Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Ben Ali’yi gördüm arşta dururken
Yerin göğün binasını kurunca
Ali’nin sırrına kim erdi yetti
Cebrail’e karşı sual sorunca
Nice bin yıl sonra dünyaya geldi
Gürühü naciler ona bend oldu
Yerin göğün arası nurla doldu
Muhammed Mustafa zuhur olunca
Muhabbet deryası sel gibi akar
Gaziler Fatma’nın yüzüne bakar
Muhammed’in teri gül gibi kokar
İnip feriştahlar yüzler sürünce
Üçler ile beşler kırklar yediler
Hak lokması geldi onlar yediler
Bunu dinlemeyen lanet dediler
Ali’yle Muhammed irfan kurunca
Okumuşum ağdan bilmem karadan
Yolu kurdu yeri göğü yaradan
Kaldırdılar şek şüpheyi aradan
Cebrail de gökten yere inince
Hak Taala bunu böyle buyurdu
İblis olan bu dergâhtan sürüldü
Yaralar sarılıp ikrar verildi
Cebrail’e Hak rehbersin deyince
Ortaya attılar İmam Caferi
El elden tuttuben çekti kateri
Çok şükretti iki cihan selveri
Hutbeler okunup ikrar verince
Muhammed Mihraç’ta Burağ’a bindi
O nasıl Burak’tır anı kim bildi
Ay ile gün orda secdeye indi
Ali’yle Muhammed dara durunca
Cennetin kapısın ol Rıdvan açtı
Hikmetin görenler serinden geçti
Ali’yle Muhammed erkâna düştü
Yerle gök titredi tarı çalınca
Cebrail erkânı eline aldı
Desturi şah deyip beline çaldı
Selman ol demde diz üstüne geldi
Doldurup kadehi ele alınca
Doldurup kadehi eline aldı
Fatmana bismillah deyüben kandı
Ümmü Gülsüm Zehra kıbleye geldi
Muhabbete mest oldular gelince
Muhabbet ettiler Hakk’a yettiler
Hakk’ın buyruğunu onlar tuttular
Hep bir olup o dergâha gittiler
Lahmike lam oldu didar görünce
Onlarda cenneti bir hoş gezdiler
Bir engür buluben orda ezdiler
Hak için bir de zamah düzdüler
Şemliyi kırk bir parçaya bölünce
Muhammed der ben özüme ağlamam
Hayırsız ümmetin halini sormam
Hak buyurdu ben kendimden ayırmam
Kin kibirsiz cemevine gelince
Hep gaziler bir araya geldiler
Fatmananın dar çektiğini gördüler
Mümin olana sahipli dediler
Musahip eşiğin Kâbe bilince
Muhammed Selman’a gel dedi geldi
Cebrail nameyi sultana sundu
Şükredin talipler yol size kaldı
Huri ile kılmanlar da gelince
Ali talibini yabana atmaz
Mümin olan havariç sohbetin etmez
Her kim bu ayeti sıdk ile tutmaz
Cehennem azabı çeker ölünce
Muhabbet deryasın belden aşıran
İblistir yol oğlun yoldan şaşıran
Musahibi birbirine düşüren
Cehennem iti olurlar ölünce
Münkirler elini batırdı kana
Ali’yi sevenler cemine gele
Bu deme söylenir yirmi tam hane
Ali’yle Muhammed irfan kurunca
Kul Hüseyin’im her dem bunları söyler
Bir derin deryanın ummanın boylar
Her kim bu demeyi sıdk ile söyler
Cehennem azabı çekmez ölünce

In English

1. When God was building the edifice of earth and sky, I saw Ali standing upon the Throne. When he put a question to Gabriel, who could reach and attain the secret of Ali.

2. Many thousand years later he came into the world; the community of the saved bound itself to him. When Muhammad Mustafa appeared, the space between earth and sky was filled with light.

3. The sea of fellowship flows like a flood; the warriors of faith gaze upon Fatma's face. When the angels came down and laid their faces, Muhammad's sweat smelled like a rose.

4. The Three, the Five, the Forty, the Seven; God's morsel came and they ate. When Ali and Muhammad established wisdom, they called down a curse on whoever would not listen to this.

5. I have read from the white, I do not know the black; the Creator of earth and sky laid down the road. When Gabriel too came down from heaven to earth, they removed doubt and suspicion from between them.

