Fundamentals of rumis th.., p.36
Fundamentals Of Rumis Thought, page 36
Thus Rumi knew that all the orders and creeds were paths that lead to God, and he did not denounce the founders of orders although he did not found an order himself. As Prophet Muhammad tells us, “The paths leading to God are as many as the creatures of God.” Rumi also said in the Mesnevi: “In this world there are hidden stairs that climb all the way up to the heavens. These stairs lead to the heavens step by step. Every group has its own stairs. All like their own stairs. They are unaware of the other stairs. However, all of them lead to eternity in one way or another.”[16] If the followers of the Law and the followers of the Way had attained the truth and had thought like Rumi, they would accept each other and love each other because they all share the same faith. The Prophet has said, “The believers are not other than brethren.”
[1]Risale-i Sipehsalar, pp. 30 – 91.
[2] Furuzanfar, Mevlana Celaleddin, p. 13.
[3] Jami, Nafahat al-Uns, p. 480.
[4] Hoca Zade Ahmed Hilmi, “Silsile-i Meşayih-i Mevleviyye” published in Hadikat al-Awliya (Istanbul: Şirket-i Mürettibiye Matbaası, 1318), p. 6. (I could not locate this reference in Hadikat al-Awliya, but I found a list of Mevlevi Masters in Abu al-Barakat Nur al-Din Abd al-Rahman b. Ahmad b. Muhammad Jami, Nafahat al-Uns Min Hadarat al-Quds, tr. Mahmud B. Osman Lami’i Çelebi (Istanbul: Marifet Yayınları, 1289)p. 64. (ZS).
[5]Risale-i Sipehsalar, p. 160.
[6] Aflaki, Manaqib al-‘Arifin, vol. II, p. 705.
[7] Muhaqqiq Husayin Tirmidhi Sayyid Burhan al-Din, Maarif, tr. Abdülbaki Gölpınarlı (Ankara: Türkiye İş Bankası n.d), p. 15.
[8]Mesnevi, vol. II, no. 1770.
[9] Qur’an, 23:53.
[10] Abu al-Qasim Zayn al-Islam Abd al-Karim al-Qushayri, al-Risalah al-Qushayriyyah, ed. Abd al-Halim Mahmud and Mahmud Ibn Sharif (Cairo: Dar al-Kutub al-Hadithah, 1973), vol. I, p. 261.
[11] Hujwiri, Kashf al-Mahjub, p. 383.
[12]Mesnevi, vol. VI, no. 3856.
[13] Ibid., no. 2063-2067.
[14]Divan-i Kabir, vol. V, no. 2127
[15] Ibid.
[16]Mesnevi, vol. V, no. 2556.
EPILOGUE
This concludes the book on Rumi’s life and personality that I prepared with the help of God using many different books. It took years to complete because I spent a lot of time on each section of the book, as if I were writing a small booklet. This is not meant as a boast. I do not have any claim. I am just a poor literature teacher. Being a human being, there might be places where I am wrong. But I love all the saints and my love for Rumi grew as I studied his works. This book has ended up being more than a book exclusively on Rumi’s life and views. It also can be seen as a book on Sufism since it deals with many subjects of Sufism while at the same time explaining Rumi’s views. Before concluding the epilogue of this book, I have to confess that even though I have been studying Rumi’s works for decades I have not been able to understand this great saint properly. It is for this very reason that I am unable to explain him properly to my readers. However, we should not be pessimistic. Let us listen to what Rumi, this great person that we love, this great saint, whose ideas we cannot quite understand, this sultan of lovers of God says about himself. Let us not say anything about this great saint. He will be kind enough to tell us his views and feelings through his poems from Divan-i Kabir. Therefore, I selected some poems from Divan-i Kabir that best explain Rumi’s views and feelings. Let us concentrate on these poems, let us carefully absorb the divine tunes and spiritual meanings echoing from a saint’s heart. In his own words, these poems are the “holy light of the sea of Unity of God, springs of spiritual joy, light of hearts, and flowers of the garden of hearts.”
Please read again and again the section on Divan-i Kabir. The selections are from a total of 43,561 couplets that comprise Divan-i Kabir, which Rumi himself named “the divan of the lovers of God,” and are “true words accepted by the lovers of God and gnostics.” Let us not give our minds but our hearts to these words because these poems are poems of the heart. Rumi did not compose these poems like other poets by taking a pen in his hand. He sang the divine tunes that arose in his heart. And people around him recorded his poems. We shall find Rumi with Rumi’s love and feelings. Let us try to find in our hearts an echo of these tunes.
My dear readers, while selecting poems I have not limited myself to my own preferences. I have looked at the selections of Nicholson, Schimmel, Gölpınarlı, and Midhat Bahari. I marked the most beloved poems. I took as a reference the edition of Divan-i Kabir published by Professor Furuzanfar. I have excluded poems not found in Furuzanfar’s edition since these poems are unreliable and may not be authentic. However, my selections are not an independent Rumi anthology. It is only a section added to a book on Rumi’s life and personality. They are diamonds beautifying a poorly written book. Each of these diamonds is worth thousands of books. If you happen to attain the bliss of feeling these poems in your heart, I plead that you remember well Şefik Can, this poor servant of God, who selected these poems, overlook his mistakes, and recite the Fatiha for his soul.
My dear readers whom I know and do not know! Friends who love wisdom and truth! Lovers of God! I leave you alone with the poems of Rumi and retreat. I greet all of you with respect and love and wish you ample health, peace, and spiritual joy.
Şefik Can
The servant of Rumi’s devotees
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Gölpınarlı, Abdülbaki. Mevlevilik Adab ve Erkanı. Istanbul: Inkılap ve Aka Kitabevleri, 1963.
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AUTHOR’S BIOGRAPHY
Şefik Can was born in 1910 in the village of Tebricik near Erzurum, an eastern province of Turkey. During his childhood, he learned Arabic and Persian from his father. He graduated from Kuleli Military High School in 1929 and from the Academy of War in 1931. He began working as a teacher at a military high school in 1935. He retired from the army with the rank of colonel in 1965. In addition to his native Turkish, he spoke French, English, and Russian, along with Arabic and Persian. Until he passed away on January 24, 2005, he was the ser-tariq (head) of the Mevlevis (the most authoritative spiritual figure of the Order). He was also the latest Mesnevihan (Mesnevi reciter) who received his ijazat (special certificate in the recitation of the Mesnevi) from his spiritual master Tahir al-Mevlevi. Şefik Can authored nine books on Rumi as well as on poetry and classical mythology.
Sefik Can, Fundamentals Of Rumis Thought
