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A mystic poet regarded, for the hymns he sang in Anatolian Turkish, as the founding name of Turkish Sufi poetry.
His life rests on a ground where historical record and legend are interwoven. According to a document found by Adnan Erzi in the Beyazit State Library, "Yûnus Emre was born in 638 (1240-41), lived eighty-two years, and died in 720 (1320)."
The most comprehensive legendary account of him is in the Vilâyetnâme-i Hacı Bektâş-ı Velî, attributed to Uzun Firdevsî (d. 918/1512). According to this account Yûnus, a poor farmer from Sarıköy, first went to Hacı Bektâş-ı Velî to ask for wheat, in the end preferred the nefes (spiritual breath) to the wheat, and was directed to his real master Tapduk Emre.
He served forty years at Tapduk Emre's lodge and performed the most menial tasks. It is related that when Tapduk played the şeştâ Yûnus fell into ecstasy, abandoned his craft and became a dervish. He later married his sheikh's daughter. His chain is said to run through Tapduk Emre, Barak Baba and Sarı Saltuk.
He died in 720 (1320); the source gives this date with a question mark.
His Circle of Influence — He shaped the development of Anatolian Turkish literature at the root. His accessible language, his poetic innovations such as adapting the ghazal to the syllabic metre, and his spiritual depth influenced generations of Sufi poets after him. His hymns spread from Anatolia to the Balkans by way of the abdalân-ı Rûm and became one of the founding texts of Islamic Turkish culture.
His Poetry and Sufi Line — At the centre of his line stand the perfect human being attained through divine love and the stripping away of self-attachment (fenâfillâh). The source states that his thought remained within the Qur'anic frame and that, while carrying a call to universal compassion and brotherhood, it rejects both pantheism and mere humanitarianism: for him divine love is the path of moral transformation.
His Works — 1. Risâletü'n-nushiyye (707/1307). An ethical treatise of 600 couplets in mesnevî form offering guidance to seekers. 2. Dîvan. It consists of about 417 poems in which the aruz and the syllabic metre are used together; 138 of them are in classical prosody and the rest in syllabic verse.
His Tomb and Complex — More than one place is claimed for his grave: Sarıköy (Eskişehir), Karaman, Aksaray, Bursa, Erzurum, Sivas and Gâh in Azerbaijan. The grave at Sarıköy was opened on 6 May 1946 during railway construction, and a monument was built there in 1970. Köprülü, Gölpınarlı and Timurtaş accept this identification.
Miracles
What follows are reports which appear in the source as transmissions; the atlas records them not as "thus it happened" but as "thus the sources transmit".
The spiritual breath instead of the wheat. Yûnus, a poor farmer from Sarıköy, went to Hacı Bektâş-ı Velî to ask for wheat; when he was asked whether he wanted wheat or the nefes, he preferred the nefes and was directed to his real master Tapduk Emre. (Source: Vilâyetnâme-i Hacı Bektâş-ı Velî, attributed to Uzun Firdevsî)
The şeştâ and the ecstasy. When Tapduk Emre played the şeştâ, Yûnus fell into ecstasy, abandoned his craft and became a dervish. (Source: TDV DİA, YÛNUS EMRE)
Forty years of service. It is related that he served forty years at Tapduk Emre's lodge, performing the most menial tasks. (Source: TDV DİA, YÛNUS EMRE)
Differing Scholarly Views
What does the epithet "ümmî" mean? In the sources he is counted illiterate; Âşık Çelebi says that he studied not in a medrese but "in God's school". Against this, Köprülü and later researchers point out that the maturity of language in his works contradicts this, and hold that ümmî is a spiritual rather than a literal designation — meaning "one who takes his knowledge from tradition".
His chain is disputed. Whether the chain running through Tapduk Emre, Barak Baba and Sarı Saltuk connected to Hacı Bektâş-ı Velî or represented an independent Kalenderî orientation is debated among scholars.
The attribution of the poems is not certain. Scholars have struggled to distinguish which poem belongs to Yûnus and which to other poets sharing the name — above all to Âşık Yûnus of Bursa. This is why the atlas has not opened a section of counsels in this record: to transmit a counsel from a poem of disputed attribution would be to transmit a saying without a source.
The site of his grave. Sarıköy, Karaman, Aksaray, Bursa, Erzurum, Sivas and Gâh in Azerbaijan are each claimed separately. Köprülü, Gölpınarlı and Timurtaş accept the Sarıköy identification; the atlas does not erase the other shrines.
The dates carry question marks. The source gives the date of death as 720 (1320) [?]; the record of his birth and lifespan rests on a single document.
Sources
- TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (DİA) — Mustafa Tatcı · vol. 43, pp. 600-606, entry “YÛNUS EMRE”
The sources for this record are listed below (Mandatory Sources).
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Permanent ID: EA-Z-000078 · this address reaches the same record even if its name changes; use it when citing.
External records: TDV Encyclopedia of Islam article