Author(s): Nil├╝fer TAN├ç
Gül?en-i Vahdet was written by ?brahim ?âhidî of Mu?la, also the writer of Tuhfe-i ?âhidî of the canon texts in Ottoman Poetry. The book, appreciated with great interest in its time, was annotated and arranged by many authors and was translated into Arabic and Greek languages. Gül?en-i Vahdet, a mystical mesnevîs consisting of 457 couplets, has a multilayered meaning structure. Pointing the elements related to face in its first layer of meaning, a seyr u sülûk allegory was structured. Accordingly, Zülf (hair), Hatt (beard), Hâl (beauty spot), Çe?m (eye), Ebrû (eyebrow) and Dehen (mouth) representing muvahhid (believing in the God's unity), each is trying to reach Rûy (face) representing the beloved one. During this quest, while discussing and examining each other, they achieve the unity by understanding that Rûy, just as in Mant?ku’t-Tayr, is not different from themselves. In this layer of meaning, while combining the elements on “face”, which is one of the most basic concepts of classical Turkish literature, around a story of fiction for the first time, it demonstrates the authenticity of the work. In the second layer of meaning, the work can be taken as Rind-Zâhid conflict. It is stated that “Zülf” represents “Vâm?k”; and “Rûy” represents Azrâ in Gül?en-i Vahdet, so the work reminds of love stories with two heroes. In addition to diagnosis and polysemy, Gül?en-i Vahdet fully bears the basics of allegorical works; all listed as internal conflicts, search, well-proportioned, intertextuality, spatiotemporal ambiguity, the author's explanation of the allegory, “he story of the formation of a single work and allegory to continue without interruption. Analyzing the allegorical structure of Gül?en-i Vahdet, this article aims to put forward the meaning world that the work gained in its different layers.