Qara Shemsi Abdal ( ota, قارا شمسی عبدال; born 1828 – died 22 September 1886), was a

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

poet of the Ottoman era. He wrote in

and

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

. Abdal was born in

Konya Konya () is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium (), although the Seljuks also called it D ...

into a poor family, and did not receive institutional education. He became a member of the

Mevlevi Order The Mevlevi Order or Mawlawiyya ( tr, Mevlevilik or Mevleviyye; fa, طریقت مولویه) is a Sufi order that originated in Konya (a city now in Turkey; formerly capital of the Seljuk Sultanate) and which was founded by the followers of Jalal ...

and was tutored by Emir Şah Kaygusuz, the custodian (''türbedar'') of

Rumi Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī ( fa, جلال‌الدین محمد رومی), also known as Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī (), Mevlânâ/Mawlānā ( fa, مولانا, lit= our master) and Mevlevî/Mawlawī ( fa, مولوی, lit= my ma ...

's mausoleum. After his studies under Kaygusuz, he took the name "Abdal" as

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

. Prior to this, he apparently has used the pen names "Shemi", "Nuri", "Shemsi", and "Niazi". Abdal later went to

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

, where he became the ''

shaykh Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliteration of Arabic, transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonl ...

'' of the retreat of the Mevlevi's in Hanya (Chania). He died in Crete as well. Abdal's son Aref published his father's poems; the first part of the work contains his Persian poems, about the Islamic prophet, the first four caliphs, and the Islamic saints. The last part of the work contains material about the

Battle of Karbala The Battle of Karbala ( ar, مَعْرَكَة كَرْبَلَاء) was fought on 10 October 680 (10 Muharram in the year 61 AH of the Islamic calendar) between the army of the second Umayyad Caliph Yazid I and a small army led by Husayn ...

, condemnation of Yazid, and other such texts (e.g. an "elegy for the martyrs of Karbala").

Sources

* {{Encyclopaedia Iranica , article = ABDĀL, QARA ŠEMSĪ , last = Yazici , first = T. , authorlink = , url = http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/abdal-qara-semsi-1828-86-turkish-poet-who-also-wrote-in-persian , volume = 1 , fascicle = 2 , page = 174 1828 births 1886 deaths 19th-century poets from the Ottoman Empire Persian-language poets Turkish-language poets Mevlevi Order Turks from the Ottoman Empire People from Konya