Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilün

Çün Muḥammed server-i peygamberân
Nûr-ı ẕâtından olup ḫalḳ cümle cân
Tâbi‘ olmazsa aña bir kes a cân
Kim olur mesdûd der sübḥân hemân
Ẓâhiri ḥabl-i şerî‘at Aḥmed’iñ
Bâṭını vaṣl-ı ṭarîḳat Aḥmed’iñ
Hem vücûd-ı baḥr-i raḥmet Aḥmed’iñ
Hem ẓuhûr-ı bâ-ḥaḳīḳat Aḥmed’iñ
Vuṣlatu’llâh yoḳ Muḥammedsiz ḫaber
Günde ṣâ’im gece kâ’îm olsa ger
Ol ḳabûl etmez ḥaḳīḳatde eğer
Haḳḳ’a yol bulmaḳ muḥâl müşkil sefer
Reh-nümâyı kibriyâdır ol emîn
Vuṣlatu’llâh ansuz olmaz bil yaḳīn
Ol Resûl on sekiz biñ ‘âlemin
Bil aña muḥtâc cemî‘-i ‘âlem hemîn
Ey deyin ben kim Resûl’ün ümmeti
Ḳande dostluḳ ḳande sünnet ġayreti
Ḳande farżu’llâh iṭâ‘at ḥürmeti
Ḳande istihlâk-i enfes şehveti
Ey şerî‘at ḫâ’ini müflis Yezîd
Ey ṭarîḳat münkiri Ḥaḳ’dan ba‘îd
Ey ḫalâyıḳ müfsidi ey nâ-müfîd
Ey urupdur ḳalbine şeyṭân kilid
Ey ‘adüvva’llâh-ı meşâyıḫ münkeri
Ey şerrâr-ı nâs iblîs rehberi
Ey fesâd ehli fesâdet muḫbiri
Ey teġāfül kâẕibânıñ ekberi
Var olup ‘ilmiñ ve lakin der zebân
Sen seni ḳıldıñ ziyân ey ġāfilân
Ḫâ’ini ḥabl-i şerî‘atiñ her ân
Var ḳıyâmet nâr-ı sûzân gel inan

In English

1. Since Muhammad is the lord of the prophets, and all souls were created from the light of his essence,

2. O soul, if anyone does not follow him, the door of the Glorious One is at once closed to him.

3. Ahmed's outward is the rope of the law; Ahmed's inward is the union of the path.

4. The being of the sea of mercy is Ahmed's, and the manifestation of reality is Ahmed's.

5. Without Muhammad there is no news of union with God, even if one fasts by day and keeps vigil by night.

6. If He does not accept in reality, finding the road to God is impossible, a hard journey.

7. That trusted one is the guide to the Majestic; know for certain that union with God does not come without him.

8. He is the Messenger of the eighteen thousand worlds; know that the whole world is in need of him.

9. O you who say, “I am of the Messenger's community”, where is friendship, where is zeal for his custom?

10. Where is obedience and reverence for God's commands, where is the consuming of the self's lust?

11. O traitor to the law, bankrupt Yezîd; O denier of the path, far from God;

12. O corrupter of the people, O good-for-nothing; O you on whose heart Satan has put a lock;

13. O enemy of God, denier of the sheikhs; O most wicked of men, guide of the devil;

14. O man of mischief, herald of corruption; O greatest of the heedless liars.

15. You have knowledge, but only on the tongue; heedless one, you have done harm to yourself.

16. O you who betray the rope of the law at every moment, there is a burning fire at the resurrection; come, believe.

Literary and Historical Commentary

From Praise to Reproach

Beginning in praise and ending in reproach, this short section (couplets 105-120) has a heading in two parts as well: “Medḥ-i Risâlet-penâh”, the praise of the Prophet, and “Aḥvâlât-ı Bed-gümrâh”, the conduct of the wicked who have gone astray. The mesnevî too falls into these two parts. The first eight couplets present the Prophet as the only road to God; in the third and fourth couplets the refrain “Aḥmed'iñ”, Ahmed's, is repeated four times, and the pairs of outward and inward, law and path, are united in the person of the Prophet.

In the ninth couplet the tone changes suddenly. The poet turns to someone who says, “I am of the Messenger's community”, and asks him questions beginning “ḳande”, where is; then from the eleventh to the fourteenth couplet comes a string of reproaches each beginning “Ey …”, O you. The addressee is called “şerî‘at ḫâ'ini müflis Yezîd”, bankrupt Yezîd, traitor to the law, denier of the path, denier of the sheikhs, guide of the devil. The use of the name of Yezîd, held responsible for Kerbela, as a term of abuse may come from an effort to speak in a language shared even with those who joined love for the Prophet's family with hostility to the Companions; the text does not name its precise target.

Criticism of “knowledge that stays on the tongue” closes the section. The person who denies the sheikhs and claims to know both law and path on his own will reappear under different names in the book's later sections.

Bibliography

Online sources