Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün

Sevsem ‘aceb mi cān u göñülden Muḥammedi
Şükr-i Ḫudā ki olmışuz ey dil Muḥammedī
Başumda tīġuñı görüben dil didi revān
Gör gör başumda devlet ile ‘ömr-i sermedī
Ḳo ‘ıḳd-ı zülfini lebine cān vir ey göñül
Maḳṣūda az irer görürem her muḳayyedi
‘Işḳuñ yolında terk-i ‘alāyıḳ iden kişi
Bilür dem-i viṣālde sırr-ı tecerrüdi
İncinme ikisi de saña birdür ey Münīr
Gāhī Muḥammedī dir isem gāhī Aḥmedī

In English

1. Is it any wonder if I love Muhammed with all my soul and heart; O heart, thanks be to God, we have become Muhammedî (of the community of Muhammad). (The couplet can be read in two ways: Muhammed here is the Prophet, or a beloved named Muhammed is meant; see the commentary.)

2. Seeing your sword above my head, the heart said at once: look, look, upon my head is eternal life together with good fortune. (To die by the beloved's sword counts as everlasting life.)

3. O heart, let go the knot of her curl and give your soul to her lip; I see that everyone who is bound seldom reaches the goal.

4. Whoever renounces worldly ties on the path of your love knows, at the moment of union, the secret of tecerrüd (stripping oneself of everything).

5. O Münîr, do not take offence; whether I say at times Muhammedî and at times Ahmedî, both are one to you. (Ahmed too is one of the names of the Prophet; both words mean "belonging to Muhammad".)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the three hundred and seventh of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 307). The metre is "mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün". In the list of refrains in his introduction Ersoy gives the refrain of this ghazal as "-İ". The rhyme words are Muḥammed, Muḥammedī, sermedī, muḳayyed, tecerrüd and Aḥmedī; both lines of the opening couplet end with two forms of the same name. The ghazal is found in two manuscripts of the divan (VT 170b, VY 143b). It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal opens and closes with a play on words built on two names of the Prophet. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "Muhammedî" as belonging to the Prophet Muhammad and as one who believes in his religion; "Ahmed" as one much praised and as one of the names of the Prophet Muhammad; and "Ahmedî" as belonging to and connected with the Prophet Muhammad. In the opening couplet there is a pun between "Muḥammedi" (Muhammed, as object) and "Muḥammedī" (Muhammedî). In the pen-name couplet the same play is repeated between "Muḥammedī" and "Aḥmedī": the two words derive from different names, but their meaning is one.

Two readings of the opening couplet are possible. In the first, the opening couplet expresses a religious love. From the second couplet on, however, the ghazal plainly addresses a beloved: "your sword", "her curl", "the path of your love". For this reason we think the Muhammed of the opening couplet may be a beloved called Muhammed, and that the poet turns his love for this beloved, who bears the Prophet's name, into praise with the words "becoming Muhammedî" (our reading). The TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi records the poet's name as "Münîrî b. Mehmed", and Ersoy, following Hüseyin Hüsameddin, reports that he served as chancery secretary (nişancı) to Prince Ahmed; but there is no record showing that the names Muhammed and Ahmed in this ghazal hint at persons around the poet, and we draw no such link.

In the three middle couplets the vocabulary of Sufism is carried over into the language of love. In the second couplet the beloved's sword above the head is greeted as good fortune and eternal life; there is a contrast between death and everlasting life. The third and fourth couplets set up an opposition. The Kubbealtı explains "mukayyed" as tied by a material or spiritual bond, bound, and quotes Nâmî's line containing "mukayyed-i târ-ı belâ-yı zülf"; this link between being tied to the curl and being "mukayyed" is present in Münîrî's couplet as well. The same dictionary gives "alâyık", in Sufism, the sense of the ties that keep a person from reaching God, and "tecerrüd", in Sufism, the sense of renouncing everything belonging to the world and turning to God. One who stays bound to the knot of the curl does not reach the goal; one who breaks the ties and strips himself understands the secret of tecerrüd at the moment of union.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Books

  • Kubbealtı Lugatı (Misalli Büyük Türkçe Sözlük), entries "Muhammedî", "Ahmed", "Ahmedî", "mukayyet – mukayyed", "alâyık" and "tecerrüt – tecerrüd". https://lugatim.com/s/Muhammedî

Online sources