The Ghalghaï (Ingush) and Quran in Goethe's «Freisinn»

“Freisinn" (free spirit, free mind) — a poem written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in 1815, first published in West–Eastern Divan in 1819. In Christian Wurm and Henrich Viehoff's commentary of Goethe's Works, we discover that the first verse is inspired by the dictum of a free-spirited Ghalghaï highlander (also known as Ingush), who, by the account of Moritz von Engelhardt, during his travels to the mountainous country of the Ghalghaï in 1811, rejected an offer to gain benefits under the condition of submitting to the rule of the Russian Tsar, with a short phrase: "Above my hat are only the stars".

Inspired by the words of this freedom-loving Ingush man, Goethe composed the following poem:

𝑳𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒔𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒍𝒆!
𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒖𝒕𝒔, 𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔!
𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆,
𝑨𝒃𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒔.

𝑯𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔
𝑻𝒐 𝒈𝒖𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒂,
𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎,
𝑨𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒂𝒛𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒇𝒕.

The second verse relates to Joseph von Hammer’s work and derives from the 6th chapter of the Quran: Surah Al-An'am, Ayat 97: وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِى جَعَلَ لَكُمُ ٱلنُّجُومَ لِتَهْتَدُوا۟ بِهَا فِى ظُلُمَـٰتِ ٱلْبَرِّ وَٱلْبَحْرِ ۗ قَدْ فَصَّلْنَا ٱلْـَٔايَـٰتِ لِقَوْمٍۢ يَعْلَمُونَ

“And it is He [Allah] - Who made the stars for you in which you might follow the right way thereby in the darkness of the land and the sea. Truly, We have made plain the signs for people who know.” (6:97)

Видео The Ghalghaï (Ingush) and Quran in Goethe's «Freisinn» канала INGUSȞEART