Presentation by
Yıldız Kenter and Talat Halman *
written by Talat Halman RUMI: SOARING TO ECSTASY
UŞŞAK MEVLEVİ AYİNİ 5 – 4ÜNCÜ SELAM 1:34
KENTER: COME !
BUT DON’T JOIN US WITHOUT YOUR MUSIC
WE HAVE A CELEBRATION HERE.
RISE AND BEAT THE DRUMS.
WE ARE MANSUR WHO SAID “I AM GOD!”
WE ARE IN ECSTASY - -
DRUNK, BUT NOT FROM WINE MADE OF GRAPES.
WHATEVER YOUR THOUGHTS ARE ABOUT US,
WE ARE FAR, FAR FROM THEM.
HALMAN: THIS IS THE NIGHT OF THE SEMA
WHEN WE WHIRL TO ECSTASY.
THERE IS LIGHT NOW,
THERE IS LIGHT, THERE IS LIGHT.
KENTER: THIS IS TRUE LOVE
WHICH MEANS FAREWELL TO THE MIND.
THERE IS FAREWELL TODAY, FAREWELL.
TONIGHT EACH FLAMING HEART IS A FRIEND OF MUSIC.
LONGING FOR YOUR LIPS,
MY HEART POURS OUT OF MY MOUTH.
HALMAN: HUSH!
YOU ARE MADE OF FEELING AND THOUGHT AND PASSION;
THE REST IS NOTHING BUT FLESH AND BONE.
WE ARE THE SOUL OF THE WORLD,
NOT HEAVY OR SAGGING LIKE THE BODY.
WE ARE THE SPIRIT’S TREASURE, NOT BOUND TO THIS EARTH,
TO TIME OR SPACE.
KENTER: LOVE IS OUR MOTHER.
WE WERE BORN OF LOVE.
LIVE IN LOVE’S ECSTASY
FOR LOVE IS ALL THAT EXISTS.
HALMAN: WELCOME YOUR EXCELLENCIES, DISTINGUISHED LADIES&GENTLEMEN. WELCOME TO THE SPIRITUAL AND POETIC REALM OF MEVLANA CELALEDDIN RUMI, TO THE IDEALS OF SUFISM. AND TO THE CEREMONIES OF THE WHIRLING DERVISHES.
KENTER: COME! RUMI INVITED ALL TO LOVE AND LIGHT, TO TRANCE, TO SOARING.
HALMAN: HE INVITED ALL TO THE UNITY OF FAITH, TO THE ONENESS OF HUMANITY, TO UNIVERSAL HARMONY, TO PEACE ON EARTH.
WHATEVER YOU THINK OF WAR, I AM FAR, FAR FROM IT;
WHATEVER YOU THINK OF LOVE, I AM THAT, ONLY THAT, ALL THAT.
KENTER: LIKE A COMPASS I STAND FIRM WITH ONE LEG ON MY FAITH
AND ROAM WITH THE OTHER LEG ALL OVER THE SEVENTY-TWO NATIONS.
HALMAN: SEVENTY-TWO NATIONS HEAR OF THEIR SECRETS FROM US:
WE ARE THE REED-FLUTE WHOSE SONG UNITES ALL NATIONS AND FAITHS.
KENTER: “IN ALL MOSQUES, TEMPLES, CHURCHES, I FIND ONE SHRINE ALONE”
AT THE END OF OUR PROGRAM, WE SHOULD BE HAPPY TO PRESENT TO YOU AN EXCITING 30-MINUTE RUMI DOCUMENTARY FILM ORIGINALLY PRODUCED FOR UNESCO. THE SCRIPT WAS WRITTEN BY TALAT HALMAN AND NARRATED BY THE WORLD-FAMOUS BRITISH ACTRESS VANESSA REDGRAVE.
HALMAN: MEVLANA CELALEDDIN RUMI WAS BORN 800 YEARS AGO ON SEPTEMBER 30TH, 1207. UNESCO HAS DECLARED THIS YEAR. “THE INTERNATIONAL MEVLANA CELALEDDIN RUMI YEAR”. CELEBRATIONS WILL BE HELD IN DOZENS OF COUNTRIES. WE ARE HONORED TO PRESENT THE YEAR’S FIRST MAJOR RUMI EVENT IN PAKISTAN.
IN ANATOLIA, THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY WAS AN “AGE OF MIRACLES”, PERHAPS THE MOST STIRRING ERA OF TURKISH CULTURE. YUNUS EMRE, HACI BEKTAŞ VELİ, NASREDDİN HOCA…AND RUMİ. THE GOLDEN AGE OF HUMANISM, OF THE IDEAL OF HUMANITY UNITED IN PEACE.
KENTER: THE ANATOLIAN RENAISSANCE CAME A FULL CENTURY EARLIER THAN THE RENAISSANCE IN EUROPE…DANTE WAS 8 YEARS OLD WHEN RUMI DIED. PETRARCH LIVED A HUNDRED YEARS LATER THAN RUMI, ERASMUS TWO AND A HALF CENTURIES LATER. ONLY ST. FRANCIS ASSIS, PRECEDED RUMI BY A FEW DECADES. WHEN EUROPE WAS STILL IN ITS MEDIEVAL DARKNESS, ANATOLIA HAD SEEN THE LIGHT.
HALMAN: VERY FEW HISTORIC FIGURES HAVE BEEN ABLE TO CREATE A SPIRITUAL CLIMATE. IN ANATOLIA THIS WAS ACHIEVED BY MEVLANA CELALEDDIN RUMI.
KENTER: THE RELIGION OF LOVE IS APART FROM ALL RELIGIONS;
THE LOVERS OF GOD HAVE NO RELIGION BUT GOD ALONE
HALMAN: I ROAMED THE LANDS OF CHRISTENDOM FROM END TO END
SEARCHING ALL OVER, BUT HE WAS NOT ON THE CROSS.
I WENT INTO THE TEMPLES WHERE THE INDIANS WORSHIP IDOLS
AND THE MAGIANS CHANT PRAYERS TO FIRE - - I FOUND NO TRACE OF HIM.
RIDING AT FULL SPEED, I LOOKED ALL OVER THE MUSLIM KAABA,
BUT HE WAS NOT AT THAT SANCTUARY FOR YOUNG AND OLD.
THEN I GAZED RIGHT INTO MY OWN HEART:
THERE, I SAW HIM... HE WAS THERE AND NOWHERE ELSE.
KENTER: HE INTRODUCED A POWERFUL NEW IDEAL OF LOVE AND HUMANITARIAN SOLIDARITY IN THE 13TH CENTURY AND FOR ALL TIME. IN THE MESNEVİ, A MONUMENTAL PHILOSOPHIC WORK IN 52 THOUSAND POETIC LINES, AND IN SOME 4 THOUSAND LYRICS, RUMI GAVE THE WORLD AN APEX OF HUMANISM.
HALMAN: RUMI IS A CULTURAL FIGURE OF WORLD STATURE WHO GAVE NOT ONLY TURKEY AND THE OTHER MUSLIM COUNTRIES BUT PEOPLE EVERYWHERE THE TRANSCENDENT VALUES OF “THE HEART’S PURITY,” THE IMAGES OF THE PERFECT PERSON, THE DEATHLESSNESS OF THE LOVING SOUL, JOYS OF PASSION, HUMANITARIAN ENLIGHTENMENT, THE ARTISTIC DIMENSIONS OF FAITH, AND THE POETIC EUPHORIA OF THE BELIEF IN GOD’S BEAUTY AND IN THE HUMAN BEING AS A REFLECTION OF THAT REALITY.
KENTER: HE SOUGHT TO CREATE A “CLIMATE OF LOVE” WHEN SECTARIAN CONFLICT WAS RAMPANT AND RELIGIOUS WARS ABLAZE. FEW FAITHS IN HISTORY HAVE SHARED RUMI’S TOTAL COMMITMENT TO PEACE OR HIS INSISTENCE ON BLENDING ETHICS WITH AESTHETICS.
HALMAN: HEGEL PRAISED HIM AS ONE OF THE GREAT POETS AND THINKERS IN WORLD HISTORY.
KENTER: HE WROTE AT THE END OF HIS ENCYCLOPAEDIA, IN EXPLORING GOD AS ABSOLUTE MIND, “IF WE WANT TO SEE THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE ONE…IN ITS FINEST PURITY AND SUBLIMITY,” WE CANNOT DO BETTER THAN TO READ RUMI’S VERSES.
