Khoja Akhmet Yassawi

Ahmad Yassawi

Born 1093
Died 1166
Region Central Asia
School Sufism
Main interests
 Fiqh and Hadith
The Mausoleum of Khwaja Ahmed Yasawi

Khawaja Ahmad Yassawi or Ahmed Yesevi (Arabic: أحمد يسوي‎‎, Uzbek: Ahmad Yasaviy, Аҳмад Ясавий, ئەحمەد يەسەۋىي; Kazakh: Ахмет Ясауи, Axmet Yasawï, احمەت ياساۋئ; Turkmen: Ahmet Ýasawy, Ахмет Ясавы, آحمِت يَسَویٛ; Turkish: Ahmet Yesevi; born in Sayram in 1093, and died in 1166 in Turkestan City; both cities are now in Kazakhstan), was a Turkic[1] poet and Sufi, an early mystic who exerted a powerful influence on the development of Sufi orders throughout the Turkic-speaking world.[2] Yasavi is currently the earliest known Turkic poet who composed poetry in Middle Turkic.[3][4] Ahmed Yesevi was a pioneer of popular mysticism, founded the first Turkic Sufi order, the Yasawiyya or Yeseviye, which very quickly spread over Turkic-speaking areas.[5] He was an Hanafi scholar like his murshid, Yusuf Hamdani.[6]

Background

Yassawi's father was named Ibrahim. At age seven, when he was orphaned by the loss of his father, Yasawi was raised by another spiritual father, Arslan Baba. By age seven, Ahmad Yasawi had already advanced through a series of high spiritual stages and then, under the direction of Arslan Baba, the young Ahmad reached a high level of maturity and slowly began to win fame from every quarter. His father Shaikh Ibrahim had already been renowned in that region for performing countless feats and many legends were told of him. Consequently, it was recognized that, with respect to his lineage as well, this quiet and unassuming young boy, who always listened to his elder sister, held a spiritually important position.

Ahmad Yassawi later moved to Bukhara and followed his studies with the well-known Yusuf Hamdani.[7] Upon the demise of Yusuf Hamdani, first ʿAbdullah Barki and then Hassan-i Andākī became the head of Hamdani's khanqah.[6] Ahmad Yassawi became the head murshid of the Naqshbandi order when Hassan-i Andākī died in 1160. He then turned this position to Abdul Khaliq Gajadwani under Hamdani's advice and moved to Turkistan City in order to spread Islam in Turkestan.[6]

Influence

Ahmad Yassawi made considerable efforts to spread Islam throughout Central Asia and had numerous students in the region. Yasawi's poems created a new genre of religious folk poetry in Central Asian Turkic literature and influenced many religious poets in the following countries.[8] Yassawi made the city of Yasi into the major centre of learning for the Kazakh Steppe, then retired to a life of contemplation aged 63. He dug himself an underground cell where he spent the rest of his life. Turkish scholar Hasan Basri Çantay noted that "It was a Seljuk king who brought Rumi, the great Sufi poet, to Konya; and it was in Seljuq times that Ahmad Yesevi, another great Sufi, lived and taught. The influence of those two remarkable teachers has continued to the present."[9] Yasavi is also mentioned by Edward Campbell (writing as Ernest Scott)[10] as a member of the Khwajagan.

Legacy

The Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi[11] was later built on the site of his grave by Timur in Turkistan City. The Yasawi order tjat he founded continued to be influential for several centuries afterwards, with the Yasawi Sayyid Ata Sheikhs holding a prominent position at the court of Bukhara into the 19th century.[12] There is the greatest influence of shamanistic elements in the Yasawiyya compared to other Sufi orders.[13]

The first Kazakh-Turkish university, Ahmet Yesevi University,[14] was named in his honor.

The Naqshbandi Idries Shah mentions Ahmed Yasavi's lineage in The Book of the Book.[15] Yasawi Sufis are also present in Kashmir.

Yasawi's tomb was refurbished with a new structure by Timur.[16]

Book of Wisdom (ديوان حكمت) (Dīvān-i Ḥikmet) was authored by Yassawi in Turkic.[17] In 1905 and 1895 publishers published Yassawi's poems (Divan-i Khikmet) in Kazan.[18]

References

  1. ↑ Ro'i, Yaacov (2000). Islam in the Soviet Union: From the Second World War to Gorbachev. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. ISBN 978-1-85065-403-2., page 373
  2. ↑ "Encyclopædia Britannica (2007): Related Articles to "Ahmed Yesevi, or Ahmad Yasawi, or Ahmed Yasavi (Turkish author)", accessed March 18, 2007". Britannica.com. Retrieved 2013-04-09.
  3. ↑ Book of Wisdom. World Digital Library. Lithographic Printing House of the Kazan Imperial University. 1904. p. 366.
  4. ↑ "Divan-i Khikmet". Kazakhstan National Commission For UNESCO - natcom.unesco.kz.
  5. ↑ I.Melikoff, 'Ahmad Yesevi and Turkic popular Islam', EJOS, VI (2003), No. 8, 1-9, ISSN 0928-6802
  6. 1 2 3 The Foundation of the Presidency of Religious Affairs, İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 3, p. 161, İstanbul, 1989.
  7. ↑ Y. N. Öztürk: The Eye of the Heart (Redhouse Press Istanbul 1988), p.49
  8. ↑ John L. Esposito, ed., The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World, Volume 1, New York: Oxford University Press, 1995, p. 271
  9. ↑ "Hasan Basri Çantay, "Chapter 7: Islamic Culture in Turkish Areas", in Islam — The Straight Path: Islam Interpreted by Muslims by Prof. Kenneth W. Morgan, Published by The Ronald Press Company, New York 1958". Religion-online.org. Retrieved 2013-04-09.
  10. ↑ The People of the Secret by Edward Campbell (1983) ISBN 0-86304-038-1
  11. ↑ "Yasavi (Shrine of Ahmed Yasavi), ArchNet Dictionary of Islamic Architecture". Archnet.org. Retrieved 2013-04-09.
  12. ↑ Devin Deweese "The Politics of Sacred Lineages in 19th-century Central Asia: Descent groups linked to Khwaja Ahmad Yasavi in Shrine Documents and Genealogical Charters" International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies Vol.31 (1999) pp507-530
  13. ↑ "The Sacred Sites of Kyrgyzstan", Cholpon K. Dyikanova, Taalaibek K. Dyikanov, Jarkyn B. Samanchina (eds.), Bishkek, 2004-2005, p. 8, citing Demidov, 1988, p. 3 Archived September 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  14. ↑ "Ahmet Yesevi University Official Site". Yesevi.edu.tr. Retrieved 2013-04-09.
  15. ↑ Shah, Idries (1976). The Book of the Book. Octagon Press Ltd. ISBN 978-0-900860-12-6., page 9
  16. ↑ "Tamerlane (1336 - 1405) - The Last Great Nomad Power". Silk Road Foundation. 1997–2000.
  17. ↑ Book of Wisdom. World Digital Library. Lithographic Printing House of the Kazan Imperial University. 1904. p. 366.
  18. ↑ "Divan-i Khikmet". Kazakhstan National Commission For UNESCO - natcom.unesco.kz.
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