'

God

hath Treasuries aneath the Throne, the Keys

whereof are the Tongues of the

Poets.'

H ad

- i

She

i f.

HISTORY
OF

OTTOMAN POETRY
BY

E.

J.

W. GIBB, M.

VOLUME

R. A.S.

LONDON
LUZAC &

CO.,

GREAT RUSSELL STREET

1900

J
(/

RA

'uL27
TV

0"^

^>^

1S65

TO^^t^^

994016

PRINTED BY

E. J.

BRILL. LEYDEN.

PREFACE.
The History
So

far

of

Ottoman Literature has yet

to be written.

no serious work has been published, whether

in

Turkish

or in

any foreign language, that attempts to give a comprehensive view of the whole field. Such books as have appeared
up

till

Poetry.

now deal, like the present, with one side only, namely,
The reason why Ottoman prose has been thus

neglected

lies

probably

in

the fact that until within the last

Turkish writing that was wholly or

half-century nearly
mainly literary or artistic in intention took the form of verse.
all

Prose was as a rule

reserved

for

practical

and

utilitarian

purposes. Moreover, those few prose works that were artistic

in

aim, such as the

Humayiin-Name and the

later

Khamsa-i

Nergisi, were invariably elaborated upon the lines that at

the time prevailed in poetry. Such works were of course

not in metre; but this apart, their authors sought the same
ends as did the poets, and sought to attain these by the
same means. The merits and demerits of such writings therefore

are practically the

The History

same

as those of the

contemporary

Ottoman Poetry is thus nearly equipoetry.

valent to the History of Ottoman Literature. All the same,
an account of the work dune b)' the Ottomans in prose ought
be available; and

to

of

supply such an account

to

is

among

the hopes of the present writer.

Within
few

recent

years

there

monographs dealing

with

have appeared
individual

in

poets,

Turkish a
also

some

VI

newspaper and magazine

articles

without detail the whole

field

and suggestive, are of necessity quite inadequate.

often valuable

The only

which survey briefly and

of literature. These, though

serious attempt yet

made

of any branch of this literature

is

at the systematic

that

study

made more than

half

by Baron von Hammer-Purgstall in his wellknown 'History of the Ottoman Poetic Art.' But the monua century ago

mental work so called hardly answers to its name; it is less

a history of Ottoman poetry than a dictionary of Ottoman
poets.

There

Tezkires,

exist

that

who

of

lives

in

number

Turkish a

'Memoirs of the

is,

flourished

at

Poets,'

of works called

which give the

certain

poets
periods, together
with specimens of their work. Von Hammer's great book
is not much more than a translation of these Tezkires, with

the

in approximate chronological order.

attempt to trace the development of
the poetry, to point out the various forces by which it has
been affected, or to distinguish the relative positions of even

entries

He makes

the

arranged

but

greatest

little

whether as regards the merit of their

poets,

actual achievement, the nature of their indebtedness to their

predecessors,

or

the measure of the influence they exerted

over their contemporaries and successors.

The work therefore can scarcely be correctly described
as a History.

None

the

them almost

less,

notwithstanding numerous errors,

first attempt, it is of
many
the greatest value as a book of reference. If evidence of the
critical faculty be somewhat to seek, we find on the other

of

inevitable in a

hand almost every detail that can be gleaned from the Tezkires and other Turkish authorities. Every poet, every versifier,
of

whom Von Hammer

slight,
'

is

entered

in

his

any mention, however

Thus
although the last of
pages.

could

find

'Geschichte dcr Osmanischcn Dichtkunst,'

Pcsth, 1836-8.

liy

Hammer-Purgstall, 4

vols.,

Vll

volumes was published as lon^ ago as 1838, he has

two hundred entries, each dealing with a
His book is therefore likely to remain for
different poet.
his four

thousand

two

'

many
its

to

year

them
In

come, what

the

publication,

has been since the day of

it

sheet-anchor of

all

whose pursuits lead

Ottoman literature.
work
no attempt is made
present

to the study of

the

to

Von

rival

supplement his labours, not to

supersede them. In order to do the latter, not a History of
Ottoman Poetry, but a more accurate and more complete

Hammer; my

Biographical

to

to

Dictionary

of

The student who

required.

able

is

object

dispense

Ottoman

the

possesses this

Von Hammer's;

with

Poets,

work

would be

will

not be

of the latter 's two

thousand two hundred poets, probably barely a tenth

in

appear

these

My

pages.

object

is

will

rather to bring into

prominence that aspect of the subject which has been

left

comparatively unnoticed by my talented and industrious

precursor; I have endeavoured to trace the successive phases
through which Ottoman poetry has passed, to discover the
influences which have brought these about, and in this
to

present

as

it

were a panorama of the

rise

way

and progress

of this poetry.

My

chief purpose,

however,

in

writing

supply Orientalists with a sketch of the

to

this

book

is

not

development of

Ottoman poetry, but to place within reach of English readers

some account of a literature which has as yet been hartlly
touched

upon

by any writer

in

our language. Concerning

the Arabic and Persian literatures a certain amount

known; but regarding

that

of

Turkey

there

is

still

is

now

blank

ignorance, an ignorance which not unfrccpiently leads to the

somewhat inconsequent conclusion

'

In a very few instances the

owing

to

some confusion

in

that 'the

Turks have no

same poet has been entered more than once,

the authorities.

Vlll

As

literature.'

it

towards

thing

myself

the

in

my

is

hope and

removing

this

my

endeavour to do some-

ignorance,

have addressed

place to the average English reader

first

who

wholly innocent of any Oriental learning. I have therefore

explained many things, in the notes and elsewhere, which,

is

had

been writing exclusively

unnoticed,

for scholars,

as

should have

familiar

to

These

for

everyone
being perfectly
any Muhammedan literature.
Of the many difficulties which beset the path of one who
undertakes a work like the present, not the least is that

left

interested in

of

procuring
still

part

books

it

necessary materials.

the

remain

in

would be desirable to have,

And

sible task.

have succeeded

is

all

the

a practically impos-

although after several years of search

so,
in

the most

manuscript; and to get together

forming a collection which,

when

supple-

mented by the volumes bearing on the subject preserved in

Museum, has placed within my reach nearly all
the more necessary of such books, there still remains a
number which I have been unable to consult, and access to

the British

which would have allowed me

more complete.
The scheme of
which

is

this

Introductory,

to

make my work somewhat

History is in Six Books, the first of

while each of the others deals with

one of the Five Periods into which

Ottoman poetry. Of

of

have divided the story

these Six Books, the First and Second

are contained in the present

Volume.

In order to assist the reader in realising, so far as this

is

what Ottoman
possible without a knowledge of the language,
1

list

of

tlic

works consulted

with indices to the notes,

etc.,

in the preparation of the History, together

will be printed in the final volume.

On the completion of the History I hope to issue a supplementary volume

in the work. In the meantime
containing the texts of all the poems translated
the first line of the text of every translated passage will be found in an
Appendix

to

the volume in which the translation occurs.

IX

poetry is actually like, I have in most cases supplemented

the account of a poet's works by one or more translated
extracts. The end I IkuI in \ iew would not have been attained

by a prose

even by a versified renderin<^ of

translation, or

the usual sort from which every trace of the external form
of the

has vanished. That end was to be attained

original

only by

a translation in which this form should be reproduced.

such

Moreover,

reproduction

in

is,

my

essentials of a satisfactory translation.

Symonds most

'

truly says,

opinion, one of the

As

the late Mr.

J.

A.

a good translation should resemble

English being plaque upon the original,

exact form, although it cannot convey
the effects of bronze or marble which belong to the material
a

plaster-cast,

the

so as to reproduce

of the

work of
same

tically the

its

art.'

The

principle thus laid

as that enunciated

down

is

prac-

and observed with signal

admirable and scholarly

by Mr. John Payne in his

of The Thousand and One Nights and the

success

translations

Quatrains of ^Omar-i
of Oriental poetry,

it

Khayyam. Applied

to the translation

involves the preservation of the exterior

form of the verse by following the movement of the rhyme,

retaining,

when

possible, the identity in

number of the

syl-

and suggesting the rhythm by the fall

of the accent. These then are the practical rules by which

lables

in

each

line,

have been guided so

concerned. But while

is

external

structure,

far as

the form of the translations

have been thus respectful of the

have not allowed my care for this to
I

prejudice the sense of the poem.

have throughout striven

to be as literal as possible, omitting nothing of importance,

and carefully guarding against the introduction of metaphors

or similes for which the original gives no warrant. In this

way

'

hope

to have succeeded in presenting in these trans-

Wine, Women, and Song,'

p. 38.

lations
is

The

who

critic

offer

them

do well to bear

However learned he may

the knowledge he

he must yet

in

poetry, and

it

to the reader's notice.

seeks to appraise the Hterary works of a

will

foreign people
limitations.

Ottoman

of photographs of

series

only as such that

may

some

in

mind

be,

his

own

inevitable

and however scholarly

possess of the language in question,

respects stand at a disadvantage beside

A word or a phrase often suggests,

dictionary-meaning, a world of associations

the native school-child.

over and above

its

perceived by every native, but which for the

have
no existence. And it is not unfrequently in
foreigner
the happy employment of such suggestive word or phrase
instinctively

that

chief merit

the

points such as this, or

charm of

of the

literary

more

subtle

still,

in

languages, and should,

literature

all

passage

lies.

constitute something
if

considered, tend everywhere to give the foreign critic

duly

Ottoman poetry, owing

pause,

which characterised
tains

But while

of a

quality.

far

less

For

hard and

this

fast

it

till

proportion

the extreme artificiality

than

is

usual

of this intimate

hedged in on every
that there would almost seem

poetry

rules,

to

within the last few decades, con-

is

so

side

by

to have

been a deliberate conspiracy to block every avenue against

spontaneity and individuality. The success of a poet was
held to be determined in no small measure

by the

skill

he

dancing among many glasses without overturning any one of them. And here at any rate the foreign
critic stands on an equal footing with the Ottoman. The
displayed

in

game can be learned equally well by anyone,

who chooses to take the necessary trovible;

rules

of the

Turk

or foreigner,

and once they are mastered, it is easy enough to see whether

they have been observed.
Still this is only one side of the matter; there is another
and

far

more

vital

did

those

poets, with

all

their verbal

XI

jugglery and intellectual gymnastic, give true and adequate

expression to the spirit of their world ? The answer to this
is

question

the verdict of their success or failure.

And

surely

whom

they wrote, those who lived in the same

world and breathed the same moral and intellectual atmo-

those

for

sphere, are the best qualified to give this answer.

have there-

whenever these have been obtainable, given prominence

to the opinions of the Ottoman critics on the Ottoman poets,
fore,

more

when poet and

especially

critic

have been contemporary

At the same time I have not refrained from

expressing my own views, even when these are at variance
or

nearly so.

with

the

opinions of the Turkish authorities. In such cases

reader must not take

the

all

my

conclusions as advanced with

they are presented, as indeed are

observations I have ventured to make, simply

any pretension to
the critical

finality;

the impressions of a foreign student who has tried to

understand the works of the Ottoman poets and to enter
as

into
It
I

sympathy with them.

remains

me

for

have received

in

who have

to

all

to

my

gratefully to

my

work.

acknowledge the assistance

here tender

my sincere thanks

any way helped me, more especially

friends Cherkesh-Sheykhi-zade Khalil Khalid Efcndi

and Professor

in

Muhammed

Barakat-ullah, the latter

has with the utmost kindness placed at

(^f

disposal the stores

E.

J.

of his great erudition.

15,

Chepstow

Villas,

Alay,

London,

900.

VV.

whom

my

\V. GlUH.

ON THE PRONUNCIATION OF THE OTTOMAN

NAMES AND WORDS.
As

the

present work

addressed in the

is

first

place to the general reader,

no attempt has been made, when transliterating Oriental names and words,
to distinguish between the several homophonous letters of the Ottoman alphabet.

definite

system of transliteration has, however, been observed

The Ottoman vowel-system

ficient to note

is

to

and attention

remarks will ensure an approximately correct pronunciation.

to the following

is

but

elaborate;

liit^hly

hero

will l)e suf-

it

be pronounced as a

in

but rather shorter.

^far,'

eiu

'met.' (e at the end of a

be

sounded:

fully

are

be pronounced as

to

word must always

thus name, zade, tezkire,

written n.d-meh,

if

za-deh, tez-ki-reh.)
i

in

'pin.'

some cases

(In

in

'bird;'

in

the

this

has

is

it

u in

'

is

rule.' (In

tlius

pronounced

uiauy

ca.scs

o.

