Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Mefʿūlü mefāʿīlü mefāʿīlün faʿ (fāʿ)
Her zerre birer ḥarf-i meʾāl-i ṣāniʿ
Her nevʿde bir maʿnī-i dīger lāmiʿ
Enmūzec-i tafṣīl ṣıfāt-ı insāndır
Dinmiş kelimi ādeme “kevn-i cāmiʿ”
In English
1. Every mote is a letter of the Maker's meaning; in every species another meaning shines.
2. The model of the detail of the (divine) attributes is man; this is why Adam has been called "kevn-i câmi'", the being that gathers all in itself.
Literary and Historical Commentary
The universe is a book, and man the summary of that book. In the first couplet every mote is a letter of the Maker's meaning, and every kind of being makes another meaning shine; the universe is a great text whose letters are motes. This image is often seen in the divan; from its opening on, images of pen, writing and book are used to describe God's creation.
Then the second couplet comes to man. A detailed example, an "enmûzec", of the divine attributes is man; for in man there is a reflection of all the attributes, such as knowing, seeing, hearing, will and power. The "kevn-i câmi'" of the last line, the being that gathers all in itself, is a well-known term used by Ibn Arabî for the perfect man. If the universe is a book, man is the copy that gathers the whole meaning of that book in a small volume. In this way the idea of man at the centre of the divan's Sufi thought fits into four lines.
Bibliography
- Havva Tok Yıldız, Merzifonlu İbrâhîm Cûdî Dîvânı (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük) [1b-43a], Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun 2017, p. 111 (poem no. 126; manuscript fol. ). http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116853.pdf
Online sources
