Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün fe‘ūlün

Couplets 3267-3284

Urup öldüre mi dimeyüp aslâ
Bu kez sûrâhına kodı kef-i pâ
Kakıyup mâr-ı ef‘î sokdı tekrâr
Olup mesmûm Bû Bekr iñledi zâr
Bu vech ile yitişüp kahr-ı dehrüñ
K’acısı yüregine geçdi zehrüñ
Gözi yaşı olup geñsüz revâne
Gül-i ter yüze tamdı eşk-dâne
Açup gözin ‘Atîkini görüp zâr
Didi neyçün iñildü böyle iy yâr
Ciger kanıyla eşk itmekle tahrîr
Başından sergüzeşti k’itdi ta‘rîr
Nazar ef‘îye kılmag ile Muhtâr
Didi inkâr ile mi geldüñ iy mâr
Yakup zehr âteşiyle nitekim mûm
Ki kılduñ yâr-ı gârı böyle mesmûm
Gelüp nutka iyitdi hâşe lillâh
Ki olmayam Habîbullâhdan âgâh
Ziyâret kılmaga sa‘y-i cemîli
Hezâr itdüm tutup küll-i sebîli
Beni mahrûm ider göz göre gördüm
Acıyup yâ Resûlullâhı urdum
İşidüp bunı cân u dil-tabîbi
Ki ya‘nî hazret-i Hakkuñ Habîbi
‘Atîkuñ müşkili olmag içün hal
Geçürdi zahm-ı mâr üstinden ol el
Sahîh ü sâlim itmeklige yârın
Hem ol zahm üzre sürdi agzı yarın
Tutup yüzini dergâh-ı Hudâya
Götürdi el niyâz ile du‘âya
Huşû‘ ile du‘âdan soñra bârî
Nicesin diyü sordı hâl-i yâri
İyitdi himmetüñde Hak te‘âlâ
Eser komadı semmden ben de aslâ
Ayagum zahm-ı mârı görmedi san
Yâhod zehr-i helâhil tutmadı ten

Couplets 3290-3297

Bürüdi kapusını sebz-evrâk
Ki görünmeye anda kara vü ak
Gelüp iki kebûter şâh-ber-şâh
İdüp pervâz misl-i kumrı-yı kâh
Miyân-ı derde tutup bir butagı
Yuva yapdılar ânîce bayagı
Yumurdlayup revân dişisi basdı
Kebûter niçe çıkarmaga kasdı
Hem anuñ cinsidür dirler Haremde
Kebûter kim olur şimdiki demde
Hemân bir ‘ankebûd-i tîz-reftâr
Kapuya perde gerdi uruban târ
Anuñçün küllü mâşi içre olmaz
Degül câyiz şeb ü rûz ol hem olmaz
Nikâb-ı ‘ankebûtı k’oldı âhir
Saba-ferrâşı lâbüdd oldı zâhir

Couplets 3302-3317

Deñeyüp gözcileri sag u solı
K’ihâta itdiler beyt-i Resûli
Ebû Cehl-i la‘în etbâ‘ı-y-ile
Resûli sevmeyen segler de bile
Oturmışlardı kapuya tutup gûş
Bu ümîde ki virbinen siyeh-gûş
Ser-i mahbûb-ı Hakkı aluban tîz
Geleler elde hûnîn tîg-ı ser-tîz
Zihî bâtıl-hayâl ü kec-tasavvur
K’ider her herze merze böyle cür mür
Meger kim dûn içinde yine İblîs
Bayagı dünki şekle girüp ol pîs
Gelüben yoldagılar bî-delîle
Didi neylersiz añrılup sebîle
İyitdiler umaruz k’Ahmedi hvâb
Alup merdân k’ide açıla bâb
Basup ivin kesevüz başını tâ
Size tuhf’iltevüz biz götürüp pâ
Gelüp didi ki kanı giden Ahmed
Sanursız bagladunuz yoluna sed
Çıkuban evvel-i şebde yürüdi
Sizi gaflet anuñ içün bürüdi
Gelüp Bû Bekr ile hîç itmeyüp bâk
Bir avuç saçdı alup sizlere hâk
Gözüñüz baglayuban geçdi gitdi
Nireye istediyse şimdi yitdi
Dinürse nice gelüp saça toprak
Çaluñ başuñuza al işdeye bak
Alup her biri şabkasına bakdı
Görüben hâki gayret odı yakdı
Te‘essüfle turup küffâr-ı bî-dîn
Segirtdiler Resûl ivine gâm-gîn

