Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilün

Bir vesîledir Ḫudâ’ya evliyâ
Bende ol gel anlara kesb et ṣafâ
Çün velîler nâ’ibân-ı enbiyâ
Evliyâlar reh-nümâ-yı kibriyâ
Ḫıdmet etseñ bir ḳula sen iş bu yâ
Ol seni mesrûr eder elbette yâ
‘Âşıḳ olsa bir kişi mevlâya tâ
Ḥaḳ anı kendinde dost etmez mi yâ
Bil Ḫudâ’dır cümleden ekrem kerîm
Çün ânındır merḥamet raḥmet raḥîm
“Ḳul hüvâllâh eḥad” vâhid ‘alîm
“Ḥayy u Ḳayyumü’ṣ-Ṣamed” Allâh ḳadîm
Gel oḳu ḥizbu’l-baḥr hem silsile
Cümle sâdâtdan ‘azîz imdâd dile
Ṭut göñül Allâh’a şeyḫin-ilen bile
Hem azîz Ḳur’ân oku ḳalbiñ sile
Giceler ḳalḳ ḳıl teheccüd meşġūl ol
Bil bi-lâ keyf ẕâtınâ irmez ‘uḳūl
Aġla yalvar iste Ḥaḳ’dan sâil ol
Böyle buldu hep bulanlar Ḥaḳḳ’a yol
Aġlamak lâzımdır ancaḳ ‘âşıḳa
Gözyaşı rehber ṭarîḳ-i ma‘şûḳa
Ṣıdḳ-lan ṭut her işiñ ol ṣâdıḳa
Yoḳ azîz ḳısmet bu yolda fâsıḳa
Evliyâu’llâhı sev dost et saña
Ger ḥayât üzre gerek ‘uḳbâda tâ
Her velîden istifâże ḳıl sezâ
Ḳalb-ilen eyle muḥabbet dâ’ima
Bâ-ḫuṣūṣ hep Ḫâlidîler ber-uṣūl
Ḫatmine eyle ‘azîmet dâḫil ol
Başḳalıḳ yoḳ cümle bir Allâh’a yol
Var ‘azîz-i feyż-i Ḫudâ her yerde bol
Ḫâlidî’de bir uṣūl yoḳ ayrılıḳ
Cümlemiz bir cân ‘azîz yoḳ ġayrılıḳ
Ḫatmine var eyleme bî-zâr(ı)lıḳ
Eyleme tefriḳ ṣaḳın aġyâr(ı)lıḳ
Naḳşibendîlerde var ehl-i kemâl
Bunlara maḥṣūṣ bu hâl ġayre muḥâl
Ferd-i vāḥid bunlara olmaz mis̱âl
Naḳşîlerde var kemâl-i ẕü’l-Celâl
Diñle gel benden naṣīḥat serv-i nâz
Baḳ seniñ-çün var mı mürşid keşf-i râz
Baḳ şerî‘at var mı yoḫṣa ḥîle-bâz
Var velî şimdi velâkin mürşid az
Var idi sâ’ir ṭarîḳiñ ekmeli
Şimdi yoḳdur kâmili var echeli
Yoḳ velî onlarda şimdi var dili
Naḳşibendîler ekmel kümmeli
Çok idi şeyḫ u meşâyîḫ bir zamân
Ola nisbet-ile yoḳdur iş bu ân
Hem ṭuruḳuñ sâ’irinden Naḳşiyân
Var bu ânda ‘ârifân-ı mürşidân
Ḫâdim-i bâb-ı şerî‘at bende-gân
Maẓhar-ı sırr-ı ḥaḳīḳat sâlikân
Kâmilânı var ṭarîḳatde hemân
Ehl-i ṣoḥbet dervîşân u mürşidân
Var ṭarîḳatlerde şimdi çoḳ dede
Müsteḥaḳdırlar ve lâkin sille de
Yoḳ şerî‘at var mahâret ḥîlede
Ol kemâlât gitdi pîriñ kendide
İçlerinden gel saḳın etme kelâm
Ḥallerinden bil olur aḫẕ-ı ẓalâm
Ḥaḳ degil maḳṣadları dünyâ merâm
Yine sen reddetme görseñ ver selâm
İçlerinde vardır ‘âşıḳ fehmi yoḳ
Dersi var ẓâhirde bâṭın ‘ilmi yoḳ
Bulmadı hiçbir selâmet gitdi çoḳ
Ḥaşr olup taḥte’l-ḥicâbda ḳaldı çoḳ

In English

1. The saints are a means to God; come, become their servant and gain serenity.

2. For the saints are the deputies of the prophets; the saints are the guides to the Majestic.

3. If you serve a servant, he will surely make you glad.

4. If a man becomes a lover of the Lord, will God not make him His friend?

5. Know that God is more generous and noble than all, for compassion, mercy and kindness are His.

6. “Say: He is God, the One”, single, all-knowing, the eternal God who is “the Living, the Self-Subsisting, the Everlasting Refuge”.

