Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Fe‘ilātün Fe‘ilātün Fe‘ilātün Fe‘ilün
Geldi bir dem yine ḥüccāca maḳām oldı Ḥicāz
Düzdi ‘uşşāḳ ḳamu na‘re-i Lebbeyk le sāz
Ḥamdülillāh yine irişdi Ṣafā’ya ḥüccāc
Herbiri sa‘y idüben gerçi ki itdi tek ü tāz
‘Umre sürerse n’ola ẕevḳ ü ṣafāsı ḥaccuñ
İrdiler menzile ḳaṭ‘ eyleyüben rāh-ı dırāz
Ne mübārek gün olur bu güne ḳurbān olayın
K’irdi ḳurbānlar ile maḳṣada erbāb-ı niyāz
Şerefine bugünüñ secde-i şükr it ki olasın
Ol ḥarīm-i Ḥarem-i muḥtereme maḥrem-i rāz
Cān u dilden gelüñüz ṣıdḳ ile tekbīr idelüm
Rūz-ı tekbīr ü dem-i ẕikr durur vaḳt-i nemāz
Muġtenem ḳılsa n’ola ‘ālemi envā‘-ı ni‘am
Lāzım oldı çü bu mihmān-ı ‘azīze i‘zāz
Ḫūn-ı ḳurbān ile her gūşe gül-istān oldı
Şeref-i ‘īdi görüñ ḳıldı şitāyı bize yaz
Ḫūn-ı ḳurbān ile lā‘l oldı ḳamu seng-i siyeh
Ḳıymeti ḳalmadı yāḳūtuñ eger olsa da az
Lāleler ṣanma görinenleri ṣaḥrālarda
Ḫūn-ı ḳurbān ile al oldı ḳamu şīb ü firāz
Oldı ḳurbān şu ḳadar ḳalmadı ‘ālemde bugün
Mākiyān u ġanem ü esb ü şütür ördek ü ḳaz
Muġtenim oldı şu deñlü ni‘ama bāy u faḳīr
Az ḳaldı ki cihāndan gide vü götürüle āz
Ḳulı ḳurbānı olupdur bugünüñ s̱evr ü ḥamel
Ki anuñ vāsıṭasıyla der-i devlet ola bāz
Dergeh-i şāhda ḳurbān oluben bula şeref
Gösterürse eger ol şāh-ı cihān-baḫş cevāz
Kār-sāz-ı fuḳarā şāh-ı ra‘iyyet-perver
Dest-gīr-i żu‘afā pād-şeh-i bende-nüvāz
Pād-şeh-zāde-i gerdūn-‘aẓamet kim oldur
‘İẓem-i şān ile şeh-zādeler içre mümtāz
Muṣṭafā Ḫān ki işiginde müyesserdür anuñ
Eñ kemīn bendesine devlet-i Maḥmūd u Ayāz
‘Adl-i ḳānūnına iḳbāli anuñ çeng uralı
Oldı āvāzesi Nūşīn-revān’uñ nā-sāz
Cām-ı iḥsān ile mīr-i ‘asākir perver
Tīġ-ı ḫūn-ḫvār ile şāh-ı memālik perdāz
Ṣavletüñ nāmı cihāna şu ḳadar fāş oldı
Ḫavf iderler Şeh-i Tebrīz ile Şāh-ı Şīrāz
Düşmenüñ naḳd-i revānını alup virmede merg
Dest-i ḳahruñla şehā tīġuñ olupdur enbāz
Cümle ‘ālem n’ola müstaġraḳ-ı iḥsān olsa
Baḥr-i cūduñdan eger ḳaṭre-i nā-çīz ifrāz
Süfre-i ni‘met ü cūduñda meh ü mihr iki ḳurṣ
Maṭbaḫ-ı rif‘at ü ḳadrüñde felek bir ḫabbāz
Ḳāżi-i devlet ider ḥükm ki ḥaḳdur saña taḫt
Müdde‘ī eylese biñ vechle ḥüccet ibrāz
Ḫil‘at-ı devleti biçdi saña ḫayyāṭ-ı ḳadr
Nuṣret ü fetḥdür ol ḫil‘at-ı zībāya ṭırāz
Salṭanat murġını iy şāh şikār eylemege
Oldı te’yīd yed-i ḳudretüñ üzre şeh-bāz
Çerḫ-i raḳḳāṣ u meh ü mihr olupdur deffāf
Zühre bezmüñde senüñ cāriye-i çeng-nüvāz
Çār-pāre ide çengini girüp raḳṣa revān
Zühre ger muṭrib-i bezmüñle olursa dem-sāz
Tā Ṣıfāhān u ‘Irāḳ’a irişe ṣayd u ṣadā
Rāstī eyleye ger muṭrib-i bezmüñ āvāz
Pür idem vaṣf-ı medīḥüñle ṭoḳuz ıṭbāḳı
