Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mef‘ūlü mefā‘īlü mefā‘īlü fe‘ūlün

Kendüyi tecellī-i cemāl ideli peydā
Her yüzden ider gözi olan kişi temāşā
Ey dil şuña cehd it ki bugün sen de göresin
Yoḫsa ḳalıcaḳ irteye dirler saña a‘mā
Ẕerrāt-ı cihānda görinür gün gibi rūşen
Şol ẕāt u ṣıfātı ki olur maẓhar-ı esmā
Kendüñi ‘adem ḳıl ki vücūduñda göresin
Var sende ser-ā-ser ne ki var hestī-i eşyā
Ölmezden öñürdi ölügör gel ki Münīrī
‘Īsā gibi enfāsuñ ide mürdeler iḥyā
Her kimde ki ‘ışḳ ile ola himmet-i ‘ālī
Bir pāyece gelmez gözine ṭārem-i a‘lā

In English

1. Ever since He revealed Himself through the manifestation of His beauty, the one who has eyes beholds Him in every face and from every side.

2. O heart, strive so that today you too may see; otherwise, when you are left for tomorrow (the hereafter), they will call you blind.

3. That essence and those attributes, which are the place where the names of God appear, are seen as bright as day in the motes of the world.

4. Count yourself as nothing so that you may see within your own being: whatever there is in the existence of things is there in you from end to end.

5. O Münîrî, come, die before you die, so that your breaths, like those of Jesus, may raise the dead.

6. Whoever has lofty aspiration together with love, the highest dome does not seem even a single step in his eyes.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a six-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the first of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 1). The metre is "mef‘ûlü mefâ‘îlü mefâ‘îlü fe‘ûlün". The ghazal has no refrain (redif); the rhyme is the sound "-ā": peydā, temāşā, a‘mā, esmā, eşyā, iḥyā, a‘lā. By Ersoy's count twelve of Münîrî's Turkish ghazals rhyme on the letter elif, and the section too opens with ghazals rhyming on elif. The pen name (mahlas) occurs in the fifth couplet, and the ghazal runs on for one more couplet. The poem is found only in the Vatican manuscript (VT 98b). To whom and when it was written is not known.

Ersoy quotes this ghazal in full in the introduction to the edition, where he describes the poet's literary character. In his view Münîrî was not a Sufi poet, but he used Sufi symbols; the reason for this must lie largely in his being influenced by Hâfız and drawing on his poetry. The ghazal is therefore given as the clearest example of Münîrî's Sufi mode of expression.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

In the opening couplet (matla) the subject is not named; but the phrase "tecellī-i cemāl" (the manifestation of beauty), in its dictionary sense, means in Sufism God's appearing through His attributes of beauty. After this manifestation the one who has eyes beholds Him everywhere. The phrase "her yüzden" can be understood in two ways: "from every side" and "in every beautiful face". This double entendre (tevriye) is our own observation.

In the second couplet "today" and "irte" (tomorrow) face each other. "İrte", in its Old Turkish dictionary sense, means tomorrow, morning; here it stands for the hereafter. The one who does not strive to see in this world will be called blind tomorrow. The couplet recalls the Qur'anic verse meaning "whoever is blind in this world will be blind in the hereafter" (al-Isrâ 17:72); this link is our own inference.

The third and fourth couplets use basic concepts of Sufism. The words "ẕāt" (essence), "ṣıfāt" (attributes) and "esmā" (the names of God), in their dictionary senses, are terms that in Sufism describe God's being and His manifestation. These are seen as bright as day in the motes of the world; there is a congruence of images (tenasüp) between the motes of dust that appear in sunlight and "gün" (day, sun). In the fourth couplet man is called to count himself as nothing, for whatever is in things is also in man. The idea that man is a small world is widespread in Sufism; the couplet rests on this idea.

In the pen-name couplet the phrase "to die before dying" occurs. This saying is cited as a hadith in Sufi circles and describes passing away from the desires of the self. The breath of one who dies in this way becomes like the breath of Jesus, which raised the dead. The words "ölügör" (just die) and "öñürdi" (before) are examples of Münîrî's use of old Turkish words. In the last couplet, in the eyes of one who joins lofty aspiration to love, "ṭārem-i a‘lā", in its dictionary sense the highest dome, that is, the sky, is not worth even a single step. The word "pāyece" is derived with a diminutive suffix from "pāye" (degree, step).

Bibliography

Online sources