Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâʻîlün Mefâʻîlün Feʻûlün

Ḫıyânet eyleyüp bir niçe bedḫˇâh
Ṭarîḳ-i şerʻi ḳoyup oldı gümrâh
Ḫaṭâdan ṣaḳlasun sen cânı Allâh
Ḳul olduḳ sen şehe lillâh u billâh
Eyâ şehzâde-i tâc-ı civân-baḫt
Ḫudâ erzânî ḳıla tâc ile taḫt
İrişdi Rûm iline emr-i şâhî
Mü’ekked yaʻnî emr-i pâdişâhî
Ki olavuz sen şehüñ dâ’im penâhı
ʻUbûdiyetler idevüz kemâhî
Eyâ şehzâde-i tâc-ı civân-baḫt
Ḫudâ erzânî ḳıla tâc ile taḫt
Hemân ilġâ idüp pâşâyı aʻẓam
Ḳarâr itmedi bir arada bir dem
Kimesne gitmedi kendüden aḳdem
Olup pâ-bûsüñ ile şâd [u] ḫürrem
Muḥibb-i ḫânedân-ı Muṣṭafâ’sun

In English

1. (Stanza V) Many an ill-wisher has betrayed and, abandoning the path of the sacred law, has gone astray. May God keep your soul from harm; for God's sake and by God, we have become servants to you, the shah. O prince of youthful fortune and the crown, may God deem crown and throne worthy of you.

2. (Stanza VI) The shah's command, a confirmed command, that is, the sultan's command, reached the land of Rum: "O shah, let us be your refuge always and serve you as is due." O prince of youthful fortune and the crown, may God deem crown and throne worthy of you.

3. (The first four lines of stanza VII) The grand vizier at once annulled (this command) and did not rest a moment in one place; no one could go before him; in the joy and gladness of kissing the foot … (the rest of the stanza has not been published; it is not clear whom the lines address).

4. (A line whose stanza is not stated) You are a friend of the house of Mustafa (the Prophet) (or: you are Mustafa, a friend of the dynasty).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

These fragments are taken from a eulogy (methiye) on folios 39a-39b of Sirâcî's divan, written according to Maruf Çakır for Prince Mustafa. Çakır describes the eulogy as a mütekerrir müseddes: each stanza has six lines, and the couplet "Eyâ şehzâde-i tâc-ı civân-baḫt / Ḫudâ erzânî ḳıla tâc ile taḫt" is repeated at the end of each stanza. Çakır did not publish the whole eulogy; in his article he quotes the fifth and sixth stanzas, the first four lines of the seventh stanza and a line whose stanza is not stated; only these fragments are given here. Çakır gives the sixth and seventh stanzas one after the other with the reference "Methiye/VI-VII". The source does not state the metre; the lines fit the "mefâʻîlün mefâʻîlün feʻûlün" pattern, and this identification is our own.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

According to Çakır, Prince Mustafa's name is not mentioned directly in the eulogy, but the poem is a praise of a prince, and the prince praised is presented as the one most worthy of the throne; the devotion seen in Sirâcî's elegies makes it difficult to think that this eulogy was written for another prince. Çakır also notes that the line "Muḥibb-i ḫânedân-ı Muṣṭafâ'sun", whose stanza is not stated, can be read in two ways, and that with the reading "Muḥibb-i ḫânedân Muṣṭafâ'sun" (you are Mustafa, a friend of the dynasty) the poet points to Prince Mustafa through a play on words. The prayer in the refrain, "Ḫudâ erzânî ḳıla tâc ile taḫt" (may God deem crown and throne worthy of you), in Çakır's words stresses the prince's fitness for the sultanate and shows that in the people's eyes his place was the throne.

According to Çakır's summary, in the first four stanzas the poet describes the prince's justice, intelligence, courage and generosity and his superiority over the other princes. The fifth stanza speaks of a betrayal and asks God to protect the prince; Çakır regards this stanza as recalling the rumours spread about the prince and thinks that the eulogy may have been written close to the execution.

Historical Context

The sixth and seventh stanzas are where Çakır dwells most. According to Çakır, the sixth stanza shows that a command came from the sultan to Sirâcî, a timar-holding bey, and to the other beys of Anatolia, asking them to act in support of the prince and to protect him. The seventh stanza tells how the grand vizier Rüstem Pasha annulled this command and, acting before everyone else, reached the capital to meet the sultan; in the end Süleyman was persuaded that the prince had rebelled. Çakır connects this interpretation with the rumours among the janissaries during the Persian campaign that the sultan wished to set Prince Mustafa in his place and that Rüstem Pasha prevented it. This reading is Çakır's and should be treated with caution given the brevity of the fragments. The three elegies Sirâcî wrote for Prince Mustafa are separate articles in this category; the other elegies are described in our article Elegies for Prince Mustafa.

Bibliography

  • Maruf Çakır, "Sirâcî'nin Şehzade Mustafa Mersiyeleri", Kocatepe İslami İlimler Dergisi, 4(1), 2021, pp. 14-15, 17-18. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/kiid/article/892994
  • Sirâcî, Dîvân, Istanbul University Rare Works Library, Turkish Manuscripts, NCTY09503, fols. 39a-39b (copied 1055/1645-46; as published by Çakır).

Online sources