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The context Rumi lived in Rumi lived in the
twelfth century, the most troubled and restless period of the Anatolian Seljuk
Empire. Shortly after having been devastated, massacred, and looted by the
crusaders, the Islamic lands faced the Mongol
invasion from the east. At the same time Seljuk kings
were further weakened by internal conflicts over the control of power. Sultan
al-Ulama migrated from His Poetry, message and meaning The period in
which Rumi lived was a turbulent period in which people had grown weary of war
and civil unrest. Rumi lived by the love of God, the magnificent King of Kings,
who was never to decline, collapse, and cease to exist. The divine poems he
composed with the infinite power and inspiration he took from the beyond gave
hope to the hopeless and bestowed joy, faith, and love to the troubled and
saddened people. In those turbulent times, he was a source of comfort to the
people, and with love and faith he freed the believers from sorrow and fear. Rumi composed
these poems seven centuries ago in the time of turbulence and almost total
destruction of the Muslim world by the Mongols and Crusaders. Mosques were destroyed and
thousand of Muslims lost their lives. Despite this horrible destruction, Rumi
was not a pessimist. As seen in his poems, he spoke of love and hope and
believed that Islam will remain as a religion forever. He suggested that Muslims
will face that kind of oppression from transgressors with patience and hope. Sufism The
main issue that induced the birth of Sufism is the fact that popular un-Islamic
beliefs had forced the believers to turn inward, to be absorbed in their
religious beliefs, and to reject all views outside the Qur’an. Therefore, just
as Islam was not influenced by the previous religions, Sufism was not inspired
by Indian or Greek views. As in every religion, there is a mystical current
within Islam that is unique in itself. Islamic mysticism, or Sufism, belongs to
Islam. The source of the Islamic mysticism is the Holy Qur’an and the Noble Prophetic
Traditions. The titles: Rumi & Mevlana Rumi is also
called “Mevlana Jalal al-Din” by preceding his name with Mevlana, meaning “our
master,” and sometimes just Mevlana, the most common title for saints. Since
Rumi spent most of his life in Ancestry Rumi’s ancestry
reaches back to Abu Bakr, the first caliph of Islam.
Rumi’s father was Muhammad, son of Huseyin Hatibi. He is
known as Baha al-Din Valad. He was given the title Sultan al-Ulama, the king of the scholars. Baha
al-Din Valad was not only the king of scholars, but also the king of all
virtues. He was a perfect role model and a perfect human being. In addition to
breadth of knowledge, he also had Muhammadi morals and virtues. He used to do
good for everybody and would abstain from evil-doing. He lectured those around
him, warning them in order to protect them from faithlessness and going astray.
He was an eloquent orator, and those who listened to him would be ecstatic with
love and faith. Father-reason for migration He was not a
cowardly scholar. He pointed out the mistakes of even sultans in front of them.
Just as Shaykh Sadi shouted “You are a tyrant!” to Hulagu’s face who had
completely devastated Baghdad, Sultan al-Ulama said to Khawarzmshah’s face that the path he
was on was not that of Muhammad, peace and
blessings be upon him. He was not a scholar who kept his opinions to himself
because of fear, and he never praised the sultans and behaved hypocritically
because of material interest. He warned the scholars as well as sultans who
were under the influence of the Greek philosophy. Therefore, the faithful
people treasured him. Muhammad Baha al-Din Valad’s mother was a member of the
Khawarzm dynasty. Migration Baha al-Din Valad
left How old was Rumi when this migration
started? This is not known
for a certainty. Although Rumi’s date of birth is usually given as 1207, based
on his statements in Fihi Ma Fih, it
can be concluded that this year is not his real date of birth and that his
actual date of birth must be around 1200. One can consider that Sultan al-Ulama’s departure date for pilgrimage
is again approximately at 1221 and that when this migration started, Rumi was
21 years old. However, Sultan Valad reports in his Ibtida Name that Rumi was 14 years old at the beginning of the
migration. Rumi’ education Mevlana Jalal
al-Din Rumi, as a young but very knowledgeable dervish, attended the lectures
of his father and never missed any of his sermons. He also spent his time
reading other scholars’ works and expanding his knowledge on Islam. Rumi’s marriage Sharaf al-Din
Lala of Samarqand, who had migrated from Rumi’s children God gave Rumi two
precious baby boys. He named his first son after his father, Sultan Valad. He
gave his second son his late brother’s name, Invitation to The Seljuk ruler
in power during this period was The king of the
scholars accepted the invitation of the Seljuk ruler The little
caravan proceeded slowly toward On a beautiful
