Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Diline ders verdi beline kemer
Muhammed Ali’dir ol şems’ü kamer
Şah Hasan Hüseyin Şah İmam Zeynel
Bakır’a kan olan irfan sendedir
Aç gözünü de bak Musayı Kazım
İmam İriza’dan döndürme özün
Mürşit eşiğine sür de gel yüzün
Takı Naki hem Askeri sendedir
Muhipleri haber aldı Mehdi’den
İblistir batıl ilmine hükmeden
Ne gezersin Şam-ı şerif Mekke’den
Sen Kâbe ararsın Kâbe sendedir.
Kul Hüseyn’im gezmez oldu ırağı
Süreğimiz Şeyh Safi’nin süreği
Muhammed Ali’dir ilmin direği
Vücuduna hoş bak mihman sendedir

In English

1. He gave a lesson to the tongue and a belt to the waist; that sun and moon are Muhammad and Ali. Şah Hasan, Hüseyin, Şah Imam Zeynel; the wisdom that became blood for Bakır is in you.

2. Open your eyes and look upon Musa-i Kâzım; do not turn your essence away from Imam Rıza. Lay your face upon the guide's threshold and come; Taki, Naki and Askerî too are in you.

3. His lovers have received news from the Mahdi; the one who rules by false knowledge is Iblis. Why do you wander in noble Damascus and in Mecca; you seek the Kaaba, the Kaaba is in you.

4. Kul Hüseyin no longer wanders far; our line is the line of Şeyh Safi. The pillar of knowledge is Muhammad and Ali; look well upon your body, the guest is in you.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

These four quatrains are almost identical to the last four quatrains of deyiş no. 60 ("Sana derim sana divane âşık"); Işık collected the two texts from different informants and publishes them as separate deyiş. This text was handed down by Âşık Cafer Aydoğdu. The last line of the quatrains arrives at the redif "sendedir" (is in you) ("irfan sendedir, Askeri sendedir, Kâbe sendedir, mihman sendedir"); the rhymes of the first three lines are built on "kemer, kamer, Zeynel", "Kazım, özün, yüzün", "Mehdi'den, hükmeden, Mekke'den", "ırağı, süreği, direği". The metre is the eleven-syllable syllabic measure, and Işık classes the text as a düvaz-ı imam. The pen name (mahlas) in the closing quatrain is "Kul Hüseyn'im".

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The poem joins the düvaz-ı imam's order of naming the Twelve Imams with the thought that their secret lies within man himself. The imams are named in turn, but every quatrain returns to the human being with the word "is in you": the wisdom of Bakır, Taki, Naki and Askerî, the Kaaba and at last God Himself, the "guest", are within man. The line in the third quatrain, "you seek the Kaaba, the Kaaba is in you", is the core of the view Işık brings to the fore when describing Kul Hüseyin's thought: the qibla and the Kaaba are in the human heart, and if faith is sought, it is in man himself.

In the final quatrain the poet says that he no longer wanders far; he has found within himself what he sought. The line "our line is the line of Şeyh Safi" recalls the tradition that ties the path of some Alevi lineages to Şeyh Safiyyüddin, founder of the Ardabil lodge; the source does not explain the line. Işık writes that Kul Hüseyin, as a "gerçek", held the view of finding the truth in his own being and cleansing what he found and preparing it for God to be a guest there; the last line of the deyiş says this in a single sentence.

Bibliography

Online sources