F"

In the

name

the

in a
u,

of the

liolu.)

is

prououiiced like

been distinguished. Occasionally

like the

occurs

French u in 'tu' or 'du;'

the

as

pronounced

been distinguished

one containing o or

pronounced as u:

town Boli

is

When

transliteration.

syllable preceded by

it

not

this

has not

it is

sounded

reach eu in 'deux,' or the German

more important cases

this last

pro-

nunciation has been represented by 6 in the

transliteration.)
a,

1,

u,

occur only

stand

for

in

the

.Vrabic

or

Persian words; in these languages they

long sounds corresponding to the short

a,

i,

in

XIV
Tuikish
or

a,

Uiere

or accent,

ay

is

to

ey

are

occurs to receive a stress

it

has generally the sound of

'

in

machine.'

be pronounced as ay in 'ay' or 'aye' meaning 'yes,'

The consonants

are to be

i.e. as 'I.'

ey in 'they.'

as in English, subject to the

following

pronounced

notes:

uo long vowels, but the presence of

properly

causes the syllable in which

li

ch as ch in 'church.'
g

is

always hard as in

is

followed by

when

as

has

is

Nigar
a

'get,'

sound

as

written

if

(When

'gin.'

introduced between them, just

When

Nigyar.

melt away into

to

soft as in 'gem,'

is

says 'gyarden' instead of 'garden:' thus the

Cockney

pronounced

tendency

never

'give,'

a slight y

a,

name

g follows a vowel

y; thus the

written

title

Beg

it

is

pronounced Bey.)
is

gh

it

pronounced

as

in 'ghastly' or 'ghost.'

gh

'through' and 'throughout:' thus oghli

h must always be

fully

the middle or at the

(When gh
much

has a tendency to melt away into a sort of w,

(When k

pronounced whether
end of a word,

followed by

is

as

exactly

the

in

is

pronounced

words

like o-lu.)

introduced between them,

is

thus the

avowal

occurs at the beginning, in

it

a slight y sound

a,

case of g and a

follows

as in our

word Katib

is

pronounced

Kyatib.)

kh had

originally

'Nacht;'

but

sound of ch

the

nowadays

khanim, Sheykhi,

is

it

tari'kh,

in

the

pronounced

Scotch

'

loch

'

or the Gei^man

like a simple h: thus

khan,

are pronounced as though written han, hanim,

Sheyhi, tarih.

n had formerly
q

is

sound, but

a nasal

like

pronounced exactly

now

is

generally pronounced as a simple n.

thus qasida, Baqi, ''Ashiq, are pronounced

as if written kasida, Baki, ^Ashik.

s

sh

is
is

always sharp as

'^

represents

the

'

ignored

in

'

shall,'

rash,'

Arabic letter "^Ayn

middle of a word,
in the breath;

never

in 'mouse,'

the English sh in

when

its
it

is

presence

flat

and

as in 'reason.'

so on.

in Turkish,

when

this

occurs at the beginning of a word,

pronunciation

occurs in the

indicated by a slight hiatus or catch

it

is

entirely

thus Reff i and ''Ashiq are pronounced Refi-i

and Ashik.
indicates that a letter

is

omitted

when

this occurs

between two vowels,

XV
also has the value of a slight hiatus, as in

it

the

name

^Atd^i

pronoun-

ced Atd-i.

Wlien
thus

letter

value, as in our

the

doubled

the

last

is

less

syllable

in

is
'

compound,

Accentuation
rule

is

word mukhammes

the

is

doubled in pronouncing;

also

marked than

word receives a

in

is

pronounced

its

receiving

English; but as a general

certain stress,

word contain one of the Arabic or Persian long vowels

gha^el

home-made.'

strongly

of a

it

writing

pronounced niu-ham-racs, each

as gha-zel ratlier than as gha-zel;

and
a,

and the

this

even

or u

last

if

thus

syllable

of qasida takes a slight accent, qa-si-da, notwithstanding the presence of the

i

middle syllable.

in the

In
the

of Oriental

case

the

words

Of such words

pronunciation.

and Dervish, which according

Hiiri,

Vezir)

Sultan,

Beg, Qadi

been

has

used

have become naturalised in English,

that

been retained when

ordinary spelling has

(for

instead

are

Islam,

to the system

of

would be written Islam, Qur^dn,

Dervish.

Qdzi),

the

adequately represents the

this

Koran, Houri, Sultan, Bey, Cadi,

On

barbarous

the other
Vizier,

hand Vezir

Khalifa

(for

instead of

Caliph, Muslim instead of Moslem.

In

the

san\e

way,

with

been employed instead of

the

case

of

to

regard

become established by usage, such

as

geographical

names

forms that have

Aleppo, Cairo, Baghdad, Crimea, have

their originals,

Ilaleb, Qdhira,

Baghddd, (^irim;

in

Greek and other European names modified by the Turks, the

original form has been retained

Smyrna, Bosnia,

when

for Edirne, Izmir,

this is the

more

familiar, thus, Adrianople,

Bosna; otherwise the Turkish modification

has been used, thus, Qonya, Iznik, Izmid, for Iconium, Niciea, Nicomedia.

LIST
'^Osman
of his

tril)e

Ol'

THE OTTOMAN

succeeded his father Er-Toghrul, son of Sulcynian Shiih, as chief

in

A.

II.

687 (A. D. 1288); he became an independent sovereign

on the dissolution of the

The

SULTy\NS.

Seljiiq

Empire

in

A. H. 699 (A.

1).

1299).

dates are those of the Sovereign's accession, according to the

medan and

Christian eras.
11.

A.D.

son of Er-Toghrul

699

1299

son of '"Osman

726

1326

761

1359

792

1390

A.
1

'^Osman

Orkhan

Murcid

4 Bayezid

son of Orkhan

son of Murad

Interregnum (The Princes Suleyman,

Miisa, and

Mehemmed,

'^sa,

sons of Ikiyezi'd

I,

Muham-

XVlll

CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

Page

Preface

On

the Pronunciation of the

Ottoman Names and Words

xiii

Ottoman Sultans

List of the

xvii

xix

Corrigenda

BOOK

Intkouuctuky

I:

The Origin, Character and Scope of Ottoman

Chapter
Chapter II: Tradition, Philosophy and Mysticism
Chapter III: Verse- Forms, Prosody and Rhetoric
Chapter IV: Historical Outline
I

BOOK

II:

The

First Period

Note on the Authorities

Chapter
Imre.

I:

33
70
125

139

Jeldl-ud-Din. Sultan Vcled. Viinus

The Beginning of Secular Poetry

Teftazani.

201

III: The First Ottoman Poets

Ahmed.

Niyazi.

Suleyman

Chelebi

Chapter IV:

Riveting the Voke

225
Prince Suleyman's Poets. Ahmed-i

Da'^i

Chapter V: The Romancists Ahmedi

Chapter VI: The Romancists (continued) Sheykhi
Chapter VII: The Hunifis Nesi'mi. Rcfii
Chapter VIII: The Scribe and his Sons Salah-ud-Din.
Mehemmed

249

260
299
336
Vaziji-oghli

389

Lyric Writers. Mevlevis. Romancists

Chapter IX: Minor Poets
The Position at the Close of the
Chapter X: Concluding Remarks
.

411

441

Lines of the Turkish Text of the Poems translated in Volume

I.

First Period. Eastern

APPENDIX:
First

^4\^

Cadi

Burhan-ud-Din

Chapter

The Early Mystics

II:

for the First Period

Ashiq Pasha

Chapter

Poetry

and Western Culture

in the

Middle Ages

451

Page
17

Line

O R R G E N D A.
1

For:

Read:

BOOK

INTRODUCTORY.

CHAPTER
The

I.

Character and Scope of

Ottoman Poetry.

Origin,

long road

before

lies

us.

We

are about to trace the

and development of poetry among the Ottoman Turks,

a people whose literary history began six hundred years ago
rise

and

is

in

still

some glimpse
off

to

We

progress.

shall first

have to try to catch

of the earliest efforts of this poetrj' in the far

days of the founders of the Empire then we shall have

watch it feeling its way, now in this direction, now in that,
;

while the Ottoman

prosperity

itself is

power

next we shall see

it

spreading

being gradually evolved

its

wings

in surer flight as

and security bring increase of culture

then

we

through the seventeenth centur)',

held the gorgeous East in fee after which

shall trace its brilliant course

when of a truth it
we shall pursue its devious
follow, look upon

we

see

in

it

strong fresh

than ever

these

life,

it

its

track

struggles and
latest

days

through
its

burst

the

failures,

forth

till

years that
at length

once again

in

more vigorous, more buoyant, more hopeful

had been

in

the days of the Sulexnidns or the

Ahmeds.

it

But before setting out on our journey through the ages,

will be well to equip ourselves for the road by getting

some idea

as

to

what have been the aims and tendencies

Ottoman poetry, what the conditions under which

of

it

has

been developed, and what the forms of verse in which it

has found expression. We shall therefore first of all try to
learn something of the general characteristics of this poetry

and of the circumstances which have influenced these

which we

shall look at its

Ottoman poetry

may

School.
outset

falls

into

two great divisions which we

the Old or Asiatic School and the

call

The

down

first

after

outward structure.

New

or

European

of these rules unchallenged from the very

to the

second makes

middle of the nineteenth century, when

appearance and in the course of a

few
years wholly supersedes its worn-out rival. This
very
second school differs so widely not merely in the outward
form of its verse, but in its whole bent and purpose from all
the

that

goes

its

that

before,

it

will

be

to leave

better

it

to be

treated apart later on, and to confine ourselves for the present
to the consideration of the

The Old School

of

Old or Asiatic School.

Ottoman poetry covers

period of

and a half centuries; and although during this long time

naturally passed through many stages and underwent many

five
it

modifications,

its

unity was never broken

what

purpose were in the fourteenth century, that

points they were in the nineteenth.

The

five

and a half centuries occupied by

its

form and

in all essential

this

School

may

conveniently divided into Four Periods. The First of

these will cover the century and a half which extends between
A. D. 1300, when the Empire was established, and A. D.

be

1450

during this Period, which might be called the Formative

Age, the Western branch of the Turkish language

'

'

was being

The Turkish language extends through Central and Western Asia from

the frontier of

China

to the shores of the Mediterranean.

Those

dialects that

China and Persia arc grouped together under the name

of East-Turkish, those that prevail between Persia and the Mediterranean
under that of West-Turkish.

are

spoken between

become

fitted

to

which

will

and

1600,

literary

medium. The Second Period,

fifty years between 1450

embrace the hundred and

marks the time when, the

difiiculties

initial

with

the language having been overcome, the poets were able to

give

their chief attention to the study

the

methods

of

the

and reproduction of
Persian

contemporary

school,

that

school at whose head stood the illustrious Jami.

The Third

Period will cover the seventeenth century

marked by

the yet further Persianisation of

supersession of Jami

by

^Urfi,

and

model. The F'ourth Period, which

century and the

poets follow the Persian Shevket

'

;rx

will

half of the nineteenth, differs from the

first

Persianism

tl

by Sa^ib, as literary
embrace the eighteenth

later

others in being an age of uncertainty.

against

is

it

Ottoman poetry, and by

At

first

many

of the

then there comes a reaction

and an unsuccessful attempt to give a

more Turkish character

is followed by
be lost and
to
seems
guiding principle
poetry to be drifting helplessly back to an effete and colourless
Persianism. And it is upon this moribund and hopeless age

time

the

that

arises,

which

in

sun of the

bringing

to poetry

this again

all

new

fresh

life

culture, the culture of the

West,
where lay the shadow of death,

and bright with happy promise for tlie future.

Of course the dates mentioned in connection with those

Four

Periods

must

not

be

considered

as

hard

and

fast

boundar) -lines, a thing so subtle as a literary tendency does

not admit of being mapped out with any such definiteness.
Put looked at broadl)-, these divisions will be found to
correspond

to

as

many

distinct

of considerable

moreover,

movements; and
assistance

prove
study of the development of this poetry.
>

but

By

the term 'Persianism'

Persian

culture

applied by them to

in

thc>^

will,

a systematic

mean here and elsewhere, not a Persian idiom,

adopted by the Ottomans, and more especially, as

matters connected with literature.
as

That great race

to

which the Ottomans belong, that race

which includes not only the Turks both Western and Eastern, but all the so-called Tartars and Turkmans as well as
Mongols, has never produced any religion, philosophy

the

or literature which bears the

This

not in speculation.
things soldiers.

all

times,

were

stamp of

individual genius.

its

because the true genius of that race

is

before

almost

the

at

for

in action,

military

into

Central Asia,

purposes.

When

the

an end, the several clans, families or

who had banded

dividuals

of Islam

introduction

exclusively

was

expedition

lies

The Turks and their kinsfolk are before

The societies which they formed in early

common

together for a

in-

purpose

most often dispersed, very soon to become members of some

new and equally impermanent combination. Had there been
nothing else, the unceasing restlessness of this mode of life

would

have

been

enough

to

these

prevent

people

from

elaborating any profound theory of the universe or developing

anything

The

in

the

way

of literature beyond a mere folk-poetry.

distinguishing qualities of the Turkish race have ever

been the essentially military virtues of courage and loyalty.

Of their courage it is needless to speak all the world knows
;

how from
has

the beginning

down

to the present hour courage

been the birthright of every true Turk. Their loyalty

has been no less persistent, and has manifested

directions.
Jr
-l

It

forms the basis of what

striking characteristic of

Ottoman

is

itself in

many

perhaps the most

literature. It

is

well

exem-

The Turks

are

not naturally a people of strong religious feeling. While

left

plified

in

the relation of the race to Islam.

to themselves, they

had no

before foreign missionaries

definite religion

in ancient times,

came among them, such

religious

notions as they had were confined to a vague nature-worship.

By and by some among them became, under

outside influence,

Buddhists or Christians; afterwards the great majority of the

race accepted Islam, not because that religion

circumstances

in

was peculiarly

their native genius, but as a result of the

harmony with

in

which

the)'

found themselves. Yet from that

Turks have with unflinching courage and

day
defended the religion to which they thus
loyalty
unfaltering
tendered their allegiance. They have not argued much about
to

the

this

neither have they sought to force

it,

of

its

upon other nations;

it

military spirit of their race into

formed
not

it

has been attacked they have been the foremost

defenders. In like manner have the Turks carried the

but whenever

as faithful soldiers,

but obey

discuss

it,

all

the relationships they have

when they

a system, do not criticise but stand by

loyalty

to

once accepted

principles

We

Turkish character.

receive an order, do

so this people,

shall see

how

it.

lies
it

when they accept

This unquestioning

y.

at the root of the

has acted upon their

literature.

Though unable

to

any

originate

literature

which should

give expression to the true genius of their race, the Turkish

peoples were very

far

from despising, or even undervaluing,

Consequently, when they were brought into close

connection with the Persians, although they despised the

culture.

men, looking upon them as braggarts and cowards,

once recognised their superiority in learning and

latter as

they

at

culture.

