Diwan (Collection of Poems), included in an anthology of mystical poetry, prayers, and stories in Turkish and Arabic

Poets affiliated with Sufi orders in Turkey developed sophisticated literary forms to express devotion to God and the Prophet Muḥammad. The intoxication of mystic love is a central theme, as exemplified in the works of Yunus Emre, one of the earliest and most celebrated Turkish Sufi poets. Emre composed works in Old Anatolian Turkish using idioms, expressions, and sayings often drawn from oral tradition. Emre’s poems, and those of other Sufi poets, were copied by anonymous scribes for this later collection (mecmua). This opening features two columns written in naskh script to highlight the rhyming verses. The seal impression in the margin documents the gift of this manuscript to a convent in Üsküdar (now part of Istanbul), where these poems were probably recited collectively. It reads: “This book was donated by Halveti Sheykh Hafiz Mehmed Rizaeddin of Üsküdar to the convent (dergah) of Ummi Ahmed Efendi in Üsküdar, may God keep it from worries, 1260/1844.”