Original Arabic Text

Metre: the mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün fe‘ûlün pattern of vāfir (serî‘ according to the edition; this identification is ours).

القَولُ فِي الصِّفاتِ السَّلْبِيَّةِ
el-Ḳavlu fi’ṣ-ṣıfāti’s-selbiyye (on the negative attributes)

لِذاتِ اللهِ تَنْزِيهاتٌ أيضًا
يُنَزَّهُ ذاتُهُ فِي كُلِّ حالِ

Li-ẕāti’llāhi tenzīhātun eyżan
Yünezzehu ẕātuhū fī külli ḥālī

فَلا عَرَضٌ وَلا جِسْمٌ وَجُزْءٌ
وَلا ذُو صُورَةٍ يا ذَا الخِصالِ

Fe-lā ‘arażun ve lā cismun ve cüz’un
Ve lā ẕū ṣūretin yā ẕe’l-ḫiṣālī

وَلا ذُو حَدٍّ أو عَدٍّ فَحاشا
وَلا مُتَبَعِّضٌ ذُو اشْتِمالِ

Ve lā ẕū ḥaddin ev ‘addin fe-ḥāşā
Ve lā müteba‘‘ıżun ẕü’ştimālī

وَلا مُتَرَكِّبٌ أو ذُو تَناهٍ
تَبَرَّى مِنْ سِماتِ الاخْتِلالِ

Ve lā müterekkibun ev ẕū tenāhin
Teberrā min simāti’l-iḫtilālī

وَلا مُتَجانِسٌ لِلْمُمْكِناتِ
وَلا مُتَكَيِّفٌ فَخُذُوا مَقالِي

Ve lā mütecānisun li’l-mümkināti
Ve lā mütekeyyifun fe-ḫuẕū maḳālī

وَلا فِي حَيِّزٍ أو فِي مَكانٍ
تَعالَى اللهُ أصْنافَ التَّعالِي

Ve lā fī ḥayyizin ev fī mekānin
Te‘āla’llāhu eṣnāfe’t-te‘ālī

وَلا يَجْرِي عَلَيهِ زَمانٌ أصلًا
عَدِيمُ النِّدِّ مُمْتَنِعُ المِثالِ

Ve lā yecrī ‘aleyhi zemānun aṣlen
‘Adīmu’n-niddi mümteni‘u’l-mis̱ālī

القَولُ فِي رُؤيَتِهِ تَعالَى
el-Ḳavlu fī ru’yetihī te‘ālā (on the vision of God)

وَرُؤيَتُهُ بِعُقْبَى الدّارِ حَقٌّ
تَدُلُّ عَلَيهِ أخْبارٌ عَوالِي

Ve ru’yetuhū bi-‘uḳbe’d-dāri ḥaḳḳun
Tedullu ‘aleyhi aḫbārun ‘avālī

يَراهُ المُؤْمِنُونَ بِغَيرِ كَيفٍ
فَيا سُحْقًا لِأهْلِ الاعْتِزالِ

Yerāhu’l-mü’minūne bi-ġayri keyfin
Fe-yā suḥḳan li-ehli’l-i‘tizālī

In English

81. God's essence also has attributes of transcendence, by which it is declared free of all imperfection in every state.

82. He is neither accident, nor body, nor part, nor has He a form, O man of good qualities.

83. He has no limit or number, God forbid; nor is He divided into portions or a container of things.

84. He is not composite, nor finite; He is clear of every mark of defect.

85. He is not of one genus with contingent things and has no "how"; take my word.

86. He occupies no space and is in no place; God is exalted in every manner of exaltation.

87. Time never passes over Him; He has no rival, and a likeness to Him is impossible.

88. His being seen in the abode of the hereafter is true; reports of high authority point to it.

89. The believers will see Him without any "how"; perdition to the Mu‘tazilites.

Literary and Historical Commentary

A Chain of Negations

The first seven of the nine couplets in this short section are built almost entirely on "lā": neither accident nor body nor part, nor possessed of form, neither limited nor numbered, neither divided nor composite, nor finite, nor of one genus with contingent beings, nor qualified by "how", neither in a place nor in a location, nor one over whom time passes. This list, which the theologians call the "negative attributes" or attributes of transcendence, describes God by what He is not. In setting the list into metre, Sa‘dī Çelebi turns repetition into a device of rhythm. Because each line opens with "ve lā", the count carries itself along on the tongue of the student who memorises it; in this section the choice of verse as a teaching tool is seen most plainly.

The eighty-sixth couplet closes with a small play on words: "Te‘āla’llāhu eṣnāfe’t-te‘ālī", God is exalted with every kind of exaltation. A verb and a noun from the same root are set side by side; in Arabic rhetoric such repetitions are used to reinforce meaning. The heading of the section in the manuscript reads "es-ṣıfātu’s-selbiyye", and the heading in the Turkish translation is likewise "Negative Attributes".

The Vision of God and the Mu‘tazila

The two-couplet part on the vision of God carries one of the harshest phrases in the poem. God's being seen in the hereafter is true, and reports of high authority point to it; the believers will see Him "bi-ġayri keyf", in a manner about which "how" cannot be asked. What follows at once, "fe-yā suḥḳan li-ehli’l-i‘tizāl", is in effect a curse on the Mu‘tazilites; in the article's Turkish the phrase becomes "Perdition to the people of i‘tizāl". Ünlüsoy and Asım dwell on the fact that Sa‘dī openly criticises the Mu‘tazila on two subjects, the relation of faith to works and the vision of God. Most opponents in the poem are referred to with nameless expressions such as "some" or "the people of error"; the Mu‘tazila, however, are named both here and in the section on faith.

That transcendence and vision stand side by side on the same page is no accident. That a being just said to be in no place, with neither body nor form, should be seen calls for explanation. The difficulty is never spelled out, but its answer lies in the words "without how". The "ve lā mütekeyyifun" of the eighty-fifth couplet and the "bi-ġayri keyfin" of the eighty-ninth are linked: He who is not qualified by "how" is seen without "how".

Bibliography

Online sources