And

so the

Turks forthwith appropriated the entire

down to its minutest detail, and that^

Persian literary system

in the same unquestioning and whole-hearted fashion in which

did not
they had already accepted Islam. Here again they
were
culture
this
Persian
really
pause to consider whether
in

to

to

harmony with
modify

it

adapt

the

upon Persian

their

own

genius, they did not even attempt

to suit that genius

latter to

lines

and

it,

and

to look

on the contrary, they sought

to force themselves to think

upon things through Persian

thus accepted explains the

eyes. Their loyalty to the system

of the

secret

poetry

long

and indeed

to a single tradition

duration of the Old School of Ottoman

and a half centuries

this fidelity of five

the most truly Turkish characteristic

is

which that poetry has to show.

From

the very beginning then of their literature the Otto-

mans made
their

language such

and terms as were

in

and incorporate into

their practice to select

it

Persian

and Persianised Arabic words

be necessary to

fill
up the deficiencies
These new-comers, while each
form unchanged, were all, so to speak

felt to

their native Tartar dialect.

retained

its

original

in every point to the rules of

were
woven
into the Turanian groundTurkish speech they
work of the language, and thus the Persian was Turkicised,

naturalised,

being subjected
;

not the Turkish

Persianised.

As time went on more and

more of such additions were made

Persian ideas and canons

of taste were adopted and incorporated

of the

Second and

later

so that the language

Periods comes to have the effect

of an elaborate mosaic.
It

is

too

not

much

to say that during the

whole of the

and a half centuries covered by the Old School, though

more especially during the Third Period, every Persian and

five

every Arabic word

was a possible Ottoman word. In thus

borrowing material from the two classical languages a writer

was quite unrestricted save by his own taste and the limit
of his knowledge all that was required was that in case of
need he should give to the foreign words a Turkish gram;

matical form. Since the rise of the

has
to

themselves,
to

New

School

this license

been greatly curtailed. While the tendency has grown

drop such of these words as have failed to naturalise

really

it

has become the practice to confine this borrowing

necessary terms

which
expressions
combinations

chiefly

scientific

or

technical

arc often introduced under forms or in

unknown

in

the

original

language,

precisely

we employ Greek

as

Latin

or

terms

for similar purposes.

But the principle has not changed what was formerly

done with Persian and Arabic is being repeated, though
;

far more discretion, in these days with French. Western

words and Western idioms, necessary to give expression to

with

new

ideas

born

new

of a

civilisation,

are driving the old

Asian phraseology from its time-honoured throne and becoming part and parcel of the living language of to-day.
So far as the mere language is concerned, the eftect obtained

by reading successively three poems, one of the Second

Period, one of the Fourth, and one of the present day, might

be compared to that produced by the shifting combinations

seen

in

succession

kaleidoscope,

of brilliant

devices,

alike in general character, but differing in detail, with each

member standing out distinct and clear.

This system of assimilation was of course not restricted
merely to words and phrases it extended to everything

individual

connected with

We

letters.

shall find that the

Ottoman poetry have been profoundly

of

tone and

affected

foreign literatures which have been accepted as models

is

it

more indebted

still

to

them

for its

accepted was,

as

we know,

while

imagery, subjects

and verse-forms. In the case of the Old School the

thus

spirit

by those

literature

that of Persia, and before

proceeding to examine Turkish poetry itself, let us sec whether

we can discover what were the circumstances which created
Persia the literary instructor of the

mere

tribe of rude

Turkish clan which

in

Ottoman people

'.

and unlettered nomads was the

little

the thirteenth century of our era, flying

would have it that Ottoman literature is modelled rather

on Persian. But such is not the case, except perhaps in
theological and legal writings; in belles lettres, and especially in poetry,
Persian alone is followed. No Ottoman poet ever modelled his style on that
'

on

Some

authorities

Arabic

than

of an Arab poet; whereas ever}' Ottoman poet sought to reproduce something

of the manner of one or other of the Persian masters.

w,

lO
the

before

armies of

terrible

Khan,

len^;!/.

left

home

its

anival

their

that

in

these

land

who by and

new-comers,

by were to form the nucleus of the Ottoman

establisheil there another Turkish ])eo])!e, the
had

time

this

b\'

attained

culture, thanks e-ntirely to Persian tutoraL^e.

had

lieen

century

Tartar

had

they

their

ci\ilised

tlu'ir

contjuests

culture,

till

)ttomans, a

e)t

the eleventh

as

has so often

Turks pushed

Seljiiq

ever carrying; with them Persian

westward,

cm]

towards the

with

the

Rapidly

subjects.

founded the famous

Minor,

when,

Persia,

of

Seljiiqs

barbarian conquerors adopted the culture of

the

happened,

overrun

who

det;"ree

For these

About the middle

clan.

Seljiiqs,

the forefathers of the

like

orii^inally,

barbarous

found

])o\\er,

considerable

very

in

On

Central Asia and followeu Suleynian Shah into Anatolia.

of the eleventh century they

Turkish l^mpire of

Selju<|

(Jonya, the ancient Iconiimi, as

when some hundred and

fifty

later,

years

Rum

its

or

Asia

ca])ita!.

So

Suleyman's son

Kr-Toghrul and his clansmen ]jenetrated into Asia Minor

they found that a!thouL;h Seljuq Turkish was the everyday
speech of tlu: pe-ople, Persian was the lani;ua_L;e of the court,
Persian literatuie and Persian culture rei;j,ned supreme.

while

Er-Tocdu-ul
the
sf)n

once acknowledged himself the vassal of

in which he was f)llowed by liis

at

Sultan, a stej)

SeljiK]

"Osman who

reckoned the

is

him

which takes from

The
of

his

domain

feudal

borderiuL^
his

on

them

as a

the nortli-west of the lunpire,

IJy/.antine territory.

Hardly were 'Osman

their

new home before

the Sejjiiq

to jjieces, shattered

the irresistible

onslaught

fell

of the

l\b)ni4()l

split

in

district

the

and hardihood

sturdy followers, entrusted to

clansmen settled

Empire
then

monarch of the P^mpirc

or Ottoman.

of 'Osm;inli

feeble Seljuq comt, i)erceivin;j; the courac;e

'Osman and

and

fnvst

name

its

u[)

iiosts.

into

in

by

The western

ten

petty

portion

kingdoms,

of the

each

Empire

under

an

independent Turkish chieftain, by whose name it continued

be known so long as it enjoyed a separate existence.

to

These

little

called

the

Orkhan and

in that of

ants,

kingdoms, which together formed what has been

West-Turkish Decarchy, were gradually merged

Turks themselves

with

these

latter,

whence

portion of the people

almost

have,

his successors,
like the

inhabit-

comes that by

far the greater

to the \\orld as

Ottoman Turks

it

known

whereupon the

Ottomans, readily amalgamated

from the outset, been

in

who

reality Seljiiqs

have adopted the Ottoman name.

It

whom

to the Seljuqs with

is

they were thus fused that

the Ottomans, strictly so called, owe their Hterary education;

this therefore was of necessity Persian as the Seljuqs knew

no other. Moreover, as from the very beginning of the Empire

name of Ottoman was, as we have just seen, extended

the
to

men

all

call

in

of

of the

sceptre

Turkish

''Osmanli

Ottoman poetry
a

political

sense

is

race

the

or not,

',

they

passed

under

the

great deal of what

we

work of men who were Ottomans

alone.

But
were

this

makes

little

practical

whether originally
Turks who had been educated on exclusively

difference, as these writers

Ottomans

as

Sultan

all alike,

Persian lines.

What

the

Ottoman did when he succeeded

to the heritage

of the Seljiiq was to create Turkish literature.

there

When

Up

till

then

had

been no Turkish literature worthy of the name.

a Turk had wished to write he had, with a few rare

'
The name Ottoman is a corruption of the Turkish ''Osmanli which properly
means a follower of Osman, and would be exactly rendered by the term
^Osmanite'. It was originally applied to those Turks, whether his own clansmen
or other, who were subject to ^Osmin the first Sultan. But as the Empire of
his successors increased, the name was extended to embrace all Turks included
within it. Thus it frequently happened in those early times that men who

were not 'Ottomans' one year, found

themselves

adays the name is still further extended

Sultan whether Turkish or non-Turkish.

to

such the following.

include

all

Now-

the subjects of the

12

from a literary point of view, unimportant exceptions,

use of the Persian language. Henceforth, decreed the

and,

made

Ottoman,
in

the

let

own

his

Turk who would address the world speak

tongue.

But how to evoke a literary language

tribal and local dialects? The first

from that chaos of rude

was surely some guide to show how thought

should be expressed, some standard by which to determine
the kind of phraseology to be used. As to this guide and

thing needful

standard there could be no hesitation, for there was no choice.

The Turks knew but one

had

they

been

reared.

literature,

And

thus

that of Persia on which

this

brilliant

literature

became, not by selection, but by force of circumstances, the

model

which the Turks should fashion that they were

after

about to found.
This acceptance of Persian guidance was immensely

expression

much
forms,

in

facili-

as found

the folk-songs and popular ballads

had already

tated by the fact that the native Turkish verse

in

common

it

with the Persian system. Metres and verse-

somewhat vague and rough-hewn

it

is

true, but very-

and shape to certain Persian varieties, were in

existence among the Turks as products of genuine homesimilar in

lilt

growth. Consequently when the question arose of elaborating

a vehicle for literary poetry, it was not altogether met by a

mere

wholesale

borrowing from outside, but to a certain

extent by the working up of already existing materials to

more

way

perfect conformity with the accepted standard. In this

good many points

though now

in

the technique of Turkish verse,

identical with their counterparts in the Persian

system, are in their origin not, as superficially appears, loans

from

that

system,

but genuine

native

elements that have

brought into complete conformity with it.

This, however, is a matter of historical interest only, as
every distinctively Turkish characteristic has been carefully

been

artificially

13

pruned away, and the conformity brought about is so perfect

all that appears on the surface, these elements
might,

that for

have been taken over directly from the Persians.

already seen, the Turks were not content with

like the rest,

As we have
learning

from the

went

them

to

how

Persians

to learn

what

to

express thought; they

to think

the

and

in

what way

of everyday

think.

In

and

the business of government, they preferred their

in

practical

ideas; but in

tiie

in

matters,

affairs

to
life

own

spheres of science, philosophy and literature

acknowledged only too freely their deficiency; and

there they went to school with the Persian, intent not merely
they

on

acquiring

his

but

methods,

thinking his thoughts and

on entering into

feeling his feelings.

his spirit,

And

in

this

school they continued so long as there was a master to teach

them
a

for the

it

practice,

look ever

step thus taken at the outset developed into

became the

rule

with

the Turkish poets to

Persia-ward for guidance and to follow whatever

might prevail there. Thus it comes about that for

Ottoman poetry continued to reflect as in a glass

fashion

centuries

the several phases through which that of Persia passed.

much
It

Turkish loyalty.
behoves us therefore at

So

for

this point to learn

something

of the character of this Persian poetry which has so profoundly

we

are about to study. In so doing we shall

over
those sides of this poetry, such as the
pass
which have had no influence in moulding Turkish

affected

that

of course
epic,

verse,

and confine ourselves

directed
are
in

the

now about

Ottoman

poets.

to these that

And

have inspired and

the matters at which

we

have the greater claim on our attention

that they were so thoroughly assimilated by the Turkish
to look

poets that although originally Persian, they are every whit

characteristic of the poetry of the Ottomans as of that
from which they were borrowed.

as

before

Long

time

the

that

the

Ottoman determined

to

create a Turkish Hterature the Persian genius had recovered

from

and

the
the

by the Arab conquest,

was
system
fully developed and

brought

echpse
Persian

poetic

securely established.

more

The

about

first

period of Persian poetry, that

which had produced the

was past and gone, and for a century
^and a half poetry had been in the hands of mystics who
i'deliberately turned awa y from th e__things of eartli and sang
robuster and

national

great

the

in

virile

period

epic,

language of love, borrowed from their predecessors,

of the passionate yearning of the soul for God.

time

this

the

Persian

And

so

was,

mystic-philosophic system

by
like

the Persian poetic system, completely elaborated and organ-

the poetic
The Turks thus found these two systems
and the mystic-philosophic
both fully evolved, and they
accepted both in their entirety. They found moreover that

ised.

two systems were in close alliance; the poet was most

a mystic, and the mystic most often a poet. This
too they accepted as part of the order of nature and for
the

often

ages afterwards the

phraseology of the mystics continued

to form no small portion of the

Ottoman

poet's stock in trade.

would be interesting to enquire into the origin and

development of these two systems, of which the one is as
It

the

body and the other

as the soul of old

But the study would take us too

far afield

Ottoman poetry.
so we must be

content to follow the example of the Turks themselves and

accept the two as ready made, restricting our attention to

what
the

they were when our story opens, and letting pass

how they came to be such. The first, the

question

poetic system,

we

shall consider in detail in

another chapter

but of the second, the mystic-philosophic system we may

here say a few words that will be helpful to us when study,

ing the writings of the

Ottoman

poets.

This mystic-philosophic
/Turks

*
'

two

has

system,
a

Tasavvuf,

Persians and

the

wliich

term

rendered

usually

as

has been well described as an idealistic pantheism.

Sufiism,

It

"Ilm-i

call

sid es;

the one

phil osophic,

These are closely interwoven,

in

the

reality

other

mystic.

they arc but two

of a single whole; but like those iridescent shells

which show one or another tint according to the light in

aspects

which they are viewed, Sufiism presents its one or other

aspect according to the standpoint from which it is regarded.