Couplets 3358-3375

İyitdi billâh iy Sıddîk nâle
Ne içün ne yitişdi kalb ü bâle
Didi mahfî degül râyı Münîre
Ki irdi kapuya her kalbi tîre
Eşirrâ-yı Kureyş İblîs ile ma‘
Îhâta kıldılar gârı ne matla‘
Necât işi bitüp iy yüzi gül-şen
Sizüñçündür iñildüm tün-be-tün ben
Budur degzindügüm hem k’olam evvel
Ki görmeyem size sunuldugın el
Resûl iyitdi kavl-i Hakkı diñle
Sıgın lutf-ı Hudâya yiter iñle
اِذْ يَقُولُ لِصَاحِبِهِ لَا تَحْزَنْ اِنَّ اللّٰهَ مَعَنَا
Diyüp böyle dönüp dîvâr-ı gâra
İşâret itdi yarıldı magâra
İyitdi yâ Ebâ Bekr arduña bak
‘Ukab ile kaçan pervâz ider bak
Bakup gördi ki bir dîvârı gâruñ
Girüp külli görünmiş ol kenâruñ
Yitişüp kurb-ı gâra bahr-i zehhâr
Tutarlar bir gemiyi iki serdâr
Velî bilmez tutan kimdür hele nâs
Hudâ bilür k’olar mı Hızr u İlyâs
Öte yanında hem bir ulu ‘asker
Süvâruñ her birisi kûh-peyker
İyitdi ger girürlerse kapudan
Bizi kurtardı Bârî ol kapudan
Senüñle idelüm deryâda geştî
Bizümçün hâzır olmışdur şu keştî
Hele sabr it görelüm Hak te‘âla
Ne buyurur ki hakdur kâr-fermâ
Sevinüp didi Sıddîk sehun-ver
Te‘âla şânehu Allâhu ekber
Su‘âl itdi o leşkerden de âhir
Ki kimüñdür bu ‘asker k’oldı zâhir
Buyurdı şeh Necâşînüñdür anlar
Kayuma hem bizümdür ol turanlar

Couplets 3413-3418 (Na‘t)

Zihî zât ol sebeb olan revâ ne
Hezârân yümn ile oldı revâne
Delîl ü rehber aña Hızr u İlyâs
Penâh-ı puştî lutf-ı Hâlık-ı nâs
Kadem basdugı hâke çeşme-i cân
Virür dil teşnelikle irmege cân
Sa‘âdetlü şular kim yoldaşıdur
E‘âdîden ne gam san yol taşıdur
Dil ü cândan olup müştâk-ı dîdâr
Muhâcirle deñer yol çeşm-i ensâr
Seferdür ‘ayn-ı sûd ol nice hicret
Ki ‘âcizdür anuñ sırrında fikret

In English

3267. Without even asking "shall I strike it and kill it", Abû Bakr this time pressed the sole of his foot against the snake's hole.

3268. The viper (mâr-ı ef‘î), enraged, struck again; poisoned, Abû Bakr moaned and wept.

3269. Thus the blow of fate reached him, and the pain of the poison pierced his heart.

3270. His tears flowed without measure, and the drops fell on the Prophet's face, fresh as a rose.

3271. The Prophet opened his eyes and, seeing his Atîk weeping, said: Why do you moan so, my friend.

3272. As though writing with tears of his heart's blood, Abû Bakr told what had befallen him.

3273. The Chosen One looked at the viper and said: O snake, have you come in denial,

3274. that you burned the friend of the cave (yâr-ı gâr) like a candle with the fire of your poison and poisoned him so.

3275. The snake found speech and said: God forbid that I should be unaware of God's Beloved.

3276. To visit you I took every road and made a thousand fair efforts.

3277. I saw him keeping me from you before my very eyes; in my pain, O Messenger of God, I struck him.

3278. Hearing this, the physician of souls and hearts, that is, the Beloved of God,

3279. passed that hand over the snake's wound to resolve Atîk's trouble.

3280. To make his friend sound and whole, he also rubbed the moisture of his mouth on the wound. (The rhyme pairs yârın, "his friend", with yarın, "the moisture of his mouth".)

3281. Turning his face to God's court, he raised his hands in humble prayer.

3282. After praying in humility he at last asked after his friend: How are you.

3283. Abû Bakr said: Through your intercession God Most High has left no trace of the poison in me at all.

3284. It is as if my foot had never known a snake's wound, or the deadly poison had never taken hold of my body.

3290. Green leaves covered the mouth of the cave, so that nothing, black or white, could be seen there.

3291. Two doves came from branch to branch, fluttering like turtle-doves. (The exact sense of kumrı-yı kâh is unclear.)

3292. Taking hold of a branch in the middle of the entrance, they suddenly built a nest. (The final word bayagı may mean "as if it had always been there" or simply "plainly".)

