Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün fe‘ūlün

Couplets 3424-3434 (Ta‘rîf)

Meger bir kimse gelmiş-idi şehre
Ki olmışdı bahâdurlukla şöhre
Hemân bir pîl-i mest-idi nazarda
Degüldi misl aña Rüstem cigerde
Salıcak fark-ı hasma nice men gürz
Sanasın iner-idi kûh-ı Elbruz
Mukâbil olsa ger yüz tîg-ı bürrân
Varurdı bir kolın itmekle ‘üryân
Be-gâyet mefer-dâr-idi zeber-dest
Sunam dir-idi cân alıcıya dest
Yimezdi gam kaza-y-ile kaderden
Yog-idi vehmi havf ile hatardan
Süvâr-ı çarh özinden nîze-bâzı
San ögrenürdi binse esb-i tâzî
Sürâka ibni Mâlik-idi adı
Şecâ‘ât üzre olmışdı nihâdı
Çıkageldi hemân misl-i gazanfer
Didi bu gönderilen kimi ister
İyitdiler bize maksûd u maksad
Muhammeddür yâhod re‘s-i Muhammed
Didi varup getürsem añı baglu
Yâhod başın kesüp ‘arz eylesem rû

Couplets 3458-3479

‘Atîk evvel görüp didi Resûle
Sürâkadur düşüp gelen bu yola
Velî gayet de heybetle gelişi
Bilürem kendüsidür hayli kişi
Mu‘ayyen hayra gelmez fikri şerdür
Azıtmışlar-durur k’âdem beşerdür
Resûl idüp işâret atını yir
Tutup kaldı dahı aña ne tedbîr
Ne deñlü çaldı kamçı urdı mahmız
Yürümez gördi indi aşaga tîz
Deñedi topuga dek dört ayagı
Yire batmış dahı yok bend ü bagı
Resûlüñ mu‘cizidür bildi ammâ
Piyâde sürdi yine k’irişe
Revân bir od yeligi çaldı yüzin
Ki bî-hod kıldı hâkister-veş özin
Bu kez iş neydügini bildi ol dem
Ki yanıyazdı yokken âteş ü dem
İyitdi yâ Muhammed ben bu işden
Rücû‘ itdüm velî kaldum gidişden
Ki tutdı ayagını atumuñ yir
Yayaklık kaykusı turdı beni yir
İşâret kıldı yine salıvirdi
Söz âhirde hayır bâde ki irdi
Bilürem itdügim iş gerçi kemdür
Velî yolı erenlerüñ keremdür
Murâdum bu ki iy źât-ı hümâyûn
Viresin baña bir tugrâ-yı meymûn
Ki âhirde Cenâbuña idüp ‘arz
Edâ idem ne-ise sünnet ü farz
Didi hoş bes keremdür źâtı şânı
‘Atîki yazdı ‘âl-i şân nişânı
Eline girüp itdi çünki tahsîl
Öpüp başına kodı misl-i iklîl
Dönüp adâb ile k’atına bindi
Gidüp te‘cîl ile Mekkede k’indi
Döküp cenk âletin Bû Cehle vardı
Görince sandı kim el kana kardı
Diyince n’oldı itdüñ mi melâmet
Didi minnet Hakka geldüm selâmet
Ne geçdiyse hikâye kıldı bir bir
Dili söyler velî ditrer de dir dir
Görüp hâlini didi Cehl iti tur
Sini de eylemiş sihr ile meshûr

Couplets 3587-3595

Deñer hayretde kalup Ümm-i Ma‘bed
İyitdi hazret-i Mürsel Muhammed
Şehâdet lafzını gel sen de digil
Nitekim bu didi Hak virüben dil
İyitdi Ümm-i Ma‘bed iy şeh-i dîn
Sana inanmayandur şahs-ı bî-dîn
Özüñmiş ol olan dillerde mezkûr
Bi-hamdi’llâh ki vasluñ kıldı mesrûr
Düşüp zâtuñ cemâl-i Hakka mazhar
Yüzüñ nûrı olupdur günden enver
Şekerden tatlu şîrîn sözüñ var
Hacerdür şol kim itmez işidüp kâr
Mübârek tal‘at u ferhande-fâle
Olurduk muntazır-minnet bu hâle
Göñül erkân u âyinüñe virdüm
İnanup kavlüñe dînüñe girdüm
Diyüp böyle revân getürdi îmân
Derûn-ı dilden oldı çün müsülmân

