Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Yā mecma‘al feẓāyili yā maẓhara’l-hüdā
Ḫayrü’l-enāmi ẕātüke bi’l-fażl ve’l-‘alā
Ḫayl-i rusül ki cem‘ şod ender maḳām-ı ḳurb
Ẕāt-ı to būd ḳāfile-sālār-ı enbiyā
Der-mecma‘ī ki şem‘-i cemāl-i to ber-fürūḫt
Pervāne şod be-gird-i vey ervāḥ-ı aṣfiyā
Mesned-nişīn-i taḫt-geh-i lī-ma‘allāhest
Z’ān tekye zed be-ṣuffa-i eyvān-ı ıṣṭıfā
Ṭūbā-ḫırām-ı ravża-i gül-zār-ı festeḳım
Gül-deste-i ḥadīḳa-i yā sīn ü tā vü hā
Cīm-i cemāl noḳṭasıdur aṣl-ı kāf u nūn
K’oldı muḥīṭ-i her dü cihān mīm-i Muṣṭafā
Bāġ-ı risālet ile nübüvvet göginde ol
Ke’l-verdi fī’l-ḥadīḳati ve’ş-şemsi fī’s-semā
Ẕāt-ı şerīfüñ adınadur ey ḥabīb-i Ḥaḳ
Bu heft heykel-i felege yazılan du‘ā
Ḫulḳuñ nesīm-i nükhetinüñ şemmesi degül
Enfās-ı cān-fezā-yı revān-perver-i ṣabā
Ḳıldı dü-pāre ḳurṣ-ı mehi dest-i mu‘cizüñ
Ol mā-ḥażardan almaġa her bī-nevā nevā
Raḥmet hemīşe gökden inerdi zemīne bes
Yirden yetişdi göklere devrüñde ol şehā
Yüz der-gehüñe ṭutsa n’ola cümle kāyināt
Çün yetmiş iki millete ḳapuñdur ilticā
Esrā düninde māh-ı cemālüñ ṣafāsına
Genc-i ṣıfāt u ẕāt ‘aṭā itdi Ḥaḳ saña
Devrüñde her yañada münādī-i derd-i ‘ışḳ
Ḫᵛān-ı viṣāl-i Ḥaḳḳa ḳılur her nefes ṣalā
Ḥükm-i şerī‘atüñ ṭutup āfāḳı ser-be-ser
Dikdi firāz-ı küngüre-i ‘arşa bes livā
Ṣaḥra-yı lev-denevtüden idüp revān güẕer
Seyrān-geh oldı sen şehe menzilgeh-i denā
Māh-ı tamām ‘ārıżıñuñ şevḳına tamām
Yazuldı ‘arşa ṣūre-i ve’n-necmi iẕā hevā
Merkez vücūduñ olsa dü kevne ‘aceb degül
Ẕātuñ çün oldı noḳṭa-i pergār-ı ictibā
Şaḫṣ-ı celāl-i rif‘atüñ olsa ‘aceb midür
Şöyle bu heft bāliş-i zer-befte müttekā
Mecmū‘-ı kāyināta yetişdi es̱erlerüñ
Mihr-i cemālüñ olduġıçün ḫaṭṭ-ı istivā
Bu heft-pāye minber-i çarḫ üzre Cebre’īl
Yüce aduña ḫuṭbe oḳur ḫūb u müntehā
Ādem çün oldı ḫırmen-icūduñda ḫūşe-çīn
‘Ālī ḳapuñda olsa Süleymān ne var gedā
Gösterdi ‘āleme yed-i beyżāyı gün gibi
Nūruñdan iḳtibās idüben ṣāḥib-i ‘aṣā
Gird-i cihānı yiller ile degzinüp hele
İrdi ayaġuñ öpmege seyyāre-i semā
Cām-ı cihān-nümāda ki vardur bu ḫāṣıyet
Beñzer kim oldı bāde-i ‘ışḳuñla oldı āşnā
İzüñ tozı sa‘ādeti k’irişdi farḳına
Geh efser ider anı felek gāh tūtyā
Dünyā-yı dūna cīfe diyü sāye ṣalmaduñ
Olmazsa nūrda ne ḳadar sāye Ḫüsrevā
Bilmez ne cevher idügini gerd-i rāhıñuñ
İzüñ tozına cān u cihāndur diyen bahā
Şol dem ki irdi cāmi‘-i eflāke ḳāmetüñ
Erbāb-ı heft ṣavma‘a itdi hep iḳtidā
Kūh-ı Ḳubeysi Ḥaḳ saña sīm ü zer itmege
Olmadı meyl ü raġbetüñ aṣlā zihī ġınā
Ol iki dür dişüñ yirine ey dür-i yetīm
Ḳıldı günāhın ümmetüñüñ Ḥaḳ saña ‘aṭā
Ḳandurdı āb-ı raḥmet ile cümle‘ālemi
Baḥr-i kefüñden ebr-i bahār ögrenüp seḫā
Maḥbūb-ı ‘ālem olsa ne var şöyle āftāb
Mihr-i cemālüñ ile virür ‘āleme żiyā
Ez-lā-mekān hemī güẕered pey-revān-ı to
Şükr-i Ḫudā ki geşt be-mā çün to pīş-vā
Na‘t-ı şerīfüñ ile göñül pür-ḥużūr olup
Ḳıldı bu nev‘ ile yine bir maṭla‘ ibtidā
Ey şāh-ı Ebṭaḥī-laḳab u yār-ı dil-rübā