Baña bir kerre eger kim diyesin medḥümi yaz
Dür idem medḥüñe ṣad beyt ne ṣad belki hezār
Pād-şāhum hele ma‘ẕūr buyur ḳāfiye az
Şi‘r dimekde benüm ẕerrece ‘aczüm yoḳdur
‘Āciz olur mı şikār almada hergiz cürre-bāz
İtme tafṣīl ki müsta‘ceb-i taṣdī‘dür ol
Sözde maṭlūbdur iy Fażlī bilürsin īcāz
Nice kim eyleye ‘uşşāḳ-ı Ṣıfāhān u ‘Irāḳ
Ṣad nidā ile reh-i rāstdan āheng-i ḥicāz
Ka‘be gibi işigüñ ola meṭāfı ḫalḳuñ
Dergehüñde ire maḳṣūdına erbāb-ı niyāz
Her günüñ ‘īd ü giceñ devlet ile ḳadr ola
Rūz u şeb ola müyesser ṭapuña ni‘met ü nān
Meclisüñ ḥaşre degin ẕevḳ ü ṣafādan pür olup
Hem-nişīnüñ ola biñ dilber-i şūḫ u ṭannāz
In English
1. Once again a time has come when the Hijaz has become the dwelling of the pilgrims; all the lovers have tuned their instruments to the cry "Lebbeyk". (Hicaz is the name both of the holy land and of a musical mode, and "‘uşşāḳ" means both "lovers" and another mode. "Lebbeyk", "Here I am, O God, at Your command", is the cry of the pilgrims.)
2. Praise be to God, the pilgrims have reached Safa once more; each of them, performing the sa'y, truly ran to and fro. (Safa is the hill beside the Kaaba; the sa'y is the pilgrims' going back and forth between Safa and Merve.)
3. Small wonder if the joy and delight of the pilgrimage lasts through the umre; they have crossed the long road and reached their station. (The line plays on "‘umre", the lesser pilgrimage, and "‘ömr", life; it can also be understood as "lasts a lifetime".)
4. What a blessed day; may I be a sacrifice for this day, on which the supplicants attained their wish with their sacrifices.
5. Bow in a prostration of thanks in honour of this day, so that you may become an intimate of the secret in the sacred precinct of that venerable Sanctuary.
6. Come with heart and soul, let us sincerely cry "God is great"; it is the day of the tekbir, the moment of remembrance, the time of prayer.
7. Small wonder if the feast fills the world with every kind of bounty, for this honoured guest must be shown hospitality.
8. With the blood of the sacrifices every corner has become a rose garden; see the glory of the feast, it has turned our winter into summer.
9. With the blood of sacrifice all the black stones have turned into rubies; the ruby has lost its worth, scarce as it may be.
10. Do not take what you see in the fields for tulips; every slope and height has been dyed red with the blood of sacrifice.
11. So many sacrifices were made that today there is left in the world no hen, no sheep, no horse, no camel, no duck, no goose.
