Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün

Gel ey münker uyup ol kendiñe dost etme şeyṭânı
Derûnuñ cîfesin taṭhir edip fehm eyle Sübḥân’ı
Göñül bir ‘arş-ı ‘âẓamdır buyurdu Ḥaḳ Resûla’llâh
Şikest etmek ḫaṭâdandır yıḳarsıñ beyt-i Raḥmânı
Ḥurûfât-ı kelâmu’llâh edeb ‘ilmin beyânında
Saña farż-ı Ḫudâ’dır bil su’âl et maġz-ı Furḳānı
Varıp bir mürşide teslîm olup ṭut dâmenin muḥkem
Saña ol bildire fermân ḥaḳḳı nûr-ı Yezdânı
Naẓar etdikde mir’âta görür taṣvîrini münkir
Ṣanır Mecnûn gibi dîvâne fehm etmez Süleymân’ı

In English

1. Come, O denier, awake; do not make the devil your friend; cleanse the carcass within you and understand the Glorious.

2. God's Messenger said, “The heart is the greatest Throne”; to break it is an error, you would be tearing down the house of the Merciful.

3. The letters of the word of God lie in the exposition of the science of good conduct; know that asking this is God's command to you; ask the marrow of the Criterion.

4. Go and surrender to a master and hold his hem firmly; let him make known to you the command, the truth, the light of God.

5. When the denier looks into the mirror he sees his own image; he thinks Süleyman mad like Mecnun and does not understand him.

Literary and Historical Commentary

A Mirror for the Denier

The last rhyme word is the poet's own name: the rhymes meet in the long sound “-ânı”, “şeyṭânı, Sübḥân'ı, Raḥmânı, Furḳānı, Yezdânı, Süleymân'ı”, and come to rest on Süleyman. Following immediately on the Amasya section, the five couplets address the “münkir”, the one who denies the path; the metre is the hezec pattern that repeats “Mefâîlün” four times.

The second couplet rests on the saying attributed to the Prophet meaning “The heart is the greatest Throne of God” and says that breaking a heart is tearing down the house of the Merciful. The poet uses this saying against the denier: to wound the people of the path is to attack God's house in the heart. The fourth couplet repeats the book's unchanging counsel: surrender to a master and hold his hem firmly.

When identifying the author of the work, Şensöz relied among others on this last couplet: “Naẓar etdikde mir'âta görür taṣvîrini münkir / Ṣanır Mecnûn gibi dîvâne fehm etmez Süleymân'ı”, when the denier looks into the mirror he sees his own image; he thinks Süleyman mad like Mecnun and does not understand him. The poet both alludes to his pen name through the word “mir'ât” and openly names himself, Süleyman. Here the mirror idea is at its core: when the denier looks at the sheikh, that is, into the mirror, he sees his own image; the madman he imagines is in fact his own reflection. The charge of madness in the ghazals addressed to the people of Amasya is here turned back on the denier through a play of mirrors.

Bibliography

Online sources