Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Gezerem bî-hatar kılmazam hazer
Kim reh-nümûnumdur Sıddîk-ı Ekber
Hâtırıma gelmez fikr-i müşkilât
Zîrâ zahîrimdir Fâtih-i Hayber
Gulâm-ı şîrîn-ter Şîr-i Hudâya
Selmân-ı Fârisî benimle Kamber
Her ne ister isen iste bî-‘aded
Ashâb-ı keremdir sâkî-i Kevser
Hâtırımda karâr eylemez agyâr
Mahz-ı ber-nâmdır dilimde ezber
Gör ne güzel söyler tab‘-ı dil-âvîz
Fe-sübhâne'llâhi Allâhü ekber
Sahâyif-i kesîr çâr kütübden
Muhlise bir Kul hüva'llâhü yeter
Mellâh-ı sevdâya cân virdim âhir
Deryâ-yı heftden aldım bir gevher
Meşhûr-ı ‘âlem ey Seyyid Nigârî
Hûrşîd-i felekden ey nâmı azhâr
Hırz-ı revân eyle nâm-ı Ahmedi
Şâm u seher söyle yâ Hayra'l-beşer
Câm-ı serşârdan çekmegil ayâğ
Düşmesün lebinden bâde-i ahmer

In English

1. I walk without danger and take no precaution, for my guide is Sıddîk-ı Ekber (Abu Bakr).

2. The thought of hardship never enters my mind, for my support is the conqueror of Khaybar (Ali).

3. I am a sweet slave of the Lion of God; Salman the Persian and Qanbar are with me.

4. Whatever you want, ask it without number; the cupbearer of Kawthar is one of the people of generosity.

5. Rivals do not stay in my mind; only (his) name is learned by heart upon my tongue.

6. See how beautifully my heart-winning nature speaks: Glory be to God, God is most great.

7. Of the countless pages of the four books, one "Kul hüva'llâh" is enough for the sincere.

8. At last I gave my soul to the boatman of passion; from the seven seas I took a single pearl.

9. O Seyyid Nigârî, famed throughout the world, O you whose name is plainer than the sun in the sky.

10. Make the name of Ahmed an amulet for the soul; morning and evening say, "O best of mankind."

11. Do not draw your hand (your cup) back from the brimming cup; let the red wine not fall from your lip.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The first four couplets gather two sides of Nigârî's world of faith in one place. In the first the guide is Sıddîk-ı Ekber, Abu Bakr. From the second couplet the words pass to Ali: he is "the conqueror of Khaybar", "the Lion of God", "the cupbearer of Kawthar"; the poet calls himself Ali's slave and places beside him Ali's intimates, Salman the Persian and his freed slave Qanbar. The spiritual chain of the Naqshbandi order, unlike that of most orders, runs back to Abu Bakr and from him to Salman the Persian. That a Naqshbandi sheikh's ghazal should name Abu Bakr as guide and Salman as companion is, in this light, no accident.

This pairing became the subject of a heavy controversy in Nigârî's life. Carrying his love for the Prophet's family so far as to condemn openly those who fought against Ali led, towards the end of his life, to his being accused of Rafidism and exiled to Harput in 1884. He is reported to have answered the charge with a couplet: "Hâricîyim sevmesem dâmâdını Peygamberin / Râfızîyim fark edersem Haydar'ı Fârûk'tan", I am a Kharijite if I do not love the Prophet's son-in-law, a Rafidi if I set Haydar apart from Faruq. Not to love Ali, the Prophet's son-in-law, is Kharijism; to separate Ali from Umar is Rafidism; the poet says he is far from both. This ghazal expresses the same stance, whether before or after the accusation, without any air of dispute: Abu Bakr and Ali are two guides of the same way.

Its eleven-syllable lines, for which the edition names no metre, show that the poem is written in syllabic measure. In the seventh couplet the Torah, the Psalms, the Gospel and the Qur'an, the four books, are named with their countless pages, and for the sincere, the poet says, the sura of Sincerity, "Kul hüva'llâh", is enough. Once the pen name and the praise of the Prophet are behind it, the eleventh couplet brings the ghazal back to the gathering; here too "ayâğ" can be read two ways, as foot and as cup.

Bibliography

  • Nigârî, Nigârî Dîvânı, ed. A. Azmi Bilgin, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2017 (e-book, Kültür Eserleri Dizisi 482), poem 184, pp. 116-117. https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/TR-194361/nigari-divani.html
  • Aytekin Şenzeybek, "Hamza Nigârî'nin Farklı İslam Yorumlarına Yaklaşımı", Necmettin Erbakan Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, 47, 2019, pp. 429-444.

Online sources