HALMAN: THERE IS ALWAYS AN EXCITEMENT, A REVELATION, PASSIONS RAGING OR EXQUISITELY CONTROLLED, A SYMMETRY OF ECSTASY, AN ORDER OF DIVINE MADNESS. RUMI ACHIEVED, AS HOMER HAD DONE, THE ULTIMATE, THE NEAR-PERFECT WORK OF HIS OWN GENRE. RUMI WAS BORN ON SEPTEMBER 30, 1207 – 800 YEARS AGO. HIS 800TH YEARS OF BIRTH WILL BE CELEBRATED ALL OVER THE WORLD. HE DIED IN DECEMBER 1273. CERTAINLY, NO MYSTIC POET HAS SURPASSED HIM IN 734 YEARS SINCE HIS DEATH.
KENTER: THE BRITISH ORIENTALIST REYNOLD NICHOLSON, WHO TRANSLATED RUMI’S MESNEVİ AND SELECTED POEMS, PAID TRIBUTE TO HIM AS “THE GREATEST MYSTICAL POET OF ANY AGE.”
HALMAN: FOR HIS WESTÖSTLICHER DİVAN, GOETHE DREW INSPIRATION FROM SOME OF RUMI’S POEMS TRANSLATED INTO GERMAN.
KENTER: ONE OF THE IMMORTALS OF PERSIAN CLASSICAL POETRY, JAMİ SAID OF HIM: “HE IS NOT A PROPHET, BUT HE HAS WRITTEN A HOLY BOOK,” REFERRING TO THE MESNEVI, WHICH HAS ALSO BEEN CALLED “THE KORAN OF MYSTICISM” AND “THE INNER TRUTH OF THE KORAN”.
HALMAN: REMBRANDT MADE TWO IMAGINARY DRAWINGS OF RUMI.
KENTER: SIR MOHAMED IQBAL, A GREAT THINKER AND POET, ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF PAKISTAN, PROCLAIMED: “CHOOSE MEVLANA AS YOUR GUIDE SO THAT GOD WILL GRANT YOU LOVE AND ARDOR.” AND ADDED: “THE WORLD OF TODAY NEEDS A RUMI TO CREATE AN ATTITUDE OF HOPE, AND TO KINDLE THE FIRE OF ENTHUSIASM FOR LIFE.”
HALMAN: IN 1958, POPE JOHN XXIII WROTE A SPECIAL MESSAGE: “IN THE NAME OF THE CATHOLIC WORLD, I BOW WITH RESPECT BEFORE THE MEMORY OF RUMI.”
KENTER: UNESCO’S FIRST DIRECTOR-GENERAL, JULIAN HUXLEY, LAUDED HIS SPIRIT OF INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD.
HALMAN: GANDHI, THEY SAY, OCCASIONALLY QUOTED RUMI’S COUPLET:
TO UNITE – THAT IS WHY WE CAME;
TO DIVIDE, THAT IS NOT OUR AIM.
KENTER: THE SPIRITUALITY AND TRADITION OF MEVLANA CELALEDDIN RUMI MADE A STRONG IMPACT ON YOUR SUBCONTINENT’S SUFI ORDERS STARTING WITH BU ALİ QALANDAR WHO DIED IN THE 14TH CENTURY. INDIAN CHESHTIS HELD RUMI IN GREAT VENERATION. MANY INDIAN MYSTIC POETS WERE INFLUENCED BY RUMI’S MASNAWI.
HALMAN: AT THE COURT OF EMPEROR AKBAR IN THE LATE 16TH CENTURY AN IMPERIAL EDICT WAS ISSUED URGING GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES TO READ FROM THE MASNAWI IN THEIR SPARE TIME SO THAT THEY WOULD KEEP AWAY FROM TEMPTATION AND GREED IN THEIR PERFORMING OFFICIAL DUTIES.
IT IS HEARTENING TO KNOW THAT TODAY THERE IS PROFOUND RESPECT FOR RUMI’S SPIRITUALITY AND POETRY IN PAKISTAN AND INDIA.
KENTER: CELALEDDIN WAS BORN IN BALKH (IN PRESENT-DAY AFGHANISTAN) IN 1207, THE SON OF A RENOWNED SCHOLAR AND MYSTIC, BAHAÜDDİN, WHO WAS FORCED TO FLEE FROM BALKH WITH HIS FAMILY WHEN CELALEDDIN WAS ABOUT 12 YEARS OLD. THE REASON HAS NOT BEEN FULLY DOCUMENTED, BUT IT WAS PROBABLY EITHER AN IMPENDING MONGOL ONSLAUGHT OR AN INTELLECTUAL-POLITICAL DISAGREEMENT WITH THE SULTAN AND HIS ENTOURAGE. THE FAMILY WANDERED THROUGH PERSIA AND THE ARAB LANDS FOR TEN YEARS WITHOUT FINDING A CITY RECEPTIVE TO BAHAÜDDİN’S INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AND UNORTHODOX IDEAS. FINALLY KONYA WELCOMED THEM.
HALMAN: THE SELJUK SULTAN ALAEDDIN KEYKUBAT, ACCORDING TO LEGEND, SENT BAHAÜDDİN AN EXCEPTIONALLY STRONG INVITATION PLEDGING THAT, IF THE GREAT SCHOLAR AND HIS FAMILY WOULD SETTLE IN THE TURKISH SELJUK CAPITAL, THE SULTAN “ALTHOUGH HE BOWS TO NO ONE IS READY TO BECOME BAHAÜDDİN’S FAITHFUL SERVANT AND DISCIPLE”
KENTER: THE ARRIVAL OF BAHAÜDDİN AND HIS FAMILY IN KONYA IS A DRAMATIC STORY.
HALMAN: LEGEND HAS IT THAT, WHEN BAHAÜDDİN, HAVING ACCEPTED THE INVITATION, WAS ARRIVING WITH HIS FAMILY AND RETINUE, SULTAN ALAEDDIN MET THEM OUTSIDE THE CITY, DISMOUNTED, AND WALKED TO THE DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR WHO REMAINED ON HIS HORSE. THE SULTAN WANTED TO KISS BAHAÜDDİN’S HAND, BAHAÜDDİN INSTEAD HELD OUT HIS SCEPTRE, THE SYMBOL OF HIS MORAL AUTHORITY, WHICH THE SULTAN RESPECTFULLY KISSED.
KENTER: THEN THE SULTAN HELD THE BRIDLE OF THE SCHOLAR’S HORSE AND, REMAINING ON FOOT, LED THE WAY. THAT IS HOW THEY ENTERED THE CITY OF KONYA, THE SULTAN PAYING HOMAGE IN PUBLIC TO THE HIGHER SPIRITUAL AND INTELLECTUAL AUTHORITY. UNTIL BAHAÜDDIN’S DEATH, THE SULTAN REGULARLY ATTENDED HIS SERMONS AND LECTURES.
HALMAN: IN THE WORDS OF VELED, RUMI’S SON: “THE SULTAN AND HIS COMMANDERS FAITHFULY VISITED HIM / AND WHOLEHEARTEDLY ATE THE HONEY OF HIS COUNSEL.”
KENTER: CELALEDDIN WAS 22 YEARS OLD WHEN HE ARRIVED IN KONYA. HE LIVED THERE UNTIL HIS DEATH ON DECEMBER 17TH, 1273 AT THE AGE OF 66. THE CITY AFFORDED FOR HIM THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE OPPORTUNITY TO EVOLVE AND EXPRESS HIS NEW IDEAS WHICH RECEIVED CULTURAL VALUES FROM THE DIVERSE RELIGIONS AND SECTS ACTIVE IN THE SELJUK CAPITAL.
HALMAN: AT THIS STAGE IN HIS LIFE, HE WAS ABOVE ALL A SCHOLAR. HE HAD READ IN DEPTH IN PERSIAN, ARABIC, TURKISH, GREEK, AND HEBREW, AND COMMANDED VAST ENCYCLOPAEDIC KNOWLEDGE.
KENTER: IN 1244, A DRAMATIC ENCOUNTER TRANSFORMED RUMI’S SPIRITUAL LIFE. IN KONYA, HE MET SHEMS A WILD MYSTIC WHO SEEMED TO HAVE COME OUT OF NOWHERE. THEIR MEETING HAS BEEN REFERRED TO AS MERC ÜL BAHREYN (CONVERGENCE OF THE TWO SEAS). IT IS SAID THAT MEVLANA DISCOVERED THE INNER SECRETS OF LOVE THROUGH THE INFLUENCE OF SHEMS – AND CAME TO THE REALIZATION THAT LOVE TRANSCENDS THE MIND.
