Fakri’s Poetic Commentary on a Ghazal in the Shathiye Genre by Nevâyî
“Shathiyas,” especially prevalent in the Sufi poetry branch of Islamic literature, are poems often deemed absurd at first glance as they seem to deviate from Islamic teachings and are sometimes perceived as contrary to reason and logic. In Turkish literature, commentaries have been written to elucidate the hidden meanings behind the metaphors and similes in the shathiyas of mystics, such as Mevlana, Yunus Emre, and Hacı Bayram-ı Veli, as well as many other poets. These commentaries aim to demonstrate that such poems are not against religious principles. In Turkish literature, we see different commentaries on Yunus Emre’s famous “Şathiye”. In addition to identifying different commentaries written on the poems of poets whose shathiyes are known in Turkish literature, it is also possible to identify poems with shathiye characteristics of some poets whose shathiye writings are not known according to our current knowledge. This study focuses on the 384th ghazal in Ali Şîr Nevâyî’s Divan, titled Fevayidu’l-Kiber, which shows characteristics of a shathiya. This study draws attention to the poetic commentary written by the contemporary Chagatai poet Fakrî on this shathiya. After referencing Fakrî and his Divan in the National Library of France, both poets’ texts will be provided with intralingual translations. This study also discusses the linguistic features of Nevâyî and Fakrî’s poetry and concludes by presenting a digital copy of the text where both poems are included together.
Nevâyî’nin Şathiye Türündeki Bir Gazeline Fakrî’nin Manzum Şerhi
İslamî edebiyatların özellikle tasavvufî şiir kolunda örnekleri çok görülen şathiyeler, bazı örnekleri ilk okunduğunda görünüşte İslam dininin hükümlerine uymadığı düşünülen, çoğu zaman da akla ve mantığa zıt olarak algılandıkları için saçma kabul edilen şiirlerdir. Türk edebiyatında Mevlâna, Yunus Emre ve Hacı Bayram-ı Veli gibi mutasavvıfların ve diğer bir çok şairin şathiyelerine hem mecaz ve benzetmeler arkasına gizlenmiş olan manalarını izah etmek hem de bu türden şiirlerin dine aykırı olmadığını göstermek için şerhler yazılmıştır. Özellikle Yunus Emre’nin meşhur şathiyesinin farklı şerhlerine rastlanmaktadır. Türk edebiyatında şathiyeleri bilinen şairlerin bu şiirlerine yazılan farklı şerhlerin tespit edilmesi kadar şu anki bilgilerimize göre şathiye yazdıkları bilinmeyen bazı şairlerin şathiye özelliği gösteren şiirlerinin tespiti de muhtemeldir. Nitekim bu çalışmada, daha önce şathiye yazdığına dair herhangi bir kayda rastlamadığımız Alî Şîr Nevâyî’nin, Fevâyidü’lKiber isimli divanında yer alan ve şathiye özelliği gösterdiği görülen bir gazeline ve son dönem Çağatay şairlerinden Fakrî’nin bu şathiyeye yazdığı manzum bir şerhe dikkat çekilecektir. Çalışmamızda öncelikle Fakrî’ye ve Fransa Milli Kütüphanesi’nde bulunan divanına işaret edildikten sonra her iki şairin ilgili metinlerine yer verilecek, ardından bunların diliçi çevirileri yapılacaktır. Nevâyî ve Fakrî’nin şiirlerinin dil özelliklerine de değinilen çalışmamızda iki şiirin bir arada yer aldığı metnin dijital kopyası da sunulacaktır.
Derived from the word shatah, which literally means “to move and overflow,” it is defined as “words uttered by a Sufi in Sufi states, such as sekr, vecd, cezbe, galebe, inbisat, istiğrak, cem‘, fanâ and tevhîd-i zâtî in which he cannot control himself” and used as the general name for poems sung in a state of rapture, especially among Sufi poets, since the 8th century, the aim of not being understood by everyone is dominant in the type of poems in the shathiye genre. After the shathiyes of early Sufis, such as Bayezid-i Bistâmî and Hallâc-ı Mansûr, it is generally seen that Sufi poets wrote shathiyes in Islamic literatures. It is not known who wrote the first shathiye in Turkish literature, but especially Yunus Emre's shathiyes are famous and we have many commentaries. For example, we have 10 different commentaries on Yunus Emre's famous sathiye, and other commentaries may exist. In addition to the possibility of identifying different commentaries on the poems of Yunus Emre and other poets who wrote shathiye in Turkish literature, there is also the possibility of identifying poems by some poets who are not known as shathiye poets.
In this study, we point to a ghazal that shows shathiye characteristics and is found in Nevâyî’s divan named Fevâyidü’lKiber, based on a poetic commentary written by a poet with the pseudonym Fakrî on a poem of Nevâyî that shows shathiye characteristics. After pointing out Fakrî and the divan in which this poetic commentary is found in our study, we include Nevâyî’s shathiye and Fakrî’s commentary.
The verse commentary that Fakrî made on Nevâyî’s ghazal, which exhibits the characteristics of the shathiye, is included in the divan under the heading “translation.” Fakrî’s divan is registered in the National Library of France (Bibliothèque Nationale de France) under the number Supplément Turc 977. This verse commentary is located between pages 24b-25a of this copy of the divan. It is not clear whether the word “translation” in the title of this commentary was used by Fakrî or the copyist, but it is clear that what is meant by “translation” is “commentary.” In the text that we will examine below, Fakrî did not try to convey the meaning of Nevâyî’s ghazal with different words but explained or commented on what should be understood from the verses of this ghazal. In fact, it is seen that Fakrî named this activity as “commentary” in the last couplet that he added to the end of his commentary, which we present below.
Fakrî, while commenting on Nevâyî’s ghazal in verse, each time first gave a couplet of Nevâyî’s ghazal that showed the characteristics of shathiye, and then he himself commented on it with two couplets. This structure was broken only in one place. The fourth couplet of Nevâyî’s ghazal was commented on by Fakrî with a single couplet. After commenting on the seventh and last couplet of Nevâyî’s ghazal with two couplets, Fakrî ended his commentary by adding another couplet in which he pointed out the end of the commentary and the spiritual help of Nevâyî’s spirituality.
When we look at Nevâyî’s shathiye, which was commented on by Fakrî, we see that his words, which seem meaningless at first glance, like other sufi shathiyes that have examples in Turkish literature, are actually symbols and metaphors. According to the commentary by Fakrî, Nevâyî actually describes the perfect man who reaches perfection by passing through his own self on the path of Sufi love in the context of the concepts of fanâ and beka. While doing this, we see that he establishes positive relationships and bonds between objects and events that do not have a relationship under normal conditions or have the opposite relationship and that he draws the reader’s attention to these meaningless expressions by qualifying the situations expressed with words, such as “turfe, turferak, and muhâl.”
This study brings several issues to the attention of researchers. First of all, we draw attention to a poem in Nevâyî’s divan called Fevâyidü’l-Kiber. It is obvious that in the studies to be conducted on Nevâyî’s divans, it should be revealed whether there are other poems of this type and the works of this great Turkish poet should be examined from this perspective. With our study, the existence of a last Chagatai poet who introduced himself as “Fakrî” and “Fakr-i Tâhir” both in this poem and in the other poems in his divan has been revealed.
