Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilün

Bende-i maḳbûl-i dergâh-ı Ḫudâdır evliyâ
‘Ârifân-ı sırr-ı ẕât-ı kibriyâdır evliyâ
Evliyâ kimdir anı bir müdde‘î fehm eylesin
Ta maḳāmât-ı ‘ale’l-‘arş istevâdır evliyâ
Evliyâ şol ẕât-ı ekremdir nebîler vâris̱i
Bâ-velâyet nâibân-ı enbiyâdır evliyâ
Evliyâdır Âdem oġlu Âdemi Âdem eden
Vâṣıl eyler ẕât-ı Ḥaḳḳ’a reh-nümâdır evliyâ
Evliyâ bir ḥalde ẓâhir ḥâl bilmez bâṭının
Bâṭın içre pâdişâh-ı etḳiyâdır evliyâ
Zühdüyle ṣanma veliler meşrebin ṣûret-perest
Zühdiden ṣâf-ı muṣaffâ müntehâdır evliyâ
Evliyâlar bâbına bende oldu bu Mir’at-nümâ
Anıñ için bende-gân evliyâdır evliyâ

In English

1. The saints are the accepted servants of God's threshold; the saints are those who know the secret of the essence of the Majestic.

2. Who the saints are, let a claimant understand: the saints are those who have reached the stations of “settling upon the Throne”.

3. The saints are those noble men who are the heirs of the prophets; through sainthood the saints are the deputies of the prophets.

4. It is the saints who make the son of Adam truly human; the saints are the guides who bring one to the essence of God.

5. The saints appear in one state, the people do not know their inward; inwardly the saints are the kings of the God-fearing.

6. Do not think the saints' disposition, through their asceticism, a worship of outward form; the saints are the furthest point, purer than the ascetic.

7. This Mir'ât-nümâ has become a servant at the saints' door; that is why the saints are the servants of the saints.

Literary and Historical Commentary

A Ghazal of Definitions with the Refrain “Evliyâ”

After the section on the abundance of saints the subject continues in definitions: each of these seven couplets on the refrain “evliyâ”, the saints, adds a definition of the saint: the accepted servant of the threshold, the heir and deputy of the prophets, the one who makes the son of Adam human, inwardly the king of the God-fearing. At the end of the long remel lines the rhymes meet in the sound “-â”: “Ḫudâ, kibriyâ, istevâ, enbiyâ, reh-nümâ, etḳiyâ, müntehâ”.

The second couplet addresses a claimant and says the saints have reached the stations of “‘ale'l-‘arş istevâ”, settling upon the Throne. This reference to the verse of the chapter Taha, “The Merciful settled upon the Throne”, is among Şensöz's examples of quotation; transferring to the station of the saints an expression the verse uses for God shows a daring side of Sufi interpretation. The phrase “Âdem oġlu Âdemi Âdem eden” in the fourth couplet is a pun built on the word “âdem” as both the name of Adam and “human being”.

The sixth couplet continues the criticism of the ascetic: the saint is not one who worships outward form through asceticism, but a “müntehâ”, a furthest point, purer than the ascetic. With his pen name the poet counts himself a servant at the saints' door, and the ghazal closes in a circle: “bende-gân evliyâdır evliyâ”, the saints are the servants of the saints.

Bibliography

Online sources