Bādā be-her demī be-to ṣad mübtelā fedā
Müştāḳ-ı āftāb-ı cemālīm ez-kerem
Be’nmā zi-ṭarf-ı burḳa‘at ey māh-rū be-mā
Āḫir bu ḥasret ile k’ölem vaṣla irmeden
Pejmürde-şekl bite mezārumda her giyā
Her ḳanda dökdiyise ‘araḳ lāle-ruḫlaruñ
Ḳanlar bıraḳdı anda gül-i sürḫ cā-be-cā
Bir kez ṭolanma kūyuñı biñ ṭavf-ı Ka‘beden
‘Uşşāḳa Merve ḥaḳḳı içün yegdür ol ṣafā
Zülf-i siyāhuñ ile gören ḫaddüñi didi
Rūşen yüzüñde ma‘nī-i ve’l-leyli ve’ḍ-ḍuḥā
Ḫāk eylese beni ġam-ı ‘ışḳuñ ‘aceb mi kim
Gözümde yaş göñülde od u başdadur hevā
Her derd ü ġam ki senden irer ḫaste göñlüme
Dil ḳarşu çıḳuban sürinü dir ki merḥabā
Māh-ı tamāma ġamzelerüñ n’itdügin görüp
Vehm ile ḳaçdı yire girdi mihr-i ḫod-nümā
Āl-i ‘abānuñ izi tozı ḫāk-i pāyiyem
Bī-gāne nīstem be-şomār z’āşnā merā
Sen āftāb-ı ‘ālemi añduḳça dir Münīr
Ṣallū ‘aleyh mā ṭale‘a’l-bedru fī’d-dücā
Vaḥdet ki kes̱ret içre nihān eylemişd’özin
Oldı libās-ı Aḥmed ile yine ḫod-nümā
Maḥbūb-ı ḥażret olmaġın ol ḫᵛāce-i dü kevn
Ṭāvūs-ı ḳuds oldı aña hüdhüd-i Sebā
Mühr-i nübüvvet oldı mübārek vücūdıçün
Ṭaş baṣsa baġrına n’ola ḫātem gibi dilā
Biryān-ı berreyi n’ola nuṭḳa getürdise
Tesbīḥ oḳur mübārek elinde anuñ ‘aṣā
Evvel ḳademde seyrüñe ey şāh-bāz-ı ḳuds
Bir pāye oldı nüh felek ü farḳ-ı müntehā
Cārūb ider işigüñe Cibrīl şeh-perin
Rıḍvān sarāy-dārlıġuñ ideli edā
‘Aczümden özge medḥüne lāyıḳ ne söz diyem
Sulṭān-ı bī-zevāl ider iken saña s̱enā
Ḫalvet-serāy-ı dīde-i dil ṭoldı nūr ile
Na‘t-ı şerīfüñ olalı vird-i zebān baña
Bu rū-siyāh u ‘āṣī güneh-kār-ı dil-figār
Şol dem kim ire ḳapuña biñ derde mübtelā
Deryā-yı şefḳatüñi getür cūşa raḥm idüp
Bī-gāne ḳılma ḳaṭreñi luṭfuñdan it ‘aṭā
Müştāḳ-ı raḥmetem dün ü gün kesmezem ümīd
Her çend pür günāham u pür-cürm ü pür-ḫaṭā
Ber-zīr-i sāye-i ‘alem-i sebz-i ḫod be-ḫᵛān
Ān dem ki mī-keşem zi-tef-i āftāb eẕā
Dünyā ḫarāb ise n’ola ḫoş çār rükni var
Ya‘nī ki çār yār-ı şeh-i ‘ālem-i beḳā
Oldı senüñle perde-nişīn yār-ı ġār olup
Cān u cihānı yoluña Ṣıddīḳ idüp fedā
Dārü’s-selāmuñ evvel uran ḥalḳasına el
Fārūḳ-ı a‘ẓam ol kim odur ḳuṭb-ı evliyā
Os̱mān ki bī-ḥisāb irer ol bāġ-ı cennete
Ādāb u şermini görüp ider melek ḥayā
Şīr-i Ḫudā o şāh-ı velāyet ‘Alī k’odur
Çābük-süvār-ı ‘arṣa-i meydān-ı lā-fetā
Ol iki pāk-gevher ü ma‘ṣūm-ı pür-hüner
Ol iki şāḫ-ı gül-bün-i gül-zār-ı Murtażā
Ol iki çeşm-i cān u ciger-kūşe-i Betūl
Ol iki sidre-menzil ü şeh-bāz-ı müntehā
Biri Ḥasan ki iki cihān kim ṭufeylidür
Biri Ḥüseyn-i maẓhar-ı esrār-ı kibriyā
Evlād ü āl ü ümmet ü aṣḥābuñ u saña
Her dem dürūd-ı Ḥaḳḳ ile biñ raḥmet-i Ḫudā
Yā Rab be-ḥaḳḳ-ı ẕāt-ı to vü ḥaḳḳ-ı Aḥmedet
Yā Rab be-ḥaḳḳ-ı ḥażret-i maḫṣūṣ-ı hel etā
Yā Rab be-ḥaḳḳ-ı ḥüsn-i cemāl-i ḥabīb-i to
Yā Rab be-ḥaḳḳ-ı ḫūn-ı şehīdān-ı Kerbelā
Şol dem ki yüz ḳarasını nā-çār ‘arż idem
Ḳıl şefḳati Resūli baña yār u ilticā
Ol luṭf-ı bī-bahādan irer bir bahāne kim
Sen şāh-ı bī-tekellüf ü biz müflisüz gedā

