RUMI'S INNER AND OUTER CHARACTERISTICS

One can find plenty of images, portraits, and miniatures of Rumi. There is even mention of painters who painted pictures of Rumi in those days. There are also others like Aflaki who describe his physical characteristics. For example, someone told to Muin al-Din Pervane that Rumi's face was pale due to continuous fasting while Sultan Valad had pink cheeks. Can we imagine Rumi's physical appearance based on these accounts and paintings?

Rumi had a thin and slender body and pale skin. It has been told that one day he went to a Turkish bath. When he looked at himself in the mirror, he noticed that he was very thin. He pitied himself and said: "In my whole life I was never ashamed of anybody; however today when I saw my thin body in the mirror I am ashamed of myself. " Although Rumi had pale skin, he was very benevolent looking and awe-inspiring. The eyes of the holy saint were very attractive. They were very sharp and filled with exuberance. The glances of his luminous eyes were so powerful that whenever somebody, unaware of the power of Rumi's eyes, would look directly at his luminous eyes, he would come under the influence of these powerful eyes and would have to divert his glance away from Rumi.

All these accounts and descriptions are related to Rumi's physical characteristics. But what were his inner characteristics? In the Mesnevi, he says:

How, I wonder, shall I behold my own face> so as to see what complexion I have and wherher I. am like day or like night?

For a long while I was seeking the image of my soul, (but) my image was not displayed (reflected) by any one.
"After all, " I said, "what is a mirror for? That everyone may know what and who he is. "

The mirror of iron is (only) for husks (external forms); the mirror that shows the aspect of the heart is of great price.

The soul's mirror is naught but the face of the friend, the face of that friend who is of yonder country (the spiritual land).

Where can the Beloved that can reflect Rumi's inner world and character be found? Who can depict the inner characteris­tics of Sultan al-Ulama's son? How can Sultan al-Ashiqeen, the King of Lovers, be described?

Nobody completely can understand or describe this great saint who was nourished with the wisdom, manners, and charac­ter of his father, the King of Scholars, and who was burned and melted in the pot of Divine Love. He was a superior being who was cleansed from grudge, hatred, evil, selfishness, and ostentation and from all human weaknesses through the experience of Divine Love. He was a man of goodness and perfection and a man of love and gnosis. When he dove into the ocean of love, he was freed from all contradicting views. He was detached from good and evil. In the Mesnevi, he says: "Since colorlessness (pure Unity) became the captive of color (manifestation in the phe­nomenal world), Moses came into peace with the Pharaoh. "2 Fluctuation, waves, foam, and the colors of blue and green all occur on the surface of the ocean. But in the depths of the ocean, there remains neither wave nor color.

This is why Rumi looked at all the nations and sects from the same perspective. His approach to everyone and everything was from this point of view. He treated everybody in the same way. He looked at everyone with the same eye. In his view, Muslims, Christians, Jews, and fire-worshippers were all the same. Therefore, he reminded people that it was essential not to look down on non-Muslims and to respect others religions and beliefs. In Islamic countries, it is common to see churches and synagogues next to the mosques. Muslims respect all religions. This view of Rumi's, which is completely Islamic, should not be misunderstood. The Prophet of Islam is the Prophet of the Latter Day, and there came no prophet after him. Rumi's view of all religions as one should not bring to mind the thought that he saw Islam as the same as other religions. In rerms of being a religion, all religions are equal. They differ in the practices they prescribe; however, their essence is the same.

Rumi regarded all religions, sects, and nations as waves of the ocean of Unit); as God sees all prophets as one, as stated in the Qur'an: "... We make no distinction between one or anoth­er of His messengers. "3 In the same chapter He states that He sees some of the prophets as superior fo others: "Those messen­gers we endowed with gifts and made superior some above oth­ers. " This way while all religions and sects are one; they have differed in the practices they brought. Rumi touches this issue in another part of the Mesnevi when he says: "In this world, there are stairs that stretch to the heavens step by step. For every group there is a separate stair. For every walk (of life) there is a differ­ent sky to which to ascend. Each of them is unaware of the oth­ers. The destination is an infinite land. It has neither a beginning nor an end. " These couplets illustrate this beautiful Prophetic Tradition: "The paths that lead to God are as many as the souls of the creatures. " The way to see everyone and everything as one (wahdat al-wujud] and leniency were at their peak in Rumi. It is related that one day during a whirling ceremony while Rumi was whirling in ecstasy, a drunk entered among the whirling dervish­es. He could not control himself. During whirling he would lurch and from time to rime hit Rumi. Rumi's friends scolded him. Upon seeing this Rumi said, "O friends, he is the one to drink the wine, but you are the ones to get drunk. Why are you scolding him?" Everyone was amazed at Rumi's patience, toler­ance, and tenderness. He never replied negatively to the slanders and gossip produced by his adversaries, whose spiritual eyes were blind. His good manners, gentle ways, and tolerant views helped him to bring these people around to the right views.

