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Proceedings of the Fourth International Congress on

Islamic Civilisation in the Balkans 13-17 October 2010, Skopje, Macedonia

Balkanlar'da İslam Medeniyeti Dördüncü Milletlerarası Kongre Tebliğleri

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PROCE.EDINGS OF THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON ISLAMIC CIVILISATION IN THE BALKANS 13·17 OCTOBER 2010, SKOPJE, MACEOONIA

BALKANLAR'DA ISLAM MEDENIYETI DÖRDÜNCÜ MILLETLERARASI KONGRETEBLI~LERI

13·17 EKIM 2010, ÜSKÜP, MAKEDONYA

SOURCES AND STUDIES ON THE HISTORY OF ISL.AMIC CIVIUSATION ı N0.32

ISLAM MEDENIYET! TARIHI KAYNAK VE INCELEMELERI DIZISI ı N0.32

OCOPVRIGHT f iRCICA201S

ISBN 97fl-92·9063·286-3 (v.l)

ISBN 978·92-9063·287·0 (v.2)

ISBN 978-92-9063·288·7 (set)

ISTANBUL 201 S

CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION DATA

International Congress on Islamic Civilisation in the Balkans (4th: 2010: Skopje, Macedonia) Proceedings of the Fourth International Congress on Jslamic ci viiisation in the

Balkans: 13-17 October 2010, Skopje, Macedonia =BaLI<anlar'da Islam Medeniyeti Dördüncü Milletlerarası Kongre tebliğleri: 13;.1( El5iı:n 291,9. Ç)s~p. Makedonya 1 edited by Halit Eren ... [et al.] · Istanbul: Re~eard:ı ·centrJ: f9r Isla~c History, Art and Culture, 2015. · · .... •. .,._ ~ . : , . . , .

752 p.: col. ili., maps, plans; '24 cm:-· (Sciurces· a~d studies on the history of Islamic civilisation; no.32) : · : . . :. · ··•. ·.

!ncludes bibliographical references. Text in English and 1\ırkish. · · ISBN 978-92-9063·286-3 (v.l) . 1. Civilization, Islamic--Balkan Peninsula. 2. Civi.lization, 1\ırkish--Balkan

Peninsula. 1. Eren, Halit, 1953· ll. Ti.tJe. Jtl. ~~pes. · 949--dc21

EDITOR ı Dr. Halit Eren

PREPARED FOR PU8LICATION BY ı Assoc. Prof. Cengiz Tomar, ASSOC. Prof. Sadık Onay

DESIGN ı Muhammed Nur Anbarlı

PRINTINGAND BINDING ı Talat MatbaacıJıkAŞ

Naqshibandi Sheikh Khatem and His Poetry

Sabaheta Gacarııin*

1

The reason for choo~ing Ahmad Khatem Aqowalizade and his poetic discourse lies in the fact that although this author is referred to in all the Ottoman tezkiras dating back to the Iate 17th century and early 18 century as an influential po et, none of the poems from his abundant literary work have been presented or scientifically analyzed in any way whatsoever.

The focus of our research is Khatem's poetry in the Persian language, which forms a separate unit within the Diwan entitled Dfwiin-e farsi-ye Aqowiili-ziide Xiitem-afandf (The Persian Diwan ofKhatem Aqowalizade).

The textual anaJ!.ysis is based on the manuscript kept at the İstanbul Univer­

sity Library, T ~823, fol. 9b-16b.

Despite the significance of this Diwan po et' s literary work, he has never b_een a subject of any scholarly research anywhere in the world. In the lit­erary history of Bosnia and Herzegovina reference to him was made by Safvet-bey Basagic and Mehmed Handzit, and later in some more detail by Hazim Sabanovic and Fehim Nametak.1 However, no linguistic or literary­

critical research has been made into his poetic work to date.

