Original Arabic Text

Metre: Kâmil (no metre is given in the thesis)

جسم لطیف فیه روح طیب
فبای آلاء الاله تکذب
فعلیک نعمته سحاب صیب
فبای آلاء الاله تکذب
ان کنت انت بلطف ربک ریب
فبدودة الجلمود هل هی خیب
افانت فی مرأه لست تغیب
فبای آلاء الاله تکذب
یا ایها الانسان انک کادح
کدحا الی الله لعلک سادح
هو مانح لک انت شح قادح
فبای آلاء الاله تکذب
جلی العیون عن العماء الاظلم
لولا سناه لذقت کل الدیلم
قد علم الانسان مالم یعلم
فبای آلاء الاله تکذب
لولم یصنع قسطا قویما عاد
فی خلقه لغدالانام مجادلا
انی اراک لذیل ثوبک ساد
فبای آلاء الاله تکذب
لیس الصدور مسترا عن علمه
ستر العیوب بلطفه وسجلم
مازلت ترتع آمنا فی سلم
فبای آلاء الاله تکذب
آیاته متلوة بکتابه
ما ذرة الا شمیع خطابه
و خطابه مقرونة بعتابه
فبای آلاء الاله تکذب
قد هز عرش جلاله ماحوله
لا یأمن الروح الامین هوله
فی سورة الرحمن کرر قوله
فبای آلاء الاله تکذب
عمل قلیل او هوان معطل
و علیک دین لا تزال تماطلی
والله ما خلق الا نام بباطل
فبای آلاء الاله تکذب
جودی لست سدی من النعم التی
فاخت من الله الکریم فظلت
هطلا علیک بغیر سابق علة
فبای آلاء الاله تکذب

Transliteration (not given in the thesis; the reading is ours):

Cismun latîfun fîhi rûhun tayyibun
Fe-bi-eyyi âlâʾi'l-ilâhi tükezzibu
Fe-ʿaleyke niʿmetuhû sehâbun sayyibun
Fe-bi-eyyi âlâʾi'l-ilâhi tükezzibu
In kunte ente bi-lutfi rabbike [?]
Fe-bi-dûdeti'l-culmûdi hel hiye hayyibu
E-fe-ente fî merʾâhu leste tegîbu
Fe-bi-eyyi âlâʾi'l-ilâhi tükezzibu
Yâ eyyuhe'l-insânu inneke kâdihun
Kedhan ile'llâhi leʿalleke [?]
Huve mânihun leke ente şuhhun kâdihun
Fe-bi-eyyi âlâʾi'l-ilâhi tükezzibu
Cellâ'l-ʿuyûne ʿani'l-ʿamâʾi'l-azlemi
Levlâ senâhu le-zukte [?]
Kad ʿallema'l-insâne mâ lem yaʿlemi
Fe-bi-eyyi âlâʾi'l-ilâhi tükezzibu
Lev lem yesnaʿ kıstan kavîmen ʿâdilen
Fî halkıhî le-gade'l-enâmu mucâdilâ
İnnî erâke li-zeyli sevbike [?]
Fe-bi-eyyi âlâʾi'l-ilâhi tükezzibu
Leyse's-sudûru musetteran ʿan ʿilmihî
Setera'l-ʿuyûbe bi-lutfihî ve [bi-hilmihî?]
Mâ ziltè terteʿu âminen fî silmin
Fe-bi-eyyi âlâʾi'l-ilâhi tükezzibu
Âyâtuhû metluvvetun bi-kitâbihî
Mâ zerratun illâ semîʿu hitâbihî
Ve hitâbuhû makrûnetun bi-ʿitâbihî
Fe-bi-eyyi âlâʾi'l-ilâhi tükezzibu
Kad hezze ʿarşu celâlihî mâ havlehû
Lâ yeʾmenu'r-rûhu'l-emînu hevlehû
Fî sûreti'r-Rahmâni kerrara kavlehû
Fe-bi-eyyi âlâʾi'l-ilâhi tükezzibu
ʿAmelun kalîlun ev hevânun muʿattalun
Ve ʿaleyke deynun lâ tezâlu tumâtilu
Va'llâhi mâ halaka'l-enâme bi-bâtılin
Fe-bi-eyyi âlâʾi'l-ilâhi tükezzibu
Cûdî leste sudan mine'n-niʿami'lletî
Fâdat mine'llâhi'l-kerîmi fe-zallet
Hatlen ʿaleyke bi-gayri sâbiki ʿilletin
Fe-bi-eyyi âlâʾi'l-ilâhi tükezzibu

