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Who is Rumi?
MAWLANA JALALADDIN RUMI
The Whirling Dervishes are followers of the 13th century Muslim poet and philosopher Mawlana Jalaladdin Rumi, who lived in Konya, Turkey. He represents the Sufi tradition of mainstream Islam driven by the Holy Quran and the Prophet Muhammad. The Whirling Dervishes are known for their famous practice of whirling as a form of dhikr (remembrance of God). The rituals of the Whirling Dervishes with chanting and music are among the most enduring ceremonies of spirituality. The universal values of love, respect, self-discipline and responsibility shared by all Sufis are very much relevant to the individual and social issues of today.
Rumi is one of the great spiritual masters and poetic geniuses of mankind. Rumi's life and works show us that it is not faith, belief and religion which cause hatred, conflict and violence, but the sins of hatred and greed and other symptoms of the unrestrained ego, and he showed us how the true practice of religion, the purification of the heart, is the remedy for these.
In our days his life and works are a reminder to all that the "Clash of Civilizations" is far from inevitable and they show us how to derive hope, renewal and reconciliation, rather than despair, fear and enmity from our differences. He invites us to call constantly to mind that we are all one, from God we come and to God we will return:
Come, come, come again,
Whoever you may be,
Come again, even though
You may be a pagan or fire worshipper,
Our hearth is not the threshold of despair.
Come again, even if you may have
Violated your vows a hundred times,
Come again...
Rumi's Life
A SHORT OUTLINE OF THE LIFE OF RUMI (1207 - 1273)
Mevlana Jalaladdeen Rumi is one of the great spiritual masters and poetic geniuses of mankind, and the Mevlevi Sufi order was founded to follow his teachings.
He was born in 1207 in Balkh in present day Afghanistan to a family of learned theologians. Escaping the Mongol invasion, he and his family traveled extensively in Muslim lands, performed pilgrimage to Mecca and visited Medina; the journey brought the family to Erzincan and then Karaman, where Rumi studied for a short period in the Halaveye School.
In 1228, at the invitation of the Sultan of the Seljuks, Alaeddin Keykubad, they settled in Konya, Anatolia, in present day Turkey, then part of the Seljuk Empire. Here Jalaleddin married and lived with his wife, Gevher Hatun, who borned him two children. He is called "Rumi," meaning "Anatolian" because of his life in that place. He also gained the title "Mevlana" which means "Our Master" through his life's work there.
He died on the 17th of December 1273 in Konya (Turkey), where he had spent most of his adult life and composed all his works, and where his tomb lies today.
His Religious Life
Although Rumi had already succeeded to his father's position as a teacher, when the great scholar and Sufi Burhaneddin al-Tirmithi arrived in Konya; Rumi studied under him and devoted himself to his service for nine years. This training was focused on divine love, worship, austerity and abstinence, piety, consciousness of God, humility, and tolerance, which are the foundations of Sufism.
Rumi spent his days mostly praying and serving people who came to visit the Sufi center, preparing food for them, collecting wood for cooking and heating, and cleaning the toilets and bathrooms used by visitors. He thus learned the merit of serving people and knew that serving people is ultimately serving God. On Burhaneddin's advice Rumi completed his scholarly education in Aleppo, mastering also the classical Islamic sciences, including jurisprudence (fiqh), commentary on the Qur'an (tafsir), tradition (hadith) and epistemology (usul). There were thus a number of significant figures in Rumi's spiritual development. Apart from his father and Burhaneddin, he met many great philosophers and scholars of the age including the renowned Ibn Arabi in Aleppo and Damascus, and others in Konya under the patronage of the Seljuk Court. He thus acquired both the inner and outer sciences within sixteen years.
The most famous and probably the most fruitful relationship in his development was with Shems-i Tebriz, whom he met in Konya at the suggestion of Ruknuddin Zarqubi. Modern historians may argue about who influenced whom in their long association but this is not profitable. What we know is that for a particular period of time, two skillful and acute spirits came together, and by sharing the divine bounties and gifts they received from their Lord, they reached peaks that most would not be able to reach easily on their own. To this day the place where the two first met in Konya is known as Marc'al Bahreyn, the meeting point of the two oceans. Through their spiritual cooperation, they enlightened those of their own age, and have also influenced all the centuries which followed.
Following the departure of Shams, Rumi continued to compose his works and to develop the principles that would be followed by the order formed and named in his honour after his death. He started to live in seclusion and abstinence practicing ascetics in series of three periods of forty days; eating little, talking little and sleeping little were essential components of this discipline.
Here it is important to remember that while Rumi was informed by numerous sources of ideas, on his journey he seemed to leave many of his contemporaries behind his love and compassion flowed like the waters of the world's oceans; so much so that while continuing to live physically among humans, he managed to become ever closer to God. He never elevated himself above others but his writings, both during his life and after his entering into eternal life, provide a guiding star which reflects the light of the spiritual life of the Prophet of Islam. Thus, he is among the few figures who have exerted great influence over large parts of history and large regions of the world.
