Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fā‘ilātün / fā‘ilātün / fā‘ilātün / fā‘ilün

Bendegānıñ olsa ṭaġlarca ḳuṣūrı ey begim
Yine ehven ‘add olur menni veliyyü’n-ni‘meden

In English

1. My lord, even if your servants' faults were as great as mountains, they would still be counted lighter than a benefactor's reminding them of his favours.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The third couplet of the "Ebyât" section is the only Turkish couplet in the section written in the remel pattern "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". Being an independent couplet, it has no rhyme. It addresses a "beg" (lord), but who this lord was and on what occasion the couplet was said are not stated.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The couplet is a moral maxim. "Veliyyü'n-ni‘me" means the person who does someone good, who feeds and protects him: the benefactor. "Menn" is to throw a favour in someone's face, to remind him reproachfully of a kindness done. In the poet's view, even if a servant's faults were as great as mountains, his master's reproaching him with the favours he has done would be the heavier fault. The Qur'an counsels believers not to void their alms by reproach and hurt (al-Baqara 2:264); the couplet rests on this widely shared moral view. The hyperbole in "ṭaġlarca" (as great as mountains) makes the difference between the two faults sharper.

This couplet reads like a Turkish counterpart of the Arabic couplet that follows it in the Dîvânçe. The Arabic couplet also says "even if the charge against the servant were as great as a mountain, he would still be better than one who reproaches with his favour"; the mountain simile and the word "menn" appear in both. It may be that Vâzıh said the same thought first in Turkish and then in Arabic, or rendered a known Arabic saying into Turkish. Babaarslan does not mention this relation between the two couplets; the observation is ours. Which of the two was written first is also unknown.

Bibliography

  • Giyasi Babaarslan, "Amasyalı Vâzıh ve Dîvânçesi", Akademik Dil ve Edebiyat Dergisi, 5(4), 2021, pp. 1922-1984 (text of the poem: p. 1967; Mustafa Vâzıh, Dîvânçe, Ankara University, Department of Manuscripts, Mustafa Con A 495/III, fol. 70a). https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/akaded/article/993264
  • Giyasi Babaarslan, "Amasyalı Vâzıh ve Dîvânçesi", Akademik Dil ve Edebiyat Dergisi, 5(4), 2021, pp. 1924-1928 (life and description of the Dîvânçe; the "Ebyât" section: p. 1928). https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/akaded/article/993264

Online sources