Original Ottoman Turkish Text

ʿİlm-i iḫfâ ögredür ʿâşıḳlaruña ol dehân
Anuñ içündür seven olur seni gözden nihân

In English

1. That mouth teaches its lovers the science of concealment; that is why the one who loves you is hidden from sight. (In Kınalızâde's and Hüsameddin's reading "ahfâ": that mouth teaches its lovers the science of the most hidden.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

The matla rests on one of the best-known conceits of divan poetry, the beloved's mouth, too small to be seen. The mouth hardly exists; it is a secret, and the poet draws a conclusion from this: this mouth teaches its lovers "ilm-i ihfâ", the science of concealment. It is what makes the lover hidden from sight. The words of the second line, "seven olur seni gözden nihân", can be understood in two ways: the lover hides the beloved from others' eyes, or the lover himself vanishes from sight, ceases to be. The nonexistence of the mouth and the nonexistence of the lover are thus bound together.

The couplet's three sources diverge in one word, and the difference deepens the sense. Âşık Çelebi has "ihfâ", concealment. Kınalızâde and Hüsameddin read "ahfâ". Ahfâ means "the most hidden" and in Sufism, especially in Naqshbandi and Halveti circles, is used for the deepest of the subtle centres (latîfe) held to be the spiritual centres of man. In this reading the couplet turns from a lover's witticism into a Sufi couplet: the beloved's mouth teaches the science of the most hidden centre. From the pen of a poet who was a Halveti sheikh both readings have their place; which is original cannot be learned from the sources.

Hüsameddin gives this matla at the end of the story he takes from Kınalızâde, as an example of the poet's verse after he entered the Sufi path; in Âşık Çelebi it comes immediately after the Pîrûze ghazal.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources