Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün
Nefy-i "lā"dan eyleyüp iṡbāt-ı illā-yı yaḳīn
Eyle istidlāl yoḳdan ‘ālemüñ var olduġun
In English
1. Drawing with certainty the affirmation of "illâ" out of the negation of "lâ", prove by reasoning that the world came into being from nothing.
Literary and Historical Commentary
The previous matla applied the formula of the creed to love; this couplet ties the same formula to one of the most basic questions of theology: the creation of the world from nothing. "Nefy" and "isbât" are the negating and affirming sides of the sentence "lâ ilâhe illallah". The poet sees the passage from negation to affirmation as an example of reasoning (istidlâl): first "no" is said, then a "yes" is drawn out of that nothingness. That the world likewise came from nothingness into being is the doctrine of "hudûs" (the world's having been created in time) defended by the theologians.
There is also a play of writing in the couplet. In the phrase "yokdan var olmak" (to come into being from nothing), "yok" (none) and "var" (there is) stand like Turkish equivalents of "lâ" and "illâ". Opening with negation and ending with existence, the couplet shows through its own arrangement the passage it describes. Sâhib's madrasa training and his knowledge of theology become the material of verse here, as in many places in his divan. The couplet is found in three copies; the only variant concerns the suffix of the word "illâ-yı".
Bibliography
- Meral Topal, Pîrî-zâde Mehmed Sâhib Hayatı, Edebî Kişiliği, Eserleri ve Divanı'nın Tenkitli Metni, MA thesis, Fırat Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Elazığ 2004, p. 225, matla 8 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Manzum 243, fol. 37b; Istanbul University Library T. 1710/6, fol. 18b; Istanbul University Library T. 738, fol. 3b). https://openaccess.firat.edu.tr/handle/11508/16014
Online sources