spring day outside Konya’s city walls on the Karaman road, two great sultans were going to meet:
one of them was the greatest sultan of his time, Ala al-Din Kay Qobad who had revived the great Anatolian Seljuk
State at a time when it was collapsing; the other was king of the scholars, sultan
of the gnostics Baha al-Din Valad, who was fighting against ignorance,
un-Islamic novelties, who was an example of humaneness, virtue, and faith, who
was enduring voluntary separation from his home for the sake of his ideas and
faith. The modest caravan
became visible in the horizon. Sultan al-Ulama with his white beard and luminous face
appeared riding on his horse in front of the caravan. Rumi was following his
honorable father. His dervishes, disciples, and family, and behind them a few
camels carrying loads of book could also be seen. When the caravan came near,
the sultan, who was waiting on his horse, dismounted immediately. He ran and
grabbed the reins of Sultan al-Ulama’s horse and helped him dismount. The two
sultans greeted each other with respect, and Sultan al-Ulama was helped back
onto his horse. The Seljuk ruler, great Rumi’s second marriage After Gevher
Khatun passed away Rumi married a widow Karra Khatun (d. 1292). (Karra Khatun,
whose name resembles a Roman name but who was a Turk, already had a son, Shams
al-Din Yahya, when she married Rumi. The name of her first husband was Muhammad Shah.) Rumi had a son and a daughter with
Karra Khatun. His son’s name was Amir Muzaffar al-Din Alim Chelebi, and his
daughter’s name was Malika Khatun. Thus, Rumi had three sons and one daughter. Construction of the present shrine The quarters of
the Altun Aba madrasa or seminary were not spacious enough for Rumi, who was
married with two children, nor his dervishes and disciples. Amir Badr al-Din
Govhartash, the building master of the palace and sultan’s tutor, decided to
build a madrasa for the family of Baha al-Din Valad and his son Rumi and their
children. Soon afterwards the construction of the madrasa began in the most
beautiful area of the city around the sultan’s palace. This university-style
madrasa was completed within a few months. Sultan al-Ulama along with his son
Rumi and his family moved to this new residence. They resided in this madrasa
until the end of their lives. Literary works Rumi’s works
consist of the: Mesnevi, Divan-i Kabir, Fihi Ma Fih, Majalis-i
Sab’a, and Maktubat. There are other books attributed to him, like Tirashname,
Ashqname, Rasail-i Afaq wa Anfus, and Risala-i Aqaid. But
both their styles and their themes show that these are not Rumi’s. The Mesnevi
contains 25,618 couplets in six books. The name of this book was taken from its
form. The Mesnevi form is a lyrical form in Islamic literature in which
the two verses of each couplet rhyme internally, and all verses share the same
meter. This book is one of the masterpieces of Sufi literature. In the Mesnevi,
there are medications for our spiritual ailments, bad habits, and un-Islamic
beliefs. These bitter pills have been hidden in stories and tales so that they
are sweetly presented to the spiritually sick human beings. Rumi wrote the
first eighteen couplets of the Mesnevi with his own hand, but he
dictated the rest of the Mesnevi to Husam al-Din Chelebi. When the writing of each book
was complete, Husam al-Din Chelebi recited it back to Rumi, and Rumi made the
necessary corrections. Then Husam al-Din Chelebi would produce a clean copy of
the corrected text. One is amazed by
such deep thoughts and emotional expressions in the Mesnevi, expressions
that the holy saint has recited without taking a pen in his hand, without
working on the meter or the rhyme of the verses, very comfortably as it came to
his heart and mind. Defects of meter and rhyme are very rare in the Mesnevi
although it was written without deep reflection and study. This is not a
quality to be found in any other poet. Rumi’s ability is a gift of God bestowed
upon him. Rumi was very
skilled in associating ideas. He had a very strong memory. He had at least a
basic knowledge of every area of study of his time. In addition to his mother
tongue, Rumi spoke Arabic, Persian, and even Greek and read books written in
these languages. Therefore, the Mesnevi is like an exhibition of a very
rich collection of ideas and feelings. One reads views on many different
subjects in the Mesnevi. Rumi’s metaphors, sensations, expressions, joy,
and fantasy fascinate the reader. Rumi’s sharp intelligence, sensitive spirit,
and ardent love and faith take the reader to a different world. But one should
note that the tales in the Mesnevi do not conform to today’s
storytelling techniques. When Rumi explains a subject, he begins by telling a
story in order to clarify his point. Then in the middle of the story, he
relates certain wisdom and truths. He produces such peerless couplets that the
reader is astonished. These couplets that he recited in a state of ecstasy
remind him of another story. So he begins a new story and then finally returns
to complete the first story. This way stories within stories follow each other.
