Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Feʿilātün feʿilātün feʿilātün feʿilün
Olmasaydı ḳaleme lüṭf-i beyān deʾb-i edeb
Siyyemā kilk-i belīġimde nezāhet-aġleb
Telḫ-rīz eyler idim şöyle şikāyātım ile
Şükr-i ālūde-i şükrān iken aġzımdaki leb:
Bunca yıl medresede çekdigim envāʿ-ı teʿab
İtdi intāc ḳażāyā-yı naḳīż-i maṭlab
Ḳıldı tecvīf-i derūn emŝile-i ḳāle yeḳūl
Oldı miżrāb-ı nedem keş-me-keş-i naḥv-ı ḍarb
Riḳʿa yazmaḳlıġı ferdālara ḳıldım taʿlīḳ
Ŝülüŝ-i ʿömrimi nesḫ eyledi meşḳ-i ḥācib
Çırpınup yatmalı mı medresede yıllarca
Aylıġa geçmek içün köpri ḳurarken mekteb
Sūḫte cerre, imām isḳāṭa, meşāyiḫ neẕre
Göz diküp dāʾim oḳur ʿuṣr ile yüsrā ferġab
Fen-i esbāb-ı maʿīşet aña bī-maʿnādır
Ẓan ider molla mücāza yaraşır ẕikr-i sebeb
Çoḳ taṣavvurlarımı itmedi kimse taṣdīḳ
Fiżża-i manṭıḳa nisbetle sükūt oldı zeheb
Fikri tehẕīb ile tenvīr idemez żavʾ ü menār
Ne şumūsında żiyā var ne fenādan da leheb
Ne meṭāliʿ ne ṭavāliʿ ne merāṣid ḳaldı
Eledim öyle ki ġırbāle urur encüm-i şeb
Ḥucac-ı maʿrifete ṣanma mevāḳıf ʿarafāt
Ṣaff her saṭrı degil vāḳıf-ı lebbeyk-be-leb
Kaḍimīri oḳudum şaşdım o ḥikmetlere ben
Bir çocuḳ melʿabesinden de tuḥaf bir melʿab
Ne fizikdir ne şimi, felsefe, heyʾet, ṭabaḳāt
Fenn-i teşrīḥ ü menāfiʿde degil, lākin hep
Her çeşit felsefe maḫlūṭesidir ḥikmetimiz
Olur enhār-ı ẓunūn baḥr-ı ḫayāle munṣab
Cüz-i ferdi ider ibṭāl, heyūlāya ḳoşar
Yolını çoḳça şaşırmış o hüdāya ne ʿaceb
İbn-i Sīnāya şifā virse idi ḳānūnī
Anı eylerdi işārāt, necāta aḳreb
Süllem ü türş ü muvāzāt ü simāt ü taṭbīḳ
Neyi müŝbet ki berāhīn ola farż-ı aġreb!
Cins-i ecsāmdan olsaydı feżā-yı muṭlaḳ
Mebḥaŝ-ı buʿd u tenāhīsini cāʾizdi ṭaleb
Boşlıġı boşluġa īṣāl ile taḥdīd itmek
Ḥükemādan ṣayılan ẕāta degil mi aʿyıb
Ḥikmetü'l-ʿayn ile tecrīde baḳılsa görinür
ʿĀḳıla her ikisinden de teceddüd-enseb
Çeñe yormaḳdan ʿibāret gibidir ʿilm-i kelām
Kimse uymaz baña olsam da imāmü'l-mezheb
Eşʿariyyeyle muḫālifleri cenk eyleriken
Ṣulḥ içün bir çalan olsa dir idim ṭabl-ı ṭarab
Cinnet-i ḳaysı ḳıyāsāta iderdim tercīḥ
Baña leylā görinürdi edebiyyāt-ı ʿarab
Ehl-i ḥaḳ üstüne ḫaṣmāne yürür ehl-i hevā
Nitekim ḥaydara ḳarşı yürümüşdi merḥab
ʿAdl ü tevḥīd ṣanır maġlaṭasın miġzeli
Ehl-i sünnet yolıdır ḥaḳḳa ṭarīḳ-i aṣveb
Taḥt-ı īcāba gider mi o vücūd-ı vācib
Ne dimek aṣlaḥü mā-kāne ʿalellāhi veceb
Feyż-i tevfīḳ-i refīḳ olmadıġından düşmüş