The poet's bio.graphy

Ahmad Aqovali-zade (Bjelopoijak) Khatem (died in 1168/1754) was a

son of Osman Shahdi-efendy Aqovali-zade Bjelopoijak, a hiiğegiin (master­clerk of the government service) of the Emperor's Diwan, anda grandson

* Research fellow, Institute for Oriental Studies in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovlna

1 Mehmed Handzic, Knjiievni rad bosansko·hercegovackih muslimana, Sarajevo 1933., pp. 12·14; Hazim ~abanovic, Knjiievnost Muslimana BiH na orijentalnim jezicima, Sarajevo 1973., pp. 467·469.; Fehim Nametak, Divanska knjizevnost Bosnjaka, 75·76.

31

32 ( PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON ISLAMIC CIVlLISATION IN THE BALKANS

ofMehmed Salim-efendy Kadic from Bijelo Polje (Aqova).2 It is unknown where Alırnacl Aqovali-zade was bom and grew up. It is known, however,

that he graduated from University in İstanbul. He then traveled to Egypt (Misr) and Hijaz in Saudi Arabia and spent sorne time there. In Mecca, he was issued an irsad (a teaching and religious license) from the Naqshibandi Sheikh Alırnacl Yakdasti Guryaru, who introduced him into the Naqshiba­ndi order. In 1168/1754 he was appointed qadi in Larissa (Yeni~ehir) in Greece, where he died. The Turkish poet Belig, his disciple from Yenisehir, wrote an elegy (mersiyya) where, inter alia, he says: "No one like him, no one so glorious in both exact and mystical sciences will ever come to this epherneral world". The last verse of the elegy contains the date of his death: "Resul-e ekreme Ahmed efendi hemgivar olsun 1 May Ahmad-efendy be a

neighbour ofGod's Prophet (1168/1754/5):'3

He was well-educated and an excellent connoisseur of various disci­

plines of the Islamic sciences. He was a distinguished calligrapher, a fact confumed by a certificate issued by the well-known calligrapher Khattat Enür-Efendy. He spoke all three Orientallanguages and even held lectures in Arabic. In the field of Sharia law he wrote a commentary on a prominent work entitled Multaqa al-abhur by Ihrahim Hala bi; in the field of lexicog­

raphy, he wrote a commentary on a renowned dictionary Tuhfe-i Sahidi;

in the field of mathernatics, he wrote a commentary on Al-lum' by Husam Bosniak. His legacy is a well-organized Diwan of poems in the Ottornan, Persian, and Arabic languages. His Diwan was highly esteerned and often copied. Within · the Diwan, poetry is classified un der languages: Arabic, Turkish, and Persian, thus forming separate entities.

He belonged to the post-classkal period of literature and was clearly influenced by the Ottoman poets Nabi and Nedim. However, he contin­

ued the tradition of the Diwan poets, whose poetry is clıaracterized not by sirnplicity but rather by a difficult poetic language of great density: "The first half of the 181h century was rnarked by the poet Nedim, who had a strong influence on other poets of the period (lale devri). One of the few

ı The poet himself provides this information in a note at the end of the qaside on ahlaq in Arabic: hadi m beni adem Aqovalizade Hac em. See: Handzic, op.cit., footnote 13.

3 Handiic, op. cit., p. 14.

NAQSHIBANDI SHEIKH KHATEM AND HIS POETRY j 33

poets whose work was not influenced by either N abi or Nedim was Sheikh Ahmed Aqovali-zade, the author of a short well-organized Diwan contain­

ing ı70 ghazals:'4

According to the oldest manuscript dating back to ıı70/ı756-57, copied

by Mustafa b. Husayn, this Diwan contains: 4 na'ts, 7 qasidas, ı manzüme

displaying musical rules (usul) and maqamas, 139 ghazals, ı mustezad, 5

qit'as, 23 mufrads (a beyt), 4ı mu'ammas, ı mesnevi, ılugaz, 48 tarihs; in the

part in Persian: ı qasida, 32 ghazals, ı tarih, ı beyt; and in the part in Arabic:

ı na't, 28 ghazals, ı tarih and 2 beyts. The Diwan was, often copied, proof

of which is a number of manuscripts of the Diwan in' libraries5• He wrote

one manzüme in the Ottoman language with a moral and didactic content

which is not included in the Diwan, The poet himself wrote a commentary

on it ata later stage. !ts autograph is located in İstanbul (Aşir-efendi), as well

as the copy of the manuscript with the author's commentary (Laleli).

