Yūnus Emre’s Poetry and Philosophy

Yūnus Emre was a Turkish Sufi master of the 13th century whose poetry continues to reverberate to this day. The simplicity of the language used to convey the inherently complicated concepts of divine love, love of humanity, the illuminated heart, all from the perspective of unity transcends the boundaries of language and religion and speaks to all. His multi-layered interpretation of religion in one of his poems, where he writes, “Şeriat, tarikat, yoldur varana / Hakikat mârifet andan içeru” – “Laws and paths are roads for those who arrive / The fruit of truth is what is within,” takes the listener beyond religion as a set of rules and into the deeper and vast realm of belief, where it is the truth and reality of these rules that are brought to the forefront in order to support the believer in reaching the Ultimate Truth. Recent events have demonstrated, at times violently, the danger of denying or neglecting the profound side of religion and only concerning oneself with the dogmatic aspects. Yūnus Emre’s focus on humanity within the context of the divine and the universe allows the reader or listener to step back, acknowledge that all of humanity is one, and as part of Creation, all of us are subjects of the same message: “Sen sana ne sanırsan, ayruğa da onu san / Dört kitabın manası, budur eğer var ise” – “You have a self-image in your own eyes, Be sure to see others in the same guise / Each of the four holy books clarifies; this truth as it applies to man’s affairs.”