In English

1. O you in whom all virtues are gathered, O you in whom guidance appears; the best of all beings, in virtue and in loftiness, is your person. (The couplet is in Arabic.)

2. When the host of the messengers gathered at the station of nearness to God, your person was the leader of the caravan of the prophets. (Persian.)

3. When the candle of your beauty lit up an assembly, the spirits of the pure became moths circling around it. (Persian.)

4. He is the one seated at the station of the throne of "lî ma‘allâh"; that is why he leans on the dais of the hall of chosenness. (Persian. It alludes to the saying that begins "lî ma‘allâh" (I have a time with God when...); Ersoy also glosses the saying in this way.)

5. He is the one who sways like the Tuba tree in the garden of "festekım" (be upright), the bouquet of roses of the garden of Yâsîn and Tâhâ. (Persian. "Festekım" is the Qur'anic command "be upright"; Yâsîn and Tâhâ are names of suras.)

6. The origin of kâf and nûn, that is of creation, is the dot of the "jim" of beauty; for the "mim" of the name Mustafa became the circle that encompasses both worlds. (The couplet is built on the shapes of letters: the word "cemāl" (beauty) begins with the letter jim, the name "Muṣṭafā" with mim; the round shape of the mim is likened to a circle encompassing both worlds.)

7. In the garden of messengership and the sky of prophethood he is like the rose in the garden and the sun in the sky. (The first line is Turkish, the second Arabic. Garden is paired with rose, and sky with sun, in order.)