His Place in the Islamic Tradition
Rumi was not, and is not, the only hero of love. He was and is one of the great representatives of the school of love in the Islamic tradition based on the life and practices of the Prophet, which we call Sufism. This tradition, which includes names like Hasan Basri, Ibrahim Ethem, and Bishr-i Khafi in the Arabian Peninsula in the second century of Islam, grew rapidly with Ahmed Yasawi and Yunus Emre in Central Asia and Anatolia during the rule of both the Seljuks and the Ottomans. In recent times this understanding of Islam has been represented by Sufis and scholars like Mevlana Halid-i Bagdadi, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Muhammed Lutfi Efendi and recently Fethullah Gulen. Rumi was one of the important rings in that golden chain of Islamic tradition, and was deeply affected by and benefited from the wealth and experiences of those Sufis and scholars preceding him, as well as influencing those to come.
His Continuing Significance
Rumi was a devout Muslim and his teaching of peace and tolerance has appealed to men and women of all sects and creeds, and continues to draw followers from all parts of the Muslim and non-Muslim world. As both a teacher and a mystic, his doctrine advocates tolerance, reasoning, goodness, charity and awareness through love, looking with the same eye on Muslims, Jews, Christians and others alike.
Although Rumi was known and loved during his lifetime by the Christians in his immediate environment, the West only came to know him many centuries later, in part because the great German poet, Goethe, one of the fathers of the hugely Romantic movement, came to know and be influenced by some of the works of Rumi through the translations of the Austrian historian, Josef von Hammer. Even though most Islamic scholars would argue that von Hammer's translations were for the most part inadequate, nevertheless the power and beauty of Rumi's thought, mysticism and love shone through. By this route, Rumi has long been a strong, albeit indirect, influence on religious, cultural and even political life in Europe and the United States, and provides a real point of unity for East and West. The current truth and great potential of this cultural meeting is best proved by the fact that Rumi has been the best-selling poet in the United States for the last thirteen years.
Sufism
SUFISM and DERVISHES
The origin and roots of Sufism lie in the life and practices of the Prophet of Islam and the Qur'an. Sufism espouses a well-founded and thoroughgoing interpretation of Islam, which focuses on love, tolerance, worship of God, community development, and personal development through self-discipline and responsibility. A Sufi's way of life is to love and be of service to people, deserting the ego or false self and all illusion so that one can reach maturity and perfection, and finally reach Allah, the True, the Real. Through the Whirling Dervishes program we hope to bring to you a hint of one of the remarkable ways of achieving this: the way of Rumi, the great Muslim mystic and poet. The Order of the Whirling Dervishes is one branch of the vast Sufi tradition of Islam.
The universal values of love and service shared by all Sufis are very much relevant to the social and political realities of today, and this ritual, which is only performed by the Order of the Whirling Dervishes, has come to symbolize these values in the hearts and minds of millions throughout the world.
MEVLEVI RITUAL DANCE or SEMA
The Mevlevi (also spelled as "mawlawi") Ritual Dance or Sema consists of several stages with different meanings:
The first stage, Naat-i Sherif, is a eulogy to the Messenger of Islam and the all Prophets before him, who represent love. To praise them is to acknowledge and praise God Almighty Who created and sent them to humanity as a mercy. This eulogy is followed by a drumbeat (on the kudum) symbolizing the divine command "Be" for the creation of the entire universe.
The Naat-i Sherif is followed by a Taksim, an improvisation on the reed flute or ney. This expresses the divine breath, which gives life to everything.
Then follows the Sultan Veled procession or Devr-i Veled, accompanied by "peshrev" music; this is a circular, anticlockwise, procession three times around the turning space. The greetings of the semazen, or whirling dervishes, during the procession represent the three stages of knowledge: ilm-al yaqin (received knowledge, gained from others or through study), ayn-al yaqin (knowing by seeing or observing for oneself) and haqq-al yakin (knowledge gained through direct experience, gnosis).
During the Sema itself there are four selams, or musical movements, each with a distinct rhythm. At the beginning, during and close of each selam, the semazen testify to God's existence, unity, majesty and power:
The First Selam represents the human being's birth to truth through feeling and mind. It represents his complete acceptance of his condition as a creature created by God.
The Second Selam expresses the rapture of the human being witnessing the splendor of creation in the face of God's greatness and omnipotence.
The Third Selam is the rapture of dissolving into love and the sacrifice of the mind to love. It is complete submission, unity, and the annihilation of self in the Beloved. This is the state that is known as nirvana in Buddhism and fana fillah in Islam. The next stage in Islamic belief is the state of servanthood represented by the Prophet, who is called God's servant foremost and subsequently His "Messenger." The aim of Sema is not uncontrolled ecstasy and loss of consciousness, but the realization of submission to God.
In the Fourth Selam, just as the Prophet ascends to the spiritual Throne of Allah and then returns to his task on earth, the whirling dervish, after the ascent of his spiritual journey, returns to his task, to his servanthood. He is a servant of God, of His Books, of His Prophets, of His whole Creation.
This is followed by a recitation from the Qur'an, the Sura (Chapter) Mary on the miracle birth of Jesus and his mission.
At the end, by the salute, the dervish demonstrates again the number "1" in his appearance, arms consciously and humbly crossed, and, by this, the unity of God.
The ceremony ends with a prayer for the peace of the souls of all the Prophets and believers.
After the completion of the Sema, all the dervishes retire silently to their rooms for meditation and further remembrance of God.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Sema is a spiritual act, so please DO NOT applaud while watching. You may kindly do so, if you wish, after the dervishes have left the stage.
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