NABI AS A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE DIDACTIC STYLE

In Islamic thought, the term “ḥikma” (wisdom) is used in contrast to philosophy and, according to dictionaries, carries meanings such as hidden thought, unknown cause, God’s concealed purpose in the creation of beings and events, and proverb, among others. In literature, the term is more commonly employed to denote a worldview grounded in life experience that reflects the general intellectual and moral norms of society. The primary aim of ḥikemī (didactic) poetry, which is based on this mode of thought, is to encourage the reader to reflect, to inform, and to guide individuals toward truth and the right path through reasoned contemplation. In fact, from our earliest written texts beginning with the Gokturk inscriptions through works such as Yusuf Has Hacib’s Kutadgu Bilig, political treatises (siyāsatnāmes), and the couplets and verses of divans, it is possible to observe didactic motifs centered on moral instruction and guidance. However, as a distinct literary path or movement, didactic-based ḥikemī style or ḥakīmāne poetry emerged in the seventeenth century.