Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilün

Bilmez evṣâfıň seniň râhıňda ḳurbân olmayan
‘İzzetiň fehm eylemez ‘aşḳıňla nâlân olmayan

In English

1. One who has not been sacrificed on Your path does not know Your attributes; one who does not moan with Your love does not understand Your glory.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is recorded in the cönk as a ghazal (gazel). The ghazal is the aruz verse form whose opening couplet (matla) rhymes within itself and whose other couplets are tied to that rhyme; folk poets also used this form. Because Hakverdioğlu's article publishes only the first verse unit of each poem in the cönk, we know only the opening couplet of this poem. The refrain is "olmayan"; the rhyme is the "-ân" sound in "ḳurbân / nâlân". The identification of the metre is ours; as is usual in the aruz poems of folk poets, some syllables may not fit the pattern exactly. To whom and on what occasion the poem was composed is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The couplet ties the knowledge of God to love and self-sacrifice. "Evsâf", attributes, are the attributes of God; "izzet" is His glory and might. The poet says these cannot be understood by reason but only by "being sacrificed on His path" and "moaning with His love", that is, by passing beyond oneself and lamenting in love. This accords with the Sufi view that knowledge is gained through love and experience. The word "olmayan" (one who is not) in the refrain repeats a condition at the end of every couplet: one who has not entered the path of love cannot know the truth.

Historical Context

The poem is recorded under the pen name "Nazîf" in the Merzifon Cönkü introduced by Metin Hakverdioğlu in 2019. The cönk contains ten of Nazîf's poems, one in syllabic metre and nine in aruz; the aruz poems are all ghazals, and most carry religious and moral admonition. The article gives no information about the poet; the poet's identity and the century in which he lived have not been determined. Since the cönk is thought to have been compiled in Merzifon within the literary circle of Eyüb Sabrî, the poet may have been one read or living in that circle. For details, see the page on Nazîf. The poem is on page 72 of the cönk and page 550 of the article; its full text is in the cönk itself and has not been published to date.

Bibliography

Online sources