8. O beloved of God, the prayer written on these seven spheres is in the name of your noble person. ("Heft heykel", in its dictionary sense, means "seven bodies", that is the seven planets or the seven heavens; the same name is also known as the title of a collection of prayers.)

9. The soul-increasing, spirit-nourishing breaths of the morning breeze are not even a single whiff of the fragrance that comes from the breeze of your character.

10. Your miracle-working hand split the loaf of the moon in two, so that every poor man might take a share of that ready meal. (It alludes to the miracle of the splitting of the moon. There is a pun between "bī-nevā" (poor) and "nevā" (share, portion).)

11. Mercy always used to come down from the sky to the earth; O king, in your age it rose from the earth to the heavens.

12. What wonder if the whole universe turns its face to your threshold, since your door is the refuge of the seventy-two nations? ("The seventy-two nations" is an idiom for all communities of faith.)

13. On the night of the Isra, for the delight of your moonlike beauty, God granted you the treasure of the attributes and of the essence. ("Dün", in its dictionary sense, means "night"; the Isra is the Prophet's Night Journey.)

14. In your age, on every side, the herald of the pain of love calls people at every breath to the table of union with God.

15. The rule of your law took hold of the horizons from end to end and planted its banner on the high rampart of the battlements of the Throne.

16. Flowing through the desert of "lev denevtü" (had I drawn near), the station of "denâ" (he drew near) became the pleasure ground of a king like you. (It alludes to the Ascension. "Denâ" is the word in the sura al-Najm describing the Prophet's drawing near to God.)

17. Out of longing for your cheek like the full moon, the sura "ve'n-necmi izâ hevâ" (by the star when it sets) was written in full on the Throne. (It is the first verse of the sura al-Najm. There is a pun between "māh-ı tamām" (full moon) and "tamām" (in full).)

18. No wonder if your being is the centre of both worlds, since your person became the point of the compass of chosenness. (The VY and Ü manuscripts read "‘aceb mi kim" instead of "‘aceb degül".)

19. Is it any wonder if these seven gold-embroidered cushions, that is the seven heavens, become a support for the majestic person of your loftiness? (VT reads "heft çarḫ bāliş" instead of "heft bāliş".)

20. Your works reached the whole universe, because the sun of your beauty became the equator. (The line of the equator, where the sun stands directly overhead, is likened to the light of the Prophet's beauty reaching everywhere equally.)

21. On the pulpit of the sky with its seven steps, Gabriel delivers in your lofty name a sermon fine and reaching the furthest point. ("Müntehā", in its dictionary sense, means "the furthest point" and also recalls the Sidrat al-Muntaha.)

22. Since Adam became a gleaner on the threshing floor of your generosity, what matter if Solomon is a beggar at your high door?

23. The master of the staff, that is Moses, taking light from your light, showed the world the "white hand", his shining hand, like the sun.

24. The planets of the sky, circling the world with the winds, at last arrived to kiss your foot.

25. If the world-revealing cup has this property, it seems that cup has become acquainted with the wine of your love. (The world-revealing cup is the cup of the legendary king Jamshid, in which he saw the whole world.)

26. The good fortune of the dust of your footsteps reached the head of the sky; the sky makes that dust now a crown, now collyrium for the eyes. (VT reads "ider ..r anı" instead of "ider anı", and Ü "gāhı" instead of "gāh".)

27. Calling the base world carrion, you cast no shadow upon it; O my Khosrow, O my king, how could light have a shadow? (The Prophet's shadow not falling on the ground is interpreted as his disregard for the world.)

28. One who says of the dust of your road "it is worth soul and world" does not know what a jewel it is. (That dust is worth more than soul and world.)

29. The moment your stature reached the mosque of the spheres, the people of the seven cloisters all followed you in prayer. (The dwellers of the seven heavens are shown like a congregation following the imam. "İḳtidā", in its dictionary sense, means following the imam in prayer.)

30. God (was ready) to turn Mount Abu Qubays into silver and gold for you, yet you had no inclination or desire for it at all; what richness of heart. (Abu Qubays is the name of the mountain in Mecca.)

31. O peerless pearl, in place of those two pearl teeth of yours God granted you the sins of your community. ("Dürr-i yetīm", in its dictionary sense, means "a single, matchless pearl"; the word "yetīm" (orphan) also recalls the Prophet's having grown up an orphan. It must allude to the breaking of his tooth at Uhud.)

