SEMAZEN Reminiscents of a Mevlevi Whirling Dervish
Prof. Dr. Mim Kemâl Öke
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Dr. Mim Kemâl ÖKE
Mim Kemal Öke was born in Istanbul in 1955 to a family with Central Asian Uygur heritage. Öke attended Şişli Terakki Lyceum for grade school and Robert College for high school. After graduating from Robert College in 1973, he went to England to complete his higher education in the fields of economics and history at Cambridge University. He also specialized in political science and international relations at Sussex, Cambridge, and Istanbul universities. In 1979 he went to work at the United Nation‟s Palestine Office. He returned to Turkey in 1980 to focus on his academic career. He soon became an assistant professor at Boğaziçi University in 1984 and a professor in 1990. In 1983, TRT (Turkish Radio and Television Corporation) brought Öke on as a general consulting manager for various documentaries, documentaries, including “Voyage from Cadiz to Samarkand in the Age of Tamerlane.” Up until 2006 he was involved in game shows, talk shows, news programs and discussion forums on TRT, as well as on privately owned channels. He also expressed his evaluations on foreign policy in a weekly syndicated column, “Mim Noktası” (Point of Mim). Though he manages to avoid administrative duties, he has participated in official meetings abroad on behalf of the Turkish Foreign Ministry. Throughout his academic career, Öke has always prioritized research. Of his more than twenty works published in Turkish, English, Urdu and Arabic, his writings on the issues of Palestine, Armenia, Mosul, and the Caliphate as they relate to the history of Ottoman and Turkish foreign policy are considered foundational resources. Aside from non-fiction, Öke has written several novels portraying man‟s contradictions throughout the course of history: Günbatımı (Sunset), Kızılelma (Kizilelma), Yaşanmamış Anılar (Unlived Memories) and Duvardaki Kan (The Blood on the Wall). i
Öke also authored Turkey‟s first comprehensive comprehensive examinations examinations into civil-military and religious relations: “Din-Ordu Gerilimi (Relgious-Military Tension), Derviş ve Komutan: Özgürlük Güvenlik Sarkacındaki Türkiye‟de Kimlik Sorunsalı (Dervish and Commander: The Identity Problematic in Turkey on the FreedomSecurity Pendulum), Kılıç ve Ney (The Sword and the Reed), and Gazi ve Sufi (Ghazi and Sufi). In two other works, Öke explores music‟s role in uncovering post-modern man‟s personality, identity and spirit as he evaluates the mystical experiences of Latin American (Kaderle Dans [Dancing with Fate]) and African (İlahlarla Dans [Dancing with Gods]) communities. Over the last ten years Öke has gravitated towards human sciences in his quest to understand mankind, which in the Turkish context rests in Sufi philosophy: Aşkla Dans: Türkler, Tasavvuf ve Musiki (Dancing with Love: Turks, Music and Sufism). The author has also published four books with Sufi Kitap: Aşkın Ekolojisi (The Ecology of Love), Yaralı Ceylanlar Kulübü (The Wounded Gazelles Club), Dervişin Sema Defteri (The Dervish‟s Sama Notebook), and The Dervish‟s Logbook. Though Öke has won various awards for cultural and scientific studies, he is also an accomplished visual artist. He has shown his charcoal drawings in solo and group exhibitions. He also participates in Sufi and Turkish classical music ensembles ensembles with his daughter and enjoys equestrian sports. As an extension of his social awareness, Öke offers rhythm and folk dance classes to disabled individuals. individuals. He also put together a family-oriented handbook about Down syndrome called 47. Kromozom (The 47th Chromosome), which includes research and experiences. He is married to his wife, Neval, and together they have two children, Alihan and Nazlı Hilal. They have one grandson, Demirhan Kemal. ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Translator‟s Note ................................ ................ ................................ ........................... ........... v Preface ................................ ................ ................................ ................................ ......................... ......... vii 1. . Stepping Onto the Nail Board .................................. 1 2. . Crossing the Tekke Threshold................................ 29 3. . Sensing Mystical Resonances ................................ 58 4. . Wearing the Cloak Cloa k of Nonexistence ...................... ................ ...... 84 5. . Sanctifying the Sikke ........................................... 110 6. . Perceiving Servanthood ....................................... 138 7. . Burning in the Fires of Love .................. ........................... .............. ..... 167 8. . Why Did We Come into This World ................ ................... ... 195 Glossary of Sufi Terms.............................................. 223
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Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful Our praise, gratitude and love are for you, O Lord! O Allah! Bestow countless blessings on our master, our prophet, and our beloved, Muhammad. Muhammad. Have mercy. Reward his family (the Ahl al-Bayt) and his companions with peace and grace. With permission, O axis of the saints, master of those who have reached God, Mevlana Jalaluddin! And Sheikh Shams Tabrizi...
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Translator’s Note According to Mim Kemal Öke, the sema ceremony and the Divan-e Kabir are inextricably intertwined. They go hand in hand. As Semazen Semazen is the story of the author‟s journey to becoming a whirling dervish and performing the sema, he interweaves passages from the Divan-e the Divan-e Kabir throughout its pages. The excerpts Öke uses are taken from two Turkish translations – Rumi Rumi wrote the original in Persian. The first is Gölpınarlı‟s complete translation of the Divan, Divan, and the second is Şefik Can‟s the Divan.. Şefik Can‟s selections from the Divan The sources the author cites from the Divan and its commentary are abbreviated in the footnotes as follows: AG, DK: Abdülbaki Gölpınarlı (In Turkish, translated from the Persian); DivanPersian); Divan-ı Kebir (Istanbul: İş Bankası, 2015).
ŞC, DK: Şefik Can Can (In Turkish, translated from the Persian); Divan-ı Kebir: Seçmeler (Istanbul: (Istanbul: Ötüken, 2000). Konuk: A. A. Konuk (Commentary); Mesnevi-i Şerif Şerhi (Istanbul: Kitabevi) In addition to these, Öke cites various other works, including Rumi‟s Masnavi. Masnavi. The volume and verse number cited from this work in the footnotes corresponds to Reynold Alleyne Nicholson‟s translation, which can be found at Masnavi.net alongside the original Persian. Unlike the Masnavi, Masnavi, the English translation of the Divan-e Kabir (“the great work,” also known as the Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi), remains unavailable online in its entirety. Nevit Oguz Ergin has translated all 22 volumes into English, but they are only available in real paper books. All English translations you find in this book – including songs, poems, prayers, commentary, and other non-Rumi sources – are my own. The only exceptions are the verses from the Qur‟an, which appear verbatim from the Sahih International edition available online. v
Damian Harris-Hernandez Harris-Hernandez, June 2018
Damian Harris-Hernandez Harris-Hernandez is a freelance translator and stay-athome dad living in Brooklyn, New York. He learned Modern and Ottoman Turkish at Colombia University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African studies. In 2012 he attended an intensive summer language course in Bursa through the Critical Language Scholarship program. He began his translation career later that summer interning at a major publishing house in Istanbul.
