Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâîlün Mefâîlün Mefâîlün Mefâîlün

Ḳanı ehl-i ḥaḳīḳat erleri âgâh sübḥânî
Velîyândır cihânda mürşidân-ı terbiye insânî
Saña her gördügüñ dervîş olup iẓhâr ḥâl eyler
Henüz bî-çâre sâlik olmamış var kendi noḳṣânî
Şeri‘at’le ṭarîḳatde naṣîḥatleri eder ḫalḳa
Ṣanur ilhâm-ı rabbânî o teşvîḳāt nefsânî
Bu ân vaḳt-i fesâd ġāyet kemâl taḥṣîli ‘usretde
Mülevves̱ eyledi ḫalḳı bu dünyâ naḳş-i elvânı
Ḳanı şimdi sülûk ehl-i Ḫudâ’ya bî-ġaraż ‘âşḳ
Ḳanı kesb-i merâtibler ḳanı eẕvâḳ-ı rûḥânî
Eger ‘İsâ gerek Mehdî ẓuhûr eyler yaḳīn elbet
Bütün millet eder inkâr dirler kim bu ẓulmânı
Demem yoḳ ṭâlib-i ḥaḳ şimdi var ‘âlemde pek eż‘af
Be-cüz’î imtiḥân etsek olur Ḥak’dan peşîmânî
Ḳanı evvel ki ‘âşıḳlar ḳanı ‘aḳl-ı mi‘âd ehli
Ḳanı taḥṣîl eden feyż-i Ḫudâyı ‘ilm-i ‘irfânî
Biter yevm ister günden güne artmaḳda ẓulmetler
Tezâyid etmede ṭûl-i emel ‘âlemde şeyṭânı
Bulur yerden kemâlât-ı Ḫudâ sâlik olan Ḥaḳḳ’a
Bulur bir an nihâyetde kemâl-i sırrı sübḥânî
‘Azîz var mürşid-i kâmil cihânda ṭâlibân ‘amâ
Yanında olsa fehm etmez gezer Baġdat u Îrân’ı
Dimek özür velî erbâb-ı irşâd evvele nisbet
Eger hiç olmasa ehlâk eder Ḥaḳḳ’a mülk-i vîrânı
Velî var ḳalb-i ṭâhirler Ḫudâ’nıñ żikr u fikrinde
Degil irşâda ḳābil görmemiş mir‘ât-ı Yezdânı
Bu an pek çok meşâyiḫliḳ eden ancaḳ ġaraż-ı dünyâ
Döner altun için ḫalḳa eder icrâyı erkânı
Ḳanı nadir sülûk ehli ḳanı uşşâḳ-ı Yezdânı
Ḳanı ‘ilm-i büṭûn ehli ḳanı ḥâlât-ı vicdânı
Ḳanı ḥürmet şerî‘atde ḳanı ġayret ṭarîḳatde
Ḳanı insân-ı kâmiller ḳanı pîrân-ı nûrânî
Ḳanı feyż-i muḥabbetler ḳanı evvelki ġayretler
Ḳanı keṣretde vaḥdetler ḳanı esrâr-ı raḥmânî
Ḳanı ḥaḳḳānî ṣoḥbetler ḳanı taḥṣîl-i himmetler
Ḳanı perhîz-i şehvetler ḳanı ihlâk-ı nefṣânî
Ḳanı ‘ilm-i ḥaḳāyıḳlar ḳanı sırr-ı deḳāyıḳlar
Ḳanı ekmel-i ḫalâyıḳlar ḳanı ḥâlat-ı rûḥânî
Ḳanı dehşetli ṣûretler ḳanı ḥikmetli sîretler
Ḳanı eẕvâḳ-ı ḫalvetler ḳanı insân-ı nûrânî
Ḳanı ḥaḳḳāni nâṭıḳlar ḳanı insân-ı sâdıḳlar
Ḳanı Allâh’a ‘âşıḳlar ḳanı îḳāẓ-ı şeyṭâni
Ḳanı insân-ı ‘âḳiller ḳanı Kur’ân-ı nâḳiller
Ḳanı maḳṣûda nâ’iller ḳanı aḫbâr-ı sübḥânî
Ḳanı ‘alemde şâkirler ḳanı ol ḳalb-i ṭâhirler
Ḳanı ol feyż-i bâhirler ḳanı maḳbûl-i raḥmânî
Ḳanı mürşid-i kâmiller ḳanı ‘ilm-ile ‘âmiller
Ḳanı eẕkâra ḳābiller ḳanı tezkiye-i nefsânî
Ḳanı mürşide raġbetler ḳanı ḫalvetde zaḥmetler
Ḳanı taḥṣîl-i ḥikmetler ḳanı câsûs-ı pîrânî
Ḳanı ‘âşıḳ ḫalâyıḳlar ḳanı Allâh’a lâyıḳlar
Ḳanı terbiye-i fâsıḳlar ḳanı fermân-ı sübḥânî
Ḳanı ol seyf-i zındıḳlar ḳanı evvelki ṣıddîḳlar
Ḳanı icrâ-i sâbıḳlar ḳanı ihlâk-ı insânî
Ḳanı nûrânî zâhidler ḳanı ‘âlemde ‘âbidler
Ḳanı ehl-i mesâcidler ḳanı da‘vâ-ı rıżvânî
Ḳanı haḳḳānî ‘ârifler ḳanı insân-ı ẓârifler
Ḳanı ‘ilm-i ma‘ârifler ḳanı âgâh-ı sübḥânî

In English

1. Where are the men of the people of reality, aware of the Glorious One? The masters who train mankind in the world are the saints.

