Original Arabic Text

Metre: mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün fe‘ûlün, the vāfir metre of Arabic prosody. The editors count it as serî‘.

القَولُ فِي حَقِيقَةِ الإيمانِ
el-Ḳavlu fī ḥaḳīḳati’l-īmān (on the reality of faith)

خُذِ الإيمانَ تَصْدِيقًا بِقَلْبٍ
بِما يُبْلِغُهُ رَبِّي ذُو التَّعالِي

Ḫuẕi’l-īmāne taṣdīḳan bi-ḳalbin
Bi-mā yübliġuhū rabbī ẕü’t-te‘ālī

وَما الأعْمالُ لِلإيمانِ جُزْءًا
كَما هُوَ زُعْمُ اهْلِ الاعتِزالِ

Ve me’l-a‘mālu li’l-īmāni cüz’en
Kemā hüve zu‘mu ehli’l-i‘tizālī

فَتَقْبَلُ ازْدِيادًا وَانْتِقاصًا
بِقَدْرِ الكَسْبِ يا أهْلَ الأثالِ

Fe-taḳbelu’zdiyāden ve’ntiḳāṣan
Bi-ḳadri’l-kesbi yā ehle’l-es̱ālī

وَذا الإيمانُ لا يَزْدادُ قَطْعًا
وَلا يَنْقُصُ فَلا تَكُ بِاحْتِمالِ

Ve ẕe’l-īmānu lā yezdādu ḳaṭ‘an
Ve lā yenḳuṣu fe-lā tekü bi’ḥtimālī

وَما الإيمانُ لِلإسلامِ غَيرًا
فَأسْكِتْ فاكَ مِنْ قِيلٍ وَقالِ

Ve me’l-īmānu li’l-islāmi ġayran
Fe-eskit fāke min ḳīlin ve ḳālī

وَإنْ يَكُ لِامْرِءٍ تَصْدِيقُ قَلْبٍ
فَهذا مُؤْمِنٌ عِنْدَ الأهالِي

Ve in yekü li’mri’in taṣdīḳu ḳalbin
Fe-hāẕā mü’minun ‘inde’l-ehālī

وَذُو التَّصْدِيقِ إنْ يَحْكُمْ عَلَيهِ
بِإيمانٍ فَصَدِّقْ فِي المَقالِ

Ve ẕü’t-taṣdīḳı in yaḥkum ‘aleyhi
Bi-īmānin fe-ṣaddıḳ fi’l-maḳālī

وَلكِنْ لَيسَ يَحْسُنُ حِينَ حُكْمٍ
أحالَتُهُ مَشِيَّةَ ذِي الجَلالِ

Ve lākin leyse yaḥsunu ḥīne ḥukmin
İḥāletuhū meşiyyete ẕi’l-celālī

القَولُ فِي أنَّ السَّعِيدَ قَدْ يَشْقَى وَالشَّقِيَّ قَدْ يَسْعَد
el-Ḳavlu fī enne’s-sa‘īde ḳad yeşḳā ve’ş-şaḳıyye ḳad yes‘ad (that the blessed may become wretched and the wretched blessed)