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PREFACE
“Come, come so you may be the soul, the soul of the soul of the sema. Come, you are the walking cypress in the garden of the
sema”1 Surely you have encountered at some point the image of the semazen. semazen. If you have ever visited Turkey – or even the “spiritual” section of a bookstore – you you have probably seen the semazen motif – an entranced figure in a conical, with head bent in humility and white robes fanning out. We are talking about the whirling dervish. The book you have in your hands concerns the sema the sema,, the Sufi ceremony, and its participants, the semazens. This book explains in depth what exactly the sema means to the semazen. semazen. If your travels have ever brought you Istanbul, or even as far afield as Konya, the birthplace of the whirling dervish, perhaps you have entered a Mevlevi dervish lodge and witnessed a sema for yourself. The initial reactions of first-time viewers – from my own observations – are, are, “Don‟t they get dizzy? Do they not feel it in their stomachs?” Mostly, though, this hour-long ritual just seems endless to the newcomer. They grow bored, and not understanding the different sections and the small breaks in between, they cannot make sense of why the dervishes “whirl” the same way around the floor for four times, or even five, in what we call the Devr-i Veledi. Veledi. And when it is over they make a rush for the door. They “get through” their first experiences, saying to each other, “We saw it. That was that, I guess.” For some, the sema is “touristy,” for others it is a kind of “folkloric” dance. To the more polite viewer, it is a historical historical cultural cultural phenomenon. phenomenon. In this view, the sema is a relic from a bygone era, one that must be preserved as an archaic pursuit in ethnography museums 1
ŞC, DK, II, . p163. vii
with the gratuitous use of mannequins. Hence the reason for the restored Mevlevi lodges, which are open to tourists and the general public. Here the sema has no connection with the present, with the human condition of our age – the the 21st Century – with with its problems and its longings. It is disconnected from the zeitgeist, unconcerned with the reality of our age. ... But I wonder. And here I mean a big “I wonder” about the espousers of the above opinions. Do you really think the sema remains isolated in the past? If so, you would be wrong! In fact, the sema conceals the answers and solutions to today‟s problems. How so? You will have to read the book! Because, this book explains the sema in the language of the semazen. semazen. This book contains the semazen‟s origin story. It is the testimony of a dervish who has lived the sema. In this respect, we can say that this work differs from most of what has been written about the sema. And that semazen is no other than yours truly, Mim Kemal Öke, a man who at age 58 stepped onto the training board and put that nail between his toes! I will relate to you this poor dervish‟s semazen story from beginning to end. Let me be even more precise: this book is essentially a diary, a memoir. It is the story of the author‟s journey through the world of Mevlevism. Forgive me, but you cannot be a semazen without being a Mevlevi!
That‟s my conviction! You can disagree, and you would be right, as there are semazens who are not Mevlevi. It is not a viii
requirement at any rate. Yet it has always seemed superficial to me. Being a semazen must penetrate a person right down to their “genes.” Strictly speaking, it must come from being a Mevlevi dervish. In other words, you must be a Mevlevi in order for semazenism to permeate both the body and the soul, rather than to rest askew on the shoulders. The great Mevlana Jalaladin Rumi was a semazen. If we are to reach the heart of the sema we must take Rumi as our role model. We must perform the sema as he did. We must whirl as he did, rising higher and higher with each turn. For our benefit, Rumi has left us with the Divan-e Kabir , his “Great Work,” so that we may know what the sema meant for him. This work, alternately known as the Divan-e the Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi, Tabrizi, is one of Rumi‟s two great collections of poetry. It contains twice as many verses as the Masnavi, Masnavi, Rumi‟s other, more widely known masterpiece. And let me tell you, a sema performed without reading, understanding and experiencing the Divan-e Kabir is not the sema. At least it is not Rumi‟s sema. According to Sufi thought, the sema and the Divan-e Kabir are so at one with each other that as you read you cannot help but become exuberant to the point where you are compelled to jump up and join the sema. And inversely, the more you practice the sema, the more you have “drunk” of the Divan. Divan. And so you whirl more intensely. The Divan-e The Divan-e Kabir Kabir is an exceedingly exceedingly ecstatic work. I spent years reading it cover to cover. It is impossible for me to put into words the joy of living life in the company of the Divan the Divan,, I swear. The Divan is Divan is like a flood; it sweeps you away from yourself and deposits you in the whirlpool of the dervish‟s circle, and suddenly you find yourself in the sema. The book you hold in your hand is an attempt at Divan-e Kabir commentary commentary assorted by topic in reference to selected ghazals. ix
These lines of poetry will guide us as we process the essence of the sema. But rather than indexing the book into discrete topics and concepts, this work is instead based on interconnection. I will attempt to illustrate the themes in the Divan-e the Divan-e Kabir by Kabir by establishing their connection with one another as they relate to the sema. The reason for this method is clear: The sema is the very essence of Rumi‟s approach to Sufism. It is its symbol, its secret. It is its enlivenment, sustenance, and performance through signs. In other words, the sema – by what it entails – is is the embodiment of Rumi‟s teachings! The sema. Mevlana. We are now delving into the Divan-e Kabir . Come, let‟s have a look at the introduction to this masterpiece. Going from one preface to another preface, let‟s see what we can learn about the Divan-e the Divan-e Kabir Kabir from its first lines. It is written:
“These words are the mysteries of the soul, the ark of Noah. Blessed breaths.”2 Yes, blessed breaths, inspirations – all all the ghazals collected in the Divan-e Kabir must certainly have been divinely influenced. Indeed, these ghazals are “the discoveries that open the heart and the eyes, that come from the inspiration that flows in the predawn
hours.” You will soon understand that these ghazals are indeed divine inspirations. The Divan-e The Divan-e Kabir is Kabir is “the key of those at peace, the stations of those free in the world of the unseen, the heart of the hearts of the masters of the heart, the flower in the gardens of the soul.”3 The Divan-e The Divan-e Kabir is the elixir of happiness.
2
AG, DK, I, p. 1.