If we are patient and read the stories carefully, we shall see that each of
these stories tells us about deeply meaningful subjects, human thoughts, divine
love, the unity of God, and Islamic faith, and they remove marginal beliefs and
un-Islamic views from the reader. These stories take those readers who are able
to understand their deep meanings from our material world to the spiritual
world. They raise the reader spiritually, morally, and emotionally. In other
words, they make the reader a “true human being.” Today’s life
conditions force people to engage themselves with an excessive struggle
mercilessly. Our day turns people into robots. It blinds the feelings of mercy
and kills the spiritual side of humans. The average modern human has been
submerged so deep in making a living that they seem to have forgotten where
they came from and where they will eventually go. People do not listen to the
truths conveyed by the prophets, saints, great philosophers, scholars, and real
poets. They follow their ego, and hence they almost lost their humanitarian aspects.
The stories in the Mesnevi will comfort the pessimistic individual in
pain in this material world by telling them of the eminence and beauty of the
spiritual world. With the permission of God, these stories will return
humankind to the lost paradise even while they are in this world. Those who
read the Mesnevi or listen to it will receive spiritual joy and holy
signs from the deeply meaningful truths found in the Mesnevi in
accordance with their own abilities and capacities. When they read this blessed
book, they will be touched by it and obtain holy light from this book’s light.
They will be saved from spiritual illnesses, bad behavior, and un-Islamic
beliefs. But there is a prerequisite for obtaining the full benefit of the Mesnevi:
The eye of our hearts should be opened, and the deafness of our spirits should
be removed by the blessing of Rumi. Rumi’s Mesnevi
is for both well-educated people and people with little education. The Mesnevi
guides the new initiate on the Sufi path, one who is advanced on this path, and
even one who has reached the highest levels on this path. Sources of Rumi’s works Some people
wonder where Rumi heard and from where he took the tales of Mesnevi.