وَقَدْ يَشْقَى سَعِيدٌ بَعْدَ حِينٍ
وَقَدْ يَسْعَدْ شَقِيٌّ ذُو خَبالِ

Ve ḳad yeşḳā sa‘īdun ba‘de ḥīnin
Ve ḳad yes‘ad şaḳıyyun ẕū ḫabālī

وَما التَّغْيِيرُ إلّا فِي السَّعادَةِ
كَذلكَ فِي الشَّقاوَةِ يا ابنَ خالِي

Ve me’t-taġyīru illā fi’s-sa‘ādeh
Keẕālike fi’ş-şeḳāveti yā’bne ḫālī

وَلا تَغْيِيرَ فِي إسعادٍ أصلًا
وَإشْقاءٍ فَصَدِّقْهُ بِبالِ

Ve lā taġyīra fī is‘ādin aṣlen
Ve işḳā’in fe-ṣaddıḳhu bi-bālī

لِأنَّهُما لِذاتِ اللهِ وَصْفٌ
وَوَصْفُ اللهِ مُمْتَنِعُ الزَّوالِ

Li-ennehumā li-ẕāti’llāhi vaṣfun
Ve vaṣfu’llāhi mümteni‘u’z-zevālī

In English

131. Take faith to be the heart's assent to what my exalted Lord makes known.

132. Deeds are not a part of faith, as the Mu‘tazilites claim.

133. In their view faith increases and decreases according to the amount of deeds earned, O people of noble descent. (Footnote: "es̱āl", glory.)

134. Yet faith certainly neither increases nor decreases; do not be one who allows the possibility.

135. Faith is not something other than Islam; close your mouth to idle talk.

136. If a man has the assent of the heart, he is a believer in the eyes of the people.

137. If one who has assent pronounces himself a believer, confirm it in speech. (The couplet can be taken two ways: a person declaring his own faith, or judging another to be a believer; the edition's translation chooses the second.)

138. But when he makes that judgement it is not right to refer it to the will of the Lord of majesty. (Footnote: he should not say, "I am a believer, if God wills.")

139. The blessed may after a time become wretched, and a wretched man given to corruption may become blessed. (Footnote: "ḫabāl", corruption.)

140. The change lies only in blessedness itself, and likewise in wretchedness, O my cousin.

141. There is no change at all in the making blessed or the making wretched; affirm this with your mind.

142. For both are attributes of God's essence, and God's attribute cannot pass away.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The Definition of Faith

"Ḫuẕi’l-īmāne taṣdīḳan bi-ḳalbin": take faith as assent with the heart. Cast as a command, this one line gives the definition on its own. Faith is the heart's confirmation of what God has made known; works are not part of it. Sa‘dī Çelebi names the holders of the opposing view: the "ehl-i i‘tizāl", the Mu‘tazilites, who count works as part of faith and say that faith increases and decreases with the amount of deeds earned. As Ünlüsoy and Asım establish, this is one of the two places in the poem where the Mu‘tazila are openly criticised; the other is the passage on the vision of God. Sa‘dī's answer is firm: faith neither increases nor decreases, and one must not leave room for the possibility.

The hundred and thirty-fifth couplet does not separate faith from Islam; the two are the same, and the reader is asked not to indulge in "ḳīl u ḳāl", idle talk, on this point. A practical consequence follows from the definition. A person who has assent in his heart is a believer in the eyes of the people. When such a person pronounces on his own faith he should not make it depend on God's will. A footnote in the article interprets the couplet explicitly: one should not say "I am a believer, if God wills." Two readings are possible in the hundred and thirty-seventh couplet; the Turkish translation takes it as a judgement passed on someone else, while the footnote shows that the person is speaking of his own faith. Either reading arrives at the same place: faith is something to be stated with certainty.

The Blessed and the Wretched

The second part, of four couplets, takes up the question known in kalām as "can the blessed become wretched?" The blessed (sa‘īd) may after a time become wretched (şaḳī), and a wretched man given to corruption may become blessed. At first sight this seems to clash with the idea of eternal decree. Sa‘dī bases the solution on the difference between two words: "sa‘āde" and "is‘ād", blessedness and the making blessed. What changes is blessedness or wretchedness, the state of the servant; the making blessed and the making wretched are attributes of God's essence, and His attribute does not change. The hundred and fortieth and forty-first couplets set this distinction face to face: "ve me’t-taġyīru illā fi’s-sa‘ādeh" and "ve lā taġyīra fī is‘ādin aṣlen".

In fitting this fine distinction into the metre, the rhyme also played a part. The first line of the hundred and fortieth couplet ends on "sa‘ādeh" in pausal form; this is one of the few places in the poem where a first line comes to rest in this way. Ünlüsoy and Asım give this part the heading "On the Blessed Becoming Wretched and the Wretched Becoming Blessed" and put the reason in the last couplet into Turkish as "God's attribute cannot pass away".

Bibliography

Online sources