HALMAN: NOW PASSION REIGNED SUPREME OVER HIS MIND. THE FRONTIERS OF THE INTELLECT SUDDENLY APPEARED TOO NARROW, CONSTRICTING, CLAUSTROPHOBIC.
KENTER: HOW CAN THEY TALK TO US OF PRAYER-RUGS AND PIETY?
WE ARE THE HUNTER AND THE HUNTED,
AUTUMN AND SPRING,
NIGHT AND DAY,
VISIBLE AND HIDDEN.
HALMAN: SHEMS WAS KNOWN TO BE FROM TABRIZ. BUT WHERE DID HE COME FROM TO KONYA? HE WAS AN EXUBERANT MYSTIC. HE AND CELALEDDIN BECAME BOSOM FRIENDS.
SHEMS, A COMPELLING FIGURE OF MYSTERIOUS POWER, PUT RUMI THROUGH MANY RIGOROUS, AND OCCASIONALLY CRUEL, TESTS FROM WHICH RUMI EMERGED OBEDIENT, SELFLESS, DEEPENED AND ENLIGHTENED.
KENTER: AFTER FIFTEEN MONTHS OF FRIENDSHIP DURING WHICH RUMI WAS IN BONDAGE TO HIS MORAL AND MYSTICAL GUIDE SHEMS (WHOSE NAME MEANS “SUN” – THE SUN THAT ENLIGHTENED RUMI) MYSTERIOUSLY DISAPPEARED. RUMI WAS SHATTERED, IN DEEP DISPAIR: “WITHOUT HIS FACE, PARADISE FOR ME IS HATEFUL HELL.” HE COMPOSED HEART-RENDING POEMS FULL OF IMAGES OF BURNING FROM SEPARATION, OF UNBEARABLE LONGING, OF SPIRITUAL EXILE:
“COME, COME, IN YOUR ABSENCE, I HAVE LOST MY MIND AND MY FAITH.”
HALMAN: COME, COME, YOU WILL NEVER FIND A FRIEND LIKE ME.
WHERE’S A BELOVED LIKE ME IN ALL THE WORLD?
COME, DON’T WASTE YOUR LIFE RUNNING BACK AND FORTH.
YOU ARE LIKE A DRY VALLEY, I AM THE RAIN.
YOU ARE A CITY LAID WASTE, I AM THE ARCHITECT.
KENTER: RUMI WAS TO UNDERTAKE AN ARDUOUS SEARCH.
SOME CLAIMED SHEMS HAD DIED. RUMI PROTESTED:
HE LIVES THE ETERNAL LIFE, YET “HE IS DEAD!” SAYS SOMEONE.
HE IS THE SUN OF HOPE. WHO CAN CLAIM DEATH FOR SUCH A SUN?
IT IS AN ENEMY OF THE SUN WHO CLIMBS ON THE ROOF,
COVERS BOTH HIS EYES AND SHOUTS: “LOOK, THE SUN IS DEAD AND GONE!”
WHEN HE FINALLY RECEIVED WORD THAT SHEMS HAD BEEN SEEN IN DAMASCUS, HE SENT LETTERS IN VERSE: “O THE LIGHT OF MY HEART, COME BACK! O MY LOVER AND LOVED ONE, OUR LIFE IS IN YOUR HANDS. COME, I PRAY.” SHEMS DID NOT REPLY – LIKE GOD WHO DOES NOT ANSWER THE PRAYERS OF THE MYSTIC.
HALMAN: ONE DAY, SHEMS CAME BACK. SYMBOLICALY RUMI HAD FOUND HIS GOD AGAIN. HE WROTE A CELEBRATION OF REUNION:
BLESSED MOMENT. HERE WE SIT IN THIS PALACE OF LOVE, YOU AND I
WE HAVE TWO SHAPES, TWO BODIES, BUT A SINGLE SOUL, YOU AND I.
KENTER: THE COLORS OF THE GARDENS AND THE SONGS OF THE BIRDS
AMONG THE FLOWER-BEDS WILL MAKE US IMMORTAL, YOU AND I.
HALMAN: THE STARS OF HEAVEN WILL COME OUT TO GAZE AT US
WE SHALL SHOW THE STARS THE MOON HERSELF, YOU AND I.
KENTER: UNITED IN ECSTACY, WE SHALL NO LONGER BE YOU OR I
RESCUED FROM FOOLISH BABBLE, WE SHALL REJOICE, YOU AND I.
HALMAN: ALL THE BRIGHT-PLUMED BIRDS OF PARADISE WILL PLUNGE INTO ENVY
WHEN THEY HEAR US LAUGHING MERRILY, YOU AND I.
KENTER: THEN SHEMS WAS LOST TO RUMI FOREVER. THOSE JEALOUS OF THE CLOSENESS OF SHEMS TO RUMI STABBED HIM TO DEATH.
HALMAN: THE ABSENCE OF THE LOVED ONE, THE SEPARATION FROM GOD WHO IS THE ULTIMATE AND THE PERFECT BELOVED, GAVE THE MYSTICS THEIR TRAGIC EXISTENCE. THE NEY, THE TRADITIONAL REED FLUTE, WITH ITS SAD, SOUL-PIERCING STRAINS, EXPRESSES THE MYSTIC’S YEARNING TO RETURN TO THE BELOVED GOD. THE OPENING COUPLETS OF THE MESNEVI CAPTURE THE REED’S MOANING:
KENTER: LISTEN TO THE REED, HOW IT TELLS ITS TALES;
BEMOANING ITS BITTER EXILE, IT WAILS:
HALMAN: “EVER SINCE I WAS TORN FROM THE REED-BEDS,
MY CRIES TEAR MEN’S AND WOMEN’S HEARTS TO SHREDS.
“LET THIS SEPARATION SLIT MY SAD BREAST
SO I CAN REVEAL MY LONGING AND QUEST.
EVERYONE IS MY FRIEND FOR HIS OWN PART,
YET NONE CAN KNOW THE SECRETS OF MY HEART.
KENTER: “THE FLAMES OF LOVE MAKE THE REED’S VOICE DIVINE;
IT IS LOVE’S PASSION THAT RAGES IN THE WINE.
THE REED CRIES WITH THE LOVERS WHO FELL APART,
IT RENDS THE CHEST AND TEARS OPEN THE HEART.
HALMAN: NOTHING KILLS OR CURES THE SOUL LIKE THE REED;
NOTHING CAN CRAVE OR CONSOLE LIKE THE REED.”
KENTER: RUMI VIEWED CONVENTIONAL RELIGIOUS TENETS AND INSTITUTIONS AS RESTRICTION S ON INTELLECTUAL INDEPENDENCE AND THE FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE. FOR HIM, ORTHODOXY WAS INIMICAL TO TRUE FAITH. HE DENOUNCED IT IN VEHEMENT TERMS IN A RUBAI:
HALMAN: UNLESS THE SEMINARIES AND THE MINARETS PERISH,
THE WANDERING DERVISH CAN REACH NO STATE HE CAN CHERISH.
UNLESS FAITH BECOMES DISBELIEF AND DISBELIEF IS FAITH,
NO VASSAL OF GOD WILL BE A TRUE MUSLIM AND FLOURISH.
KENTER: BE THAT AS IT MAY, RUMI BORE ALLEGIANCE TO THE BASIC TENETS AND VALUES OF SUNNI (MAINSTREAM) ISLAM:
ALL MY LIFE I HAVE LIVED UNDER THE QUR’AN’S SWAY,
I WAS ALWAYS SOIL FOR THE MUHAMMADAN WAY…
THOSE WHO DERIVE UNLIKELY MEANINGS FROM THE FACTS
ARE MISTAKEN, WHAT THEY CLAIM LEADS ME TO DISMAY.
HALMAN: RUMI LIVED HIS LIFE IN EXCITEMENT AND TRANQUILLTY, IN ECSTASY AND CONTENTMENT, DRAMATIC EVENTS AND CEASELESS QUEST.