Couplets 3605-3619

Göricek Ümm-i Ma‘bed böyle hâli
Meger kim vardı anuñ bir ‘ayâli
Eli tutmazdı aslâ ayagı hem
Kulak işitmez ü göz görmez ebkem
Yaturdı bir pere et gibi her gâh
Yıkılsa ‘âlem olmaz-idi âgâh
Komışdı Ma‘bed adın nîk eger bed
Anuñçün dirler-idi Ümm-i Ma‘bed
Resûlullâha idüp hâlin i‘lân
Didi iy ins ü cân emrine fermân
Kabûl ider du‘âñı bilürem Hak
Yog ol dergâha zâhir senden elyak
Yitişse aña da dest-i mübârek
Umaram vire sıhhat Hak tebârek
Resûl iyitdi var al gel göreyüm
Hudâ korsa murâda irgüreyüm
Varup al geldi gördi küşt-i pâre
Velîkin cânı beñzer gibi vara
Vuzû‘ tecdîd idüp ol cân gibi pâk
Namâz-ı ‘asrı kıldılar ferâh-nâk
Huzû‘ ile götürdi el du‘âya
Ki Ma‘bed hastaya ire hidâye
Melekler açdılar âmîn ile dest
Olur mı kadr-i ‘âlî-şân işi pest
Revân tavûs-ı kudsi saldı Hazret
Getürdi Hak selâmın peyk-i ‘izzet
Didi Hak emri bu iy cânı cânuñ
Celâl ü ‘izzetüm hakkıçün anuñ
Kabûl itdüm du‘âsın itgil i‘lâm
K’anuñçün yaradıldı hâs eger ‘âm

Couplets 3687-3689

Hezârân şükr itmekle o hâle
Müsülmân evvelâ oldı Gazâle
Sa‘âdet sâniyen Ümm-i Mezîde
İrüp İslâm ile oldı güzîde
İdüp ikbâl tâli‘ birle yarı
Yekâyek geldiler îmâna varı

Couplets 3711-3717

Didi evvel bu bir nûr-ı musavver
Yüzi mihrinden olmış ‘alem enver
Konuklar hvân-ı hüsni birle halkı
Kul ider halkı geñsüz hüsn ü hulkı
Mu‘anber-turre reyhân-hatt u gül-rû
Kadi bâlâ bülendi serv-i dil-cû
Mukahhal çeşm-i nerges hûb-hey‘et
Şeker-güftâr ammâ şîr-heybet
Söze gelse döker lü‘lü‘-i sîr-âb
Ki silkinde olur hayrân dür-i nâb
Müzeyyen lutf ile zâtı serâpâ
Vücûd-ı pâki hilm ile mücellâ
Dinilmez haşra dek vasfı olup ‘ad
Nice şerh itsün anı Ümm-i Ma‘bed

Couplet 3732

Egerçi hadd-i kârı mâverâdur
Sözüm sallû a‘lâ hayri’l-verâdur

Couplets 3924-3926

Yitişdi Yesribe bir gün yüzi ay
Ki toymaz görmek ile yohsul bay
Şeref burcına irdi mihr-i menzil
Dahı neyler derûnda ‘ukde-i dil
Kadem rence kılup Yesrib zemîne
İrildi rahmeten lil ‘âlemîne

Couplets 3941-3942

Egerçi her tarafdan medh-hvânı
İderler-idi şâd idüp revânı
Çıkup bâm üzre bir mestûre hâtûn
Niçe beyt okudı böyle hümâyûn

Couplets 3943-3946 (Na‘t)

İdüp kullarına Bârî ‘inâyet
Habîbin eylemiş ‘ayn-ı hidâyet
Husûsâ saldı bu iklîme ikbâl
Ki irdi yümn ile yüz bu nigû-fâl
Yaradup nûr-ı pâk üzre nihâdın
Cenâb-ı Hak Muhammed komış adın
Bi-hamdi’llâh cemâli âfütâbı
Görinüp bu diyâra saldı tâbı

Couplets 3995-4001

Muhâcirler ki cem‘ oldılar ensâr
Resûl-i mihr-tal‘at mâh-ruhsâr
El urdı mescide zât-ı hümâyun
Murabba‘-şekl her yanı yüz arşun
Cenâbı birle hep kim girdi işe
Eñ evvel resme ‘Ammâr urdı tîşe
Müheyyâ eyleyüp esbâbı yir yir
Dürişebaşladı bürnâ eger pîr
Bu cehdi görüp idüp biri ta‘zîm
Du‘â itdi velî ensârı takdîm
Resûl iyitdi itdüñ gerçi terkîb
Bu vech ile gerekdür diñle tertîb
لاَ عِيشَ اِلاَّ عِيشَ الاَخِرَةِ اللَّهُمَّ ارحَمِ المهاجِرينَ وَالاَنصارِ
Muhâcir kadrini itmekle i‘lâm
‘Ayân her bir hadîsi kıldı a‘lâm