Leng olup ṣāḥib-i keşşāf, cibālīder-cübb
Baña şeh-rāh yeter meẕheb-i māder-zādım
Ḳābil-i ḳurb ḳabūl olmadı cebr-i meẕheb
"İḫtiyār elde degil" ḳavli bedīhī buṭlān
Cevher-i ʿaḳl olamaz hem-derk-i seng u ḫaşeb
Şu ḳadar var ki aña terbiyeniñ medḫali var
Hele nāfiẕ görinür ḥükm-i muḥīṭāṭ ü ʿaṣab
Ben ġıẕānıñ bile teʾŝīrine ḳāniʿ oldum
Baʿżısı ḥilm virir, baʿżı sitiʿdād-ı ġażab
Meyl-i maḫṣūṣuna vüsʿat virir ülfet kişiniñ
Ḳorḳaraḳ beyża çalar gitgide ser-best ẕeheb
ʿAḳl ü dīn naḳd-ı saʿādet iken eşrār-ı beşer
İtdiler ḥayf ki sermāye-i tezvīr ü şeġab
Ḥıfẓ-ı dīn uġrına Allāh içün itdi islām
Ḳılıcıyla, ḳalemiyle nice ḥarb-i erḥab
Tīġ-i ser-tīz hücūmun yiyen aʿdā-yı ʿanūd
Arar ʿaczinden eġālīṭ ile cāy-ı mehreb
Şems-i maʿkūs-ı ṭulūʿa naẓar it maġribde
Māder-i maşrıḳıñ evlādıdır ol ṭurfe neseb
Naṣıl itmem ben o fāżılları tebcīle ḳıyām
Ki cihān deşt-i cehāletde piyādeyken hep
Ḳaṣabü's-sebḳ-i meʿālīye sürüp raḫş-ı himem
Oldılar şāh-süvārān meyādīn-i ireb
Zihn-i vaḳḳādları ʿarş-ı kemāle ḳandīl
ʿAḳl-ı naḳḳādları çarḫ-ı ʿulūme kevkeb
Felekü'l-ḥikmet-i islāma birer şems-i münīr
Feyż-i envārları şāmil-i eʿacem ü ʿarab
Naẓarım anları taʿḳībde pek rācildir
Meger eflāk çeke nūr-ı şühübden eşheb
Ḳaṣr-ı şīrīn midir ey ḫüsrev o mirḳāt-i bülend
Görinür mi bize mirʿat ile vech-i maṭlab
Oḳudum fıḳhı ṭahāretden alup ḥayża ḳadar
Giydigi ḳısmı ḳażā ehline oldu mekseb
Yanarım sūḫteliḳle geçen eyyāma bugün
Ne ḳadar mūm yaḳup nūr-ı naẓar dökdüm şeb
ʿİlme envār-ı naẓar dökmede yoḳ fāżl u şeref
Āb-ı rū dökmek ile ḥāṣıl olur bizde rüteb
Zādeden ṣīġa çeküp fiʿl-i mużāriʿ ola gör
Yā ḳıyāfetli riyākār ü münāfıḳ meşreb
Fużalā fażla gibi ḳaldı miyānda bī-cā
Meclise ʿużv u reʾīs olmaġa kāfī merkeb
Zevce-i bu lehebiñ bār u bālinden aġır
Yük ṭaşır dūzaḫa ṭoġrı nice ḥammāl-ı ḥaṭab
Başḳa şeylerdir olan şimdi medār-ı iḳbāl
Olur idbāra sebeb ʿiffet ü nāmūs u edeb
Ṣadr-ı ebyāt-ı rubāʿiyyedir ʿayn-ı rüʾesā
Beyt-i maʿmūre ayaḳ baṣsa iderler aḫreb
Ḫaṭve-peymā-yı teraḳḳī bütün aṣḥāb-ı ḳurūn
Ben ki maʿṣūmum olup ḳaldım eŝīr-i mekteb
Bu ṣahīfe bu ḳadar baḳma teʾeŝŝürlerime
Böyle ḳalmaz bu cihān dest-i zamāndır mikleb
Görinür ʿayn-ı baṣīretle baḳılṣa dehriñ
Cāhile gürledigi şaʿşaʿa berḳ-i ḫulleb
Gördigiñ debdebeler, kevkebeler, şaʿşaʿalar
Daġal-i nefs ü hevā, ẓıll-ı müẕehhebdir hep
Eñ ufaḳ zevḳini biñ mülk-i Süleymān virmez
Dīn ü nāmūs u ḥamiyyet ne büyükdür Yā Rab!
