Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Sofu tan eyleme zümreyi fakrı
Her demde okuruz Mehdi Haydarı
Eğer ister isen doğru haberi
Biz Mehdi’yi sahip zaman askeri
Aslımız neslimiz Muhammed Ali
Pirim Hünkar Hacı Bektaşi Veli
Şah’ı Merdan kuluyuz biz Alevi
Biz Mehdi’yi sahip zaman askeri
Mestimiz Caferi güruhu naci
Caferi olmayan kaldı harici
Hariciyi keser Mehdi kılıcı
Biz Mehdi’yi sahip zaman askeri
Muhammed dedi ol Mehdi ahiri
Bu gün ne zamandır Mehdi zuhuri
Hiç kalmasın Yezitlerin eseri
Biz Mehdi’yi sahip zaman askeri
Kul Hüseyin’im eline al teberi
Koymayalım Yezit olan kâfiri
Mümin muhibbin olsun haberi
Biz Mehdi’yi sahip zaman askeri

In English

1. Zealot, do not reproach the company of the path of poverty; at every moment we call upon the Mahdi and Haydar. If you want the true news, we are soldiers of the Mahdi, the master of the age.

2. Our root and our lineage are Muhammad and Ali; my pir is the Hünkâr Hacı Bektaş Velî. We are servants of Şah-ı Merdan, we are Alevi; we are soldiers of the Mahdi, the master of the age.

3. Our intoxication is Caferî, the community of the saved; whoever is not Caferî has been left outside. The sword of the Mahdi cuts down the one outside; we are soldiers of the Mahdi, the master of the age.

4. Muhammad said, "he is the last Mahdi"; is today the time of the Mahdi's appearing. Let no trace of the Yezids remain; we are soldiers of the Mahdi, the master of the age.

5. I, Kul Hüseyin, say: take the axe in your hand; let us not spare the unbeliever who is a Yezid. Let the believers and the lovers have the news; we are soldiers of the Mahdi, the master of the age.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

Işık describes this medetname as a "call to the Mahdi"; each of the five quatrains closes on the refrain "Biz Mehdi'yi sahip zaman askeri" (we are soldiers of the Mahdi, master of the age). The rhymes of the first three lines are: "fakrı, Haydarı, haberi", "Ali, Veli, Alevi", "naci, harici, kılıcı", "ahiri, zuhuri, eseri", "teberi, kâfiri, haberi". The metre is the eleven-syllable syllabic measure. The pen name (mahlas) "Kul Hüseyin'im" is in the last quatrain. The text was handed down by Halil Sezgin.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

This is a call that states the identity of its community plainly. In the first quatrain the zealot, the believer attached to outward form, is told not to reproach the company of the path of poverty. In the second quatrain the foundations of the community are listed: its lineage goes back to Muhammad and Ali, its pir is the Hünkâr Hacı Bektaş Velî, and the community defines itself as "servants of Şah-ı Merdan, we are Alevi". That the name "Alevi" is used so openly in a deyiş apparently composed in the nineteenth century is striking; but since the deyiş was collected from oral tradition, it should be borne in mind that the lines may have changed over time, a caution that is ours.

In the third quatrain the word "Caferî" describes those who follow the road of Imam Cafer-i Sadık; those who are not Caferî are counted "outside". The "master of the age" of the refrain is the Mahdi, the Twelfth Imam believed in Alevi and Shiite faith to appear at the end of time and establish justice. The community's seeing itself as his soldiers turns the waiting into a declaration of loyalty. The teber of the last quatrain is the axe carried by Bektashi dervishes and counted among the symbols of the path.

Bibliography

Online sources