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RUMI'S INFLUENCE ON TURKISH POETS |
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Rumi is not Mevlana (our Master) of Turks and Muslims only; he is Mevlana of many peoples and nations. It is for this reason that today his shrine has become a place of pilgrimage not only for Muslims but for people of many different creeds. Rumi, who has had such an influence in the area of Sufism, also has influenced Turkish literature deeply for the past seven centuries. Poets of classical Turkish literature, Sufi poets like Yunus Emre, and most of the contemporary poets have been influenced by Rumi. Yunus Emre expressed Rumi's impact on him when he said: "Ever since Mevlana Hudavendigar (our master, our lord) looked at us, his blessed glance has become the mirror of our heart. " Other poets of the same era, such as Gusehri and Asik Pasha, also were influenced by Rumi. Poets of the classical period, such as Sheyhi, Nesimi, and Ahmed Pasha, also were affected by Rumi, and, as we shall see shortly, some, like Ibrahim Hakki of Erzurum (d. 1780), have made poetic translations from the Divan-i Kabir. In his famous book of biographies that deals with the lives and works of well-known poets up to his time and is counted as the "literary history" of his time, Latifi of Kastamonu, one of Turkey's famous biographers of the sixteenth century, begins his book with Rumi and describes him as the "sultan of shaykhs. "
Other classical Turkish poets influenced by Rumi have inspired the development of a Mevlevi literature. Since the sixteenth century when the Mevlevi literature began to develop, many poets began using terms particular to the Mevlevi order in addition to the usual Sufi terms. This can be observed more clearly among the poets of the seventeenth century. For more information about the Mevlevi poets, the interested reader is referred to Sakib Dede's Sefine-i Mevleviyye, Esrar Dede's Tezkire, and Ali Enver Bey's Semahane-i Edeb. One of the poets who was an admirer of Rumi and wrote odes for Rumi although he himself was not Mevlevi is Nefi, a seventeenth century Turkish poet. In his Turkish Divan, Nef'i dedicated the first ode to Rumi following the ode he composed for the Prophet. He thought of Rumi before the sultans and viziers and described each verse of the Mesnevi as "a world of gnosis. " Also in Nef'i's Divan, which contains his Persian poems, are odes written for Rumi. In one of these odes, he introduces Rumi as "the saint familiar with divine secrets. " Nefi, one of the most famous poets of Turkish classical divan poetry and one of the masters of lyrical forms like the qasi-da (ode) and the hicviye (satire) loved Rumi, but he did not devote himself to his path. Nefi is not the only one who admired and wrote odes for Rumi. After the seventeenth century, among Turkish classical poets who composed divan literature, it became a custom to write odes for Rumi. But in the Islamic world and among the Muslim Turks, there have come many saints other than Rumi. Why did Turkish poets mostly remember Rumi? The fact that Rumi was a great saint as well as a great poet has increased the love and respect felt for him. The poets that have read Rumi's books and have become his admirers are so many that writing only their names would fill up pages.
Among the poets who have been influenced by Rumi we should not forget Sultan Divani, Fasih Dede, Neshati, Shaykh Ghalib, and Esrar Dede. In particular, Shaykh Ghalib wrote his masterpiece Husn-uAsk under the influence of the Mesnevi. He confesses this when he says: "I took its secrets, its intrinsic meaning from the Mesnevi" Let us remember this most beloved couplet from Husn-uAsk (the Beauty of Love). When describing the member of the tribe of Bani Muhabbat (Children of Love) he wrote: "What they wear is the sun of July and what they drink is the flame that burns the world. " This couplet must be inspired by the following couplet of the Mesnevi: "Our dress of the daytime is made of the light of the July sun and our bed and blanket at night is made of moon light. "
In addition to Shaykh Ghalib, among the poets who have been influenced by Rumi, one has to count Nahifi, Kececizade Izzet Molla, Enderunlu Fazil, Akif Pasha, Pertev Pasha, and especially Ibrahim Hakki, the author of the Marifetname, whose translation of Rumi I shall quote below, Hersekli Arif Hikmet, Shaykh Nazif Efendi, Shemi, Shaykh Jalal al-Din Efendi, Leyla Hanim, Shaykh Abdulbaki Bey, Ahmed Remzi Dede, Tahir al-Mevlevi, Tokadizade Shekib, Neyzen Tevfik, and Yahya Kemal. If one were to collect the eulogies for Rumi that began with
Rumi's son Sultan Valad and have been written for the last seven centuries, these would comprise a monumental collection of volumes. Although the manuscript Mecmua-i Medayih-i Hazret-i Mevlana (Collection of Eulogies of Rumi) compiled by Vasif-i Mevlevi can give us an idea of this matter, the eulogies it contains are too few with respect to all the existing eulogies. In the Mevlana sirleri Antolojisi (Anthology of Poems about Rumi) recently published by Mehmet Onder, some eulogies by our contemporary poets have been included. In this anthology there are poems about Rumi that were written by modern Turkish poets such as Halide Nusret Hanim, Arif Nihad Asya, Yaman Dede, Kemal Edib Bey, Feyzi Halici, Nezihe Araz Hanim, Bekir Sidki Erdogan, and other poets. I would like to give an example of these eulogies, a poem of Bekir Sidki Erdogan, an esteemed poet of our rimes, entitled "Mevlana":
O Master!
Who is the lord of the kingdom of happiness!
There are secrets in you.
There is rapture and the dance of the universe.
Everyone enters your dervish lodge ignorant.
Everyone comes out knowledgeable.
O Friend who is the key to the secret of beauty!
O Full Moon who is filled with enthusiasm through divine light!
O infinite Beyond!
O true Spring that never fades!
Tell me what are your secrets?
Everyone enters your dervish lodge ugly.
Everyone comes out beautiful.
Your shrine is the house of the lovers of God.
The whole universe is in rapture.
The whole universe is Mevlevi...
The earth revolves, space revolves, the universe revolves,
The whole universe is dancing around the sun.
In a great universe all the wind,
A whirling starts such that the earth and the sky
All disappear
And the most beautiful meaning becomes apparent...
O Friend who is the Master of Love!
O Beloved who is the sultan of the throne of hearts!
Your character has penetrated into every heart.
Your appearance is on every face.
Every door is a page-by-page commentary on the Mesnevi.
Whichever the lover knocks on
He comes across Mevlana.
