Münîrî, Tuyugh 18: An Amen from the Sidra

Tuyugh 18 — Şems-i ḫāver midür ol Zühre-cebīn

Amasya05 Editorial Board • Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk • 01 October 2026 • Updated: 07 October 2026 • 3 min reading

In Münîrî's tuyugh rhyming on "-īn", the beloved's brow shines like Venus, and Gabriel calls amen from the Sidra to every prayer the lover makes for her stature.

Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün

Şems-i ḫāver midür ol Zühre-cebīn
K’itdi rūşen ‘ālemi ey ḥūr-ı ‘īn
Her du‘āma ḳāmetüñçün sidreden
Çaġırur āmīn Cibrīl-i emīn

In English

1. Is that Venus-browed one the eastern sun, who has lit up the world, O wide-eyed houri? To every prayer I make for your stature, Gabriel the Trustworthy calls out "amen" from the Sidra (the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a four-line tuyugh; in the edition it is the eighteenth of the tuyughs (tyğ 18). The metre is "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". The rhyme is the sound "-īn": cebīn, ‘īn, emīn; the third line ("sidreden") is unrhymed. The quatrain has no redif. It is found in all three manuscripts (VT 178b, VY 150b, Ü 63a). It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first two lines are built from heavenly bodies. The Kubbealtı explains "hâver" as the direction where the sun rises, the east, and "zühre" as the second planet nearest the sun, Venus, recording that it is very bright. The beloved's brow is bright as Venus and lights the world like the eastern sun; the poet says this in the form of a question, expressing his wonder. The phrase "ḥūr-ı ‘īn" names the wide-eyed houris of paradise; the Kubbealtı gives this phrase under the entry "hur".

The art of the last two lines lies in the word "ḳāmet". The Kubbealtı gives this word on the one hand the sense stature, figure, and on the other the sense of the kamet, the call recited before the obligatory prayers performed in congregation to announce that the prayer is beginning. Here the word describes the beloved's stature, but among the words "du‘ā" (prayer), "āmīn", "Cibrīl" (Gabriel) and "sidre" it also calls up its sense from worship; this is a double entendre (tevriye). The Kubbealtı explains "sidre" as the station in the seventh heaven to which the Prophet Muhammad ascended with Gabriel on the night of the Ascension (Miraç), and also records that in literature it stands for the beloved's tall, hard-to-reach stature. Gabriel's saying amen to the lover's prayer from the loftiest station binds the loftiness of the beloved's stature to the loftiness of the Sidra.