Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ‘îlün Mefâ‘îlün Mefâ‘îlün Mefâ‘îlün

Felek ser-geşte-i zülf-i mutarrâ-yı Muhammeddir
Kamer, hûrşîd-i Mecnûndur ü Leylâ-yı Muhammeddir
Sehî-serv-i sanevber kãmet-i şimşâd hem ‘ar‘ar
Kadi tûbâ esîr-i nahl-i bâlâ-yı Muhammeddir
Mukayyed Yûsufun olmaz tel-i tarrârına hem kim
Esîr-i turra-i tarrâr sevdâ-yı Muhammeddir
Melâhat mülkünün şehbâz u şâhı Yûsuf-ı zîbâ
Şikâr u çâker-i hüsn-i dil-ârâ-yı Muhammeddir
Sürer zevk u safâsın ‘âlemin ol rind kim ser-hoş
Der-i meyhânede meşşâk-ı tuğrâ-yı Muhammeddir
Bulupdur devleti el-hâsıl ol merd-i mücerred kim
Habîb ü ‘âşık-ı ism ü müsemmâ-yı Muhammeddir
Teberrâ itdim ‘âlemden hevâdan câna pervâdan
Temennâm ey Nigârî bir tevellâ-yı Muhammeddir

In English

1. The sphere is the dizzy lover of Muhammad's adorned tress; the moon is Majnun's sun and Muhammad's Leylâ.

2. The straight cypress, the pine, the juniper with its boxwood stature, and the stature of the Tuba tree are all captives of the lofty palm-like stature of Muhammad.

3. Whoever is captive to the beguiling forelock of passion for Muhammad is not bound by Joseph's beguiling strand of hair. (The sense of the couplet is uncertain.)

4. Fair Joseph, falcon and king of the realm of beauty, is the prey and servant of Muhammad's heart-adorning beauty.

5. The rind who, drunk at the tavern door, practises copying Muhammad's tughra enjoys the pleasure and delight of the world.

6. In short, that man stripped of the world has found fortune who is the friend and lover of the name and the person of Muhammad.

7. I have made teberrâ (turned away) from the world, from desire, from care for my life; O Nigârî, my wish is a tevellâ (devotion) to Muhammad.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Writing on Nigârî in his Amasya Tarihi, Hüsameddin gave only the opening couplet of this ghazal, and our site published that couplet on a page of its own, Matla 1. There it was guessed that the couplet opened a poem in praise of the Prophet, and two readings of "Kamer hûrşîd-i Mecnûndur" were discussed. Bilgin's edition shows the ghazal to be a seven-couplet praise poem and gives the second line as "Kamer, hûrşîd-i Mecnûndur", with a comma; this punctuation supports the reading that the moon is Majnun's sun.

The word "tevellâ" from "Sînemdedir ol dâg-ı temennâ-yı Muhammed", the praise poem that opens the dâl section of the divan, reappears in the closing couplet, this time with its counterpart. The poet has made "teberrâ" from the world, from desire and from care for his life; his wish is a "tevellâ" to Muhammad. In the Shiite and Alevi tradition the two terms complete each other: tevellâ is holding the Prophet and his household as friends, teberrâ keeping away from those who stand against them. Nigârî directs his teberrâ not at enemies but at the world and his own desire.

The second, third and fourth couplets diminish examples of beauty one by one before the Prophet. Cypress, pine, boxwood, juniper and the Tuba tree of paradise are captives of his stature; even Joseph, king of the realm of beauty, is the prey of his beauty. "Meşşâk" in the fifth couplet describes a calligraphy student practising by copying the model again and again; the "tuğrâ" is the ornate sign that served as the sultan's signature. The drunken rind at the tavern door is likened to a student practising Muhammad's tughra.

Bibliography

Online sources