It also is related that one day Rumi said: "I am with seven­ty-two different sects and creeds. " Siraj al-Din of Konya was a man of grudge. To hurt Rumi and to discredit him in the eyes of the public, he sent one of his religious friends to ask Rumi in public whether or not he actually said that he was with seventy-two sects and creeds. He advised him to insult, curse, and swear at him if Rumi admitted to saying those words. That man came and asked Rumi: "It has been claimed that you said: "I am with seventy-two sects and creeds. ' Is that true?" Rumi did not deny what he had said. He replied: "Yes, that is what I said. " That man immediately started to swear and curse at Rumi. Rumi just smiled at him and said: "In spite of all that you are saying, I am also with you. "

While a great scholar and a great saint, Rumi was very mod­est. He treated all with modesty—young or old, of high position or of common folk. One never found traces of arrogance, pride, or haughtiness in Rumi's life. He did not consider any difference between old and young, believer and unbeliever.

It is narrated that in those days a famous and learned priest in Constantinople (Istanbul) had heard about the greatness of Rumi and traveled to Konya to see him. The Roman priests of Konya welcomed and honored this priest from Istanbul. The guest priest desired to visit Rumi. Coincidentally, they met Rumi on their way. The priest bowed down with reverence and put his head on the ground. He put his head on the ground thirty times in front of Rumi. When he raised his head he was surprised to see that also Rumi put his head to the ground in front of him. It is said that Rumi put his head to the ground thirty three times. The priest started screaming and tearing off his clothes. Then he said: "O King of Religion, such modesty, such humility! Is a poor priest like me worthy of such respect?" Rumi replied: "Prophet Muhammad who said: 'Blessed is the person upon whom God bestowed wealth, beauty, honor, and the respect of other people and who was generous with his wealth, protected his dignity, and kept his humility in spite of having honor and respect, ' is our Master and our Sultan. When I am among the followers of such a prophet how could I not show humility to the slaves of God? Why should I not display my humility? And if I do not do that, for what and for whom would I be good?" Upon hearing these words, that priest and his friends with him immediately embraced the faith and became disciples of Rumi. They exchanged their priest garments for Muslim clothes. When Rumi came back to the school where he was teaching and also living, he told Sultan Valad: "Baha al-Din, today a poor priest tried to take our humil­ity from our hands. But, thanks to God, with his favor and with our Prophet's help, we have not let go of our humility. “This is because the believers inherited humility and modesty from Prophet Muhammad. Since Rumi was entirely on the Muhammadi path and of Muhammadi character, he always saw himself as insignificant and always abstained from arrogance and pride. We should read this quatrain of Rumi and take lessons: "They have valued my turban, my robe, and my head, all three of them, at one dirham (a small currency unit) or somewhat less. Haven't you ever heard my name in this world? 1 am nothing, nothing, nothing. "

The fact is we are all in love with ourselves, but we cannot admit it openly. In another quatrain, Rumi says: "As long as you remain with yourself and as long as you worship yourself they won't give you a way from the obstacle of yourself. As long as your existence, the misconception that you are something, is with you don't think that you ever will find peace because you still are worshipping the idol of "self. " Some people take pride in their wealth or position while others boast of their skills and professions. The unmindful who think that they are walking on the path of Truth see themselves above the common folk due to their prayers, rosaries, and pilgrimages. This quatrain, which shows the immenseness of Rumi's humility as well as many of his other virtues and qualities, is very intriguing. How much value does Rumi attribute to his head which is a sun of inspiration, to the turban circling that head like a halo and a symbol of knowl­edge and gnosis, and to his robe that is a cover for God's jewel of beauty? Just as we are fascinated with the humility and modesty displayed by Rumi, the respect shown by Rumi toward non-Muslims during that time also is astonishing. The tolerance shown by Rumi to the Christians, who shed the blood of count­less Muslims and ruined their cities during the Crusades and to their priests, is remarkable evidence of Rumi's greatness and his humane side. During those ages when the mosques burned by extremist Christians still were smoking, Rumi saw everything as a manifestation and predestination of God and did not treat the Christians in a negative way. According to the account of Aflaki, one day an Armenian butcher living in Konya met Rumi. He put his head on the ground with respect. Rumi, too, put his head on the ground and showed the butcher respect.

Rumi showed love, respect, and affection to everybody—women, children, and men. One day Rumi was passing through a neighborhood where children were playing in the street. When they saw Rumi passing by, they came running and bowed in front of him with reverence. Rumi greeted them with love and affection. Meanwhile one of the children was still trying to come. He shouted: "Wait, wait, I am coming, too.” Rumi waited till the child came and greeted him; then he caressed the child and made him happy.

One day Vizier Per vane had arranged a whirling ceremony at his palace for Rumi. When Rumi arrived at Per vane’s palace, he waited a long time at the door until all the dervishes and friends entered the palace. After all his disciples had entered the palace, he, entered as well. After the whirling ceremony was over, all the guests left. Only Rumi stayed there that night. Vizier Per vane showed Rumi a great deal of respect and thanked God that such a great saint was his guest. Once, Husam al-Din Chelebi asked Rumi why he had waited a long time at the door of the palace before entering. Rumi replied: "If we had entered the palace first, maybe the doormen would not let in some of our friends who arrived after us. So they would not be able to join our company. If we cannot let our friends in a vizier's palace in this world, in the afterlife, how can we let them in the Palace of Hereafter, the Highest Paradise?"

Like his father Sultan al-Ulama, Rumi gained much love and respect from the sultans, viziers, and kings. These men of high positions were very eager to see him. However, as seen above, Rumi seldom accepted their invitations. He spent most of his time with the poor and needy. He had disciples who were sultans and viziers but also many disciples from among the poor and common folk. He had closed his door to the sultans. While stay­ing away from the ministers of Sultan Aziz al-Din Keykavus, he showed sympathy toward the common people and the poor and spent much effort in helping them find the true path and in guiding them. Those who could not appreciate Rumi's treatment of the poor and people in difficulty and who only looked at the appearance of things would criticize him and say: "Rumi's disci­ples are strange people. Most of them are the workers and small business people of the town. Rich and learned men rarely are seen with him. Wherever there is a tailor, grocer, or a draper, Rumi accepts him to be his disciple. " And such was the gossip. Rumi ignored the gossip, some of which he actually heard, and he was not offended by it. He did not spare his help to those in need. He did not become angry with those who would object to him, and he always would reply to them with tender and comforting answers. He used to say: "If my disciples were people who didn't need me, I would be their disciple. Since they needed me, I accepted them to discipleship. In doing so, I wanted them to change, to attain the Divine Presence and to be good people. "

Rumi always tried to be of service to everyone, good or bad, and he used to do every favor in his power for people. There was a prostitute at an inn in Konya, and she was very beautiful. She had with her several other young women who had been forced into this way of life. One day Rumi was passing in front of this inn. This woman came running out of the inn. She approached Rumi, fell to his feet, and started to entreat him in tears and to give him respect. Rumi called out to this poor woman three times: "Rabia! Rabia! Rabia!" Upon seeing this situation, others working for this woman came out of the inn and fell to Rumi's feet. He said: "Such strong people! Such strong people! It you had not borne the heavy burdens of this difficult life, who would calm down the furious men who are taken away by their desires and lost their way? If it were not for you, how would the digni­ties of the women of dignity be apparent?" Someone from the elite who heard these words of Rumi said: "It is meaningless for a great saint like Rumi to show sympathy to street women and compliment them like this. " Rumi replied to this criticism by saying: 'This woman is behaving just the way she is without any hypocrisy. If you are a true man, be like her. Leave two-facedness and two-coloredness so that your inside and outside will be the same. If your inside and outside are not the same, your everything will be in vain. " Finally this pretty woman repented and became a woman like Rabia al-Adawiyya and freed the women who used to work for her. She gave away everything in her house to the poor. Joining the ranks of the women saints, she became a disciple of Rumi.

One day while Rumi was praying in solitude he was so con­centrated that he even did not notice when a man walked in and said: "I am very poor, I have nothing. " When he saw Rumi total­ly entranced in prayer, he took his prayer rug and left. When Hodja Majd al-Din Maraghi learned about this, he immediately jumped up and started searching for this man. He caught the man trying to sell the rug in the Tiz Bazaar. He dragged him to the presence of Rumi. But Rumi replied: "He must have taken this rug due to his need. Forgive him. We must purchase back this rug from him. "

According to Aflaki's account, one day Rumi was talking to his esteemed disciples: "All saints have opened the door of beg­ging in order to crush the pride of their disciples and to repress their egos (nafs). Oil lamps in their hands and baskets on their backs, they set out to receive alms-giving and charity from the rich. We, on the other hand, have closed the door of begging on our friends. We have been carrying out the Prophetic Tradition: Abstain from asking as much as you can, so that our friends can earn their living by their own income through trade, civil serv­ice, manufacturing, or any business where they will earn their living with the labor of their hands and the sweat of their brows. Whoever does not follow this way from our disciples, in our view, he does not have a value of even a penny'''

Rumi distributed to the poor and needy all the money sent to him from sultans and viziers as their alms-giving and charity. He used to get by with the money he earned from legal consult­ing and teaching at the seminary without having to rely on any­body or having to put himself under an obligation for any favor. In one quatrain, he said: "As long as my bowl of butter milk is in front of me, by God, I have no leaning on anybody's honey. Even if poverty threatens me with death, I cannot sell freedom for slavery. " Rumi had turned away from the world and worldly things. He led a dervish life. Whenever there was nothing at his home, he would be glad and say: "Thanks to God, today our home resembles to the home of the Prophet. " Although he was not rich, he helped the poor, concealing his charity to the needy.

