Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Fe’ûlün

Kurıldukda yahûd mîzân yâ Rab
Günâhum tartılur olur agır heb
Şu denlü yükleneyem ben günâhı
Meger ‘afvundan ola yâ İlâhî
Sırât üzre revân oldukda mahlûk
Benüm hâlüm n’ola üstümde yük çok
Rahîmâ rahm kıl salma cahîme
Giriftâr eyleme zecr-i elîme
Bana cennet yolın âsân eyle
Günâhum ‘afv kıl ihsân eyle
Cenâbundur tazarrû’-gâh-ı mahlûk
Elümde sana lâyık bir ‘amel yok
Kara yüzüm getürdüm bâr-gâha
Siyeh kuldur ki çekdüm pâdişâha
Alurlar Hindûyı redd eylemezler
Kerem bâbın yapup sedd eylemezler
Sen ol sultan-ı ‘âlemsin ki bî-had
Niçe yirlerde Kur’ân içre bî-ad
Buyurdun ben ‘afüvv ü ben kerîmüm
Ra’ûf u Gâfirü’z-zenb ü Rahîmüm
Didün lâ taknatû min rahmeti’llâh
Kapuna geldüm işte şey’en lil’lâh
Revâ mı pâdişâhum hazretünden
Ki mahrûm ola Şâhî himmetünden
Şu dem kim mevc ura deryâ-yı himmet
Dü-‘âlem rahmete gark ola kat kat
Günahum ‘afvdan ey bâr-ı Gaffâr
Bana fâ’ide sana ne ziyân var
‘Atâ bezl eyledükde hâs u ‘âma
Yeter bir katre bu âsî gulâma
Gözüm yaşına yâ Rab şefkat eyle
Habîbün hürmetine rahmet eyle

In English

1. O Lord, when the scale (mîzan) is set up, my sins will be weighed, and all of them will weigh heavy.

2. I have loaded myself with so much sin that, O God, (my salvation) can only come from your pardon.

3. When created beings pass over the Sırat bridge, what will become of me, with so great a load on my back?

4. O Merciful One, have mercy, do not cast (me) into hell; do not make me captive to painful torment.

5. Make the road to paradise easy for me; forgive my sin, be bountiful.

6. Your exalted court is the place where created beings plead; in my hand there is no deed worthy of you.

7. I have brought my black face (my shame) to the court; what I have presented to the sovereign is a black slave.

8. (Kings) accept an Indian slave and do not turn him back; they do not wall up and close the door of generosity.

9. You are such a sultan of the world that in countless places in the Qur'an, without limit,

10. you declared: "I am the Pardoner (Afüvv), I am the Generous (Kerîm); I am the Kind (Raûf), the Forgiver of sins and the Merciful (Rahîm)."

11. You said, "Do not despair of God's mercy"; here I have come to your door, (give me) something for God's sake.

12. My sovereign, is it fitting that Şâhî should be deprived of your favour (himmet) from your presence?

13. At the moment when the sea of favour surges, both worlds are drowned in mercy layer upon layer.

14. O Creator, the All-Forgiving (Gaffâr), in pardoning my sin there is benefit to me; what loss is there to you?

15. When you scatter bounty upon the elite and the common people, a single drop is enough for this rebellious servant.

16. O Lord, have compassion on my tears; show mercy for the sake of your Beloved (the Prophet Muhammad).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The third mesnevi is a münacat (supplication to God) of sixteen couplets and closes the Turkish poems of the edition. Each couplet rhymes within itself, and the pattern "mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün fe'ûlün" is used. The münacat, which usually stands in the opening sections of mesnevis, has here become a poem in its own right. In the edition there is the mark [90b] at the end of the ninth couplet; the mark [90a] standing after the last couplet of the second mesnevi may point to the beginning of this mesnevi. Some rhymes are weak: "mahlûk/yok" (6), "himmet/kat" (13), "şefkat/rahmet" (16). The function of the word "yahûd" (or) in the first couplet is not clear; "bî-ad" in the ninth couplet means "bî-'add" (countless) and is set without the sign for 'ayn.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The poem opens with the scenes of the Day of Judgement: the mîzan (the scale on which deeds are weighed), the Sırat bridge and hell. The servant fears he cannot cross the bridge with the load of sin on his back; the words "yük" (load) and "agır" (heavy) tie the scale and the bridge together. In the seventh and eighth couplets there is a powerful comparison: the servant likens his black face, that is, his shame, to a black slave offered as a gift to a sovereign. Kings do not turn back the black slaves who come from the land of Hind; nor does God reject his black-faced servant. The tenth and eleventh couplets rest on the Qur'an. In his footnotes Kılıç shows that "Gâfirü'z-zenb" (Forgiver of sins) occurs in the third verse of the sura Mu'min and "lâ taknatû min rahmeti'llâh" (do not despair of God's mercy) in the fifty-third verse of the sura Zumar; the names of God (Afüvv, Kerîm, Raûf, Rahîm) are listed one after another. This is an example of iktibas (quotation from the Qur'an). "Şey'en lil'lâh" is the phrase spoken by dervishes and beggars at the door. The question in the fourteenth couplet, "there is benefit to me; what loss is there to you?", is an example of the intimate language in which the servant speaks to God almost as if bargaining.

Historical Context

Kılıç says that in the last couplets of the mesnevi at the very end of the divan Şâhî asks God's pardon and wishes his father a long life and reign. In the edition these two wishes are in separate mesnevis: the prayer for the father's life is at the end of the second mesnevi, and the plea for pardon is this mesnevi. The address "pâdişâhum" (my sovereign) in the twelfth couplet is directed to God; but from the pen of a prince awaiting his father's pardon it is open to a double reading. This is our own reading. The links with the second Persian nazm are also striking: there too the words "zecr-i elîm" (painful torment), "cahîm" (hell) and "rahîm" (merciful) occur together.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 153-154, mesnevi no. 3 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fols. 90a-90b), note 123 (Mu'min 40:3), 124 (Zumar 39:53); also p. 27 (arrangement of the divan), p. 36 (the last couplets of the final mesnevi), p. 164 (Persian nazm no. 2), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.
  • Mustafa Çiçekler, "Mesnevî", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 29, Ankara 2004, pp. 320-322. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mesnevi

Online sources