Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilün
Maṭla‘-ı envâr-ı Ḳur’ân-ı Kerîm
Oldı Bismillahirraḥmânirraḥîm
Başla ey dil sen anıñla bu işe
‘Avn-i ḥaḳla tâ ḥıtâma irişe
Maḳsadıñ ḳoşdur aña rîş oldı o
Ḳuş ḳanadsız uçsa olur ser-fürû
Ehl-i ‘aşḳ tesbîhidür çün besmele
Besmelesiz söze dirler velvele
Besmele miftâḥdur her pîşeye
Ansız işiñ pâyı uġrar tîşeye
Ḫâliḳa ḥamd eyleyelim ba‘d ez-în
Çün bize virdi lisânla zîb ü zîn
Ḥamd-i Ḥaḳḳı kim ki eylerse edâ
İrgürür in‘âmın aña ol Ḫudâ
Ḥamd her dem ni‘meti efzûn ider
Dostı memnûn düşmeni maḥzûn ider
Re’s-i şükr oldı ḥam(i)d bî-iştibâh
Bu söze ḳavl-i resûl-i Ḥaḳ güvâh
Ḥamd ile mevṣûf olan maḥmûd olur
Ni‘meti bol sofrası memdûd olur
Bî-‘aded olsun ṣalâtile selâm
Ol resûle kim odur ḫayrü’l-enâm
Âline olsun selâm enṣârına
Bâ-ḥuṣûṣ ol dûstân-ı çârına
Bil olardur ‘âşıḳânıñ aḳdemi
Ya‘ni maḥbûb-ı Ḫudânıñ hem-demi
Bir nefescik olmadılar ġayr ile
Bu sebebden yâd olurlar ḫayr ile
Ḫayr ile añ hem-dem-i peygamberi
Tâ olasın bu cihânıñ ser-veri
Kim ki sevmez anlarıñ bir ferdini
Dûzaḫ içre artırır ḥaḳ derdini
Kim ki uyar dâr-ı âḫret şâhına
Hîç baḳar mı işbu dünyâ câhına
Meslek-i aṣḥâba iden iḳtidâ
Bâb-ı maḳṣûda bulur ol ihtida
Kâmilâ aṣḥâb izinde pey-rev ol
Ehl-i sünnet mezhebinde reh-rev ol
In English
1. The first word in which the lights of the Holy Qur'an dawned was "Bismillâhirrahmânirrahîm" (In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate).
2. O heart, begin this task with it too, so that with God's help it may reach its end.
3. Your purpose is a bird, and the basmala became its wing feather; a bird that tries to fly without wings falls headlong.
4. The basmala is the rosary of the people of love; speech without the basmala is called empty noise.
5. The basmala is the key to every craft; without it, a task's foot meets the axe (the work is cut off at the root).
6. From now on let us praise the Creator, for He gave us adornment and beauty through the tongue.
7. Whoever fulfils the duty of praising God, God sends him His bounty.
8. Praise always increases blessing; it gladdens the friend and grieves the enemy.
9. Praise, beyond doubt, is the head of thanksgiving; the saying of God's Messenger bears witness to this word.
10. One described by praise becomes praised; his blessing is plentiful and his table spread wide.
11. Countless blessings and greetings be upon that Messenger who is the best of mankind.
12. Greetings be upon his family and his helpers, and above all upon his four friends.
13. Know that they are the foremost of lovers, that is, the intimate companions of God's beloved.
14. Not for a single breath were they with anyone else; for this reason they are remembered with good.
15. Remember the Prophet's companions with good, so that you may be the head of this world.
16. Whoever does not love even one of them, God increases his torment in hell.
17. Would anyone who follows the king of the abode of the hereafter ever look at the rank of this world?
18. Whoever follows the way of the Companions finds the right road to the gate of his goal.
19. O Kâmil, walk in the footsteps of the Companions; be a traveller on the path of the Sunni school.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Structure of the Poem
The poem is a mesnevi of nineteen couplets in the "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün" pattern of aruz (quantitative metre). In a mesnevi each couplet rhymes within itself: "Kerîm / -raḥîm", "işe / irişe", "besmele / velvele" and so on. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the final couplet. The poem is the first in Abdurrahman Kâmil Efendi's Divançe and begins with the opening couplet of the work. Its place in the manuscript is confused: page 2 holds only the first seven couplets, page 86b, which was pasted in later, holds seventeen, and the last two couplets, including the one with the pen name, are on page 81. Avni Erdemir joined these pieces and published the mesnevi as nineteen couplets. The spelling "ḥam(i)d" in the ninth couplet is also his and shows that the word is read with three syllables for the metre.
Meaning and Figures of Speech
The mesnevi follows the order of the openings of classical works: first the basmala, then praise of God, then blessings on the Prophet and praise of the four caliphs. Erdemir likewise finds the poem faithful to the classical mesnevi tradition. The first five couplets set out the value of the basmala. In the third couplet purpose is likened to a bird and the basmala to its wing feather; the wingless bird falling headlong shows the fate of a task begun without the basmala. The words "key" and "axe" in the fifth couplet say the same thing in an everyday idiom.
In the section on praise, the ninth couplet rests openly on the saying, attributed to the Prophet, that praise is the head of thanksgiving; the poet himself calls it "ḳavl-i resûl", the word of the Messenger. In the tenth couplet "ḥamd" and "maḥmûd" come from the same root and are also paired in sound with "memdûd"; this wordplay is our observation. In the fourteenth couplet "ġayr" (another) and "ḫayr" (good) are near-homophones, and the fifteenth couplet, which opens with "ḫayr ile", links back to the one before it. The last two couplets close the poem with a principle: the way of the Companions leads to the goal. On the strength of the pen-name couplet, Erdemir describes Kâmil Efendi as a traveller on the Sunni path. That a mufti should open his notebook of poems with such a mesnevi sets the work's narrative of mystical love within a frame of creed from the start; this interpretation is ours.
Bibliography
- Avni Erdemir, "Amasyalı Abdurrahman Kâmil (Yetkin) Efendi'nin Şairliği ve Türkçe Şiirleri", Amasya İlahiyat Dergisi, 12, June 2019, pp. 176-177 (text), pp. 170-171 (on the poem), doi:10.18498/amailad.579964. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/amailad/article/579964
- Mecdîzâde Abdurrahman Kâmil, Divançe, National Library of Turkey, Manuscripts Collection, Yz. A 8993, pp. 2, 86b and 81 (author's autograph).
Online sources
