Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fe‘ilātün Fe‘ilātün Fe‘ilātün Fe‘ilün

O ġanīdür bu cihān ḫalḳı faḳīri ‘Ömer’üñ
Şāhdur taḫt-geh-i ḥüsn-i serīri ‘Ömer’üñ
N’ola biñ cān ile olursam esīri ‘Ömer’üñ
Var mıdur milket-i ‘Os̱mān’da naẓīri ‘Ömer’üñ
Baña ṭa‘n eyleme ḥüsnine olursam nāẓır
Bāṭıl itme ḥaḳı iy ṣūfi Ḥaḳ’ı gör ḥāżır
Çihresinde anun envār-ı Muḥammed ẓāhir
Var mıdur milket-i ‘Os̱mān’da naẓīri ‘Ömer’üñ
Küfr-i zülfini göricek bu dil-i şīfte-ḥāl
Geldi īmāna hemān ṣıdḳ ile Bū-Bekr mis̱āl
Gögden inmişdür aña ḥaḳ bu ki iklīl-i cemāl
Var mıdur milket-i ‘Os̱mān’da naẓīri ‘Ömer’üñ
Ḥüsnine beñzedemez dil gül-i ḥandānı anuñ
Zülfine sünbüli vü ḫaṭṭına reyḥānı anuñ
Ḳulı olsa yiridür Yūsuf-ı Ken‘ān’ı anuñ
Var mıdur milket-i ‘Os̱mān’da naẓīri ‘Ömer’üñ
Fażliyā görmemişem hīç güzel aña naẓar
Yūsuf-ı Mıṣr-ı melāḥatdür o dünyāda meger
Ger olursam n’ola ol şāh-ı cihāna çāker
Var mıdur milket-i ‘Os̱mān’da naẓīri ‘Ömer’üñ

In English

1. The people of this world are Ömer's poor, and he is rich; Ömer is a shah seated on the throne of beauty. If I become Ömer's captive with a thousand souls, is that any wonder? Is there anyone like Ömer in the land of Osman?

2. Do not reproach me if I gaze on his beauty; O Sufi, do not count the true as false, see God present there: the lights of Muhammad shine in his face. Is there anyone like Ömer in the land of Osman?

3. When this distracted heart saw the unbelief of his lock, it at once came to faith with sincerity, like Abu Bakr; truly the crown of beauty has come down to him from heaven. Is there anyone like Ömer in the land of Osman? (The black lock, because of its darkness, is likened to unbelief.)

4. The heart cannot liken the laughing rose to his beauty, the hyacinth to his lock or the sweet basil to the down on his face; it would be fitting for Joseph of Canaan to be his servant. Is there anyone like Ömer in the land of Osman?

5. O Fazlî, I have never seen a beauty like him; he must be the Joseph of the Egypt of beauty in this world; if I become the servant of that shah of the world, is that any wonder? Is there anyone like Ömer in the land of Osman?

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a murabba (quatrain stanza poem) of five stanzas. The first three lines of each stanza rhyme among themselves; the fourth is repeated in every stanza as the refrain "Var mıdur milket-i ‘Os̱mān'da naẓīri ‘Ömer'üñ". In the first stanza all four lines end with the redif (refrain word) "‘Ömer'üñ", and the words "faḳīri, serīri, esīri, naẓīri" carry the rhyme. The rhymes of the other stanzas are, in order, "-ır/-ir" (nāẓır, ḥāżır, ẓāhir), "-āl" (ḥāl, mis̱āl, cemāl), "-ānı anuñ" (ḫandānı, reyḥānı, Ken‘ān'ı) and "-er" (naẓar, meger, çāker). The metre is the "fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün" pattern of the remel family. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last stanza in the form "Fażliyā".

Özkat publishes the poem as the fifteenth musammat of the divan. The text is found only in the Fazlî divan section (fol. 224b) of the miscellany in the Hazine collection of the Topkapı Palace Museum Library. According to Özkat's description, this part of the miscellany was copied in 1149 (1736), was bound in later, and bears the note "left unfinished".

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Özkat connects this poem with a beauty called Ömer, among the murabbas of praise Fazlî wrote for beauties famous in his day. The poem's chief device is a play on the beloved's name. The name Ömer recalls the second of the first four caliphs, and the poet places the other caliphs and the Prophet around it. "Milket-i ‘Os̱mān" in the refrain is both the Ottoman land and the name of the third caliph, Osman. In the third stanza the heart that sees the unbelief of the lock comes to faith "like Abu Bakr" ("Bū-Bekr mis̱āl") "with sincerity" ("ṣıdḳ ile"); the word "ṣıdḳ" evokes Abu Bakr's epithet "Sıddîk" (the truthful). In the second stanza the "lights of Muhammad" ("envār-ı Muḥammed") appear in the beauty's face. Thus the names Ömer, Osman, Abu Bakr and Muhammad form a congruence of images (tenasüp).

The phrase "bāṭıl itme ḥaḳı" in the second line of the second stanza recalls the idea of separating the true from the false; this idea has long been associated with the epithet "Fârûk" given to the caliph Omar. Against the Sufi who reproaches him for looking at the beauty, the poet uses the familiar mystical defence: in a beautiful face the manifestation of God is contemplated. In the first stanza there is a contrast between "ġanī" (rich) and "faḳīr" (poor): all the people are his poor, while he is rich. In the fourth stanza the rose, the hyacinth and the sweet basil are paired with the beauty's face, lock and facial down; by saying that even these comparisons fall short, the poet uses hyperbole. The fourth and fifth stanzas allude twice to Joseph: Joseph of Canaan ought to be his servant, because he is the Joseph of the Egypt of beauty. The poet's calling himself "çāker" (servant) and the beauty "şāh-ı cihān" (shah of the world) continues the relation of servant and shah found in the other murabbas.

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, p. 242, musammat no. 15 (Topkapı Palace Museum Library, Hazine, fol. 224b); also pp. 57-58 (on the murabbas) and pp. 119-120 (description of the manuscripts), https://katalog.marmara.edu.tr/veriler/yordambt/cokluortam/5E/T0051713.pdf.

Online sources