Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Bu ‘ârifler künûz-ı ẕât-ı Ḥaḳ esrâr-ı Rabbânî
Ġuyûbât ‘âleminden naḳl ederler sırr-ı Yezdânı
Olup meşhûr-ı Ḥaḳ ‘ayne’l-yaḳīn milkinde ‘ârifler
Hemân iẓhâr edip râz-ı nihân-ı ‘ilm ü irfânı
Hemîn ġavvâṣ olup baḥr-i ḥaḳīḳat içre câsûslar
Bulup baḥr-i ‘amîḳden lü’lü-i la‘l-i bedaḫşânı
Olup herbirleri baḥr-i muḥîṭ ḫīzâb urup ‘aşḳdan
Temevvüc eyleyüp baḥr-i hüviyyet ‘aşḳ-ı Sübḥânî
Ḥaḳīḳat gencine miftâḥ olup meftûḥ edip râzı
Açıp ‘ilm-i ma‘ârif sırr-ı Ḥaḳḳ’ı râz-ı pinhânî
‘Ulûm-ı vaḥdete âgâh edip erbâb-ı inṣâfı
Dem-â-dem gösterip ‘âlemlere envâr-ı raḥmânî
Ezel nûş eyleyüp ṣahbâ-yı ‘aşḳ-ı ẕevḳ-i vaḥdetden
Olup hep cümlesi ‘ilm-i ledün ‘irfânı ‘ummânı
Ḳılıp ehl-i ḥaḳīḳat erleri vâḳıf müdaḳḳıḳlar
Olup ‘aḳl-ı me‘âd ṣâḥipleri âgâh-ı sübḥânî
Beḳā bi’llâh maḳāmâtın edem taḥṣīl edip taḥḳīḳ
Nihâyetde bulup feyż-i beḳā iḥsân-ı Yezdânı
Şerî‘at şems-i ġarrâda müfessirler muḥaddis̱ler
Nihâyet bildirüp genc-i nihânı maġz-ı furḳānı
Bu ẕâtlar ḳadrini bir ḳadirdân ṣâḥib vefâdan ṣor
Mürâ’î ṣûfi-i sâlûs ne bilsin ḳadr-i insânı
Velâyet ḥâlini bilmek ne mümkin bir muḳallid kim
Gerek sermâye-i feyżi Ḫudâ ḥâlât-ı nûrânı
Ne bilsin bî-baṣar a‘mâ bu ẕâtlar kimdir ‘âlemde
Ṣanıp kendi gibi gör bunları ṣûretde nefsâni
Bu ẕâtlar ‘âleme mir’ât olup herkes görür kendin
Gerek bir ṭoġrı göz erbâb-ı inṣâf-ı çeşm-i ḥaḳḳānî
Meded yâ Rab be-ḥaḳ seyyid-i şâh cihân ḥaḳḳı
Be-ḥaḳḳ-ı çâr-yâr cümleten aṣḥâb-ı burhânî
Ḫaṭâ bu cürm-i ‘iṣyânım hemîşe sehv ü noḳṣânım
‘Aṭâ vü şefḳatiñ baḥri olup yoḳ ḥadd-i pâyânı
İlâhî sen olup ‘ârif cemî‘ aḥvâlime vâḳıf
Ki sensiñ cümleden erḥam ḳamunuñ ‘afv-ı ġufrânı
İlâhî sen olup ḥâżır cemi‘ ẕerrâtıma nâẓır
Saña ġā’ib degil ḥâlim bilübsüñ cümle pinhânı
Ḳuluñ Mir’ât-nümâ muḥtâc aña bâb-ı ‘inâyet aç
Revâ ḳıl ḥâcetin yâ Rab kerem ḳıl lüṭf-ı iḥsânı
Be-ḥaḳḳ-ı mürşidim şeyḫim imâmım Muṣṭafâ ‘İṣmet
Be-ḥaḳḳ-ı Şâh-ı Pîrân Naḳşibend Ġavs̱-i Geylânî

In English

1. These knowers are the treasuries of the essence of God, divine secrets; they bring the secret of God from the world of the unseen.