3
AG, DK, I, p. 1. x
For the hypocrites, it is the “Zulfiqar of God,”4 for the angels “glorification,” and for the worthy servants the “water of of life.” The Divan-e The Divan-e Kabir invites you to certainty, to the true path, to devotion, and to do good works. For the dervish, the essential thing is that each of the ghazals in the Divan-e the Divan-e Kabir is “absorbed,” and that they invite you to Love. The Divan-e Kabir is, to a large extent, the smoldering embers pouring out and breaking away form Rumi‟s soul, a soul burning with love. In this regard, the Divan-e the Divan-e Kabir is is the story of Rumi burning with love. The sema is also a manifestation of this. It is the evolution of the intangible to the tangible, or of the batin batin to the zahir . In short, the sema is the fleshing out of love. It should be perceived that way, and conceptualized that way. Love is that united the Divan and Divan and the sema together. The heart of the matter is this: Love! To put it most precisely, the Divan-e Kabir is the Divan-e Eshgh, Eshgh, or the Divan of Love. It invites you to burn with love, to become a semazen, semazen, and to efface yourself. yourself. Someone who has already read a book or two about Rumi will have learned how love and the great teacher are intertwined and inextricable. He did sing of love beautifully:
“Allah created me from the wine of love. If I die and decompose, I will once again be that wine! I have so lost myself on God‟s wine of love, so intoxicated that my very essence is the wine of love.”5 The Divan-e The Divan-e Kabir is woven out of many such expressions. They say whoever drinks this wine would burn. 4
Zulfiqar is the name of Ali‟s divine, two-bladed sword, given to him by
Muhammad. 5
ŞC, DK, II, p. 9 xi
They are still burning. But there is so much pleasure in burning that Rumi implores us to throw ourselves into the fire so that we can know its taste. “Leap from this world filled with burning misery and affliction. Come save yourself. Jump into my fire of love and burn!”6 Of course, not all burning is the same. The burning that Mevlana is talking about comes not from nar , but from nur . Nur (divine light) and nar (hellfire) are two different things! When you feel those states begin to radiate out from the heart and into the body, leap up and begin the sema. Rumi makes an important point. You must cast yourself into the fire. You cannot perform the sema unless you are burning with love. You cannot even learn the sema without burning. And this burning is essentially a journey, like moths encircling a candle before throwing themselves into the flame. It is an arduous journey, but if you arrive at your destination, the “payoff” for all that burning is no other than vuslat , that holy union between lover and the Beloved. Believe me. Looking at it from this angle, the sema is the “ Mi‟raj,” Mohammad‟s spiritual ascension to the heavens and into the presence of God, his Maker. The Mi‟raj is the most beautiful of vuslats, vuslats, the most wondrous example of oneness, of tawhid . Let me say it again: the sema is a rehearsal of the Mi‟raj. It is an exercise in this divine journey, a portrayal. And sometimes, if everything lines up, it could be qurbiyat itself. This qurbiyat , or closeness to God, is what Mevlana was experiencing during the sema. sema. He lived it and wrote about it:
“O Saintly Being, moving more subtly than all the beauty in the world! If not with You, why would I care to keep for eternity the company of the houris in heaven. The Almighty befriended me. I
6
ŞC, DK, II, s. 126. xii
understand nothing of this. I desire nothing else in the universe but
You.”7 Those who make such “confessions” seek out the sema. The sema is for those who seek His beauty. Rumi emphasizes emphasizes this point. And this book seeks to explain Rumi. But which Rumi? Rumi as semazen! We can come to understand Rumi by experiencing for ourselves the each spiritual state and station that he went through on this journey. In other words, it is possible for us to perceive Rumi‟s essence through ayn al-yaqin, al-yaqin, the “eye of certainty.” We can see those flames with our own eyes. Reading about the sema only brings us to the first stage of perception, ilm al-yaqin, al-yaqin, the “knowledge of certainty.” But the sema is a “golden key” that unlocks the second stage. It brings us closer to understanding Mevlana in his vastness. The great Master is an ocean, but you cannot even grasp Rumi‟s reflections without searching out the nature of the sema and the secrets that veil it. The sema therefore serves as a guide to lead us to Rumi. If you do reach Rumi, you will see on the horizon the destination he wants to take you to in the sema. Mevlana is calling out to you. Do you hear that voice? Those famous words?
Rumi‟s beckoning call, “Come!” rings out in all tongues. And by tongues I also mean souls. We We have to pull pull that call off the tongue and bring it down into our hearts. The point is, you must come to this “come.” If you are unsure of what this means, listen:
“Come, come so you may be the soul, the soul of the soul of the sema. Come, you are the walking cypress in the garden of the sema.
7
ŞC, DK, II, p. 49. xiii
The soul of a hundred thousands stars shines because of you. Come, you are a moon rising in the sky of the sema. Come, the soul and the universe admire your beautiful face. Come, you are a miraculous beauty in the world of the sema, a parallel has yet to be seen, you are a great being. Upon entering the sema, you leave both worlds, as the world of the sema is outside these two worlds. Beyond is the seventh dome of heaven, high aloft. But the stairway of the sema carries us up through the roof of heaven. Higher than this ceiling is He. Should there be anything but this, take it underfoot and stomp it, pulverize it. The sema is yours, and you are the sema‟s.”8 That is the sema. That is what we are talking about. Effort comes from the dervish, success comes from God, and help comes from the Master. Before we begin, I first want to say that I owe many thanks to everyone who helped us finish this work. God bless all of you. I will keep and remember all of you in my heart rather than list you name by name. name. May God bless you. Fault, of course, belongs to me, your humble dervish. Hopefully you will enjoy this “memoir.” Love to all of you! Mim Kemâl ÖKE Istanbul-2016
8
ŞC, DK, II, p. 163-164. xiv
1 STEPPING ONTO THE NAIL BOARD
“The sema is for the indecisive soul; leap quickly, it is not what you would expect. Sit not, but dive into your own thoughts here. If you get there, go to where the beloved is.”9 My decision to learn the sema came in August of 2013. We were in the town of Muğla, in Bodrum, vacationing together as a family. It was the first anniversary of my late master‟s final walk to God. We drove out to Turgutreis to visit his tomb. t omb. We had just left that first year without our Faik Baba behind us. Yet he had never left us! Everything in Bodrum reminded us of being with him, for he was not far from us. The great Esseyyid Mehmed Faik Erbil was in our hearts. He had established himself in Bodrum and founded the “pavilion of love” there. We love Bodrum. We love it as the birthplace of my master. We love it as the home of Turgut Reis – Dragut Dragut – the the great Ottoman naval commander. We love Bodrum as Bodrum. But not its dance clubs, its bars or all the partying. Rather, its air, its sea. The air is clean, and so is the water! In Sufi terms, the air is the breath, the sea is the great beyond. Those who breathe it in shall set sail. They will embark on the seyr-u suluk , the mystical journey toward God, the Beloved. We too have now unfurled the sails on our voyage into the world of Sufism. 9
AG, DK, VI, p. 152. 1
Herein lies our love of Bodrum! We had bought a modest but pretty cooperative house in Milas, in Adabükü, on a hill overlooking the Gulf of Mandalya. We escape there whenever we get the chance. For us, the days spent there pass by like a dream. But this dream was different. And everything began with the vision I saw that August. In my dream, Faik Baba was sanctifying my sikke my sikke.. The act of sanctifying the sikke, the conical dervish hat, is a Mevlevi ceremony that finalizes a dervish candidate‟s initiation into the order. The ceremony entails customs and practices particular to the Mevlevi order. The dervish must have his sikke sanctified before he can enter the circle and perform the sema. In those days, I knew nothing about the details of this initiation ritual. But I can say now that in my dream, Faik Baba carried out every aspect of the ceremony according to tradition. Dreams can be murky, but not this one; it was crystal clear. I still remember all of it. My master would go to Konya every year in December for the week of Sheb-i Arus, Arus, the commemoration of Rumi‟s death. This event is also known as Rumi‟s wedding night, for it marked his ultimate union with the Beloved. On August 13, 2012, my master consummated his own “marriage.” He was in Bodrum then. The last time he left his house was to visit the esteemed Ibrahim Şahidi in Muğla. He risked the two-hour journey with oxygen tubes attached to his nostrils. Ibrahim Şahidi was a Mevlevi who lived from 1470-1550. He drew inspiration from the great sheikh, Sultan Divani, whom he served in Afyonkarahisar. He was one of the gallant saints. He wrote several poetic works in the masnavi couplet style: Gulshan-i Esrar (Rose Garden of Secrets), Secrets), Gulshan-i Tawhid (Rose Garden of Oneness), and Gulshan-i and Gulshan-i Wahda (Rose Garden of Unity). 2
Immediately after my dream, we too visited his tomb. To reach Ibrahim Şahidi you have to climb the narrow streets of old Muğla up to the very top of the hill. Inside a courtyard sits a sema hall, which is now used as a mosque. Beside it lies a cemetery. cemetery. The tomb is there, a small room.