7. Come, recite the Hizbü'l-bahr and the chain of the order; ask help from all the masters and saints.

8. Bind your heart to God together with your sheikh; recite the glorious Qur'an too and cleanse your heart.

9. Rise at night and busy yourself with the night prayer; know that minds do not reach His essence, which is beyond “how”.

10. Weep, implore, ask of God, be a beggar; all who found the road to God found it so.

11. Weeping is fitting only for the lover; tears are the guide on the road of the beloved.

12. Bind all your affairs faithfully to that faithful one; my dear, the sinner has no share on this road.

13. Love the saints of God and make them your friends, in this life and in the hereafter alike.

14. Receive grace from every saint as is fitting; love them always with the heart.

15. Above all, the Khalidis all keep to the rule; go to their hatm gathering and take part.

16. There is no difference; all is a road to the one God; my dear, the grace of God is plentiful everywhere.

17. Among the Khalidis there is no rule of separation; we are all one soul, my dear, there is no estrangement.

18. Go to their hatm, do not be reluctant; beware of keeping apart, of treating them as strangers.

19. Among the Naqshbandis are people of perfection; this state is theirs alone and impossible for others.

20. The single and unique One has no likeness among them; in the Naqshis is the perfection of the Lord of Majesty.

21. O graceful cypress, come, listen to my counsel: see whether there is a master for you who unveils the secret.

22. See whether he has the law or is a trickster; there are saints now, but masters are few.

23. The other orders too had their most perfect men; now they have no perfect one, only the most ignorant.

24. Now there are no saints among them, only talk; the Naqshbandis are the most perfect of the perfect.

25. Once there were many sheikhs and masters; compared with that time, there are none at present.

26. Among the other orders, the Naqshis at this time have masters who know God.

27. Their servants are servants at the door of the law, their travellers the locus of the secret of reality.

28. The path still has its perfect men; there are dervishes and masters of companionship.

29. Now there are many “dedes” in the orders; they deserve their place, but a slap as well.

30. There is no law, only skill in trickery; those perfections went with the founder himself.

31. Come, beware of speaking from among them; know from their state that darkness is taken in.

32. Their aim is not God but worldly desire; still, if you see them, do not reject them, give greeting.

33. Among them are lovers without understanding; they have outward lessons but no inward knowledge.

34. Many departed without finding any safety; many were raised and remained beneath the veil.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The Superiority of the Naqshbandis

One of the most polemical sections of the book, these thirty-four couplets (202-235) are headed “Meşâyıḫ-ı Naḳşibendiyye'niñ sâ'irleriñ üzerine fażîleti”, the superiority of the Naqshbandi sheikhs over the others and the benefit of their litanies and remembrances. The first fourteen couplets counsel love of the saints, the recitation of the Hizbü'l-bahr and of the chain of the order, the night prayer and weeping; in the sixth couplet the chapter of Sincerity and the attribute “el-Ḥayyu'l-Ḳayyûm” from the chapter of the Cow are placed in a single line.

From the fifteenth couplet a special place is given to the Khalidis. The poet tells the disciple to join the Khalidis' “ḫatm”, the communal hatm-i hâcegân gatherings, and stresses that there is no separation among them: “Cümlemiz bir cân ‘azîz yoḳ ġayrılıḳ”, we are all one soul, my dear, there is no estrangement. These lines can also be read as a call to unity at a time when Naqshbandi circles in Amasya were divided.

After the twenty-first couplet the tone sharpens. It is said that in the other orders there are “now” no perfect men left, only “dil”, talk, and that many “dedes”, though deserving of their place, also deserve a “sille”, a slap. Yet the poet does not lose his measure: in the thirty-second couplet he advises not to reject such people when one sees them but to greet them. Since the word “dede” was used as the title of sheikhs in Mevlevi and Bektashi lodges, one may think that the criticism was aimed at those circles; the poet, however, names no order.

Bibliography

Online sources