Stylistic Peculiarity of Khatem's Poetry

In Khatem's po~try each verse in itself is a sernantic unit, while the

meaning of the ghazal as a whole reveals complex and interrelated refer­

ences within i ts integral structure, which bears a huge amount of meaning,

usually elusive during the first llstening or reading of the ghazal. In poetic structure the context has an organic and not only functional

character, which is revealed by the text and its multi-layer sernantic struc­

ture. However, the multiple linguistic meaning in diwan poetry is of a mo re

complex character, since its organization in a poem is always ambiguous

and symbolic. In tasawwuf literature there was a specific type of metaphorical pro­

cess which always required from the recipient a deeper un derstanding of its

symbolic structure and knowledge of i ts primary features, w hi ch is that in

the sp here of attributes it is always -a man's dialogue with Go d, regardless of

the real events, persons, or scenes from history, mythology, ete.). All «ac-

4 Büyük Türk Klasikleri, 4/13, p. 357.

S British Museum OR 7119; Istanbul Üniversitesi K tb. T. 1274, 2823, 394/1, 2825, 381, 2882; Millet K tb. ­'Ali Emiri Manzum eserler Ms. ı 25; Süleymaniye Ktb.- Mihrişah Sultan Ms. 373 and others.

34 1 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON ISLAMIC CIVI LISATION lN THE BALKANS

tions» place in the heart of one's soul, and sufis used metaphors to express

the intensity of their experieİıces, like wine (sarab 1 mey 1 bade), drunken­

ness (naswe, mast), bohemian (rindan), idol (bot), ete. That is why the se­

mantic content of this type oflexicon is recognized only with the contextual

aspect included in the tasawwuf discourse.

In this seetion we will consider the metaphor which, along with antith­

esis, has a central place in the contextually expressive lexicon of tasawwuf discourse and which regularly proceeds into terminology units and forms

of the tasawwuf register and passesses consistency of meaning and a cer­

tain enigmatic quality that always keeps us in a kind of unfinished pr9cess

of reception when in communication with the ghazal. Antithetic figures, when combined with metaphors, are seen as the

semantic-stylistic characteristics of the ghazal. In fact, the peculiarity of

the contextual antinomy is the result of a linkage between the antonymic

integration with the metaphorization oflexemes. Contextual opposition in

tasawwuf discourse is formed by the words, which in the lexical system do

not create pairs of antonyıns and enter antonymic links only in the given

context, while outside of ghazals (not the case with qasidas) they are not

antonyıns, as in the following example:

ğehan (world)- cenar (plane tree), contextual antonyın where through

the process of metaphorization we get an antonyrnic pair: the world of

forms and transience (world/ ğehan) vs. traveler of the sp iritual path ( cenar/ plane tree);

ğamciyyat (i:ommunity) - miyanği (moderator), contextual antonyın

where through the process of metaphorization an antonymic pair is cre­

ated: society (ğamciyyat/community) or, more precisely, individuals in soci­

ety who work on sp iritual transformatian vs. the sp iritual teacher ( miyanğil

moderator) who knows all the secrets of the human soul.

Analysis of the ğim ghazal -·-'1 u J .. \-""" ~ .)C

~j-A '::-'l_;h.-..;:,1 jl .:ı_,.;. ıs" .)ts...._..t..ı

~ .7-"' ::-ı \.ii ıfo.L::;..:., C.S .Y'- .:ı .ft o.:ı.....:ıJ _,j

~j-A ::-ıb....ı 0» .:ı.;S ~ 4..! ~ -»'-"

~.J-" ::-ıl.,.::. .)J~ ,>.J.-....:.:i ô~y ~L..... 0~ y j ~.:ı .ı.5; :u.;..) Y"

1.; r4 ~.)_,:.. <-~~ o_,l.;.. ~ jl

NAQSHlBANDI SHEIKH KHATEM AND HIS POETRY 1 35

~>" ~~ Y. ı.J:.F ~ ~.,.; JJ ı:.ıiJ ~_,_..,. yL:i J ~ 4.-.::..lj..o J.:l ·~.:ı.J.

