Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fā‘ilātün Fā‘ilātün Fā‘ilātün Fā‘ilün

Ṣanma dehrüñ zāhidā biz ḳurı ġavġāsındayuz
Yā senüñ gibi hemān dünyā temennāsındayuz
Şem‘-veş nār-ı maḥabbetle ṭutuşup yanmışuz
Başumuzda od yanar maḥbūb sevdāsındayuz
Almazuz dünyā metā‘ın bir pula iy ḫᵛāce biz
Bir iki günlük bu bāzāruñ temāşāsındayuz
Terk idüp başdan külāhı ḫırḳa[yı] ḫarḳ eyledi
Baş açuḳ abdāl olup dehrüñ teberrāsındayuz
Faḳr ile faḫr eyleyüp müflis gedālar olmuşuz
Naḳde dil ‘aḳd itmedüñ bir ẕerre iflāsındayuz
Fülk-i ḳalbi ṣalmışuz deryā-yı vaḥdet ‘avzına
Āşinā-yı baḥr-i ‘ışḳuz ‘ışḳ deryāsındayuz
Ma‘rifet dürrin dilerseñ sen de gel iy şeyḫ-i şehr
Āşinālar gibi her-dem ‘ışḳ deryāsındayuz
‘Āriyetdür çün libās-ı ‘ār ‘ārī olmuşuz
Ne ‘abāsın isterüz dehrüñ ne dībāsındayuz
Meẕheb ü cāh istemez sulṭāna baş indürmezüz
Ne vezīrinde bu dünyānuñ ne pāşāsındayuz
Yanmaġa mūmuz maḥabbet şem‘ine pervāne-vār
Ṣanma iy zāhid bizi kim nār-ı pervāsındayuz
İki ‘ālemde hemān dīdārdur maḳṣūdumuz
Ne cehennem bīmi ne cennet temennāsındayuz
Mā-sivāyı nefy idüp is̱bāt ḳıldıḳ vācibi
Kendümüz lā eyledük iy ṣūfi illāsındayuz
Ḥükm-i mūtū en-temūtū tīġını tīz eyleyüp
Nefsi ḳatl itdük velīkin rūḥuñ iḥyāsındayuz
Oñmadıḳ evbāşlar ‘ayyāşlar ḳallāşlar
Bir bölük āvāreyüz maḥbūb sevdāsındayuz
‘Işḳumuz ‘ışḳ-ı ḥaḳīḳīdür be ṣūfī ṣanma kim
Her mecāzī dilberüñ ruḫsār-ı zībāsındayuz
Yummuşuz göz mā-sivādan vech-i muṭlaḳ gözlerüz
Ṣanma kim bir muşt ḫākuñ naḳş-ı ġarrāsındayuz
Göñlümüzde ẕerre deñlü yoḳ durur dünyā ġamı
Bulmuşuz maḳṣūdumuz her-dem tesellāsındayuz
Ṭūr-ı ḳalb üzre münācāt eylerüz Mūsī-ṣıfat
Yanmışuz Eymen gibi Ḥaḳḳ’uñ tecellāsındayuz
Bir bütüñ ‘ışḳına zünnār-ı maḥabbet baġlanup
Mescidi terk eyledük her-dem kilīsāsındayuz
Çün bize varlıḳ ḥicāb oldı miyān-ı yārda
Anuñ içün gice gündüz anuñ ifnāsındayuz
Dōst u düşmen bir oldı biz de birlük bulmışuz
Kimsenüñ hergiz ne ṣulḥında ne da‘vāsındayuz
Seyrimüz seyr-i ilā’llāh ile fī’llāh olalı
Menzil-i maḳṣūda irdük dōst ṣaḥrāsındayuz
İki ‘ālemden geçüp geçdük serīr-i ‘uzlete
Fāriġüz dehrüñ ne zīrinde ne bālāsındayuz
Añladıḳ rāh-ı beḳāya çün fenādur bedreḳa
Cismi fānī itdük ammā rūḥuñ ibḳāsındayuz
Biz müselmān itdük anı zāhidā sencileyin
Ṣanma kim İblīs-i nefsüñ her-dem aġvāsındayuz
Zühd ü taḳvā ḫırmenine āteş urduḳ ‘ışḳile
Ḥāṣılı dehrüñ ne zühdinde ne taḳvāsındayuz
Rūḥumuzla ‘arş-ı rūḥānīye mi‘rāc itmişüz
Leyle-i Mi‘rāc’ı bildük sırr-ı isrāsındayuz
Nef‘den müstaġni ṣūfī olmasun żarrdan emīn
Kimseden hergiz ne ḫursendüz ne şekvāsındayuz
Farḳı yoḳdur yanımuzda hīç şādī vü ġamuñ
Dār-ı dünyānuñ ne ‘usrında ne yüsrāsındayuz
Setr içün zāhid bize bir pāre köhne şāl bas
Ḫvāce-i dehrüñ ne kālā vü ne dībāsındayuz
Dōstdan ümmīdümüz yoḳdur ‘adūdan bīmümüz
Ne eḥibbā isterüz dehrüñ ne a‘dāsındayuz
Deyr-i ḫālīdür cihān biz naḳşına aldanmazuz
Meylümüz yoḳ ṣūrete iy Fażlī ma‘nāsındayuz
Künc-i miḥnetdür egerçi ẓāhiren mesken bize
Şāh-ı ‘ışḳuñ rūz u şeb ḳaṣr-ı bālāsındayuz
Göz olup ser-tā-ḳadem her yirde Ḥaḳḳ’ı gözlerüz
Gūş olup başdan başa ḥaḳ sözüñ ıṣġāsındayuz
Evvel ü āḫir çü bildük var olan bir ẕāt imiş
Birlüge batduk ne evlā vü ne aḥrāsındayuz