Certainly Rumi heard most of the stories from his father, Sayyid Burhan al-Din,
or Shams, and he probably read some of them in books. But as mentioned above,
stories in the Mesnevi are not intended for amusement but are analogies
to spiritual truths and messages that Rumi wanted to convey. At every stage of
the stories that he selected, Rumi conveys a moral. Some stories reminded Rumi
of certain truths, and sometimes Rumi told stories to better explain his
message. Rumi took stories that were
appropriate to educate the faithful. These stories are not for making people
laugh or amuse them but for wisdom and advice. It is related
that the following was written on the cover of an old copy of the Mesnevi:
“I have not dictated the Mesnevi to be memorized. But I intended the Mesnevi
to be a spiritual ladder for the lovers of God that raises them to the heavens. Since the Mesnevi
is a much-loved book from which readers can spiritually benefit, it has been
translated into many languages and many commentaries have been written on it. Divan-i Kabir Divan-i Kabir (the great
collection of poems) is the name of the book that contains Rumi’s poems. Divan-i
Kabir contains Rumi’s poems in several different styles of Eastern-Islamic
poetry (e.g. odes, eulogies, quatrains, etc). Although most of the poems are in
Persian, there are also Arabic and Turkish poems. Divan-i Kabir is also
called Kulliyat-i Shams-i Tabrizi, or Divan-i Shams because
unlike other poets who mention their nicknames in the last couplet of each poem
they compose, Rumi used Shams’ name. In none of his poems did he use his name,
“Mevlana” or “Jalal al-Din Rumi.” In some of his poems he used the names of
Salah al-Din Zarqubi or Husam al-Din Chelebi. The odes with these two names
number around one hundred. Rumi occasionally used nicknames, such as khamoosh
(silent) or khamoosh kon (be silent). Rumi used Shams’s name in his
poems because they were friends of heart. Those who do not know this think that
these poems were composed by Shams. However, we have no historical record of
Shams having written any poetry. However, in an
edition of Divan-i Kabir printed in Fihi Ma Fih This book is
composed of Rumi’s speeches on different subjects. Rumi himself did not prepare
or write these discourses. They were recorded by his son Sultan Valad or some
other disciple of Rumi and put together as a book. Some of the discourses are
addressed to Muin al-Din Pervane. Some portions of it are commentary on Mesnevi.
There are also references to Shams-i Tabrizi, Burhan al-Din Tirmidhi, and Salah
al-Din Zarqubi. After his father’s death, Rumi’s
education After his
father’s, Sultan al-Ulama Muhammad Baha al-Din Valad, death Rumi lived without a
spiritual guide for one year. Then Sayyid Burhan al-Din Muhaqqiq Tirmidhi
became his spiritual guide. Although Rumi had learned much from his father and
teacher, Sultan al-Ulama Sayyid Burhan al-Din advised him to go to Rumi came back to
Teaching in Rumi began
lecturing in the madrasa in Shams al-Din of It was right
around this time that an event occurred that was going to change Rumi’s life.
Shams al-Din of Who was this Shams ? The accounts of
his meeting with Rumi are numerous. Who was this
Shams al-Din of Whose influence on whom? In this
closeness, in this true friendship, in this divine love, one cannot claim
superiority or emphasize a difference by saying who became whose spiritual
guide, or who became whose disciple. In this closeness, in this true
friendship, in this divine love, one cannot claim superiority or emphasize a
difference by saying who became whose spiritual guide, or who became whose
disciple. This couplet of Amir Khusrau Dahlavi describes the situation of the
two lovers of God: “I became you and you became I. I became the flesh and you
became the soul. After this nobody can claim I am separate and you are
separate.” The fact that these two great saints met, loved each other as true
friends of God, and continuously spent time together was not well received by
those around them. He held that knowledge was not an end in itself but a means
of letting us know of our inadequacy in realizing the truth and understanding
God. Therefore, by separating Rumi from the things he loved very much, Shams
was trying to bring Rumi even closer to God to whom Rumi was already close. He
prohibited Rumi, who had been spending most of his time reading books in the
meeting hall of the seminary or madrasa, from full devotion to those books. He
also did not allow everyone to see him. In Ibtida
Name, Sultan Valad describes how close Shams was to Rumi and how much he
influenced him: “When the public saw this attachment, this loyalty, this
rapture, and this love, they were envious and began criticizing. When Shams saw
that things were getting out of control and all people were turning against
him, he suddenly vanished one day. After fifteen months and twenty days, Shams
left Disappearance Two seas of the
realm of meaning reunited once more. When Shams returned to Grudge and hate
surfaced once more. (Those who were deprived of divine love, those who could
not defeat their corporeal desires with worship and asceticism envied Shams).