6. God Most High commanded thus; the one who is Iblis was driven from this lodge. When God said to Gabriel "you are the guide", wounds were bound and the pledge was given.

7. They brought Imam Cafer forward; hand in hand he led the line. When the sermons were read and the pledge given, the lord of the two worlds gave great thanks.

8. At the Ascension Muhammad mounted the Burak; what kind of Burak was it, who knew it. When Ali and Muhammad took their stand at the dar, the moon and the sun bowed down there in prostration.

9. Rıdvan opened the gate of paradise; those who saw its wisdom gave up their heads. When the frame drum was played, Ali and Muhammad entered the rite, and earth and sky trembled.

10. Gabriel took the rite into his hand; saying "by your leave, O Shah" he girded it at his waist. When the cup was filled and taken in hand, Selman at that moment came down upon his knees.

11. He filled the cup and took it in his hand; Mother Fatma said "in the name of God" and was sated. Ümmü Gülsüm Zehra came to the qibla; when they came they were made drunk with fellowship.

12. They held fellowship and reached God; they kept God's precepts. All becoming one they went to that lodge; when they saw the Face, it became "your flesh is my flesh".

13. They too wandered pleasantly through paradise; they found a grape and pressed it there. When the shawl was divided into forty-one pieces, they arranged a semah too for God's sake.

14. Muhammad says: I do not weep for myself; I do not ask after the state of a worthless community. God commanded: when they come to the cemevi without grudge or pride, I do not part them from myself.

15. All the warriors of faith came together; they saw Mother Fatma standing at the dar. When they knew the musahip's threshold as the Kaaba, they called the believer "one who has a protector".

16. Muhammad said "come" to Selman, and he came; Gabriel presented the letter to the sultan. When the houris and the servants of paradise came too, it was said: "Give thanks, seekers, the road is left to you".

17. Ali does not cast his seeker out into the wild; the believer does not keep company with those outside the path. Whoever does not keep this verse sincerely suffers the torment of hell when he dies.

18. The one who makes the sea of fellowship overflow its banks, who leads the son of the path astray from the road, is Iblis. Those who set musahips against one another become dogs of hell when they die.

19. The deniers dipped their hands in blood; let those who love Ali come to his cem. When Ali and Muhammad established wisdom, twenty full houses are sung in this hour.

20. I, Kul Hüseyin, say these things at every moment; I sound the depth of a deep sea, an ocean. Whoever sings this hour sincerely does not suffer the torment of hell when he dies.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The narrative moves scene by scene on the suffix "-ınca, -ince" (when): the second or fourth lines of the quatrains end "kurunca, sorunca, olunca, sürünce, inince, deyince, verince, durunca, çalınca, alınca, gelince, görünce, bölünce, bilince, ölünce", and the events are linked by "when ...". Işık classes the twenty quatrains as a "tevhid and miraçlama"; in each quatrain the first three lines rhyme among themselves. The metre is the eleven-syllable syllabic measure. In the final quatrain the pen name (mahlas) "Kul Hüseyin'im" can be read. The text was collected from Ali Yüksel of Keçiköy and Erdoğan Koç. The deyiş is one of the longest texts in the collection; Işık adds no separate note on this, and the text is given in the form he published.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The miraçlama is the Alevi-Bektashi poetic genre that tells of Muhammad's ascent to heaven and of the assembly of the Forty he attended on his return; it is recited by the zakirs in the cem and listened to standing. Kul Hüseyin's deyiş joins this narrative with tevhid, the idea of unity. The poem opens with Ali standing on the Throne as earth and sky are being created; Muhammad's appearing, his mounting of the Burak and the moon and sun bowing down at the Ascension are described. Ali and Muhammad standing at the dar together and entering the rite make concrete the Alevi belief that the two come from one light.

The middle quatrains give the cem of the Forty in detail: Selman kneeling, the cup being filled and Mother Fatma drinking it with "in the name of God", a grape being pressed and shared, the shawl divided into forty-one pieces, the semah being danced. "Lahmike lahmî", "your flesh is my flesh", is a saying the Prophet is related to have said of Ali, expressing the unity of the two. The last quatrains tie this narrative to the ethics of the community: the musahip's threshold is counted as the Kaaba, those who set musahips against one another are cursed, and those who love Ali are called to the cem. The Ascension narrative is thus presented as the origin of the cem worship and of the institution of musahiplik.

Bibliography

Online sources