The

unless they are avowed teachers of the system,

almost wholly from the mystic side, and leave
the philosophic comparatively unnoticed. We may therefore
poets,
it

regard

pass by the latter

current

sophies

we come

till

the

among

to consider the various philo-

Turks,

and

confine our attention to the former, which

of inspiration of well nigh

Of
dental

all

Persian and

many who have sought

the

for
is

the

Ottoman poetry.

to present the transcen-

of the Sufi system none has been

aspect

present

the real sourctV'

more

suc-

than the great Persian poet Jami. In a magnificent

canto in the Introduction to his beautiful poem on the story

cessful

Joseph and Zelikha he tells how and

and the account he gives, which
'

of

arose

the

Eastern poets'

Confession of Faith,

why the
may be
is

in

universe

taken as

substance as

follows.

whom

God,

is

Truth,'

'

in

at

Siifis and poets generally speak of as 'The

once Absolute Being, the only Real Existence

translated by Mr. E. G. Browne

which appears in the volume entitled
World' (Swan, Sonnenschein & Co., 1892). This

The whole canto has been admirably

his

excellent

'Religious

article

on

Systems of the

Sufiism

is
reprinted in the same scholar's 'Year amongst the Persians'
(Black, 1893), a work which cannot be too highly recommended; the student
will learn more concerning the real life and thought of modern Persia from

translation

this

one book than

published.

from

all

the other records of travel that have yet been

i6

ever

that

been or ever can

has

be,

therefore

necessarily

comprising within Himself all apparent existences whatsoever

and Absolute Good, therefore necessarily Absolute Beauty,
;

Beauty being one side or aspect of Good. Such is the DiNature

and having learned this, we may perceive

vine

how

the phenomenal universe

unlike the Absolute,

came

into existence

for this,

temporal, not eternal.

is

Ere yet time was, God dwelt alone in unrevealed loveand glory alone in solitary radiance shone Absolute

liness

no eye was there to gaze enraptured on

speakable fairness, no heart to thrill in ecstasy at
Beauty;

harmony. None was there

perfect

'

To

Its

'With

Now,

as

we

all

none

to love It

know, a marked characteristic of Beauty,

concealment and

it

Thus

ever

may
a

desires

assume,

beautiful

be seen

to

an innate desire

is

face

impatient of

is

similarly,

when

beautiful thought or conception occurs to the mind,

not

content to be buried

pression
be.

This

essential

away

attribute

of

the

phenomenal universe then

manifestation

ition,'

is

may
is

an

Absolute Beauty whereof these

partial manifestations.

results

from

this

The

desire of self-

on the part of Absolute Beauty. This is very

in a famous Hadis or 'Apostolic Trad-

expressed

continually

answer

created

it

out of sight, but seeks ex-

through language or through art, as the case

is so
because the desire of self-expression

phenomenal forms are so many

clearly

own self It sang of loveliness,

own self It cast the die of love.

of self-manifestation.

in

It,

Its all-

Its

whatever be the form

to see

un-

Its

to

man,

on the
question
'

replies,

lips of the

of

David

poets, in
as

to

which God,

why He had

was a Hidden Treasure, therefore

was

be known, and so

tain to

that

should be known.'

how was

But

this

created creation

order

in

'

thus

manifestation

demanded by

the

thini^s

Nature to be brought about? It is an axiom that

can be known only through their opposites or negations. *

Thus

it

Divine

wt)uid be impossible for us to form the conception

of light,

were we ignorant of

that

light,

Now

darkness.

is,

opposite or negation, not-

its

the

negation of

or

opposite

Absolute Being, which is one and the same with Absolute

Beauty and Absolute Good, is necessarily Not-Being, NotBeauty, Not-Good. But such can have no real existence, for
all

real existence

of

which

Li-c"^

this

Hadis

is

is

is

of necessity comprised in Absolute Being,

the

ii^JiLs^i

,iLi='Ji

v_;-l

is

Not-Being

negation.

ci*-**>l-J

q'

a traditional saying of the Prophet

then

L^j^^o

only a

\-J>S

o*^

Muhammed handed down

from

Companions. There is a great number of such, and the

well-authenticated among them rank in authority second to the Koran. When,
as in the above, the true speaker is God, and the Prophet is but the voice,

one or more of

the

Tradition

is

his

called a Hadis-i Qudsi or 'Divine Tradition

;'

when on

/C^^ii

the
'

other hand

the

Prophet

is

at

once speaker and voice,

is

it

a Hadis-i Sherif

or 'Blessed Tradition.'
*

This forms a text for Jeldl-ud-Din in the

fifth

story of the

first

book of

the Mesnevi, where he says:

lXjAj OJS lo Ji'K^' O^^O

,V.^

*^/' o'

^ijrJ

Oi.>

'j4. 5

^.

'The Truth hath created pain and sorrow for this reason
'That through these opposites joyousness may become known.
'Thus hidden things become manifest through their opposites.
'Since

The Truth hath no opposite He remaineth

'Thus by the opposite of light hast thou known

'Opposite showeth opposite in all things.'

concealed.

light.

A very good idea of the nature and scope of the Mesnevi can be obtained
'
Masnavi i Ma^navi, The
from Mr. E. H. Whinfield's abridged translation,
Spiritual Couplets of

Mauland Jaldlu-'d-Din

Riimi,' Triibuer

&

Co., 1887.

i8

phantasm evoked
Again, in that

it

season and for a special purpose.

for

is

the antithesis of the Divine Nature, Not-

Being is also Not-Good, or, as we should say, is Evil. Here

then we have the Eastern mystic's explanation of the Mystery
of Evil comprised in his explanation of the Mystery of Creation.

As Absolute Being could be known only through Its negation

Not-Being, so Absolute Good could be known only through
Its

negation Not-Good

Good

no

therefore

there

and

and

Absolute Being and Absolute

as

are one, so also are Not-Being and Not-Good. Evil has

is

real

existence;

Absolute Good

limited,

it

is

there

no Absolute Evil as

is

very nature Evil is temporary

but an illusion which the conditions of
;

its

by

manifestation have rendered necessary for a while.

The process of manifestation was accomplished thus. When

Not-Being became opposed to Being there appeared on the
former, as in a mirror, a reflection or

shadow of the

latter.

'

This reflection, which partakes of the nature of both Being

is called Contingent Being, and is none else
than the phenomenal universe in which during this life we
find ourselves and of which we form part. The phenomenal

and Not-Being,

universe

has thus no real objective existence;

reflection

of Absolute

it

is

but the

Being cast on the mirror Not-Being.

This has been well illustrated by the reflection cast by the

1

In

Mahmiid-i Shcbisteri's Gulshen-i Rdz, or 'Mystic Rose-bower,' one of

we read

the text-books of Siifiism,

oio

;j*>.Xc

(jii.j'*.J

'Not-Being

is

'Wherefrom

is

c^-^'iAaj

^jjj

the mirror, Being

is

Oi-J^J^-*

o^^*^

iS"^*^^ ^^^^-

('-^^

the Absolute

manifested the reflection of the effulgence of The Truth.

'When Not-Being became opposed

to (was set opposite) Being

was straightway produced thereon.'
See Mr. Whinfield's scholarly edition and translation of the Gulshcn-i Raz

'A

reflection

(Triibner, 1880).

19

sun on a pool.
the

to

entirely

'

This reflection owes such existence as

moment

the

sun;

it

has

the sun withdraws itself

the reflection ceases to exist, and while the reflection

is

thus

wholly dependent on the sun, the sun is absolutely independent

of it. can indeed renew it an infinity of times without sustaining the slightest loss thereby.

of the

as

sun,

reflection cast

As

Not-Being
on the water

universe

the

is

the

is

The

is

pool

thus the mirror

mirror of Being, and the

typifies the

phenomenal universe.

thus the image of Absolute Being, that

of God, reflected in the mirror Not-Being, so, they continue,

is

man

is

the

mirror,

the pupil, so

is

man. Thus

is

that image, and as

in

eye

we perceive

the image of

is

God

in a

God

reflected in this eye

which

revealed unto Himself and unto man,

and thus moreover does man contain

of God.

when we look

a small image of ourselves reflected in

himself the image

in

-'

Man, like the phenomenal universe in which he finds himand of which he presents an epitome, is double-natured,

self,

partaking

once

at

and Not-Being, of Good and

of Being

Reality and Unreality. But as that side of him

which derives from Being, and which therefore alone has a
of

Evil,

real

and eternal existence,

Divinity,

he

is,

so

'

See Mr. Browne's

In the Gulshen-i Raz

...Li>o ,jLi.i^>^

'Not-Being
'Is like

we

on

all

necessarily

*,<i;j>y^

the mirror, the universe

God

art the

O^"**^'

is

J^^

^^^

the reflection, and

is

*"*-^'

f*-^^

man

a hidden image

(i.

e.

reflected in the pupil.)

eye in the reflection, and

things.)'

an emanation of

Siifiism, p. 330.

read

'With the (human) eye, the eye

seeth

is

ultimately and essentially one with

the eye in the reflection, (an eye) wherein

the image of

'Thou

article

^^.O ^j^c

is

far,

(i.e.

He (God)

man) eyeth

is

the Light of the eye;

that

Eye

(i.e.

God who

20

God. This Divine particle

is

in

man,

this

spark of Pure Being,

ever seeking, consciously or unconsciously, to be reunited

to

source

its

the

but

of

presence

so

long as

Man's business then

the phenomenal state

element of Not-Being holds

the

to eliminate, so far as

is

it

may

lasts,

back.

be, this

element of Not-Being, and to attain to that union with God,

that absorption into the Divine, which, though to be fully
achieved only after the death of the body,
certain measure even in this present

But how

is

possible in a

life.

one to overcome the element of Not-Being ?

for self, which seems so real, is in truth
By conquering
is

self;

the

supreme
what are we

have

Real

of

nothingness,

as

illusion

it

to talk of self?
is

Being

the

the

cause of

all

our woe. For

We

have no

self;

whatever we

God's,

not

ours;

the rest

is

mere

of Being, the negation of Good,

negation

hug which can bring only sorrow.

to

And how

is
self to be conquered ? By Love. By Love,
and by Love alone, can the dark shadow of Not-Being be
done away; by Love, and by Love alone, can the soul of

man win back

to

Divine source and find

its

The Truth. And

reunion with

goal

in

this

Love, which

literature

it

has

is

the

its

first

ultimate

lessons of

the keynote of Siifiism and of

inspired,

may

be,

nay,

all

the

must be learned

through a merely human passion. Than true love 'there is

no subtler master under heaven.' In the poem already quoted,

Jami tells of a would-be disciple who came craving instruction

from a master of the mystic lore, when the master, having
that this youth had never loved, bade him go
back into the world, learn what to love means, and then

ascertained

return.

But
not

this

itself

human

the end,

love,
it

is

good and

helpful

though

but the means to the end

'Bridge' across which the pilgrim of

it
it

The Truth must

is,

is

is

the

pass.

21
It is called

which

Love

the 'Typal'

the Divine

is

Love

contradistinction to the 'Real,'

in

and no watchword of the mystics

more often quoted by the poets than

is

'the Typal

may

the Bridge to the Real.'

is

pregnant phrase

fair

as the Bridge

the pilgrim must beware of lingering thereon, lest

be,

haply he should

fail

to reach his journey's end.

eyes are opened, his heart

his

this

But

'

Divine Love

is

wherever he turn

made

Once

across,

clairvoyant through

his gaze

he sees the Face

God; God shines down on him from every star in the

sky, God looks up at him from every flower in the field,
of

God

smiles on him in every fair face, God speaks to him

every sweet sound all around him there is God, nothing
but God. If he turn his eyes inward and look into his own

in

there he can read letter by letter the very heart of

God. For he has now become one with God, knowing and
feeling that there is naught beside God and he can cry out
heart,

with Mansiir

'I

am The Truth!'- and

of Bistam 'There

On

is

exclaim with Bayezid

none other than God within

my

such lines proceeds the mystic philosophy which the \

Turks learned from the Persians, and of which the echo,

not

the

living voice,

rings for centuries in their poetry.

the language of the mystic poets

- t#*
'

The Arabic runs

MLJi.5^1

read 'allegoric,' 'the Allegoric

*

cloak!'

O-

sJxLJJ

is

God

'the Beloved,"

is

if

In

man

-.L.?^^'-

For

'

'

%vc

typal

might equally

the Bridge to the True.'

is, Huseyn Mansiir the Wool Larder, is, so

patron saint of the Svifis, and his name is of frequent occurrence
in the pages of the poets, who always mention him in terms of love and
veneration. In A. H. 310 (A. D. 923) he was put to a cruel death by the

Huseyn

Mansiir-i Hallaj, that

to speak, the

doctors of
a

state

When

Baghdad on a charge of blasphemy

of mystic

ecstasy

the

mention

poets

^jL^'
Mansiir

Ljl
it

'

is

for

having exclaimed while in

am The Truth
usually

in

'
!

i.

c.

'I

association

am God
with

'
!

this

famous phrase.
3
Bayezid of Bistam was a very famous saint of early times; he is said to
have been bom in A. H. 160 (.\. D. 776-7) and to have lived to be nearly
a hundred years of age.

22

Under the figure of the lover's anguish at separation

loved one they show forth the yearning of the soul

'the lover.'

from

his

of

man

of

the

Divine Soul whence

for the

cruel

lovers

distracted

half-revealed

by

came

it

of the

self-sufhciency

by the symbol

beloved, frenzying the

glimpses of a beauty no

words may tell, they picture those momentary

from time to time light up the soul, bringing it
and vanishing ere

face with Reality,

to

face

The poets

realised.

is

the

see

presence of

in all beautiful things, but manifested

in

fully

humanity. Therefore

fair

admire such,

mirrored

for

the

of

Beauty

the

in

this

through

Godhead.
fair

is

i\nd
is

it

face,

is

it

flashes
for

which

an instant

their presence

God immanent

most clearly and most

good to love and to

revealed most perfectly the

even as

it

God, the poet

God who is
feels, who looks
is

through the lover's eyes; God beholds and loves God, and
the supreme miracle of Divine self-manifestion is accomplished.
Bound up with this mystic side of Siifi'ism is the famous
allegory

of the

Compact.' In a somewhat obscure

'Primal

passage of the Koran,

God

unembodied

represented as having, before

summoned into His presence the

all who were to dwell on earth,

the creation of the world,

as yet

is

souls of

and as having put to each one individually the question

E-lestu bi-rabbikum? 'Am not I your Lord?' to which each
:

soul replied: Bela! 'Yea!'

that

it

fealty,

soul,
in

is

tell

is

the

echo of

'

The poets

this

are fond of imagining

never quite

forgotten

oath of

sworn before time was, which, ringing through the

impels it to that quest of The Truth where alone it

harmony with

of

The

it

in

actual

its

ecstatic

true being;

trance,

Adam

bear witness against themselves,

do bear witness.'

itself at

when
(vii, 171) are: And
out of their loins their seed, and

words of the Koran

took from the children of

and when they would

rapt and beside

'Am

not

thy

some
Lord

made them
your Lord?' They said, 'Vea, we

23
of the Divine Beauty, they picture

glimpse
with the 'Wine of E-lest' quafled

it

as 'drunken'

the 'Primal

in eternity at

Feast.'