On a Thursday in December 1246, Shams disappeared. Under the light of
these accounts decorated with fantasies, we must wonder if Shams disappeared as
he had said: “I will leave in such a way that nobody will find me.” Did he go
on a journey with no return, or was he martyred? Only God knows the truth. he
never returned and was never seen afterwards. Did those who called him kidnap
him? Did they kill him? Did they help him go somewhere outside are epic components
that mystical thinking was involved in this event.” After Shams left After his
departure, Rumi whirled day and night, and his crying was heard by all, From these two
great saints who saw the truth in each other, admired each other, which one was
superior? Mutual influence It is a mistake
to compare saints who have effaced their selves in divine love. These holy
personalities who are cleansed from all human contamination, released from
physical desires, blessed with the manifestation of God, submerged in the Shams path & direction Shams was a great
scholar just like Rumi. As can be seen in his work Maqalat, one clearly notices from his elaborations on issues that
he was familiar with tafsir (Qur’anic
commentary), hadith (Prophetic
Tradition), poetry, and all sciences of his day. Like Rumi, he also did not
like philosophy. According to Shams, it is possible to attain the truth only by
abiding by the Prophet’s way, refraining from ostentation, becoming a person of
spiritual states, practicing what one believes in, and by divine love. Like
Rumi, Shams was a lover of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. Just
as Rumi declared: “I am the soil under the feet of Muhammad Mukhtar,” Shams also pronounced: “I would not
exchange even an issue seeming to be of the least importance from the Sunna for a book like Qushayri’s al-Risalah[2] or
other such important texts. Compared to the Prophetic Traditions, all those
books are tasteless and dull.” [3] Rumi and Shams’s
views were unified in terms of abiding by the Law, advancing religious practice
from imitative to a conscious level, and walking on the path of faith and love
far from ostentation. There might have been small differences between them in
terms of methodology. Rumi was cautious; Shams was ardent and enthusiastic. But Rumi was in
need of a friend of God, a mirror, and a horizon of spirit like Shams who would
share this feeling and let him sense what was within him. Since Rumi never
confined himself to the terms and methods of other great Sufis in explaining
the truth or in matters like educating the disciples, discipleship, and
mastership, he also did not strictly follow a set of rules. He said: “I don’t
know much. I am intoxicated with the glass of divine love.” Overwhelmed by
divine love and ecstasy, he had no time to concern himself with “this and that.” The initial whirling Accounts vary:
one day when Rumi was walking past in front of Salah al-Din’s goldsmith shop,
from his regular and harmonic hammer strokes he became ecstatic and began
whirling there. One day when Rumi
was passing through the jewelry bazaar, he heard the harmonious hammer beats
coming from the shop of Sheik Salah al-Din. He entered into a state of ecstasy
and began whirling. During the whirling, Rumi recited an ode beginning with the
following couplets: In that jewelry
shop a treasure came to be discovered. What a beautiful appearance, what a
beautiful meaning, what beauty, what beauty! How beautiful is
the jewelry bazaar! The secrets of Jacob are also very beautiful. The spirit of
Joseph burns with the love of God and increases the ardor of Jacob. With the love of
God, hundreds of Laylas become Majnun and broke their ties and chains. Against this
fire even the patience of Job cannot withstand. [4] Rumi’s Love Rumi continued to
progress on the path of God, the path of truth, with the beloved that he put in
his heart as a servant of the Qur’an and a lover of Muhammad Mukhtar, peace and blessings be upon him, and
he did not remain at any place. His ultimate purpose was not mortal friends.
His aim was to be with true friends who realized God, in order to attain the
True Friend, Friend of Friends. This great saint whose heart was filled with
the love of friend, love of humanity, and love of God has been a torch of
faith, a torch of love not only for the faithful in his day but all believers
and people who love God in the many, many centuries to come. Beginning
with the Prophet of Islam, he loved all saints and all human beings. He had an
attitude of infinite lenience and tolerance which saw no fault in human beings
created by God. Furthermore, for Rumi to become Rumi, God had bestowed him with
friends of God and mirrors of heart beginning with Shams. Rumi’s demise & peace The sorrow of his
childhood with his father Sultan al-Ulama, the years of migration in
physical and spiritual difficulties, his years of education in Damascus and Aleppo away from his family, the loss of his mother,
his father, and his dearly beloved Shaykh Sayyid Burhan al-Din all had an
impact on him. Furthermore, the loss of his friends of heart, Shams and Salah
al-Din, the disrespect he had seen from his closest son Ala al-Din Chelebi, the
criticism of some, the gossip that even reached his ears, his continuous
endeavors, worship, and asceticism had all exhausted Rumi. He was spending his
last moments in continuous reflection. This great saint was focusing on himself
and he was finding the eternal tranquility and inner peace he searched for in
himself. Rumi: Life, Prison, longing One day Rumi’s
wife said: “It is necessary for Hudavendigar to fill this world with truth and
meaning that a precious life of three to four hundred years be given to him.”
