Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilün

Bil ṭarîḳatde cenâb-ı Ḫâlidi
Gel ḳıyâs etme aña bir ‘âbidi
Var ṭarîḳinde mücâhid zâhidi
Ekmeli var kâmili hem râşidi
Oldu âḫirde müceddid hem o ẕât
Sâyesinde oldu feyż-i vâridât
Feyż alıp andan nice yüz biñ ẕevât
Râh-ı Ḥaḳ’da ḳoymadı bir müşkilât
Çoḳ velî gelmişti lakin evvelîn
Böyle irşâd etmemişti ekmelîn
Hem sülûk gösterdi ol-ẕât eshelîn
Böyle ḳuvvetde velî azdır gelen
Hem müfessir hem muḥaddis̱ hem daḳīḳ
Hem şerî‘at hem ṭarîḳat müttefiḳ
Hem ḥaḳāyıḳ maẓharı baḥr-i ‘amîḳ
Eldedir dâ’im şerî‘at-len ṭarîḳ
Bendegânı Ḥaḳḳ’a râġıb ‘âşıḳān
Dervîşânı Ḥaḳḳ’a ṭâlib sâlikân
Mürşidânı pek müdaḳḳıḳ ‘ârifân
Var ḳatî kâmilleri hem iş bu ân
Ehl-i ġaflet yoḳ içinde ‘ârifîn
Ṭâlibân[ı] hem mücâhid zâhidîn
Hep müşâhid ehl-i ‘iffet sâlikîn
Hep meḥâsin ḫâliṣân-ı ḫâlidîn
Şimdi ortada o ẕâtıñ erleri
Gördügiñ hep Ḫâlidî enverleri
Kâmili var hem ‘azîz ekmelleri
Ḥay ederler mürde dil Âdemleri
Kim olursa Şeyḫ Ḫâlid bendesi
Ref‘ olur dilden ḥicâbı perdesi
Kim olur dergâhınıñ üftâdesi
‘Âḳıbet dermân bulur dil-mürdesi
Bil bu ḳalb ‘ilmî ‘azîz dilden dile
Ẓâhiren olmaz ki bir taḳrîr ile
Ögrenip ṣıddîḳ-ı ekber göñl-ile
Tâ Resûla’llâh’dan aldı ḳalb-ile
Ṣoñra Ṣıddîḳ’dan bu ‘ilmi dil-be-dil
Oḳudupdur bi’l-vekâle bir vekîl
Pes olup her bir göñülde baḥr-i nîl
Şeyḫ Baha’eddîn’de oldu selsebîl
Çün gelip bu feyż-i nisbet yed-be-yed
Pes alıp bu feyżi Şâh-ı Naḳşibend
Geldi tâ Şeyḫ Aḥmed’e dek oldu bend
Elf-i s̱ânîde müceddid ol bülend
Ol sülûk etdirdi râh-ı vaḥdete
Ol olup miftâḥ bu bâb-ı vuṣlete
Açtı bir mekteb bu sırr-ı ḥikmete
Oḳutup erdirdi Rabb-ı ‘izzete
Kâşif-i kenz-i Cenâb-ı Kibriyâ
Bi’l-aṣâle vâris̱ân-ı Enbiyâ
Server-i seb‘în elf evliyâ
Her ḥaḳāyıḳdan sülûk gösterdi tâ
Ṣonra Şeyḫ Ḫâlid olup muṭlaḳ vekîl
Hep ânıñla buldu Ḥaḳḳ’ı ehl-i dil
Biñ iki yüzde müceddid ol cemîl
Ol da ‘Abdullâh’a verdi feyżi bil
Şeyh Ḫâlid soñra ‘Abdullâh hemân
Mekke’de irşâd edip ol bir zamân
Ġavs̱-i a‘ẓam oldu ‘Abdullâh o ân
Soñra ‘İṣmet’de olup nisbet ‘iyân
Bil ‘azîz bu Ġavs̱-ı a‘ẓam ‘İṣmet’i
Ḥaḳ aña vermişti bî-ḥad ni‘meti
Vaṣf olunmaz meşreb-i ḥilmiyyeti
Ḥaḳ aña maḫṣûṣ edip bu ‘izzeti
Böyle bir nâzik kibâr-meşreb velî
Az gelüp böyle cihânda kümmelî
Bil ḳıyâs olmaz aña her bir velî
Geldi ol ḳuvvetde ekmel az velî
Boş degil dünyâ bu an var ṣâḥibi
Var eden irşâd velî Ḥaḳ râḳibi
Şimdi var kâmil nebîler nâ’ibi
Ṭut hemân kibr etme ol Ḥaḳ ẕâhibi
Şimdi yoḳ fevḳinde vâṣıl vaḥdete
Yoḳ velî nâ’il bu an bu devlete
Bil hemân maḫṣûṣ o ḳuvvet ‘İṣmet’e
Bil yaḳın Mehdî irer bu nisbete
Bir risâle yazdı Ḳudsiyye be-nâm
Hep ḥaḳāyıḳdan olup her bir kelâm
Bir taṣavvufda yoḳ ol üslûb niẓâm
Ḥarf-be-ḥarf ‘ilm-i ledünden muntaẓam
Etdi her bir mıṣra‘ı feyż-i beyân
Feyż olur her bir kelâmından ‘iyân
Oldu her beyti ledünden dâsitân
Ṭoldu feyżinden ḳulûb-ı ‘aşiḳān
Aḫẕ eder ḳalbe o feyżiñ şîvesi
Bildirir Ḥaḳḳ’ı o Ḥaḳḳ’ıñ cilvesi
Kim olup her bir ḥaḳāyıḳ zübdesi
Kim ẓuhûr etmiş o dilden cümlesi

