Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Çıkmadı sâhib-i da‘vâ ne ‘aceb
Açmadı bayrak-ı bâlâ ne ‘aceb
Çıkdı çün fırka-i Deccâl velî
Çıkmadı Mehdî Mesîhâ ne ‘aceb
Atdı âteşlere Nemrûd bizi
Gelmedi bir Halîl-âsâ ne ‘aceb
İrdi Fir‘avn bizim dâdımıza
İrmedi bir Yed-i beyzâ ne ‘aceb
Dîvler aldı bütün etrâfımızı
Kılmadı bir isr-i esmâ ne ‘aceb
Olmadı millet-i İslâma kömek
İrmedi bir meded âyâ ne ‘aceb
Olmadı dîn-i mübîn nakdi revâc
Kalmadı revnak-ı garrâ ne ‘aceb
Bulmadık bir zafer âyâ ne içün
İrmedi nusret-i Mevlâ ne ‘aceb
Ey Nigârî kadir-i mîrim içün
Tevbe kıl söyleme hâşâ ne ‘aceb

In English

1. The master of the cause has not come forth, how strange; he has not unfurled the lofty banner, how strange.

2. Though the party of the Antichrist (Deccâl) has come forth, neither the Mahdi nor the Messiah has come forth, how strange.

3. Nimrod cast us into the flames; no one like Abraham (Halîl) has come, how strange.

4. Pharaoh has seized upon our cause (has set himself up to judge us); no miracle like the shining hand of Moses (Yed-i beyzâ) has come to aid, how strange. (The first half of the line can be understood in two ways; see the commentary.)

5. Demons have surrounded us on every side; no supreme name (to bind them) has been invoked, how strange. (The phrase "isr-i esmâ" stands thus in the text; the reading is conjectural.)

6. No help has come to the community of Islam; O friend, no succour has reached us, how strange.

7. The coin of the manifest faith no longer passes current; that bright splendour is gone, how strange.

8. Why have we found no victory; the help of the Lord has not reached us, how strange.

9. O Nigârî, for the sake of your master's (your Lord's) worth, repent; do not say, "God forbid, how strange".

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

It is a ghazal of nine couplets. The redif (refrain word) is "ne ‘aceb" ("how strange"), and the rhyme is the sound "-â" in "da‘vâ, bâlâ, Mesîhâ, Halîl-âsâ, beyzâ, esmâ, âyâ, garrâ, Mevlâ, hâşâ". Both lines of the opening couplet end with the same rhyme and refrain; the pen name appears in the last couplet as "Ey Nigârî" (O Nigârî). Hüsameddin does not state the metre.

The text is taken in the form Hüsameddin gives in his Amasya Tarihi. The phrase "isr-i esmâ" in the fifth couplet does not yield a meaningful compound in this form; the context suggests that it may allude to the ism-i a‘zam, the supreme name of God believed to bind demons. This reading is ours.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

With the refrain "ne ‘aceb" repeated in every couplet, the ghazal builds a language of astonishment and reproach. The awaited saviour has not come, oppression has spread on every side, and the community of Islam is left without help. The poet expresses this through allusions (telmih) to stories of the prophets: Nimrod's casting Abraham into the fire and the fire turning into a rose garden for him; the miracle of "Yed-i beyzâ" (the hand shining white) given to Moses against Pharaoh's tyranny; Solomon's rule over the demons. In each story there is a tyrant, but the saviour has not come. In the second couplet the Antichrist (Deccâl) is set against the Mahdi and the Messiah; it is an allusion to the belief that the Antichrist will appear near the end of time and that the Mahdi and Jesus will come against him.

The word "dâd" in the fourth couplet means both justice and a cry for help. The phrase "İrdi Fir‘avn bizim dâdımıza" can also be read as "Pharaoh came in answer to our cry"; in that case the wording is bitter irony: the one who comes to the rescue is not a saviour but the tyrant. In the seventh couplet faith is likened to money: "nakd" is coin and "revâc" is currency; the coin of the faith no longer passes. The last couplet reverses the whole reproach of the ghazal. The poet addresses himself and bids himself repent of saying "how strange" to his Lord. This close draws the questioning language of the previous eight couplets back within the bounds of religious propriety.

Historical Context

Hüsameddin records that this ghazal was written inside the carriage as Nigârî was being removed from Merzifon and sent to Samsun, and that it was printed at the head of his divan. In Hüsameddin's chronology this removal took place in Cemaziyelahir 1301 (spring 1884); the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, however, writes that Nigârî left Merzifon on 28 February 1885. Hüsameddin regards the couplets as "almost an interpreter" of the hopes and movements passing through the sheikh's mind, and quotes them in support of his view that the sheikh's manner and words encouraged his followers to act together; this interpretation is Hüsameddin's. For the poet's literary personality see Nigârî: Poet and Works.

Bibliography

Online sources