32. The spring cloud, learning generosity from the sea of your palm, quenched the whole world with the water of mercy.

33. If the sun gives light to the world with the light of your beauty, what matter if it thus becomes the beloved of the world? ("Mihr" means both sun and love.)

34. Those who follow in your footsteps pass beyond the realm of placelessness; thanks be to God that a leader like you has been granted to us. (Persian.)

35. Filled with peace by your noble na‘t, the heart in this way began once more an opening couplet.

36. O king whose surname is Ebtahî, O heart-ravishing beloved, may a hundred captives of love be sacrificed for you at every moment. (Persian. "Ebṭaḥī", in its dictionary sense, refers to the valley of Batha in Mecca; Ersoy renders this surname as "of Medina".)

37. We long for your sunlike beauty; O moon-faced one, of your grace show us your face from the edge of your veil. (Persian.)

38. If in the end I die of this longing without attaining union, every blade of grass on my grave will grow with a dishevelled look.

39. Wherever the sweat of your tulip cheeks was shed, there the red rose left blood here and there. (There is a pun between "ḳanda" (where) and "ḳanlar" (blood). The couplet must rest on the belief that the rose grew from the Prophet's sweat.)

40. To walk once around your quarter is better than a thousand circlings of the Kaaba; by Marwa, that delight is better for lovers. ("Ṣafā" is both delight of heart and the hill of Safa beside the Kaaba; its being named with Marwa strengthens the double entendre.)

41. One who saw your cheek with your black locks said, "In your bright face there is the meaning of 've'l-leyli ve'd-duhâ' (by the night and by the morning light)". (It alludes to the oaths at the beginning of the sura al-Duha: the black locks correspond to night, the bright cheek to morning light.)

42. What wonder if the grief of your love turns me to dust, since there is water in my eye, fire in my heart and air in my head? ("Yaş" means water (tears), "od" fire and "hevā" air; with earth the four elements are complete. "Hevā", in its dictionary sense, means both "air" and "desire, passion".)

43. Every pain and sorrow that reaches my sick heart from you, the heart runs out to meet and says "welcome". (VY reads "ser-i nev" instead of "sürinü".)

44. Seeing what your glances did to the full moon, the self-admiring sun fled in fear and went into the ground. (The setting of the sun is interpreted as fear of the beloved's glance.)

45. I am the dust of the dust of the feet of the Âl-i Abâ; I am no stranger, count me among those you know. (The second line is Persian; Ersoy gives the meaning of that line only. The Âl-i Abâ are the Prophet's household.)

46. Münîr says: as long as you mention the sun of the world, "Call down blessings on him as long as the full moon rises in the darkness". (The second line is Arabic.)

47. The oneness that had hidden itself within multiplicity showed itself once again by putting on the garment of Ahmad.

48. Because that master of the two worlds is the beloved of God, the peacock of the holy realm became his hoopoe of Sheba. (The hoopoe of Sheba is the bird that brought news to Solomon. The peacock of the holy realm must here mean Gabriel, who brought tidings to the Prophet.)

49. For his blessed being there came the seal of prophethood; O heart, what wonder if a stone too presses on its breast a seal like a signet ring? ("To press a stone on one's breast", in its dictionary sense, means to endure pain; together with the image of the signet stone and the seal it carries two meanings.)

50. What wonder if he made the roasted lamb speak; in his blessed hand even the staff recites the praise of God. ("Berre", in its dictionary sense in Persian, means "lamb". It must allude to the miracles of the roasted meat offered to the Prophet speaking and of the things in his hand glorifying God.)

51. O falcon of the holy realm, at the first step of your journey the nine spheres and the summit of the Muntaha became a single stair.

52. Ever since Rizwan took on the office of doorkeeper of your palace, Gabriel sweeps your threshold with his royal wing. (Rizwan is the angel who keeps paradise.)

53. When the Sultan without decline praises you, what word worthy of your praise can I speak, other than my helplessness?

54. Ever since your noble na‘t became the litany of my tongue, the secluded palace of the heart's eye has been filled with light.

