Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mef‘ûlü Mefâ‘îlün Mef‘ûlü Mefâ‘îlün

Ehl-i dili zemm eyler ol vâ‘iz-i bed-meşreb
Bed-nâm-ı cihân olsun lâl eyle dilin yâ Rab
Bezminde bulunmaz bin söyler yine bir tâib
Bî-fâidedir zîrâ bir söz ki ola bî-teb
Erbâb-ı gönül tutmaz râh-ı vera‘ ey vâ‘iz
Dîndârlıg eyler mi fikr eyle ki bî-mezheb
Yorma özün ey zâhid mahsûsdur ‘uşşâka
Kim tayy-ı tarîk itmek bî-meşyet ü bî-eşheb
Ey sâkî Mesîh-âsâ sun bâde-i rûh-efzâ
Kim tıfılam nâ-bâliğ bî-üm dahı bî-eb
Meyhâne-i ma‘nâda bâ-cân u dil-i sâde
Ger nûş iderüz bâde bî-câm iderüz bî-leb
Peymâne-şikestem men müstagrak u mestem men
Bilmem ne perestem men ‘irfâniyetim agleb
Çekdim felege zârı gördüm meh-i ruhsârı
Hem-râz-ı günem imdi bî-dâr-dilem bî-şeb
Ey Mîr Nigârî men âvâze-i lebbeyki
Dergûş iderem her şeb söylersin yâ Rab yâ Rab
Bî-gãile-i ‘âlem ahrâriyem ey hemdem
Ez-silsile-i ma‘sûm der-bend-i şeh-i Yesrib
Der-dâire-i mînâ ‘ilmin ki ne ‘âlimsin
Olmaz mı ‘alâmet kim bî-kütüb ü bî-mekteb

In English

1. May that ill-natured preacher who reviles the people of the heart be ill-famed in the world; O Lord, strike his tongue dumb.

2. He speaks a thousand words, yet not one penitent is found in his gathering; for speech without fire is of no use.

3. O preacher, the people of the heart do not keep to the path of scrupulousness; consider, does one without a school of law practise piety? (The couplet has been understood approximately.)

4. O zealot, do not tire yourself; to cover the road without walking and without a horse is reserved for lovers.

5. O cupbearer, serve the soul-enhancing wine like the Messiah; for I am a child not yet of age, without mother and without father.

6. If we drink wine in the tavern of meaning with soul and simple heart, we drink without cup and without lips.

7. I am a cup-breaker, I am drowned, I am drunk; I do not know what I worship, my gnosis prevails.

8. I drew laments up to the sphere, I saw the moon of the face; now I am the confidant of the sun, my heart is awake, I have no night.

9. O Mîr Nigârî, every night as you say "yâ Rab, yâ Rab" I take the sound of "lebbeyk" (here I am) into my ear. (It is not certain who speaks in the couplet.)

10. O companion, I am free of the cares of the world, I am an Ahrârî; I am of the sinless chain, in the bond of the king of Yathrib.

11. What kind of scholar are you of the knowledge within the circle of the flask; is being without books and without school not a sign? (The couplet has been understood approximately.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

The tenth couplet seems to hide Nigârî's spiritual lineage inside a play on words. The poet introduces himself as "ahrâri"; the word means "free of the cares of the world, free", but it also carries the name of Ubeydullah Ahrâr, one of the great links of the Naqshbandi chain. The "silsile-i ma‘sûm", the sinless chain, in the same couplet recalls both the chain of the sinless and Muhammad Ma‘sûm, an important sheikh of the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi path. The Khalidi branch to which Nigârî belonged traces its chain back to the Prophet through Ubeydullah Ahrâr and through Muhammad Ma‘sûm, son of Imâm-ı Rabbânî. At the end of the couplet the Prophet is named as "şeh-i Yesrib", the king of Yathrib, that is, Medina. It is not certain that the two words point to these names; but their appearance together with the word silsile strengthens the reading.

The ninth couplet leans on a tradition. That when the servant says "yâ Rab", O Lord, God answers "lebbeyk abdî", here I am, my servant, is a report often cited in Sufi books. In the couplet the one who hears the sound "lebbeyk" is addressing Nigârî; who is speaking is not said outright. In the poem's fifth couplet the poet calls himself a child without mother or father and asks the cupbearer for a soul-enhancing wine like the breath of the Messiah. The fatherless birth of Jesus underlies this comparison; the poet sees himself as a child with no ties in this world, in need of being born again.

The first four couplets of the ghazal argue with the preacher and the zealot: speech without fire brings no one to repentance, the people of the heart do not keep to the path of scrupulousness, the road is covered without walking and without a horse. In the seventh couplet the Azerbaijani pronoun "men" (I) is repeated three times: "Peymâne-şikestem men, müstagrak u mestem men, bilmem ne perestem men". Across eleven couplets the rhyme moves back and forth between "-eb" and "-ab", from meşreb to mekteb (meşreb, Rab, teb, mezheb, eşheb, eb, leb, agleb, şeb, Yesrib, mekteb).

Bibliography

Online sources