Şahidi‟s sarcophagus rests next his father Hüdai‟s. We entered as a family and said our prayers. Nobody was around. We were in a quiet, or better yet, tranquil space. A divine ambiance permeated the room. I wandered off towards the rear of the tomb. There was one more grave: Kemalettin Effendi‟s! I won‟t lie; when I first saw it, the feeling that came over me was that I had come across my own grave, as though I was lying there! Kemalettin Effendi lived a century before the great Şahidi. He was treasured and much beloved. When he met his maker, the people of Muğla, who loved him dearly, wanted to build a covered tomb for him, despite his wishes to the contrary. However, that friend of God did not like this at all, so much so that when the masons came each morning, they found the walls destroyed. And so his grave is now outside. When we were there, the boxwood shrubs above the grave had reached the height of half a man. I love boxwood, especially the smell. Everyone says that boxwood gives off no smell, but for me – perhaps because it is a decorative shrub used at historical places like Topkapı Palace – it occupies a different place in my mind, as it reminds me of our past. Ah, we dervishes are historians. Why wouldn‟t we be!
3
I had told my wife, Neval, “When I die, let there be boxwood on my grave.” And now, standing before Kemalettin Effendi, I felt I was visiting my own grave. Strange, but true! When we got home, I rummaged through the books on my shelf. And there it was: Gulshan-i Tawhid , Şahidi‟s work. I knew that I owned it. I had bought it from the used book bazaar in Beyazıt a long time ago. I can‟t say that I had ever read it. It was a 1967 edition by Inkılap ve Aka, an old Turkish printing press. For this work, Şahidi had compiled a divan by selecting a hundred two-line verses from each volume of the Masnavi, Masnavi, and explaining every line with five verses of Persian. It was a monument to lovers. It was now in front fr ont of me. I opened the cover for the first time. And there inside was a note inside from the book‟s previous owner: “This work was gifted to our library by Asmar.” Asmar! The journey of our Faik Baba was based on the teachings of Abdusselam al „„Asmar,‟‟ the great saint entombed in Tripolitania. Coincidences abound! Or perhaps we should say divine harmony is at work. But it doesn‟t end there! The name of the person who prepared the book for print print was listed as as Midhat Bahari Bahari Beytur. Another synchronicity. This name rang a bell. Faik Baba would utter this name in his long invocations wherein he recalled the lovers of God one by one. Beytur was one of the last Mevlevi postnishins Mevlevi postnishins.. This mighty sheikh instructed Hüseyin Top, the great Masnavi great Masnavi commentator, who would also later become one of my teachers. His noble name would end up on my diploma!
4
In any case, if you can read Persian or Turkish, I highly recommend you find a copy of Gulshan-i Tawhid . If only this beautiful work were translated translated into English! English!
Me M emor i es I nvo nvoke ked d by the D r eam I received a phone call from Konya – again in August, and again in Milas, and during the same week even. It was Esin (Bayru)
Çelebi. Esin Çelebi is the 22nd generation granddaughter of Rumi, a living descendant of that noble family. I have known her father, M. Celaleddin Bakır Çelebi Bakır Çelebi since the 1980s, during my first years back in Turkey after studying abroad in England. I gained his affection through our long conversations together. He would host our family at his home in Istanbul‟s Teşvikiye neighborhood. He‟d boot up his computer and read us verses from Rumi, and explain the stories in the Masnavi. Masnavi. My son Alihan was very young at the time, but this child lay on the rug with his hands folded together under his chin listening very attentively to Çelebi. I still have a photograph of that time on the bookshelf in my living room. Ahmet Güner Sayar, the husband of Çelebi‟s middle child, Neslipir, was a friend of mine from Istanbul University. We were assistant professors in the same department during the nineteeneighties. We had actually met before while I was still at Cambridge. Every time I came back to Turkey, I would stop by the used booksellers, sniff out old books, and gather them up in bundles. I met him at Ibrahim Manav‟s tiny bookshop on one of these excursions of mine. Ahmet had been curious as to why I had bought so many books. Our friendship has endured to this day. I will admit right away that in the eighties I had no Sufi inclinations. I was busy with academic issues, researching the Palestine problem, the Armenian issue, and the Mosul Question, as I 5
believed that science and Turkish Turkish foreign policy would pave the way to national salvation. How could I have known that twenty odd years later I would be knocking on the tekke door? tekke door? There comes a time for everything. It won‟t happen until you are spiritually mature. And that‟s if you‟re lucky! Back to the phone call... Esin Çelebi was summoning me to Konya. I went, of course. She asked me to host conferences and lead discussions at the Istanbul branch of the International Mevlana Foundation, which her family had founded to further Mevlana‟s cause. I gladly accepted. Two things got me thinking. The first was Faik Baba sanctifying my sikke, and the second was my dear friend Çelebi‟s request. It was at that “moment” that I decided, or rather it had been decided for me, to learn the sema. Okay, but how would I learn? Who would teach me? I thought of Mert Nar. My daughter Nazlı and I had been taking beneficial rhythm therapy classes together, and he was our instructor. Mert was a pure-hearted young man. He was one of Turkey‟s most respected bendir players. players. Despite his small stature, he can work that drum – or or any percussion instrument for that matter – into into such a fervor at these Turkish Sufi music concerts that it‟s impossible to sit still; the rhythm and tempo compels you to rock back in forth in your seat. Under his guidance, we practiced banging the drum in the tekke style. I brought my predicament to him. “Easy,” he told me. He played the bendir during sema ceremonies at ISBEK, the Istanbul Science, Art, Culture, and Education Association. He said he would bring it up there with Fatih Fatih (Çıtlak) Hocaefendi‟s semazen group. And he did just that. 6
A young man by the name of Abdurrahman Tevruz called me and we met. Soon afterwards we rolled up the rug in our house and began practicing practicing the sema. sema. If you will allow me a short mention of Abdurrahman Hodja, I will say that no one has ever been so well suited to be a head semazen than him! He is a tall, majestic, and genial young man. I have seen many semas, but when our brother Abdurrahman enters the circle followed by his semazens, the whole atmosphere of the hall changes. When I saw him, I said to myself, “I know this man.” I later found out why. Abdurrahman Hodja strikes an uncanny resemblance to Abdulbaki Baykara, one of the last sheikhs of the Yenikapi Mevlevi Lodge. A spitting image. I found the sheikh‟s photograph in an album, made a photocopy of it, and showed it to Abdurrahman. The resemblance surprised him too. We were with Hüseyin Top at the time. He saw the picture, turned to Abdurrahman, and said, tongue-in-cheek, “So you shamelessly jumped the gun, and had your picture taken wearing wearing your your shiekh‟s sikke.” We all laughed together. The sema renders people immortal, so say the greats. Apparently so. Once, when I was “backstage” before a sema, dressed in my khirqa waiting khirqa waiting to start, the other semazens, whom I had just met that day, saw me in my cloak and got excited. “Oh my Lord! It‟s our late sema master Ahmet Bican Kasapoğlu!” Indeed, when I searched his image on the internet, I too was surprised at how much we looked alike. Our brother Abdurrahman has a son who was around the age of 5 or 6, named Fatih. Sometimes he would accompany his father. He was adorable. He had warmed up to me. “Kemal Dede,” he called me, which surprised his father. It was the first time Abdurrahman had a premonition that I would become a Dede, Dede, that is, in Sufi terms, an elder. Nazlı also got along well with Abdurrahman. Abdurrahman. And so began the “sema fellowship.” 7
Before beginning sema practice, I told Abdurrahman Abdurrahman this:
“Look son, I am older than you in age, but do not favor me because I am a professor. You are the „hodja‟ here, and I am the student. Don‟t hesitate to do what you need to do.” “Okay, hodja,” he said, and we began in earnest with all the customs and etiquette.