2. Every dervish you see displays a spiritual state to you; the poor wretch has not yet become a traveller, he has his own deficiency.

3. He gives the people counsel on the law and the path; he takes those incitements of the self for divine inspiration.

4. This is a time of great corruption, attaining perfection is hard; the many-coloured pattern of this world has soiled the people.

5. Where now are the people of the journey, lovers of God without self-interest? Where the gaining of ranks, where spiritual delights?

6. Jesus or the Mahdi will surely appear; the whole community will deny him, saying, “This is a tyrant.”

7. I do not say there is no seeker of God now, but in the world he is very weak; if we tested him a little, he would regret it before God.

8. Where are the lovers of old, where the people of reason who look to the hereafter? Where those who gained the grace of God and the knowledge of gnosis?

9. It ends; day by day the darknesses are increasing; in the world the devil's long hopes are multiplying.

10. The traveller to God finds the perfections of God in their place; at last, in an instant, he finds the perfection of the Glorious One's secret.

11. My dear, there are perfect masters in the world, the seekers are blind; were one beside them they would not understand, they wander Baghdad and Iran.

12. As an excuse one must say: compared with the earlier ones, the people of guidance are saints; at the least they lay waste the ruined realm for God.

13. There are saints, pure of heart, absorbed in the remembrance and thought of God, yet unfit for guidance, never having seen the mirror of God.

14. At this time many who play at being sheikhs do it only for worldly gain; they whirl for gold and perform the rites for the people.

15. Where are the rare people of the journey, where the lovers of God? Where the people of inner knowledge, where the states of conscience?

16. Where is reverence in the law, where zeal in the path? Where are the perfect men, where the luminous masters?

17. Where are the graces of love, where the zeal of old? Where are unities within multiplicity, where the merciful secrets?

18. Where are the godly conversations, where the gaining of spiritual power? Where the abstinence from lusts, where the destruction of the self?

19. Where is the knowledge of realities, where the secret of subtleties? Where the most perfect of creatures, where the spiritual states?

20. Where are the awe-inspiring forms, where the wise natures? Where the delights of retreat, where the luminous men?

21. Where are those who speak the truth, where the faithful men? Where the lovers of God, where those who keep watch against the devil?

22. Where are the men of reason, where the transmitters of the Qur'an? Where those who reached their goal, where the divine tidings?

23. Where are the grateful in the world, where those pure of heart? Where those of radiant grace, where the accepted of the Merciful?

24. Where are the perfect masters, where those who act by knowledge? Where those fit for remembrance, where the purification of the self?

25. Where is the longing for the master, where the toil in retreat? Where the gaining of wisdom, where the spy of the masters?

26. Where are creatures who love, where those worthy of God? Where the training of sinners, where the divine command?

27. Where is that sword against the heretics, where the truthful of old? Where the deeds of those before, where the slaying of the human self?

28. Where are the luminous ascetics, where the worshippers in the world? Where the people of the mosques, where the claim to paradise?

29. Where are the godly knowers, where the refined men? Where the sciences of gnosis, where the one aware of the Glorious?

Literary and Historical Commentary

A Lament Asking “Where?”

The longest poem in ghazal form in the work, these twenty-nine couplets read like a lament for the times. The edition prints them under the title of a section on the scarcity and weakness of the master and the faithfulness of those before; the poem itself does not move as a mesnevî, being a long monorhyme piece in the four-foot hezec “Mefâîlün”, its rhyme ending in the sound “-ânî”, and it approaches the form of a kaside. Within the section the couplets are numbered separately, starting from 1.

The backbone of the poem is the question “Ḳanı”, where. From the fifteenth to the twenty-ninth couplet every line opens twice with this question, and the absence of the perfect men, the conversations, the retreats and the zeal of the past is listed: “Ḳanı ḥürmet şerî‘atde ḳanı ġayret ṭarîḳatde”, where is reverence in the law, where zeal in the path. Internal rhymes (ṣûretler/sîretler, nâṭıḳlar/ṣâdıḳlar, ‘âḳiller/nâḳiller) turn this repetition into a musical count. The expression “mir‘ât-ı Yezdân” in the thirteenth couplet and the Baghdad-Iran couplet in the eleventh are among the examples Şensöz draws on when listing the place names in the work.

The first fourteen couplets give the grounds for the lament: the time is a time of corruption; many play at sheikhhood for gold; even if the Mahdi or Jesus came, the people would deny him. The eleventh couplet, however, leaves a hope: the perfect master still exists, but the seekers are blind; they do not see the one beside them and wander Baghdad and Iran.

Bibliography

Online sources