~_,_..,. ~ı.;--:.. .\.ıL:.. • .:ı..!. \:i y\..pı. ~ . .

~_,..... ~~ <..>Iy ~ .1....;. <L....ı ,_Jl:..

.l......-.ı.o..J • •. 1 ~ Ô.l!.o..) ..; ..6.::.. ... C>. .. ~~ "( , ...;r- ... \.,J~

u......:i c,ı..ı ~.J-0 _;:.Lı k ı);A ~ ~.:ı<.s""tl~y.:ıjl ~~~Lı

',,. •?"-:!~41_, »~~

Verse 16

Carried away by the vision of the foaming waves and drawn in to the whirlpool With vast foam the waves are restlessly ascending.

Verse2

With the m ere intention to see the ends of the eyefashes of the winepourer Tearing the threads in his cover, the ve il of the curly lock.s.

Verse 3

The sun cloaked the glass and filled it entirely w ith light Slowly embraced it, as the wave of clouds covered it.

Verse4

When the- hardly- seen cheek fuzz emerged T11ey painted tHe beauty image on the water wave.

Verse 5

Your shy and ruby lips, as the trace of drink imprinted in glass Became wrinkled just like the ripple in the water.

Verse 6

The winepourer has poured love in to my heart without leaving a trace · The castle of waves crumbles like bubbles pierced by a pin.

6 Transcription of ghazal in metre of mozare'-- u 1- u- u 1 u-- u/ - u- 1

Bar naswe-ye tasawwor-e dour-e ha bab-e mouğ Sar raste-yike did ze moigan-e saqiyas Aı bahr-e gelwe pü~l-ye xworsid ğam ra Con xan-e noudamide-ye po~t-e labas rasid Sarmin xan-e sager-e müyin-e la'l-e tost Saqi-ye 'esqam az del-e bidag midehad Cin-e ğabin co wağebe-ye fedye ğammast

Amaskar miSawad az ezıerab-e mouğ 2ülide kard müy-e heğaba~ neqab-e mouğ Seir-e sabok be sine konad con sahab-e mouğ Zan rü newe5t naq~-e negaras bar ab-e mouğ Gardide dar mozahame-ye pic o rab-e mouğ Mix-e habab ta sode xane-ye xarab-e mouğ. Xatem sexart kasid baray-e nesab-e mouğ

36 i PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON !SLAM!C ClV!LlSAT!ON IN TlfE BALKANS

Verse 7

The wrinkles on the forehead have creased, just like the duties of fedye Hatem wrote three flowery ( curly) books on the name of nisab.

The thematic cantext of the ghazal is made up oflexemes of all spheres,

and the most present ones are the lexemes from the sp here world, while the

most frequent ones are the lexemes related to water, which are also. the key

for understanding the message of the ghazal- in the connotative meaning

the process of knowledge is similar to the power of water.

a) The contextually expressive lexicon of the ghazal, w ith mystical conno­tation, given through binary opposition:

1) o~ /naswe (drunkenness) or avoidance of self-awareness, reference to the spiritual world vs. C-:-JI~Ifezteriib (restlessness), characteristic of this world;

2) ~L....., lsiiqi (winepourer) implying Beloved vs. C-:-J~ /heğiib (veil), ob­stacle to entering the world of transcendent and of see.ing the Beloved;

3) r4!ğiim (glass) implying the heart which has gained knowledge (refer­ence to the other world) as opposed to~ 1 sine ( chest) meaning knowledge or outer shell, which is hiding one's heart (reference to this world);

4) _,.i~ /xatt-e nou (cheek fuzz) inter-world (reference to this world) vs. ı.]. fo~ /naqs-e negiiras (image ofbeauty) or beauty ofBeloved (reference to the other world);

5) ~ /la7 (ruby lips), the lips of the one who takes a drink of knowledge (reference to this world) vs. _;C.l.....f siiger (glass), drink of true knowledge (refer­ence to the other world);

6) ~L.... /saqf (winepourer) as perfect teacher (reference to the other world) vs. C-:-JI~ :U~ lxiine-ye xariib (tavern), the place of the abalition of the ego and all the chains of the materialistic world (reference to this world);

7) .ı..,ı.:;..l_, /wiiğebe implying obligation (reference to this world) vs. ~ı.=.. 1 xiitem, the final destmation of the spiritual journey (reference to the other world).