Sev Sever i ng the H ead and Sea Sealing the the F oot “supplication position.” First Abdurrahman showed us the “supplication position.” This is a pose that unites solemnity and affection. In it there is respect, humility, and dignity. The position, assumed while standing, is composed of two parts: “severing the head” and “sealing the foot.” When a semazen “severs his head,” a phrase literally translated (for its symbolic meaning of annihilating the ego) from the Turkish term, “baş ,” he crosses his arms over his rib cage, with the right arm kesmek ,” over the left arm and his fingers reaching his shoulders, and tilts his head down to the right, toward his heart. For the second part, the head remains lightly resting to the right while the dervish steps on the left toe with the tip of his right toe. Thus the body takes on the shape of alif , the first letter in the Arabic alphabet. This is “sealing the foot.” There are many stories related to the origin of this stance. The first involves one of Muhammad‟s grandsons, either Hasan or Husayn. When he was a child, he stubbed his toe on the ground during a game, and it bled. Their esteemed grandfather saw the situation, and immediately covered the wound in this way so that the young boy would not get upset. And so when we “seal the foot,” we are remembering this event. In the language of gestures, we mean to say, “We are making all efforts to not upset the Prophet.” In Mevlevi history, however, it is believed that sealing the foot came out of a miracle performed by Ateşbaz-ı Veli, the head 8
cook in Rumi‟s tekke. According to legend, Ateşbaz-ı Veli entered the kitchen in the late hours of the night to cook something for his master. But no matter how much he tried, he could not ignite the stove. Exhausting all attempts, he extended his left foot to the burner. By the grace of God, flames jumped j umped from his big toe and lit the stove. Just at that moment, though, Mevlana had entered the kitchen. Out of embarrassment, Ateşbaz-ı Veli immediately covered his flaming toe with his other toe. Showing off miracles was a shameful faux pas among the Sufis that incurred shame. When Mevlevis seal the foot, they rekindle these scenes of instruction. After learning the supplication pose, Abdurrahman Abdurrahman produced a nail board and placed it in the middle of the room. What is a nail board, you may ask. It is a 110 cm square piece of wood with a nail hammered into it. Semazens-in-training use it to learn how to whirl. My teach had brought this portable training board, but I later had a carpenter cut me one too. I then went to DIY store and bought the nail. Before stepping onto the board, we took off our socks and performed our prayers. We sprinkled salt over over the board to lessen lessen the chaffing, and then kissed it. I stepped onto the board and put my big toe around the nail. Let the spinning commence! He led and I followed. So, what is the secret of the board? The board presents us with a hadith. The hadith recalls the Prophet‟s ascent to the heavens on the Mi‟raj. The journey begins at the site of the Qubbat as-Sakhra in Jerusalem, which is located across from Al-Aqsa Mosque. At that very first moment of Muhammad‟s ascent a piece of rock broke off under his feet and went whirling into the sky after him. The Prophet said, “Stop, O holy one!” and the stone remained suspended in air. 9
That rock is now referred to as the “floating stone,” or the Foundation Stone. The Prophet‟s holy footprint has graced that stone. It is located in Jerusalem, and visitors can go and see it. This is the site over which was built the Dome of the Rock. Worshippers now use the Foundation Stone as a mihrab and perform their ritual prayers under under it.
That‟s a brief explanation of the metaphysical dimension behind the sema sema board. Just as we were doing, the semazen trainee begins by approaching the board and severing his head. He then brings his left knee to the ground, “meets” (kisses) the nail, and after sprinkling a fistful of salt around it, starts to practice. He begins by whirling to the left. You really have to practice in order to execute smooth circles. Our toes must not leave the nail as we spin. Beyond the physical object of the nail, the “Mevlevi nail” also encapsulates the qualities of all the behaviors desired and expected of the initiate i nitiate in sema training. Those on the straight path are therefore said to be “nailed
down.” “Come on, Mim Kemal,” I said to myself, “Let‟s see how well your nail holds. Will you be able to go out and perform the sema? Were you not once someone who saw the world as unfastened? Was this not the reason you studied international events and dreamed of saving the world?”
T he wor ld unf unfastene stened d! Yes, I have been a romantic ever since childhood. I am an idealist. I grew up in the “Generation of ‟68.” The youth who grew up during that time had goals other than fashion and fun. Whether you were on the left or the right, the youth dedicated themselves to their 10
causes, and were determined to make a dent in society, an impact in the world, and an impression on the age in which they lived. Perhaps the hegemonic powers “used” this generation to their own ends, but to live your ideals is a courage that needs to be acknowledged, I think. It is quite difficult to find someone with heart among today‟s “individualist” generation. Of course, it is impossible to condone the terror of the 1970s, especially in Turkey. That is why I thought that if we were going to change the world, the world “order,” – the system – it was imperative that we do it not with a gun, but with a pen. I opted for the peaceful approach, entering politics through the doors of academia. My heart went out to the people starving in Africa, the refugees in Palestine, the oppressed in East Turkistan, and those suffering in Western Thrace. The season of despair that overshadows the international system had to come to an end. We had to establish a world in which everyone could live in peace and happiness. To this end, I too was filled with excitement excitement and energy. “I must take charge!” My four years at Cambridge were difficult.
