Pir Sultan Abdal (c.1480-1550 – born Haydar) is an important religious figure in Alevism and considered legendary among his followers. Although it is not mentioned in historical texts, it is believed that he was of Turkmen origin from village of Banaz in present-day Sivas Province in Turkey. His life is reconstructed from folkloric sources, especially religious poems which are believed to have been composed by himself and transmitted by ashiks.
During the Ottoman–Persian Wars, he supported religious heterodoxy and the political subversion of Anatolia which got him hanged.
This Sufi Alevi poet has become much loved among the Turkish people. He reflected in his verses the social, cultural and religious life of the Turkish people, and articulated criticism of the unjust rule of the Ottoman governors, for which one of them had him executed.
The extant biographical information is mainly from his verses. Pir Sultan’s family came originally from Yemen and settled in Anatolia. The seven-year-old Haydar (his original family name) had a dream in which the earlier Sufi, Haci Bektas Veli appeared and gave him the name Pir Sultan.
An Australian researcher has recently observed that “the significance of the figure of Pir Sultan Abdal can be understood from the number of deyis [verses] attributed to him and, perhaps more importantly, from the influence that both his lyrical works and his persona maintain over Alevi-Bektaşi ritual and, especially, social and political culture from his home and heartland in Anatolia to the Balkans and beyond to the modern Alevi diaspora in Europe and elsewhere.” (Koerbin, 2011, article in Oral Tradition).
I am Pir Sultan Abdal, the first of the firsts,
I feed my soul with the best and remedy the worst
I’ll pool honey from thousand blooms to one comb till it bursts
I am the bee, my fair one, the bee am I.
Pir Sultan Abdal: Bülbül olsam varsam gelsem
Translation: Paul Koerbin
If I am a nightingale if I approach and come
If I stand in the presence of God
If I am a rosy red apple
If I sprout on your branch, what do you say?
If you are a rosy red apple
If you come to sprout on my branch
If I am a silver clad crook staff
If I draw and strike a blow, what do you say?
If you are a sliver clad crook staff
If you come to draw and strike a blow
If I am a handful of maize
If I am scattered on the ground, what do you say?
If you are a handful of maize
If you come to be scattered on the ground
If I am a beautiful grey partridge
If I gather up bit after bit, what do you say?
If you are a beautiful grey partridge
If you come to gather up bit after bit
If I am a young falcon bird
If I seize and steal you off, what do you say?
If you are a young falcon bird
If you come to seize and steal me off
If I am a shower of sleet
If I break your wing, what do you say?
If you are a shower of sleet
If you come to break my wing
If I am a wild nor’easter wind
If I spurn and disperse, what do you say?
If you are a wild nor’easter wind
If you come to spurn and disperse
If I have a great sickness
If I lie down in your way, what do you say?
If you have a great sickness
If you come to lie down in my way
If I am the Angel of Death
If I take your soul, what do you say?
If you are the Angel of Death
If you come to take my soul
If I am a subject destined for heaven
If I enter into heaven, what do you say?
If you are a subject destined for heaven
If you come to enter into heaven
If you find your master Pir Sultan
If we enter in company together, what do you say?
Pir Sultan Abdal ‘Gel güzelim kaçma bizden’
Come, do not desert us, my beauty
We are the nightingale, no stranger we
We are brothers in dervish ecstasy
We are the way within the liturgy
Let us converse on the states of joy
Let us talk ‘til tongues are tired
We will travel lands far and wide
We are the rose freshly opened
I am Pir Sultan, for what do you cry?
You shed tears of blood from your eye
What you expect from us, is it fire?
We are ashes of embers blown and burned
Pir Sultan Abdal: Hak’tan inayet olursa
Translation: Paul Koerbin
If by the grace of God
May the Shah come to Rum one day
In holy battle may he strike Zulfikar
Against the unbelievers one day
May all tribes come together
May they be slaves for the Shah
The destitute in the land of Rum
May they rejoice and smile one day
May they raise and bear the banner
May the Shah sit in Istanbul
May he return the captives from the Franks
May he release them to Horasan one day
May he gather together bey and pasha
May he sieze the four exremities
May the monarch march and enjoy
May Ali establish court one day
That the Shah’s rose was born
That abundant mercy rained down
That happy days were born
May such a world rejoice one day
My dede Mahdi must come
Ali must establish the court
He must break down injustice
May he wreak vengeance one day
Pir Sultan’s work is but a sigh
I am in expectation of the beautiful Shah
The administration that is sovereign
May he be its master one day
Pir Sultan Abdal: Sultan suyu gibi çağlayıp akma
Translation: Paul Koerbin
Don’t gush on burbling like the Sultan Stream
It will become calm, don’t worry foolish heart
Man’s mind is in mist as a wintery mountain peak
It will be reached, don’t worry foolish heart
A greeting from us to the one going to the friend
Damn the liar and damn the ignorant
How many enemies there are to ambush us
They will tire, don’t worry foolish heart
Worthy Ali is before us as leader
Do you think the work of God could collapse?
One’s short span in the world has ups and downs
Vigour will return, don’t worry foolish heart
I am Pir Sultan Abdal for the secret way
What has befallen us, let it remain here
That towards which we strive is hope
It will be reached, don’t worry foolish heart
Source- https://pirsultanabdal.me/, wikipedia
