Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün

Diş mi bilersiz baña ey nefs-i dūn
S̱ümme aḳrartüm ve entüm teşhedūn
Bilürem kim pīşeñüzdür bu daḫı
S̱ümme entüm hā’ülā’i taḳtülūn
Bāṭılı ḳoñ ḥaḳḳı gözleñ kim müdām
Ḫod bilürsiz kim ve entüm tüfliḥūn
Ḫāne-i dil ni‘me dāri’l-müttaḳīn
Hāẕihī cennātü ‘adnin yedḫulūn
‘Işḳa şunlar kim Münīr inkār ider
Rūşen oldur k’ennehüm lā-yübṣırūn

In English

1. O base self, are you sharpening your teeth against me (watching for a chance to do harm)? "Then you affirmed it, and you yourselves bear witness to it."

2. I know that this too is your habit: "Then you are the very ones who kill (one another)."

3. Leave falsehood, look to the truth, for you know well that "you shall prosper".

4. The house of the heart is "how excellent the abode of the God-fearing"; "these are the gardens of Eden, which they shall enter".

5. Münîr, of those who deny love this is clear: "they do not see".

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and twenty-fifth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 225). The metre is "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". There is no redif (refrain word); the rhyme rests on "-ūn": dūn, teşhedūn, taḳtülūn, tüfliḥūn, yedḫulūn and yübṣırūn. The structure of the ghazal is striking: the second lines of the first and second couplets are wholly Arabic; in the third and fifth couplets the second line begins with Turkish words and ends with an Arabic phrase; the second line of the fourth couplet is Arabic, and its first line is Arabic too after the phrase "Ḫāne-i dil". The Kubbealtı Lugatı gives the name "mülemma" to a poem whose lines are written in different languages; this ghazal is close to that kind (our observation). Ersoy places the ghazal among the Turkish ghazals and gives no notes of meaning in the apparatus for the Arabic lines; in the translation we have supplied the meaning of these lines ourselves, drawing on the Diyanet translation of the verses named below. The ghazal is found only in the VT manuscript (151a); the edition records no variant readings. It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The Arabic lines of the ghazal are taken largely from the Qur'an; this is iktibas (quotation from the Qur'an). The Kubbealtı Lugatı defines "iktibas" as carrying a saying or passage into one's own words either verbatim or in sense, and notes that verses of the Qur'an are the chief material of such quotation. The second line of the opening couplet is the end of verse 84 of the sura al-Baqara: "summe ekrartum ve entum teşhedun"; the Diyanet translation renders this part as "Then you accepted it so. You yourselves still bear witness to it." The Arabic line of the second couplet is the beginning of verse 85, which follows immediately: "Summe entum haulai taktulune enfusekum…"; the Diyanet translation begins this verse with "But you are the ones who kill one another…". These two verses address those who broke their covenant and killed one another. Münîrî turns this address against the "nefs-i dūn" (the base self). The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains the idiom "diş bilemek" (to sharpen one's teeth) as watching for a chance to do harm and take revenge. With the words of the verse the poet rebukes his own self, which sharpens its teeth against him though it has given its word, and which has made killing its habit; what word the self has given is not stated openly in the poem (our observation).

In the third couplet "bāṭıl" (falsehood) and "ḥaḳḳ" (truth) are set against each other in a contrast (tezat). We could not find the phrase "ve entüm tüfliḥūn" (and you shall prosper) in this form in any verse; it seems to be a phrase built in the style of the Qur'an (our observation). In the fourth couplet the house of the heart is likened to paradise. "Ni‘me dāri'l-müttaḳīn" is the end of verse 30 of the sura al-Nahl; the Diyanet translation says "How excellent is the abode of those who guard against disobeying God." The phrase that follows, "cennātü ‘adnin yedḫulūn", recalls the words "cennatu adnin yedhuluneha" (the gardens of Eden which they shall enter) at the beginning of verse 31 of al-Nahl and verse 23 of the sura al-Ra‘d; the poet adds "hāẕihī" (these are) at the start and drops the final pronoun for the rhyme (our observation). In the couplet bearing the pen name (mahlas) those who deny love are called those who do not see. The phrase "lā yübṣırūn" (they do not see) occurs at the end of several verses of the Qur'an, among them al-Baqara 17, al-A‘raf 198 and Ya Sin 9. The Diyanet translation renders al-A‘raf 198 as "You see them looking at you, yet they do not see." This sense fits the couplet: those who deny love look, but do not see.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Official sources

  • The Qur'an, sura al-Baqara 2:84-85, Diyanet İşleri Kur'an-ı Kerim Türkçe Meali (Açık Kuran). https://acikkuran.com/2/84
  • The Qur'an, sura al-Nahl 16:30-31, sura al-Ra‘d 13:23, sura al-A‘raf 7:198, Diyanet İşleri Kur'an-ı Kerim Türkçe Meali (Açık Kuran). https://acikkuran.com/16/30

Books

Online sources