Couplet 4067

Egerçi hadd-i kârı mâverâdur
Sözüm sallû a‘lâ hayri’l-verâdur

In English

3424. Now a man had come to the city who had grown famous for his valour.

3425. To look at he was like a raging elephant; in courage not even Rustam was his equal.

3426. When he brought down a mace of many maunds on the enemy's head, you would think Mount Elburz was falling.

3427. If a hundred cutting swords faced him, he would go against them with one arm bared.

3428. He was mighty-handed beyond measure, and used to say: I will stretch out my hand even to the taker of souls. (The sense of mefer-dâr is unclear.)

3429. He gave no thought to fate and destiny, and had no dread of fear or danger.

3430. When he mounted a thoroughbred Arab horse, you would think the horseman of the heavens learned lance-play from him.

3431. His name was Surâqa son of Mâlik, and his nature was formed of courage.

3432. He came forward at once like a lion and said: Whom are these men being sent after.

3433. They said: Our aim and object is Muhammad, or else Muhammad's head.

3434. He said: What if I go and bring him back bound, or cut off his head and set its face before you.

3458. Atîk saw him first and said to the Prophet: The man who has taken this road and is coming is Surâqa.

3459. His approach is fearsome indeed; I know him, he is quite a man.

3460. Clearly he does not come for good; his intent is evil. They have led him astray; a man is only human.

3461. The Prophet made a sign and the earth seized his horse and held it fast; what remedy was left to him.

3462. However much he lashed with the whip and dug in the spur, he saw it would not move, and quickly dismounted.

3463. He felt and found all four of its legs sunk into the ground up to the fetlocks, though there was neither fetter nor bond.

3464. He knew it was the Prophet's miracle, yet he pressed on again on foot to overtake them. (In the edition the second line appears to be one syllable short for the metre.)

3465. At once a wind of fire struck his face and left him senseless, like ashes.

3466. This time he understood at once what was happening, for he had all but burned, though there was neither fire nor breath of fire.

3467. He said: O Muhammad, I have turned back from this deed, but I am left unable to go on.

3468. For the earth has seized my horse's feet, and the worry of being left on foot has risen up and is eating at me. (Yir means first "earth", then "eats".)

3469. He made a sign again and the earth let the horse go; in the end the matter came to good.

3470. I know that what I did was base (kem); but the way of the saints is generosity (kerem).

3471. My wish is this, O august being: that you give me an auspicious decree bearing your seal (tuğra),

3472. so that in the end I may present it before you and fulfil whatever is sunna and obligatory.

3472. The Prophet said: Very well; generosity is his very nature; and Atîk wrote out that lofty token. (In the edition this couplet too is printed with the number 3472.)

3473. When it reached his hand and he had it, he kissed it and set it on his head like a crown.

3475. He turned back with courtesy and mounted his horse; going in haste, he dismounted at Mecca.

3476. Laying down his weapons he went to Abû Jahl, who, seeing him, thought he had dipped his hands in blood.

3477. When Abû Jahl asked "What happened, have you come back in disgrace", Surâqa said: "Thanks be to God, I have come back safe."

3478. He told one by one whatever had happened; his tongue spoke, but he trembled from head to foot.

3479. Seeing his state, the cur of ignorance said: Stop; he has bewitched you too with his sorcery.

3587. As Umm Ma‘bad looked on in amazement, the Envoy, the Prophet Muhammad, said:

3588. Come, you too speak the words of witness, just as I have spoken them, God granting you the tongue.

3589. Umm Ma‘bad said: O king of the faith, only a faithless man would not believe in you.

3590. So it was you who were spoken of on every tongue; praise be to God that meeting you has gladdened me.

3591. Your being has become the mirror of God's beauty; the light of your face is brighter than the sun.

3592. Your speech is sweeter than sugar; whoever hears it and is not moved is stone.

3593. We were waiting in gratitude for this blessed countenance, this happy omen, this very state.

3594. I have given my heart to your ways and your rites; believing your word, I have entered your faith.

3595. Saying this she came to faith at once and became a Muslim from the depths of her heart.

3605. When Umm Ma‘bad saw such a thing, she remembered that she had a child of her own,

3606. whose hands had no strength at all, nor his feet; his ears did not hear, his eyes did not see, and he was mute.

