Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün fe‘ūlün

Stanza 1

Zihī cān-ı müzekkī vü mu‘allā
Kim olmışdur ḥabīb-i Ḥaḳ Te‘ālā
Anuñ şānında lev-lāk oldı menzil
Anuñçün ẓāhir oldı cümle eşyā
Cemāli pertevinden rūşen oldı
Çerāġ-ı nūr-ı çeşm-i dīn ü dünyā
‘Aceb mi oldısa bir mu‘cizeyle
Felekde iki şaḳ māh-ı şeb-ārā
Dilā ser-tā-ḳadem nūr olduġıçün
Ḳılurdı pīş ü pesden ḫoş temāşā
Ser-ā-ser ‘andelīb-i gül-şen-i ḳuds
Bu ṣavt ile olurlar cümle gūyā
Şehen-şāh-ı rusül sulṭān-ı kevneyn
Emīr-i taḥt-gāh-ı ḳābe ḳavseyn

Stanza 2

Dilā şol k’ins ü cāna pīşvādur
Sipeh-sālār-ı ḫayl-i enbiyādur
Emīn-i genc-i esrār-ı ḥaḳīḳat
Emīr-i ṣuffa-i ṣaff-ı ṣafādur
Ser-ā-ser cüz’ ü küll-i kāyināta
Delīl ü reh-ber ü hem reh-nümādur
Bir aylıḳ yoldan a‘dā leşkerini
Ḳılupdur münhezim ḫoş kibriyādur
İzi tozı k’olupdur tāc-ı eflāk
Gözine ḥūr-ı ‘īnüñ tūtyādur
Sen ol şehsin ki ‘ālī der-gehüñde
Selāṭīn-i cihān cümle gedādur
Semend-i seyrüñe seyrān-geh evvel
Feżā-yı ‘arş u ḳuds ü müntehādur
Münīrī gül-sitān-ı medḥüñ içre
Bu sec‘ ile hezār-ı ḥoş-nevādur
Şehen-şāh-ı rusül sulṭān-ı kevneyn
Emīr-i taḥt-gāh-ı ḳābe ḳavseyn

Stanza 3

Elā ey ẕāt-ı pāk-i nūr-ı a‘ẓam
Mükerremdür senüñle ibn-i ādem
Cemālüñ şevḳı birle yetişüpdür
Felekler seyrine ‘Īsī’bnü Meryem
Olur mıydı cihānda ṣubḥ-ı ṣādıḳ
Yüzüñ mihrinden urmasaydı ger dem
‘Aceb cān-ı cihānsın şöyle k’ey dost
Vücūduñdur murād-ı her dü ‘ālem
Cemī‘-i ḫalḳ-ı mevcūdāt içinde
Vücūd-ı pāküñi Ḥaḳ itdi a‘lem
Zevāyā-yı feleklerde ser-ā-ser
Budur kerrūbīyānuñ sözi her dem
Şehen-şāh-ı rusül sulṭān-ı kevneyn
Emīr-i taḥt-gāh-ı ḳābe ḳavseyn

Stanza 4

Cihān yüzüñ şu‘ā‘ından münevver
Ṣabā zülfüñ ḳoḳusından mu‘aṭṭar
Ne deñlü müntehā oldıysa ṭūbā
Degüldür serv-ḳaddüñ birle hem-ser
Leb-i la‘lüñ nebātından ‘aceb mi
Eriyüp ġarḳ-ı āb oldıysa şekker
Yetişdi ḫāk-i pāyüñ devletinde
Çerāġ-ı çeşm-i cān-ı ‘āleme fer
Ḳılam yazmazdan öñdin levḥa bir ḥarf
Münīr oḳurdı yine bunı ezber
Şehen-şāh-ı rusül sulṭān-ı kevneyn
Emīr-i taḥt-gāh-ı ḳābe ḳavseyn

