Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mef‘ūlü Mefā‘īlü Mefā‘īlü Fe‘ūlün

İy ḳudretüñüñ maẓharı ser-cümle-i eşyā
V’ey ḥikmetüñüñ manẓarı āyīne-i dünyā
Rūşen ikisi birlügüñ[üñ] oldı delīli
Eyvān-ı felekde meh ile mihr hüveydā
Seccāde-nişīnān nüh eflāk-ı ‘alāya
Ḥükmüñle żiyā-baḫş ḳanādīl-i zevāyā
İy ‘ālim-i bī-fikret ü v’ey vāhib-i bī-ecr
İy ṣāni‘-i bī-ālet [ü] v’ey ḳāyim-i bī-cā
Hem Rāzıḳ-ı bī-reybsin ü Ḫālıḳ-ı bī-‘ayb
Hem ẓāhir-i pinhānsın ü hem bāṭın-ı peydā
Urmasa senüñ luṭf-ı laṭīfüñden eger dem
Cān virmez idi mürdelere Ḥażret-i ‘Īsā
Bulmazdı ḳuluñ olmasa şāhān-ı cihān-dār
Eyvān-ı felek-rif‘at ü ḳaṣr-ı felek-āsā
Ger Ka‘be vü büt-ḫāne vü ger ḫān-ḳāh-ı deyr
Senden degül anlar dükeli ḫāli vü tenhā
Ḥükmüñle olur ḳaṭre güher neyy şeker-ter
Emrüñle virür lāle vü gül ḫār ile ḫārā
Peydā dükeli senden ü pinhān ḳamudansın
Pinhān dükelidensin ü senden ḳamu peydā
Her nesne ki fikr eyleyem andan da münezzeh
Her nesne ki ẕikr eyleyem andan da mu‘arrā
Her kimseye kim ire senüñ luṭf-ı laṭīfüñ
Menzil-gehi eflāk ola mānend-i Mesīḥā
Her kimseyi kim ḫışmuña maẓhar idesin sen
Yire geçe Ḳārūn-veş ola başı aşaġa
Redd itdügiçün emrüñi bir kez senüñ İblīs
Merdūd-ı ebed itdüñ idüp la‘neti aña
Īmānı vü Ḳur’ān’ı vü tevfīḳı refīḳ it
Fażlī’ye ḳaçan mevt ire iy Ḥayy ü Tüvānā

In English

1. O God, of whose power all things are the place of manifestation, and of whose wisdom the mirror of the world is the place of contemplation.

2. The moon and the sun, plainly visible in the hall of the sky, have both become shining proofs of Your unity.

3. For those who sit on the prayer rugs of the nine lofty heavens, the lamps in the corners give light by Your command. (The stars are likened to lamps burning in the corners of the sky.)

4. O You who know without thinking, who give without recompense; O You who create without instrument, who exist without place.

5. You are both the Provider beyond doubt and the Creator without flaw; You are both the Manifest who is hidden and the Hidden who is apparent. (Zahir and Batın, the Manifest and the Hidden, are names of God.)

6. Had You not breathed a breath of Your subtle grace, his Holiness Jesus would not have given life to the dead.

7. Had the world-holding kings not been Your servants, they would not have attained halls rising to the sky and palaces like the heavens.

8. Whether Kaaba or idol house, whether dervish lodge or monastery, none of them is empty or deserted of You.

9. By Your decree the drop becomes a pearl and the reed full of sugar; by Your command the thorn yields the tulip and the rock the rose.

10. All things have come forth from You, while You are hidden from them all; You are hidden from them all, while all things come forth from You.

11. Whatever I think of, You are exalted above it too; whatever I name, You are far from it too.

12. Whomever Your subtle grace reaches, the heavens become his abode, like the Messiah's. (Jesus is believed to have been raised to heaven.)

13. Whomever You make the target of Your wrath sinks into the earth like Korah and is turned head downwards. (Korah is the man who, in the Qur'an, is swallowed by the earth with his wealth.)

14. Because Iblis once rejected Your command, You cursed him and made him rejected forever.

15. O Living and Mighty God, when death comes to Fazlî, make faith, the Qur'an and divine succour his companions.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a kaside (qasida) of fifteen couplets (beyit). The metre is the "mef‘ūlü mefā‘īlü mefā‘īlü fe‘ūlün" pattern of the hezec family; the rhyme is the sound "-ā": eşyā, dünyā, hüveydā, zevāyā, bī-cā, peydā and the same sound in the following couplets. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet. Its title is "Ḳaṣīde-i Fażlī fi't-taḥmīd ve't-temcīd", a kaside on the praise and glorification of God. Mustafa Özkat counts this kaside too as a tevhid. To whom and when it was presented is not known; as a religious kaside it was not presented to a particular person.

Özkat publishes the kaside as the second kaside of the divan from miscellany no. 1966 of the Revan collection of the Topkapı Palace Museum Library (fol. 137b); no other copy of the poem is known. The word "menzil-gehi" in couplet 12 is mistakenly written in the manuscript in a way that could be read "menzil-heki". The suffixes in square brackets in the second and fourth couplets are completions made in the edition for the metre.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The kaside is a praise that lists the attributes and names of God. The fourth and fifth couplets are the densest part of this list: God is the one who knows without thinking, gives without recompense, creates without instrument and exists without place; He is Rāzıḳ, Ḫālıḳ, Ẓāhir and Bāṭın. The phrases "ẓāhir-i pinhān" (the manifest who is hidden) and "bāṭın-ı peydā" (the hidden who is apparent) in the fifth couplet are a play of antithesis joining words of opposite meaning, and rest on the Qur'anic words "He is the Manifest and the Hidden".

Özkat notes that in this kaside the poet also includes couplets that can be interpreted mystically, such as couplet 10. In this couplet the words "peydā" and "pinhān" are arranged in the second line in the reverse of their order in the first: all things come forth from God, while God is hidden from all things. This mode of expression, in which the words of the lines are repeated with their places exchanged, is called tard-ı akis. The couplet carries the idea that existence is the manifestation of God, yet God cannot be seen among the beings. The eighth couplet says that neither the Kaaba, nor the idol house, nor the dervish lodge, nor the monastery is empty of God; this too is an expression of the same mystical outlook.

In the second half of the kaside there are allusions to prophets and Qur'anic stories. Özkat quotes the sixth couplet as an example stating that Jesus raised the dead through God's grace. In couplet 12 the ascension of the Messiah and in couplet 13 Korah's sinking into the earth are set side by side as two opposite ends. Özkat counts the expressions "baş aşağı olmak" (to be turned head downwards) and "yere geçmek" (to sink into the earth) in couplet 13 among the idioms used by the poet. The last couplet is a prayer asking for faith, the Qur'an and divine succour at the moment of death.

Bibliography

Online sources