3607. He always lay like a lump of flesh; had the world collapsed he would not have known.

3608. For good or ill she had named him Ma‘bad; that is why they called her Umm Ma‘bad, the mother of Ma‘bad.

3609. Making his state known to the Messenger of God, she said: O you whose command men and jinn obey,

3610. I know that God accepts your prayer; plainly no one is worthier of that court than you.

3611. If your blessed hand were to reach him too, I hope that God, blessed be He, would give him health.

3612. The Prophet said: Go and bring him, let me see; if God permits, I will bring you to your wish.

3613. She went and brought him; the Prophet saw a broken wretch, though his soul seemed still to be in him.

3614. He who is pure as the soul renewed his ablution, and they performed the afternoon prayer in gladness.

3615. With humility he raised his hands in prayer, that guidance and healing might reach the sick Ma‘bad.

3616. The angels opened their hands, saying amen; can the work of one so exalted ever be lowly.

3617. At once God sent the holy peacock; the messenger of glory (Gabriel) brought God's greeting.

3618. He said: O soul of souls, this is God's command: By My majesty and My glory, for his sake

3619. I have accepted his prayer; make it known, for it is for him that the great and the common were created.

3687. Giving a thousand thanks for what she had seen, Ghazâla was the first to become a Muslim.

3688. Second, felicity reached Umm Mazîd, and she became one of the chosen through Islam.

3689. With fortune and good luck on their side, all of them came to faith one by one.

3711. Umm Ma‘bad said: Know first that he was light given form; the world (‘alem) had grown brighter from the sun of his face.

3712. He entertains people at the table of his beauty; his beauty and character (hulk) make people (halk) his servants without end.

3713. His lock is scented with ambergris, the down on his face like sweet basil, his cheek a rose; his stature tall and high, a cypress that draws the heart.

3714. His narcissus eyes are lined with kohl, his form is fair; his speech is sugar, yet his majesty is a lion's.

3715. When he speaks he pours out lustrous pearls, at whose string even pure pearls stand amazed.

3716. His being is adorned with grace from head to foot; his pure person is polished with gentleness.

3717. His qualities could not be told or counted till the Day of Judgment; how could Umm Ma‘bad explain them.

3732. Truly the measure of his work (of his praise) lies beyond all things; my word is: "Send blessings upon the best of creation." (Çorak paraphrases the couplet as: there is no end to what may be said of him; he may be praised forever.)

3924. One day the moon-faced one reached Yathrib (Medina), whose sight neither poor nor rich can have enough of.

3925. The sun of the way-stations reached its house of exaltation; what can the knot within the heart do now.

3926. When he troubled his foot to tread the soil of Yathrib, the one sent as a mercy to the worlds was welcomed.

3941. Though from every side the eulogists were singing his praises and gladdening the soul,

3942. a veiled lady climbed onto a rooftop and recited some august couplets, thus:

3943. Granting His favour to His servants, the Creator has made His Beloved the very source of guidance.

3944. Above all He has sent good fortune to this land, for this one of happy omen has shown his face with blessing. (Yüz can mean both "face" and "a hundred".)

3945. God created his nature upon pure light and named him Muhammad.

3946. Praise be to God, the sun of his beauty has appeared and cast its radiance over this land.

3995. When the Emigrants and the Ansar had gathered, the Messenger, sun-faced and moon-cheeked,

3996. that august being, set his hand to the mosque, square in shape, each side a hundred cubits.

3997. All set to work together with him; first of all Ammâr struck the adze according to the plan.

3998. Preparing the materials here and there, young and old alike began to labour.

3999. Seeing this effort, someone showed his reverence and made a prayer, but put the Ansar first.

4000. The Prophet said: You have put the words together, but their order must be this; listen. The edition then gives an Arabic saying, meaning: "There is no life but the life of the Hereafter; O God, have mercy on the Emigrants and the Ansar." (Çorak renders the first part "there is no good but the good of the Hereafter".)

4001. By making known the worth of the Emigrants, he made every saying a plain sign.

4067. Truly the measure of his work (of his praise) lies beyond all things; my word is: "Send blessings upon the best of creation."

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 fourth and last part of the couplets in the article and contains 85 couplets: Surâqa's pursuit (3424-3479), events in Umm Ma‘bad's tent (3587-3732) and the arrival in Medina (3924-4067).

