In Sheikh Faridaddin Attar's and Seyid Yahya Bakuvi's Works
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International Journal of English and Literature (IJEL) ISSN(P): 2249 - 6912; ISSN(E): 2249 - 8028 Vol. 6, Issue 5, Oct 2016, 27 - 36 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd “SEVEN VALLEYS” IN SHEIKH FARIDADDIN ATTAR’S AND SEYID YAHYA BAKUVI’S WORKS NEZAKET MEMMEDLI & MUHAMMAD FUZULI Institute of Manuscripts of National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan ( On the Basis of the “ Mantik - At - Teyr ” By Sheikh Faridaddin Attar and “ Sherhe - Meratibe - Esrare - Qulub” By Seyid Yahya Bakuvi ) ABCTRACT The genius Sufi poet and thinker Sheikh Faridaddin Attar had great influence on the development of the following Islamic literature. Hundreds of interpretations and naziras were written of the poet after his death who had reflected even the finest moments of all stages of mystic journey in his works. Furthermore, his poems were translated into many languages and spread. The role of Attar in the development of the Azerbaijani Sufi literat ure is irreplaceable. The representatives of a lot of Sufi movements spread in Azerbaijan used widely the motives and plots of Attar’s works, as well as the representatives of Khalvatiyyah sect. Seyid Yahya Bakuvi, the great representative of the XV centu ry Khalvatiyyah sect, also admired the literary O r i heritage of Attar and wrote Attar’s couplets in his works, where appropriate. Attar’s influence is obviously seen in all g i works of Seyid Yahya. Sheikh Faridaddin Attar worked on the all moments and theoretical points of Sufism and left a n a l rich literary heritage. Seyid Yahya Bakuvi also tried to express his ideas in Attar’s style and methods both in his ghazals, A r works of poetry. t i c l Seyid Yahya Bakuvi valuing Attar’s heritage as an endless ocean benefited specially from his e “Mantik - at - Teyr” and used Attar’s expression methods, characters and plots in his works such as “Sherhe - meratibe - esrare - qulub” (T he interpretation of the stages of heart mysteries) , “Haft makam and chehel manazil” (Seven moments and forty stages). The “Mantik - at - Teyr” work of Sheikh Faridaddin Attar is noteworthy with its high poetical features. Particularly, it is very interesting that in the beginning of the work each bird embodies a concrete group of people, for example, the goose paying attention to clearness by always being in the water, resembles the religious people who perform ablution, obey the religious rules, prefer facial appearance and forget about inner world; the nightingale crying for the love of flower resembles the poet who glorifies the love; the partridge living in the mountains resembles the ascetic who has no interest in the luxuries of the world. But Seyid Yahy a Bakuvi’s works almost don’t contain such kind of poetic expressions and allegorical metaphors. Both of the works have been written on the basis of “system of seven”. In “Mantik - at - Teyr” the questions of the birds to Hudhud, answers of Hudhud to these qu estions and a variety of stories have been included, as well as the description of seven valleys. To our mind, the “Sherhe - meratibe - esrare - qulub” work of Seyid Yahya Bakuvi had also been written as nazira to “Haft vadi”. While analysing both works compara tively, similarities in the ideas, spiritual closeness, the similarities in the expression and style are obvious. In Sheikh Faridaddin Attar’s work the writing of stories conforming with the content between the parts describing the valleys, the questions a nd answers of the birds being allegoric characters, figurative www.tjprc.org [email protected] 28 Nezaket Memmedli & Muhammad Fuzuli expressions and metaphors prove that the poet wrote this work for a wider readership. As well as being the work which explains the theoretical fundamentals of Sufism, “Mantik - at - Teyr” is the wo rk written by the poet having high poetic ability. Although the poetic expressions, symbols and metaphors have been used in“Sherhe - meratibe - esrare - qulub” of Seyid Yahya Bakuvi, it reflects concretely the main points of Khalvatiyyah sect, seven stages of Su fi path, and describes the cases salik has passed in these stages. KEYWORDS : Seyid Yahya Bakuvi , “Mantik - at - Teyr” , Hudhud Received: S e p 0 1 , 2 0 1 6 ; Accepted: S e p 2 2 , 2 0 1 6 ; Published: S e p 2 6 , 2 0 1 6 ; Paper Id.: IJELOCT20165 INTRODUCTION The rich literary heritage of the genius Sufi poet and thinker Sheikh Faridaddin Attar had great influence on the development of the following Islamic literature. Hundreds of interpretations and naziras (a poem written to resemble another poem in form and subject) were written to “Ilahiname”, “Esrarname”, “ Mukhtarname”, “Tazkiratul - Ovliya”, “Mantik - at - Teyr” works of the poet after his death who had reflected even the finest moments of all stages of mystic journey in his works. Furthermore, his poems were translated into many languages and spread. The role of Attar in the development of the