Pir Sultan Abdel: eminent Sufi Poet

Pir Sultan Abdal is one of the eminent Sufi poets ever existed in Turkey. He was also compared to Yunus Emre because they have the same deftness, same clear and honest language. They also wrote their poems with the same richness of imagination and the same high level of compassion. Pir Sultan reflected the cultural, social, and religious life of their people. He was a humorist and wrote about love, peace, death and God. However, Pir Sultan verses are not that passive because those speak the life of the Anatolian people of the 16th century, who suffered under the Ottoman Law.

Pir Sultan was a Turcoman who has nomadic ancestors that transferred from Azerbaijan to Syria and from there; he spent his childhood days in Sivas district in mid-eastern Anatolia. By his verses, we will find most of information about him and about his era that reveals a well–refined and well-educated intellectual person. The Mongolian attacks and starts the disagreements among the Turkish states which created social and political instability in the Eastern Anatolia, and pushed many Turkoman tribes to migrate further west to inner Anatolia. From there, the cruel taxation and Ottoman governors led to some consecutive rebellions among those tribes.

At some point from 1510 to 1550, the Ottoman domination on the Turkmans of the region intensified. Some muftis of the local governors even declared that the Alevis were heretics and so it was approved by religion to kill them and take their properties. From the time when their confidence was diverse orders of the Alevi sect, the insurgences were marked as religious by the Sunnite Ottoman leaders who ignored the underlying social and economic discontentment. Obviously, the ethical and material support of Alevi Turcoman to Shah Ismail’s Safavi State has a great contribution into the declaration of ' religious rebellions.

During those days, Pir Sultan Abdal who belongs to the Alevi sect compensated his struggle against the prejudice and oppression through his verses. He previously dedicated and expressed these quiet ideas in lyrical and pastoral themes and he adopted the Sufi approach.

In addition, during this era, Pir Sultan shows his disparagement against Ottoman governors, Hizir Pasha who governed the constituency with their extreme officials including the muftis and judges by his clear and sarcastic language. His verses evicted to be an offensive call for the rights and for freedom. He was punished by Hizir Pasha through hanging judgment. However, the belief of his poesy and his great endeavor remained for all time.

Pir Sultan songs and poems were sung accompanied by saz (baglama) through the ages by folk singers. Some literary historians declared that there were at least six other poets have the same name as Pir Sultan and continue to acquire Pir Sultan Abdal poetry and sing his voice.

Minstrel Literature is just one of the many folk literature kept alive nowadays in Turkish lives. This is a kind of poet seen in the Turkish poetry which is a manifestation of Pir Sultan greatness and influence in the language of poetry. Minstrel acquires his excellence of poet by drinking the “love wine” served by the wise in his dream and by seeing the “image of his lover.” Generally, the minstrel candidate perceives a lover or a folkloric musical instrument like saz in his dream.

Pir Sultan pursued the traditional style of folk literature. The exceptional characteristic of his poems, such as the use of clear language, keen and understandable style still exist in folkloric poetry.

Nowadays, Pir Sultan Abdel songs and poems become a constant source of inspiration for Turkish musicians, writers, and artists.

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