The

contemporary singers of love and wine, and by immystic signification to the terms thus adopted,

parting a

had

they

poets IkuI taken the current phraseology

Sufi

early

of the

constructed

species

of symbolic

language

in

which, for example, 'wine' represents the mystic love, 'the

the teacher

vintner'
it

'the tavern' the place

thereof,

taught, just as the 'Beloved' stands for

is

man. According

for

'lover'

to

certain

where

God, and the

commentators

this

vocabulary was carried to an extreme point of elaboration,

every object mentioned by the poet being typal of some
philosophic or rhystic conception; thus the 'cheek' of the

Beloved represents the cosmos, the 'tresses' the mystery of

the Godhead, and so on. Commentaries have been written

on Hafiz

in

which the

terpreted

in

this

whole of that poet's works are

fashion;

'spiritual'

but

it

is

in-

extremely

whether he or any other poet ever systematically

doubtful

wrote upon uch lines. None the less the shadow of this
symbolism never entirely passes away; it lingers as a vague
reminiscence

all

through Turkish poetry.

According as
in

the

or

subtly

in

materialism

is

predominant

symbolic or the literal

his work. As a rule both elements are prewill the

poet's temperament,

predominate
sent,

mysticism

and

inextricably

blended,

now

the

one and

foreground and sinking

into the rear. This poetry thus floats between the sensuous

now

the

other advancing into the

and the supersensuous Love and Beauty are presented in

fairest and most seductive garb, but so deft is the

>i

their

presentation that
as

he

pleases;

the

and

which delights the

reader

so,

as

finds himself free to interpret

has been said, the same

libertine will raise the saint to

poem

ecstasy.

24
j_

There are again many poets who are primarily artists

these take such things for what they are worth

words

decorative

and work them

adjuncts,

some

desired

produce
borne in mind that while

aesthetical

into

many among

their

For

effect.

it

in

as

verses

to

mvist

be

the Turkish poets were

and some even devoted their whole strength to

the exposition and elucidation of their doctrine, others, and

truly

Siifis,

they are perhaps the majority, merely play with Sufi ideas
and Sufi phrases. When the Turks took over the Persian
poetic

hand,

system they found these ideas and phrases ready to

and these became, along with many other things

similarly acquired, so
to

many

'studio properties' for the poet,

be introduced into his works as occasion might suggest.

At first sight it may appear strange that doctrines such

we have been considering should

as

with the absolute monotheism of Islam.

however,

Islam

is

much

posed, and there are

less

rigid

flourish side

As

than

by

side

a matter of fact,
is

generally sup-

passages in both the Koran and

many

the Hadis which readily lend themselves to a mystic inter^

pretation,

and with these the

made

Sufis,

who have

almost

in-

have strongly fortified

variably
profession
their position. But to properly understand this point, as
well as many another seeming puzzle that will come under
of Islam,

our observation,

it

is

necessary to know, something of the

As has been well said by

true nature of the Persian genius.

a

thoughtful

writer

who

has seen

mind, we must ever keep before

European

seeks

almost

deep into the Asian

us the fact that while the

unconsciously to

impart a homo-

geneity to his conceptions by rejecting whatever is incompatible

with the beliefs he holds or embraces, the Eastern, for whom
1

Mr. lirowiie quotes several in the

The Conte de Gobineau

Centrale,' Paris 1865.

article already

mentioned.

in 'Les Religions et les Philosophies dans I'Asie

25

from

serve

no such charm,

has

exactitude

is

more concerned

or obhvion every minutest idea

loss

mind of man has conceived. The exactitude

European

circumscribe the

make

to

distressful

is

flig4it

the

Asiatic

so dear to the
that

in

He

of his imagination.

to pre-

which the

it

tends to

does not

eek

and conceptions square with one

another, nor does he perceive what would be the utility
of such an operation; these diverse theories and ideas are

to

diverse

theories

him so many

for

different

windows opening upon

different

aspects of the infinite; but he will brook no limitations in

his

with

dealings

the

limitless.

From

Western Asia has been a hotbed of

theories,

More

the

earliest

manner of

all

ages

religious

not one of which has ever been wholly forgotten.

or less modified or disguised, these appear and reappear

again and again

and during the course of the centuries

they have given birth to numberless religious and philosophic systems all of which live on in one form or another.

So

the mind of the Eastern thinker, intent to learn and

in

retain

he can concerning spiritual things, there generally

by side fragments of many such systems often

all

side

exist

contrary one to the other as well as incompatible with some

among the
Though
as this

seen,

is
is

dreamer.
is

tenets of his

natural

this

religion.

really quite foreign to the

properly

None

that which

and

avowed

to the Persian, such an intellectual state

is

man

of

action,

Turk who,
not

the less the condition of

most frequently mirrored

mind
in

as

we have

speculator

or

just described

Ottoman poetry,

simply because the Turkish poets here as elsewhere

deliberately

set

to

work

to assimilate their thought to that

of the Persians.

The
and

dervish orders, which are very numerous in Turkey

Persia,

and which bear a certain resemblance to the

monastic orders of medieval Europe, are

all

more

or less

y_

26

connected with Sufiism. Each order traces

eminent Sufi sage or

its

whose name

saint,

it

some

origin to

usually bears

but although the members

have always called themselves

many cases they have paid but scant attention to

in

Sufis,

their patron's teaching.

This

gave an additional impetus to a

circumstance

last

curious

of the Persian and Turkish poets, namely,

practice

that of bitterly denouncing 'the

Siifi'

while themselves Sufis

of the purest water. This seemingly paradoxical attitude of

poets arose in the

the

instance from the fact that the

first

learning and piety of the early Sufis having gained for

them numerous

a great reputation and attracted to

there

them

disciples,

sprang up on every hand unscrupulous adventurers

out as Sufis, and collected around

who gave themselves

them

bands

and hypocritical

of dissolute

own

the illiterate multitude taking at their

their
rail
'

'the

against

pretenders of this

is

it

Sufi,'

Sufis' of the ignorant masses, that

These

value, called

by

and when the poets

of Sufi;

title

usurped

unjustly

fanatics.

they have

the

class,

view.

in

Turning now to the external aspect of this poetry, we find

although at the outset Turkish verse was simple even

that
to

no sooner

baldness,

established

we

than

the

is

are

in

ornament. Persian rhetoric

and

merits,
its

as

that,

the

lie

great,

principle

of Persia securely

of

the counterpart of Persian art

everyone knows,

and they are

detail;

is

influence

the midst of a wilderness

essentially decorative.

is

exclusively in the beauty of

of the

subordination of the parts

'

work employ the term Sufi

it is more often used by
the Turkish poets in its second and degraded sense, in which case it is
commonly pronounced Sofu. The poets, when speaking of the true mystics,
'

In Older to avoid confusion

in

exclusively

its

sometimes wished

true

to

avoid the

'

Tasavvuf),

as

'

shall in this

of 'mystic;' although

sense

employed some such term

now dubious

Lovers

title

'

of Sufi; they then generally

Followers of Sufiism' (Ehl-i

'

('Ushshaq),

Followers of the Esoteric' (Ehl-i Batin), or

'

Its^

'

Sheykhs (Mesha'ikh).

27
is unknown.
In like manner is Persian poetry
enveloped in a mass of incongruous and unconnected ornament. Metaphors and similes, homonyms and anagrams, and
a host of other rhetorical embellishments, for many of which

to the whole

we have no names
and seem to

English, crowd on one another's heels,

in

jostle each other

in

eagerness to

tlicir

amaze

may be, and very often

both graceful and ingenious, but they are thrown together
without so much as a thought being given to their effect as

the reader. Individually these figures

are,

a whole.

The

but

dignity

the

cession

is

result

is

certainly brilliant, sometimes dazzling,

which comes of restraint and orderly pro-

not there.

In this again Persian poetry faithfully mirrors the Oriental

genius.
alive

As we have
the

to

just

learned,

the Eastern

of a subject than he

details

taken as a whole. This mental attitude

presence of
the true

all

is

more

far

to the subject

maintained

in

phenomena, psychical and material

Oriental

is

ever in

result of this in the

the

alike

the. position of the

man who

We

have seen

cannot see the wood on account of the

one

is

is

trees.

medley of fragments of heterogeneous

systems that makes up his philosophy, we have here another

in the chaos of promiscuous ornament that forms the decorative

element
this

in

his

mental

poetry.

Be

whereby

habit,

it

said in passing that through

so

many

aspects

of a subject

are simultaneously perceived, there arises a certain vacillation

of judgment
disasters

for

whicli
it

is

in

practical

affairs

has

led

to

many

through this, as the author already quoted

'

has pointed out, that the Easterns, both as individuals and

as nations, have, for

all

so often the victims of

their courage

Europeans

in

and

to themselves, but possessed of a decision

which they are strangers.

1

Conte de Gobineau.

intelligence,

many

been

respects inferior

and

resolution to

28

poetry which wantons, as does the Persian, in every

kind of ambiguity of expression and far-fetched conceit must
inevitably be extremely artificial; and artificiality is in fact

most prominent characteristics of this poetry.

But this by no means necessarily implies lack of sincerity
for there have been in many literatures periods when it was
one

of

the

natural

seek

to

out

subtleties

of fancy

and

curiosities of

'

language.

The poetry

of

Persia

is

moreover intensely subjective,

two branches, the lyric and the romanticj^*^

which have been most largely reproduced in Turkish. The
especially in those

poet rarely deals with external objects exclusively on their

own merits. When he sings, as he constantly does, of wine
and beauties, of roses and nightingales, it is not to tell of
as they are in themselves.

...^hese

and with greatest force

first

is,

What seems

to strike

him

not the effect which these

produce upon his senses, but the suggestions they evoke

mind. This is perhaps only what we should expect

his

the lyric poetry, but

some dozen

poem

we might have looked

such,

poet

the romantic

more objective treatment. To a limited extent we find

more especially in early times; but the story
there

for a

are

in

in
in

the

is
it

is

or so stories told and retold

least

important part

by poet

after

of a Persian romantic

but the excuse which the writer makes for the

may be merely for the display

and more often than not it is finally

exposition of his doctrine, or

of his

literary

explained

away

skill

altogether as an allegory.

Similarly, this poetry

with

what are

called

is

highly conventional.

stock

epithets;

the

It

is

replete

'moon-face,' the

'cypress-form,' the 'ruby-lip,' occur with wearisome reiteration

right
'

through from the very beginning. In the same way,

For example, the poetry of the Troubadours, and that of the so-called

'

'

metaphysical

poets in England.

29

what we may term stock associations abound when the

'nightingale' is mentioned we may be sure the 'rose' is not
;

far
feel

away, and if we read of the 'moth' in one Hne we may

safe about meeting the 'taper* in the next. But for all

Persian poetry shows, within certain limits, extraordinary

this,

imagination, and not unfrequently an almost super-

fertility of

gracefulness both of thought and expression.

Such then

the nature of the poetry which Persia offered

is

and which they, knowing of no other, accepted

entirety, although it was in man\- respects out of

to the Turks,
in

its

harmony with
poets

and

strove with

So the

the genius of their race.

their successors through

their strength to write

all

many
what

first

Ottoman

a generation
is little

else than

Persian poetry in Turkish words. But such was not consciously

their

aim;

poetry

of national feeling in poetry they

was to them one and

indivisible,

dreamed not;

the language in

it was written
merely an unimportant accident.
have said that the spirit of Persian poetry is in

which
I

many

Turkish genius; in some the two are

directly opposed. The Turkish nature is simple, the Persian
subtle. The objectivity of the Turkish popular songs is not

ways

less

foreign

the

to

extreme than the subjectivity of Persian

literary verse.

Although from time to time it would strive to utter a feeble

cry, for nearly four hundred years the Turkish spirit remained
practically

dumb

in

Turkish poetry, paralyzed

in

presence

of the overmastering genius of Persia. But about the beginning

of the

century the

eighteenth

of the poets.

voice

of the national spirit^

more

clearly^ and persistently in the pages

more objective note is struck, and the poet

begins to be heard

finds a manifest pleasure in singing of the things he actually

sees and

^ome
lines,

feels,

Persian

not

book.

merely of those he has read about in

A blithe and happy tone pervades his

and a frank honest delight

in

life

and the joys of

life.

30

The

simple,

is

at

in

Turkish

last

happy-go-lucky Turkish spirit

indeed to speak, but to whisper
But Turkish poetry was still far from

pleasure-loving,

not

allowed,
poetry.

being that which but for Persian teaching

it
might have been
marred
it
a
fleck
and
yet
many
many a flaw never
wholly washed away till the reformers of our own day swept
every vestige of Persian tradition into the limbo of forgotten
;

there

things.