- - - LIGTHS OFF - - - -
SLIDES
1. RUMI
KENTER: MEVLANA CELALEDDİN RUMİ DEPICTED IN A MINIATURE PAINTING MADE ABOUT TWO HUNDRED YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH… A RESPECTFUL DELINEATION OF THE SPIRITUAL LEADER IN SERENITY, GENEROSITY, AND EXQUISITE HUMILITY. A PERSIAN SCHOLAR ONCE DESCRIBED RUMI’S LOOKS USING ALL THE EVIDENCE HE COULD FIND: “RUMI WAS A MAN OF SALLOW COMPLEXION. HIS BODY WAS THIN AND LEAN. HIS EYES FLASHED WITH A HYPNOTIC BRIGHTNESS DAUNTING TO THOSE WHO LOOKED UPON HIM…IN HIS CONDUCT HE WAS PEACEFUL AND TOLERANT TOWARDS PEOPLE OF ALL SECTS AND CREEDS. AND WAS NEVER HEARD TO UTTER ONE BITTER REPLY.”
2. RUMI
HALMAN: HERE IN KONYA, UNDER THE GREEN DOME, HE LIVES AND TEACHES. THE GREEN DOME… RUMI’S HOME, LYCEUM, SHRINE OF LOVE, MAUSOLEUM, THE HEARTLAND OF MAWLAVI MYSTICISM…HE DESCRIBED IT AS “THE TEMPLE FOR ALL LOVING HEARTS”.
“THIS PLACE,” HE WROTE IN A FAMOUS COUPLET,
“THIS PLACE IS THE KAABA FOR LOVERS:
“WHOEVER COMES IN HALF, LEAVES IT FULL.”
IT WAS BUILT ON WHAT HAD ORIGINALLY BEEN THE ROSE GARDEN OF THE SULTANS…AND RUMI THE SULTAN OF LOVE CREATED IT AS A NEW ROSE GARDEN OF THE SOUL.
3. GREEN DOME
KENTER: IT IS IN THE RUMI MAUSOLEUM THAT THE MEVLEVI SECT AND CEREMONIES EVOLVED - - MAINLY AFTER HIS DEATH. WHIRLING WAS A DOMINANT METAPHOR IN HIS SPIRITUALITY. HE WROTE: “WHIRLING IS RISING TO YOUR FEET PAINLESSLY LIKE A SPECK OF DUST BLOWN AROUND IN THE WIND. WHIRLING IS WHEN YOU RISE ABOVE BOTH WORLDS TEARING YOUR HEART TO PIECES AND GIVING UP YOUR SOUL.”
HALMAN: FOR THE MYSTIC, THE ULTIMATE END OF ACHIEVING ECSTASY IS TO CATCH A GLIMPSE OF GOD THE BELOVED:
AS RUMI WROTE IN A COUPLET:
“WHAT NURTURES OUR SOUL IS THE WHIRLING DANCE
WHERE THE LOVED ONE EMERGES IN OUR TRANCE.”
4. GREEN DOME
KENTER: THE MEVLEVI MOVEMENT, INITIATED BY HIS SON AND FOLLOWERS AFTER RUMI’S DEATH, SPREAD FROM KONYA TO OTHER COUNTRIES. IT HAD CONGREGATION PLACES IN 14 CITIES AND 76 LODGES - - FROM INDIA TO NORTH AFRICA, FROM FORMER YUGOSLAVIA TO BAGHDAD AND ALEPPO.
HALMAN: THE WHIRLING DERVISHES SECT PLAYED A MAJOR SPIRITUAL AND CREATIVE ROLE IN THE OTTOMAN STATE. STARTING WITH THE FIRST SULTAN OSMAN, THE MEVLEVI SHEIKH WOULD BE PRESENT AT EVERY NEW SULTAN’S ACCESSION CEREMONY WHERE THE MONARCH WOULD BE GIRDED WITH THE SWORD.
5. FATİH
SULTAN MEHMET THE CONQUER OF ISTANBUL KEPT HIS DISTANCE FROM THE WHIRLING DERVISHES. HE SEEMED TO BE SKEPTICAL ABOUT THEM.
6. SÜLEY-MAN
KENTER: SÜLEYMAN THE MAGNIFICENT WAS A STRONG SUPPORTER. HE MADE A GIFT TO THEM OF THEIR WHIRLING HALL IN KONYA.
7. II. SELIM
HALMAN: HIS SON SELIM THE SECOND HAD A MOSQUE BUILT FOR
THEM NEXT TO THE GREEN DOME IN KONYA. 8. MOSQUE
KENTER: SELIM THE THIRD WAS VIRTUALLY A MEMBER OF THE SECT. 9. SELIM III
A POET AND A COMPOSER, THIS ARTISTIC SULTAN COMPOSED
A CYCLE OF MUSIC FOR THE MEVLEVI CEREMONY – A WORK
THAT IS STILL PERFORMED TODAY.
HALMAN: THE REFORMIST SULTAN ABDÜL MECİD ATTENDED THE 10. ABDÜL MECİD
SECT’S CEREMONIES AND LENT IT HIS SUPPORT.
KENTER: RUMI’S LIFE HAS BEEN DOCUMENTED IN A VARIETY OF 11. WHIRLERS
SOURCES. LEGENDS SURROUND SOME OF THE EVENTS. A FASCINATING SOURCE IS A BOOK ENTITLED “THE LUMINARIES OF THE LEGENDS” WRITTEN IN PERSIAN IN 1353, TRANSLATED INTO TURKISH IN 1588 – AND ILLUSTRATED WITH 22 DRAMATIC MINIATURE PAINTINGS. HERE IS ONE SHOWING THE DERVISHES WHIRLING.
HALMAN: PLEASE REMEMBER THAT THE MEVLEVI ORDER IS OF SUNNI PERSUASION REGARDLESS OF THEIR HETERODOXY AND NOTWITHSTANDING HOW RUMI AND HIS FOLLOWERS STOOD AGAINST ORTHODOX STRICTURES.
KENTER: THEIR CEREMONIES ALWAYS STARTED, AS THEY STILL DO, WITH ABLUTION AND RITUAL PRAYERS, RECITATIONS OF QUR’ANIC PASSAGES, AND THE WHIRLING WAS PRECEDED, FOR MANY CENTURIES, BY INTELLECTUAL DISCUSSIONS AND DISCOURSES. IN MODERN TIMES, WITH THE WANING OF MEVLEVI INTELLECTUAL CREATIVITY, THESE SESSIONS HAVE BEEN ABANDONED.
HALMAN: ONE DAY IN KONYA, RUMI GIVES HIS BELT TO A BEGGAR.
KENTER: WHEN A RENOWNED PRIEST VISITS, RUMI KEEPS HIS HEAD 12. WITH PRIEST BOWED IN HUMILITY, WHICH INSPIRES THE PRIEST
TO CONVERT TO ISLAM.
HALMAN: THE CANDLE RUMI LIGHTS IS SMALLER, BUT KEEPS BURNING 13. CANDLES
LONG AFTER THE OTHERS HAVE MELTED AWAY.
KENTER: A YOUNG MAN GREETS THE PILGRIMS ARRIVING IN KONYA 14. PILGRIMS
AND INSPIRES THEM TO BECOME RUMI’S DISCIPLES.
HALMAN: RUMI PROTECTS KONYA DURING THE BATTLE BETWEEN 15. PROTECTS SULTAN SELIM AND HIS BROTHER PRINCE BEYAZID. KONYA
KENTER: RUMI RESCUES A SHIP AND ITS PASSENGERS FROM 16. SHIP
A WHIRLPOOL.
HALMAN: RUMI REBUKES SOME OF HIS FOLLOWERS FOR BICKERING. 17. REBUKE
KENTER: RUMI TALKS WITH A MONSTER THAT COMES OUT OF THE 18. MONSTER
WATER.
HALMAN: AT A BATH, RUMI ADVISES HIS FOLLOWERS TO ENLIGHTEN 19. BATH
THEIR HEARTS INSTEAD OF IMPROVING THEIR OUTWARD
APPEARANCES.
KENTER: RUMI WARNS HIS SON VELED TO AVOID SIN. 20. VELED
HALMAN: A STINGY VIZIER IS FORCED TO PAY A HIGH PRICE TO A 21. VIZIER/POTTER
POOR POTTER.
KENTER: RUMI KEEPS A VIZIER WAITING.
HALMAN: SHEMS ABOUT TO BE STABBED TO DEATH BY A BAND OF
ASSASSINS.
KENTER: RUMI WHIRLS IN ECSTASY OUTSIDE A GOLDSMITH’S
SHOP. THERE IS A LEGEND THAT HE CONCEIVED
OF THE IDEA OF THE WHIRLING RITUAL AFTER THIS
SPONTANEOUS EXPERIENCE HE HAD.