He also used to disguise his financial help to the students at the seminary in the following way: He would put the money under each student's mat as much as he deserved and needed without letting anybody see if and without telling anybody about it. When the students lifted off the mats to shake off the dust, they would be surprised to find money under the mats.

Rumi's respect toward people is also indescribable. When he entered an assembly, the people there would stand up to honor and welcome him. When they forced someone to leave his place so that Rumi could sit, Rumi would be very sad. Aflaki writes that one day Rumi went to a Turkish bath. He entered the bath and immediately came out, put his clothes back on, and prepared to leave. His friends asked him: "O our Master, why did you come out so quickly?" Rumi answered: "When the bath attendant saw me entering the bath, he moved aside someone at the edge of the pool to make room for me. I was so ashamed to have caused this displaced person to be discomforted because of me, and I got very sad. "

Rumi's good manners, mercy politeness, in short, his humane character cannot be described adequately within the lim­ited scope of this work. Even though he lived in an age where slaves were bought and sold as animals and employed in houses, gardens, fields, and in every line of work, not just in Islamic countries but also all over the world, he said: "I have faith in a God that has not created any slaves, " and he viewed all human beings as one and equal in accordance with this following Qur'anic verse: "Your creation and your resurrection is but as that of a sin­gle soul. " In his view there are conceptions such as slavery or mastery.

One day Rumi entered a room in his house where his daughter Malika Khatun was scolding her female slave and said: "Why are you hitting this slave? Where do you get the right to hurt her? What would you do if you were the slave and she the master? Would you like me to issue a religious ruling that in this world nobody has slaves except God? In fact, all the slaves are our brothers and sisters. " His daughter understood her mistake, apologized, and freed the slave. Whatever she was wearing, she gave to her slave. And as long as she lived, she never hurt. any slave and abided by the Prophetic Tradition.

Rumi showed mercy to and helped not only the poor and needy human beings, but also animals. According to the account of Shaykh Nafis al-Din of Sivas, "One day Rumi asked me to buy some pastries for two dirhams (penny). Those days the price of a plate of pastries was one dirham. I immediately bought the pastries. After taking the pastries from me, Rumi wrapped them in a piece of cloth and started walking. I walked slowly behind him. Finally, he arrived at a ruin. There I saw a dog that recently had given birth. Rumi gave all the pastries to the dog. I was perplexed by the compassion and mercy of this great saint. Rumi told me: 'For the last seven days this poor dog has not eaten any­thing. She could not leave this place because of her puppies.

It is also narrated that one day Shihab al-Din Guyanda was riding a donkey when the donkey suddenly started to bray. Shihab al-Din got angry at the braying of the donkey and hit the donkey's head a few times. Upon seeing this, Rumi said: "This donkey is carrying you. Instead of loving and petting the donkey because you are the rider and it is the carrier, you are hitting the poor animal. For God's sake, if it was just opposite, what would you have done?"

It is narrated that a Christian craftsman was building a fire­place in Rumi's house. Rumi's friends wanted to tease the crafts­man, and they said: "Why don't you become Muslim? Islam is the best of religions. " He replied: "For fifty years I have been in Jesus' religion. If I abandon my religion now I am fearful, and I would be ashamed in front of him. " Upon hearing this Rumi said: "The essence of faith is fear. Whoever fears God, even if that person is a Christian, he is a man of God. " That Christian craftsman was moved by these words of Rumi and embraced Islam.

One day Rumi said: "It has been forty years that I have been struggling day and night to be rid of this sickness of schol arship, ' and unveil this curtain. But I still see that there is a trace of it in me. The purer the mirror of the heart, the easier it is to be closer to Truth. " Again he said: "My father Baha al-Din Valad who was the king of the scholars in the world always used to say: If I didn't have the knowledge obtained by studying, my gnosis would be stronger than the knowledge. "

When I cleansed my heart from knowledge and worldly learn­ing, I attained greater awareness of and closeness to the Truth. I escaped the darkness of the existence and reached the light.

Knowledge that does not bring us closer to the Truth and that does not teach us more about the Truth is not genuine knowledge. Yunus Emre says, "Wisdom is to know, it is to know about the Truth. " Moreover, as pointed out above, when knowl­edge leads its possessor to selfishness and pride, it drives that person away from the Truth and leads to suspicion and skepticism. It is for this reason one of our poets writes: "Is it not better to remain illiterate along with an attraction to the religion than being learned and suffering chastisement?" In other words, an illiterate person who is captured by the attraction of the faith and this way finds the Truth in his heart is more valuable than a learned man who is tormented in suspicions and skepticism.

