Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Fe‘ilātün Fe‘ilātün Fe‘ilātün Fe‘ilün
Āteş ur ḫırmen-i hestīye demidür iy dil
Ger dilerseñ ki ola sebze-i vuṣlat ḥāṣıl
Bend olup ġaflet ile bende-i nefs olma ṣaḳın
Himmet it k’olasın āzāde olup bend-i kösil
Bezm-i kes̱retde nice ‘āḳil u hüşyār olasın
Bāde-i vaḥdet ile demdür olursañ ḳan-ı dil
Görinürken saña her yirde Cemāl-i muṭlaḳ
Bir avuç āb u kiliñ ḥüsnine olma māyil
Ḳorḳum ol yolda ḳalup dūr olasın ḳāfileden
Ḫvāb-ı ġaflet niçe bir aç gözüñi iy ġāfil
Cehd idüp ḳaṭre iken cānib-i deryāya iriş
‘Ayn-ı deryā olagör olma esīr-i sāḥil
Niçe bir cām-ı hevā ile olup mest ü ḫarāb
Olasın cehl ile üftāde vü ālūde-i kil
Ne yirüñdür ola billāh bu mekān-ı esfel
Lā-mekān taḫtı olurken saña ‘ālī-menzil
Olma leẕẕātına nefs ile hevānuñ ṭāmi‘
Leẕẕeti ẕillet imiş sükkeri zehr-i ḳātil
Ki bilürsüñ seni sensin saña ‘ayn-ı noḳṣān
Sen seni ref‘ idegör tā ki olasın kāmil
Senliğüñdür seni senden ayıran iy miskīn
Yoḫsa sensin girü maṭlūbuñ olan ancaḳ bil
Sen seni ref‘ idegör tā ki ola ref‘-i ḥicāb
Ki hemān çihre-i cānāneye sensin ḥāyil
Līk sen bulmaġa maṭlūb-ı ḥaḳīḳīye viṣāl
Niçe esbāb gerek kim ola vuṣlat ḥāṣıl
Çünki tevfīḳ refīḳ ola hidāyet yāver
Bulasın cedd-ile bir pīr-i mükemmel kāmil
Şarṭ-ı rehdür saña on nesne eger kim sen onı
Eyleriseñ olasın kūy-ı murāda dāḫil
Evvelā lāzım olan ḥażret-i pīre teslīm
Olasın tā ki anuñ feyżine nev‘ā ḳābil
Yed-i ġassālde meyyīt gibi teslīm ol aña
İḫtiyārı ḳo ṭut emrini ne kim ḳıl dise ḳıl
S̱āniyen tevbe k’odur cānib-i Mevlā’ya rücū‘
Eyleyüp cümle mu‘āṣīyi özüñden zāyil
S̱ālisen zühd gerek ya‘ni ṣalāḥ-ı a‘māl
Ṣıdḳ ile cümle-i ṭā‘ātı olasın ‘āmil
Rābi‘an vācib olan sālike perhīz-i vera‘
Ki firāsetle ola fārıḳ-ı ḥaḳ u bāṭıl
Ḫāmisen sālik-i seyyāre tevekkül lāzım
Ki tevekkülle olur menzile sālik vāṣıl
Sādisen sālike elbetde ḳanā‘at vācib
Ki bu yolda o durur zād u nevāl-i rāḥil
Sābi‘an ḫalvet ü ‘uzlet ki sülūk ehlinüñ
Ṣoḥbet-i ḫalḳ ider nūr u ṣafāsın zāyil
Ḫalvet oldur k’ola maḥbūs-ı ḥavās u cāne
Olmaya vāsıṭa-i ḥüsn ile leẕẕet ḥāṣıl
S̱āminen meşġale-i kes̱ret-i ẕikr ü tesbīḥ
Ki odur mıṣḳale-i ṣafvet-i āyīne-i dil
Tāsi‘an cānib-i Mevlā’ya teveccüh ya‘ni
Mā-sivā olmaya andan seni bir dem şāġil
‘Āşiren derd ü belā vü elem ü zaḥmete ṣabr
Ki olur vāsıṭa-i ṣabr ile ḥal her müşkil
Bu şerāyiṭ ki didüm cān ile gūş it Fażlī
Ki budur cümle kemālāta vesīle bilgil
Her ki bu şarṭ ile gitmezse reh-i Mevlā’ya
İrmeyüp menzil-i maḳṣūda ḳılur pā-der-gil
Tevbesin himmete vir rāh-ı ṭalebde meydān
Hem-‘inān ola ‘ināyet ala şāyed menzil
Cehl ile ḥayf degül mi ola ‘ömrüñ żāyi‘
Añ o(l) vaḳti k’olasın cehlüñ içün ḫᵛār u ḫacil
Çünki “Nefsini bilen Ḥaḳḳ’ı bilür” didi Resūl
Ne içün bilmege sa‘y itmeyesin iy cāhil
Gider ihmāli göñülden bu tekāsül nice bir
Ḳoya mühmellügi gel olma igende mühmil
Saña bu yolda kesel māni‘-i rehdür ġāyet
Keseli ḳo bu keselden gele luṭf eyle kesil
El-‘acel el-‘acel iy furṣatı fevt eyleyici
Ṣoñra nādim olıcaḳsın kerem it ol ‘ācil
In English
1. O heart, if you wish the green shoots of union to grow, now is the very time to set fire to the harvest of existence.
