Ahmad Yasawi

Ahmed Ibn Ibrahim Ibn Ilyas Yasawi
خواجه احمد یسوی
A modern illustration of Ahmad Yasawi with Arystan Bab Mausoleum behind
Personal life
Born1093 CE
Died1166 CE (aged 72–73)
Turkistan, Kara-Khanid Khanate
Parent
  • Sheikh Ibrahim (father)
EraIslamic Golden Age
Notable work(s)Book of Wisdom
Known forPoetry, Sufism, Diwan in Middle Turkic
Religious life
ReligionSunni Islam
JurisprudenceHanafi
Senior posting
Period in office12th century
Influenced by

Ahmad Yasawi (Kazakh: Қожа Ахмет Ясауи, romanized: Qoja Ahmet Iasaui, قوجا احمەت ياساۋى; Persian: خواجه احمد یسوی, romanized: Khwāje Ahmad-e Yasavī; 1093–1166) was a Turkic poet and Sufi, an early mystic who exerted a powerful influence on the development of Sufi orders throughout the Turkic-speaking world. Yasawi is the earliest known Turkic poet who composed poetry in Middle Turkic. He was a pioneer of popular mysticism, founded the first Turkic Sufi order, the Yasawiyya or Yeseviye, which very quickly spread over Turkic-speaking areas. He was a Hanafi scholar like his murshid (spiritual guide), Yusuf Hamadani.