One day Rumi was offering pearls of wisdom to a person in a high position: "In this state of yours, you are like gold. But you need to be more gold than gold. For some time you will go into a pot, boil many times, suffer hammer strokes on the anvil of asceticism so that you may become the ring of Solomon or the earring on a sultan's cheek. Now all these people are human beings and seem to be Muslims. Only after they have entered the pot of love, suffered powerful strokes on the anvil of patience, endured impossible things, and withstood pain and discomfort of the lay can they cleanse and become people of truth. "

One day while walking, Rumi stopped in front of a tannery next to the river that ran through the city. The water first passed through the city, and then reaching the tannery, it flowed onward and away. Rumi saw that this water was very dirty and cloudy. After staring at the water for a long time he said: "O poor water, be grateful that you are not passing through the hearts of the town's people. If you had passed through their hearts, you would have seen how dirty and contaminated you would be. Nevertheless, it is hoped that the Truth that is most pure will liberate you from this dirtiness with His pure clarity. " Rumi also says water that is contaminated by different sources, runs in the gardens, goes under ground, and does many things. It nourishes the plants, rises in the air with the sun, becomes a cloud, and finally, in the form of clean and clear rain, falls back to the earth as God's mercy. "When that contaminated water returns next year by dragging her skirt they asked her: 'O that which is in the sea of the pleasant, where have you been?' I was contaminated here, but by dressing in beautiful clothes I came to the earth. O you who are dirty! Come to me. My habit has been accorded with the habit of God. I take away all your ugli­ness, make the devil as pure as an angel. When I get dirty here, I again go there. I return to my essence, the essence of all clean­liness. It takes off my dirty clothes and gives me new and clean clothes. That is what it does, and this is what I do. The Lord of the Worlds decorates and beautifies the world. "

One day one of the prominent hafizs (someone who knows the whole Qur'an by heart) of Konya requested Rumi to explain the Prophetic Tradition: "There are many reciters of the Qur'an who are damned by the Qur'an. " Rumi said: "Most of the verses in the Qur'an include commandments and prohibitions, inner and outer manners. One person reads the verse: 'Perform the prayers and give the compulsory alms' and does not pray and does not give the compulsory alms. Someone else reads the verse: 'God commands justice and goodness' but does not refrain from oppression. That person is miserly stingy, and deceiving. Of course, the Qur'an curses these people with its language of disposition (lisan al-hal), counts them as cursed people, and becomes their worst enemy on the Judgment Day"

Ask the meanings of the Qur'an only from the Qur'an and from a person who has mortified all his corporeal desires and has crushed all his bad habits under his feet.

Again one day the scholars of Konya asked Rumi the mean­ing behind the Prophetic Tradition: "Deeds, worship, and actions are judged with respect to their endings. " Rumi explained the rea­son behind this Prophetic Tradition as follows: "At the time of the Prophet, there used to be a young man notorious for his bad deeds. This young man known for his sins suddenly died. Since his relatives were very much ashamed of all this young man had done, they buried him at night without letting anybody know. The next morning die archangel Gabriel, the Trustworthy, came to the Prophet and told him to go and pray for this young man. The Prophet asked the wisdom behind this. Gabriel gave him this answer: 'God said that this young man declared his faith with his last breath by saying: "I bear witness that there is no deity but God, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and His messenger" and asked for forgiveness for his sins. At that time I pitied him and forgave all his sins. ' Hearing this made our Prophet glad, and he said "Deeds, worship, and actions are judged with respect to their endings. "

Do not look down on a unbeliever as he may die as a believer. God said: "Even if you are a unbeliever or an idol-worshipper, when you pray to me I will answer. "

After declaring "there is nobody other than God that does good to the people who commit vice and evil, " Rumi continued with this story: "One day while Asma'i was traveling to Makka for the pilgrimage, he threw two punches at a poor Arab because of a pond. Soon afterward he regretted it, repented for it, and with the intention to apologize he started looking for that man. Despite all his efforts, he could not find the man. When he climbed Mount Arafat during the pilgrimage, he found the Arab there and praying for him (i. e., for Asma'i), 'O Lord, don't scold him because of me. It was because he didn't know. ' Asma'i immediately fell to that Arab's feet and said: 'I am the one who should be praying for you. ' But the Arab replied: No, I am aware of my humanity Therefore, I take great joy in doing good. I have the desire to live as a good person. So it is my job to ask for your forgiveness. "' Now you think what our Lord of Absolute Beauty and Absolute Goodness will do on the Day of Judgment and compare.