Stanza 5

Elā ey ḫᵛāce-i dünyā vü hem dīn
Nebīler içre sensin ehl-i temkīn
Düşinde görmedi bir kimse anı
Şu rütbe k’itdi Ḥaḳ sen şāha ta‘yīn
Olupdur şer‘-i pāküñ birle mensūḫ
Ne kim var ise ġayr erkān u āyīn
Urur dem nükhet-i gīsūlaruñdan
Olursa ṭañ mı bād-ı ṣubḥ müşgīn
Yüzüñ mihrile ser-gerdān olupdur
Felekler birle şems ü māh u pervīn
Gözüm nūrı dü ‘ālem pertevisin
Unutma ben ġarībi ḳılma miskīn
Göñül nā-geh k’ola na‘tuñda ġāfil
Yine hātifden olur şöyle telḳīn
Şehen-şāh-ı rusül sulṭān-ı kevneyn
Emīr-i taḥt-gāh-ı ḳābe ḳavseyn

Stanza 6

Elā ey āftāb-ı ‘ālem-i cān
Yüzüñ mihriyle olur çarḫ gerdān
Ḳalurven cürm ü ‘ıṣyān içre güm-reh
Eger luṭfuñdan olmazsa nigeh-bān
Şular k’oldı hevā-dāruñ cihānda
Añulmaḳ ḥāşe lillāh ehl-i ‘ıṣyān
Münīri şefḳatüñden ḳılma maḥrūm
Cemī‘-i cürmine oldı peşīmān
Dürūd ile dem-ā-dem añduġınca
Cihānda çār yārı ehl-i īmān
Saña vü ālüñe eṣḥābuña hem
Taḥiyyāt u selām olsun hezārān
Bu güftār ile ‘ālī himmetüñde
Olupdur murġ-ı dil şöyle ḫoş-elḥān
Şehen-şāh-ı rusül sulṭān-ı kevneyn
Emīr-i taḥt-gāh-ı ḳābe ḳavseyn

In English

1. How exalted, how pure and cleansed is that soul who has become the beloved of God Most High.

2. The saying "lev-lâk" found its place in his honour; all things came into being for his sake. ("Lev-lâk" points to the saying "Were it not for you, I would not have created the worlds".)

3. The lamp that is the light of the eyes of faith and of the world was lit by the radiance of his beauty.

4. If the moon that adorns the night split in two in the sky through a miracle, is that any wonder?

5. O heart, because he was light from head to foot, he saw clearly what lay before him and what lay behind.

6. All the nightingales in the rose garden of the holy realm, from end to end, come to sing with this voice:

7. Emperor of the messengers, sultan of the two worlds, prince of the throne-seat of "kâbe kavseyn". ("Kâbe kavseyn", in its dictionary sense, is "two bows' length"; it describes the station at which the Prophet drew near to God. "Kevneyn", in its dictionary sense, is "the two realms of being", this world and the next.)

8. O heart, he who is the leader of humans and jinn is the commander-in-chief of the host of prophets.

9. He is the trusted keeper of the treasury of the secrets of truth, the lord of the bench of the rank of purity. ("Ṣuffa", in its dictionary sense, is a bench or raised platform; "ṣuffa", "ṣaff" and "ṣafā" echo one another in sound.)

10. He is, from end to end, the proof, guide and pathfinder for the parts and the whole of the universe.

11. From a month's journey away he has routed the armies of the enemy; what a fine majesty this is.

12. The dust of his footprints has become a crown on the head of the heavens; it is collyrium for the eyes of the wide-eyed houris.

13. You are that king at whose lofty court all the sultans of the world are beggars.

14. The first promenade for the riding of your steed is the expanse of the Throne, of the holy realm and of the farthest station (müntehâ). (The couplet describes the Mi‘rac, the Prophet's ascension. "Ḳuds", in its dictionary sense, is holiness and the holy realm; the name of Jerusalem also comes from this word, so the couplet can be read in two ways: "the holy realm" or "Jerusalem".)

15. Münîrî, in the rose garden of your praise, is a sweet-voiced nightingale with this rhymed speech. ("Hezār", in its dictionary sense, means both "nightingale" and "a thousand".)

