Abstract
ZAKAT IN AHMEDI DIVAN
The amount that Muslims, who have reached a certain wealth is obliged to give from their property is called zakat. While Zakat is a religious duty, it provides social peace by regulating the distribution of income in society. In this respect, zakat has a feature that directly concerns social life. The classical Turkish poetry, which deals with life and human issues, has developed different discourses for such a worship that has a direct impact on social, cultural and economic life. Based on the principle of giving away a certain amount of goods to the people in need, the classical Turkish poets emphasized zakat in poems with different thoughts and dreams in the context of the aşık-mâşuk, sultan-köle relationship. The beloved has an absolute beauty and as a rich of the beauty treasure, he is obliged to give zakat to the poor who are begging in front of his door. Although the first examples of this thought and dream were found in early Persian poetry, classical Turkish poets also made similar remarks. As he is one of the first poets of classical Turkish poetry, poet Ahmedî who was a poet lived in XIV. century was selected in this study and the way how zakat was handled in Ahmedi’s divan was examined. While zakat was handled in divan in some couplets in terms of religious worship, in other couplets it was handled as the interest expected by the lovers from the beloved who has a richness of beauty.
Keywords
Ahmedî, Zakat, classical Turkish poetry.