Original Persian Text

Metre: Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Fe’ûlün

Eger bînî hatâ vü cürmî ez-mâ
Hudâyâ afv kon ma’zûr fermâ

In English

1. If you see a fault and a sin in us, O God, forgive and hold (us) excused.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This couplet is the first of the seven single couplets in the "Farsça Şiirler" (Persian poems) section of Kılıç's edition. A müfred is a couplet spoken on its own, not as part of a longer poem; the name is given to the independent couplets collected at the ends of divans. In the note at the head of the section Kılıç states that the edition of the Persian divançe says there are six single couplets in the divan, whereas the number is seven, one of them standing among the Turkish poems in the manuscript. The differences in the Persian poems are shown by comparison with Mustafa Çiçekler's 1998 edition of the Persian divançe. The edition gives the Persian text in Latin letters and adds its Turkish meaning in a footnote. The couplet is written in the "mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün fe'ûlün" pattern; all seven Persian single couplets are in this pattern. The couplet is musarra' (both lines rhyme): "mâ" and "fermâ" rhyme. There is no folio mark in the edition.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The couplet is a short münacat (supplication to God). The first line is a conditional sentence: "Eger bînî" (if you see) is the humble speech of a servant who knows that God sees everything; sin cannot be hidden, only forgiven. "Hatâ" and "cürm" are two words of close meaning: one denotes a fault committed by mistake, the other a sin committed knowingly. The servant thus lays all his failings before God together. The second line holds two requests: "afv kon" (forgive) and "ma'zûr fermâ" (hold excused, accept the excuse). In his footnote Kılıç renders the second line as "forgive us"; we have marked separately the sense of "deeming the excuse accepted" in "ma'zûr fermâ". The word "fermâ" comes from the verb meaning to command and adds a note of respect to the optative; the servant asks God to "command" it as a favour. The plural in "ez-mâ" (from us) can be read as a "we" that includes not only the poet but all mankind. Since the rhyme of the couplet is built between "mâ" (we) and "fermâ" (command), the couplet sets "we" and God's command face to face at the level of sound as well; this observation is our own. Five of the seven Persian single couplets treat the same subject of pardon and repentance; this couplet opens that series. In the edition this single couplet comes right after three Persian nazms on sin and pardon. Kılıç notes that pardon is one of the main themes of the divan.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 164, Persian single couplet no. 1, note 228 (number of single couplets and the Persian divançe), 229 (Turkish meaning of the couplet); also pp. 29-30 (survey of metres), p. 31 (the theme of "afv"), p. 154 note 125 (comparison with Çiçekler 1998), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.
  • Kâzım Yetiş, "Beyit (İran ve Türk Edebiyatı)", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 6, İstanbul 1992, p. 66. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/beyit

Online sources