Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilün

Gel bu ‘ilm ḳalbe sa‘y et gün-be-gün
Ẓâhiren olmaz alıp dilden ṣatun
Şeyḫine rabṭ et oḳu ‘ilm-i ledün
Ḳalb-i mir’âta ṭulû‘ eyler bütün
Yoḳ bu ‘ilmin mektebi bil ṣadr-ilen
Ṣûretâ bir ḫâ˘cedan yâ-meşḳ-ilen
Bî-ḥurûf ṣavt oldu dilde ‘aşḳ-ilen
Oḳudur bir şeyḫ-i kâmil ḳalb-ilen
Bil budur aṣl-ı ‘ulûmuñ evveli
Ẓâhiriñ yoḳ bunda cüz’î medḫali
Kendi ümmî gördügüm çoḳdur velî
Lâkin ammâ ‘ilm-i bâṭın ekmeli
Bir nebî gitmiş degildir mektebe
‘İlm-i bâṭın-len erişti vaḥdete
Bir delîl olsa cenâb-ı ‘izzete
Vâṣıl olmaz mı kişi ol-vuṣlete
Emr u nehyi ṭutsa bir kes bilse farż
Ḥaḳḳ’a ṭâlib olsa ṣoñra bi-ġaraż
‘Aşıḳ-âne eyle Allâh’ı ‘arż
Hiç icâb etmez aña bir i‘tirâż
Ẕâtını ‘arz etse bir ‘abd-i ẕelîl
Bil münezzehdir buḫulden ol celîl
Sen hemen muḥkem ṭutup ṭur bir delîl
Cümleden erḥam raḥîmdir ol cemîl
Bil meşîḫat şarṭ degildir ‘ilm-ilen
‘Âmil olmaḳdır şerî‘at naḳl-ilen
‘İlm-i ḥâlin ögrenürse nuṣḥ-ilen
Pes olur tevfîḳ-i ẕâtı Ḥaḳḳ-ilen
Var velî ḥaml etme böyle cehline
Git edîbâne naẓar ḳıl ḥilmine
İnṣafâne bir göñül ṭut ḳalbine
Baḳ seniñ ‘ilminle anıñ ‘ilmine
Şems-i Tebrîzî ‘ulûm-ı ẓâhiri
Görmeden bulmuştu ‘ilm-i bâṭını
Bil Celâleddîn-i Rûmî bâhiri
Bâtınen gösterdi ilm-i ṭâhiri
Mollâ Câmî naḳl eder bir kâmili
Kendi ümmî var mürîd-i ‘âlimi
Oḳudur ol şeyḫe ‘ilm-i ẓâhiri
Şeyḫ aña bildirdi ḥâl-i bâṭını
Sende ‘ilmiñ-ilen mürîd olsañ güzel
Hep enâniyyet işiñ dâ’im cedel
Yoḳ saña bundan naṣîb ‘ilm-i ezel
Neylesin şeyḫ vermeyince lem yezel

In English

1. Come, strive day by day at this knowledge of the heart; it is not had outwardly by taking it from the tongue and selling it.

2. Bind yourself to your sheikh, study the knowledge from God's presence; it rises wholly in the mirror of the heart.

3. Know that this knowledge has no school by memory; it is not taken outwardly from a teacher or by practice.

4. Through love it became a voice without letters in the heart; a perfect sheikh teaches it with the heart.

5. Know that this is the first root of all sciences; the outward has not the slightest entry here.

6. I have seen many saints who were themselves unlettered, yet most perfect in inner knowledge.

7. No prophet went to school; through inner knowledge he reached oneness.

8. If there is a guide to the court of the Mighty, will a man not reach that union?

9. If someone keeps the commands and prohibitions, knows the obligations, and then seeks God without self-interest,

10. present yourself to God as a lover; no objection to him is called for.

11. If a lowly servant offers his very self, know that the Glorious One is free of meanness.

12. Hold firmly at once to a guide and stand fast; that beautiful One is the Compassionate, more merciful than all.

13. Know that knowledge is not a condition for sheikhhood; the condition is to act by the law through transmission.

14. If he learns the knowledge of daily duties with counsel, then success of the self comes through God.

15. There are saints; do not attribute their appearance to ignorance; go and look with good manners at their forbearance.

16. Hold to your heart a heart with fairness; look at your knowledge and at his.

17. Şems-i Tebrîzî had found the inner knowledge without having seen the outward sciences.

18. Know that the brilliant Celâleddîn-i Rûmî showed the outward knowledge inwardly.

19. Mollâ Câmî tells of a perfect one: himself unlettered, he had a learned disciple.

20. The disciple taught that sheikh the outward knowledge; the sheikh made known to him the state of the inward.

21. It would be fine if you too became a disciple with your learning; but your work is all selfhood, ever disputation.

22. You have no share in this, in the knowledge of eternity; what can the sheikh do when the Everlasting does not give?

Literary and Historical Commentary

Knowledge of the Heart and Outward Knowledge

What the poet will say about himself in the account of his life at the end of the book seems explained in advance in these twenty-two couplets, 572-593 in the edition: there he confesses that he did not study the exoteric sciences and had no teacher but his master. Here he defends the same situation as a principle: “Bil meşîḫat şarṭ degildir ‘ilm-ilen”, know that learning is not a condition for sheikhhood. The heading says as much: encouragement to the sciences of the heart, and outward knowledge as no condition of sheikhhood.

The poet's proofs are familiar examples. The Prophet did not go to school; unlettered saints are the most perfect in inner knowledge; Şems-i Tebrîzî found the inner knowledge without having seen the outward sciences; Mollâ Câmî tells of a perfect man who, though unlettered himself, had a learned disciple, learned the outward knowledge from him and made the inward known to him. The couplets on Şems and Mevlânâ are explained where Şensöz introduces the figures named in the work. The third and fourth couplets say that this knowledge is “bî-ḥurûf ṣavt”, a voice without letters, and cannot be taken from memory and learning by heart.

Yet the poet does not exclude outward knowledge entirely. The thirteenth and fourteenth couplets set out the condition plainly: what is needed for sheikhhood is to act by the law and to learn the “ilm-i hâl”, the knowledge of daily religious duties. The last couplets address the scholar who trusts in his learning and disputes with selfhood: it would be fine if you became a disciple with your learning, but what can the sheikh do while God does not give?

Bibliography

Online sources