In English
1. Had courtesy not been the custom of the grace of expression for the pen, and especially had purity not prevailed in my eloquent pen,
2. while the lip in my mouth is smeared with the sugar of gratitude, I would pour out bitterness with my complaints thus:
3. The many kinds of toil I suffered in the madrasa for so many years produced propositions contrary to the aim.
4. The paradigms of "kâle yekûlu" hollowed out my insides; the tug of war of the syntax of "daraba" became the plectrum of regret.
5. I postponed the writing of riq'a to tomorrows; drilling in Ibn al-Hâjib copied out a third of my life.
6. Should one lie floundering for years in the madrasa while the school builds a bridge to pass to a salary?
7. The softa eyes the alms-round, the imam the payment for the dead, the sheikhs the votive offerings; he always reads "with hardship comes ease" (the line is not entirely clear).
8. The science of the means of livelihood is meaningless to him; the molla thinks "mentioning the cause" befits only metaphor.
9. No one assented to my many conceptions; beside the silver of logic, silence became gold.
10. Neither "Zav'" nor "Menâr" can refine and illumine thought; there is neither light in its "Şemsiyye" nor flame.
11. Neither "Metâli'" nor "Tavâli'" nor "Merâsıd" was left; I sifted so much that the stars of night strike a sieve.
12. Do not take the proofs of knowledge for the stations of 'Arafat; not every line is a pilgrim saying "labbayk" lip to lip.
13. I read Kadı Mîr and was astonished at that philosophy; a game stranger even than a child's plaything.
14. It is neither physics nor chemistry, philosophy, astronomy nor geology; it is not in anatomy or physiology either, yet it is all of them:
15. Our philosophy is a mixture of every kind of philosophy; rivers of conjecture pour into the sea of fancy.
16. It annuls the atom and runs to prime matter; no wonder that guide has lost its way so often (the line is not entirely clear).
17. Had the "Canon" given Ibn Sînâ "Healing", the "Pointers" would have brought him nearer to "Deliverance".
18. The ladder, the shield, the parallel, the simât and the superposition proofs, what do they prove, that the proofs should be the strangest supposition? (the couplet is not entirely clear)
19. Were absolute space of the genus of bodies, it would be permissible to seek a discussion of its extension and finitude.
20. To bound emptiness by joining emptiness to emptiness, is that not most shameful for one counted among the sages?
21. If one looks with "Hikmetü'l-ayn" and "Tecrîd", it is seen that for the intelligent renewal is the fittest of the two.
22. The science of kalâm seems to consist of tiring the jaw; no one would follow me even were I the imam of the school.
23. While the Ash'arites and their opponents were at war, if someone beat a drum for peace I would call it a drum of joy.
24. I would prefer the madness of Kays to analogies; Arabic literature seemed to me a Leylâ.
25. The people of passion march in enmity on the people of truth, just as Marhab marched against Haydar ('Alî).
26. The Mu'tazilite takes his fallacy for justice and oneness; the way of the Sunnis is the most correct road to the truth.
27. Does that Necessary Being come under obligation? What does "the most salutary is obligatory upon God" mean?
28. Since the grace of divine favour was not his companion, the author of the Kashshâf (al-Zamakhsharî) was left lame, fell from the mountains into a well (the line is not entirely clear).
29. The highway of the creed I was born into is enough for me; the coercion of the Jabrite school was not fit to be accepted as nearness.
30. The falseness of the saying "will is not in our hands" is self-evident; the substance of reason cannot share the perception of stone and wood.
31. Only this much: upbringing has an entry into it; above all the rule of surroundings and nerves seems effective.
32. I came to be convinced even of the influence of food: some give mildness, some a disposition to anger.
33. Habit gives room to a man's particular inclination; he who steals an egg in fear by degrees steals gold freely.
34. While reason and religion are the ready money of felicity, the wicked among men, alas, made them the capital of forgery and turmoil.
35. For the protection of religion, for God's sake, Islam fought many a broad war with its sword and its pen.
36. The stubborn enemies who suffered the onslaught of the sharp sword seek, out of helplessness, a place of escape in fallacies.
37. Look at the sun that rises reversed in the west; that strange lineage is the child of the mother east.
38. How should I not rise to honour those learned men, when the whole world was on foot in the desert of ignorance;
39. driving the horse of resolve to the prize-post of lofty things, they became the champion riders of the fields of skill.
40. Their blazing minds were lamps to the throne of perfection, their critical reason stars to the sphere of the sciences.