In English

1. O ascetic, do not think that we are caught up in the empty quarrel of the world, or that like you we are only after the desire for the world.

2. Like a candle we have caught fire and burned with the fire of love; fire burns on our heads, we are in the passion for the beloved.

3. O master, we would not buy the goods of the world for a farthing; we are only watching this market of a day or two.

4. We have thrown the cap from our heads and torn the dervish cloak; having become bareheaded abdals, we have turned our backs on the world.

5. Taking pride in poverty we have become bankrupt beggars; we have not bound our hearts to money, we have not a mote to our name.

6. We have launched the ship of the heart into the depths of the sea of unity; we are swimmers of the sea of love, we are in the sea of love.

7. O sheikh of the city, if you want the pearl of mystical knowledge, come you too; like swimmers we are ever in the sea of love.

8. Since the garment of shame is only borrowed, we have become naked; we want neither the world's coarse cloak nor are we after its brocade. ("‘Ār" means shame, "‘ārī" naked and "‘āriyet" borrowed; the words are linked by sound.)

9. We want neither creed nor rank, we do not bow our heads to the sultan; we are after neither the vizier nor the pasha of this world.

10. We are a candle ready to burn like the moth in the candle of love; O ascetic, do not think we fear the fire. (There is a play of sound between "pervā", fear, and "pervāne", moth.)

11. In both worlds our aim is only the face of God; we are neither in fear of hell nor in longing for paradise.

12. We have denied all but God and affirmed the Necessary Being; O Sufi, we have made ourselves "lâ" (no), we are in the "illâ" (but). (The words of the profession of faith, "Lâ ilâhe illallah", "There is no god but God", are alluded to.)

13. Sharpening the sword of the precept "Die before you die", we have slain the self; but we are reviving the spirit.

14. We are incorrigible rabble, drunkards and good-for-nothings; we are a handful of vagabonds in the passion for the beloved.

15. O Sufi, our love is true love; do not think we are after the adorned cheek of every figurative beloved.

16. We have closed our eyes to all but God and watch for the Absolute Face; do not think we are after the bright image of a handful of earth.

17. In our hearts there is not a mote of worldly grief; we have found our aim and are ever in its consolation.

18. On the Sinai of the heart we pray in intimate converse like Moses; like the valley of Eymen we have burned, we are in the manifestation of God.

19. Girding ourselves with the girdle of love for the sake of an idol, we have left the mosque and are ever in its church. (The zünnar is the girdle worn by Christians and idolaters; in mystical poetry it is the symbol of abandoning a piety bound to outward forms.)

20. Because existence has become a veil between us and the beloved, night and day we strive to annihilate it.

21. Friend and foe have become one, and we have found oneness; we are in no one's peace and no one's quarrel.

22. Since our journey became the journey to God and in God, we have reached the station of our aim, we are in the desert of the Friend. ("Seyr ilallah" and "seyr fillah" are stages of the spiritual journey in Sufism.)

23. Passing beyond both worlds we have taken our seat on the throne of retreat; we have washed our hands of the world and are neither beneath it nor above it.

24. Since we understood that annihilation is the guide on the road to subsistence, we made the body perishable, but we are making the spirit abide. ("Fena" is the servant's passing away from his own being, "beka" his abiding with God.)

25. O ascetic, unlike those such as you, we have made our self a Muslim; do not think we are ever under the seduction of the devil of the self.