2. Beware, do not be bound by heedlessness and become the slave of the self; strive to be freed from the bond of sloth and become free.
3. How long will you stay sober and sensible in the assembly of multiplicity? If your heart turns to blood with the wine of unity, it is the very time. ("Kesret" is the world of multiplicity, "vahdet" unity.)
4. While the Absolute Beauty, that is, the beauty of God, appears to you everywhere, do not be drawn to the beauty of a handful of water and clay.
5. My fear is that you will fall behind on that road and be left far from the caravan; O heedless one, how long this sleep of heedlessness, open your eyes.
6. While you are a drop, strive and reach the sea; seek to become the sea itself, do not be the captive of the shore.
7. How much longer will you stay drunk and ruined with the cup of desire, fallen and soiled with mud in your ignorance?
8. By God, when the throne of the placeless realm is to be your lofty dwelling, is this lowest place your home? ("Lâmekân", the placeless, is the divine realm beyond place.)
9. Do not covet the pleasures of the self and desire; their pleasure is abasement and their sugar a deadly poison.
10. You know that the very source of your deficiency is you yourself; remove yourself, so that you may become perfect.
11. O wretch, what separates you from yourself is your selfhood; otherwise know that the one you seek is again none but you.
12. Remove yourself, so that the veil may be lifted; for the veil before the beloved's face is none but you.
13. But to reach the true goal, many means are needed for union to come about.
14. When divine succour is your companion and guidance your helper, you will find through effort a mature and perfect spiritual master.
15. As conditions of the road ten things are required of you; if you fulfil them, you will enter the village of your desire.
16. The first thing required is to surrender to his Holiness the master, so that you may become somewhat worthy of his grace.
17. Surrender to him like a corpse in the hands of the washer; give up your own will, hold to his command, do whatever he tells you to do.
18. The second is repentance, that is, to turn back to the Lord, ridding yourself of all sins.
19. Third, asceticism is needed, that is, the goodness of deeds; you should perform all acts of worship sincerely.
20. Fourth, what is required of the traveller is the abstinence of scrupulousness, that is, avoiding the doubtful; you should tell truth from falsehood with discernment.
21. Fifth, the journeying wayfarer needs trust in God, for the wayfarer reaches the station through trust.
22. Sixth, contentment is surely necessary for the wayfarer, for on this road it is the traveller's provision and portion.
23. Seventh is seclusion and retreat, for company with people takes away the light and purity of those on the path.
24. Seclusion is the confinement of the senses and the soul, so that no pleasure arises by way of beauty.
25. Eighth is to be occupied with abundant remembrance of God and glorification, for it is the polish that brightens the purity of the mirror of the heart.
