Uyan Ey Gözlerim is a Turkish poem attributed to Murad III, the twelfth Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. (Some attribute it instead to Murad IV.) According to tradition, Sultan Murad overslept one morning and missed the dawn (fajr) prayer; he penned this poem as an expression of his great remorse. It was set to music by the 17th-century Polish Ottoman composer Ali Ufki Bey and included in his Mecmûa-i Sâz ü Söz (“Anthology of Instrumental and Choral Music”). Uyan Ey Gözlerim is still sung throughout Turkey today as a well-known and much-loved religious folk song (ilahi). The poem has been translated into English rhyme by Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad, a shortened version of which features in Sami Yusuf’s 2016 album Barakah.
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