The Spiritual and Literary Legacy of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi and His Influence on Turkic Sufism

Abstract

Khoja Ahmed Yesevi (1093–1166) is a foundational figure in Turkic Sufism whose Divan-i Hikmet established a poetic-mystical genre blending Quranic exegesis, ethical guidance, and vernacular expression, influencing spiritual literature across Central Asia and Anatolia. While Yesevi’s own works are well studied, limited research focuses on his successors’ roles in preserving and adapting his teachings within regional literary traditions, particularly among the Karakalpaks. There is a scarcity of focused analyses on how Yesevi’s disciples and later followers transformed his hikmet forms and doctrines to address evolving social, linguistic, and theological contexts in their communities. This study aims to identify the principal successors of Khoja Ahmed Yesevi, examine their doctrinal and poetic contributions, and analyze how they sustained and localized his mystical legacy, with emphasis on Karakalpak literature. The findings reveal that Sulaiman Bakirghani systematized Yesevi’s teachings into thematic commentaries, Yunus Emre vernacularized mystical motifs into Anatolian Turkish quatrains enhancing popular reception, and Ahmad Hazine integrated Yesevi’s doctrines into scholastic frameworks ensuring madrasa transmission. Karakalpak poets such as Berdaq and Ajiniyaz embedded Sufi ethics within local verse, demonstrating adaptive continuity of the Yesevi tradition. This research provides an integrative account of doctrinal stewardship, poetic innovation, and regional adaptation within the Yesevi tariqa, revealing successors’ roles in sustaining a transregional mystical network. These insights underscore the dynamic resilience of Yesevi’s legacy, suggesting the importance of further comparative studies on manuscript circulation, cross-tariqa exchanges, and the integration of folk and scholastic Sufism within Turkic cultural history.