Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilün

İḫtiyâr eyle ḳanâ‘at gûşesin
Ẕikr’le ṣayḳılla dil âyînesin
Terk edip gel ‘âlemin endîşesin
Eyleme vîrân göñül gencînesin
Bilmese insân ger insâniyeti
Hiç bilir mi ṭoġru vaḥdâniyeti
Bil degil ṣûretde insân hey’eti
Giyinir meşrebde ḥayvâniyyeti
Farḳ nedir insân-ile ḥayvâniyyetiñ
Ẕikr olup tefrîḳ-i insâniyyetiñ
Bilmese fermân-ı vaḥdaniyyetiñ
Farḳı yoḳ insan-ile ḥayvâniyyetiñ
Çün beyân oldu nice esrâr ‘azîz
Hep ‘ubûdiyyet murâd eẕkâr ‘azîz
Gel hemân ol bende-i settâr ‘azîz
Ẕât-ı Ḥaḳ’dan yoḳ ġanî cebbâr ‘azîz
Sen ‘ubûdiyyetde noḳṣân eyleme
Sa‘y edip taḳdîre bühtân eyleme
Var irâde elde ‘iṣyân eyleme
Kendiñi menfûr-ı Yezdân eyleme
Enbiyâdan ṣoñra bil efżal velî
Şâh-ı Ṣıddîḳ u ‘Ömer ‘Osmân ‘Alî
Gelmedi bunlardan ekmel bir velî
Ṣonrası bunlar olup hem evvelî
Bil ki sen bunlar nebîler cânıdır
Ta ki bil bunlar velîler ḫânıdır
Cümlesi derd ehliniñ dermânıdır
Cümlesi ‘ilm-i ledün ‘irfânıdır
Her birinde var niçe esrâr-ı Ḥaḳ
Her birinde var niçe envâr-ı Ḥaḳ
Bunları medḥ eyledi muḫtâr-ı Ḥaḳ
Bunları maḳbûl edip settâr-ı Ḥaḳ
Yoḳ ‘azîz bunlardan a‘ẓam evliyâ
Oldu bunlar cân u cism enbiyâ
Oldu bunlar sırr-ı ẕât-ı kibriyâ
Oldu bunlar ṣâfiyân etḳiyâ

In English

1. Choose the corner of contentment; polish the mirror of the heart with remembrance.

2. Come, give up the cares of the world; do not lay waste the treasury of the heart.

3. If a man does not know humanity, can he ever truly know oneness?

4. Know that the human form is not in outward appearance; such a one wears animality in his disposition.

5. What is the difference between man and animal? The distinction of humanity is remembrance.

6. If he does not know the command of oneness, there is no difference between man and animal.

7. Since many secrets have been explained, my dear, the aim of all remembrance is servanthood.

8. Come at once and be the servant of the Concealer of faults; my dear, none is rich and almighty but the essence of God.

9. Do not fall short in servanthood; strive, and do not slander destiny.

10. While you have will in hand, do not rebel; do not make yourself one whom God abhors.

11. Know that after the prophets the most excellent saints are Shah Sıddîk (Ebûbekir), Ömer, Osman and Ali.

12. No saint more perfect than these has come; they were both the later and the first.

13. Know that these are the soul of the prophets; know that these are the khans of the saints.

14. All of them are the cure of the afflicted; all of them are the gnosis of knowledge from God's presence.

15. In each of them are many secrets of God; in each of them are many lights of God.

16. The Chosen One of God praised them; God the Concealer of faults accepted them.

17. My dear, there are no saints greater than these; they became the soul and body of the prophets.

18. They became the secret of the essence of the Majestic; they became the purest of the God-fearing.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Contentment and the Four Caliphs

Right after the dispute over the Companions the poet sets the quarrel aside and turns to the positive statement of Sunni belief; the placing of the section hardly seems accidental. Its long heading combines two subjects, encouraging travellers to contentment and the virtues of the “Çâr-yâr”, the four caliphs; in the edition it covers couplets 385-402.

The first ten couplets are on contentment and servanthood. The “treasury of the heart” of the second couplet and the “mirror of the heart” of the first use the Sufi image that sees the heart as a mirror to be polished by remembrance. From the third to the sixth couplet the difference between man and animal is discussed; for the poet this difference is determined not by outward form but by remembrance and knowing the One. The advice “taḳdîre bühtân eyleme” in the ninth couplet, not to lay one's own fault on destiny, is a practical answer to the theological debate on free will.

From the eleventh couplet on, the section praises the four caliphs and ranks them as the most excellent saints after the prophets: Ebûbekir, Ömer, Osman, Ali. The order is the Sunni tradition's order of excellence. The repetition of the pronoun “bunlar”, these, in every couplet presents them as a single whole; the emphasis of the poem is that all four must be loved together. The couplets on the four caliphs in the book's opening mesnevî here grow into a broader praise.

Bibliography

Online sources