HALMAN: RUMI CURES A BOIL ON THE NECK OF HIS GRANDSON ARIF.
KENTER: IN MODERN TURKEY, NOT ONLY RUMI’S MORAL FORCE BUT ALSO THE CEREMONIES OF THE WHIRLING DERVISHES EXERT A STRONG IMPACT. WHEN TURKEY WAS IN ITS NATIONAL LIBERATION STRUGGLE UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF MUSTAFA KEMAL PASHA, THE MEVLEVIS GAVE THE EFFORT THEIR SUPPORT THROUGH A BATTALION OF THEIR OWN. AFTER THE TURKISH REPUBLIC WAS ESTABLISHED, PRESIDENT MUSTAFA KEMAL PASHA WENT TO KONYA IN 1924, HE VISITED THE RUMI MAUSOLEUM AND WROTE IN THE GUEST-BOOK IN HIS OWN HANDWRITING:
HALMAN: “EVERY VISITOR TO RUMI’S MAUSOLEUM IS A REFUGEE FROM REACTIONARY DOGMA…THE IDEA OF SOARING TO GOD STANDING, WHIRLING, IN MOTION IS A NATURAL EXPRESSION OF THE TURKISH GENIUS…RUMI IS A LOVER OF TRANSFORMATION WHO TRANSCENDS THE AGES, A GREAT REFORMER WHO WELDED ISLAM TO THE TURKISH SOUL… HE UPHELD THE PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL REVOLUTION AND THE FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE.
MUSTAFA KEMAL PAŞA 1924
KENTER: IN 1925, THE TURKISH REPUBLIC INITIATED AN AMBITIOUS SECULARIST PROJECT, AS PART OF WHICH ALL SECTS WERE ABOLISHED AND THEIR CONGREGATION PLACES CLOSED. BUT, ON MARCH 3RD, 1927, ON ORDERS FROM PRESIDENT MUSTAFA KEMAL PASHA, THE RUMI MAUSOLEUM OPENED ITS DOORS AS KONYA’S MUSEUM OF ANTIQUITIES.
HALMAN: YAKUP KADRİ KARAOSMANOĞLU, PROMINENT INTELLECTUAL AND NOVELIST, COMMENTED THAT SUFISM HAS A MOMENTOUS POTENTIAL FOR MODERN LIFE:
KENTER: “SUFISM PROVIDES TOLERANCE AND FREEDOM OF FAITH. IF SUFI LITERATURE HAD DEVELOPED EFFECTIVELY, IT WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN NECESSARY FOR US TO ADOPT SECULARISM, BECAUSE SUFISM IS A SYSTEM OF BELIEF BASED ON FREE THINKING AND LIBERAL FAITH.”
- - - - LIGHTS ON - - - -
TODAY, RUMI’S IDEALS AND MEVLEVI CULTURE INSPIRE COUNTLESS INDIVIDUALS IN TURKEY AND ABROAD. RUMI’S POETRY BOOKS ARE BEST-SELLERS IN THE UNITED STATES. IN FACT, BOTH LOS ANGELES TIMES AND CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR HAVE IDENTIFIED RUMI AS “AMERICA’S BEST-SELLING POET.”
THIS YEAR, THE TOTAL NUMBER OF VISITORS TO THE RUMI MAUSOLEUM IN KONYA WILL REACH A RECORD ONE AND A HALF MILLION. WHEN THE DERVISHES PRESENT THEIR CEREMONIES IN THE UNITED STATES AND ELSEWHERE, THEY CREATE TREMENDOUS EXCITEMENT.
THE “SEMA” CEREMONY IS A POWERFUL SPIRITUAL SOARING TO ECSTASY, EXHILARATION OF LOVE, INNER ENLIGHTENMENT DURING THE SOUL’S HEIGHTENING TOWARD GOD.
RUMI’S WHIRLING DERVISHES SEEK ECSTASY. IN THEIR RITUALS, WITH MUSICAL ACCOMPANIMENT, THEY TURN GRACEFULLY - FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, LEFT: BECAUSE LEFT IS WHERE THE HEART IS, THE HEART IS WHERE LOVE VIBRATES. THE RIGHT HAND OPENS UP TO HEAVEN, THE LEFT HAND POINTS DOWN TO THE GROUND. THAT WAY, THEY RECEIVE THE BENEDICTION AND THE BLISS OF GOD THE BELOVED - AND TRANSMIT LOVE TO OTHER HUMAN BEINGS. THE WHIRLING IS A SPIRITUAL SOARING, THE PERFECT TRANCE.
WHEN THE DERVISHES EXPERIENCE A TRANCE, IT IS AS IF THEIR FEET RISE ABOVE THE GROUND OR FLOOR. THE GREATEST BLISS FOR THEM IS TO GLIMPSE, DURING THAT ECSTASY, THE BEAUTIFUL FACE OF GOD. RUMI EXPRESSED THE SENSATION OF TRUE LOVE’S SUBLIMITY AND PURIFICATION IN AN EXQUISITE POEM:
PERFECT, PERFECT, PERFECT
THIS LOVE IS THREE TIMES PERFECT;
EMPTY, EMPTY, EMPTY
THIS FLESH AND ITS LUSTS.
SACRED, SACRED, SACRED
THIS LIGHT IS THREE TIMES SACRED;
SOARING, SOARING, SOARING
TO MEET ETERNITY TODAY.
THIS POEM YOU JUST HEARD WAS TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY REYNOLD NICHOLSON. ALL OTHER TRANSLATIONS WE ARE PRESENTING IN THIS EVENING ARE MINE. SO IS THE ENTIRE SCRIPT.
SINCE THE 13TH CENTURY RUMI’S POETRY AND SPIRITUALITY, HIS HUMANIST VALUES, AND THE STIRRING CEREMONIES OF HIS FOLLOWERS HAVE FOSTERED A “WORLD OF LOVE”:
THE VOICE OF LOVE IS DESCENDING FROM LEFT
AND RIGHT:
WE ARE BOUND FOR PARADISE. JOIN US.
WATCH THIS SIGHT.
THIS IS SUCH DAY: THE SUN IS DAZZLING TWICE
AS BEFORE - -
A DAY BEYOND ALL DAYS, UNLIKE ALL OTHERS - -
SAY NO MORE…
LOVERS, I HAVE GREAT NEWS FOR YOU: FROM THE
HEAVENS ABOVE
THIS DAY OF LOVE BRINGS SONGS AND FLOWERS
IN A DOWNPOUR.
LOVE IS THE WATER OF ETERNAL LIFE, CURES
EVERY WOE;
GARDENS WHERE LOVERS RE-UNITE DRIVE AWAY
ALL SORROW.
THEY SAY THERE IS A WINDOW THAT OPENS FROM
HEART TO HEART;
IF THERE ARE NO WALLS, THERE IS NO NEED FOR
ANY WINDOW.
WHOEVER JOINS THE CIRCLES OF OUR FAITH TO GO
OUR WAY
SEES THAT IN OUR BODY HUNDREDS OF LIVES HAVE
THEIR HEYDAY;
WHOEVER DRINKS NECTAR FROM THE PITCHER OF
OUR SPIRIT
FINDS SUCH BLISSFUL ECSTASY THAT HE TAKES
OUR NIGHT FOR DAY.
AT ONE TIME WHEN LIFE WAS REAL, YOUR SOUL WAS ONE
WITH MY SOUL:
ALL WE WERE, OPEN OR SECRET, WAS PART OF THE SAME
WHOLE,
IF “YOU” AND “I” ARE PRONOUNS I USE, THEY ARE
ONLY TERMS –
IN TRUTH, THERE CAN BE NO SEPARATE YOU OR I AT ALL.
WHEN I HAVE YOU, THE PASSIONS OF LOVE MAKE ME STAY
AWAKE;
WHEN YOU ARE NOT WITH ME, I CANNOT SLEEP - I MOAN,
I ACHE;
I’M AWAKE THE NIGHT YOU STAY WITH ME AND THE NIGHT
YOU DON’T -
BUT HOW THOSE TWO NIGHTS ARE WORLDS APART, LOOK, FOR
HEAVEN’S SAKE.
TO BECOME A MYSTIC, FEEL NO LONGING FOR THE PAST. GAGE
THE AFFAIRS OF BYGONE DAYS - - AND YOU SHALL TURN A
NEW PAGE;
YOU SHALL THEN BE THE CHILD OF THE TIME, ITS YOUTH, ITS
OLD SAGE,
AND NEVER LOSE THE HOUR YOU ARE IN, THE CORE OF THE AGE.
