Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün fe‘ūlün

Ḳapuñdur ḳıble-i erbāb-ı ḥācāt
İşigün menba‘-ı ehl-i sa‘ādet
Bizümle ṣoḥbeti te’ḫīre ṣalma
Bilürsin çünki fi’t-te’ḫīri āfāt
Şifādur la’li çeşmi ḥikmetü’l-‘ayn
Rumūz-ı ġamzesi şerḥ-i işārāt
Çü vaṣlı va‘desin ferdāya ṣaldı
Çaġırdı cān u dil heyhāt heyhāt
Lebüñ vaṣf eylese Ca‘fer gören dir
Zihī şīrīn ma‘ānī ter ‘ibārāt

In English

1. Your door is the qibla of those who have needs, your threshold the fountainhead of the people of felicity.

2. Do not put off keeping company with us; for you know that "in delay there are calamities".

3. Her ruby lip is the Şifâ, her eye the Hikmetü'l-ayn, the signs of her glance the Şerhu'l-İşârât. (Each is the title of a book read in the madrasa; they also mean healing, the wisdom of the eye and the explanation of signs.)

4. When she put off her promise of union until tomorrow, soul and heart cried out "heyhat, heyhat" (how far, how far).

5. If Ca'fer describes your lips, whoever sees it says, "what sweet meanings, what fresh expressions".

Literary and Historical Commentary

Describing Beauty with Madrasa Books

The third couplet of the ghazal sets up a game that recalls that the poet was a madrasa professor. The beloved's lip is called the Şifâ, her eye the Hikmetü'l-ayn, the signs of her glance the Şerh-i İşârât. These are books of Islamic philosophy and logic read in the madrasas: Avicenna's al-Shifā', Najm al-Dīn al-Kātibī's Ḥikmat al-ʿayn and Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī's commentary on Avicenna's al-Ishārāt. The words also keep their everyday meanings: the lip heals the sick, the eye is "the wisdom of the eye", and the veiled signs of the glance can be understood only with a commentary. Câfer Çelebi was a scholar who had studied with the great teachers of his day such as Hacı Hasanzâde, Hatîbzâde and Hocazâde; this couplet is one of the places where he carries his madrasa learning into the description of the beloved.

In the second couplet an Arabic saying enters the line unchanged: "fi't-te'ḫīri āfāt", in delay there are calamities. The "heyhāt heyhāt" of the fourth couplet recalls the Qur'anic phrase in the sura al-Mu'minūn that voices the unbelievers' sense that the Hereafter is far away; here it tells how far off is the union the beloved has put off till "tomorrow". The habit Erünsal notes in Câfer Çelebi of setting well-known sayings, proverbs, Qur'anic verses and hadith between the lines appears twice in this short ghazal.

A Response to Ahmedî and a Problem of Rhyme

Nazmî's anthology places this ghazal after Ahmedî's ghazal beginning "Yüzüñdür kıblegâh-ı ehl-i hâcât"; the group also contains a response by Hicrî and two by Nazmî. In Ahmedî the qibla is the beloved's face and the prayer niche her brow; Câfer Çelebi moves the qibla to the beloved's door.

In the edition the second line of the opening couplet ends "İşigün menba‘-ı ehl-i sa‘ādet". To the ear "sa‘ādet" does not rhyme with "ḥācāt"; Erünsal counts this couplet among the rare examples in the divan of eye rhyme, built on words that look alike in Arabic script but are pronounced differently. In Nazmî's anthology, however, the same line reads "İşigüñ menba‘-ı ‘izz ü sa‘âdât", and the rhyme "-āt" agrees fully with the other words of the ghazal (āfāt, işārāt, heyhāt, ‘ibārāt). As for the third couplet, the thesis records the construct form "ġamze-i" for "ġamzesi" in the Hâlet Efendi and Ayasofya copies.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • İsmail E. Erünsal (ed.), Tâcî-zâde Ca‘fer Çelebi Dîvânı, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018 (e-book), p. 323, ghazal no. 11. https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/TR-211662/taci-zade-cafer-celebi-divani.html
  • İsmail E. Erünsal, "Ca‘fer Çelebi'nin Edebî Kişiliği", introduction to Tâcî-zâde Ca‘fer Çelebi Dîvânı, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018 (e-book), pp. 59, 66 and note 294 (eye rhyme). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr

Academic studies

  • İsmail E. Erünsal, The Life and Works of Tâcî-zâde Ca‘fer Çelebi, with a Critical Edition of His Dîvân, PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1977, vol. 2, ghazal no. 11 (variants). https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/17182

Official sources

Online sources