Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün

Iyd-ı ekberdür dem-â-dem her demi gâzîlerün
Ravza-i rıdvân-ı Hakdur ‘âlemi gâzîlerün
Baş u câna bakmayup bezleylediler varını
Aşk-ı Hak’dur râh-ı Hak’da mahremi gâzîlerün
Gel nazar kıl sufiyâ âşık geçersin sen dahi
Kendü kanı Hak yolunda merhemi gâzîlerün
Sâki-i Kevser elinden nûş kıldılar şarâb
Bâde-i aşk-ı Hudâ câm-ı Cem’i gâzîlerün
Âlem içre Hubbiyâ kim himmet-i merdân ile
Nusret-i avn-i Hudâ’dur hem-demi gâzîlerün

In English

1. Every moment of the warriors is, at all times, the greatest festival; their world is God's garden of paradise.

2. Heedless of head and life, they spent all they had on the path of God; on the path of God the warriors' confidant is the love of God.

3. O Sufi, come and look; you too pass yourself off as a lover. On the path of God the warriors' salve is their own blood. (The warrior's wound is healed by his own blood, that is, by martyrdom; the Sufi's claim to be a lover is set against this.)

4. They drank wine from the hand of the cupbearer of Kawthar; the warriors' cup of Cem is the wine of the love of God. ("Câm-ı Cem" is the cup of the legendary king Cem, said to show the whole world within it.)

5. O Hubbî, in this world, through the blessing of the valiant, the warriors' companion is God's help and victory.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a ghazal (gazel) of five couplets in the remel family of aruz (quantitative metre), in the pattern "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is "gâzîlerün", of the warriors, and the rhyme is the sound "-emi": demi, ‘âlemi, mahremi, merhemi, Cem'i, hem-demi. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet in the form "Hubbiyâ". The ghazal is given as the first example in the "Examples of Works" section of Kadriye Hocaoğlu's entry on Hubbî in the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü (Dictionary of Names in Turkish Literature). No separate source is cited for this ghazal; the source note at the end of the section belongs to the couplets of Cemşîd ü Hurşîd. Since the entry states that Müjgân Cunbur identified Hubbî's poems on holy war at the end of İmâdü'l-cihâd, the ghazal was probably taken from the texts Cunbur published in 1988. In refrain and subject it also matches the "Der medḥ-i ġazā" ghazals of İmâdü'l-cihâd. The text is given exactly as spelled in TEİS; in this spelling long vowels are marked with a circumflex.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal describes the warriors as if they were the lovers of a love poem. Every moment of theirs is "‘ıyd-ı ekber", the greatest festival; their world is God's garden of paradise. In the second couplet the warriors are shown as lovers who spend all they have, heedless of head and life; their "mahrem", their confidant, is the love of God. In divan poetry the lover gives up life and wealth for the beloved; Hubbî applies this type to the warrior.

The third couplet contains a comparison and a gentle reproach. The poet addresses the Sufi: you too pass yourself off as a lover, but come and look at the warriors. Their salve is their own blood; that is, they heal their wounds on the path of God only by shedding their blood, by becoming martyrs. The antithesis between salve and blood brings out the difference between the Sufi who claims to be a lover in words and the warrior who proves his love with his life. In the fourth couplet the wine and cup imagery of divan poetry is tied this time to paradise and divine love: the warriors have drunk from the hand of the cupbearer of Kawthar, their cup is the cup of the legendary Cem, and what they drink is the wine of the love of God. A strong congruence of images (tenasüp) is built between cupbearer, Kawthar, wine and cup.

The closing couplet shows the warrior accompanied by God's help and victory. The phrase "himmet-i merdân", the spiritual support of the valiant and the saints, names the worldly and spiritual sides of holy war together. Like the other holy-war ghazals in İmâdü'l-cihâd, the ghazal is an example that confirms the biographers' description of Hubbî as "merdâne", manly: a woman poet carries the love language of divan poetry over to the praise of war and martyrdom.

Historical Context

İmâdü'l-cihâd and the holy-war poems in it are thought to have been written during the reign of Selim II (1566-1574). It is not certain that the ghazal comes from this work, but its subject, refrain and use of the pen name accord with the other ghazals of the work. To whom and on what occasion it was written is not known.

Bibliography

Academic studies

  • Müjgân Cunbur, "İmâdü'l-Cihâd ve XVI. Yüzyıl Kadın Şairlerinden Ayşe Hubbî Kadın", IX. Türk Tarih Kongresi Bildiriler, vol. II, Ankara 1988, pp. 901-913 (as reported in TEİS).
  • Mücahit Kaçar, "Hubbî Hatun'un İmâdü'l-Cihâd İsimli Eseri", Uluslararası Amasya Şairleri Bilim Şöleni Bildiriler Kitabı, Amasya 2018, pp. 167-175, https://isamveri.org/pdfdrg/G00431/2018/2018_KACARM.pdf.

Books

Online sources