Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâîlün Mefâîlün Mefâîlün Mefâîlün

Cemâliñ ‘âlem içre nûr-ı Ḥaḳ şems-i hüveydâsıñ
Nübüvvet enveri ḫûrşîd-i ẕât-ı Ḥaḳ te‘âlâsıñ
Kelâmu’llâh-ilen s̱âbit seniñ vasf-ı kemâlâtıñ
Seni Allâh bilir ancaḳ tamâmıyla ne ra‘nâsıñ
Seniñ tek bir cemîl gelmiş değildir dehr-i dehrun içre
Saña beñzer bulunmaz aḥsen-i ṣûretde yektâsıñ
Görüp taṣvîriñi Yûsuf hemân iẓhâr-ı acz eyler
Ḳalıp ḥayretde ḥüsnüñden ne zîbâ ḥüsn-i vâlâsıñ
Cenâb-ı Ḥaḳ seni ma‘ṣûm edipdir zelleden maḫfûẓ
Olupsuñ ḫâtim-i şâh risâlet-i pâk mevlâsıñ.
Senin medḥiñde var Ḳur’ân u İncîl hem Zebûr Tevrât
Kitâbu’llâh olup irsâl seniñ şânıñda ‘ulyasıñ.
Saña maḥrem olan bildi seniñ ‘alâlığıñ ‘alâ
Saña ‘alâ dimek ‘alâsın ‘alâdan mu‘allâsıñ
Seni tefhîm eder mi her ‘aduy-î dîn cehâletde
Ḥaḳīḳat ehline mekşûf Ḫudâ’dan bir mu‘ammâsıñ
Ne bilsin kadriñi bir ‘îtirâż ehl-i şeḳāvet kim
Saña vâḳıf olan añlar ne esrâr içre ma‘nâsıñ
Unutma yâ nebî Mir’ât-nümâ’yı rûz-ı maḥşerde
Saña maḫṣûṣ şefâ‘at seyyid-i dünyâ vü ‘uḳbâsıñ

In English

1. Your beauty is God's light in the world; you are the manifest sun, the brightest light of prophethood, the sun of the exalted essence of God.

2. The description of your perfections is established by the word of God; God alone knows fully how lovely you are.

3. In the course of the ages no beauty like you has ever come; none resembles you, you are unique in the finest form.

4. Joseph, seeing your image, at once confesses his helplessness; he is left in wonder at your beauty, so graceful, so lofty a beauty you are.

5. God has made you sinless and protected from stumbling; you are the seal of the prophets, the master of pure prophethood.

6. In your praise are the Qur'an, the Gospel, the Psalms and the Torah; the book of God was sent for your glory, you are the highest.

7. Whoever was intimate with you knew that your loftiness is lofty; even to call you lofty is lofty, you are higher than loftiness itself.

8. Can every enemy of religion, sunk in ignorance, understand you? To the people of reality you are a riddle unveiled by God.

9. How should one of the wicked, a carping objector, know your worth? Whoever knows you understands what meaning you are amid what secrets.

10. O Prophet, do not forget Mir'ât-nümâ on the Day of Gathering; intercession is yours alone, you are the lord of this world and the next.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Sun, Joseph and Riddle

Sun, Joseph and riddle: on these three great images the poet builds his praise. The hezec pattern “Mefâîlün” and the refrain “-sıñ”, you are, are familiar from the first na't, but these ten couplets are longer and more ornate. In the opening couplet the Prophet's beauty is called both “şems-i hüveydâ”, the manifest sun, and “ḫûrşîd-i ẕât-ı Ḥaḳ”, the sun of the essence of God. In the fourth couplet Joseph, the emblem of beauty in divan poetry, confesses his helplessness on seeing the Prophet's image; when Şensöz shows how prophets are named in the work, this is the couplet he chooses.

The seventh couplet is a play on words: the word “‘alâ”, lofty, turns five times in a single line and shows through repetition itself that praise cannot be surpassed in words. In the sixth couplet all four holy books are said to praise the Prophet; this recalls the “four books” couplet of the preceding mesnevî section.

The eighth and ninth couplets bring a note of dispute into the na't. The Prophet is a “mu‘ammâ”, a riddle, that the enemy of religion sunk in ignorance cannot understand and that is opened only to the people of reality; the wicked who object cannot know his worth. This harshness, aimed at no one named, takes on meaning when read together with the sections of the book devoted to opponents in Amasya, but the na't itself gives no name. The last word goes again to the Gathering: the pen-name couplet asks not to be forgotten there.

Bibliography

Online sources