2. Renowned before God in the realm of certainty by sight, the knowers at once make manifest the hidden secret of knowledge and gnosis.

3. Like spies diving in the sea of reality, they find from the deep sea the pearl and the ruby of Badakhshan.

4. Each of them, an encompassing sea, surges with love; they billow like the sea of selfhood, the love of the Glorious.

5. Becoming keys to the treasure of reality, they open the secret; they open the science of gnosis, the secret of God, the hidden mystery.

6. Making the people of fairness aware of the sciences of oneness, they show the worlds at every moment the lights of the Merciful.

7. Having drunk in eternity the wine of love and the delight of oneness, all of them became oceans of the gnosis of knowledge from God's presence.

8. Making the men of the people of reality knowing and subtle, they became people of reason who look to the hereafter, aware of the Glorious.

9. Gaining and verifying the stations of abiding in God, at last they find the grace of abiding, the bounty of God.

10. In the radiant sun of the law they are commentators and traditionists; at last they make known the hidden treasure, the marrow of the Criterion.

11. Ask the worth of these men of a faithful one who knows worth; how should the hypocritical, deceitful Sufi know the worth of a man?

12. How could an imitator know the state of sainthood? The capital of God's grace, luminous states, are needed.

13. How should the sightless blind man know who these men are in the world? He takes them in form for creatures of the self like himself.

14. These men are a mirror to the world, and everyone sees himself in them; a true eye is needed, a fair and godly eye.

15. Help, O Lord, for the sake of the lord, king of the world, for the sake of the four friends and all the Companions who bear proof.

16. Error is my crime of rebellion, ever my lapse and my deficiency; Yours is a sea of bounty and compassion without bound or end.

17. My God, You are the Knower, aware of all my states; for You are more merciful than all, the pardon and forgiveness of all.

18. My God, You are present, watching over all my atoms; my state is not hidden from You, You know all that is secret.

19. Your servant Mir'ât-nümâ is in need; open to him the door of grace; O Lord, grant his need, be generous, be kind and bountiful.

20. For the sake of my master, my sheikh, my imam, Mustafa İsmet; for the sake of the Shah of Masters, Nakşibend, and the Help, Geylânî.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The Second Kaside

The two main parts of the kaside stand plainly apart in these twenty couplets: the first fourteen are a eulogy of the saints, the last six a prayer. The book's first kaside was also devoted to the saints, but it had nine couplets and was close to a ghazal. This second one, headed in the edition “Ḳaṣîde-i der Şân-ı Evliyâu’llâh”, a kaside on the glory of the saints of God, is in the four-foot hezec “Mefâîlün” with a single rhyme ending in the sound “-ânî / -ânı”.

In the eulogy the saints are depicted as treasuries, divers, encompassing seas and keys; the “la‘l-i bedaḫşân”, the ruby of Badakhshan, of the third couplet carries the precious-stone imagery of divan poetry into the world of secrets. After the eleventh couplet the book's familiar voice of dispute returns: the hypocritical Sufi, the imitator and the “bî-baṣar a‘mâ”, the sightless blind man, cannot know the saint's worth. The fourteenth couplet works the mirror theme again: these men become a mirror to the world and everyone sees himself in them. Şensöz's quotations serve two different points: the second couplet appears as a Qur'anic quotation, the last as evidence of the poet's devotion to his master.

In the prayer the poet implores for the sake of the Prophet, the four caliphs and the Companions, and closes the kaside with a chain of intercession: his master Mustafa İsmet, the “Shah of Masters” Bahâeddîn Nakşibend and the “Help” Abdülkadir-i Geylânî. That the founder of the Qadiri order is named in a Naqshbandi prayer shows that, despite the book's sharp distinctions between orders, it saw the great saints as a common lineage.

Bibliography

Online sources