55. At that moment when this black-faced, rebellious, sinful and heart-wounded servant, afflicted with a thousand pains, comes to your door,

56. Have mercy and make the sea of your compassion surge; do not make your drop a stranger, grant it of your grace. (The poet counts himself a drop of the Prophet's sea of compassion.)

57. Night and day I long for your mercy and do not give up hope, however full I may be of sin, offence and error.

58. At that moment when I suffer from the heat of the sun, call me into the shade of your green banner. (Persian. It must allude to the scorching sun of the Day of Judgement.)

59. What wonder if the world is in ruins; it has four fine pillars, namely the four friends of the king of the eternal realm.

60. As the companion of the cave he sat with you behind the veil; the Sıddîk sacrificed soul and world on your path. (It alludes to Abu Bakr's hiding with the Prophet in the cave during the Hijra.)

61. The first to lay his hand on the door-ring of the Abode of Peace, that is paradise, is the great Fârûk, Umar, the pole of the saints.

62. Uthman, who will reach the garden of paradise without reckoning, whose modesty and bashfulness make the angels feel shame.

63. The lion of God, the king of sainthood, Ali, who is the nimble horseman of the field of "lâ fetâ". (It alludes to the saying "Lâ fetâ illâ Alî" (there is no hero but Ali).)

64. Those two of pure substance, sinless and gifted, the two branches of the rose bush in the rose garden of Murtaza, that is Ali.

65. Those two eyes of the soul, the darlings of Batul, that is Fatima; those two whose dwelling is the Sidra, the falcons of the Muntaha.

66. One is Hasan, at whose table the two worlds are guests; one is Husayn, in whom the secrets of God's grandeur appear. ("Ṭufeyl", in its dictionary sense, means "a guest who comes to the table uninvited"; the existence of the two worlds is shown as depending on him.)

67. Upon your children, your family, your community, your companions and upon you be at every moment God's blessings and a thousand mercies of God.

68. O Lord, for the sake of Your own essence and for the sake of Your Ahmad; O Lord, for the sake of the one to whom "hel etâ" was made particular. (Persian. "Hel etâ" are the first words of the sura al-Insan. VY and Ü have a different reading in place of "ḥaḳḳ-ı ẕāt-ı to".)

69. O Lord, for the sake of the beauty of Your beloved's face; O Lord, for the sake of the blood of the martyrs of Karbala. (Persian.)

70. At that moment when I helplessly present my black face, make the intercession of the Messenger my friend and refuge.

71. From that priceless grace a pretext arrives, namely this: You are a king without ceremony, and we are penniless beggars. (There is a play of sound between "bī-bahā" (priceless) and "bahāne" (pretext).)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This poem is a na‘t kaside (qasida) in praise of the Prophet; its heading in the edition is "Der-medḥ-i Ḥażret-i Nebī ‘aleyhi's-selām". According to Ersoy, two of the twenty-nine kasides in the divan are na‘ts. With seventy-one couplets it is one of the longest poems in the divan, third after Kaside 18 and Mesnevi 2. Its metre is "mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün" and its rhyme the sound "-ā": hüdā, enbiyā, aṣfiyā, Muṣṭafā, semā, du‘ā, ṣabā, nevā. There is no redif (refrain word). The kaside is found in all three manuscripts, VT, VY and Ü. According to the manuscript note, the heading in VT is "Der-medḥ-i Resūl" and in Ü simply "Ḳaṣīde". In VT, from the nineteenth couplet on, the poem continues on another leaf because of a binding error.

The poem mixes Turkish and Persian; there are Arabic lines as well. Ersoy gives the meaning of fourteen couplets in his apparatus: the first five couplets, the seventh, the thirty-fourth, the second opening couplet and the one after it, the Persian and Arabic lines of the forty-fifth and forty-sixth, the fifty-eighth and two couplets of the closing "Yā Rab" series. The rest are Turkish. In describing Münîrî's rhymes in his introduction, Ersoy finds "the second kaside" especially rich in tunç kafiye (rhyme in which one rhyme word is contained in the other); but since the example couplets he gives there come from the second mesnevi, it is not certain which poem the remark means. In this kaside "bī-nevā / nevā" in the tenth couplet is such a rhyme.

