Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

….
Cennet mekânı Kul Hüseyin demden
Ali’dir Firavun suya gark eden
Bana söylerseniz Ali’den söylen
Ali’dir cenneti cehennem yapan
Ali’dir kâfirin tuğunu tepen
Hayber kalesinin kapısın yıkan
Bana söylerseniz Ali’den söylen
Ali’dir cümle alemin sahibi
Şanına indirdi yüz dört kitabı
Vücudun mescidi gönlün mihrabı
Bana söylerseniz Ali’den söylen
Ali’dir gün olup dünyaya şavkan
Gökte yağmur olup yerlere yağan
Ali’dir Miraç da habibin eğen
Bana söylerseniz Ali’den söylen
Ali’dir şu cümle alemin başı
Yerne vekil kodu Hacı Bektaşı
Uçmaktadır daim deryanın kuşu
Bana söylerseniz Ali’den söylen
Hasan’la Hüseyin diler mabudun
İmam Zeynel bekler zindanın dibin
Üç yüz yıl bağlandı İfritin elin
Bana söylerseniz Ali’den söylen
İmam Bakır doğru gider yoluna
İmam Cafer kaim durur diline
Yapışalım Musa Rıza’n eline
Bana söylerseniz Ali’den söylen
Muhammed Taki’dir hem Ali Naki
Onlardır dini İslam’ın direği
Vücudum evine gönlüm devranı
Bana söylerseniz Ali’den söylen
Hasan Askeri’den Mehdi’nin yolu
Müminler sürerler Kevser’i balı
Sekiz kapı uçmak sürülür yolu
Bana söylerseniz Ali’den söylen
Kul Hüseyin kanamadım dolumdan
Ali’nin sevgisi gitmez serimden
Hem severim hem kalkarım âlimden
Bana söylerseniz Ali’den söylen

In English

1. [The first line was not found in the collection.] Kul Hüseyin, whose dwelling is paradise, from this moment; Ali is the one who drowned Pharaoh in the water. If you speak to me, speak of Ali.

2. Ali is the one who made paradise and hell; the one who struck down the unbeliever's standard, the one who broke the gate of the fortress of Khaybar. If you speak to me, speak of Ali.

3. Ali is the master of the whole world; a hundred and four books were sent down to his glory. He is the mosque of the body, the prayer niche of the heart; if you speak to me, speak of Ali.

4. Ali is the one who became the sun and shines upon the world, who became rain in the sky and falls upon the earth; Ali is the one who bowed before the Beloved at the Ascension. If you speak to me, speak of Ali.

5. Ali is the head of the whole world; he set Hacı Bektaş in his place as his deputy. The bird of the sea is ever flying; if you speak to me, speak of Ali.

6. Hasan and Hüseyin pray to their Lord; Imam Zeynel waits at the bottom of the dungeon; the demon's hand was bound for three hundred years. If you speak to me, speak of Ali.

7. Imam Bakır goes along his straight road; Imam Cafer stands firm on his tongue. Let us hold fast to the hand of Musa and Rıza; if you speak to me, speak of Ali.

8. Muhammad Taki and Ali Naki, they are the pillars of the faith of Islam; they are the turning of my heart in the house of my body. If you speak to me, speak of Ali.

9. The road of the Mahdi comes from Hasan Askerî; the believers taste the honey of Kevser, the road to the eight-gated paradise is followed. If you speak to me, speak of Ali.

10. I, Kul Hüseyin, have not had my fill of my cup; the love of Ali does not leave my head. I love, and I rise up from my scholar; if you speak to me, speak of Ali.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

Most of the ten quatrains are built of lines beginning "Ali'dir" (Ali is), and every quatrain closes on the refrain "Bana söylerseniz Ali'den söylen" (if you speak to me, speak of Ali). The first line of this long düvaz-ı imam, however, was not found during the collection: according to Işık some sages try to complete it as "Ali'dir Arş-u Ala'da oturan" (Ali is the one who sits on the highest Throne), but this line did not turn up in the field as Kul Hüseyin's; the second line, too, is handed down in the form "Cennet mekân Kul Hüseyin Dedem'den". The metre is the eleven-syllable syllabic measure. The rhymes of the first three lines of the quatrains are: "yapan, tepen, yıkan", "sahibi, kitabı, mihrabı", "şavkan, yağan, eğen", "başı, Bektaşı, kuşu", "mabudun, dibin, elin", "yoluna, diline, eline", "Naki, direği, devranı", "yolu, balı, yolu", "dolumdan, serimden, âlimden". The article glosses "şavkan" as shining and "yerne" as in place of. The informant is Halil Sezgin.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The deyiş is a eulogy that places Ali at the centre of the universe and lists, in images ordinary people would understand, the lofty place given to Ali in Alevi-Bektashi belief. Drowning Pharaoh, making paradise and hell, breaking the gate of the fortress of Khaybar, becoming the sun and shining, becoming rain and falling to earth, appearing at the Ascension are all tied to Ali. These narratives reflect the belief that Ali is hidden within the miracles of the prophets and the order of nature. The fifth quatrain says that Ali set Hacı Bektaş in his place as deputy; the legitimacy of the Bektashi path is thus tied to Ali.

After the sixth quatrain the deyiş passes into the order of the düvaz-ı imam and names the Twelve Imams in turn: Hasan and Hüseyin, Zeynelabidin waiting in the dungeon, Bakır, Cafer, Musa Kâzım and Rıza, Taki and Naki, Hasan Askerî and the Mahdi. In the last quatrain the poet, saying "I have not had my fill of my cup", declares that he is never sated with the cup of love. The loss of the first line and the different forms in which the second is handed down show how the deyiş lived in oral tradition; Işık chose to pass the text on without altering its state in the field.

Bibliography

Online sources