Azerbaijani Sufi literature is irreplaceable. The representatives of a lot of Sufi movements spread in Azerbaijan used widely the motives and plots of Attar’s works , as well as the representatives of Khalvatiyyah sect. Seyi d Yahya Bakuvi , the great representative of the XV century Khalvatiyyah sect, also admired the literary heritage of Attar and wrote Attar’s couplets in his works, whe re appropriate. Attar’s influence is obviously seen in all works of Seyid Yahya. Sheikh Faridaddin Attar worked on the all moments and theoretical points of Sufism and left a rich literary heritage. Seyid Yahya Bakuvi also tried to express his ideas in Attar’s style and methods both in his ghazals (a kind of eastern poem) , works of poetry such as “Kashful - Esrar”, “Sherhe - meratibe - esrare - qulub” , “Haft makam and chehel manazil” and in the works of prose such as “Shifaul - Esrar”, “Esraral - vudu”, “Rumuzat - al - Isharat”, “Kashf - al - qulub”, etc. A large part of Excellency Seyid Yahya Bakuvi’s literary legacy was written in persian language. Mainly, these works can be divided into 3 catogories: poetical booklets, proses and lyric works. Poetical Works : Manazilul - ashiqin, Atvarul - Gulub, Şerhi - Esmayi - Samaniyye, Şerhi - Meratibe - Asrarul - gulub, Sharkh - i - Gulshani - raz, Bayanul - elm, Gisseyi - Mansoor Proses: Acaibul - Gulub, Ma la budde batiniyyah (Asrarul - vudu - ves - salat), Kashful - Gulub, Ramuzul - İşarat, Makarime - ak hlaq Lyric Works : Ghazals , Risala fi Salatun - Nabi, Manaqibe - Amiralmominin Ali Poetical Works : Manazilul - ashiqin, Atvarul - Gulub, Şerhi - Esmayi - Samaniyye, Şerhi - Meratibe - Asrarul - gulub, Sharkh - i - Gulshani - raz, Bayanul - elm, Gisseyi - Mansoor Proses: Acaibul - Gulub, Ma la budde batiniyyah (Asrarul - vudu - ves - salat), Kashful - Gulub, Ramuzul - İşarat, Makarime - akhlaq Lyric Works : ghazals, Risala fi Salatun - Nabi, Manaqibe - Amiralmominin Ali Impact Factor (JCC): 4.5629 Index Copernicus Value (ICV): 6.1 “ Seven Valleys” in Sheikh Faridaddin Attar’s and Seyid Yahya Bakuvi’s Works 29 “Mantik - At - Teyr” And “Sherhe - Meratibe - Esrare - Qulub ” Great sufi poet and thinker of XIII century Shaikh Faridaddin Attar’s influence is clear seen in Seyid Yahya's Persian works. As Faridaddin Shaikh Attar , Seyid Yahya wrote in a style which was close to simple and clear parlance, and folk speech. However, unlike Shaikh Attar Faridaddin’s works, we don’t see word - paintings, figurative expressions and different stories in Seyid Yahya’s literary legacy. In both Seyid Yahya and Attar’s works there are parlance and power of inspiration. Like Attar, Seyid Yahya also tre ats the readers in a friendly way, tries to convince them sincerely like a father who wants to protect them by speaking about his own life and experiences, to keep safe from danger on the path to fair God, to lighten their ways 1 . We had the honor of transl ating most of Excellency Seyid Yahya’s Persian works into Azerbaijani language . Seyid Yahya Bakuvi completes the “Rumuzat - al - Isharat” by giving Attar’s couplet in the final : ﺻﺪ ھﺰار ان ﻗﻄﺮه ﺧﻮن از دل ﭼﮑﯿﺪ ﺗﺎ ﻧﺸﺎن ﻓﻄﺮۀ ز آن ﯾﺎ (Seyid Yahya Bakuvi, Risaleler II , pace.120) (Hundreds of thousands blood drops had trickled from my heart till I found a small drop from that ocean). Seyid Yahya Bakuvi valuing Attar’s heritage as an endless ocean benefited specially from his “Mantik - at - Teyr ” and used Attar’s expression methods, characters and plots in his works such as “Sherhe - meratibe - esrare - qulub” (The interpretation of the stages of heart mysteries) , “Haft makam and chehel manazil” (Seven moments and forty stages ). T he “Mantik - at - Teyr” work of Sheikh Faridaddin Attar is noteworthy with its high poetical features. Particularly, it is very interesting that in the beginning of the work each bird embodies a concrete group of people, for example, the goose paying attention to clearness by alwa ys being in the water , resembles the religious people who perform ablution, obey the religious rules, pref er facial appearance and forget about inner world; the nightingale crying for the love of flower resembles the poet who glorifies the love; the partridge living in the mountains resembles the ascetic who has no interest in the luxuries of the world. But Seyid Yahya Bakuvi’s works almost don’t contain such kind of poetic expressions and allegorical metaphors. His “Sherhe - meratibe - esrare - qulub” work is specifically about the seven valleys which the pilgrims pass through. In Attar’s work the birds passed through seven valleys - the stages of talab ( wish ) , ashk ( love ) , marifat ( decency ) , heyrat ( admiration ) , istighna ( self - sufficiency ) , faq ir , and fena ( mortality ) and be g h a ( immortality ) with the headship of “Hudhud” and met with the Truth. Only thirty birds among thousands of birds achieved to see Simurg by passing the difficulties and hardships of this burdensome journey. Here Simurg embodies the God and se morg (thirty birds) personalize the pilgrims of God’s way.