NAQSHIBA..~DI SHEIKH KHATEM AND HIS POETRY 1 37

b) The Tasawwuf register and the interpretation of the ghazal

Verse 1

.. ~ /naswe - drunkenness, exaltation; abalition of self-awareness, ideas

and impulses related to self; disappearance in Gad;

.J_,.......J /tasawwor - imagination; fantasy; creative imagination, mirror of •

light of beauty;

.J.J~ dour - whirlpool; circling; allusion to cosrnic movements; allusion to

circling the Ka'aba;

Y4=- !habiib - bubbles, foam; metaphor for fragility and fragility of thin gs in

the world of the senses, decorated illusion of the materialistic world;

<;:Y' /mouğ - wave; phrase: manifestation of an absolute Being visibi e at the

level of the senses;

.JIS-...uıL.i /iimiiskiir- sigh; an all-cosmic graceful sigh (nafas-e rahmani);

yi.Ji.."=ıl /ezteriib - restlessness; contrasts within the fundamental structure

of the natural world; metaphor for liveliness, thrill, or unrest, depending

on tlıe intensity of adıniration that the salik feels on the path of knowledge;

Interpretation: As a result of the ecstasy coming over him, the salik can

see the visions dragging him into the whirlpool of inexpressible meaning

that ab olishes his self-awareness; he is disappearing in an abysm and bring­

ing himself to the surface of the ocean of divine Being, only to c ome back

to it again; this is how the spiritual traveler, in his metaphysical discoveries,

can feel as minute as a little bubble and as huge as an ocean wave.

Verse 2

.u.;...) Y"' 1 sar raste- goal, skill, knowledge; allusion to the phrase azmi qasd:

decision about em barking on a sp iritual path in order to reach true knowl­edge;

u~.J.a /mozgiin - eyebrows, eyelashes; phrase: an obstacle for thesalikin

spiritual ascent due to negligence; manifestation of the attributes of the di­

vine God, while divine Beauty remains hidden;

~L....ı 1 siiqi - wine servant, winepourer; metaphor for the perfect guide and

teacher, the one who is responsible for drunkenness and the emotional ex-

38 i PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON ISLAMIC CIVILISATION IN THE BALKANS

citement of the lover; Beloved observed in the heart; y~ 1 heğab - curtain; phrase: an obstacle to the appearance of truth in one's heart; the spiritual veil covering God's Reality; y\,ij /neqab - veil; phrase: an obstacle between the Beloved and the lover.

Interpretation: The general principle in nature is the principle of the

created being's wish and passian to return to his or her source ofbeing, and when it comes to maır, it is the decision to arause dormant consciousness and to enter the spiritual path of reaching Reality; the inner longing so inherent in each and every human being is sametimes deeply hidden and latent, because numerous preoccupations within the man himself prevent it from coming to the surface, responding to the calls of Reality and meeting with the Beloved, which can tear away the feelings of alienation, loneliness and helplessness, present in this transient world.

Verse 3 o_,!;.. iğelwe- glow, light; metaphor for the light ofTruth; can be related to

short-term flashes (awqat) of the Truthful, which settle in the salik's heart when he reaches a certain degree of knowledge;

~~ lpüsi- clothes, cover; metaphor for accepting the rules of God's law of order, sheriat, which corrects the ill-favored characteristics ofa rational soul; belief;

~.;.,:..txworsid-: sun; phrase: theophany of Reality of divine light and ab­solute Oneness of Go d;

?~ 1 ğam - glass; phrase: the heart of the salik who has discovered Truth by drinking from the secrets of truth; the body of the beloved, soul, existence;

~ ~ Iseir-e sabok - light, easy advancement; those who have started their path toward Truth and can easily pass the sp iritual stations; metaphor for those who have permanently turned their thought in the directian of imperial Light and not to the transient and unstable world;

~ 1 sine - chest; allusion to the characteristics of knowledge;

~_,... yl.:......ı / sahab-e mouğ- wave-like cloud; allegory of the divine mercy which splashes over like waves.

