Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilün

Var mı bir yaḥşi güzel ‘âlemde ra‘nâ sen gibi
Var mı bir ḫurşîd ṣûret ḥüsn-i bâlâ sen gibi
Var mı bir mis̱liñ ḫalâyıḳ içre ya beñzer saña
Var mı bir aḥsen cemîl ḫîlḳatde zîbâ sen gibi
Var mı bir ifṣaḥ lisân şîrîn zebânıñdan füzûn
Var mı bir fâṣih dehân ma‘nâda yektâ sen gibi
Var mı bir eşcâr seniñ ḳaddiñ gibi ḳāmet tuta
Var mı bir servî sehî ḳāmetde ṭûbî sen gibi
Var mı bir maḳbûl dergâh-ı Ḫudâ fevḳinde kim
Var mı bir nâil-i merâm maḥbûb mevlâ sen gibi
Var mı bir ẕâtıñ gibi ma‘lûm mu‘ayyen ehline
Var mı bir nâ-ehline müşkîl mu‘ammâ sen gibi
Var mı bir mürsel risâletde saña mânend ola
Var mı bir ḫâtem nebî a‘lâdan a‘lâ sen gibi
Var mı bir maṭlûba maẓhar sen gibi bir enbiyâ
Var mı bir mi‘rac-güzîn ‘Îsâ vü Mûsâ sen gibi
Var mı bir Ferhâd Mecnun sen gibi Mir’ât-nümâ
Var mı bir Mecnûn-ṣıfat mecbur-ı Leylâ sen gibi

In English

1. Is there anyone in the world so good, so lovely, so graceful as you; anyone sun-faced, of lofty beauty, like you?

2. Is there among creatures anyone your equal or resembling you; anyone in creation as fine, as handsome, as adorned as you?

3. Is there a tongue more eloquent than your sweet tongue; a well-spoken mouth unique in meaning like you?

4. Is there a tree that grows as tall as your stature; a straight cypress, a Tûbâ tree of paradise in height, like you?

5. Is there anyone above the threshold of God so accepted; anyone who has attained his wish, beloved of the Lord, like you?

6. Is there anyone known and recognised by the worthy like your essence; any riddle so hard for the unworthy as you?

7. Is there a messenger who resembles you in prophethood; a seal of the prophets, higher than the highest, like you?

8. Is there among the prophets anyone who so embodies what is sought; among Jesus and Moses anyone chosen for the ascension like you?

9. Mir'ât-nümâ, is there a Ferhad, a Mecnun like you; anyone with Mecnun's nature, bound to Leylâ, like you?

Literary and Historical Commentary

A Na't in the Form of Questions

All eighteen lines open with the question “Var mı bir …”, Is there anyone, and close with the refrain “sen gibi”, like you. The pattern is so tight that the poem becomes less a list of praises than a series of questions whose answer is known from the start; such insistent use of repetition gives the na't the effect of a chorus when read aloud. The nine couplets repeat Fâilâtün three times and close on Fâilün, a remel pattern; the opening couplet is the one Şensöz picks as an example of a refrain.

The couplets count the Prophet's beauty in the familiar measures of divan poetry: the sun-like face, the sweet tongue, the stature resembling the cypress and the Tûbâ tree of paradise. The sixth couplet returns to the idea of the “mu‘ammâ” seen in the book's previous na't: the Prophet is a riddle plain to the worthy and insoluble to the unworthy. The eighth couplet refers to the meeting with Jesus and Moses on the night of the ascension.

The surprise comes in the couplet with the pen name. The poet compares the Prophet with Ferhad and Mecnun, the great lovers of divan poetry, and calls him “Mecnûn-ṣıfat mecbûr-ı Leylâ”, with Mecnun's nature, bound to Leylâ. In this couplet the Prophet seems to be imagined as the lover rather than the beloved; in a Sufi reading Leylâ can be taken as a symbol of divine beauty. Since in another ghazal of the work the love of Ferhad and Mecnun is dismissed as “bî-ḥâṣıl”, fruitless, this comparison can be understood in two ways.

Bibliography

Online sources