Yemini – Life, Faziletname and Poems of the Alevi Poet

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Who was Yemini?

Although no definite dates are known for Yemini’s birth and death, it is assumed from his works and from indirect information that he lived in the late 15th century and the first half of the 16th century. The tezkires (biographical dictionaries of poets) written in that era contain insufficient information about his life. His real name is said to have been Ali; he was educated in the zaviye of Akyazılı İbrahim Dede and served that lodge for many years. According to one account, Ali entered the erkân (rites) in the presence of İbrahim Dede and took the tevella and teberra oath, after which he is said to have used “Yemini” as the pen name (mahlas) of his poems.

Yemini’s poems are mostly written in syllabic metre (hece vezni), and in some poems he also used the quantitative metre (aruz) masterfully. That Yemini belonged to the Alevi faith in belief and conviction is clearly evident from the beyits (couplets), mersiyes (elegies) and düvazdeh imam (poems praising the Twelve Imams) that he wrote. Many of his works are sung in Alevi Cem (worship ceremony) gatherings. The expression in his poems reveals his devotion to the Ehl-i Beyt (Ahl al-Bayt, the family of the Prophet).

The Faziletname (1519)

Through the impact of his poems, which grew out of his faith and conviction, the poet Yemini came to be accepted within the Alevi community as one of the Seven Great Poets. We do not have a divan (collected volume) containing his poems. We do, however, have a work entitled “Faziletname”, written around 1519, which contains eulogies of Imam Ali in the form of menkıbes (hagiographic legends). Since there is no source on Yemini’s life, I cannot write much about it. Yemini’s poems, however, give us sufficient information.

From Yemini’s poems

Sultan’ı evliyayı her kim ederse inkâr
Kâfirden eşd oldur eylemez enbiya ikrar
Her kim Ali’yi sevmez yoktur nasibi dinden
Canına lânet onun yad olduğunca her an

Whoever denies the Sultan of the saints
is worse than an unbeliever and does not acknowledge the prophets.
Whoever does not love Ali has no share in the faith;
a curse upon his soul for as long as he remains a stranger, at every moment.

Ali’nin evladına kim izzet etmez ise
Ol Haktan gayrıdır Hak ondan bezar
Kim Muhammed’den ayırır ise Murtaza’yı
Beka evinde onun gözü görmesin didar

Whoever does not honour the descendants of Ali
is apart from God (Hak), and God has turned away from him.
Whoever separates Murtaza (Ali) from Muhammad,
may his eye not behold the divine countenance in the abode of eternity.

Cümle enbiyaya serçeşmi çün Mustafa’dır
Nutku kelâmı haktır peygamberdir hüdadır
Muhammed’i Ayrı bilen ol şahı evliyadan
Bilinsin ki dinden imandan uzak Hak’tan cüdadır

Since Mustafa (Muhammad) is the head and fountain of all the prophets,
his speech and his word are truth; he is the Prophet, he is rightly guided.
Whoever regards Muhammad as separate from that Shah of the saints (Ali),
let it be known that he is far from religion and faith, and parted from God.

The Vahdetname, in which he states that he wrote the Faziletname

Gel ey söz anlayan işit feryadımı
Yine faslı Ali’den dinle bu kelâmı
Kelâmın cümlesi her sözü sefadır
Ki methi Murtaza ve Mustafa’dır

Come, you who understand the word, hear my lament;
listen once more to this word from the chapter on Ali.
The whole of the word, every saying of it, is delight,
for it is the praise of Murtaza and Mustafa.

Gören göz işiten kulak birlik içinde birdir
Fazilet nameyi şerh ederem bilene rehberdir
Nadana sırrı beyan etmek bilmen Şeren revamı
Velayeti Şah Ali Muhammed Mustafa birdir

The seeing eye and the hearing ear are one within unity.
I expound the Faziletname; to the one who knows, it is a guide (rehber).
I do not know whether the sacred law (şeriat) permits revealing the secret to the ignorant:
the sainthood (velayet) of Shah Ali and Muhammad Mustafa is one.

Kul ol ki bilesin sultan kimdir
Saray’ı dildeki mihman kimdir
Kimin emriyle geldin bu mekâna
Kim etmiştir mekân kalmış cihanda

Be a servant, so that you may know who the Sultan is,
who the guest in the palace of the heart is,
by whose command you came to this place,
who it is that has made his dwelling in the world.

Yenilik perdesinden geçmeyen dil
Eğer Allah’a kulum derse çok müşkül
Ki haktan gayrı hak bir dahi yoktur
Hakkın emriyle gelen giden pek çoktur

If a tongue that has not passed through the veil of the new
says “I am a servant of God”, that is very hard;
for apart from God there is no other god,
and very many are those who come and go by God’s command.

To come to know Yemini, one must read the Faziletname he wrote in 1519 very carefully. He wrote countless poems on Imam Ali, the Prophet Muhammad and the Ehl-i Beyt. There are beyits by him, as well as mersiyes such as “Mucizat-ı Ali” (The Miracles of Ali) and “Es’ile-i Erbaiye”. Since 80% of these are expressed in Persian and Ottoman words, I did not consider it necessary to quote much from them. I believe it would be useful if they were translated into present-day Turkish.

Source: Seyit Derviş Tur, Erkânname – Aleviliğin İslam Yorumu ve Alevi Erkânları (Erkânname – The Alevi Interpretation of Islam and the Alevi Rites), expanded 3rd edition (ISBN 975-6791-52-7).

Translated from the Turkish original by Seyit Derviş Tur.