Again one day the notables of Konya came to visit Rumi. He was explicating the Qur'anic verse, "one whose heart God has opened to Islam. " He said, "When this verse descended from the heavens, they asked the Prophet as to whether there were any signs of this kind of an opened heart and chest. The Prophet said,

 

'When the holy light of Truth comes to one's heart, that heart opens up and expands. Whenever God wants to beautify and expand one's heart and make him "possessor of vision, " He opens up that heart with His holy light. The sign of this is that the hold­er of such a heart distances himself from the world, inclines toward the hereafter, and divorces this world before this world divorces him. "

The day our Prophet migrated from this world, 'Aisha, the mother of believers, was crying. But that crying was nothing like yours and mine. She was not crying like us for the loss of a worldly possession or wealth or things that she loved. She was rather crying: "O he who never slept comfortably on the bed! O he who never wore silk in his life! O he who never ate barley bread until he was full! O he who used to sleep on a rush mat. " The day the Prophet gave back his coveted soul to his beloved God, he was lying on a bed that was filled with fiber from a date tree. These fibers had left traces on the holy skin of the Prophet. Next to the bed there was a wooden bowl with water in it. He was dipping his hand into the bowl, putting some of that water to his burning chest and saying: "O God! Protect me against the terror of death and its unpleasant things. " This is how the Great Prophet reunited with his God.

Also in this worldly life, anyone who wants to achieve a goal endures certain difficulties and inconveniences. Someone who does not sacrifice his sleep is scared away from the path, and one who does not endure the difficulties of this path cannot reach anywhere. Now how can a person who loves the Truth and wants to walk on the path of Truth attain Truth while sleep­ing a lot, eating to fill his stomach, and living a comfortable life?

It is amazing how a lover sleeps! Because sleep is forbidden completely for the lover. O David! If someone who sleeps and does not think of me claims to love me, he would be lying. When it gets dark the lover goes crazy. O lover! Wake up and jump from sleep. Be a little uncom­fortable and endure difficulty. While there is the noise of the water on one side, how can the thirsty sleep?

The sultan of the literary men Salah al-Din of Malatya has related, "I was in the town of Eregli in the house of the Nur al-Din Vefadar with the assembly of the high dome and great shaykhs. Shaykh Janadi arrived with a number of Sufis from Konya. They welcomed and honored him. After greetings, the meal, and various conversations, I asked Shaykh Mu'y al-Din what Shaykh Sadr al-Din Konavi (d, 1273} was saying about Rumi and how he described Rumi in his absence. Shaykh Janadi said, "By God, one day we were sitting in Shaykh Sadr al-Din's presence with his closest friends. Fahr al-Din Iraqi, Sharaf al-Din Mavsili, and Shaykh Said Fargani were also present. The topic of the conversation became Rumi's states and character. Konavi was inspired with complete honesty and deep under­standing and said: 'If Bayazid and Junayd lived today, they would show respect and love for Rumi, the man of God. He is also the servant of the poverty table of the religion of Muhammad. We have been benefiting from him as dependents. All our joys and ecstasy are from his holy feet's fertility' All the dervishes present were wise people and accepted and admired these words. " After telling this, he went on to say: "My poor self, too, is among the supplicants of this great sultan, " and he recited the following couplet: "If there is a Divine manifestation in us, a Divine form, it is you. I do not hesitate saying this. "

One day Rumi was preaching about self-effacement, refraction, and humility. He said: "Fruitless trees like cypress and poplar raise their heads high in the sky, and their branches also stretch high. When fruit bearing trees have fruits on them, their branch­es hang down from the tree. Mature people are modest just like this. " The Prophet was very modest. Without any doubt the Prophet was more modest than all other prophets and saints. He said, "I am ordered to be nice to people and treat them well. No prophet has ever endured as much ill-treatment as I have. " When they hurt his blessed head, when they broke his blessed tooth, because of his infinite mercy, he entreated God: "O God, guide my people to the right path, because they are ignorant and they do not know. " When other prophets were subjected to insults, some of them cursed their people. They let stones fall from the sky; their people were targeted by many calamities whereas our Prophet has so much wanted the well-being of people.

The nature of man is from soil. If a man is not as humble as soil, he is not man.

