Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mef‘ūlü Fā‘ilātü Mefā‘īlü Fā‘ilün

Yā ṣāḥibe’l-‘azīmeti yā seyyide’l-verā
Ente’l-leẕī tevaḥḥadü bi’l-cūd ve’s-seḫā
Şem‘-i ḳıdem Şefī‘-i ümem şāh-ı ẕü’l-himem
Māh-ı vefā sipihr-i seḫā maẓhar-ı Ḫudā
Ḫūrşīd-i tāb-dār sipihr-i keḥḥālsin
İdüp ḳasem cemālüñe Ḥaḳ didi “ Ve’ḍ-ḍuḥā ”
Şol deñlü virdi Ḥaḳ saña inṣāf u ḫulḳı kim
Nıṣfını bulmadı anuñ eṣnāf-ı aṣfiyā
Cümle velāyet ehli umarlar şefā‘atüñ
Ẕāt-ı muḳaddesüñ durur evlā-yı evliyā
Dāġ-ı ġamuñ derūnda sa‘ādet nişānıdur
Derd ü maḥabbetüñ maraż-ı rūḥadur şifā
Sensin serīr-i milk-i nübüvvetde pād-şāh
Cümle sipāhdur saña eṣnāf-ı enbiyā
Güm-rāh olurdı rāh-ı ḍalāletde cümle ḫalḳ
Şer‘üñ ṭarīḳ-i Ḥaḳḳ’a ger olmasa reh-nümā
Ẓulmet şebinde olmış idi ḫalḳ ḍāllīn
Ger şem‘-i dīni eylemeseñ anlara hüdā
İtdüñ sebīl-i Ḥaḳ’da sebīl āb-ı luṭfuñı
Sīr-āb oldı teşne-dilā zümre-i belā
Bir pāye ḳaṣr-ı rif‘atüñüñ nerdübānına
Mi‘rācuñ ay maḥāllüñ ‘izzetde pād-şā
Sen ol kerīmsin k’açıcaḳ cūd süfresin
Her bī-nevāya senden irer yā nice nevā
Faḳr-ile faḫr iderdüñ emīr-i cihān iken
Sulṭān iken libāsuñ idi köhne bir ‘abā
Ben nice medḥ idem saña lāyıḳ eyā nice
Meddāḥ olup durur saña çün ẕāt-ı kibriyā
Bes ola ‘acz ü ‘öẕrümi ‘arż eylemek hemīn
Medḥüñe dil uzatmaġa ḳudret ḳaçan ola
Luṭf it şefā‘at eyle bu bī-çāre ‘āṣiye
Geldüm ḳapuña Fażlī-i zārum yüzi ḳara
İy dil ümīdi kesme yüri tīġ-ı ye’s ile
Maḥrūm ola bu ḳapuda ḥāşā ki ber-ḥaşā
Bizden hezār-bār ṣalavāt u selām ola
Saña vü ṣaḥb u ālüñe cān ile dāyimā

In English

1. O master of resolve, O lord of creatures; You are the one unique in generosity and bounty. (The couplet is in Arabic.)

2. You are the candle of pre-eternity, the intercessor of the nations, the king of the high-minded; the moon of fidelity, the sky of generosity, the place where God is manifest.

3. You are the shining sun of the sky that lines the eyes with kohl; God swore by your beauty and said "Ve'd-duhâ". ("Ve'd-duhâ", "By the morning light", is the first verse of the sura Duhâ; the poet reads this oath as referring to the radiance of the Prophet's face.)

4. God gave you so much fairness and fine character that none of the elect found even half of it.

5. All the people of sainthood hope for your intercession; your holy person is the highest of the saints.

6. The wound of grief for you in the heart is the sign of felicity; pain and love for you are the cure for the sickness of the soul.

7. You are the padishah on the throne of the realm of prophethood; all the ranks of the prophets are your army.

8. Had your law not been the guide to the road of God, all people would have lost their way on the road of error.

9. Had you not made the candle of religion a guide for them, people would have remained astray in the dark night.

10. You made the water of your grace a public fountain in the way of God; the thirsting hearts of those who suffer affliction drank their fill.

