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There are many poets and philosophers who talk about sorrows and sadness and deny the existence of joy. They claim that our happiness is but a mere illusion. Others have considered our sorrows as natural. Shaykh Sa'di writes, "Everybody suffers from sorrow, from problems as determined by his destiny and in his own way. No one is given the certificate of perfect happiness. " Rumi, in contrast, considers agony and sorrow from another perspective, saying, "There is nothing holier or more powerful than sorrow. " He considers agony not as a calamity but as bliss and divine grace. In the honorable Mesnevi, the Divan-i Kabir, and his other works, he frequently declares that sorrow is a means and sometimes a test for man to mature and attain perfection. But there is a subtle point in Rumi's view on sorrow. The notion of enduring the difficulties and calamities of life, having patience with heartache, and reaping the sweet fruit through bitter patience was not adopted by Rumi. The essence of Rumi's approach is not to endure silently difficulties, not complaining, but rather to love the agony.
It is a religious duty to accept God's predetermination and to have patience in the face of calamities that are a result of one's selfish actions. Does not God commend in the Qur'an: "God is with the patient"? Prophet Muhammad has brought good tidings for the faithful who are patient in the face of difficulties. He tells us that God gives sorrows only to those whom He loves very much. The hardest of the agonies is given first to prophets, then to saints, and lastly to select believers. He also revealed, "Patience is half of faith, " and "patience and endurance against calamities is worship. " Therefore, a believer who is smitten by many difficulties and problems is a slave of God whom He loves very much. Since the sad man has heard these tidings, is he then expected to accept them silently, not complain about them, and smile like a stoic philosopher while his heart aches? No, Rumi says that agony is in reality not agony but a grace of God and happiness that comes in the disguise of agony. He therefore maintains that instead of endurance and patience one should love the agony Sensing this truth, Fuzuli pleaded to God in the tongue of Majnun: "Do not deny your help to the people with difficulties. That denial gives me a lot of sorrows and difficulties. "
There is no doubt that being patient and being content with all the pain and suffering that God gives is a great virtue. It is related that the great saint Shibli was once jailed. Some of his friends came to visit him. Shibli asked them who they were. They replied., "We are your friends, and we came to console you. " Shibli was very angry with those who came to console him and started throwing stones at them. When they ran away from him, Shibli shouted behind them: "You are liars. If you had been my real friends, you would have congratulated me on my calamity and you would have patience with me. " The Qur'an says, "Be patient with the judgment of your Lord. Verily you are under Our watch. " In this way, believers who are stricken with a calamity know that when they are patient they eventually will attain their goal. They expect that when they go through the gate of contentedness, they will receive the reward for their endurance.
The state of one who goes through the gate of love, however, is quite different. They have no goal other than love. They accept pain as nothing other than a gift from the beloved. Even if a true lover of God is taken to hell because of a sin, they consider themselves fortunate that they are burning in the fire of the Beloved's judgment. In the following passage, Rumi explains the meaning of our pain and sorrows as follows: "The concerns and sorrows that corne to the heart are like a guest that knocks at our door in the morning. The guest is capricious; he commands the host and is bad tempered and behaves unmannerly. But the duty of the host is to treat the guest well. It is also to endure his unmannerly behavior and bad temper and show hospitality to him. " In another poem, Rumi continues:
Every moment a thought and a worry come to the heart as a welcome guest.
O my dear master, think of the thought (worry) that comes to your heart as a human being because it is thought and spirit that make one a human being.
Do not be sad if the thought of worry cuts the path of joy because the worry that comes to the heart prepares other joys for you.
Sorrow thoroughly sweeps and cleans the house of the heart so that a new joy and happiness arrives.
It removes and throws away the dry leaves on the branch of the heart. This way it helps new, green leaves to flourish.
Sadness takes out the root of the old happiness so that new joy comes all the way from far away.
Sorrow tears off the rotten and decaying old root in order to strengthen the new root that is covered with branches and leaves.
Whatever sorrow tears away from the heart, it surely replaces it with something that is better and more beautiful.
In fact, it treats more favorably those who know that sorrow is the servant of the people of sound faith and maturity.
If the cloud and the lightning did not show a sour face, the vineyard would be boiled with the heat of the sun.
Fortune and misfortune, joy and sadness come from time to time, visit one's heart and then they leave. They are like stars that travel from house to house, from one sign of the zodiac to the other.
When the star of fortune comes to your sign of the zodiac as a guest, be sweet as the fortune itself, be vibrant and lively.
Do this so that when your star of fortune reaches the moon of truth, that sultan of hearts, it can bring gratefulness and con-tentedness from you to him.
For seven years, Job, who was patient and content with everything, showed hospitality to the guest of sorrow that was sent to him by God.
When tough and sulky calamities visited Job again and again, he never complained to God but on the contrary thanked Him in hundreds of ways.
When the calamities that followed one another took away Prophet Job's loved ones one by one, due to his great love of God, he never complained and did not frown even once.
Because of the love that Job felt for God, he showed such an attachment, faithfulness and obedience to God that he mixed with the calamity as milk with honey
When new worries and calamities come to your heart, do not run away from them either. Instead run toward them and welcome them as a dear guest. Thank God for sending them to you and say:
"O my Creator, O God, protect me from the evil of the calamities you have given to me. Do not deprive me of the bounties that will come because of these calamities and make me attain them.
O Lord, grant me the ability to thank you for this calamity Let me nor regret why I have not thanked You for them at the time and let me not miss this opportunity. "
Treat well thus that sour faced sorrow, revere and protect it, take all the bitterness it brings as sweet.
As clearly seen, the lovers of God are telling us the same truths in many different ways and are trying to awaken us, the unaware. The couplets from the Mesnevi that I have quoted above can be summarized as follows: O lover of God, receive every sorrow and agony that comes to visit you with a smiling face so that when they return to the One who sent them to you, they do not complain of you. Treat them well so that they testify to God: "O God, I stayed with such and such of your slaves for a few days and he received me well, he did not complain about me to others, he was not sad; on the contrary, he showed me hospitality, and was patient with me. This slave of yours surely loves you. Protect him. "
I would also like to present Rumi's view on sorrows with the following couplets selected from the Divan-i Kabir:
Learn the secret of happiness from the Prophet, and be happy with whatever God gives you.
If you are patient and content with whatever comes onto you and do not complain, instantly the doors of the heaven open to you.
If the messenger of sorrows comes to you, receive him as an old friend and hug him. He is not a stranger to you; you surely have acquaintance with him.
Do not show a sour face toward the adversity that comes from the Beloved, receive it with joy Say "Hello and welcome!" Show a smiling face and say nice words so that that unique, beautiful being removes its unpleasant cover and shows its beauty.
Firmly grasp at the end of the cover of that beautiful being that came covered with sorrow. Never release it. Do not think about the dirtiness of the cover. The being under the cover is very beautiful, sweet, and faithful.
The calamity of sorrow can see me not frightened or worried but only smiling. I do not invite sorrow in the disguise of joy. On the contrary; I invite the remedy disguised as sickness.
Be sure that there can be nothing sweeter or more sacred than sorrow. Its reward is infinite.
