Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Tab‘-ı Hassânıma her şâ‘iri yeksân dimezem
Sıfatın söylerem er korkarım âsân dimezem
Sana Kur'an dimese ben sana insân dimezem
‘Ârızın mushaf-ı Mevlâ nice Kur'an dimezem
Sana cân virmeyene sâhib-i îmân dimezem
Cân nedir kim anı ey büt sana kurbân dimezem
Cân fedâ olmasa kurbânın olam cân dimezem
Gayrı peykân-ı gamın derdime dermân dimezem
Seyf-i Mevlâ kaşına yay-ı Nerîmân dimezem
Âşikâre diyirem bu sözi pinhân dimezem
Sana Ahmed mi Muhammed mi mahabbet mi diyem
Yoksa mahbûb-ı Hudâ şâh-ı melâhat mı diyem

In English

1. I do not call every poet equal to my gift for verse, which is like Hassan's; I speak your attributes, but I fear, and do not call it easy.

2. Had you not been called the Qur'an, I would not call you human; your cheek is the Lord's own copy of the Book, how should I not call it the Qur'an.

3. I do not call one who does not give his life for you a person of faith; what is a life, O idol of beauty, that I should not call it a sacrifice for you.

4. If the soul is not sacrificed, I do not say "my soul, let me be your sacrifice"; I call nothing but the arrow of your grief the cure for my pain.

5. I call your eyebrow the sword of the Lord, I do not call it the bow of Neriman; I say this word openly, I do not say it in secret.

6. Shall I call you Ahmed, or Muhammad, or love itself; or shall I call you the beloved of God, the king of beauty?

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The terci‘-bend is a verse form made up of stanzas written in the same metre but each with its own rhyme, linked by a "vasıta beyti" (link couplet) repeated at the end of every stanza. The piece here is one stanza of a terci‘-bend: the first five couplets are built on the refrain "dimezem" ("I do not say / call") and the rhyme "yeksân, âsân, insân, Kur'an, îmân, kurbân, cân, dermân, Nerîmân, pinhân"; the sixth couplet is a separate couplet with the refrain "diyem" ("shall I say") and must be the link couplet. Which stanza of the terci‘-bend this is, is not stated in the source.

The text is taken from the "Eserlerinden Örnekler" (samples of his works) section of the Nigârî entry in the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü (Dictionary of Names in Turkish Literature); the entry quotes the samples from A. Azmi Bilgin's 2003 edition of the divan. In Bilgin's edition the piece is on page 262; the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi also quotes the first line of the second couplet from the same page.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The stanza is a naat addressed to the Prophet. In the first couplet the poet compares himself to Hassân b. Sâbit, the Prophet's poet, and says that speaking of the Prophet's attributes is not easy and that he speaks with fear. The second couplet is the best-known in the stanza: "Sana Kur'an dimese ben sana insân dimezem." The TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi says that this line expresses the reality of the Prophet in an artful way. The line recalls the well-known saying of Âişe (Aisha) describing the Prophet's character as "the Qur'an"; this connection is our interpretation. In the second line of the same couplet the beloved's cheek is called "mushaf-ı Mevlâ", God's copy of the Book; in divan poetry likening a beautiful face to a page of the Qur'an is a familiar conceit.

The following couplets continue in the language of love: the sacrifice of the soul, being a sacrifice, the arrow of grief, the likening of the eyebrow to a sword. In the fifth couplet "Seyf-i Mevlâ" (the sword of the Lord) is compared with "yay-ı Nerîmân" (the bow of Neriman); Neriman is a champion named in Iranian epics. The poet likens the beloved's eyebrow not to a champion's bow but to the sword of God. In the link couplet the Prophet's names and qualities are listed one after another: Ahmed, Muhammad, love, mahbûb-ı Hudâ (the beloved of God), şâh-ı melâhat (king of beauty). There is a contrast between the refrain "dimezem" ("I do not call") and "diyem" ("shall I call") in the link couplet: the poet first lists what he will not call him, then cannot decide what to call him.

Historical Context

The TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi counts Nigârî among the rare learned Sufis who expressed the reality of the Prophet in an artful way, and gives the line taken from this terci‘-bend as an example. TEİS too writes that in his tevhids, münacats and especially his naats Nigârî turned towards innovation in form, concept, style, address and conceit. When the stanza was written is not known. For the poet's literary personality see Nigârî: Poet and Works.

Bibliography

Academic studies

Books

  • Parvana Bayram, "Nigârî, Seyyid Mîr Hamza", Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü, 2014 (updated 2020), section "Eserlerinden Örnekler". https://teis.yesevi.edu.tr/madde-detay/nigari-seyyid-mir-hamza
  • Mir Hamza Seyyid Nigârî, Divan-ı Seyyid Nigârî, ed. A. Azmi Bilgin, Istanbul: Kule İletişim Hizmetleri, 2003, p. 262 (as quoted in TEİS).

Online sources