Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilün

Ey Habîb-i Kibriyâ ey Şâh-ı cümle enbiyâ
Kimdi senden özge bir serdâr bir sâhib-livâ
Ey hidâyet şemsi ey nûrânîler ser-halkası
Kimdi senden özge hûrşîd kimdi mâh-ı reh-nümâ
Kimdi senden özge şehbâzım dîn-i ‘âlemde kim
Senden özge bir tezerv-i nâzenîn ey dil-rübâ
Kimdi senden gayrı kâmil kimdi bir sâhib-cemâl
Kimdi senden özge fâtih kimdi bir müşkil-güşâ
Senden özge belde-i îcâdı bir fâtih mi var
Senden özge bir sebeb ‘âlemde yokdur intihâ
Senden ey meh mâ‘adâ hûbum diyü lâf itmesün
Sende hatm olmuş güzellik sende hatm olmuş bahâ
Ey Şefî‘u'l-müznibîn ey Rahmeten li'l-‘âlemîn
Şefkatin subh u mesâ ister Nigârî bî-nevâ

In English

1. O Beloved of the Almighty, O king of all the prophets; who besides you is a commander, who holds the banner?

2. O sun of right guidance, O head of the circle of the luminous; who besides you is a sun, who a moon that shows the way?

3. O ravisher of hearts, who besides you in the world of faith is my falcon; who besides you (is) a graceful pheasant? (The couplet is not clearly understood; "şehbâz" is a falcon and "tezerv" a pheasant.)

4. Who besides you is perfect, who possesses beauty; who besides you is a conqueror, who solves what is hard?

5. Is there any conqueror of the city of creation besides you; in the world there is no cause besides you, and you are the end.

6. O moon, let none besides you boast "I am the beautiful one"; beauty has reached its seal in you, worth has reached its seal in you.

7. O intercessor for sinners, O mercy to the worlds; destitute Nigârî begs your compassion morning and evening.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The naat is built as a chain of questions. "Kimdi senden özge", who is there besides you, recurs over four couplets, and each time the Prophet receives a new title: commander, bearer of the banner, sun, moon that shows the way, the perfect one, conqueror, solver of difficulties. The answer is never given, because there is no need: the question is a form of praise that carries its answer within it (istifham, the rhetorical question). In divan poetry such questions lead the reader to repeat the same answer inwardly.

Many of the titles come from religious sources. "Sâhib-livâ" means bearer of the banner and recalls the "livâü'l-hamd", the banner of praise that, according to tradition, will be in the Prophet's hand on the Day of Judgement. The two titles of the last couplet are also familiar epithets: "Şefî‘u'l-müznibîn", intercessor for sinners, and "Rahmeten li'l-‘âlemîn", the phrase "a mercy to the worlds" said of the Prophet in the sura al-Anbiyâ. "Hatm olmak" in the sixth couplet means to come to an end, to be completed; it calls to mind the Prophet's title "hâtemü'n-nebiyyîn", the seal of the prophets. Nigârî transfers this attribute to beauty: as prophethood was completed in him, so was beauty.

The third couplet carries two words from the world of hunting and birds in divan poetry: "şehbâz", the great falcon or hawk trained by hunters, and "tezerv", the pheasant. The structure of the couplet seems faulty and its meaning cannot be fixed; the Prophet may be evoked here as both the hunting bird and an elegant game bird. Every rhyme word is of Arabic or Persian origin; enbiyâ, livâ, reh-nümâ, dil-rübâ, müşkil-güşâ, intihâ, bahâ and bî-nevâ all end in a long "â" and so place the naat among the divan's elif poems.

Bibliography

Online sources