The following poem by the Turkish poet and mystic Yunus Emre is addressed especially to the learned and pious, to whom the challenge to ‘identify Man as God’ would be particularly confronting. But even if we have studied no books and show no piety, can we pass this examination? For more about Yunus Emre, see this previous post.

Knowledge should mean a full grasp of knowledge: 
Knowledge means to know yourself, heart and soul.
If you have failed to understand yourself, 
Then all of your reading has missed its call.

What is the purpose of reading those books? 
So that Man can know the All-Powerful. 
If you have read, but failed to understand,
Then your efforts are just a barren toil.

Don’t boast of reading, mastering science, 
Or of all your prayers and obeisance.
If you don’t identify Man as God, 
All your learning is of no use at all.

The true meaning of the four holy books 
Is found in the alphabet’s first letter.*
You talk about that first letter, preacher; 
What is the meaning of that—could you tell?

Yunus Emre says to you, pharisee,** 
Make the holy pilgrimage if need be 
A hundred times—but if you ask me,
The visit to a heart is best of all.

*The first letter in this case is ‘alif’, a simple vertical line that to the mystic suggests ‘one’ or ‘unity.’

**The pharisees were an ancient Jewish sect, characterised by strict observance of written and traditional religious law. The term may also be applied to a self-righteous or hypocritical person.

Tr. Talat Sait Halman