26. We have set fire with love to the harvest of asceticism and piety; in short, we are neither in the world's asceticism nor in its piety.

27. With our spirit we have ascended to the throne of the world of spirits; we have known the night of the Ascension, we are in the secret of the Night Journey. (The Night Journey, İsra, is the Prophet's journey by night from Mecca to Jerusalem.)

28. O Sufi, we have no need of gain and no worry about harm; we are neither pleased with anyone nor complaining of anyone. (The syntax of the first line is obscure.)

29. With us there is no difference at all between joy and grief; we are neither in the hardship nor in the ease of the abode of the world.

30. O ascetic, throw an old piece of shawl over us to cover us; we are after neither the cloth nor the brocade of the master of the world.

31. We have no hope of the friend and no fear of the foe; we want neither the world's friends nor are we among its enemies.

32. Fazlî, the world is an empty monastery, we are not deceived by its images; we have no inclination for the form, we are after the meaning.

33. Though outwardly our dwelling is the corner of affliction, night and day we are in the lofty palace of the king of love.

34. Becoming eyes from head to foot we watch for God everywhere; becoming ears from end to end we are listening to the word of truth.

35. We have known that what exists, first and last, is a single Being; we are sunk in oneness and are after neither the better nor the more fitting.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a kaside (qasida) of thirty-five couplets (beyit). The metre is the "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün" pattern of the remel family. The rhyme is the sound "-ā" (ġavġā, temennā, sevdā, temāşā...), followed by the redif (refrain word) "-sındayuz"; every couplet of the kaside ends with this redif, "...we are in". The pen name (mahlas) appears in couplet 32. Its title is "El-maḳālü'ṣ-ṣādırı ‘alā muḳtaża'l-ḥāl nuḳabā'i'ẕ-ẕāt ve'ṣ-ṣıfāt ve'l-ef‘āl"; this Arabic title announces that the poem is a word spoken as the state requires. Mustafa Özkat says that this kaside sums up the poet's view of the world from a mystical standpoint. 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. 140a); no other copy of the poem is known. The suffix in square brackets in the word "ḫırḳa[yı]" in the fourth couplet is a completion made in the edition.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The kaside is spoken by a company of dervishes, in the voice of "we", against the ascetic. According to Özkat, the poet takes up here the opposition between the dervish lodge and the madrasa and draws the portrait of a dervish who sets no value on the world. Those addressed, such as the "zāhid" (ascetic), the "ṣūfī", the "şeyḫ-i şehr" (sheikh of the city) and the "ḫᵛāce" (master), represent a piety bound to outward forms; "we" are the bareheaded abdals who have thrown away their caps and torn their cloaks. In couplet 11 this opposition takes its plainest form: the dervishes live neither for fear of hell nor for hope of paradise, but only for the face of God. Özkat quotes couplet 15 as an example showing that the poet's love is not worldly but true.

The basic concepts of Sufism are worked out one after another in the kaside: the sea of unity, denial and affirmation, the saying "Die before you die", Moses's converse with God on Sinai, annihilation and subsistence, the journey to God and in God, the Ascension and the Night Journey. In couplet 12 the "lâ" and "illâ" of the profession of faith are used skilfully: the dervishes have made themselves "lâ", that is, counted themselves as nothing, and remain in the "illâ", that is, in the being of God alone. In his footnote Özkat explains that the saying "Mūtū ḳable en temūtū" in couplet 13 is not found in the authoritative hadith collections, but is used by the Sufis as a saying pointing to the station of "passing away in the being of God". The girdle and the church in couplet 19 are well-known motifs of mystical poetry expressing the abandonment of a piety bound to outward forms.

Özkat draws attention to the repetition of rhyme words several times in the kaside: "‘ışḳ deryāsındayuz" is used again in couplets 6 and 7, "dībāsındayuz" in couplets 8 and 30, and "sevdāsındayuz" in couplets 2 and 14. Couplet 9 is the most often cited passage of the kaside: "Meẕheb ü cāh istemez sulṭāna baş indürmezüz / Ne vezīrinde bu dünyānuñ ne pāşāsındayuz". Özkat mentions this couplet twice in the poet's biography and notes that Fazlî, whose whole career was spent at princely courts and who rose in the end to be chief of the scribes, speaks here in a proud manner. The couplet shows the distance between the language of dervish discourse in poetry and the poet's life at court.

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. 143-146, kaside no. 8 (Topkapı Palace Museum Library, Revan 1966, fol. 140a); also pp. 20 and 73 (his life), pp. 49-50 (on the kasides), pp. 70-71 (repetition of rhymes) and p. 76 (mystical poems), 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