Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilün

Şimdi dem-keş var ṭarîḳatden çok Yezîd
Elde yoḳ ḥabl-i şerî‘atden ba‘îd
Kendi ‘ilmince olup bir müctehid
Tâ enâniyetde iblisden şedîd
Hiç şerî‘atsiz olur mu râh-ı Dîn
Böyle mi fermân Rabbu’l-‘âlemîn
Yok mudur Kur’ân Hadîs̱ kûtâh-bîn
Bî-şerî‘at mı ṭarîḳ-ı vâṣılîn
Bî-baṣarlıḳdan ẓuhûr eyler bu söz
İḳtiżâ etmezdi ṭoġru görse göz
Ḥaḳ için ṣâfi muṣaffâ olsa öz
Aḥsen-i ṣûretde seyr eylerdi göz
Ceẕbedir nefsânî dilde ẕevḳine
‘Aşḳ deyip mubṭil göñülde şevḳine
Sevḳ edip şeyṭânıña bilmez meşḳine
Aldanıp iblîsiñ ol teşvîḳine
Hiç olur mu ehl-i ‘aşḳda terk-i farż
Oldur ‘âşıḳ sünneti eylerse farż
Ehl-i ‘aşḳ oldur ki ṣâfi bî-ġaraż
‘Aşḳ degil muṭlaḳ budur cehl-i maraż
Yoḳ ri‘âyet sünnete farża ebed
Yoḳ ‘amel bir meẕhebe Allâh meded
Boynuna şeyṭân urup muḥkem kemend
Kendine ṣorsañ ṭarîḳ-ı Naḳşibend
Var ṭarîḳ-ı Naḳşibendîyim diyen
Naḳşî olmaz boş bu da‘vâ eyleyen
Ey bu Naḳşî iddi‘âsın eyleyen
Naḳşibend olmaz şerî‘at bilmeyen
Başḳa mı bâb-ı şerî‘atden ṭarîḳ
Gayri mi sırr-ı ḥaḳīḳatden ṭarîk
Ayrılır mı hiç şerî‘atden ṭarîḳ
Bil şerî‘atdir aṣâletden ṭarîḳ
Oldu mîras̱-ı peder bir ḫân-ḳāh
Var pirinç bir ḳaç ġurûş iḥsan-ı şâh
Almasın şehriyemi çün pâdişâh
Gösterip bir ḥırḳa tâc ḫalḳa külâh
Bâ-ḫuṣûṣ yoḳ ẕikr-i cehrî Naḳşîde
Bir ṣahîh yed yoḳ icâzet kendide
Ẕikr-i cehriyle dönüp ol tekyede
Cem‘ olur ‘avret-i ricâl ol seyrede

In English

1. Now there are many Yezîds who boast of the path; in their hands there is no rope of the law, they are far from it.

2. Each has become a mujtahid by his own knowledge; in selfhood worse than the devil.

3. Can there ever be a road of religion without the law? Is this the command of the Lord of the worlds?

4. O short-sighted one, is there no Qur'an, no hadith? Is the road of those who arrive a road without the law?

5. These words come from blindness; were the eye to see rightly, they would not be needed.

6. If the self were pure and cleansed for God, the eye would behold in the finest form.

7. Theirs is a rapture of the self, resting on the heart's pleasure; the deluded one calls the desire in his heart love.

8. Driving himself to his devil, he does not know its schooling; he is deceived by that incitement of the devil.

9. Can the people of love ever abandon an obligation? The lover is the one who treats the custom as obligatory.

10. The people of love are those wholly pure, without self-interest; this is surely not love but the sickness of ignorance.

11. Never any regard for custom or obligation; no practice according to any school of law; God help us.

12. Satan has thrown a strong noose around his neck; ask him and his way is the Naqshbandi way.

13. There are those who say, “I am of the Naqshbandi path”; whoever makes this empty claim is no Naqshi.

14. O you who make this claim to be a Naqshi, one who does not know the law is no Naqshbandi.

15. Is the path other than the door of the law? Is the path other than the secret of reality?

16. Does the path ever separate from the law? Know that the path in its origin is the law.

17. A lodge has come down to him as his father's inheritance; there is some rice and a few kuruş as the sovereign's bounty.

18. So that the sovereign will not take away his allowance, he shows the people a cloak, a crown and a cap.

19. Above all, among the Naqshis there is no loud remembrance; he has no sound hand, no authorisation.

20. In that lodge they whirl with loud remembrance; women and men gather to that spectacle.

Literary and Historical Commentary

False Dervishes

The poet's targets are figures familiar from the life of the orders in the nineteenth century: this section (couplets 350-370) is about the “a‘dâ-yı şerî‘at”, the enemies of the law who claim to be dervishes. The first part describes those who despise the law, trust in their own learning and call the pleasure of the self in their heart “love”. The ninth couplet fits the attitude into a sentence: the lover is the one who treats even the custom as obligatory; whoever abandons an obligation is not a lover but sick with ignorance.

From the twelfth couplet on, the criticism is directed straight at the claim to be Naqshbandi. The couplet “Ey bu Naḳşî iddi‘âsın eyleyen / Naḳşibend olmaz şerî‘at bilmeyen”, O you who make this claim to be a Naqshi, one who does not know the law is no Naqshbandi, is Şensöz's instance of the plainness of the work's language. In the fifteenth and sixteenth couplets the word “ṭarîḳ”, the path, becomes a refrain four times, and it is said again and again that the path is not separate from the law.

The last four couplets draw a vivid picture of the endowment and lodge system of the time. The lodge has been inherited from the father; so that the allowance called “şehriye”, some rice and a few kuruş from the endowment, is not cut off, a cloak, a crown and a cap are shown to the people. In the lodge they whirl with the loud remembrance that the Naqshis do not practise, and men and women gather to watch. These lines reflect how a sheikh defending the Naqshbandi principle of silent remembrance saw a ceremonial lodge life resting on endowment income; which lodge he means is not said.

Bibliography

Online sources