APersonIndependent states
Khoja Ahmed Yasawi
The father of Turkic Sufism and poet (c. 1093–1166), author of the Divan-i Hikmet and founder of the Yasawiyya order.
Ahmed Yasawi was born in Sayram and studied as a boy with Arystan Bab and then in Bukhara with Yusuf Hamadani. He returned to Yasi (Turkistan), founded a lodge and trained disciples until the end of his life.
He brought Islam to the Turkic peoples in their own language through simple poems called hikmet (wisdoms). His Divan-i Hikmet is among the first Sufi works written in Turkic and influenced Yunus Emre and all Turkic Sufi literature.
Legend says that on reaching 63, the age of the Prophet, he withdrew to live in an underground cell. His mausoleum in Turkistan is the most revered shrine of the Turkic world.
Sources
Updated: October 2, 2026