And

so,

helpful

and beneficial as

it

in

many ways

un-

doubtedly was, guiding their timorous footsteps into the

worlds of thought and art, Persian culture was yet upon the
whole an ill-starred dower to the Turks. For with all the
A

beauty and nobleness that invest

it,

Persian poetry seems

the Gorgon power of paralyzing the national spirit

^i^to possess
in the literature of every people that looks up to it. The

poetry of Afghan, of Tartar, of Urdu-writing Indian

is

all,

equally with that of the earlier Ottomans, just so much Persian

poetry writ in other tongues; in every case the national
spirit is silent, the spirit that

speaks is that of Persia.

Moreover, just about the time that Ottoman poetry was*
taking shape, the creative genius of Persia was

definitively

stricken with a sterility from which

What

Persian

intents

all

period

poetry was

and purposes

it

it

has never since recovered.

in the fifteenth century, that to

is

to-day. During the intervening

has indeed passed through several phases, but these

it

have been marked merely by modifications in manner and

diction; there has been no radical change from within, no
infusion

of fresh

life

from without.

What

the poets said in

days of Jami they have gone on saying, varying from

time to time the expressions and the metaphors, but never
altering the substance or adding to the themes.
the

And

thus

for

centuries

Turkish poetry was, thanks to

Persian precept and example, employed, not in interpreting

3'

new

the Turkish genius, not in conquering

7"

but

in

rcahii.s

of thought,

achieving within one narrow circle ever more brilHant

and more subtle masterpieces of

rhetoric. It

is

true that from

the rugged Tartar dialect with which they started, the Persianising poets evolved a marvellous literary language so

and so harmonious that the study of it is an aesthetic

delight. But this beautiful language is so artificial, so far
removed from everyday speech, that it has at all times been \^
incomprehensible to ordinary men.

brilliant

Thus Ottoman
book

man

no

literary poetry has always been a closed

mass of the people. Without a special education

to the

understand

could hope to

The poets

it.

therefore

themselves or for the court; of the people

To be a poet when Persian culture was
took
no
heed.
they
at its height must obviously have demanded a more than

wrote either

for

and so we

ordinary education;
period

when poetry was valued

that during that long

find
in

proportion as the learning

was recondite and the rhetoric pretentious that adorned it,

by far the greater number of its practitioners were members
of the 'Ulema.

To

its

artificiality,

indicate

before

is

>

point out the defects of such a poetry as

obscurity,

merits

its
all

is

its

less so.

old poets are in the

to explain beauties
'

The word

is

its

is

things an art; and, to be appreciated, the merits

of art-work of every kind must be

The

this

this,

easy; to
because this poetry

exclusiveness,

And

'^Ulemd

and

means

first

felt

rather than described.

place stylists, and any attempt

subtleties of style to those ignorant

literally

'learned men.'

of the body of doctors of the canon law of Islam,

cillors of the state. In old times its members were

It

is

the collective

who form
par

title

the legal coun-

excellence the learned

and naturally many among them played a great part in the history
of Ottoman poetry. The organisation of the corps, which was at first simple,
gradually became verj- complicated but as some idea of it is necessary to a
satisfactory understanding of the lives of many of the poets of the Second
class,

and

later Periods, a sketch of

it

will be given

in

another volume.

\l.

32
of the poets' language were manifestly hopeless.

With these

poets manner comes before matter; what they say interests

them comparatively little, the great point is how to say it.
A score of themes sufficed them for centuries; these they
present again and again, arrayed in ever increasing beauty
of language and begemmed with ever subtler ingenuities of
fancy,
a

till

their

brilliancy

work comes

to display a

harmony

of affording a keen aesthetic pleasure to those

and education are

This

reached

of sound,

of wit, and a deftness of manipulation capable

fitted to receive

who by

taste

it.

was the goal of the Persianising poets, and they

it.

b^,t

CHAPTER

II.

Tradition, PiiiLosoriiv and Mysticism.

the

came

among the other peoples of Islam,

from
two distinct sources, of which
sprang

the Turks, as

Among
intellectual

life

one was Semitic, the other Hellenic. From the first

second came philosophy. Both
religion, from the

religion

and philosophy professed to interpret the universe;

and the interpretations which they gave were not always in

harmony. The vast majority of the vulgar and unlearned
held exclusively by religion and utterly ignored philosophy,

indeed they knew nothing. So did many among

educated, who, though not wholly ignorant of

of which

the

more

upon it with abhorrence as contrary to

Word. Among the learned, while a few were

philosophy, looked
the revealed

philosophers and nothing

else, though out of prudence they

conformity to the popular faith, the majority,
whatever might be their outward profession, held a creed

professed

which was
a
it

strong

in

favour of philosophy. This creed,

can be called, was

or mystics

sophy
extent

in

the

who
the

compromise between the two, with

reality a

in

bias

in

sought,

language

great

among
of

part the

if

work of the

creed
Siifis

other things, to clothe philo-

religion;

it

was also to some

work of the Mutekellimi'n or Scholastics who

endeavoured by a rational explanation of dogma to support

3

34
in the struggle with philosophy. But these last do
not concern us here, as almost all the Ottoman poets were

religion

men who wrote

either Sufi's or

As

in

the language of the Sufis.

these poets, whether really Sufis or not, were perfectly

acquainted with and

opinions and

the

of the

made

frequent allusion

conceptions of their

orthodox and the philosophers,

for us to learn

own
it

to,

not merely

sect,

will

but those

be necessary

something concerning the tenets of

all

three

parties.

The views
to us

of the religious are in

all

essentials those contained

and are consequently quite familiar

in the

Jewish scriptures,
the only point that

elaborate

calls for special attention is their

cosmogony which was borrowed almost wholly from

Rabbinical traditions.

When God

determined to manifest Himself through the

first thing that He summoned into

being was a glorious Radiance derived from His own Light.
This is now generally called the 'Light of Muhammed' (Nur-i
Muhammed) because in after ages it was incarnated in the

creation of the world the

'

person of the

and greatest of the Prophets. When this

God looked on it and loved it

last

Light burst into existence

and uttered

this

'

of the watch-words of

had not created the heavens!

'

Sometimes the 'Light of Ahmed' (Nur-i Ahmed), Alimed being another

form of the name

.0,C^
2

now one

sentence,

Islam, 'But for thee, verily

lil

jLs"^l

Muhammed.

C,

u>.Ji^i>

L*J

^i)^5

The heavens

are not yet in existence, but

God

speaks as though their creation were an accomplished fact. This seeming

discrepancy is thus explained. What we call 'time' exists not for God; in

His eyes what we

therefore

sees

speaks of them

call 'present,' 'past'

and 'future' are one eternal Now.

He

the future, as already existent, and

as accomplished facts. Instances of this abound in the Koran,

things,

in

wlaat

to

us

is

in passages describing the Last Day and Final Judgment. The

must be remembered, professes to be the direct word of God; He
is the speaker from
beginning to end; the Prophet is nothing more than
His ambassador charged with the delivery of His message to mankind.

especially

Koran,

it

35

And

it

things

was through this Light, and for its sake, that all
were made. For when God looked in love upon this
abashed before the Divine gaze

'

it

Light,

perspired,'

from the subtlest essence that arose from

created

the

souls of

all

in

perspiration

and

He

a descending scale the

the various orders of beings.

After a while
its

and then

First Soul,

its

perspiration

God looked

again upon the Light, and from

He

the corporeal

created

was the

thing that arose

the

"^Arsh,

world.

The

'Throne of God,'

first

ac-

any case, the first and

most glorious of corporeal existences. Beneath the "^Arsh,
and of its light, God created another wondrous thing, which
cording to the usual interpretation

and

called the Kursi,

is

below the Throne.

God

may be

in

conceived as the 'Footstool'

'

likewise created under the '^Arsh, and of

its

light,

great 'Tablet' in colour as a green beryl, and a great 'Pen'

in colour as an emerald, and

white

God

light.

moved over

it

that

should

filled

with ink which was of

cried to the Pen, 'Write,

Pen!'

whereupon

Tablet and

the

wrote tliereon everything

the Last Day, and the Tablet was

till

happen

covered with the writing. ^ And thereon was then inscribed

the Divine original of the Glorious Koran.

Beneath the Kursi, but somewhat to the right hand, God

in which is the 'Lote-tree

created a region like white pearl,

none

may

pass.'

Both the words

'

be used

to
'

in

this

is

the station of the .\rchangel

and Kursi occur

"^Arsh

in

the

Koran where both seem

the sense of 'Throne'

in

myth arose from

This

Koran,

And

the

first

of which

fanciful
(Ixviii,

explanation of two passages in the

Clod swears 'By the Pen and what

i.)

they write!' and in the second of which (Ixxxv, 22.) occur the words 'Verily
is a glorious Lection on a T.iblct Preserved!'

it

'

This

another

tree

time

the Abode.'

is

alluded

to

in

the

Koran

(liii,

13,

14.),

'And he saw him

pass; near which is the Garden of

the reference being to the Prophet's vision of Gabriel on the

by

the Lotc-trce none

occasion of his Ascension.

may

36

beyond which he may not

Gabriel,

go.

And

in this place

the root of the Tuba-tree.

is

In a straight line below the ^Arsh and Kursi, and of the

light of the former,

God

created the Eight Paradises. These

arranged one within the other,

stages, the innermost and highest of
are

of

Eden'

(Jennet-i "^Adn)

in as

many ascending
being the 'Garden

all

which overlooks

all

the others like

a citadel on a lofty eminence in the midst of a walled city.

The

distance between the ramparts that surround each Paradise

thousand six hundred and sixty-six degrees, and each

six

is

'

a five-hundred years' journey.

is

degree

The

Paradises are

generally represented as lovely gardens studded with beautiful

palaces, the dwelling-places of the blessed.

by many

rivers,

the

notably by

They

Kevser,

are watered

the Tesnim and

the Selsebil, most of which have their source in the Garden

Eden whence they descend into the lower stages. The

wonderful tree called the Tiiba or 'Beatitude,' the roots of

of

The names of the Eight Paradises, and the materials of which they are
'
formed, are as follows, beginning with the lowest: (i) The Mansion of Glory
(Dar-ul-Jelal) , of white pearl; (2) 'The Mansion of Peace (Dar-us-SeMm),
1

'

'

e-ijsUJ)-!

'The Garden of the Abode' (Jennet-ul-Mewa), of green

The Garden of Eternity (Jennet-ul-Khuld) of yellow coral ;
-/J/'C^_j^ (5) 'The Garden of Delight' (Jennet-un-Na'im), of white silver; (6) 'The
Garden of Paradise' (Jennet-ul-Firdevs), of red gold; (7) The Garden of Abidi)] i^
<
1'
ance' (Jennet-ul-Qarar), of pure musk; (8) 'The Garden of Eden' (Jennet-ulV
-(j-^>y''^'Adn), of lustrous pearl. Some writers, however, arrange the several stages
U) 'Ifi

'(

r ^

"^^^

ruby;

(3)

'

chrysolite

(4)

'

';;i:X-'

,L

differently.
2

'^

We

are

taken

actual

as

in order to
3

It

Islam

is

told

expressly

'

"^^

that

these

and similar expressions

are not to be

measurements of distance; they are brought forward simply

convey the idea of vastness.

perhaps scarcely necessary

denies

soul

to

to refute

once again the old calumny that

woman. No Muhammedan ever propounded

or ever

could propound any theory which could be so construed; and in face of the
fact that the Koran explicitly and repeatedly speaks of men and women as
equally

heirs

of

eternity

(ix,

69,

73;

xiii,

22

23;

xxxiii,

35;

xxxvi,

70; xlviii, 5, 6; Ivii, 12; Ixvi, 10:), it is difficult to imagine

any other source for the libel than the deliberate malice of certain Christian
56;

xliii,

writers.

37

which arc

the reijion of the Lotc-tree above the hisjhcst

in

Paradise, sends

branches down into

its

sun which

aloft

is

Beatific

form the highest

habitants

its

Garden of Eden

is

beams

just as the

into every

the scene of the

Divine Epiphanies, the sight of which

the

Vision,

sends

in the skies

house on earth. The

will

the Eight Gardens,

all

abode of every inhabitant,

a shoot entering the

felicity of the

of Paradise

are

blessed.

the houris,

'

The

native in-

maidens of

celestial

beauty and possessed of every virtue, who will be the heavenly

brides and companions of the blessed, and the 'eternal youths'

who

will

just. The guardianship

entrusted to an angel called Rizwan.

be the attendants on the

of Paradise

is

Beneath the Eight Paradises are six seas, below which

the Seven Heavens. These latter are spread one above

come

the other like seven tents or canopies, their edges resting

on the seven outer of the eight ranges of Mount Qaf which,
as we shall see, surround the earth. In the first or lowest

Heaven
This,

is

the so-called 'Frequented House' (Beyt-i Ma'^mur).

which

is

a great

dome

of red ruby, was originally in

Garden of Eden, from which, on

Adam's expulsion and subsequent repentance, it was brought
to earth as a solace to him. It was placed where the Ka'^ba
the

of

highest

Paradise, the

and Adam was bidden compass it,

compass the Ka'^ba; and the angels who
the Seven Heavens were commanded to descend

Mekka now

as the pilgrims

dwell

in

stands,

still

and perform the rite along with him. It remained on earth

till
Noah's time, but before the flood it was caught up to
the spot in the howest Heaven immediately above where it
used to stand, and there
angels,

and there
'

'

Pronounced

This term occurs

it

will

it is

daily visited

rest

till

by seventy thousand
Day when it will

the Last

hoorees.'
in

the

Koran

quented House; but no description of

(Hi, 4.)
it

is

where God swears by the Fre-

given.

38

be taken back to

its

original place in Paradise.

Abraham,

at

God's command, built the Ka^ba where the Frequented House

formerly stood, so that were this to fall from Heaven, it

would

upon the Ka^ba. The famous Black Stone, which

light

Ka^ba, and which

the

in

is

House

of the Frequented

the pilgrims

into a black stone.

it

Immediately below the lowest Heaven

this lies above the air, and not a drop of
the

Through

air.

under angelic

all

this

swim the

sea

a relic

kiss, is

was a red ruby, but

it

originally

God changed

at the flood

all

guidance.