In English

1. Know that on the path you must, come, compare no worshipper with Hazret-i Hâlid.

2. On his path there are striving ascetics, the most perfect, the perfect and the rightly guided.

3. That man became at last a renewer too; in his shadow came the flow of grace.

4. Many hundreds of thousands of men took grace from him and left no difficulty on the road of God.

5. Many saints had come before, but the most perfect had not guided like this.

6. That man also showed the easiest of journeys; few saints come with such power.

7. Commentator, traditionist and subtle scholar at once; law and path united in him.

8. The locus of realities, a deep sea; in his hand the path is always together with the law.

9. His servants are lovers longing for God; his dervishes are travellers seeking God.

10. His masters are very subtle knowers; at this moment too he truly has perfect men.

11. Among the knowers there are no heedless; his seekers too are striving ascetics.

12. His travellers are all people of chastity who witness; the Khalidis are all sincere and of fine qualities.

13. Now that man's men are in our midst; all you see are luminous Khalidis.

14. He has perfect men and dear most perfect men; they bring dead-hearted people to life.

15. Whoever becomes the servant of Sheikh Hâlid, the veil is lifted from his heart.

16. Whoever becomes one fallen at his threshold, his dead heart finds a cure at last.

17. My dear, know that this knowledge of the heart passes from heart to heart; it is not had outwardly through exposition.

18. The Greatest Truthful One (Ebûbekir) learned it with the heart and took it from the Messenger of God.

19. Then from Sıddîk a deputy taught this knowledge heart to heart by deputation.

20. Then it became a Nile in every heart; in Sheikh Bahâeddîn it became the spring of paradise.

21. When this grace of the bond came hand to hand, Shah Nakşibend received this grace.

22. It came down to Sheikh Ahmed and was bound in him; that exalted one was the renewer of the second millennium.

23. He led the journey on the road of oneness; he became the key to this door of union.

24. He opened a school for this secret of wisdom; teaching, he brought men to the Lord of Might.

25. Unveiler of the treasure of the Majestic, by origin heir of the prophets,

26. lord of seventy thousand saints, he showed the journey of every reality.

27. Then Sheikh Hâlid became absolute deputy; the people of the heart all found God through him.

28. Know that that fair one was the renewer of the twelve hundreds; he too gave the grace to Abdullah.

29. After Sheikh Hâlid, Abdullah guided for a time in Mecca.

30. Abdullah then became the Greatest Help; afterwards the bond appeared in İsmet.

31. My dear, know that God had given this Greatest Help, İsmet, boundless blessing.

32. His gentle disposition cannot be described; God made this glory his alone.

33. Such a refined, noble-natured, perfect saint comes rarely in the world.

34. Know that not every saint can be compared with him; few most perfect saints have come with such power.

35. The world is not empty now, it has its master; there is a saint who guides and watches over God's way.

36. Now there is a perfect deputy of the prophets; hold to him at once, do not be proud, he is a traveller to God.

37. Now there is none above him who has reached oneness; at this moment there is no saint who has attained this fortune.

38. Know that that power belongs to İsmet alone; know for certain that the Mahdi will reach this bond.

39. He wrote a treatise named “Kudsiyye”; every word of it is from the realities.

40. No book of Sufism has that style and order; letter by letter it is arranged from the knowledge of God's presence.

41. He made every line of it a gracious exposition; grace becomes manifest from every word of it.

42. Every couplet of it became an epic from God's presence; the hearts of the lovers were filled with its grace.

43. The manner of that grace takes root in the heart; that manifestation of God makes God known.

44. Words that are the cream of every reality, all of them appeared from that heart.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The Lineage and the Praise of Mustafa İsmet

The Persian verse lineage in the book's closing pages seems to take a Turkish narrative form here: the section begins with Mevlânâ Hâlid and tells how the knowledge of the heart passed from the Prophet to Ebûbekir, from him hand to hand to Bahâeddîn Nakşibend, from there to İmâm-ı Rabbânî Ahmed-i Sirhindî, renewer of the “elf-i s̱ânî”, the second millennium, from him to Mevlânâ Hâlid, Abdullah Mekkî and finally Mustafa İsmet. According to their heading these forty-four couplets, 664-707 in the edition, praise the perfections of the masters and the Risâle-i Ḳudsiyye of “Ḥażret-i Şeyḫ”, Mustafa İsmet Efendi.

The first sixteen couplets praise Mevlânâ Hâlid and the Khalidi branch; the poet presents him as commentator, traditionist and one who united law and path, and in the thirteenth couplet says that “now that man's men are in our midst”, that luminous Khalidis are to be seen. The phrase “biñ iki yüzde müceddid”, renewer of the twelve hundreds, in the twenty-eighth couplet points to Mevlânâ Hâlid's being counted the renewer of the thirteenth hijri century. The twenty-ninth couplet records that Abdullah Mekkî guided in Mecca.

From the thirty-first couplet the praise turns to Mustafa İsmet Efendi: he is a refined saint of noble disposition, whose gentleness cannot be described; the world is not empty, there is now a perfect man. The thirty-eighth couplet is the boldest: that power belongs to İsmet alone, and the Mahdi will reach this bond. The last seven couplets describe the sheikh's Risâle-i Ḳudsiyye; according to Şensöz it is Mustafa İsmet Efendi's treatise on the rules of the order, and the fortieth couplet is the one he picks to show how bound the poet was to his master.

Bibliography

Online sources