NAQSH!BANDI SREIIO! KHAT.EM AND HIS PO.ETRY 1 39

Interpretation: The human he art or the he art of the gnostic is illuminated by the glow ofTruth and touched by the theophany of the absolu te Oneness of God as well as by short-term flashes; that is the moment for a spiritual traveler to feel relieved and ready to get closer to his goal and silently reach

oneness.

Verse4

y .b.:.. /xatt-e no u - new soft fine hair covering the face; inter-world, the (

world visible and apparent between the sp iritual and physical (' alam-e bar-zax); the link benveen spiritual and physicallife, the world of examples (' alam-e mesiil); the sphere related to the salik who is in the second degree of advancement in the tarikat (triqah);

ı.SJ.J /rüy - face; theophany reflecting the nature of light in its outer form which gives infinite pleasure to the gnostic;

ıJi. .Jı$_j Jlj /naqs-e negiiras- picture, sculpture; the beauty of the Beloved;

ı..,..ıitab- water, sea, perspiration; shame; beauty, goodness; phrase: knowl­

edge, life, divine radiation of mercy, divine inspiration.

Interpretation: When, on the spiritual path, the flashes of divine Light

start to radiate in long runs and clear reflections, which is inherent to the world of the inter-world, the world between spiritual and physical, then, after the salik had tasted the deligbt of knowledge (asa result of the mani­festation of divine Beauty) he moved across the world of Berzah and saw the light of Essence.

Verse S y:.ı..... .b.:.. /xatt-e sager- the trace of a drin.k. ina glass; one of the levels of

self-realization of the heart of arif on the path of spiritual perfection;

~ /la'l - ruby lips; metaphor for seeret endowment of spiritual deligbt in knowledge, all-cosmic graceful sigh (nafas-e rahmaru).

Interpretation: When the gracefu.l sigh of the Merciful touches the arif 's inner heart, the core of knowledge (ma'rife), intuitive gnostic discovery, he

40 \ PROCEEDINGS OF TttE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON ISLAM lC C IVILISATION IN THE BALKANS

then tastes the infinite spiritual pleasures, and his heart becomes ready to

accept directly divine knowledge about the One who is there from Eternity

to Eternity, visible and reachable only to the hearts that can embrace Him.

Verse 6

~t...., /sö.qi - wine servanl, winepourer; metaphor for the perfect guide and

teacher; the one who is responsible for the drunkenness and emotional ex­

citement of the lover; aeıoved observed in the heart;

~ !'esq - love; true love without the passian for God, true love without

the dimension of sensuality towards the Creator of everything created;

t1.:ı r.s. J.ı ldel-e bidag - the heart without scars, ardent imprints; a meta­

phor for the truly pure and polished heart or the heart which is cold and

indifferent;

yi_?. -ül::.. !xö.ne-ye xarö.b- destroyed tavern; metaphor for the world we live

in; the world of human beings (' alam-e nö.süt).

Interpretation: A murshid who properly guides his disciple on the spir­

itual path and teaches him the secrets of love can truly polish his disciple's

heart so that it becomes pure and with no single stain (absence of all the

wishes and thoughts related to this transient world); otherwise, if the beart

of the murid do es not radiate light and remains cold, it will per is~.

Verse 7

~ ~ /Cin-e ğabin - wrinkled· forehead; allusion to complete spiritual

maturity, allusion to the murshid.

~.lS !fedye - purchase; phrase: the ashik who will sacrifice his life for the

Beloved;

yl......o /nesö.b - preseribed rule to give money to the poor (2,5%) of a deter­

mined ratio to property; metaphor for the rich or prominent man;

~\..::.. /xö.tem - seal; phrase: entirely accomplished maturity in spiritual ad­

vancement.

