Seb‘a-Seyyare: Rahimi’s Hasbihal About Love

Rahimi is a poet of classical Turkish literature who lived in Bursa in the sixteenth century. He was known to be a good calligrapher as well as a poet. Among the sources providing detailed information about his biography, Aşık Çelebi’s Meşa’irü’ş-Şu‘ara is the most important. His only known work today is his mathnawi Seb‘a-Seyyare, which is also mentioned by Aşık Çelebi. The only manuscript of the work is registered in the Manisa Manuscript Library, Manisa Akhisar Zeynelzade Collection, number 213/2. Rahimi fell in love with Keyvanzade Mustafa, who was famous for his beauty in Bursa, around 940 (1533-1534) and narrated this love adventure in his work Seb‘a-Seyyare, which he completed in 945 (1538-1539). Although the poet states that his work consists of a total of 1000 couplets, a total of 990 couplets are recorded in the manuscript we have. After the tawhit, munajat and naat sections, the natural and architectural beauties of Bursa are described. The seven beautiful men of the city are then mentioned in connection with the sky. Rahimi falls in love with Keyvanzade Mustafa, whom he places on the seventh floor of the sky in his dream, and when he wakes up, he wanders around various gardens of Bursa to find this person. When he fails to meet his beloved, he realizes that he must move away from figurative love and turn towards the love of God. The skilful use of figures of speech gives the narrative a literary style and makes Seb‘a-Seyyare a successful mathnawi.