Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün fe‘ūlün

Du‘ā temsīli Yūsuf gibidür hem
Ki aña müşterīdür ḫalḳ-ı ‘ālem
Virür her kişi miḳdārınca cevher
Anuñ tā müşterīsinden olalar
Sen olduñ şimdi hem ol zen mis̱āli
Ḳaçan ‘arż eyledi Yūsuf cemāli
Getürüp niçe rişte aña bir zen
Ḫarīdār oldı ol da cān u dilden

In English

1. Prayer is like Joseph; all the people of the world are buyers for it, all want it.

2. Each one gives jewels as far as he can, so as to be among its buyers.

3. Now you too have become like that woman who came forward when Joseph displayed his beauty, when he was put up for sale. (In Gelibolulu Âlî's text the line begins "Sen olduñ Ḥubbiyā", you have become, Hubbî; the poet addresses herself by her pen name.)

4. That woman came with a few skeins of yarn and she too became a buyer for Joseph with all her heart and soul.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

These four couplets are the fragment of Hubbî's lost mesnevi Cemşîd ü Hurşîd that three biographical anthologies quote at once. Âşık Çelebi gives them saying "Rāġbet-i du‘āda bu tems̱īli ġāyet çesbān vāḳi‘ olupdur", "this comparison has proved most apt on the subject of the desire for prayer". Kınalızâde Hasan Çelebi also quotes the same couplets as "among her couplets on the desire for prayer"; they are also found in Gelibolulu Âlî's Künhü'l-ahbâr. The metre, like that of the mesnevi as a whole, is from the hezec family, "mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün fe‘ūlün". The rhyme "cevher / olalar" in the second couplet is faulty; the flaw is the same in the text of all three anthologies. Âşık Çelebi reads "cevher", the other two sources "gevher".

The most important difference among the three texts lies in the third couplet. Where Âşık Çelebi and Kınalızâde have "Sen olduñ şimdi hem ol zen mis̱āli", Âlî reads "Sen olduñ Ḥubbiyā ol zen mis̱āli". In Âlî's text the poet addresses herself by her pen name; this reading shows that the fragment comes from a section concerning the poet's own prayer. From which part of the mesnevi it was taken is not stated.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The fragment is built on a temsil, the explanation of an idea through a well-known story. Prayer is likened to Joseph. In the story of Joseph as told in the Qur'an and in Islamic tradition, Joseph, after being thrown into the well by his brothers, is put up for sale in Egypt; because of his beauty everyone wants to buy him. The poet says that prayer too is something everyone desires, and that people give whatever they can to obtain it. The words "müşterî" (buyer) and "ḫarîdâr" (one who wishes to buy) set up the language of this market scene.

The third and fourth couplets allude to a tradition often mentioned in divan literature. According to this tradition, when Joseph was put up for sale an old woman who had nothing but a few skeins of yarn also came to buy him. What the woman brought was nothing beside Joseph's worth, but her intention was heartfelt and sincere; for that reason she too was counted among the buyers. Hubbî likens herself to this woman: what she can offer in return for prayer is little, but her desire is sincere. Thus the poet expresses her own humility by placing it within a beloved story. That a woman poet should liken herself to the woman who sought to buy Joseph is also meaningful in itself.

Historical Context

That all three anthologies chose these couplets suggests that the fragment was one of the best-known parts of Hubbî's mesnevi. Before giving the couplets, Kınalızâde writes that Hubbî was the foremost of the women who composed poetry, that her words were found to be "not a girl's embroidery but quite manly", and that her book Hurşîd ü Cemşîd contained many fine and subtle sayings. Âlî presents her as an "‘azîze", an esteemed lady, who after her husband's death remained in the prince's harem and, when Selim II became sultan, became his companion and confidante. The date of composition of the mesnevi is not known.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Âşık Çelebi, Meşâ'irü'ş-şu'arâ, ed. Filiz Kılıç, Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018 (e-book), p. 496, entry on ‘Â'işe Hâtûn (Hubbî). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr
  • Kınalızâde Hasan Çelebi, Tezkiretü'ş-şu'arâ, ed. Aysun Sungurhan, Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2017 (e-book), pp. 287-288, entry on Hubbî. ekitap.ktb.gov.tr
  • Gelibolulu Mustafa Âlî, Künhü'l-ahbâr'ın Tezkire Kısmı, ed. Mustafa İsen, Ankara: Atatürk Kültür Merkezi, 1994, pp. 301-302, entry on Hubbî Hatun.

Books

Online sources