12. Rich and poor alike have received so much bounty that "scarcity" itself has nearly been carried away from the world.
13. Taurus and Aries have become the devoted sacrifices of this day; through them may the gate of fortune be opened. ("Sevr" and "Hamel" are the names of the zodiac signs and also mean ox and ram, that is, sacrificial animals.)
14. If that world-bestowing king permits, let them become sacrifices at his court and so attain honour.
15. He is the king who sees to the affairs of the poor and cares for his people, the padishah who takes the hand of the weak and favours his servants.
16. He is the prince of royal blood, majestic as the heavens, who stands out among the princes for the greatness of his glory.
17. He is Mustafa Han, at whose threshold even the lowliest servant is granted the fortune of Mahmud and Ayaz. (Mahmud of Ghazna and his beloved slave Ayaz are the model of love between master and servant in divan poetry.)
18. Since his fortune struck the harp of the law of justice, the voice of Nushirvan has fallen out of tune. ("Ḳānūn" and "çeng" are names of instruments, the zither and the harp; the Sasanian king Nushirvan is the model of justice.)
19. He is the emir who nourishes his army with the cup of bounty, the king who sets realms in order with his blood-drinking sword.
20. O king, the name of your onslaught has so spread through the world that the king of Tabriz and the king of Shiraz both fear you.
21. My king, in taking the coin of the enemy's life and handing it to death, your sword has become partner to your overpowering hand.
22. Small wonder if the whole world is drowned in bounty when a worthless drop is separated from the sea of your generosity.
23. At the table of your bounty and generosity the moon and the sun are two round loaves; in the kitchen of your worth and eminence the sky is a baker.
24. Though a claimant bring forward a thousand kinds of proof, the judge of fortune rules that the throne is your right.
25. The tailor of destiny has cut the robe of sovereignty for you; the embroidery of that beautiful robe is victory and conquest.
26. O king, for you to hunt the bird of sovereignty, God's support has become a falcon upon the hand of your power.
27. In your assembly the turning sky is a dancer, the moon and the sun play the tambourine, and Venus is the slave girl who plays the harp.
28. Were Venus to play together with the musician of your assembly, she would join the dance and break her harp to pieces.
29. If the musician of your assembly sings his voice true, that is, in the Rast mode, its sound and echo reach Isfahan and Iraq. ("Rāstī" means both truth and the Rast mode; Isfahan and Iraq are both places and the names of modes.)
30. If you once said to me, "Write my praise", I would fill the nine heavens with your praise.
31. I would string a hundred couplets of pearls for your praise, no, not a hundred but a thousand; my padishah, hold me excused, the rhymes are few.
32. In composing poetry I have not the slightest weakness; does a falcon ever fall short in seizing its prey?
33. Do not go on at length, for that causes a headache; Fazlî, you know that what is wanted in speech is brevity.
34. As long as the lovers of Isfahan and Iraq pass with a hundred cries from the road of Rast to the melody of Hijaz, (All these names are also the names of musical modes.)
35. May your threshold, like the Kaaba, be the place where the people circle round; may the supplicants attain their wish at your court.
36. May every day of yours be a feast and every night, with fortune, a Night of Power; may bounty and bread be ready at your door day and night.
37. May your assembly be full of joy and pleasure until the Resurrection, and may a thousand playful, coquettish beauties sit beside you.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Structure of the Poem
The poem is a kaside (qasida) of thirty-seven couplets (beyit). The metre is the "fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün" pattern of the remel family; the rhyme is the sound "-āz": Ḥicāz, sāz, tāz, dırāz, niyāz and the same sound in the following couplets. The word "nān" in couplet 36 does not fit this rhyme scheme; the text is given as in the edition. Mustafa Özkat defines the kaside as an ıydiyye in praise of Şehzade Mustafa whose introductory section (nesib) describes the Feast of Sacrifice, and he regards it as a panegyric with nearly all the qualities of a classical kaside. The first fourteen couplets describe the pilgrimage and the feast; the prince's name appears in couplet 17; couplets 30-33 are the fahriye, in which the poet speaks of himself, and the pen name (mahlas) appears in couplet 33; the last four couplets are the prayer.
