Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fe‘ilātün / fe‘ilātün / fe‘ilātün / fe‘ilün

Ḳıṣṣasın Yūsufuñ aġzından işitdim bi’ẕ-ẕāt
Oḳudı nāz-ıla ol ḥāfıẓ-ı şīrīn-kelimāt
Diñleyen anı güşāde-dehenān ḳalsa n’ola
Çünki mīzāb-ı dehānından aḳar āb-ı ḥayāt
Yüzidür nūr-ı Żuḥā ḳaşlarıdır bismillāh
Gözidür tīni ve zeytūn müjeler ve’ṣ-ṣāffāt
Vāżıḥā ḥāfıẓ-ı ḫoş-lehce oḳursa Ḳur’ān
Diñlenür olmasa da fenn-i maḳām-ı naġamāt

In English

1. I heard the story of Joseph from his own mouth, in person; that sweet-spoken hafız (reciter of the Qur'an) recited it with grace.

2. What wonder if those who listen to him are left open-mouthed; for the water of life flows from the spout of his mouth.

3. His face is the light of al-Duha, his eyebrows are the basmala; his eye is "Ve't-tîni ve'z-zeytûn" and his eyelashes are "Ve's-sâffât".

4. O Vâzıh, if the sweet-voiced hafız recites the Qur'an, he is listened to even without the art of melodic modes.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is the eighteenth and last piece in the Mukatta‘ât section of the Dîvânçe. Babaarslan counts it as an incomplete (nâ-tamâm) ghazal. It has four couplets and is written in the remel pattern "fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün". There is no redif (refrain word); the rhyme rests on the "-āt" of "ẕāt, kelimāt, ḥayāt, ṣāffāt, naġamāt". The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The poem describes a young hafız reciting the Qur'an and draws all its comparisons from the Qur'an and the tradition of recitation. In the first couplet the sura the hafız recites is the sura of Joseph, which tells the story of Joseph. Since Joseph is the symbol of beauty in divan poetry, to hear the story "from Joseph's own mouth" is a way of saying that the hafız is as beautiful as Joseph. In the second couplet the listeners are left open-mouthed; Özçakmak cites this couplet as an example of Vâzıh's use of idioms. The hafız's mouth is compared to a spout (mīzāb), from which flows the water of life, the water of immortality.

The third couplet is a description built with the names of suras. The face is the light of the sura al-Duha, which swears by the brightness of the morning. The eyebrows are compared to the basmala because of its long drawn stroke in writing. The eye is the sura al-Tin, which begins "By the fig and the olive"; the dark colour of the olive suggests the pupil. The eyelashes are the sura al-Saffat, which begins "By those ranged in rows"; lashes standing in rows join these words. The last couplet says that a beautiful voice surpasses the knowledge of melodic modes. The Mukatta‘ât section of the Dîvânçe thus closes with a portrait of beauty drawn from the world of recitation. For the poet's life and his other poems see Kara Müftîzâde Mustafa Vâzıh.

Bibliography

Academic studies

  • 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. 1924-1930 (life and description of the Dîvânçe). https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/akaded/article/993264
  • Fatma Özçakmak, "Mustafa Vâzıh Efendi ve Dîvânçe'si", Kesit Akademi Dergisi, 7(26), 2021, pp. 255-278, p. 271.

Online sources