Upon hearing this, Rumi replied to his wife: “Why, why, we are neither Pharaoh
nor Nimrod. What do we have to do in this world of soil? How can we have peace
and stability in this mortal world, the world of soil? We are put in the prison
of the world for a few prisoners to be released. It is hoped that we shall soon
go back to the presence of God’s dear friend, our Prophet.” I remained in
this prison of the world for the goodness of others. But where is
prison? Where am I? What property did I steal that they put me in prison? Rumi’s life coming to an end Rumi sensed that his
precious life was coming to an end, and he recited moving poems about death
from time to time, bringing those around him to tears. Finally, Rumi’s
tired body fell into the hands of his last illness. Fever never left Rumi. From
among his dear friends, doctors Akmal al-Din and Gazanferi were at his bedside
all the time. Yet they could never figure out what his illness was. His body
was burning with fever. He used to put his hand in the cup filled with water
next to his bed and put some water on his forehead. During the bedridden stage
of his illness, earthquakes occurred for seven days and nights. The walls of
many houses and gardens collapsed. There was chaos in the world. After the
seventh earthquake, the public ran to Rumi and asked him to pray. Rumi smiled
and said: “Don’t be afraid, the poor soil is hungry. It wants a fat bite. It is
necessary to give it to it.” And he started saying his last will to those
present: “I advice you to fear God in open and secret. I advice you to eat
little and sleep little, abstain from sins, continue fasting and praying,
refrain from lust, endure and be patient against all discomfort and
mistreatment from others, avoid being with ignorant people and those who are
preoccupied with satisfying their desires, be in the company of generous and
good people. Because the best of people is one who benefits other people. The
best of sayings is the one that is small but to the point.” He was preparing
for his migration. It was necessary to leave the house and go to the beyond.
Rumi was preparing to leave the house of this world. This time Rumi’s
pulse was beating differently. People asked the doctors to see and understand
the honorable state of Hadhrat Hudavendigar. They saw that the diagnosis was
not possible and understood that the truth of the matter was something else.
They understood that Rumi’s will was toward another world. Those busy with
treatment along with others present became very sad. They could not help but
lament. Everyone was anxious. The people of Konya had stopped their work, and the people of the
surrounding villages came down to Konya. On Sunday, December 17, 1273, as the
sun was setting, Rumi, the sun of the realm of meanings, also set to the world
of eternity. Rumi closed his eyes to this mortal world in Konya, the city which
he had honored for forty-four years. That night Rumi’s
friends performed their final duties. All the people of Konya, young or old,
were present at the funeral. Since Rumi was a tolerant, peace-loving, great
saint who did good and wished well to everyone, not only Muslims but also Jews
and Christians walked in his procession, shedding tears. Everyone was crying
and swarming in front of the coffin as well as behind. The main street was
completely full. In order to touch the coffin even once, people flowed from the
byways. The streets were so crowded that the coffin taken out of the house in
the morning could not be brought to the place of prayer until evening. Rumi’s blessed
corpse was buried next to his father, Sultan al-Ulama’s grave. But he is alive as
Sultan al-Arifin (sultan of gnostics) and Sultan al-Ashiqin (sultan of lovers
of God) in every home, in every assembly, in everyone’s heart. Rumi had become
hidden from the eyes and settled in the hearts. Visitors since his death Konya mourned for forty days. For forty days, there
were visitors at Rumi’s grave. It is amazing that even today people visit Rumi.
Not only Muslims, but also people of all creeds visit Rumi every day. Rumi Shrine Since
Rumi was a mature saint completely on the Muhammadi path, he did not like
ostentation and did not approve of the magnificent shrines built over graves.