“God gives according to one‟s heart,” they say. Sure enough, as soon as I got my masters degree I found myself in New York at the United Nations. It was the highest professional position that I could hope fore, and I was there not of my own doing, but on the recommendation and reference of the rector. God had lifted up his humble servant. But it was not to be. The UN was a huge disappointment for me. Despite the dozens of opportunities, it had failed to yield any results. The system‟s crooked architecture could not be fixed even here. What was going on in New York was some kind of diplomatic stage play. 11
What a shame! I had tried in vain to save the world! Moreover, I had lost my belief that the world could be saved. The world had become for me unfastened once more. I returned to my country. My academic work had focused on contemporary foreign policy problems. As I shared my findings in newspapers and journals, and on the radio and telev isıon, I soon found myself doing consulting work for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I later worked with Turkey‟s late, former prime ministers, Turgut Özal, Süleyman Demirel, and Bülent Ecevit. I offered my services free of charge on behalf my country and its people. We had not been able to save the world, but I figured that I could still serve my country. “Let me at least save Turkey!” (Note: In those days I still did not grasp that Turkey had always suffered on account of these kinds of “heroes,” who took it upon themselves to save their country. If I was naive, I was also pure at heart. I was sincere. Well, I am still like that.) A quarter century has passed since then. I look at my CV and the topics I published on, and they still remain issues to this day! They have become more intense, more complicated, and practically unsolvable. Oh boy, is it even possible to save Turkey? Have all my efforts been for nothing? Indeed, the world has changed. The Cold War ended and along came the end of history. The Age of Communication brought people together. How lovely, this “Information Age.” Reason, understanding, and logic would now take over the system. But where has happened?? When will it happen?? This is not an almanac al manac for the 21st century; there is no need to list the dozens of unfortunate events. In any case, we are certainly not better off today than we were yesterday. yesterday.
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It seems to me we are enacting the “Apprehension Age” rather than the Information Age. What we are living in could even be called the “Age of Madness.” No international relations expert can make sense of this postmodern age. They write it off as the “New World Disorder.” The Global Community is in complete chaos.
It‟s as though we are sailing towards doomsday, towards “annihilation.” The wealthy nations are stricken with the afflictions of loneliness, estrangement, and degeneracy, while the world of the poor is infected by poverty, corruption and deprivation (of human rights and democracy). democracy). Where are we in terms of progress and civilization? civilization? Unfortunately, it is people that our Consumer Society consumes, leaving humanity depleted. Profits – no matter the cost – are “in.” Virtue, social awareness, and humanitarianism are “out.” Worse yet, even our values have become exploited. Before, we held onto our values, no matter where we were on the political spectrum. We were sincere. We cherished our values. We believed in them. And now? We live in a century in which we have stripped our values of all meaning. We abused them, and thus devalued them. This is not particular to any one country. This is a global phenomenon. The nail has been taken out of the board we call the world. It has become unfastened. More precisely, even the unfastening has been botched. The nail itself has been broken in the process. You will soon see what I mean. It makes you want to say, “Whatever you you do, it won‟t fix it.” This is because humankind is “broken.” Humankind has also become unfastened. We are surrounded by vulgar, hateful, and boorish people. people. 13
Up until the last ten or fifteen years, I had always thought, “Let‟s fix the system. That will bring us happiness and salvation.” However, I now believe that degeneracy – or the fundamental problem – does not lie with the system, but with people. This anguishes me. I stepped onto the training board. Though it‟s flat, that 110 x 110 cm platform is like lookout tower; it gives you a birds-eye view time and space! I take a spin on the board. And another. I turn and I turn.
It‟s not easy. You have to focus on keeping your foot from slipping and coming off the nail. You cannot lose yourself to frustration. And I‟ll be frank. Those rotations hurt your feet. They hurt your toes and your bones. Plus I have “hallux valgus” (bunions) in my feet, which makes it especially painful for me. You don‟t complain, though. For us, that would be unseemly. Carry on, I tell myself, you are not the first person to get up on the nail board. Many people have come into this world and gone back out again via our practice board! I even wrote about the sema in my book, Dance with Love. Love. Sitting down at the desk and writing was easy. And now? Being the nail board is something entirely different. But I keep at it. With God‟s permission, I will succeed.
too am pleased!” “ Ana Ana ridha - I too I am a historian by trade, so let me offer you a brief history of the sema. Though the ceremony is closely associated with Mevlana, it was around before him, albeit not in the same shape and form that we know today. If we accept a broader definition of the sema – an act in which a person‟s emotions boil over, and he expresses this expansion of his heart in a physical display of joy, ecstasy, and
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rapture – we we can trace the sema‟s roots back to the Age of Felicity, to the time of the t he Prophet. One day the angel Gabriel appeared before Muhammad wearing an outlandish garment made of goat hair and palm leaves. The Prophet told the angel that he found the clothes very strange.
“God has told the angels and all those in heaven to dress like this in honor of Abu Bakr ,” ,” replied Gabriel. “You asked him for donations for the holy war. Abu Bakr gave so generously that he had nothing left to wear.” It was true. Abu Bakr had been unable to go outside because he and his wife were sharing a single piece of cloth. So Muhammad had asked his daughter Fatimah to bring him something more. But all she had to give was a piece of goat-hair cloth. To this he added a sufficient amount of palm fronds. It was a ridiculous outfit, but decent enough to venture out to the mosque. Gabriel continued: “God sends his greetings to you and Abu Bakr. He says, „I am pleased with him. Is he pleased with me?‟” When he heard this divine compliment, Abu Bakr was overwhelmed with joy. He got carried way and started to spin. As he whirled around and around, he shouted, “ Ana ridha, ridha, ana ridha, ridha, ana ridha (I ridha (I too am pleased)!” And thus, he had performed the sema.
Rumi‟s blessed lineage goes all the way back to Abu Bakr on his father‟s side. Let me relate another anecdote from the Age of Felicity. Ali, his brother Jafar Sadiq, and Zayd ibn Harithah disagreed over the education of Hamza‟s daughter. These companions had even been quarreling about it. And so when they arrived at the Masjid an Nabawi, the Prophet was aware of the situation and immediately knew what to do. First he said to Ali, “Oh Ali, you are from me, and I am from you.” Then to Jafar, he said, “Oh Jafar, be like me.” And to Zayd he said, “You are our brother.” 15
When each of them heard these reassuring words, they each in turn began to dance with joy. “And you see here,” says Ankaravi, a renowned Masnavi renowned Masnavi commentator, commentator, “the dance of the dervishes came from this incident.” Mevlana‟s blessed lineage goes back to Ali on his mother‟s side. Of course, the sema is not a dance. You will never hear Mevlevis say, “We are dancing.” Their whirling is worship itself. It is in fact a battle with the nafs – the the carnal soul. The dervish strives to temper and control his animal instincts. This struggle is what brings the dervish to ecstasy. The Arabic word for ecstasy is wajad , which comes from wujud , meaning “existence.” Wajad implies finding and encountering; those who perform the sema encounter states they have never before experienced. These states are the fruits of qurbiyat . They are the desired product. The sema induces these states in the heart. Also let me say this: from a historical perspective – spanning spanning from the time of the Prophet to the present – the the sema is not unique to Mevlevism. Other orders practice this too. Throughout history, different Sufi schools have employed and synthesized poetry, music, and dhikr together in various ways according to their own temperament. temperament. As far as we know, Mevlana‟s introduction to the sema began through his close relationship with Shams Tabrizi, an eccentric Sufi mystic who showed up in Konya and changed Rumi‟s spiritual life forever. According to Sultan Walad, Rumi‟s son, his father started doing the sema at Shams‟s behest.
