Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâîlün Mefâîlün Mefâîlün Mefâîlün

Seniñ ‘aşḳıñla ben egri ṭarîḳı râst-râh etdim
Dönüp egri dinimden ṭoġru dînde ‘azm-i râh etdim
Ḳoyup ẕâhidleriñ dîn râhını buldum güzel bir dîn
Bu dînden dönmezem ister ṣevâb ister günâh etdim
‘Azîzim ‘İṣmet’im şâhım imâmım ḳıble-gâhımsıñ
Delîlim mürşidim şeyḫim seni öz ḳıble-gâh etdim
Seniñ aḥvâliñi taḥḳīḳa ḥâcet yoḳ bilir ehli
Seniñ ġavs̱-ı mu‘aẓẓam olduġuñ arżı penâh etdim
Seniñ ḳuvvetde a‘ẓam bir velî az geldi ‘âlemde
İçüp dergâh-ı feyżiñden nice ẕevḳ-i İlâh etdim
Nuḳūş-ı ḳaşlarıñ resmi ḫayâl-i dilde maḫfûẓum
Hilâl ebrûlarıñ miḥrâbını ben secde-gâh etdim
Ne mümkündür beni men‘ eylemek zâhid melâmetden
Melâmet-kûşesin ben kendime bir ‘izz u câh etdim
Olup Mir’ât-nümâ’yı ḫâk-i pây ‘İṣmet’e bir ḳavl
Anıñ dergâh-ı lüṭfundan ne ḥikmetler nigâh etdim

In English

1. Through your love I made the crooked road a straight road; turning from my crooked faith I set out on the true faith.

2. Leaving the ascetics' road of religion I found a fine religion; I will not turn from this faith, whether I have earned reward or sin.

3. My dear, my İsmet, my king, my imam, you are my qibla; you are my guide, my master, my sheikh, I have made you my very qibla.

4. There is no need to verify your states, the worthy know them; I have declared that you are the Greatest Help, for refuge.

5. Few saints so great in power as you have come into the world; drinking from the threshold of your grace I have tasted many divine delights.

6. The picture of the lines of your eyebrows is kept in my heart's imagination; I have made the mihrab of your crescent brows my place of prostration.

7. How could the ascetic keep me from blame? I have made the corner of blame my honour and rank.

8. Mir'ât-nümâ, having pledged his word to be the dust of İsmet's feet, I have beheld many wisdoms from the threshold of his kindness.

Literary and Historical Commentary

A Love Ghazal to the Master

The master has taken the place of the beloved: in form and language a love poem, these eight couplets, coming right after the chronogram, address Mustafa İsmet Efendi directly. In the third couplet the sheikh's name appears openly and a chain of titles is built: dear one, İsmet, king, imam, qibla, guide, master, sheikh. The refrain is “etdim”, I made, and the metre the four-foot hezec “Mefâîlün”.

Given the book's emphasis on the law, the first two couplets carry a bold expression: the poet says that through love he turned from a “crooked faith” to the “true faith”, that leaving the ascetics' road of religion he found “a fine religion”, and that he will not turn from this faith whether it be reward or sin. This language belongs to the divan poetry tradition that speaks of love itself as a religion and of rakishness as a creed; it does not question the sheikh's loyalty to the law and works as a motif asserting the superiority of love over the ascetic's dry piety.

The sixth couplet is a description of rabıta in the language of divan poetry: the picture of the sheikh's eyebrows is kept in the heart, and the mihrab of his crescent brows has become the place of prostration. The eyebrow-mihrab image used for the Prophet in the book's eighth na't here turns to the master. The seventh couplet counts blame as an honour; the pen-name couplet presents the poet as “ḫâk-i pây-ı ‘İṣmet”, the dust of İsmet's feet.

Bibliography

Online sources