TONIGHT IS SUCH A NIGHT - - THE CORE OF THE DARKEST
LAYERS;
TONIGHT IS SUCH A NIGHT WHEN ANSWERS ARE FOUND FOR
PRAYERS - -
THE NIGHT OF GIFTS, GRANTS, AND OFFERINGS, THE NIGHT OF
BOUNTY.
SUCH A NIGHT: WE SHARE THE SECRETS OF GOD LIKE
SOOTHSAYERS.
THERE IS A ROAD THAT STRETCHES FROM SOUL TO SOUL IN
GRANDEUR:
MY HEART REMAINS AWAKE: IT SEEKS ON THAT PATH LOVE’S
ARDOR.
THIS HEART OF MINE IS SO LIMPID – LIKE WATER THAT IS PURE.
PURE WATER GLIMMERS: TO THE MOON IT HOLDS
A PURE MIRROR.
BEYOND BELIEF AND FAITHLESSNESS THERE LIES THE SPACE
IN WHOSE HEARTLAND THIS LOVE OF OURS HAS FOUND
ITS PLACE:
IT HOLDS NO ROOM FOR RELIGION AND SACRILEGE - -
THAT’S THE GROUND WHERE THE MAN OF WISDOM RUBS
HIS FACE.
IN THIS WORLD AND IN AFTERLIFE THERE IS HE, ONLY HE:
WE WORSHIP HIM ALONE, FOR EVERY OTHER ENTITY
IS FALSE: SKIES AND THE SUN, ORCHARDS AND GARDENS ARE A
SHAM;
IN ALL WORDS, ALL MEANINGS, HE IS THE SOLE REALITY.
THIS SEASON IS NOT THE SPRING, IT IS SOME OTHER SEASON,
THE LANGUID TRANCES IN THE EYES HAVE A DIFFERENT REASON,
AND THERE IS ANOTHER CAUSE FOR THE WAY EACH SINGLE
BRANCH
DALLIES BY ITSELF WHILE ALL THE TREES SWAY IN UNISON.
I TOOK A VOW THAT SO LONG AS LIFE DOES NOT FADE AWAY
FROM MY HEART, I SHALL STAY ON THE STRAIGHT PATH AND
NEVER STRAY;
BUT THEN I LOOKED TO MY RIGHT AND TO MY LEFT - - AND I SAW
MY BELOVED RIGHT AND LEFT - - LEFT AND RIGHT - - EVERY
WHICH WAY.
HOW LOVELY TO HALT AND REST – AND THEN TO GO ON
YOUR WAY,
NOT FROZEN NOR MUDDLED, TO STAY FRESH BY FLOWING AWAY.
YESTERDAY IS PAST AND GONE – SO ARE YOUR WORDS OF
YESTERDAY:
HOW LOVELY TO FIND FOR EACH NEW DAY SOMETHING FRESH
TO SAY.
HOW LOVELY TO FIND FOR EACH NEW DAY SOMETHING FRESH TO SAY. THAT WAS THE ESSENCE OF RUMI’S GENIUS. HE INTRODUCED TO HIS OWN AGE AND TO SUCCEEDING CENTURIES POWERFUL NEW IDEAS AND MORAL VALUES.
HIS UNDERSTANDING OF WOMEN’S RIGHTFUL PLACE IS EXEMPLARY:
WOMAN IS NOT A CREATURE, BUT A CREATOR.
WOMAN IS GOD’S LIGHT:
NOT THE MERE OBJECT OF MEN’S DELIGHT.
IN THE EARLY STAGES OF THE MEVLEVI SECT, WOMEN WERE ABLE TO PARTICIPATE IN RITUAL WHIRLING – ALBEIT IN A SEPARATE, ADJACENT ROOM. THE DOOR WOULD BE OPEN - - AND THERE WERE OCCASIONS WHEN A WOMAN WHIRLER WOULD GO THROUGH THE DOOR AND WHIRL ALONGSIDE THE MALE DERVISHES.
AFTER THE 16TH CENTURY, WOMEN WERE NO LONGER ALLOWED TO JOIN THE CEREMONY. IN RECENT YEARS, HOWEVER, SOME MEVLEVI GROUPS, FOR INSTANCE, IN ISTANBUL AND OUTSIDE OF TURKEY, HAVE OPENED THEIR RITUALS TO A FEW WOMAN WHIRLERS.
RUMI STRESSED THE EQUALITY OF HUMAN COMMUNITIES, OF RELIGIONS AND NATIONS. HE REMINDED EVERYONE IN THE 13TH CENTURY:
INDIANS, KIPCHAKS, ANATOLIANS, ETHIOPIANS –
THEY ALL LIE PEACEFULLY IN THEIR GRAVES,
SEPARATELY, YET THE SAME COLOR.
ONE OF HIS MOST FAMOUS QUATRAINS INVITES ALL HUMAN BEINGS, REGARDLESS OF CREED, ETHNIC BACKGROUND, SOCIAL STATUS, OR NATIONALITY TO HIS SHRINE:
“COME, COME AGAIN, WHOEVER WHATEVER YOU MAY BE, COME:
HEATHEN, FIRE-WORSHIPPER, SINNER OF IDOLATRY, COME.
COME EVEN IF YOU’VE BROKEN YOUR VOWS A HUNDRED TIMES;
OURS IS NOT THE PORTAL OF DESPAIR AND MISERY, COME.
INCIDENTALLY, THIS POEM - - ARGUABLY ONE OF THE THREE BEST-LOVED POEMS AMONG THE TURKS TODAY - -IS NOT ACTUALLY BY RUMI – BUT BY A POET NAMED EBU SAID BIN EBUL-HAYR WHO HAD DIED 225 YEARS BEFORE RUMI.
PEACE IS A VITAL COMPONENT OF RUMI’S CREED OF HUMANISM. ONE OF HIS STATEMENTS COULD BE A POWERFUL MOTTO FOR THE UNITED NATIONS:
WHEN WEAPONS AND IGNORANCE COME TOGETHER, TYRANTS ARISE TO DEVASTATE THE WORLD WITH THEIR CRUELTY.
SUFISM REFUSES TO DENIGRATE THE HUMAN BEING. IT HAS NO CONTEMPTUS MUNDI. LIKE GOD, HUMANS ARE NOBLE. THE HUMAN BEING IS ENDOWED WITH DIGNITY. HE AND SHE ARE WORTHY OF LOVE. RUMI’S HUMANISTIC MYSTICISM IS REGARDED BY SOME IN TURKEY AND ABROAD AS A VIABLE ALTERNATIVE TO THE STRICTURES OF ORTHODOX RELIGION.
RUMI’S MYSTICISM REGARDS HUMANS AS HAVING GOD-LIKE ATTRIBUTES AND OFTEN HUMANIZES GOD.
THERE IS A STORY THAT INVOLVES RUMI’S DISCIPLE SÜRYANOS WHO WAS TAKEN BEFORE A JUDGE. THE JUDGE ASKED SÜRYANOS: “IS IT TRUE THAT YOU SAID RUMI IS GOD?” “NOT TRUE,” SAID SÜRYANOS, “I SAID RUMI IS THE CREATOR OF GOD. I AM GOD.” THE JUDGE DECLARED SÜRYANOS INSANE, AND RELEASED HIM. WHEN SÜRYANOS TOLD RUMI ABOUT THIS INCIDENT, RUMI STATED: “YOU SHOULD HAVE SAID TO THE JUDGE: “PITY YOU FAILED TO BECOME GOD YOURSELF.”
RUMI’S MONISTIC SUFISM HOLDS THAT MAN IS NOT ONLY GOD’S CREATION, BUT ALSO GOD’S REFLECTION. THERE IS NO DUALITY IN THE UNIVERSE. THERE IS ONENESS, UNITY. THE ENLIGHTENED INDIVIDUAL, THE PERSON WHO LOVES IS PART OF GOD.
THE MYSTIC PREDICAMENT IS THAT HE OR SHE HAS FALLEN APART FROM GOD’S REALITY AND BEAUTY TEMPORARILY. THE DIVINE IMAGE, GOD’S HUMAN MANIFESTATION, YEARNS TO RETURN TO THE BELOVED GODHEAD. THE MYSTIC FEELS A SUBLIME LOVE WHICH REMAINS UNREQUITED UNTIL HE SUFFERS SO INTENSELY IN HIS SPIRITUAL EXILE THAT HE FINALLY REACHES A BLISSFUL STATE OF THE SUBMERGENCE OF HIS SELFHOOD, THE DEATH OF HIS EGO.