11. Your Ascension is only one step on the stairway of your lofty palace, O you whose station in honour is that of a padishah. (The word "ay" in the line has been understood as the vocative "ey", O.)

12. You are so generous that when you spread the table of bounty, many a portion reaches every portionless one from you. (There is a play of sound between "bī-nevā", portionless, and "nevā", portion.)

13. While you were lord of the world you took pride in poverty; while you were sultan, your garment was an old cloak.

14. How should I offer you praise worthy of you, when it is God Himself who praises you?

15. It is enough to confess my helplessness and beg pardon; when would I have the strength to lift my tongue to your praise?

16. Be gracious, intercede for this helpless sinner; moaning Fazlî has come to your door with a black face.

17. O heart, do not cut off your hope with the sword of despair; God forbid that anyone be turned away from this door, never.

18. From us to you, to your companions and your family, may there be blessings and greetings a thousand times, from the heart, forever.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a kaside (qasida) of eighteen couplets (beyit). The metre is the "mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün" pattern of the muzari family; the rhyme is the sound "-ā": verā, seḫā, Ḫudā, ve'ḍ-ḍuḥā, aṣfiyā and the same sound in the following couplets. The pen name (mahlas) appears in couplet 16. The kaside belongs to the na't genre, poems in praise of the Prophet; its title is "Ḳaṣīde-i Fażlī fī na‘ti'n-Nebī ṣalla'llāhu ‘aleyhi ve sellem". According to Mustafa Özkat, the third, fourth and fifth kasides of the divan are na'ts; this first na't has no introductory section (nesib), and the poet passes directly to praise. The first couplet of the kaside is entirely in Arabic. 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 from miscellany no. 1966 of the Revan collection of the Topkapı Palace Museum Library (fol. 138a); no other copy of the poem is known. Özkat explains in a footnote the words "Ve'ḍ-ḍuḥā", the first verse of the sura Duhâ.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Özkat notes that in this na't the poet praises the Prophet with sincere feeling, sees him as the sultan of all the prophets and a sun illuminating the world, and hopes for his intercession while describing his moral and physical beauty. The second couplet has a pattern of sound to which Özkat draws attention: "Şem‘-i ḳıdem Şefī‘-i ümem şāh-ı ẕü'l-himem / Māh-ı vefā sipihr-i seḫā maẓhar-ı Ḫudā". The sounds "ş" and "ā" are repeated in the couplet and, in Özkat's words, create a music; Özkat also gives this couplet as an example of the chained possessive compounds that are rare in the divan. The division of the line into internally rhyming segments (ḳıdem, ümem, himem) recalls the figure called tarsi.

In the seventh couplet the Prophet is shown as a padishah seated on the throne of the realm of prophethood, with the other prophets as his soldiers; Özkat quotes this couplet too as an example from the na'ts. In couplet 11 even the Ascension is counted as only one step on the stairway of his lofty palace. Couplet 13 tells of the Prophet's choosing poverty while possessing lordship over the world, with an allusion to the saying "Poverty is my pride"; there is a pun (cinas) between "faḳr" (poverty) and "faḫr" (pride). In couplet 14 the poet says that since God Himself praises the Prophet, a servant cannot offer him praise worthy of him; this is an expression of helplessness common in na'ts.

The most often cited passage of the kaside is couplet 16: "Luṭf it şefā‘at eyle bu bī-çāre ‘āṣiye / Geldüm ḳapuña Fażlī-i zārum yüzi ḳara". The idiom "yüzü kara", black-faced, expresses sinfulness and shame. Özkat says that here the poet also alludes to the feature that led to his being known as "Kara Fazlî", Fazlî the Black. Gelibolulu Âlî describes Fazlî as a large man with a sullen face; according to Özkat, his dark complexion played a large part in the epithet "Kara Fazlî". The couplet thus carries a double entendre (tevriye) that joins a convention of the na't with the poet's own epithet.

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. 131-132, kaside no. 3 (Topkapı Palace Museum Library, Revan 1966, fol. 138a); also pp. 9 and 14 (his epithet), p. 48 (on the kasides), p. 74 (religious poems) and p. 105 (language and style), 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