16. Emperor of the messengers, sultan of the two worlds, prince of the throne-seat of "kâbe kavseyn".

17. O pure essence of the greatest light, the son of Adam has been honoured through you.

18. Jesus son of Mary, out of longing for your beauty, reached the circuit of the heavens.

19. Had it not drawn breath from the sun of your face, would the true dawn (ṣubḥ-ı ṣādıḳ) ever break in the world? ("Ṣubḥ-ı ṣādıḳ", in its dictionary sense, is the dawn when the horizon truly brightens; "mihr" means both "sun" and "love".)

20. O friend, what a marvel you are, the soul of the world, such that your being is the purpose of both worlds.

21. Among all created beings, God made your pure being the most knowing. ("A‘lem", in its dictionary sense, is "the one who knows most".)

22. In every corner of the heavens, from end to end, this is the word the cherubim speak at every moment:

23. Emperor of the messengers, sultan of the two worlds, prince of the throne-seat of "kâbe kavseyn".

24. The world is lit by the rays of your face; the morning breeze is perfumed by the scent of your locks.

25. However high the Tûbâ tree has risen, it is not equal, head to head, with your cypress stature. ("Hem-ser", in its dictionary sense, gives both "equal, peer" and "head at the same height".)

26. If, before the sugar candy of your ruby lip, sugar melted and sank into water, is that any wonder?

27. Through the fortune of the dust of your feet, brightness has reached the lamp of the eye of the world's soul.

28. Even before the Pen wrote a single letter on the Tablet, Münîr was already reciting this by heart. (The Pen and the Tablet are the divine Pen with which destiny is written and the Preserved Tablet; the poet says he has spoken these words since pre-eternity.)

29. Emperor of the messengers, sultan of the two worlds, prince of the throne-seat of "kâbe kavseyn".

30. O master of this world and of the faith, among the prophets it is you who possess gravity and composure.

31. No one ever saw even in a dream the rank that God assigned to you, O king.

32. By your pure law, whatever other forms of worship and religious rules there were have been abrogated.

33. The morning breeze boasts of the scent of your tresses; if it becomes musk-scented, is that any wonder?

34. The heavens, and with them the sun, the moon and the Pleiades, turn round and round, their heads spinning, with the sun (or the love) of your face. ("Pervīn", in its dictionary sense, is the Pleiades star cluster.)

35. Light of my eyes, you are the radiance of both worlds; do not forget me, a stranger, do not leave me wretched.

36. Should the heart suddenly grow heedless of your praise, the voice from the unseen (hâtif) prompts it again thus:

37. Emperor of the messengers, sultan of the two worlds, prince of the throne-seat of "kâbe kavseyn".

38. O sun of the world of souls, the wheel of heaven turns by the sun of your face.

39. If your grace does not stand guard, I remain lost in sin and rebellion.

40. That those who love you in this world should be named among the rebellious, God forbid, cannot be.

41. Do not deprive Münîrî of your compassion; he has repented of all his sins.

42. As long as the people of faith in this world remember the four friends (the four caliphs) with blessings without pause,

43. may thousands of greetings and salutations be upon you, your family and your companions. (Couplets 42 and 43 form a single sentence.)

44. Before your lofty resolve, the bird of the heart has, with these words, become sweet of song thus:

45. Emperor of the messengers, sultan of the two worlds, prince of the throne-seat of "kâbe kavseyn".

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a terci-bend (strophic poem with refrain couplet). The terci-bend is a verse form whose stanzas, written in the same metre and each rhymed internally like a ghazal, are linked by a "link couplet" (vasıta beyti) repeated unchanged at the end of each stanza. Numbered Terci-bend 1 in the edition, this poem consists of six stanzas; the stanzas have 7, 9, 7, 6, 8 and 8 couplets respectively, 45 couplets in all. The metre is the "mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün fe‘ûlün" pattern of the hezec measure. In one place in his introduction Ersoy writes that this terci-bend is made up of five stanzas, while elsewhere he describes Münîrî's terci-bends as consisting "of six and five stanzas"; the text in the edition has six stanzas.