41. Each a shining sun to the sphere of Islamic wisdom; the grace of their lights embraced Persian and Arab.
42. In following them my gaze goes very much on foot; unless the heavens bring out a grey horse of the light of shooting stars.
43. O Khusraw, is that high ladder Shirin's palace? Is the sought-for face seen by us in a mirror?
44. I read the law from ritual purity to menstruation; the part it wore became a gain for those fit to be judges (the line is not entirely clear).
45. Today I burn for the days passed as a softa; how many candles I lit and how much light of my eyes I poured out at night.
46. Among us there is no merit or honour in pouring the light of the eyes upon knowledge; among us ranks are won by pouring out the water of one's face.
47. Either draw a form from "zâde" and become a verb in the present tense, or a hypocrite in costume of two-faced temper (the line is not entirely clear).
48. The learned are left out of place in the midst like a surplus; a donkey suffices to be member and president of the council.
49. Many a carrier of firewood bears a load to hell heavier than the burden of the wife of this (Abû) Lahab.
50. Other things are now the axis of fortune; chastity, honour and courtesy become a cause of ill fortune.
51. The heads of the chiefs are the opening foot of rubai lines: if they set foot in a prosperous house they make it "ahreb", ruined.
52. All the people of the age are stepping towards progress; I, innocent, remained the prisoner of the school.
53. O page, do not look so much at my griefs; this world will not stay thus; the hand of time is a turner of things.
54. Looked at with the eye of insight, the glare the world thunders at the ignorant is a deceiving lightning.
55. The pomp, the processions, the glare you see are all the dross of self and passion, a gilded shadow.
56. A thousand kingdoms of Solomon do not give its least delight; how great are religion, honour and zeal, O Lord!
Literary and Historical Commentary
Cûdî's bitter complaint about his madrasa years and madrasa education, this long kaside titled "Dakk-ı müdîk", is one of the divan's most important autobiographical texts. He begins by saying what bitterness would pour from his lip, sweetened by gratitude, had courtesy not restrained his pen, and tells how the years he suffered in the madrasa produced results contrary to the aim. The sixth couplet gathers the great change of the period into a single question: while the new schools build a bridge to a salaried career, is there any sense in floundering for years in the madrasa?
A game played with textbooks
The most skilful part of the kaside is the play on the names of the madrasa textbooks. In the fourth couplet the Arabic verb paradigms "kâle yekûlu" and "daraba", in the fifth the names of the scripts, riq'a, ta'lîq, thuluth and naskh, are woven together with the "drill" of Ibn al-Hâjib's grammar books. In the tenth and eleventh couplets the books of logic and legal method are listed: "Zav'", "Menâr", "Şemsiyye", "Metâli'", "Tavâli'", and the word for the stations of 'Arafat that recalls the "Mawâqif". In the thirteenth couplet the commentary of Kadı Mîr, the madrasa's philosophy textbook, and in the seventeenth the works of Ibn Sînâ, the "Canon", "Healing", "Pointers" and "Deliverance", are used within one sentence both as books and as meanings. These games are the mockery of a student who memorized the books but could learn nothing about life.
A critique of theology and philosophy
The poet says that the old philosophy was neither physics, chemistry, astronomy nor geology, but a mixture of every kind of philosophy; he mocks the "ladder" and "shield" proofs that tried to demonstrate the finitude of space. He calls kalâm "tiring the jaw", yet he defends the Sunni way against the Mu'tazila and the Jabriyya and thinks of human will together with the influence of upbringing, surroundings, nerves and even food. From the thirty-seventh couplet the tone changes: the sun of science that rose in the West is in truth the child of the East, and the poet praises the Muslim scholars who carried the torch of knowledge in an age when the world was in ignorance.
The end of the kaside returns to complaint and hardens: it is not pouring the light of one's eyes on knowledge but pouring out the water of one's face that brings rank; a donkey suffices to be member and president of the council. The fifty-first couplet jokes with a term of prosody: the "ahreb" pattern of the rubai metre joins with its sense of ruined. The last couplets count all the glare as "a gilded shadow" and close by saying that religion, honour and zeal are greater than all the possessions of the world. Where the thesis leaves a few words unsettled, the translation proceeds with caution.
Bibliography
- Zeynep Adıyahşi, Merzifonlu İbrâhîm Cûdî Dîvânı (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük) [43b-87b], Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun 2017, pp. 93-98 (poem no. 245; manuscript fol. 72a-72b-73a-73b). http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116831.pdf
Online sources
