Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Only the following couplet of this poem has been published in the source; the complete poem has not been published.

Seyf-i meslûl-i Ḫudâ ya‘nî o Sulṭân Aḥmed kim
‘Arşa asdı ḳılıcın ṣanma ki necm-i demgîr

In English

1. God's drawn sword, that is, that Sultan Ahmed who hung his sword upon the heavenly throne; do not take (what you see in the sky) for a comet. (The last word of the second line is not wholly clear.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The couplet is the 41st couplet of the first kaside in Âkif's divan. According to Öntürk and Tunçadam, this kaside, headed "Der-sitâyîş-i Sulṭan Aḥmed Ḫân…", was presented to Sultan Ahmed III and Dâmâd Ali Paşa; it occupies folios 2a-7b of the divan and has 96 couplets. The first seven couplets are a prelude describing a sword; couplets 9-65 are the panegyric, the first 49 of them devoted to Ahmed III and the last 16 to Dâmâd Ali Paşa. A six-couplet tegazzül (inserted ghazal) follows, and couplets 79-94 are the fahriye (self-praise). The article did not publish the whole kaside but quoted only a few of its couplets in its analysis; this couplet is one of them. The metre of the kaside is not stated in the article.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The couplet links the sword imagery of the kaside's prelude to the panegyric. "Seyf-i meslûl-i Ḫudâ", God's sword drawn from its scabbard, is a form of praise recalling the epithet "Seyfullah" (the Sword of God) used in Islamic history for Khalid ibn al-Walid. The poet says that the sultan hung his sword upon the heavenly throne, that the bright light seen in the sky is really this sword, and that one should not take it for a comet. A sight in the sky is thus tied to the sultan's might through fanciful aetiology (hüsn-i talil). The reading of the word "demgîr" in the source is not wholly clear; the meaning "comet" has been inferred from the context.

Historical Context

Öntürk and Tunçadam say that the poet, who lived in the reign of Sultan Ahmed III, praised him in the kasides of his divan. When the kaside was presented is not stated in the sources. Çifçi writes that Âkif was in Istanbul during the grand vizierate of Dâmâd Ali Paşa, between 1713 and 1716, and dedicated his maqamas to him. For the poet's life, see the article Îdîzâde Âkif Mustafa Efendi.

Bibliography

  • Tolga Öntürk and Özcan Tunçadam, "Amasyalı 'Îdî-zâde Âkif Mustafa ve Divanı", Hikmet-Akademik Edebiyat Dergisi, 6(12), 2020, pp. 259-281 (text: pp. 264). https://doi.org/10.28981/hikmet.683811
  • Mehmet Faruk Çifçi, "İbnü'l-Verdî'den 'Îdîzâde'ye Makâmelerde Veba Algısı", Pamukkale Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, 8(1), 2021, pp. 296-297. https://doi.org/10.17859/pauifd.913179

Online sources