Özkat publishes the kaside as the twenty-first kaside of the divan. The poem is found complete in miscellany no. 1966 of the Revan collection of the Topkapı Palace Museum Library (fol. 152a); in miscellany no. 314 of the Âşir Efendi collection of the Süleymaniye Library (fol. 119b) it has no title and contains only the first seventeen couplets. In the Revan copy "Minā" is read instead of "Ṣafā" in the second couplet, and the eighth couplet is missing from that copy.
Meaning and Figures of Speech
The introduction is woven with the terms of the pilgrimage: the cry Lebbeyk, the hill of Safa, the sa'y, the umre, the Sanctuary, the tekbir and the sacrifice. In the first couplet the poet combines these terms with terms of music: Hicaz is both the dwelling of the pilgrims and a mode, "‘uşşāḳ" is both lovers and a mode, and the lovers who tune their instruments give voice with the cry Lebbeyk. The same play is built again at the end of the kaside, in couplets 29 and 34, with the modes Rast, Isfahan, Iraq and Hijaz; Özkat cites couplet 34 as an example of congruence of images (tenasüp). The words "ḥarīm", "Ḥarem", "muḥterem" and "maḥrem" in the fifth couplet derive from the same root; Özkat gives the couplet as an example of iştikak, the use of words of common derivation.
Couplets 8-13, which describe the sacrifices, are built on hyperbole. The blood of the sacrifices has turned every corner into a rose garden and dyed the black stones the colour of tulips and rubies, so that the ruby has lost its worth. Couplet 11 says that no hen, sheep, horse, camel, duck or goose is left in the world. In couplet 13 the signs of Taurus and Aries in the sky also become sacrifices of the feast; the words "s̱evr" and "ḥamel" carry a double entendre (tevriye), meaning both a sign of the zodiac and a sacrificial animal.
In the section of praise the prince is portrayed as a ruler who cares for the poor, makes Nushirvan forgotten by his justice and sets realms in order with his sword. The "ḳānūn" and "çeng" of couplet 18, and Venus, the tambourine and the harp of couplets 27 and 28, present the prince's assembly as a musical gathering. Özkat notes that in couplet 26 sovereignty is likened to a bird, with an allusion to the use of birds of prey such as the falcon in hunting. Couplet 31 is the best-known passage of the kaside: the poet says he could compose hundreds, even thousands of couplets in the prince's praise, but the rhyme does not allow it. The rhyme "-āz" is indeed a narrow one, and the couplet turns this difficulty into a witty apology. Özkat records the words in couplet 32, "the falcon does not fall short in finding its prey", as a proverb.
Historical Context
The title in the Revan copy and the words "Muṣṭafā Ḫān" in couplet 17 show that the kaside was presented to Şehzade Mustafa on the occasion of a Feast of Sacrifice. Fazlî served as secretary in Mustafa's divan at Amasya from 1543 to 1553; the kaside belongs to one of these years, but its year is unknown. The description of the prince in couplet 16 as "şeh-zādeler içre mümtāz", distinguished among the princes, and the statement in couplet 24 that the judge of fortune will rule the throne to be his right even if a claimant brings a thousand proofs, reflect the expectation, seen also in Fazlî's other kasides, that Mustafa would come to the throne. The kings of Tabriz and Shiraz in couplet 20 are mentioned to say that the prince's fame had spread as far as Iran.
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, pp. 185-188, kaside no. 21 (Topkapı Palace Museum Library, Revan 1966, fol. 152a; Süleymaniye Library, Âşir Efendi 314, fol. 119b); also p. 53 (on the kasides), pp. 45, 79 and 83 (figures of speech) and p. 89 (proverbs), https://katalog.marmara.edu.tr/veriler/yordambt/cokluortam/5E/T0051713.pdf.
- Hasan Aksoy, "Kara Fazlî", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 24, Istanbul 2001, pp. 360-361, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/kara-fazli.
Online sources