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One credible source disagrees, however. According to Ahmad Aflaki Dede, Mevlana “laid the foundations of the sema” after Shams went missing. Aflaki Dede was a disciple of Sultan Walad‟s son, Ulu Arif Çelebi. He dedicated his life to compiling stories related to Rumi and his family into a work called Menakıbü‟l -Arifin -Arifin (The Acts of the Adepts), which was published in 1346. One day Shams disappeared, vanishing without a trace. When this happened, Rumi had a cloak made from an Indian cloth called hindbari, hindbari, and donned on his head a conical cap made of wool. He wore the front of his shirt open and entered into the sema.
“Day and night he constantly engaged himself in the sema and in ecstasy. He found neither peace nor resolve for even a moment.” 10 In any case, what we do know for certain, which we have learned from the sources available to us today, is that Mevlana performed the sema and achieved ecstasy – either unexpectedly or following a certain occasion. According to various sources, Mevlana would lose himself in these frequently recurring ecstatic states, emitting cries of joy, and winning over the people and the Sufi musicians. Yet even in those fervent moments, Rumi whirled around the floor in such precise movements, with one foot open while kept the other leg completely straight, it was as though they were made with a drawing compass. Mevlana experienced simultaneously the states of sukr and sahv. sahv. In keeping with the well-known Sufi concept of “harmony of opposites,” he was at once intoxicated and sober. In all his ecstasy, he remained aware of what was going on around him. He could even take in requests for fatwas and issue responses while in the midst of the sema.
10
Ahmad Aflaki (Translated from Persian to Turkish by Tahsin Yazıcı); Ariflerin
Menkıbeleri Menkıbeleri (Istanbul: Kabalcı, 2006), p. 127. 17
One day while engaged in the sema, a drunkard came in and threw himself in the circle. Being under the influence of alcohol, he kept bumping into Rumi. The disciples became annoyed. They wanted to toss the drunk out. But Rumi said to them, “He drank that wine, but you are the ones acting drunk.”
“But, he is a tarsa...” they bemoaned. Tarsa is Tarsa is an old term for Christians, which comes from the Persian word tarsidan, tarsidan, which means “to fear,” as in God. tarsa, then why are you not also God-fearing?” “If he‟s a tarsa, Mevlana‟s answer made them think. Mevlana could also be remote during the sema, gazing into the distance. One day, as he performed the sema, he recited a new ghazal, which said something to the effect of, “I told you not to go there, did I not, great calamity will befall you...” Those around him could not make sense of what he was saying. It was understood later that the Seljuq emperor, Kilij Arslan IV, had walked into a trap. The occupying Mongols had sent him an invitation to meet, and he accepted. When he arrived, they strangled him to death. No one knows how Rumi knew this. I could go on and on with this, but there‟s no need. The takeaway here is that the sema lived on through Rumi‟s beloved disciple and scribe, Hüsameddin Çelebi, who wished to keep Rumi‟s memory alive. And it was through Sultan Walad, Pir Adil Çelebi and Pir Hüseyin Çelebi that the whirling dervish ceremony has reached the level and form it enjoys today.
all this thi s Gyp G ypsy sy busi busine ness? ss? “Why all The name of the Mevlevi ceremony we call the sema is referred to in Sufi literature as the Mukabele-i Şerif , or the “Noble Re ply.” I will explain an important point: Mevlevi dhikr is not performed according to the will and command of tekke officials, as 18
it is in other orders. It is dictated by the demands of the musical works composed for the ceremony. For the musical origin of the Mevlevi sema, let‟s return to Mevlana and his day.
Don‟t assume that everyone looked favorably on the sema in those early times. Regardless of the fact that the great sultan of hearts was doing it, the sema drew many critics. There were even those who dared to curse the practice.
“Why all this gypsy business?” they asked. “We‟ve read a donkey‟s load of books, and we did not see a single line saying music and dancing was halal.” When this gossip reached Mevlana, his answer was, “They are reading asinine things!” Many of these “asses,” as Mevlana called them, would eventually get hooked on the sema and become his disciples. Some of them, who, according to Aflaki, “were relentless and persisted in blasphemy soon became wretched wretched and miserable.”11 Regardless, the Mevlevi order has always been criticized for their sema, even after Rumi. Now and again the order found themselves with their backs to the wall having to explain through various works the true meaning of the sema. I see no need to dwell even for a moment on the polemics in question. Those who don‟t like the sema will never like the sema. When certain people learned that I had began practicing it – even though I didn‟t announce it – they wasted no time in condemning me. They gave me insulting looks, followed by epithets and teasing. I paid them no mind, of course. I set my eyes and my heart not on others, but on the Friend. And I was actually surprised. Why were people not running to the sema, I wondered. If they had studied Rumi just a little, they would 11
Ibid, p. 128. 19
have learned how the sema had initiated a “spiritual revolution” in his life. But they don‟t study, they don‟t see, and they don‟t feel. It‟s a crying shame! If they had known, they could have known! known! To show you how the sema enriched Mevlana, I put together a brief before-and-after-thebefore-and-after-the-sema sema biography of Rumi. That great ocean of depth will not fit into these pages, but we‟ll give it a go! Jalaluddin Muhammad Rumi was born in thirteenth-century Turkistan, a war-ravaged land at the time. The Mongols had come down from Central Asia and were invading Turkic regions. If the Seljuqs made an effort against these raids, they were unable to resist the onslaught. Mevlana came into this world in the city of Balkh, as the son of Bahauddin Walad, a renowned scholar and Sufi in his day. But political as well as scholarly disputes forced his father to emigrate from Balkh. He made the pilgrimage to Bagdad with his family and some of his disciples, and from there headed towards Anatolia. In the end they arrived in Laranda, which is now the town of Karaman in southcentral Turkey. Here he would marry off his son and relocate to Konya. After Bahauddin Walad passed away, Seyyid Burhaneddin Termazi undertook the role of being Jalaluddin‟s guardian. The semazens and I have visited the saint‟s tomb in Kayseri, near Cappadocia. When Termazi died, Jalaluddin began offering spiritual guidance to the people, earning their respect and love. One day, an incident occurred that would forever change Jalaluddin‟s “ascetic” life. Rumi encountered Shams of Tebriz.
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Shams came up to Rumi asked him, “Who is greater, Muhammad or Bayazid Bastami?”
“What kind of question is that?” replied Rumi. “Clearly Muhammad Muhammad is i s greater.” “Fine, but Muhammad said, „Sometimes my heart is veiled. Therefore I take refuge in my Lord seventy times and beg for forgiveness.‟ However, Bayazid said, „I disassociate myself from imperfect attributes. What a great event was my creation and coming.‟ He added, „There is nothing but God beneath the robe I wear.‟ What do you think about that?” Rumi answered, “Muhammad was transcending seventy stations every day. Whenever he reached a new station and level, he felt ashamed of his previous station and begged for forgiveness. Bayazid, on the other hand, was astonished at the magnitude of the first station he arrived at. He lost himself in ecstasy and thus said those words.” This was the answer Shams was waiting for! After this dialog, the two greats embraced. They cloistered themselves away for months, becoming a mirror to one another as they contemplated the secrets of God. Who was this mysterious figure named Shams? We know him as the mystic with whom the sema began or whose inspiration gave rise to the sema. If we take his Maqalat his Maqalat (Conversations) (Conversations) into account, we learn that he was an Azeri Turk with roots in Khorasan, and that his grandfather was a pupil of Hassan-e Sabbah, the founder the of Hashshashin, or the Assassins. Shams, who belonged to the Ismaili sect of Shia Islam, was born Muhammad, Muhammad, but soon began to be called “Shams” due to his infatuation at a young age with the Qur‟an‟s Ash-Shams Surah.
