Eşrefzade Mosque

The Eşrefzade Mosque in İznik, within Bursa province, takes its name from Eşrefoğlu Abdullah Rûmî, a 15th-century Turkish Sufi poet and mystic who died in 1469. Born to a family that had migrated from Egypt, he was educated in İznik before turning from formal scholarship toward mysticism in midlife. He sought guidance first from the Bursa saint Emir Sultan, who directed him to Hacı Bayram Veli in Ankara, and later trained under a Qadiri master in Hama before returning to his native İznik. There he founded the Eşrefi branch of the Qadiri Sufi order and became an influential figure in Turkish devotional literature, writing accessibly in Turkish rather than Arabic or Persian; his best-known refrain pleads not to be separated from God. He died and was buried in İznik, where his tomb still stands, and the mosque associated with his name and complex continues to commemorate him in the town.