In English

1. A delicate body in which there is a good spirit; which, then, of God's favours do you deny?

2. His blessing upon you is a cloud pouring in abundance; which, then, of God's favours do you deny?

3. If you are in doubt of your Lord's kindness (the reading is uncertain), look at the worm within the rock: is it ever left empty-handed?

4. Are you not, before His sight, never absent? Which, then, of God's favours do you deny?

5. O man, you are toiling towards God with toil; perhaps you (the end of the line could not be read) ...

6. He is the giver to you, and you a biting stinginess; which, then, of God's favours do you deny?

7. He cleared the eyes of the darkest blindness; were it not for His radiance (the end of the line could not be read) ...

8. He taught man what he did not know; which, then, of God's favours do you deny?

9. Had He not set a straight and just balance in His creation, mankind would have become a quarrelling crowd.

10. I see you trailing the hem of your robe (in pride) (the end of the line could not be read); which, then, of God's favours do you deny?

11. Breasts are not hidden from His knowledge; He covered faults with His kindness and (His forbearance).

12. You still graze safe and at peace; which, then, of God's favours do you deny?

13. His signs are recited in His book; there is no atom that does not hear His address.

14. And His address is joined with His reproach; which, then, of God's favours do you deny?

15. The throne of His majesty has shaken all around it; even the Trusted Spirit (Gabriel) is not safe from its terror.

16. In the sura al-Rahmân He repeated His word: "Which, then, of God's favours do you deny?"

17. Little work, or idle abasement; and upon you is a debt that you keep putting off.

18. By God, He did not create mankind in vain; which, then, of God's favours do you deny?

19. Cûdî, you are not left bereft of the blessings that overflowed from God the Generous and kept

20. raining upon you without any prior cause; which, then, of God's favours do you deny?

Literary and Historical Commentary

The famous verse of the sura al-Rahmân repeated thirty-one times, "Which, then, of the favours of your Lord will you deny?", is the refrain of the Arabic poem titled "Tîbu'l-hitâb", the sweetness of address. Cûdî turns the verse's dual address into the singular and places the refrain "Fe-bi-eyyi âlâʾi'l-ilâhi tükezzibu" at the end of one of every two couplets. So the poem carries the rhythm of the Qur'anic repetition into its own Arabic couplets; in the sixteenth couplet it names this source openly: "In the sura al-Rahmân He repeated His word."

The blessings counted in the poem stretch from body to spirit, from knowledge to morals: the delicate body carrying a good spirit, the cloud pouring in abundance, the sustenance that reaches even the worm within the rock, teaching man what he did not know (al-'Alaq 96:5), the just balance set upon the world, and the forbearance that covers faults. The worm within the rock in the third couplet is an example often named in popular speech and in sermons to show that sustenance reaches everywhere. The fifth couplet rests on the verse of the sura al-Inshiqâq, "O man, you are toiling towards your Lord with toil" (84:6).

The last two couplets play on the poet's pen name: "Cûdî" comes from the word "cûd", generosity, and the poet counts the blessings that rained on him from God the Generous without any cause. The thesis gives the text only in Arabic script; a few places where the typesetting is corrupt could not be read and remain blank in both reading and translation, while uncertain readings are marked separately.

Bibliography

  • Zeynep Adıyahşi, Merzifonlu İbrâhîm Cûdî Dîvânı (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük) [43b-87b], Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun 2017, pp. 103-104 (poem no. 251; manuscript fol. 75b-76a). http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116831.pdf

Online sources