One day a barber was trimming Rumi's beard. The barber asked: "What would our Master command, how much should I trim?" Rumi replied: "Just enough to differentiate a man from a woman. " Another day he said: "I envy the Kalenders because they have no beards. " And after relating the Prophetic Tradition: "Little beard is the way for man. That is because the beard is a man's accessory. Much of it leads one to boast and this kills one spiritually" He continued to say: "Sufis like much beard, but while the Sufi combs his beard, the gnostic attains God. "

One of Rumi's close friends died. They came to Rumi and asked: "Should we bury him with a coffin or without a coffin?" Rumi answered: "Do as our friends see appropriate. " Karam al-Din, son of Bektemur, who was a gnostic of holy light and among the people of vision and high levels, said: "It is better to put him in the grave without a coffin. " The friends asked: "why is this better?" Karam al-Din said: "A mother takes care of a child better than a sibling. Human nature is from the soil, wood of the coffin is like a child of the soil. Thus, the coffin is like man's sibling, and the soil is the mother. Therefore, it is better to leave the deceased to the lap of the affectionate mother. " Rumi admired this statement a lot and said: "This point has never been mentioned in any book. "

Sultan Valad reports from his father: "Baha al-Din, if you want to love your enemy and your enemy to love you, talk pos­itive about him for forty days. That enemy becomes your friend since there is a path from the tongue to the heart just as there is a path from the heart to the tongue. It is also possible to obtain God's love through His Glorious Names. God said: 'O slaves, to form purity in your hearts, do not abstain from mentioning me a lot. The more purity, the brighter the holy light of God in the heart. "'One day Shaykh Sadr al-Din was busy teaching a lesson in Prophetic Tradition at his dervish lodge. The most noble and famous people of Konya were present at that assembly, too. Suddenly, Rumi entered through the door. The shaykh asked Rumi to deliver that day's lecture. While explaining each Prophetic Tradition, Rumi referred to other related Prophetic Traditions and gave very remarkable explanations. He also mentioned in which context these Prophetic Traditions were said. He brought up such deep points that the attendees were amazed. Shaykh Sadr al-Din thought to himself: "I wonder whether the mean­ing of this Prophetic Tradition is as Rumi says or is it different because we have never heard such interpretations from any of our teachers and never listened to such a style. " That very night Shaykh Sadr al-Din saw our Prophet in his dream. The Prophet was sitting at the end of the dervish lodge. Shaykh Sadr al-Din goes up to the Prophet and kisses his blessed hand. The Prophet said: "The meaning of that Tradition and my purpose in saying that is exactly as Rumi put it. It is not that he added to it. "

Out of joy Shaykh Sadr al-Din wakes up. Before he can tell his dream to dervishes, Rumi comes to the dervish lodge and takes a seat on the sofa and recites the verse: "O Messenger! We have sent you as a witness, a bearer of good news, and a warn-er. " And he then says: "That is, the testimony of such an hon­est witness about the slaves is credible since if God wants, it becomes trustworthy. " This increased Shaykh Sadr al-Din's faith, love, and trust in Rumi.

One day a rebab (a musical instrument) was being played in Rumi's presence. Rumi was listening with great pleasure. Suddenly a respected man came in and said: "The call to the afternoon prayer is being heard. " Rumi stopped for a moment and then said: "No, no, that voice is calling to God; this voice also is call­ing to God. The call to prayer is inviting the outer aspect of human beings to duty while that voice of the rebab is inviting the human spirit, his inner face and his invisible aspect to God's love and awareness. "The Seljuk vizier Muin al-Din Pervane wanted to appoint someone as a judge to Konya. This person was Vizier Taj al-Din's son. He had a lot of virtues, and he was well-informed, but because of his knowledge, he was arrogant and without manners. This person told Vizier Pervane: "I will accept the position of judge with three conditions: First condition, you will ban the instrument called the rebab. Second condition, you will fire the old court officials who are like executioners of the courts. Third condition, you will pay good salaries for the new court officials, so that they may not take anything from the people. " Pervane said, 'T accept and commit to two of your conditions. But I can­not ban the rebab because it is being played upon the command­ment of a very great king. " For this Vizier Taj al-Din's son did not agree to become the judge. When this story reached Rumi's ear, he said, "Well done, O holy rebab! Praise be to God that the rebab has held his hand and rescued him from the hand of fate. "

Let's see what Sipehsalar, who was blessed with the fortune of living with Rumi for years, has to say about Rumi in his

0 Rumi, the well of "Water of Infinite Life" is submerged completely in shame from its envy of the beauty and grace of your words. It shows itself to no one.

O Rumi, who accumulated all the good manners and morals of the Prophet who honored the world in order to complete good manners and morals! O unique explainer of the Qur'anic verses in a most correct and most beautiful way!

What can I write to describe you? What can I say? Even if I use up all the words, your attributes still will remain to be told because your attributes are infinite. Your good manners and habits are innumerable; they cannot be described with words.

Tolerance and other good manners of Rumi, as they are associated with all saints, are actually Prophet Muhammad's tol­erance and good behavior. Sipehsalar describes Rumi as the "unique explainer of the Qur'anic verses in a most correct and most beautiful way. " When commenting on some Qur'anic verses in the honorable Mesnevi, Rumi touched on some aspects of these verses with a divine inspiration that no other famous commentator up to his time had been able to touch upon. It is for this reason that Ismail Hakki Bursevi (d. 1725), explained some Qur'anic verses in his Rub al-Beyan commentary by quot­ing from the honorable Mesnevi. Sipehsalar, who expressed his admiration of Rumi because he knew him very closely, has abstained from causing division among other dervish orders because he loved not only Rumi, the saint to whom he was devoted, but also all other saints and set a good example to those who love God and the Truth.

