Knowledge should mean a full grasp of knowledge
Knowledge means to know yourself, heart and soul.
If you have failed to understand yourself,
Then all of your reading has missed its call.
What is the purpose of reading those books?
So that Man can know the All-Powerful.
If you have read, but failed to understand,
Then your efforts are just a barren toil.
Don't boast of reading, mastering science
Or of all your prayers and obeisance.
If you don't identify Man as God,
All your learning is of no use at all.
The true meaning of the four holy books
Is found in the alphabet's first letter.
You talk about that first letter, preacher;
What is the meaning of that— could you tell?
Yunus Emre says to you, pharisee,
Make the holy pilgrimage if need be
A thousand times— but if you ask me,
The visit to a heart is best of all.
Taptuk ve Yunus Emre (1238 - 1320) Turkey
Translated by Talat Sait Halman
Source: Yunus Emre Selected Poems Translated by Talat Sait Halman, Ministry of Culture, Turkish Republic, 1988
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