Each stanza uses its own rhyme: "-ā" in the first (mu‘allā, Te‘ālā, eşyā), the rhyme "-ā" with the redif (refrain word) "-dur" in the second (pīşvādur, enbiyādur, gedādur), "-em" in the third (a‘ẓam, ādem, Meryem), "-er" in the fourth (münevver, mu‘aṭṭar, şekker), "-īn" in the fifth (dīn, temkīn, pervīn) and "-ān" in the sixth (cān, gerdān, peşīmān). Ersoy's observation that in Münîrî's terci-bends only one stanza each has a redif fits the second stanza of this poem. The link couplet "Şehen-şāh-ı rusül sulṭān-ı kevneyn / Emīr-i taḥt-gāh-ı ḳābe ḳavseyn" is repeated six times and rhymes within itself on "kevneyn / ḳavseyn". The poem is found only in the Vatican manuscript (VT 9a) and bears in the edition the heading "Ve lehū fī't-terci‘ der-medḥ-i Resūl ‘aleyhi's-selām", "Also by him, a terci-bend in praise of the Prophet". In the arrangement of the manuscripts the na‘ts come directly after the poems of divine unity and supplication; this terci-bend too is among the na‘ts at the opening of the divan. For whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Ersoy characterizes the poem as a na‘t: the Prophet is exalted, his miracles are mentioned, and his being the beloved of God is emphasized. The first stanza opens these three themes in turn. In the first couplet the Prophet is "Ḥabīb-i Ḥaḳ", the beloved of God; in the second, with the saying "lev-lâk", the universe is said to have been created for him; in the fourth the miracle of the splitting of the moon is mentioned. The words "he saw what lay before him and behind" in the fifth couplet are explained by his being made of light. The "routing of the enemy armies from a month's journey away" in the second stanza (11) and the phrase "before the Pen wrote on the Tablet" in the fourth (28) come from the same store of religious narrative. "Kâbe kavseyn" in the link couplet is the phrase "two bows' length" that describes nearness to God in the Mi‘rac; couplet 14 at the end of the second stanza also ties itself to the Mi‘rac by saying that the first promenade of his steed was the Throne and the "müntehâ".

The most striking feature of the poem's construction is that each stanza passes into the link couplet through a speaker. The couplet just before the link couplet announces who says the words about to be repeated: in the first stanza the nightingales of the holy garden sing "with this voice" (6); in the second Münîrî becomes a nightingale "with this rhymed speech" (15); in the third the cherubim say it at every moment in the corners of the heavens (22); in the fourth Münîr recited it by heart before the Pen wrote on the Tablet (28); in the fifth the voice from the unseen (hâtif) prompts it to the heart (36); in the sixth the bird of the heart sings sweetly with these words (44). Thus the same couplet is heard each time from another mouth: the birds, the poet, the angels, the voice from the unseen and the heart. The pen name (mahlas) is also bound to this pattern; it appears in three stanzas in the forms "Münīrī" (15), "Münīr" (28) and "Münīri" (41).

Münîrî is known as a poet who used every kind of cinas (paronomasia) with success; in this poem too the figures of speech rest on cinas and tenasüp (congruence of images). "Hezār" in couplet 15 means both nightingale and "a thousand", and together with "gül-sitān" (rose garden) it brings the sense of nightingale to the fore. "Mihr" in couplets 19 and 38 conveys sun and love together. In couplet 34 the heavens, the sun, the moon and the Pleiades are listed together to form a congruence of heavenly bodies; their turning is attributed to their having fallen in love with the Prophet's face until their heads spin, which counts as hüsn-i talil (poetic aetiology). In couplets 25-26 the cypress stature and the Tûbâ tree, the ruby lip and sugar candy, all taken from the language of the ghazal, are compared. The sixth stanza ends with a plea for intercession: in couplets 39-41 the poet confesses his sin, and in couplets 42-43 greetings are sent to the four caliphs and to the Prophet's family and companions.

Bibliography

Online sources