cafer, Kâzım, Rıza, Taki, Naki and Askerî, are completed at last by the Mahdi coming to seize the oppressors by the collar. The words "türap bitince" in the fifth quatrain can be understood as the coming to an end of the earth, of the world, at the Last Day; this reading is ours. The repeated question of the refrain leaves the answer to the listener and makes the threat more forceful.

Bibliography

Online sources