The capital of the Seljuk Empire, Konya, has accepted
many saints. But today when one talks of shrines in Konya, the first one that
comes to one’s mind is Rumi’s shrine under a big green dome. Under this dome
lie not only Rumi but also his father Sultan al-Ulama, his sons,
his friends like Salah al-Din Zarqubi and Husam al-Din Chelebi, his
grandchildren, and others among Rumi’s relatives—more than fifty people. Fasting The above
descriptions are related to the physical fasting of Rumi. The one who best observed
the spiritual fasting, the fasting of heart, which means to leave everything
other than God, is again Rumi. In fact, people of gnosis have said: “There are
three kinds of fasting: fasting of the lay, fasting of the elite, and fasting
of the elite of the elite. The fasting of the lay merely consists of giving up
eating and drinking. The fasting of the elite is the fasting of the hands,
feet, eyes, tongue, and other limbs by protecting them from doing evil. The fasting
of the elite of the elite is leaving everything other than God.” Rumi’s fasting
was this third kind. Prayer Rumi’s prayer was
a prayer performed with an openness of the heart and a forgetting of one’s
self. In his prayer he would find himself completely in God and reunited with
God. In fact, the purpose of prayers is to find God spiritually, to reunite
with God by forgetting about one’s self and escaping one’s imaginary existence.
It is for this reason that the Prophet says: “Prayer is reunification with
God.” But those who only look at the appearance of things cannot see and understand
how this reunification will happen. It is also for this reason that prayer is
viewed as the pillar of the religion and ascension of a believer to the heavens. Ever increasing
love and enthusiasm From the day he
was grown up to the day he passed away, his love and enthusiasm kept on
increasing. He was never content with his love and enthusiasm; he always wanted
them to increase even more. After Rumi had
discovered his self and sensed what was in him, he began to see in others, too,
what was in him. This way he unified the Love of God with the Love of Humanity.
He came to the conclusion that to love human beings is to love God. Every saint has
his own way of feeling. As a saint, Rumi, always speaks of love and lovers. For
this reason, Rumi has been entitled, “The Sultan of Lovers.” In one of his
poems, Rumi says: Our prophet’s way
is the way of love. /We are the children of love, and our mother is love. There is no doubt
that Rumi, throughout his works, emphasizes the concept of love over all else.
In the many stories narrated in his book Mesnevi
and in flowing poems that compose his book Divan-i
Kabir, the focus is on love. The love that Rumi speaks of is not a transient
love. It is not a metaphorical love (Ishq
Majazi), it is real. The love that he speaks of the love toward the True,
which is also called the divine love, the love felt toward God. (Soil,
dust, speck) Rumi says: I am the servant
of the Qur’an as long as I live. And I am the soil where the foot of Muhammad stepped. With this Rumi
expresses his deep love for Muhammad. Therefore, Rumi
can be considered one of the great poets who emphasized the love of the Prophet
in his poems. In some of his poems, he dedicates the entire ghazal to the
Prophet. These are called na’t in which the attributes of Muhammad are
narrated. In some cases, Rumi, while speaking of a variety of things, suddenly
refers to the love of the Prophet. Christians How did Rumi view these “religious feelings,” the inevitable spiritual
need for human beings? Since Rumi saw humans as beings that carry the Divine
Entrustment, he loved people no matter what faith or creed they belonged to,
and therefore respected all religions. It is for this reason that behind the
coffin of that great saint, not only Muslims but also Christians and Jews shed
tears. As Aflaki writes, a preacher in Konya, when speaking of Christians, said: “Praise be to God that He did not
create us among the Christians.” When they related this statement to Rumi, Rumi
said about that preacher: “He is wrong himself and also makes others go astray.