Below

is

a sea of water;

it

can

sun,

this

fall

through

moon and

stellar

stars,

sea, in the

air, half-way between heaven and earth,

another sea of water, whence rain is sent down to earth.

midst of the sea of

is

An

angel descends with every drop of rain, and lays

it

in

appointed place; these angels do not crowd one another,

its

they are incorporeal beings made of light.

earth, which is flat, is surrounded, as by an eightfold ring, by the eight mountain-chains of Qaf; these alternate
for

The

with the Seven Seas, the innermost Qaf being within the
innermost of the Seas, which bears the name of the 'Encircling

Ocean' (Bahr-i Muhit). The breadth of each Qaf and of each

is a five-hundred years' journey; and round the outermost

Sea

which

Qaf,

outside of

is

all,

is

wound

a small part of the earth's surface

is

a great snake.

Only

inhabited, the proportion

of this to

the

uninhabited being as the space enclosed by

the

desert in which the tent

tent

to

is

pitched.

It

is

in

unpeopled lands and in the unknown regions of the

and
the Seven Seas, where dwell the jinn, that the
Qafs
tellers of fairy tales lay many of the scenes of their romances.
these

The
are
first

earth

we

inhabit

is

the uppermost of seven, which

arranged one below the other

this

series

like a ship

of earths

like so

many

stages.

At

was unstable and tossed about

on the surrounding seas

so

God ordered

a great

39
angel to grasp

God

and steady

it

it

on

Under

his shoulders.

this

mighty rock, and under the rock a huge

and under the Bull a great Fish, and under the Fish

angel

set

'

Bull,

and under the ocean the seven stages of Hell,

under those a tempestuous wind, and under that a

an

ocean,

and

darkness, and under that a veil

man goeth

of

and beyond

this the

knowledge

not.

The cosmogony which has just been

outlined, though

known

all, was accepted in its entirety only by the illiterate and

the more narrow-minded of the ultra-orthodox the views

to

of the learned were for the most part far

with

Turks

the
is

teachings of philosophy.
of course

Arabic writers, but

than a modification
sixth

centuries

derived
is

it

in

accordance

The philosophy

directly

little

Neo-Platonism of the

combined

of the

from the Persian and

ultimately Greek, being

of the

which

more

Aristotelianism

more

fifth

and

with

the

mysticism of lamblichus. In Turkey the philosophers, while

accepting the Alexandrian doctrine of Emanations, gave their
chief attention to the Aristotelian aspect of the system; the

on the other hand, while acquiescing in the Aristotelian

explanations of natural phenomena, devoted themselves almost
Sufis,

exclusively to the theosophical side.

We

shall deal firstly

with the more strictly philosophical

by both parties, and afterwards

matters, which were accepted

we

shall consider the peculiar tenets of the Sufis.

Philosophy is divided into two great branches, namely,

'Theoretic or Speculative Philosophy' (Hikmet-i Nazariyc),
which treats of matters beyond human control, and 'Practical
'

In the names 0^.*iJ Bchemiit(?)

respectively to this Bull and Fish,

Leviathan of the Book of Job.

and LaJjJ Levitiya(?), sometimes given

to recognise the Behemoth and

we seem

40
Philosophy'

(Hikmet-i

human

within

which

'^Amah'ye),

Each

control.

treats

of matters

of these has three subdivisions.

Those of Theoretic Philosophy are: (i) 'Metaphysic' or 'Theology' C^IIm-i Ilahi), which treats of beings essentially incorporeal,
as the 'First Cause' (Mebde-i Evvel),
'

the Souls.

(2)

Mathematic'

the Intelligences and

-

Riyazi),

(^Ilm-i

by the mind

conceivable

things

'

as

which

treats of

from

apart

existing

but which can have no objective existence save in

matter,

such as quantities and magnitudes and geometrical

This
subdivision has four departments, namely, Astronfigures.
omy, Geometry, Arithmetic and Music. (3) 'Physic' C^Ilm-i
matter,

which deals with things not to be conceived as existing

Tabi^i),

apart from matter, as the Four Elements and

are:

'Ethic'

(i)

man

The

of them.

all

of Practical

composed

three

subdivisions

("^Ilm-i

Akhlaq), which treats of the duty of

considered

an

as

individual.

Philosophy

'Oeconomic'

(2)

C^Ilm-i

Tedbir-ul-Menzil), which treats of the duty of man considered

member

as

of a family or household.

Tedbir-ul-Medine), which
as a

member

All these

of a

treats of the

subdivisions

all,

'Politic' C^Ilm-i

**

of philosophy

but to examine them

detail;

or state.

community

(3)

duty of man considered

even

are
in

worked out

in

the most cursory

manner, would be quite outside the scope of this work. We

therefore look only at those points which will assist

shall
1

old

The

'

First

Cause

'

of philosophy

is

God

in the language of religion.

'

Disciplinary Science. This name comes from the fact that the
philosophers used to teach this subdivision to their disciples in order to
'

Literally,

discipline their youthful

minds before starting on the more conjectural subjects

of Metaphysic and Physic. For every point in this subdivision is demonstrable

'
by proof, and the mind of youth craveth absolute demonstration.'
3

Metaphysic

is

also called 'the

Higher Science'

C^Ilm-i A'^la);

'the Intermediate Science' C^Ilm-i Evsat); Physic, 'the

Mathematic,

Lower Science'

(''llm-i

Esfel).
*

is no place for 'Logic' C^Ilm-i Mantiq) in

Logic was regarded not as in itself a science,
but as the instrument by the aid of which the sciences were to be investigated.

this

It

will

scheme

be observed that there

:

the reason

is

that

41
us

our study of the poets, passing by the others, which

in

include the

whole of the Practical branch and

partments of Mathcmatic except Astronomy.

All conceivable existence

ul-Vujud), or
or

(2)

(i)

the de-

'Necessary' (Wajib-

'Possible' or 'Contingent' (Mumkin-ul-Vujiid),

'Impossible' (Mumteni'-ul-Vujud)

(3)

these, an

but as the third of

example of which would be a co-equal of the First

Cause, cannot be, existence

and

either

is

all

'

the

The

Possible.

another existence

actually limited to the Necessary

is

which

existence

is

independent of

Necessary; the existence which

is

is

de-

pendent on another existence is Possible or Contingent (both

terms are applied to the same existence). The only existence

which

independent of another existence is that of the

so the First Cause is the only Necessarily
the
existence of every thing else is merely ConExistent;

First

is

Cause,

The

tingent.

existence

of the

Contingent

existence of the Necessary, since what

the

must

exist ere the thing that

depends on

it

is

the

is

depended on

can

proof of

exist.

'

Contingents, collectively considered, are called the Universe

C^Alem)

sum

'

so the First Cause plus the Universe represents the

of existent things.

Every Contingent
another

is

either

or

Contingent,

'Substance' (Jevhcr);

it

if it is,

is
it

dependent on the existence of

not.
is

If

it

is

not,

it

is

called

called 'Accident' ("Araz).

The classical Turkish' work on Practical Philosophy is the Akhldq-i "^Ala'i.

The author Qinali-zade "^Ali, who died in 979 (157 1-2), was the father of
'

Hasan, the compiler of a very important work on the lives of

poets, to which we shall constantly refer in the progress of our
History. The title Akhldq-i '^Ala'i, which may be rendered by 'The Exalted
Ethics,' contains an allusion to the name of the vezir ".\li Pasha to whom
Qinali-zade
the

Ottoman

book is dedicated. It was printed at Bvllaq in 1248 (1832-3).

The Ten Categories (Maqiilat-i "^Ashere) arc the highest classes to
which Contingents may be referred. They are: Substance' (Jevher), 'Quantity
(Kern), 'Quality' (Keyf), 'Place' (Eyn), 'Time' (Meta), 'Rcl.ition' (Izafct),
the

'

'

'

'Possession' (Mulk), 'Situation' (Waz'), 'Activity' (Fa"!), 'Passivity'

'

(Infi'al).

42

The

of the

genesis

suffering

any

of a

Its

is

on

this

Without

wise:

or

diminution

thereby,

own

fulness an

image of

alteration

Cause rays out from

first

Universe

the

First

Itself,

the

of emanations or projections in which the

series

proportion of Real (i. e. Necessary) Being diminishes as they

recede from the Centre. This first emanation is pure thought,
and is called the 'First' or 'Universal Intelligence' fAql-i
'

Evvel,

^Aql-i

has three sides or aspects:

It

Kull).

'Divine' (Haqq), through virtue of which

Cause;

(2)

knows

the

itself;

of which

it

it

(i)

knows the

the

First

'Psychic' (Nefs), through virtue of which

(3)

knows

the

it

'Dependent' (Muhtaj), through virtue

its

dependence on

Lord.

its

From

each

of these three aspects of the First Intelligence there proceeds

a

different

emanation, the law being that from one source

but one thing can proceed,

to

i.

e.

own production anything

its

a thing cannot communicate

other than

Divine aspect flows the 'Second Intelligence

aspect,
^

Kull);

itself.

;'

From

the

from the Psychic

the 'First' or 'Universal Soul' (Nefs-i Evvel, Nefs-i

from the Dependent Aspect, the 'Sphere of Spheres'

last, as we shall see immediately,

outermost of the nine concentric spheres or heavens
that enclose the elemental world. From the three aspects

or 'Universal Body;' this

the

is

of the Second Intelligence proceed in like

manner the Third

Intelligence, the Second Soul and the Sphere of the Fixed

Stars.

This

process

is

continued

till

we

reach the Tenth

Ninth Soul and the Sphere of the Moon,

Intelligence,
so that there are
all produced from the Ninth Intelligence
the

This is the Nous of Plotinus and his successors, the Logos of Philo.
These three aspects are sometimes described as (i) Vujud or 'All-comprising Existence,' i. e. that existence which comprehends both the Necessary
and the Contingent; (2) Vujub or 'Necessary Existence;' (3) Imkan or 'Con'

tingent Existence.'
3

Soul

Often called, especially by

Siifis

and poets, the

'

(Jau-i '^Alem, Jan-i Jihan). It

is

'

Cosmic Soul

'

or

'

World-

the Psyche of the Neo-Platonists.

43

Ten

in all

Nine Souls and Nine Spheres. The

Intelligences,

Tenth Intelligence

bears the

special

Intelligence' ("Aql-i Fa"al), as

of pure

centre

the

be

to

spirit

name

of the 'Active

sufficiently

removed from

materialized

to the point

is

it

can act directly on the elemental world.

Interwoven with this doctrine of emanations is, as we have

when

it

Ptolemaic system of cosmography.

the

seen,

just

Around

'

the central, stationary earth revolves a series of nine hollow

Spheres or Heavens, arranged one

of an onion.' To each of

concentric shells called

other

the

within

the coats

'like

the seven innermost

of these

fastened one of the Seven

is

which are thus carried round by the spheres

revolution. These seven planetary spheres are in
Planets,

from the innermost:

starting

that of Venus,

of Mercury,

(3)

of Mars,

that of Jupiter,

(6)

(7)

(4)

order,

Moon,

(2)

that

that of the Sun,

(5)

that

that of the

(i)

in their

that of Saturn. Outside these

the Eighth Sphere, that of the Fixed Stars, outside which,

is

and

outermost

of

comes the Ninth Sphere, which

all,

called the 'Sphere of Spheres' (Felek-ul-Eflak) as

the
as

others,

it

as,

Atlcs)
1

as

It
it

New

all,

carrying no

or the

very
alone was
School,

to

it

'

is

all

Fleckless Sphere' (Cherkh-i

is

without spot or mark.

have some acquaintance with

the

recognised by

and allusions

it

star,

necessary for us to

is

encloses

'Most Great Sphere' (Cherkh-i A'zam)

or the

the mightiest of

is

it

Turkish' poets

are innumerable.

down

this

system,
to the rise of the

The Turks were not un-

with the other astronomic systems; both the Tychonic and the
Copernican are described by Katib Chelebi in the Jihdn-Numa or 'Belvedere,'
which he left unfinished at his death in 1068 (1657-8); but the poets, in
their verses at any rate, preferred to adhere to the time-honoured system of
acquainted

their fathers.
2
is

The word

'aties,'

which properly means 'unfigured' i.e. 'unembroidered,'

'satin,' whence comes an infinity of equivoques.

used as the name for

3

the

which is the Primum Mobile of the Middle Ages, is also called

'Limiter of Directions' (Muhaddid-ul-Jihat), as beyond it the 'six direc-

This,

tions'

i.e.

and the

'

before,

behind, right,

Universal Body
other bodies.

left,

'

(Jism-i KuU),

above and below, have no existence;

as it is the body which contains all

44

The

universe

the

outside

thus

the appearance of a vast ball,

formed by the convex surface of

presents

of which

is

the Ninth Sphere. What,

if

lies

anything,

beyond

this

Sphere,

whether there be 'vacuum' (khala) or 'plenum' (mela) there,

though often asked, is known to none.