The degree of Sipehsalar's admiration of Rumi can be under­stood through such statements as: "I have washed my mouth with musk and rose water a thousand times, but I still didn't think my mouth was worthy of mentioning your name. " And Sipehsalar continues: "I have observed some of Rumi's innumer­able extraordinary attributes with my own eye, some others I found in my heart and consciousness. How can I explain what I have seen with the eyes in my head and what I have sensed with the eye of my heart with my tongue as incapable and as inade­quate as my pen cut short on one end? Not everything that is known is seen, not everything that is seen can be told, and not everything that is told can be written. " The proof of this is as fol­lows: Each of the saints havs taken God's attributes by removing everything other than God from the mirror of their hearts, by being completely cured from envy, anger, and lust through their worship, good deeds, and patience in the face of whatever hap­pens to them, their efforts and struggles against their bodily desires (nafs), and the weakening their bodies. The Prophet says: "If one wants to find God in his heart and sit with Him, he should sit with the people of Sufism. " My shaykh Rumi also said in his Mesnevi; "Whoever wants the company of God and to feel God in his heart, he should sit in the presence of the saints. Since they are saved completely from human attributes, these special servants of God have to be alive with God, to speak with God and to hear with God. Just as the Great Prophet the Master of the Universe tells us in a hadith qudsi: "God says: 'When I love a servant of mine, I become his ears with which he hears, the eyes with which he sees, and the tongue with which he speaks. "

Those who at the "Assembly of Alast" gave their heart to God still are intoxicated with the covenant of Alast, Like slaves their feet are tied in this world, the place of suffering, but they are very generous in giving their lives. These special slaves of God have effaced their selves in God, and they are sustained in existence with the Friend. The amazing thing is that they really do not exist although they seem to be there at this moment. "These are the real people of Unity"Sipehsalar continues to describe Rumi as follows: "There are many compelling reasons for this poor Sipehsalar to tell of the levels Rumi attained. First, let me say that our Honorable Master was very proficient in the Arabic language. He knew all the intricacies of the Arabic language and vocabulary. He was among the most learned people of his time in Islamic Law, Qur'anic commentary, Prophetic Tradition, logical and narrative sciences, and had attained advanced degrees in all fields of knowledge. In Aleppo, when he was advancing his studies in the earlier part of his youth, his friends would ask him matters with which they had difficulty. Rumi would show them so many ways to resolve these matters that those who listened and those who understood these seemingly complex matters would fall in a state of excitement due to the joy of hearing and understand­ing. The blessed solutions he offered for the question at hand were not written in any books. Rumi's blessed glances were reading and answering the most difficult and complicated mat­ters from the book of the heart. " After writing these things about Rumi, Sipehsalar offers the following, which expresses the manifestations within a lover of God:

O heart who, as the zephyr, has felt the joy of the early morning and sensed the meaning of divine manifestations at those times!

Are you enraptured with what you have seen or with what you have not seen?

Has what you seen or what you have not seen taken you from yourself?

Sometimes you run to the outskirts of the mountain, you struggle and you see the ore of truth and amber of love there.

You have gone beyond the eye and beyond the heart.

For you hundreds of windows have opened up, you have gone out of the earth and the heavens, flown away and seen hundreds of skies.

Such rapture, such fog has fallen onto the sea that from the joy of watching it his whole head became an eye.
The tears that flow like a flood in waves from the eyes because of love have joined the sea.

How surprising! How amazing!

Tears and sea have become an ocean, or the sea has become an eye. In his sight both worlds are like a grain put in front of a chicken.

Indeed a clean eye, which has seen the truth and majesty, is like this. In the universe, of unity one who sees the attributes of the seeker and sought as two different entities is neither the seeker nor the sought.

Who knows God?

One who escaped from la (unbelief).

Tell the one who asks: "Who is saved from la?" "The lover stricken with calamities. "

The lover of God has understood the real meaning of Bayazid Bistami's saying: "There is none but God under my robe" and has seen that robe as a simple, invaluable piece of clothing and has wanted to remove that robe of himself to be seen with this real being.

After citing this poem, Sipehsalar continues: "In order to attain the view expressed in the above poem and to reel that spiritual joy one should know that knowledge alone is not enough. " Maintaining that scholastic knowledge and studying it can sometimes be an obstacle and a curtain on the spiritual path. Sipehsalar concludes the section by quoting this couplet from Rumi: "I wanted to wash away the knowledge from the heart, escape from myself, make myself unaware of myself because it is not right to go to the presence of the most coveted Beloved as a learned man. "

« Back