3293. The female laid her eggs and sat on them at once, the dove intending to hatch her young.

3294. They say that the doves found in the Haram at Mecca in our time are of their line.

3295. At once a swift-footed spider cast its threads and stretched a curtain across the entrance.

3296. The couplet is obscure; it may be saying that, because of this service, it is not permitted night or day to harm the spider among all creatures that walk.

3297. The couplet is obscure; it may be saying that the spider's veil appeared at last, like the carpet-spreader of the morning breeze.

3302. The watchmen searched right and left and surrounded the Prophet's house.

3303. Accursed Abû Jahl with his followers, and with them the curs who did not love the Prophet,

3304. were sitting at the door with their ears pricked; the word virbinen in the second line is unclear, siyeh-gûş means lynx, and the sense is completed by the next couplet: in the hope that

3305. they would quickly take the head of God's beloved and come back with bloody, sharp-pointed swords in hand.

3306. What a vain fancy, what crooked imagining, that turns every absurdity into such idle chatter.

3307. Then in the night that foul Iblis again took on the same shape as the day before,

3308. came to those waiting guideless on the road and said: What are you waiting for there on the way.

3309. They said: We hope that sleep will take Ahmad, and that the brave men will open the door;

3310. we will raid his house and cut off his head, and then carry it to you as a gift.

3311. Iblis said: Where is Ahmad, who is already gone; you think you have barred his road.

3312. He went out at the beginning of the night and walked away; that is why heedlessness came over you.

3313. He came with Abû Bakr, fearing nothing, and took a handful of earth and scattered it over you.

3314. Binding your eyes he passed by and was gone; by now he has reached wherever he wished.

3315. If you ask how he could have come and scattered earth, put your hands to your heads: here it is, see.

3316. Each one took off his cap and looked; seeing the earth, the fire of wounded pride burned them.

3317. The faithless unbelievers rose in regret and rushed, aggrieved, into the Prophet's house.

3358. The Prophet said: By God, O Sıddîk, why this lament; what has come upon your heart and mind.

3359. Abû Bakr said: It is not hidden from your shining judgment that every dark-hearted man has reached the door. (Râyı münîr, "shining judgment", recalls the poet's pen name.)

3360. The wicked of the Quraysh, together with Iblis, have surrounded the cave; how the closing words ne matla‘ ("what a rising-place") fit is unclear.

3361. O you whose face is a rose garden, may the work of deliverance be accomplished; it is for you that I have moaned night after night.

3362. My wish is this: that I may go first, so as not to see a hand stretched out against you.

3363. The Prophet said: Listen to God's word, take refuge in God's grace; enough of moaning. The edition then gives an Arabic phrase from the Qur'an (part of Tawba 9:40), meaning: "When he said to his companion: Do not grieve, God is with us."

3364. Having said this he turned to the wall of the cave and pointed; the cave split open.

3365. He said: O Abû Bakr, look behind you; the second line may be read "see how one flies with the eagle (‘ukâb)", but its exact sense is unclear.

3366. He looked and saw that one wall of the cave had given way, and that whole shore had come into view.

3367. A surging sea had come close to the cave, and two commanders were holding a ship.

3368. But men do not know who held it; God knows whether they were Khidr and Elias.

3369. On the far side there was also a great army, each of its horsemen as huge as a mountain.

3370. The Prophet said: If they come in by the door, the Creator has saved us through that captain. (The rhyme pairs kapudan, "from the door", with kapudan, "ship's captain".)

3371. Let us, you and I, voyage (geşt) on the sea; this ship (keştî) has been made ready for us.

3372. But be patient; let us see what God Most High commands, for it is He who governs every affair.

3373. Sıddîk, master of words, rejoiced and said: Exalted be His glory, God is most great.

3374. At last he asked about that army too: Whose is this host that has appeared.

3375. He said: They belong to the king, the Negus; and those standing there are ours, ready to help us. (The sense of the word kayuma is uncertain.)

3413. What a being he is, the cause of all that is fitting; he set out on the road with a thousand blessings. (The rhyme plays on revâ ne and revâne, "setting out".)

3414. Khidr and Elias are his guides on the way; his refuge and his support is the grace of the Creator of mankind.

3415. The earth on which he sets foot is a fountain of life; the heart, thirsting to reach it, gives up its life.

3416. Happy are those who are his companions on the road; what grief can enemies bring, count them as stones on the road. (Yoldaşıdur and yol taşıdur pun on each other.)