THE SUFI SPIRIT TRIUMPHS IN GIVING JOY, IN CREATIVITY:
WE HAVE A SOUL THAT CREATES SO MANY JOYS,
IF THE WORLD CRUMBLES WE WOULD BUILD A NEW ONE.
THE MAN OF THE SPIRIT IS ALSO THE MAN OF REALITY. ENAMORED AS HE WAS OF FLIGHTS OF MYSTICAL FANTASY, RUMI REMAINED INVOLVED IN THE WELFARE OF THE PEOPLE OF HIS CITY, IN SOCIAL JUSTICE, IN AFFAIRS OF THE STATE.
THAT IS WHY HE WAS “MEVLANA” (GUIDE, LORD, MASTER) NOT ONLY FOR HIS DISCIPLES BUT ALSO FOR LAYMEN. HE SCORNED TEMPORAL POWER:
BE THE SLAVE OF SOMEONE WHOSE HEART GLITTERS
INSTEAD OF WEARING THE CROWN OF THE SULTANS.
HE MAINTAINED THAT HIS SPIRITUAL POWER IS SUPERIOR TO ROYALTY:
I AM NOT ONE OF THOSE KINGS WHO MUST STEP DOWN
FROM THE THRONE TO TAKE THE RIDE IN A COFFIN.
RUMI SOMETIMES DEFIED AND TOOK TO TASK AN UNJUST SULTAN OR VIZIER. ONCE, WHEN THE SULTAN SOUGHT HIS GUIDANCE, HE ANSWERED SCATHINGLY: “WHAT COULD I POSSIBLY TELL YOU? THEY EXPECTED YOU TO BE THE SHEPHERD. YET YOU ARE THE WOLF. THEY WANTED YOU TO BE THE GUARD. YOU TURNED OUT TO BE THE THIEF.
IN A REMARKABLE LYRIC ODE, HE VENTED HIS FURY ON KINGS WHO OPPRESS THE POOR PEOPLE:
I AM SUCH A DARK NIGHT THAT I AM ANGRY AT THE MOON;
I AM SUCH A STARK-NAKED PAUPER THAT I AM ANGRY AT
THE SULTAN.
THEY TRY TO DECEIVE ME WITH GOLD OR HIGH STATION OR
TROOPS;
I WANT NO GOLD, NO MATTER WHAT, I AM ANGRY AT POWER
AND POSITION.
ON DECEMBER 17, 1273 RUMI DIED.
IN THIS OCEAN, THERE IS NO DEATH,
NO DESPAIR, NO SADNESS OR ANXIETY.
THIS OCEAN IS LOVE, BOUNDLESS LOVE:
THIS IS THE OCEAN OF KINDNESS AND GENEROSITY.
IT IS LOVE AND THE TRUE LOVER THAT LIVE THE EVERLASTING LIFE. THAT IS WHY HE INVITED LOVERS TO JOIN THE MAGNIFICENT EXODUS:
O LOVERS, LOVERS!
THIS IS THE TIME OF EXODUS FROM THE WORLD.
IN MY HEART’S EAR RUMBLE
THE HUGE DRUMS OF THE GREAT MIGRATION.
HE DEFIED DEATH, PROCLAIMING WITH THE PRIDE OF THE TRUE MYSTIC: “I WAS CREATED BY GOD FROM HIS ELIXIR OF LOVE / EVEN IF I DIE AND MY BODY DECAYS, I SHALL STILL BE THAT LOVE”
WHAT IF DEATH WIELDS ITS SWORD, CUTS OFF MY HEAD, AND
LEAVES ME SLAIN - -
I SHALL STILL SHOOT UP FROM THE GROUND LIKE COUNTLESS
SPIKES OF GRAIN.
JUST AS THE EARS OF CORN CAN FIND NEW LIFE IN THE GOOD
EARTH,
SOME DAY, THE HUMAN GRAIN, TOO, SHALL SPROUT FROM THE
DUST AGAIN.
RUMI BECAME ETERNALLY WED TO GOD.
DEATH IS REUNION WITH GOD:
THE NIGHT OF MY DEATH
WILL BE A BRIDAL NIGHT,
THE NUPTIAL WITH SUPREME LOVE.
HIS FUNERAL WAS ATTENDED BY NOT ONLY SUFIS AND MUSLIMS, BUT ALSO BY CHRISTIANS AND JEWS AND OTHERS. THEY CALLED THAT NIGHT ŞEB-İ ARUS “THE NUPTIAL NIGHT”. IT IS CELEBRATED EVERY YEAR.
RUMI HAD SAID: “DO NOT LOOK FOR OUR GRAVE IN THE GROUND. OUR GRAVE IS IN ENLIGHTENED HEARTS.”
RUMI HAS BEEN CLAIMED BY SEVERAL COUNTRIES AND CULTURES – IRAN, TURKEY, AFGHANISTAN, THE ARABS, AND SOME MUSLIM COMMUNITIES OF RUSSIA – ON GROUNDS OF GENEALOGY, BIRTHPLACE, LANGUAGE, CULTURAL ORIENTATION, ADOPTED COUNTRY, BURIAL PLACE, AND THE TERRITORY OF IMPACT. THE STRONGEST ARE THOSE ADVANCED BY IRAN BECAUSE HIS HUGE OUTPUT WAS IN PERSIAN, AND BY TURKEY, BECAUSE HE LIVED AND CREATED IN TURKEY AND HIS STRONGEST IMPACT WAS ON TURKISH CULTURE.
THE INTERNAL REFERENCES FOUND IN HIS WORK SHOW THAT RUMI WANTED NO “NATIONAL” IDENTIFICATION OR “CITIZENSHIP” IN TERMS OF OUR MODERN CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS. HE SOUGHT, RATHER, TO BELONG TO MANKIND AND TO TRANSCEND RELIGIOUS SCHISM AND NATIONAL ALLEGIANCES. HIS MYSTIC SPIRIT CAN AND MUST BE CLAIMED NOT BY ONE COUNTRY, ONE CULTURE, ONE RELIGION, BUT BY ALL HUMANITY.
HE EXPRESSED HIS TRANSCENDENCE IN A MEMORABLE POEM:
I COME FROM NEITHER EAST NOR WEST,
I AM NOT FROM LAND OR SEA.
MY KINSFOLK ARE NOT HUMANS NOR ANGELS NOR GNOMES;
I AM NOT FIRE NOR FOAM,
NOT DUST NOR DEW.
RUMI BELONGS TO THE ENTIRE WORLD, TO ALL OF US, HUMANKIND AND ALL AGES. SIGNIFICANTLY, THE WORLD IS NOW LIVING ITS RUMI SEASON. IN AMERICA, ENGLAND, EUROPE, RUMI AND THE MEVLEVI CULTURE ARE A PROFOUND SOURCE OF INSPIRATION.
IN URDU AND PAKISTANI CULTURE AND LITERATURE, TOO, RUMI’S LEGACY HAS WIELDED A PERVASIVE INFLUENCE. YOUR GREAT INTELLECTUAL LEADER SIR MUHAMMED IQBAL, WHO INCIDENTALLY, PERHAPS BY DESTINY, WAS BORN IN 1973, THE 700TH ANNIVERSARY OF RUMI’S DEATH, MAPPED OUT OF HIS VISION OF “THE RECONSTRUCTION OF RELIGIOUS THOUGHT IN ISLAM” THROUGH THE INFLUENCE OF RUMI’S SPIRITUALITY.
IQBAL SAW RUMI’S “MASNAWI” AS THE SECOND MOST VITALLY IMPORTANT BOOK AFTER THE QUR’AN. IN HIS SPLENDID WORK, ENTITLED “THE SECRETS OF THE SELF”, RUMI IS DEPICTED AS IQBAL’S GUIDE. HE PAID TRIBUTE TO RUMI IN TWO MEMORABLE LINES:
THE MASTER OF RUM TRANSMUTED MY EARTH TO GOLD
AND SET MY ASHES AFLAME
NO WONDER IQBAL WAS CALLED
“RUMI OF THE AGE”.
INTERESTINGLY , TURKEY PAID ITS OWN TRIBUT TO IQBAL BY ERECTING A MEMORIAL FOR HIM IN THE GARDEN OF THE RUMI MAUSOLEUM IN KONYA.