Interpretation: When the mind finally overcomes the self after long en­

deavors on the spiritual path, where the lover constantly sacrifi.ces hirnself

NA.QSHIBANDI SHEIKH KHATEM AND HIS POETRY 1 41

for the Beloved, a dying salik is ready to exist only for the Beloved until he finally rests in peace in the divine Essence;

Khatem himself, the one who has .reached spiritual maturity, and has become sheikh ( traditionally considered a successor of the Prophet), tried to use words in three diwans of poetry (numerologically the number three refers to the spiritual dimension) to deseribe His transcendence and His immanence, as well as his own spiritual experiences in which he discovered

Go d.

Conclusion

His stylistic peculiarity is a result of the metaphor he uses to define his

utterance stylistically in a very unique way by ex:tracting a different word meaning from the superficially obvious one and by completing it with the mystical nations which aim at their utmost and most profound significance.

Metaphors are usually periphrastic, which complicates their sernantic structure and enhances their expressive-impressive value even at the first level of metaphorization of meaning. Their meaning is based on various

types of experiences and therefore they are difficult to transiate from one language to another, and especially from the transcendent and inexperi­

enced world into the experienced and apparent world, which significantly complicates their sernantic complexity as well as their comprehension if not

interpreted in the spirit of mystical gnosis. The most complex of all the linguistic structures of Khatem's poetry,

which is at the same time the most stylistic and represents the strikingly stylistic value of Khatem's poetry, is the second level of the relocati'on in

the sernantic field of a metaphor which, in the deep structure, appeaJS in combination with the antithetic figure. These antithetic figures, found in the deep structure, are only contextually antonymous in the surface struc­

ture whose sernantic meaning has to be broken down through tasawwuf discourse- philosophical pattern of comprehension universum and man through a binary principle by which each element is represented by one dual quality of opposites which are ultimately united into one. In the deep structure of his poetry, and through the essential dialectkal jux:taposition of paradoxical relations w hi ch are ultirnately reduced to the world of senses

- the world of invisible, Khatem transforrus his experiences into justified

42 1 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON ISLAM lC CIVILISATION IN THE BALKANS

messages of universal meanin.g. Such a universal significance is based on

the discovery that everything in this Universarn has its antipode, two sides of one coin: two aspects of the same polarity -darkness and light, form and meaning, day and night, fire and water, inn er and outward, grief and joy­successfully expressed by a poet through skillfully shaped form.

Asa final conclusion based on lingo-stylistic research, where poetic set­

tings of the poet's artistic treatment in terms of a selection from. all the

expressive possibilities and ways of organizing the linguistic forms are pre­

sented, it will be claimed here that Ahmad Khatem Bjelopoljak formulates

his poetic expressian in a very unique way and his poetic language repre­

sents figurative polychrornia regularly followed by the acts of double mod­

eling -both superficial and deep with mystical connotation- which signif­

icantly complicates sernantic structures and enhances expressive value. The

previously assamed hypothesis will be confirmed with the poet presenting

the deepest significance and universal truth in seemingiy absolutely simple

verses, with simple figures with no particular stylogenity, or with a notice­

alıle alısence of figurativeness,.

· The characteristic feature of his poetry is sernantic plenitude which has

to be figured out at the deepest poetic level and within the proposed figura­

tive forms, meter and poetic strategy. Khatem's poetry is po etical philosophy

where thoughts are entwined in concentric circles and where each interpre­

tation is only one of several possible interpretations. Therefore, the sernantic

aspect of the analysis of his poetry is far more important than the structural

and grammatkal research, since it.is in the sernantic framework that his po­

etic individuality and creativity is best pronounced and observed.

Khatem is a poet of thoughtfullyricism, profound feeling, dense and

hermetic linguistic expression, whose simple poetic interpretation on the

surface is in reverse proportion to the diverse implications and messages at

the deeper level. That is why his poetry is characterized by concise and can­

dense expression, with the surface ambiguity, or even absurdity, caused by

the particular emotional syntax of diwan poetry. The perception of poetic

expressian of such a complex literary and artistic work will indeed depend

on the recipients of the message (communicators), their aptitude to com­

municate with the poetic text and their capacity to perceive poetic structure

as an artistic one, with numerous sernantic layers and nuances.

NAQSHIBANDI SHEIKH KKATEM A"-'D HIS POETRY 1 43

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