3417. Longing with heart and soul to behold him, the eyes of the Ansar watch the road for the Emigrant.

3418. That journey is pure gain; what an emigration it is, whose secret thought is powerless to grasp.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

These couplets come from the 1,101-couplet hicretnâme (hijra narrative) in the third volume of Münîrî's seven-volume verse Siyer-i Nebî. According to the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, with 32,475 couplets the work is the longest known verse biography of the Prophet in Turkish literature; its only copy is in the Topkapı Palace Museum Library (Koğuşlar, nos. 994-995). In an article published in 2018 Reyhan Çorak gave couplets selected from the hijra section under their numbers in her doctoral thesis of 2010, in a simplified transliteration, marking omitted couplets with a dotted line. This post is the third part of the couplets in the article: couplets 3267-3375, which tell of events in the cave of Thawr, and a na't (poem in praise of the Prophet) that follows the departure from the cave (3413-3418), 66 couplets in all.

The metre is "mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün fe‘ûlün" and the form is the mesnevi (rhymed-couplet poem). Punning rhyme is especially marked in this section: kapudan meaning "from the door" and kapudan meaning "ship's captain" (3370), geşt, "voyage", and keştî, "ship" (3371), yârın and yarın (3280), revâ ne and revâne (3413), yoldaşıdur and yol taşıdur (3416). In 3359 the phrase râyı münîr, "shining judgment", which Abû Bakr addresses to the Prophet, recalls the poet's pen name. According to Çorak there are five poems headed "Na't" in the hicretnâme; couplets 3413-3418 are one of them and stand after the departure from the cave. The Arabic phrase from Tawba 9:40 was printed in the article with its letters in reverse order through a typesetting error; the original text here gives it in the correct order. The couplets that remain obscure (3296, 3297, 3304, 3360, 3365) are marked in the translation.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The section opens with Abû Bakr being bitten by a snake. According to Çorak's summary the cave is full of snakes and scorpions; Abû Bakr goes in first, stops the holes with pieces torn from his cloak and blocks the last with his heel. While the Prophet sleeps with his head on Abû Bakr's knee the snake bites the heel, and Abû Bakr's tears fall on the Prophet's face and wake him. Münîrî turns the scene into a dialogue: the Prophet asks the snake whether it came in denial, and the snake finds speech and says that it had taken to the roads to visit him and that Abû Bakr stood in its way. The Prophet heals the wound with his hand and the moisture of his mouth. The images of tears falling on a rose-like face, of poison burning like a candle and of the physician of souls give the scene a warm tone.

Green leaves covering the entrance of the cave, two doves building a nest and laying eggs, and a spider stretching its web are told one after another. The poet relates, with the word "they say", that the doves of the Haram descend from these birds; he gives this as a report handed down, and not as his own statement (3294). The narrative then returns to Mecca. Iblis, again in the guise of the old man from Najd, comes to the idolaters waiting at the Prophet's house and tells them that the Prophet has long since left, scattering earth on their heads as he passed; the idolaters taking off their caps and finding the earth (3316) carries a touch of mockery. These couplets complete, from the idolaters' side, the miracle of the scattered earth told in the previous part.

The most marvellous scene of the section takes place in the cave. When the idolaters reach the entrance, the Prophet comforts Abû Bakr with the words of the sura Tawba, "Do not grieve, God is with us", and then points to the wall of the cave. The wall splits, and a surging sea, a ship held by two commanders and an army belonging to the Negus come into view. The poet does not say for certain whether those holding the ship were Khidr and Elias, and says "God knows" (3368). The Negus was also named in Rabî'a's proposal in the first part; there the idolaters thought of sending the Prophet off to Abyssinia by ship, and Satan rejected the idea by recalling the Negus's friendship. The na't that closes the section passes from narrative to lyric: the earth on which the Prophet sets foot is a fountain of life, the eyes of the Ansar wait for him on the road, and thought cannot grasp the secret of the hijra.

Historical Context

According to the TDV article "Hicret", during the searches a group of idolaters came right up to the cave, Abû Bakr grew anxious, and the Prophet calmed him, as Tawba 9:40 indicates, saying "Do not grieve, God is surely with us". The idolaters turned back without looking into the cave. According to the article, the reports stating that a spider had spun its web across the mouth of the cave as the reason for this were judged sound (hasen) by many hadith scholars. The Prophet and Abû Bakr stayed three days in the cave, and Abû Bakr's son Abdullah brought news every night. According to Çorak's summary, in Münîrî Âmir and Asmâ come and go for three days bringing news and milk, and they set out on the fourth night; the idolaters are enraged on seeing the doves and the spider, and Abû Jahl tells Satan, who had guided them, that he has either grown senile or lost his mind.

The spider and the cave also appear in the historical account; the snake, the doves, the leaves and the wall opening onto the sea belong to the layer that expands Münîrî's narrative with marvellous events. Çorak says that in works of the siyer genre some of the extraordinary events found in the early sources were expanded with small stories and took on a legendary character, and for such events in the early biographies she refers to a study by Mehmet Azimli.

Bibliography

Academic studies

Online sources