Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilün

Ser-be-ser bâb-ı ṭarîḳatdir ṭarîḳ-i Naḳşibend
Mebde-i râh-ı ḥaḳīḳatde ṭarîḳ-i Naḳşibend
Sâlikâne istiḳāmet üzre ḳā’imdir müdâm
Maẓhar-ı sırr-ı şerî‘atdir ṭarîḳ-i Naḳşibend
Bâ şerî‘atdir esâs hiç ayrılmaz bir ân
Reh-nümâ-yı râh-ı vaḥdetdir ṭarîḳ-i Naḳşibend
Dört meẕâhib üzre ẕâhib bendegân-ı ‘âşîḳān
Bendegân-ı ehl-i ṣoḥbetdir ṭarîḳ-ı Naḳşibend
Bende-i Şâh-ı Bahâ ol zâhid etme ‘itirâż
Enver-i bâb-ı sa‘âdetdir ṭarîḳ-ı Naḳşibend
Gör ne ni‘metler saña vird-i Ḫudâ Mir’at-nümâ
Bes saña bir ‘âlî himmetdir ṭarîḳ-i Naḳşibend

In English

1. The Naqshbandi way is from end to end the door of the path; the Naqshbandi way stands at the beginning of the road of reality.

2. As befits travellers, it stands always on uprightness; the Naqshbandi way is the locus of the secret of the law.

3. Its foundation is the law, from which it never departs for a moment; the Naqshbandi way is the guide on the road of oneness.

4. Its loving servants follow the four schools of law; the Naqshbandi way is the servants of the people of companionship.

5. O ascetic, be the servant of Shah Bahâ (Bahâeddîn Nakşibend), do not object; the Naqshbandi way is the brightest door of felicity.

6. Mir'ât-nümâ, see what blessings the litany of God has given you; the Naqshbandi way is enough for you as a lofty aspiration.

Literary and Historical Commentary

A Praise of the Order

Read as a eulogy introducing the new disciple to the path he has entered, these six couplets follow immediately after the section on istihare. Their refrain, “ṭarîḳ-i Naḳşibend”, the Naqshbandi way, closes the second line of every couplet with the same words and, in long remel lines, gives the poem the air of an anthem. The rhymes, “ṭarîḳat, ḥaḳīḳat, şerî‘at, vaḥdet, ṣoḥbet, sa‘âdet, himmet”, are chosen from the basic vocabulary of the order.

What the ghazal stresses again and again is the Naqshbandi attachment to the law. The third couplet says it “never departs from the law for a moment”; the fourth says that members of the order walk “according to the four schools”. As Şensöz also points out, this insistence puts concisely the principle seen throughout the work that “there is no path without the law”. The “ehl-i ṣoḥbet”, people of companionship, of the fourth couplet points to the Naqshbandi idea of training through companionship, through being in the sheikh's presence.

In the fifth couplet the “zâhid”, the dry ascetic who criticises the order from outside, is advised to become the servant of “Şâh-ı Bahâ”. Bahâeddîn Nakşibend is mostly named in the book by this title “Shah”. In the end the poet sees remembrance as a blessing from God and counts this path enough for his own aspiration; with that the ghazal closes.

Bibliography

Online sources