Each of these Nine Spheres or Heavens has an Intelligence
and a Soul as well as a body. The Intelligence of the Sphere
'

of Spheres

Universal Soul
Stars

Second

the

is

the Third Intelligence, and

is

and

Intelligence,

its

Soul

is

the

the Intelligence of the Sphere of the Fixed

Soul

its

is

the Second

and so on, the Intelligence of the Sphere of the Moon

being the Tenth, and its Soul the Ninth.
The Nine Spheres revolve, at different velocities, round
Soul,

the earth.
to

The

which

east,

eight inner have two motions, one from west

is

(iradi) or 'natural'

forced on

is

proper to them, and which is 'voluntary'

(tabi'^i), and one from east to west, which

them by the Ninth Sphere, and which

is

called

^
'compulsory' (qasri). The Ninth Sphere has a swift motion
from east to west, effecting its revolution once in twentyfour hours, and carrying with it all the inner spheres. ^

In

theological

the

language

and

Intelligences

Souls

would be called

Archangels.
2 The
motion of the inner spheres relative to that of the ninth is illustrated
by the example of an ant creeping round the upper stone of a quern or hand-

which

is
being turned in the opposite direction. As the ant, although
borne round l^y the stone, still makes a little progress in the direction

mill
it

is

which

itself desires, so

ninth,

still

From

plays

and

men

the eight inner spheres, though carried round by the

'
progress slowly along their natural course.
this theory of the revolutions of the spheres arose a fancy which
'

very prominent
believed that

reaching influence on

in poetry. Astrology

part
the

planets,

mundane

directly

or

was universally accepted,

indirectly,

exercised a far-

The

nature of this influence depended

very largely on the position of the planets relative to one another. Now this
relative position was changing every moment owing to the rotation of the
affairs.

the eight inner revolving slowly, as we have seen, in their natural

course, while the ninth whirled them all round in the opposite direction once
in every twenty-four hours. This idea led the poets to represent the Ninth

spheres,

45

The Nine Spheres

are

'

transparent and therefore in-

all

they and the stars they carry consist of ether, a

substance which has no movement other than spatial, ^ and
visible;

no motion other than

as

into

circular, but

which diminishes

approaches the centre of the universe.

it

one another, so that there

is

They

in purity

fit

closely

no empty space between

the inner or concave surface of one and the outer or convex

surface of that immediately within

it.

Within the hollow of the Sphere of the Moon lies the

elemental world. The basis of this is no longer ether, but
'Matter' (Heyula), and immanent in Matter

which

without

actualized

existence

two degrees: 'Corporeal Form'

in

is

its

'Specific

Form'

with

first

the

(Siiret-i

is

'Form'

(Suret),

impossible.

Form

(Suret-i Jismi'ye),

Matter,

in

and

combination

produces 'Body in tlie Abstract'^

this, in combination with the second,

of these,

Mutlaq); and

(Jism-i

Nev^iye).

is

the
Individual Body.' Matter may in this conbe compared to the human breath, and Corporeal
to sound, then the human voice, which is the result
'

produces
nection

Form

of the combination of human breath and sound, will correspond

to

Body

Sphere,

in the

the

rapid

positions of the

Abstract, which

is

the result of the combination

motion of which occasions these sudden changes in the

as a kind of evil power; and they are never tired

planets,

of railing against

its

malignity and the delight

it

takes in frustrating

human

hopes and plans through the influences of those ever-shifting aspects of the
planets brought about by the ceaseless rush of its revolution.
'

order to account for the various

In

inner

juz'iye),

(efldk-i

on

so

were supposed

spheres

but

it

such as
is

the

to

movements of the planets the seven

one or more 'subordinate spheres'

contain

'deferent' (hamil), the 'epicycle' (tedvi'r), and

for the student of poetry to be acquainted

not necessary

with these details.

2

Movement

is

of three kinds: 'Quantitative Movement,' i.e. increase and

decrease, (hareket-i kemi'ye): 'Qualitative Movement,' i.e. alteration, (harckct-i

keyfiye): and 'Spatial Movement,' i.e. locomotion, (hareket-i cyniye).

'
'Body' (jism) is defined as that which possesses length, breadth

depth, and

is

therefore divisible.

and

46
of Matter

and Corporeal Form;

Form

represent

will

same way,

the

in

the power of the several

Specific
for

letters,

combination with sound, produces individual words,

as
Specific Form, in combination with Body in the
just
in

this,

Abstract, produces individual bodies.

Matter
this

in

is

respect

wax can
Matter

is

Form
Form to

susceptible of every

wax, and

to

The Form

receive.

it

is

always the same. Matter

has been likened

the impressions the

continually changing; the

the substratum of which

is

every sublunary body consists. Form is what gives to every

body its individuality. But while Matter is thus looked on
as

than active,

rather

passive

having some power of

necessity which

the

it

must yet be regarded as

own, as

its

is

it

from

that arises

it

and holds back both man and

limits

nature in their efforts towards self-realisation, and as

due to
from

its

the

resistance that the soul can ascend only

lower

to

the

The

first

Matter

higher stages.

generally considered as essentially

it

is

by degrees

is

therefore

evil.

Form

manifestation of Specific

is

in the

'Four

'Fire,' 'Air,' 'Water' and 'Earth.' The arrangement of the elemental world is, like that of the ethereal, a

Elements:'

series of concentric, spherical layers.

and subtlest of the Four,

within

its

As

Fire

is

region

is

the lightest

the highest, lying

and touching the concave surface of the Sphere of

In its pure state Fire is colourless and trans-

Moon.

the

consequently the Sphere of Fire is invisible. Next

that element being somewhat
of Air,
comes
denser than Fire. Within this is the Sphere of Water, denser
parent,

the Sphere

still

and within the Sphere of Water

densest of
1

all

things in existence.

The Sphere of Air

is

is

the Sphere of Earth,

The Earth

thus forms the

subdivided into three 'strata' (tabaqat). The Sphere

the highest stratum of the Sphere of Air, though

nature stationary, arc carried round by the Sphere of the Moon in

of Fire and

by
its

their

own

revolution.

47
core of the universe, and the centre of the earth

The Sphere

of the Universe.

surrounded

is

the Centre

of Earth was orit^inally entirely

by the Sphere of Water; but owing

some

to

the explanations vary the Water withdrew from the

reason

of the uneven surface of Earth and settled

higher portions

the hollows, thus leaving certain parts of the surface of the

in

Earth

contact with the concave surface of the Sphere of Air.

in

The Four Elements

arc

their 'Natures' (Tabayi*^)

by
are

each case twofold: Fire

in

and moist. Water

The elements

medium

the

is

'

distinguished from one another

or 'Qualities' (Keyfiyat). These

dry and hot, Air is hot

is cold and dry.

is

moist and cold. Earth

are continually passing into one another through

of that quality they possess

in

common

thus

can pass into air through the medium of heat, air into
water through the medium of moisture, and so on. In all
fire

those changes

is

it

only the form that alters; the matter of

which the elements (and therefore all sublunary bodies) are

made never changes, however manifold and diverse be the
forms manifested through
of

the

it.

(Kevn u Fesad),

Corruption'

This process of transmutation

which

elements,

simple

-^

is

is

called'

'Generation and

brought about by the

in-

'
The geographers divide the surface of the tefirestrial globe into two parts
land and water. The land part they subdivide into halves by the equator.
:

That

south

the

to

That

is

reckoned uninhabitable through

the

greatness of the

peopled and cultivated. This is called the

'
Habitable Quarter (Rub'^-i Meskiin), and is divided into seven zones by as
many imaginary lines drawn parallel to the equator, the space between the
heat.

to

north

the

alone

is

'

seventh and the north pole being reckoned uninhabitable through the greatness
of the cold. The seven zones are famous as the ' Seven Climates," and the
countries
for

us

to

and

cities

know

that

situated

Seventh that farthest from

2
'

In

this

Generation

the

other,

'

in

each are

the First Climate

is

carefully

noted;

but

it

is

that next to the equator,

enough
and the

it.

phrase 'Corruption' means Matter's putting off a particular form,

of another form. The one cannot occur without
its assumption

and both are in ceaseless operation

world of change.

in the elemental world, the

48

Seven Planets,

fluences of the

'

and

results in the production

of the three classes of

compound bodies, namely,

Vegetables and Animals. The Seven Planets are

often

'Seven

the

called

Sires'

(Aba-i

Seb'a)

Minerals,
therefore

Four

the

Elements, the 'Four Mothers' (Ummehat-i Erba'a) and the

^ip,
three classes of compound bodies, the 'Threefold Offspring'
;

The

(Mewalid-i Selase).

'Man'

class of

Animals reaches

goal in

its

(Insan).

This brings us to Psychology. There are three degrees of

the

soul:

the

'Soul

Sensible'

'Soul

lit.

Vegetable'

Nebati'ye),

(Nefs-i

'Soul Animal'

(Nefs-i
^

Reasonable'

Natiqa).

(Nefs-i

the

'Soul

Haywaniye), and
The first, which

corresponds to what we should call the vital principle, is

shared in common by plants, brutes and man; its functions
are growth, nourishment and reproduction.

The

second, which

represents the principle of sensation or perception,

is

confined

and man; its functions are sensation and voluntary

movement. The third, the principle of reason, belongs to
to brutes

man

alone; and
in

soul,

which

function

its

these

all

is

reason.

combine,

The

is

individual

human

thus threefold, but

only the Reasonable element that survives death. Yet

is

the

same

mineral,

swiftly

its

it

is

terrestrial life in the

as the opposition of matter

through the plant and the brute to man, developing,

latent powers,

its

ascends,

it

as

pushes up,

will allow,

as

which having begun

soul

it

till

at

last

it

is

able to

1
the metaphysicians held the
This was the opinion of the physicists
Tenth or Active Intelligence to be the agent. See p. 43. Both views are
recognised by the poets and Sdfi's.
5

The

theories

here

dealt

with prevailed throughout Christendom as well

Middle Ages. They are expounded in English

Batman uppon Bartholome, his Booke " De Proprie-

as throughout Islam during the

in

the

tatibus
ally

volume entitled

'

Rerum,"' London, 1582. This work, which is said to have been originin Latin about the middle of the thirteenth century by an

written

English Franciscan
of medieval science.

friar

named Bartholomew,

is

practically an encyclopaedia

49

now

discard as

which

The Soul

by means of

useless crutches those faculties

has progressed so

it

far

its

upon

journey.

\''egetable possesses four faculties called 'Powers'

or 'Virtues.' These are: (i) the 'Virtue Nutritive' (Quvvet-i

Ghadiya), by which the organism supplies the waste of the

body; (2) the 'Virtue Augmentative' (Quvvet-i Nami'ye), by

which

life the organism grows>

and depth; (3) the 'Virtue
(Quvvet-i Aluvellide), by which the organism,

to

ui)

certain

of

period

increases in length, breadth

i.e.

'

Generative

through detaching a portion of itself, produces another similar

individual; and (4) the 'Virtue Informative' (Quvvet-i Mu-

by which the

savvira),

into

suitable

fashioned

place,

aforesaid detached portion,

is

moulded

into

by

four others:

until

digested

Hazime), by which
for

the

nourishment;

by which

(Quvvet-i Masike),
place

its

reparation

(3)

it

the

(2)

is

itself

the

the 'Virtue Retentive'

retains the food in the proper

'

Virtue

'

Digestive

(Quvvet-i

converts the food into matter proper

it

of

the

of the body; and

waste

by which

'Virtue Expulsive' (Quvvet-i Dafi^a),

what

fall

the 'Virtue Attractive'

(i)

(Quvvet-i Jazibe), by which the organism draws to

material proper for

if it

proper form and

These four 'Virtues' or

into a similar individual.

faculties are served

its

it

(4)

the

casts forth

superfluous.

The Soul

Sensible has two faculties: the 'Virtue Motive'

(Quvvet-i Muharrike), and the 'Virtue Apprehensive' (Quvvet-i

Mudrike).

The Virtue Motive

is

of two kinds: the 'Virtue

Concupiscible' (Quvvet-i Shehviye),

to obtain

(Quvvet-i

'

Several

of modern

what

it

Ghazabi'ya),

of these
science,

names Quvve-i

bj'

which the animal seeks

takes to be good; and the 'Virtue Irascible'

by which

it

seeks to

shun

what

it

medieval terms have been retained in the terminology

though the application, of course, is changed; thus the

Jazibe, Quvve-i Masike, Quvve-i Ddfi'a, are

to the forces of Attraction,

nowadays applied

Cohesion and Repulsion, respectively.

50
takes

be

to

This Virtue Motive acts through the imis served by the

evil.

pulsion of the Virtue Apprehensive, which

Outer' and

'Five

former

and 'Sight;' the

Estimative'

are

the

'Common Wit'

the

'Fantasy'

and

the

(Khayal)

the

'Virtue

The Common Sense

Mutasarrifa).

The

'Smell,' 'Taste,' 'Hearing'

Wahime),

(Quvvet-i
Hafiza)

(Quvvet-i

'Touch,'

latter

Mushterik),

(Hiss-i

Inner Wits' or 'Senses.'

'Five

the

of course,

are,

is

'Virtue

or 'Sense'

the

'Virtue

Memorative'

Ordinative'

(Quvvet-i

the recipient of

the

all

perceptions conveyed from without by the five outer senses;

it
has been compared to a pond into which five streams
flow.

Its

seat

in

is

the

front

part

of the foremost of the

The Fantasy is the store-house of the

perceptions received by the Common Sense; thus so long

three

brain-cells.

as an object

Sense,

but

passes

from

is

as

before us

soon

the

as

reflected in the

Common

its

image

it

passes from before us its image

Sense and is relegated to the

Common

is

Fantasy. The seat of the Fantasy is in the back part of the

foremost brain-cell. The Virtue Estimative is that faculty which
takes cognisance of moral qualities as manifested in individuals

but not themselves

the

as

seat

is

affection
in

Memorative

by the outer

perceptible

of a

friend,

the

the back part of the mid brain-cell.

is

senses, such

hatred of an enemy;

its

The Virtue

the store-house of impressions received through

the Virtue Estimative;

its

seat

Virtue Ordinative, whose seat

is
is

in the

hind brain-cell.

The

in the centre, in the front

part of the mid brain-cell, takes impressions from both sides,

and combines and separates these as it pleases. It is equivalent

to what we call the imagination, and 'the fanciful inventions
of the

poets,

are

work.'

its

such as silver cypresses and ruby mountains,

The old physiologists divided the brain into three compartments which
they called 'cells' or 'dens.'
'