Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilün

Sana hem-çeşm görünmez sana kimdir hem-tâc
Sana mânend bulunmaz sana ‘âlem muhtâc
Ey meh-i mâye-i mâhiyyet-i Âdem ‘âlem
Olmasaydın ebed olmazdı ‘ademden ihrâc
Bâ‘is-i ferş ü ey ‘arş-i mu‘allâ sebebi
Pestdir mertebe-i şânına nisbet mi‘râc
Şeb-i mi‘râc ki berk urdu Burâkın na‘li
Mâh yandırdı meşâ‘îl ki virüp çerha revâc
Kıble-i ‘âlem-i kudsî ser-i kûyundur kim
Zâyiri zümre-i ervâh Cibrîl mîr-i hâc
Nazar-ı Ka‘be vü takbîl-i Hacerle bulmaz
Kâm eger hâk-ı ser-i kûyunu öpmez hicâb
Bir suâldir sebeb el-hâsıl senden yohsa
Gayr-ı güftâr degül bâ‘is-i dâr-ı Hallâc
İltifât-ı nigehin ‘ayn-ı inâyetdir kim
İstikãmet sunar ol her kime bahsa kıykac
Tâlib-i tâc gubâr-ı kademindir ihsân
Eylegil Mîr Nigârî başı açık muhtâc

In English

1. No equal to you appears, who could share your crown; none like you is found, the world is in need of you.

2. O moon, leaven of the essence of Adam, (cause) of the world; had you not been, being would never have been brought out of non-being.

3. O cause of the existence of the earth and the lofty Throne, even the Ascension falls low beside the rank of your glory.

4. On the night of the Ascension the shoe of Burâq struck lightning; the moon lit torches that gave splendour to the sphere.

5. The qibla of the holy realm is the head of your street; its pilgrims are the company of spirits, the leader of its pilgrimage Gabriel.

6. Those (pilgrims) who do not kiss the dust at the head of your street do not attain their wish by seeing the Kaaba and kissing the Black Stone. (The word "hicâb" in the edition has been understood, by the rhyme pattern, as "hüccâc", pilgrims.)

7. In short the cause (of everything) is a question that comes from you; otherwise the cause of Hallâj's gallows is nothing but a word. (The couplet has been understood approximately.)

8. The favour of your glance is grace itself; to whomever it turns, even sideways, it offers uprightness. (The couplet has been understood approximately.)

9. Bareheaded, needy Mîr Nigârî asks for the dust of your foot as a crown; grant him this kindness.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The fifth and sixth couplets are the ghazal's most daring point. The Prophet's street is "kıble-i ‘âlem-i kudsî", the qibla of the holy realm; its pilgrims are spirits and the head of its pilgrim caravan is Gabriel. The sixth couplet ties this to a verdict: seeing the Kaaba and kissing the Black Stone do not grant one's wish unless the dust of the Prophet's street is kissed. Placing even the Kaaba after the Prophet's street is a bold expression of Sufi poetry that puts love of the Prophet before everything. In the edition the last word of the sixth couplet is printed "hicâb"; this word does not fit the rhyme, and the reading "hüccâc", pilgrims, completes both rhyme and sense.

The second couplet rests on the saying beloved in Sufi circles, "Levlâke": "Were it not for you, I would not have created the heavens." The Prophet is the leaven of Adam's essence and the cause of the world; had he not been, nothing would have come out of non-being. In the third couplet even the Ascension falls low beside his rank. The fourth tells the night of the Ascension like a festival: Burâq's shoe strikes lightning, the moon lights torches.

The eighth couplet carries on the image of the sidelong glance seen in the previous naat: the Prophet's glance, though "kıykac", sideways, gives "istikâmet", uprightness, to whomever it turns. In the seventh couplet Hallâj is named again; that what led him to the gallows was a word he spoke ties to the Hallâj story worked in several places in the divan, but the first line of the couplet is not clearly understood. The rhyme words are hem-tâc, muhtâc, ihrâc, mi‘râc, revâc, hâc, Hallâc and kıykac; if the reading hüccâc is adopted in the sixth couplet, it joins this "-âc" series too.

Bibliography

Online sources