Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilün

Zühd ü takvâdır tarîkatdan murâd-ı sâdıkân
Ârif-i billâh olan hûbân ile yormaz dimâğ
Zülfü leylâ-yı Nigârın bahsin etmez âşıkân
Bend olur mu ârifânın gönlüne bir Karabağ

In English

1. The aim of sincere disciples in following a Sufi order is asceticism and piety. One who knows God does not weary his mind with beautiful faces.

2. True lovers do not speak of the night-dark (leylâ) locks of Nigâr, the beloved. Can a Karabağ ("black vineyard", "black tie") ever fetter the hearts of those who know God.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The piece is a kıt'a made up of two couplets bound by the same rhyme; the name of the form does not appear in Hüsameddin, and the designation is ours. The first and third lines rhyme with "sâdıkân" and "âşıkân", the second and fourth with "dimâğ" and "Karabağ"; the four lines thus form a cross-rhyme pattern. The metre fits the pattern "fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilün"; the identification is ours. Hüsameddin recorded the piece by hearing it from Hilmî's lips and introduced it with the words "he said this about Karabağî el-Hâc Hamza Nigârî Efendi, renowned in Amasya for poetry and Sufism". The pen name does not appear; the attribution rests on Hüsameddin's record.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The kıt'a is a satire aimed at the images of beauty and the beloved in the poetry of a Sufi sheikh. The first couplet recalls the true aim of the Sufi order: asceticism and piety. Accordingly, a gnostic who knows God does not occupy his mind with "hûbân", beautiful faces. The second couplet completes the satire with two plays on words. "Nigâr" in divan poetry means the beloved, a beauty; it also recalls Mir Hamza's pen name Nigârî. "Leylâ" means night-dark and is also the name of Mecnun's beloved. "Karabağ" in the last line is the name of Nigârî's birthplace; the word can also be read as "kara bağ", a black tie, the binding dark braid of hair, and forms a congruence of images (tenasüp) with "bend", bond or chain.

When these three double entendres (tevriye) come together, the couplet's second meaning appears: the poems of Nigârî of Karabağ describing the beloved's locks cannot bind the hearts of those who know God. This analysis is ours, but it agrees with Hüsameddin's presentation of the piece as said directly about Nigârî. Hilmî's use of a language defending the seriousness of the Sufi path dresses his satire as a religious critique.

Historical Context

Mir Hamza Nigârî was a Naqshbandi sheikh and poet who was born in Karabakh, came to Anatolia with his sheikh İsmail Şirvânî, formed a wide circle of disciples in Amasya. His views led to a great controversy with the scholars of Amasya; he was exiled to Harput in 1884-1885, died there in 1886, and his body was brought back to Amasya; Hüsameddin records that the Merzifon scholar Hacı Bayramzâde Sa'îd Mehmed Efendi also fiercely opposed his claims. Hilmî's kıt'a is an example of this controversy reflected in verse and shows how Nigârî was seen from Merzifon. When the kıt'a was spoken is not known; it plausibly belongs to Nigârî's Amasya years. Hüsameddin wrote the piece down from the poet's lips during their meetings in Merzifon. For the poet's life see the article Dedezâde Mehmed Hilmî Efendi.

Bibliography

Online sources