Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilün

Ḳıl mürîdânıñla şer‘î ṣoḥbeti
Eyleme mektûm kelâm-ı sünneti
Sen ṭuyur terhîb edip her bid‘ati
Ver ḫaber âdâb-ı râh-ı vuṣlatı
Bâ-edeb oldu ṭarîḳ-ı kâmilîn
Ṣoḥbet üzre oldu ġavs̱u’l vâṣılîn
Sen viḳāye ḳıl ṭarîḳ-i ekmelîn
Git naṣıl gitmişse sâdât-ı evvelîn

In English

1. Hold lawful conversation with your disciples; do not keep the word of the custom hidden.

2. Warn them of every innovation and let them know; give tidings of the rules of the road of union.

3. The road of the perfect has been with good conduct; the help of those who arrive has been through companionship.

4. Guard the road of the most perfect; go as the masters of old went.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The Shortest Section

The book's shortest section runs to only four couplets, 568-571 in the edition. According to its heading it explains that it is necessary for sheikhs to hold lawful conversation with their disciples. The address is again to the sheikh: one must converse with the disciples in accordance with the law, must not hide the custom, must warn them against every innovation and teach them the rules of the road of union.

The third couplet sets two basic notions of the Naqshbandi path side by side: good conduct and companionship. The road of the perfect is through good conduct, the help of those who arrive is through companionship. Companionship, sohbet, is in Naqshbandi training the name for being with the sheikh and receiving a share of his state; the description of the Naqshbandis as “ehl-i ṣoḥbet”, people of companionship, in the book's second ghazal expresses the same.

The conservative line of the whole book fits into a few words in the last couplet: “Git naṣıl gitmişse sâdât-ı evvelîn”, go as the masters of old went. Continuity rather than novelty, following rather than invention: the root of the sheikh's criticisms of innovation in Amasya lies in this principle. The Persian ghazal that follows the section passes from the language of counsel to the language of supplication.

Bibliography

Online sources