Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâîlün Mefâîlün Mefâîlün Mefâîlün

Erişmez ẕâtıña yol eger râhım yâ Resûla’llâh
Anıñ-çün nâle-i feryâd âhım yâ Resûla’llâh
Mükedder ḫâṭırım her dem geçip ‘iṣyân ile ‘ömrüm
Demâdem cürm edip rûy-ı siyâhım yâ Resûla’llâh
Ḳapında ben gedâ muḥtâc perîşan ḥâlime raḥm et
Ki senden ġayri yoḳ cây-ı penâhım yâ Resûla’llâh
Ver dergâh-ı lüṭfuñda eger sen kim ḳabûl etseñ
Ḫudâ maḳbûl eder bî-iştibâhım yâ Resûla’llâh
Ḳabûle gerçi kim şâyân degil ‘âsî günâhkârım
Şefi‘-i melce’imsiñ pâdişâhım yâ Resûla’llâh
Şefâ‘at ḳılmasañ Mir’at-nümâ elbet yanar nâra
Eder kim dâḫil-i nîrân günâhım yâ Resûla’llâh

In English

1. O Messenger of God, my road does not reach your essence; for this I moan, cry out and sigh.

2. O Messenger of God, my life passes in rebellion and my heart is troubled every moment; sinning ceaselessly, my face has turned black.

3. At your door I am a needy beggar; have pity on my wretched state, O Messenger of God, I have no refuge but you.

4. O Messenger of God, if you accept me at your threshold of grace, God too will accept me without doubt.

5. Though I am a rebellious sinner, unworthy of acceptance, my sovereign, O Messenger of God, you are my intercessor and my refuge.

6. O Messenger of God, if you do not intercede, Mir'ât-nümâ will surely burn in the fire, for his sin will bring him into hell.

Literary and Historical Commentary

A Beggar's Supplication

The refrain, “yâ Resûla’llâh”, is the same as in the second na't; the tone is quite different. While the second na't praises the Prophet on a cosmic scale, in these six couplets the poet speaks only of himself: his road does not reach the Prophet's essence, his life passes in rebellion, his face has turned black with sin. The rhymes are built with the first-person possessive ending: “râhım, âhım, siyâhım, penâhım, bî-iştibâhım, pâdişâhım, günâhım”, my road, my sigh, my blackness, my refuge, my sovereign, my sin; the whole weight of the poem gathers in this sound “-ım”.

In the third couplet the poet depicts himself as a “gedâ”, a beggar at the Prophet's door. The motif of the door and the beggar is used in divan poetry towards the beloved; here the same language is transferred to the hope of intercession. The fourth couplet builds a chain of mediation: if the Prophet accepts, God too will accept. This idea can be read as the poetic counterpart of the notion of rabıta in Naqshbandi practice, by which the disciple is bound to the sheikh, the sheikh to the Prophet and the Prophet to God.

The fear of hell is spoken openly in the couplet with the pen name. Among the book's na'ts this is the shortest and the most personal; praise hardly appears in it at all.

Bibliography

Online sources