Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mef‘ūlü Fā‘ilātün Mef‘ūlü Fā‘ilātün / Müstef‘ilün Fe‘ūlün Müstef‘ilün Fe‘ūlün

İy pāk-ı ẕātuñ içre maḫfī ḳamu sıfātuñ
Rūşen-ṣıfāt içinde her-dem fürūġ-ı ẕātuñ
Ehl-i naẓar egerçi ne ‘aynıdur ne ġayrı
Hem ‘aynısın ḥaḳīḳat hem ġayrı kā’inātuñ
İcmāl içinde ṣūfī tafṣīli ol müşāhid
Eşcārı ‘ārif-iseñ żımnında gör nevātuñ
Vācib ne mümkin oldı mümkin ne gerçi vācib
Ḥayretdeyem velīkin naḳşında mümkinātuñ
Bir cür‘asından anuñ biñ Ḥıżr zinde-dildür
La‘lüñ ki menba‘ıdur ser-çeşme-i ḥayātuñ
‘Ayn-ı fenāda olsun meşhūd-u-bih-i bāḳī
Meftūnı olma zāhid cehl ile fāniyānuñ
Fażlī’ye vird ü vārid iy şeyḫ hep bir oldı
‘Arż itme aña luṭf it vird ile vāridātuñ

In English

1. O You in whose pure essence all attributes are hidden; within the bright attributes the radiance of Your essence shines at every moment.

2. Though to the people of insight You are neither the same as the universe nor other than it, in truth You are both the same as the universe and other than it.

3. O Sufi, within the summary (icmal) be a witness of the detail (tafsil); if you are a gnostic, see the trees within the seed.

4. The Necessary (that which must exist) did not become contingent, nor did the contingent become necessary; yet I stand in wonder at the design of contingent things.

5. Your lip, which is the fountainhead of the water of life: from one sip of it a thousand Khidrs are alive in heart.

6. Let the Everlasting be the one witnessed in the very state of annihilation (fena); O ascetic, do not in ignorance become infatuated with transient things.

7. O sheikh, for Fazlî the litany (vird) and the inspiration (vârid) have become one; be kind, do not present to him your litany and your inspirations.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a ghazal (gazel) of seven couplets. Özkat gives the metre in two patterns: "mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātün mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātün" of the muzâri family of aruz (quantitative metre), and "müstef‘ilün fe‘ūlün müstef‘ilün fe‘ūlün", which yields the same sequence of syllables. The lines divide in the middle and each half repeats the same measure. The redif (refrain word) is the genitive suffix "-uñ"; Özkat counts this ghazal among those with a suffix as redif. The rhyme is formed by the sound "-āt" in the words "ṣıfāt, ẕāt, kā'ināt, nevāt, mümkināt, ḥayāt, vāridāt". The word "fāniyānuñ" in the sixth couplet does not fit this rhyme; this is our own observation. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet.

The ghazal is the hundred and sixteenth in Özkat's edition and is found on fol. 115a of miscellany no. Âşir Efendi 314 in the Süleymaniye Library. According to Özkat's description, fols. 106b-127b of this miscellany contain seventeen kasides, one murabba, one muaşşer, one elegy and seven ghazals by Fazlî. The first word of the fifth couplet is "bu" instead of "Bir" in the manuscript. The original form of the phrase "meşhūd-u-bih" in the sixth couplet is "meşhūd-ün-bih"; Özkat notes that the form in the manuscript is required by the metre. It is not known to whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal is more a mystical discourse than a love poem, and its address is directed to God. The opening couplet treats the mystical distinction between essence and attributes: all the attributes are hidden within the essence, and the essence shines at every moment in the mirror of the attributes. The second couplet is the one Özkat cites as an example of antithesis (tezat): to the people of insight God is neither the same as the universe nor other than it, but in truth He is both the same and other. This is a statement of the idea of the unity of being which seems to contradict itself. In the third couplet "icmāl" (the summary, collected state) and "tafṣīl" (detail) are set against each other; all the branches of the tree are hidden within the seed, and the gnostic is the one who can see this.

The fourth couplet uses two basic terms of theology and philosophy: "vācib" is that whose existence is necessary, that is, God, and "mümkin" is that which may either exist or not exist, that is, created being. The poet accepts that the two do not turn into each other, yet he falls into wonder before the design of created things. In the fifth couplet the language of the ghazal suddenly turns to the idiom of love: the beloved's lip is the fountainhead of the water of life, and one sip of it keeps a thousand Khidrs alive. The belief that Khidr gained immortality by drinking the water of life is the ground of this couplet. In the sixth couplet the words "fenā" (annihilation), "bāḳī" (the everlasting) and "fāniyān" (transient things) form an antithesis.

In the last couplet two terms of Sufism are brought together: "vird" is the prayer and recollection the disciple recites regularly, and "vārid" the inspiration and spiritual state that comes to the heart from God. For the poet these two have become one; therefore he asks the sheikh not to present him with litany and inspirations, that is, not to set about giving him advice. That the words "vird" and "vārid" come from the same root creates a figure of derivation (iştikak) in the couplet; this is our own observation.

Bibliography

  • Mustafa Özkat, Kara Fazlî'nin Hayatı, Eserleri, Edebî Kişiliği ve Dîvânı (İnceleme-Tenkitli Metin), MA thesis, Marmara University Institute of Turkic Studies, Istanbul 2005, p. 353, ghazal no. 116 (Süleymaniye Library, Âşir Efendi 314, fol. 115a); also p. 69 (redifs), p. 85 (figures of speech) and pp. 118-119 (description of the manuscripts), https://katalog.marmara.edu.tr/veriler/yordambt/cokluortam/5E/T0051713.pdf.

Online sources