Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilün

Var muḳallidlikde şeyḫ-i kâẕibân
Yoḳ edeb ‘ilm-i ṭarîḳat müflisân
İddi‘â eyler ben oldum mürşidân
Fehm eder câsûs u ḳulûb ehli o ân
Bir yoluñ ehl-i żalâlet var bu ân
Mürşidânlıḳ iddi‘âsında hemân
Yoḳ edeb sırrı ṭarîḳatden nişân
Şüphesiz mülḥid-i şeḳāvet ehl-i cân
Ba‘żı var mey nûş edip esrâr atar
Der bize mevrûs̱ olup pîrden bu kâr
Aṣlı yoḳ ḥâşâ bu ma‘lûm âşikâr
Pîrine bühtân eder ol ḥîle-kâr
Medḥ edip Kur’ân’da Allâh dervişi
Hiç kabul eyler mi kâr-ı fâhişi
‘Aşḳ deyip meydan olan ol âteşi
Ḥaḳ diye da‘vâ ḳılar müfsid işi
Bil degil bunlar müeddeb ṣayḳulu
Ola bunlar-ilen cehennem ṭopṭolu
Görmemiş mıḳrâż bıyıḳlar râfiżû
Tâ muḥarremde olurlar kayġulu
Bakma cânım bunlarıñ bir ḥâline
Sen ṣaḳın aldanma ḳīl u ḳāline
Hiç muḥabbet yoḳ Resûl’uñ âline
Seb ederler âline aṣḥâbına
Çün dedim bir bir deliler ḥâlini
Eyledim ta‘rîf güzel aḥvâlini
Ṭutma gel sen bunlarıñ aḳvâlini
Bildirir ‘ilm-i şerî‘at ḥâlini

In English

1. There are lying sheikhs in imitation; they have no good conduct, they are bankrupt in the knowledge of the path.

2. He claims, “I have become a master”; the people of the heart, the spies of hearts, see through him at once.

3. At this time there are people of error of a certain path; they are straightway in the claim of being masters.

4. There is no sign in them of the secret of good conduct or of the path; without doubt they are heretic souls, people of wretchedness.

5. Some drink wine and smoke hashish; they say, “This practice came down to us from the founder.”

6. God forbid, it has no basis, this is plain and known; that trickster slanders his founder.

7. Since God praised the dervish in the Qur'an, would He ever accept a shameful deed?

8. Calling it love, the one who makes that fire his gathering place claims the mischief-maker's work as truth.

9. Know that these are neither well-mannered nor polished; may hell be filled to the brim with them.

10. The Rafızîs' moustaches have never seen scissors; when Muharrem comes they are in mourning.

11. My soul, do not look at any state of theirs; beware of being deceived by their talk.

12. They have no love at all for the Messenger's family; they revile both his family and his Companions.

13. I have told one by one the state of the madmen; I have described their conduct well.

14. Come, do not hold to their sayings; the knowledge of the law makes their state known.

Literary and Historical Commentary

A Historical Document on the “Sürh-ser”

“Sürḫ-ser” means red-headed and is used in Ottoman sources as the Persian equivalent of the word “kızılbaş”. The fourteen couplets (371-384) carry a heading that speaks of the “sürḫ-ser who claim to be sheikhs”. Because this section reflects how a Sunni Naqshbandi sheikh at the end of the nineteenth century viewed the Kızılbaş-Alevi communities around Amasya and the Sufi circles he considered close to them, it has the character of a historical document for today's reader; its expressions belong to the confrontational language of the poet's own time and should be read as such.

The poet gathers his criticism in a few points: the claim to be a master, the lack of good conduct and of a lineage, the defence of wine and hashish as “an inheritance from the founder”, mourning in Muharrem and the reviling of the Companions. The “moustaches that have never seen scissors” of the tenth couplet, long moustaches untouched by scissors, point to a known custom in Kızılbaş-Alevi communities. In the twelfth couplet the poet says that these circles have no true love for the Messenger's family and speak ill of both his family and his Companions; that is, he presents himself as the true bearer of love for the Prophet's household.

This section should be read together with the book's section on Amasya. There the poet says that “in this town” the sürh-ser way is more widespread than anywhere else, that mourning is kept in Muharrem and that Ibn Süfyân is cursed. Hüsameddin traces Süleyman Efendi's standing in Amasya to his opposition to the attitude of “reviling and cursing” the Companions in Nigârî's circle. The harshness of the poem is the form this dispute took under the sheikh's pen.

Bibliography

Online sources