The metre is "mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün fe‘ûlün" and the form is the mesnevi (rhymed-couplet poem). According to Çorak the hicretnâme contains two poems headed "Ta‘rîf" (portrait); one describes Surâqa, the other the Prophet in the words of Umm Ma‘bad. In the article couplets 3424-3434 are given under the heading "Ta‘rîf", while couplets 3711-3717 are introduced as a na't in Umm Ma‘bad's mouth; couplets 3943-3946 also bear the heading "Na‘t". Couplets 3732 and 4067 are identical. Çorak notes that the poet places at the end of each section this couplet saying there is no end to the Prophet's praise: 3732 is the last couplet of the first heading, 4067 the last of the hijra narrative. From the intervening section devoted to Ali's emigration Çorak gives no couplets. Some flaws in the article have been left as they are: the second line of 3464 appears to be one syllable short for the metre, two different couplets are printed with the number 3472, and the number 3474 is missing; in 3998 "Dürişebaşladı" is printed as one word. Examples of punning: kem and kerem (3470), yir in the senses "earth" and "eats" (3468), halk and hulk (3712).

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The portrait of Surâqa is written in the language of the Persian epics. Surâqa is a raging elephant, not even Rustam can match his courage, his mace comes down like Mount Elburz, and he does not shrink from stretching out his hand to the taker of souls. This exaggerated portrait of a hero heightens the effect of the miracle that follows. According to Çorak's summary the Quraysh promise him a thousand camels and thousands of gold pieces and jewels. At a sign from the Prophet Surâqa's horse sinks into the ground up to its fetlocks, and as Surâqa walks on foot a wind of fire strikes his face. Understanding what is happening, Surâqa asks for forgiveness and requests a document bearing a seal; Atîk, that is Abû Bakr, writes it. When Surâqa returns to Mecca, Abû Jahl listens to him and says "he has bewitched you too" (3479), closing the scene with mockery.

The scene of Umm Ma‘bad takes up a large place in Münîrî's narrative. According to Çorak's summary, the Prophet milks the lean sheep of Umm Ma‘bad, who because of famine has nothing left to offer guests, and the sheep gives abundant milk; Umm Ma‘bad bears witness to the faith (3587-3595). Then her son Ma‘bad, none of whose limbs had any strength, is healed by a prayer made after the afternoon prayer (3605-3619); the angels opening their hands with "amen" and Gabriel announcing that the prayer is accepted tie the scene to heaven. The conversion of Ghazâla and Umm Mazîd (3687-3689) is connected with the miracles told in Çorak's summary: their skins of butter and honey come back full, and the sheep that had been eaten comes back to life. The seven couplets in which Umm Ma‘bad describes the Prophet (3711-3717) are built from the conventional images that divan poetry uses for the beloved: a lock scented with ambergris, down like sweet basil, a rose cheek, a cypress stature, narcissus eyes lined with kohl, sugar speech and words poured out like pearls.

The arrival in Medina is told in images of the sun and its zodiac house (3924-3926). Among those praising the Prophet, the couplets recited by a veiled lady who climbs onto a rooftop (3943-3946) are like a second poem within the poem. In the couplets on the building of the mosque it is said that the mosque was square and each side a hundred cubits long, and that Ammâr struck the first blow with the adze. The Prophet's telling a man who put the Ansar first in his prayer that the order must begin with the Emigrants, and the Arabic saying that follows, round off the passage on the coming together of the Emigrants and the Ansar; Çorak traces the saying to Ibn Kathîr.

Historical Context

According to the TDV article "Hicret", Surâqa b. Mâlik of the Mudlij tribe pursued the Prophet and became a Muslim after the siege of Tâ'if. Çorak also writes that in this part Münîrî speaks of Surâqa's conversion and of the services he would render to Islam. According to the same article, the party stopped at Qudayd at the tent of Umm Ma‘bad Âtika bint Khâlid; when the Prophet milked a goat too weak to go out with the flock it gave abundant milk, and the words with which Umm Ma‘bad described the Prophet at the request of her husband Abû Ma‘bad became a subject of the hilye literature (verbal portraits of the Prophet). In Münîrî the animal is a sheep, and in Çorak's summary the husband is named Eksem. The poet explains the name Umm Ma‘bad by her having named her sick son Ma‘bad (3608).

According to the TDV article, the Prophet stayed at Qubâ in the house of Kulthûm b. Hidm, had a mosque built there, left Qubâ on a Friday, led the first Friday prayer in the valley of Rânûnâ and entered Medina. By the article's reckoning this entry took place on 12 Rabî' al-awwal (24 September 622). The Prophet became the guest of Abû Ayyûb al-Ansârî, whose house was the nearest to the place where his camel Qaswâ knelt. The same article relates that a Jewish girl who had climbed onto the roof of a house saw the party approaching and announced it. In Münîrî, according to Çorak's summary, the host at Qubâ is Haysem, the veiled lady on the roof recites a na't, and the eyes of Abû Ayyûb's blind mother are opened by the Prophet's prayer.

Bibliography

Academic studies

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