He is weighing himself with the balance of the Christians and boasting because
he happens to be one gram heavier. If he came and weighed himself with the
balance of the prophets and saints, then he would realize his real value.” His Perspective
on different people and their attributes Rumi does not
view people from one perspective; he considers them from all sides. He seeks
ways of salvation for humankind. He strives to cleanse them from their flaws
and make them true human beings. In the Mesnevi, Rumi says: The human body is like a jungle where predators roam. We have to be
very careful and watchful not to be victimized and torn into pieces. In our
body there are thousands of wolves, thousands of pigs, clean, dirty, beautiful
and ugly, thousands of attributes. If one of these attributes in us overweighs
we come under the influence of that attribute. . . . Sometimes the wolf in man
takes the control of the city of the body and it acts; then the attribute of
wolf appears. Sometimes, the human being becomes a beautiful person like Joseph
with a face as beautiful as the moon. Goodness, evil, hate, grudge keep on
flowing from heart to heart through secret channels. Every moment there is a
different thing that emerges in the heart. The human being sometimes turns into
a devil, sometimes into an angel, sometimes into a trap, and sometimes into a
beast.[5] It is clear that
Rumi views human beings comprehensively, considering all of their attributes.
Thus, the human being is neither absolutely good, nor absolutely evil. Rumi
says: “Sometimes angels envy our cleanliness and sometimes the devils run away
from our evil.” According to Rumi,
the real humanity, the love that we feel for God who created us by realizing
our humanity and sensing the essence in us will eliminate all our bad habits,
will cleanse and raise us spiritually. Our realization of where we came from
and who is in us will rescue us from all vice. What a great happiness is it for
a believer to be aware that we live with Him and to feel that He is with us
wherever we may be. In a couplet in the Mesnevi, Rumi says: “We have to
come to know (that) we are not this body: beyond the body we live through God.”
[6] Jesus, son of
Mary : the story Jesus, son of
Mary, was running toward the mountain as if he were running from a lion that
wanted to shed his blood. Somebody ran behind him and asked: - What is wrong?
There is no one behind you. Why are you running as fast as a bird flies? Jesus was running
so fast that he did not even turn around and answer the man because of his
hurry. The man ran a little bit more after Jesus, and he called out again: - For God’s sake,
stop for one moment. Why and from whom are you running away? I want to know. Jesus said: - I am running
away from a stupid person. Don’t stop me, let me get away. The man said: Aren’t you the
Messiah who opens up the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf? Jesus: - Yes, I am. The man asked
again: - Aren’t you the
one who makes a dead man jump like a lion that has just found its prey? Jesus: - Yes, I am. Upon this, the
man said: - O pure and
clean spirit! Who are you afraid of when you possess so many miracles? Jesus said: - I read the
Greatest Name that God has granted me over a blind person, and his eyes opened.
I read it upon a deaf man, and his ears started to hear. I read it over a rock
like a mountain, and it split and fell into pieces. I read it upon a dead
person, and he came back to life and arose. And I read it to a stupid man a hundred
thousand times, but it did not help.[7] Comparison
man/animal What Rumi
describes as the reason that provides us with material benefits, makes us
superior to the animals, is apparently the reason that is our material mind,
which Rumi calls “the head of earth.” At the first stage, Rumi praised this
kind of reason, and then he found reason to be insufficient, rejected it, and
left it behind. After saying that it is crazy to carry this material reason, he
began describing the other spiritual reason that is in our other head that
belongs to the heavens. It is clear that we can attain God and truth only
through the reason in the pure head that belongs to the heavens. Rumi: Poet It is surprising
that although Rumi always expressed his feelings and views through poetry and
has gained the admiration of the greatest poets of the East as well as the
West, he does not see himself as a poet and is almost ashamed of being called a
poet. In reality, one can hardly call a lover of God like Rumi a ‘poet’. The
late Ziya Pasha sensed this and said: “To call such people of high spiritual
states ‘poets’ is undermining their maturity, perfection, and superiority and offending
them spiritually.” The truth is that the word “poet” cannot describe Rumi. We
have to find other words and other expressions to describe him. Love Rumi is submerged
in such a love and enrapture that in his sight poetry is left very much behind.
He is intoxicated with a never ending spiritual sensation, excitement, and joy,
and says: “I don’t know this and that. I am intoxicated, enraptured with the glass of love.” Rumi, who does not see himself as a poet although he is counted among the greatest poets of the world, is actually right. He could not compare himself to other poets because he says, “What value does poetry have for me so that |
