Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilün

Ẕem olunmaz bil ki evlâd-ı ‘Arab
Anlara vâcib muḥabbet müsteḥab
Farż olur ḥürmet ri‘âyet bâ-edeb
Etme ẕem mûcib olur küfre sebeb
Bâ-ḫuṣûṣ Mekke Medîne ehline
Çoḳ muḥabbet eyle düşme ẕemmine
Anlarıñ ḫor baḳma sen taṣvîrine
Ol olur muṭlaḳ saña bir âyine
Bî-edeb sözden kişi mes’ûl olur
Pek perîşâniyyete mûcib olur
Ol ḥaḳāret ehline ma‘ṭûf olur
Tâ şefâ‘atden kişi maṭrûd olur
Tâ Mıṣır Baġdat ve hem sâ’ir bilâd
Var ahâlîsinde ‘akl u küll me‘âd
Böyle gördüm ben ki eyle ‘itimâd
Cümlesi maḳbûl-i Ḥaḳ aḥsen ‘ibâd
Çün ‘Arab’dandır Ḥabîb-i Kibriyâ
Anıñ için eylemez söz iḳtiżâ
‘Âcizâne bir naṣīḥatdir saña
Sen bilirsiñ soñra “keyfe mâ yeşâ’”
Etme aṣḥâbıñ biri-çün ḳīl u ḳāl
Çoḳların gördüm ki oldu ehl-i żâl
Bunlara bühtân eden buldu zevâl
Bunları maḳhûr edipdir ẕü’l-Celâl
Bunlarıñ hep cümlesi ehl-i kerem
Bunlara eyle muḥabbet etme ẕem
Birbirinden etme tefrîḳ birle hem
Bizlere ḥüccet degil ḳavl-i ‘acem
Dört meẕâhibden çıkartma bir ayaḳ
Müsteḥaḳdır bunlara elzem dayaḳ
Sen Kitâbu’llâh’a ancak ṭoġrı baḳ
Hiç buña râżî olur mu ẕât-ı Ḥaḳ

In English

1. Know that the Arabs are not to be reviled; love for them is obligatory and commendable.

2. Reverence and regard with good conduct towards them are a duty; do not revile them, it becomes a cause of unbelief.

3. Above all, love greatly the people of Mecca and Medina; do not fall into reviling them.

4. Do not look with contempt upon their form; it will surely become a mirror to you.

5. A man is answerable for ill-mannered words; they become the cause of great ruin.

6. They are turned back upon the people of contempt, until a man is driven away from intercession.

7. As far as Egypt, Baghdad and the other lands, their people have reason and thought of the hereafter.

8. I have seen it so, trust me: all of them are accepted by God, the best of servants.

9. Since the Beloved of the Majestic was of the Arabs, no word against them is fitting.

10. It is humble counsel to you; afterwards you know best, “as He wills”.

11. Do not gossip about any one of the Companions; I have seen many who became people of error.

12. Those who slandered them came to ruin; the Lord of Majesty has crushed them.

13. All of them are people of generosity; love them, do not revile them.

14. Do not set them apart from one another, love them together; the word of a Persian is no proof for us.

15. Do not take a single step outside the four schools of law; such people deserve it, a beating is necessary for them.

16. Look only straight at the book of God; would the essence of God ever be pleased with this?

Literary and Historical Commentary

The Arabs and the Companions

Love for the Arabs is obligatory and reviling them is a cause of unbelief: the first ten of these sixteen couplets, 552-567 in the edition, develop this verdict and name especially the people of Mecca and Medina. The heading combines two subjects: obedience and regard towards the Arabs, and that speaking ill of the Companions is unbelief. The reason is plain in the ninth couplet: the Prophet was of the Arabs. When listing the places where Baghdad, Egypt and Mecca-Medina are named in the work, Şensöz points to this section as well.

This emphasis may have had a particular meaning in the Ottoman setting of the late nineteenth century: the Khalidi branch, which spread through Mevlânâ Hâlid's deputies in Baghdad and Damascus, had strong ties with the Arab lands, and the poet's lineage came through Abdullah Mekkî, who lived in Mecca. The text itself does not make this connection.

From the eleventh couplet the subject turns to the Companions and returns to the language of the book's sections concerned with the disputes in Amasya: whoever speaks ill of one of the Companions falls into error, those who slandered them came to ruin, all of them must be loved together. The “ḳavl-i ‘acem”, the word of a Persian, in the fourteenth couplet shows that views against the Companions were regarded as of Iranian origin. The statement in the fifteenth couplet that “a beating is necessary” for those who leave the four schools is one of the harshest expressions in the book and should be read as evidence of the polemical language of the time.

Bibliography

Online sources