Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Çık gûşe-i ‘uzletten ey zâhid-i bî-‘işret
‘İşret-kede[y]i seyr it reşk-âverdir cennet
Şâhin-şeh-i meyhâne ser-mest salâ eyler
Meyhâneye düş gûş it fevt eyleme gel fırsat
Gör sâkî-i devrânı ser halka-i rindânı
Gir dâireye devr it çek bâde-i bî-minnet
Ravza-i behişt içre olsan yine ey zâhid
Çıkdın ki bu ‘âlemden bî-mey sana yok vuslat
Rindân-ı taleb-kâra zindân-ı belâdır ol
Lezzet-kede[y]i cennet-i bî-işret ü bî-rü’yet
Ey ‘âlim-i hey’et-gû ders-hânede yokdur bu
O zevk ki bahş eyler meyhânedeki hikmet
Meyhâne-i ‘âlemde bir bahş-ı Hudâdır bu
Ey Mîr Nigârî yok mey-hârlığa ‘illet

In English

1. O revel-less zealot, come out of the corner of seclusion; behold the house of revelry, it makes paradise jealous.

2. The king of kings of the tavern, drunk, is sounding the call; fall into the tavern, listen to the call, come, do not miss your chance.

3. See the cupbearer of the age, the head of the circle of rinds; enter the circle, turn, drink the wine that leaves no obligation.

4. O zealot, even if you were in the garden of paradise, if you left this world without wine there is no union for you.

5. A paradise without revelry and without the vision (of God) is a prison of calamity to the seeking rinds.

6. O scholar who speaks of astronomy, the delight that the wisdom of the tavern bestows is not found in the lecture room.

7. O Mîr Nigârî, this is a gift of God in the tavern of the world; there is no ‘illet (cause for prohibition) in drinking wine.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The word "‘illet" in the last couplet comes from the language of Islamic law. In jurisprudence the illet is the cause on which a ruling rests; the illet of the prohibition of wine is that it intoxicates. Nigârî says "mey-hârlığa ‘illet yok", there is no illet in wine-drinking. The phrase can be understood in two ways: in its everyday sense, "there is no fault, no sickness"; in its legal sense, that the wine spoken of here does not carry the cause on which the prohibition rests. The tavern is "the tavern of the world" and its wine is a gift of God; the intoxication of this wine does not fall within the prohibition. The poet uses a legal term in defence of his own tavern.

The ghazal is an invitation to the zealot. In the first couplet he is told to come out of the corner of "‘uzlet", seclusion; the tavern is a house of revelry that makes paradise jealous. In the second the king of the tavern sounds the salâ. The salâ is a call recited from mosques; here it rises from the tavern. The words "enter the circle, turn" in the third couplet evoke both the ring round which the cup passes and the circling devrân of zikr performed while turning.

The fourth and fifth couplets question the paradise the zealot expects. One who leaves this world without wine, that is, without love, cannot attain union even if he enters the garden of paradise. A paradise without revelry and without "rü’yet" is a prison for the rinds. Rü’yet in theology is the believers' seeing God in the hereafter; for the lover the worth of paradise depends on this seeing. The "‘âlim-i hey’et-gû" of the sixth couplet is a scholar of hey'et, astronomy, who tells of the heavens and the stars; the delight given by the wisdom of the tavern is not found in his lecture room. In the rhyme "-et" and "-at" mingle (cennet, fırsat, minnet, vuslat, rü’yet, hikmet, ‘illet); the series opens with the paradise promised to the zealot and closes with the illet of jurisprudence. The ghazal is written in "mef‘ûlü mefâ‘îlün mef‘ûlü mefâ‘îlün".

Bibliography

Online sources