THERE IS A GREAT DEAL THAT UNITES THE PAKISTANIS AND US TURKS. AND CERTAINLY RUMI AND IQBAL STAND AS PROMINENT SOURCES OF INSPIRATION FOR OUR SPIRITUAL BOND.
THE RUMI HERITAGE IS EXERTING A POWERFUL IMPACT ON MANY ARTS AND ACTIVITIES. FOR DECADES CHOREOGRAPHERS HAVE DRAWN INSPIRATION FROM THE WHIRLING CEREMONIES - - TED SHAWN, SWEDISH BALLET, MAURICE BEJART.
GREAT FILM DIRECTOR PETER BROOK USED THE WHIRLERS SO SUPERBLY IN ONE OF HIS FILMS. AND ROBERT WILSON INCORPORATED THEM SPELL-BINDINGLY INTO HIS MANY STAGE PRODUCTIONS.
DONNA KARAN MADE USE OF MEVLEVI MUSIC IN ONE OF HER FASHION SHOWS IN NEW YORK CITY FOUR YEARS AGO. MADONNA SANG RUMI SONGS. A RUMI OPERA IS BEING COMPOSED ON THE WEST COAST OF THE UNITED STATES.
RUMI WAS – IS – WILL ALWAYS BE A MIND FOR ALL SEASONS, A CLIMATE FOR ALL THE SACRED AFFIRMATIONS OF THE HEART. TRULY UNIVERSAL IN ART AND SOUL.
THE SEMA OFTEN CALLED ÂYİN –İ ŞERİF (THE BLESSED CEREMONY), IS AN AESTHETIC SIGHT AND EXPERIENCE AS WELL AS THE MIND’S PASSIONATE THRUST. THE MUSICIANS AND SINGERS CREATE AN AURA OF SPIRITUALITY, OF DIVINE POETRY.
WHEN THE DERVISHES START TO WHIRL RHYTHMICALLY, THEIR FIGURES, ROBED IN THE SPARE AND IMPECCABLE TUNICS WITH FLYING SKIRTS, ARE DYNAMIC AND DIGNIFIED, LIKE LIVING STATUES. THEIR BLESSED CEREMONY IS AN ACT AND DRAMA OF FAITH. IT IS ISLAMIC IN MANY OF ITS THEMES, YET DEPARTS FROM THE MORES OF ESTABLISMENT ISLAM OR ORTHODOX ISLAM PARTICULARLY IN ITS INSISTENCE ON THE ANTINOMIAN, DIRECT COMMUNION WITH GOD.
THE WHIRLING, WHICH MOST DERVISHES DO NOT CONSIDER A FORM OF DANCE, HAS SOME OF THE ATTRIBUTES OF A DIONYSIAN RITUAL WITH ITS ROOTS IN ANATOLIAN CULTURE. ITS ANTECEDENTS CAN ALSO BE FOUND IN THE ANCIENT TURKIC SHAMANISTIC DANCES OF CENTRAL ASIA.
EACH MOTION, EACH GESTURE HAS A DIVINE SIGNIFICANCE. THE SUDDEN TURNS ARE AN ATTEMPT TO SEE GOD IN ALL DIRECTIONS. THUMPING THE GROUND SYMBOLIZES TRAMPLING CRASS SELFHOOD, CRUSHING EGOTISM. JUMPING SIGNIFIES THE DESIRE TO SOAR TOWARDS THE SUPREME WORLD. GENUFLECTION IS THE ULTIMATE EXPRESSION OF ABANDONING ONE’S SOUL TO GOD. OPENING THE ARMS TO THE SIDES IS THE ASPIRATION TO SPIRITUAL EXCELLENCE, THE SOUL’S BALANCE, UNION WITH GOD, AND ETERNAL BLISS.
THE SYMBOLISM HAS BEEN ARTICULATED AS FOLLOWS: “WE RECEIVE FROM GOD, WE GIVE OUT TO THE PEOPLE. WE NEVER KEEP ANY POSSESSIONS. WE SOAR TO THE SKY, WE POUR ON THE GROUND. OUR SOULS ARE ON THE WAY TO GOD’S MERCY.”
MANY OF RUMI’S POEMS CAPTURE NOT ONLY THE ESSENCE OF THE MYSTICAL SPIRIT ITSELF, BUT ALSO THE SENSATIONS AROUSED BY THE SYNESTHESIA OF THE WHIRLING RITUAL:
I THUMP MY FEET ON THE FLOOR.
I DANCE, MY SOUL; I WHIRL, MY WORLD.
CLAP YOUR HANDS, MY SOUL; CLAP YOUR HANDS, MY WORLD,
PLEASE DO - - FOR THE SAKE OF THIS MAN IN ECSTASY.
YOU MAY BE IN A TRANCE,
BUT DON’T WREAK HAVOC AS IN DOOMSDAY.
LEAVE ALL EVIL BEHIND.
PLACE YOUR HAND ON YOUR HEART; BUT WHERE IS THE HEART?
I ABANDONED THE HEART AND SOUL
AND I WAS LEFT WITHOUT THEM IN THE END.
WHERE ARE THEY, AFTER ALL?
IF THERE WERE COUNTLESS HEARTS, I WOULD
ABANDON THEM ALL.
BY MEANS OF A WHOLE VARIETY OF RHYTHMIC DEVICES AND ONOMATOPOEIC EFFECTS, RUMI’S VERSE CONVEYS THE EXQUISITE EXCITEMENT OF THE WHIRLING CEREMONY:
COME, COME. YOU ARE THE LIFE
OF THE INMOST SOUL OF THE WHIRLING DANCE.
COME. YOU ARE THE WALKING CYPRESS
OF THE GARDEN OF THE WHIRLING DANCE.
COME. NO ONE LIKE YOU HAS EVER COME
NOR WILL EVER COME.
COME. THE EYES OF THE WHIRLING DANCE HAVE NEVER SEEN
NOR WILL EVER SEE ANYONE LIKE YOU.
THE WHIRLING RITUAL SINGS YOUR PRAISES
WITH A HUNDRED ELOQUENT TONGUES;
MAY I OFFER A FEW SUBTLE PHRASES
IN THE LANGUAGE OF THE WHIRLING DANCE?
IN THE TRANCE OF THE WHIRLING DANCE
YOU SOAR BEYOND BOTH WORLDS:
FOR ITS UNIVERSE
LIES BEYOND BOTH WORLDS.
THE MYSTIC LOVE, AESTHETICS OF ETHICS, HUMANISM AND HUMANITARIANISM OF RUMI STRIKE A VITAL CHORD IN THE WORLD TODAY. HIS IS A MIND OF PASSION FOR ALL SEASONS, A MILIEU OF ALL THE SACRED AFFIRMATIONS IN THE HUMAN HEART.
WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE, IT IS CONCEIVABLE, BEYOND THE TRAGIC ERAS AND THE HAPPY AGES OF HISTORY, THAT THE MOST PROFOUND TRUTH, PERHAPS THE ONLY IRREDUCIBLE VALUE INHERENT IN HUMAN EXISTENCE IS THE ONE EXPRESSED SO ELOQUENTLY IN A LINE FROM A POEM BY RUMI: “LIVE IN LOVE’S ECSTASY, FOR LOVE IS ALL THAT EXISTS.”
A STRANGE SWEETNESS, NEVER FELT BEFORE,
SPREADS THROUGH THE FLESH,
AND THE MOUTH REVELS IN THE LUSCIOUS TASTE
OF THE REED FLUTE AND THE PLAYER’S LIPS.
WE HOLD NO DRINK IN OUR HANDS,
YET THE HOUR OF A THOUSAND JOYS WHIRLS AROUND US.
THOSE WHO ARE FROZEN FOREVER
UNMINDFUL OF THIS MUSIC
THOSE WHO ARE LOWER THAN THE DEAD
SHALL NOW TURN INTO THE QUINTESSENCE OF DUST.
WORDS CAN NEVER CONTAIN OR PORTRAY
OR PRAISE THE BEAUTY OF THE VISIBLE FACE;
LOOK DEEP WITH A THOUSAND BORROWED EYES,
IT STILL LIES BEYOND SIGHT.
TO FIND YOUR JOY AND BLISS
LOOK THROUGH YOUR OWN WINDOW.
LET THE WHIRLING RUN WILD AND TAKE FLIGHT,
FOR YOU ARE LIFE ADDED TO THE LIFE OF
THE WHIRLING ECSTASY,
YOU ARE THE GLITTERING JOY OF THE AGE.