26. Ninth is to turn towards the Lord, that is, let nothing but God keep you from Him even for a moment.
27. Tenth is patience under pain, affliction, grief and hardship, for every difficulty is resolved by means of patience.
28. Fazlî, listen with your soul to these conditions I have told; know that this is the means to all perfections.
29. Whoever does not go on the Lord's road with these conditions does not reach the station of the goal, and his feet stay stuck in the mud.
30. Let him give his repentance over to resolve on the road of seeking; grace rides rein to rein with him, and perhaps he will reach the station.
31. Is it not a pity that your life should be wasted in ignorance? Remember the time when you will be humiliated and ashamed because of your ignorance.
32. Since the Messenger said, "Who knows himself knows God", O ignorant one, why do you not strive to know?
33. Drive neglect from your heart; how long this sloth? Come, give up negligence, do not be neglectful.
34. On this road sloth is the greatest obstacle before you; give up sloth, be so kind, and break free of this sloth.
35. Make haste, make haste, O you who let the moment slip; afterwards you will regret it; be so kind, be quick.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Structure of the Poem
The poem is a kaside (qasida) of thirty-five couplets (beyit). The metre is the "fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün" pattern of the remel family; the rhyme is the sound "-il": dil, ḥāṣıl, kösil, māyil, ġāfil, sāḥil and the same sound in the following couplets. The pen name (mahlas) appears in couplet 28. Its title is "Ḳaṣīde-i Fażlī fi'l-intibāh ve'l-īḳāẓ", a kaside on awakening and warning. Mustafa Özkat defines it as a didactic kaside of the warning type, written with mystical ideas. The kaside has no section of praise. To whom and when it was written is not known.
Özkat publishes the kaside from miscellany no. 1966 of the Revan collection of the Topkapı Palace Museum Library (fol. 139a); no other copy of the poem is known. The letter in parentheses in the word "o(l)" in couplet 31 is a completion made in the edition.
Meaning and Figures of Speech
According to Özkat's summary, this kaside dwells on the need not to be captive to the self, to turn away from multiplicity towards unity, to wake from the sleep of heedlessness and to move away from the sense of selfhood. The first fourteen couplets of the kaside convey these warnings through images: the harvest of existence must be burned so that the green shoots of union may grow; the drop must reach the sea and not be the captive of the shore; man, who is worthy of the throne of the placeless realm, must not be content with the lowest place. In couplets 10-12 one of the basic ideas of Sufism is voiced: the veil separating man from God is his own selfhood. Özkat gives the word "senlik" in couplet 11, meaning "the selfhood that belongs to you", as an example of old Turkish words living on in the poet's language.
Couplets 15-27 are the most orderly section of the kaside. The poet lists in order, with "evvelā, s̱āniyen, s̱ālis̱en..." (first, second, third...), the ten conditions required for attaining union: surrender to a master, repentance, asceticism, the abstinence of scrupulousness, trust in God, contentment, seclusion and retreat, remembrance and glorification of God, turning towards the Lord, and patience. Özkat regards this list as the poet setting out, in the manner of a spiritual guide, the rules that those on the path must follow. The comparison "like a corpse in the hands of the washer" in couplet 17 is a well-known Sufi saying expressing the disciple's complete surrender to his sheikh. Since Fazlî is known to have become a follower of the Halveti sheikh Zarîfî Hasan Efendi, this counsel also relates to the poet's own life in the order.
In couplet 32 the saying "Who knows himself knows God" is attributed to the Prophet. In his footnote Özkat reports that this saying is not found in the authoritative hadith collections and is regarded by some hadith scholars as fabricated, but that its meaning is accepted as true and it appears as a hadith in Sufi books. In the last couplets the plays on sound grow dense: in couplet 33 the words "ihmāl", "mühmel" and "mühmil", and in couplet 34 "kesel" and "kesil", are repeated as derivations from the same root or the same sound. Özkat also gives couplets 29 and 30 as examples of the poet's verbal craftsmanship.
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. 140-143, kaside no. 7 (Topkapı Palace Museum Library, Revan 1966, fol. 139a); also p. 49 (on the kasides), p. 70 (verbal craftsmanship), p. 76 (mystical poems), p. 85 (hadith) and pp. 105-106 (old Turkish words), 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
