Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilün

Bu ṭarîḳ-ı Ḥaḳ’da yâhu mürşid-i kâmil gerek
Feyż-i rûḥâni taṣarruf ‘âlemi şâmil gerek
Eylemez her bir kişi bu yolda ḥall-i müşkilât
‘Aḳl-ı küll ‘ilm-i ledün üstâd bir vâṣıl gerek
Ṣanma mürşiddir saña ol gördigiñ her tâc külâh
Var ḳatı berzaḫ bu yolda nice biñ ḥâ’il gerek
Elde baḳ var mı şerî‘at ḥabl-i bâṭın ḳuvveti
Ẓâhiri muṭlaḳ şerî‘at ‘ilmine ‘âmil gerek
Ḫâlḳ desin Mecnun gerek ‘aşḳ ehline Mir’at-nümâ
İl hemân divâne ṣânsun ger kişi ‘âḳıl gerek

In English

1. Hey, on this road of God a perfect master is needed; one whose spiritual grace and power encompass the world is needed.

2. Not everyone on this road can resolve its difficulties; a master who has arrived, with universal reason and knowledge from God's presence, is needed.

3. Do not take every crown and cap you see for your master; on this road there is a hard barrier, many thousands of obstacles.

4. Look whether he has in hand the law and the strength of the inner rope; outwardly he must surely act by the knowledge of the law.

5. Mir'ât-nümâ, let the people call the lover “Mecnun”, it is right; though a man be wise, let the folk think him mad.

Literary and Historical Commentary

A Short Counsel with the Refrain “Gerek”

The book's counsel on the perfect master is gathered here into a single refrain, the word “gerek”, is needed. In these five couplets of four-foot remel the rhymes, “kâmil, şâmil, vâṣıl, ḥâ'il, ‘âmil, ‘âḳıl”, are chosen from adjectives in the Arabic active-participle pattern; this choice lists the qualities sought in a master as a series of attributes. The call “yâhu”, hey, in the first couplet, like the “hěri” of the first ghazal, brings the warmth of spoken language into the text.

The third couplet is a warning: “Ṣanma mürşiddir saña ol gördigiñ her tâc külâh”, do not take every crown and cap you see for your master. The crown and the cap are the headgear of members of the orders; the poet says that dress is not enough for sheikhhood. The fourth couplet gives the measure: the master must have in hand both the law and the strength of the inner rope, and must outwardly act by the knowledge of the law. This couplet is a concise statement of the balance between law and path that recurs throughout the book.

The pen-name couplet passes from the language of counsel to the language of love: it is natural for the people to call the lover Mecnun; even if he is wise, the folk think him mad. This couplet shares the feeling of the words “hold me wise or mad as you will” in the ghazal addressed to the people of Amasya.

Bibliography

Online sources