The kaside falls clearly into parts. The first thirty-four couplets are the section of praise describing the Prophet's place in creation, his Ascension and his miracles. In the thirty-fifth couplet the poet says that his heart, at peace through the na‘t, has begun "once more an opening couplet"; the thirty-sixth couplet is a second opening with both lines rhyming. This second part comes close to the language of the ghazal (gazel) and ends in the forty-sixth couplet with the pen name (mahlas) "Münīr". After the forty-seventh couplet the praise begins again; between the fifty-fifth and fifty-eighth couplets the poet asks for intercession, between the fifty-ninth and sixty-sixth the four caliphs and Hasan and Husayn are named, the sixty-seventh couplet is a blessing on the Prophet, and the last four couplets close with prayer. The pen name standing in the middle of the kaside rather than at its end is a consequence of this arrangement.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplets place the Prophet at the centre of creation. In the sixth couplet "kâf and nûn", the command of creation, are tied to the dot of the letter jim in the word "cemāl"; the letter mim of the name "Muṣṭafā", by its round shape, becomes a circle encompassing both worlds. This play on letters continues in the compass-and-point image of the eighteenth couplet: the Prophet's person is the fixed point of the compass that draws the circle of being. In the seventh couplet garden and rose, sky and sun are paired in order; this ordered pairing is the figure of leff ü neşr (enumeration and distribution).

The greater part of the kaside is woven of allusions (telmih) to the Prophet's miracles and to the Ascension. In the tenth couplet the splitting of the moon is told as the moon being likened to a loaf and shared out among the poor; the pun between "bī-nevā" and "nevā" supports this image. The thirteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, twenty-first and twenty-ninth couplets turn on the Ascension and the Night Journey; the phrases "denâ" and "ve'n-necmi iẕā hevā", taken from the sura al-Najm, are set into the lines by way of quotation (iktibas). In the twenty-second and twenty-third couplets Adam, Solomon and Moses are shown as those who take a share of the Prophet's light or beg at his door; thus the other prophets are named in order to express his superiority. In the twenty-seventh couplet the Prophet's shadow not falling on the ground is interpreted as his disregard for the world; this is a clear example of the figure of fanciful aetiology (hüsn-i ta‘lil).

After the second opening couplet the language changes. The Prophet is now addressed like a "moon-faced" and "heart-ravishing" beloved; the poet wishes to see his face from the edge of the veil, and says that if he dies without attaining union the grass on his grave will grow dishevelled. In the fortieth couplet the word "ṣafā" describes both delight of heart and the hill of Safa beside the Kaaba, and its being named with Marwa strengthens the double entendre (tevriye). In the forty-first couplet the black locks and the bright cheek are tied to the oaths by night and morning light in the sura al-Duha. In the forty-second couplet the tears in the eye, the fire in the heart, the air in the head and the poet's turning to dust bring the four elements together; Münîrî uses the same image in the tevhid mesnevi that is the first poem of the divan.

In the section on the caliphs and the Prophet's household each person is named with a well-known attribute. Abu Bakr is presented as "the companion of the cave" and "Sıddîk", Umar as "Fârûk-ı a‘ẓam", Uthman by his modesty and bashfulness, and Ali as "Şīr-i Ḫudā" (lion of God) and through the saying "lā fetā". Hasan and Husayn are praised with images of rose and soul, as the two branches in Ali's rose garden and the darlings of Fatima. In the last couplet the play of sound between "bī-bahā" and "bahāne" recalls the pairing "bahā / bahāne" in the first poem of the divan.

Historical Context

According to Ersoy, the influence of Ahmed Paşa, a poet of the reign of Mehmed II, stands out in Münîrî's Turkish kasides. Ersoy counts the na‘t in the metre "mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün" with the rhyme "-ā" among the kasides written as nazire (response poem) to Ahmed Paşa, and refers to the edition of Ahmed Paşa's Divan prepared by Ali Nihat Tarlan. There is no information on at whose request or when it was written.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Official sources

  • Ahmed Paşa, Divan, ed. Ali Nihat Tarlan, İstanbul: MEB Yay., 2005 (cited after Ersoy).

Other sources

  • Ersen Ersoy, same work, introduction, p. 5 (subjects of the kasides and nazires to Ahmed Paşa), p. 11 (tunç kafiye).

Online sources