The last of the Mevlevi sheikh tradition, Sefik Can Hodja, passed away at the age of 96, at his home in Suadiye the previous night (January 23). Zaman's Nuriye Akman had the last interview with him. Can Hodja made some striking explanations in this interview and also made a last request.

I got acquainted with Mevlana and loved him thanks to the translations and interpretations of his works by Sefik Can. Whenever I take the Mesnevi (Mathnawi) or other books, including some of its verses in my hands, I send my greetings from the bottom of my heart to Sefik Can and thank him over the years. I do not know why a desire to have an interview with him was delayed by me that much. I went to his house in Saskinbakkal after a momentary decision, when there was no reason for this on the agenda. Our talk lasted for hours due to the depth of the issues, as well as the difficulties caused by the old age of the deceased. If there hadn't been Nur Artiran, his student, daughter and life companion, who never left him even for a moment over the years, and to whom he entrusted his duties after his death, as he explained in his last request, I could not have been able to hold our interview so fluently and present it to you. His ears heard so little that Ms. Artiran was repeating each of my questions one by one into her grandfather's ears, a couple of times, as if she was spelling them. He was speaking in a very low voice. That's why it was again Ms. Artiran's task to translate his answers in a way that I could understand. After decoding of cassette, I received help again from Ms. Artiran in redacting the interview, because the deceased wanted to give comprehensive answers to my questions; therefore, he made deep dives into complementary topics supporting the main subject and I had difficulties following the line of logic he used. I would like to express my gratitude to Ms. Artiran, who was very well acquainted with the language of the deceased, both literally and spiritually. I think that holding the last interview with Can was allotted to me by God and the feeling that sharing his last request with the society was my responsibility. Can was the last Mevlevi, a devout follower of Mevlana and someone who not only knows the fundamentals of Mevlevism (Mawlawism) best, but who has also lived through it best. I am sure learning that he has now given the moral entrustment he received from his master, Tahir'ul Mevlevi, to a female Mevlevi, would surprise everyone. Can wants to see Artiran become a postnisin, an occupant of Mevlevi convent, of a sema, a Mevlevi ritual whirling, group composed of women and held talks about transmitting with love to the people what he received from Hak (God) with love. I kept this interview for a whole summer. I was thinking that the most appropriate time to publish it would be just after the Seb-i Arus, the nuptial night or the night Mevlana (Rumi) reunites with the Creator, the ceremonies on December 17; however, he was so ill during those days that I felt it would be appropriate to postpone it. It is today's grant.



Sir, how did you get acquainted with Mevlana?

I am the son of a town mufti. I was born in the town of Tebricik in Erzurum, and later my father became the mufti of the town. My father was interested in literature very much. He was both a valuable religious scholar who graduated from the madrasah and was a very important mufti of that era. He was also an intellectual teaching at Dar'ul Muallim. My father taught me Arabic and Persian before I started school. I can say that I learned how to speak with the words of Mevlana. Many of Mevlana's poems that I now try to say by heart, are poems my father taught me in those days. My closeness to Mevlana began with my father's love for Mevlana. The love my father felt for Mevlana affected me as well. Then, because of the First World War, we left everything, moved to Sivas, and then to Yozgat. After being to many places, we moved because of the savagery of the war, and finally arrived at somewhere between Sivas and Tokat, that is called Yildizeli. I saw and experienced all the pains of war when I was just a child. My father was appointed the mufti of Yildizeli, where we had just arrived. While I was attending primary school, my father made me memorize verses from Hafiz, Sadi and Mevlana and I read the Gulistan by Sadi. When I graduated from primary school, my father tried to teach me the masterpieces of these three wise/holy men.

Later on, I attended a military school in Tokat and then the Kuleli Military High School in Istanbul. I graduated from high school and the Military Academy, and became an army officer; however, there was a great desire in me to become a teacher. Because the love for books, science, teaching and learning that I saw in my father, who was my first guide and murshid, spiritual master, had passed onto me as well. I used to secretly attend to the Istanbul University Department of Turkish Literature. When this was understood, they took me from there and assigned me to a unit in a town called Vize in Thrace. I did not give up this love of mine even there. One day, I wrote a letter expressing my love for teaching to the commander of my unit and asked him to give me permission to complete my undergraduate education at the Department of Turkish Literature. I passed the teachers' exam with the permission of my commander. Yet, to become a teacher, I had complete a two-year internship. That's why they assigned me to the Kuleli Military High School, to be near master Tahir'ul Mevlevi, in order to complete my internship.

I met master Tahir'ul Mevlevi during those times and I had the honor of accompanying and serving him for 16 years. Look at the will of God that I received both my material and moral diploma at the hands of Tahir'ul Mevlevi. This was a great bestowment of Allah. My first master was my late father; however, Tahir'ul Mevlevi was my second murshid, whom I love as much as my father. He enlightened my way to Mevlana and guided me with his experience. Tahir'ul Mevlevi's love for Mevlana had a big mark on me. That's why I bought all the world classics, the poems of the most famous poets and I read them all. I dedicated my whole life to reading. I established a personal library with 10,000 books. Meanwhile, I set my heart on ancient Greek and classical Latin literature. I even wrote a book on classical Greek mythology. My purpose in telling all these is: I did not have a blindfolded spiritual attachment to Mevlana. I searched and read all world literature; I studied all of them. Finally, all of them seemed to me very meaningless and unnecessary.