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He was hot blooded and ill-tempered. He was quarrelsome, with a sharp tongue to boot.
“Too much kindness makes me uncomfortable,” said Shams. “Anyone who sees me either becomes a fervent Muslim or a fervent denier.” He confessed that not even an inanimate object would be able to tolerate him in the tekke for more than seven months. There was certainly some divine mystery to his disposition. I actually don‟t want to give any more secrets away in the first chapter, but let me mention something of a clue and leave it at that: We are in Shams. To him, the greatest thing to happen to Adam was God endowing him with Amanah, Amanah, the divine gift. That gift, is of course, God‟s love! Love is the reason for existence. Love then is nourished and strengthened with the pain of separation. That is why Adam ate the forbidden fruit. In heaven there exists not even the dust of love and pain. If love be a special sorrow with a splendid taste, then its home would be the world. In this context, Shams Tabrizi refers to Adam‟s expulsion from heaven as one of God‟s deceptions:
“God‟s grace and wrath are reflected in Adam‟s two aspects, spirit and clay. If the clay had no suffering, Adam would be not a man, but an angel, and God never would have had a kingdom on
earth.” Looking at the “systematics of creation” from this angle, God said to Adam, according to Shams, “Leave here, go into the world, suffer on the path of love, grapple with trouble, and in the end find
treasure.” “Arriving at jamal is achieved through surviving jalal ,” ,” say the greats. Jamal greats. Jamal denotes denotes all of God‟s attributes equated with beauty,
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whereas jalal whereas jalal encompasses all His attributes associated with majesty, such as trials and retribution. And so what is being laid down here is Shams‟ contribution to Rumi‟s spiritual maturation! maturation! It is nonsense to search for a different dimension in this friendship, or to ask, “who is the mentor of whom?” Shams in a dream, “What you seek is in Konya.” Shams even dared to say, “Those who wish to see Muhammad can just go and see Mevlana.” In fact, Shams stated, “The only hodja who completely fills my spirit is Mevlana.” Moreover, Shams said, “A hodja must be both your student and your teacher... He must be your friend and confidant... A hodja must be the seeker and the sought-after, and dedicated.” In Shams‟ eyes, Jalaluddin Rumi was, “all blessing, kindness, and grace.” But, one must be able to see with perfection God‟s rays of jalal alongside the jamal . Shams would be the vehicle to make those transfigurations appear. Shams drew Jalaluddin Rumi into sequestration by cutting him off from the outside world. Sometimes Sometimes their sequestration would be filled with dialogue, sometimes sometimes with monologues, and at other times it passed by in silence.
“We are in sequestration... We are not here, we say, we are absent... We have left our hearts for the moment. And we are ascending towards the Mi‟raj. Our Prophet‟s scent and light in that towering sky... The secret of secrets... The gates of heaven are
opening.” That‟s how Shams recorded the mystical encounters they experienced together. He adds, “After our sequestrations, Mevlana yearned for the Mi‟raj the moment his foot hit the ground. He would find comfort in the sema we performed together in the cell.” 23
A Souv Souve enir of of Sham Shams Tab Tabr i zi Do we get how essential the sema is? The sema transformed Jalaluddin Rumi the scholar and intellectual into Mevlana the lover. A river turned into an ocean. Jalaluddin, however, was not too far removed from Sufism in the first place! He was born into that world and lived in it. His father was a chief scholar, whose hodja was Termazi of the Kubrawiya Sufi order, which followed the path of Najmuddin Kubra. Najmuddin Kubra was one of the saints of Khorasan. He was born in Khwarezm in 1145. He had mastered Islamic jurisprudence, Qur‟anic exegesis, and hadith, giving him a robust foundation in Sharia. His uncle, Abu al-Najib Suhrawardi, had enlightened him in Sufism. He was killed in 1221 when the Mongols invaded. His tomb is in Khwarezm. I visited his resting place in the 1990s when I went to Turkmenistan for Yunus Emre Week. The burial site still runs through my memory: a meadow in the middle of Seljuq country, a lodge in the meadow, a deep-rooted tree in the garden of the lodge. Especially that tree! Dried up and bare. Yet I have never encountered a tree in all my life whose branches passed through one another so artistically, as if it were a privately commissioned painting. I stood before it and stared. The tree had a spirituality that connected you to that place. “Oh Lord!” I said. “I could stay here until the day I die.” They write that the Kubrawiya was a noble order founded on asceticism and high morals. Is either the improvement of the nafs or the development of the soul possible without asceticism? Of course not!
“High morals, still and always,” as master Erbil would say. The mile-markers on the ascetic path are reached through abstinence and interspersed with trial and tribulation. t ribulation. 24
Discipline, sobriety... We need these to prevent us from straying off course. But sometimes, those with great capacity need to add one more “ingredient.” And this ingredient is love. Ecstatic love. This is the secret of the brick Shams placed in Mevlana‟s sturdy wall. He complimented asceticism with love and unified them. He fused ethics with aesthetics. Mevlevism is made up of both elements. Asceticism in the Masnavi, Masnavi, and love in the Divan. Take advantage of both and you will attain the light of Rumi.
Rumi‟s esteemed son, Sultan Walad, is perhaps the best observer of the “divine exchange” between Mevlana and Shams. He writes, “Shamsuddin came out of nowhere and found my father. Shadows vanished in the light of his Light. In his pursuit of the world of love he obtained the voice of love, unaccompanied by saz or tambourine. He explained his states of love to him, and thus his secret went from one great master to another. He said, „You are pledged to the esoteric, but know this, that I am the esoteric of the esoteric. I am the secret of the secret, the light of the light. The saints cannot attain my secrets. Love is the veil on my path. Even love that is alive is dead in front of me...‟ How many states does love have? More than can be spoken of... Shams Tabrizi was one of those kings. In a word, he was summoned there. Their souls merged through spirituality. Shams Tabrizi, that hot-tempered saint, became a
guide.”12 Well, where on this path is the merit of the sema? From Sultan Walad again: “Shams‟ sun of Truth pierced Mevlana‟s heart, and when he chose a guide for himself, he took this as a sign and began the sema. Mevlana was now encountering in the sema a hundred
12
A. Gölpınarlı (der.); Sultan Walad: Ibtidana Walad: Ibtidaname me ( Konya: Konya: UMV, 2001), p. 196-7. 25
times more the states and transfigurations that he had previously reached through asceticism and fasting.” Over time people grew jealous of Shams‟ relationship with Rumi. Shams felt suffocated by their jealousy and left. He came back, but they harassed him yet again. This time he either disappeared completely or was killed. But Shams played his part in this divine scene. He had lit the lamp. For a while after he disappeared, Mevlana met his need for divine love through the jeweler Salahaddin Salahaddin Effendi. Ahmad Aflaki Dede warmly and affectionately relates to us the story of Rumi and Salahaddin‟s meeting. One day, Rumi was in the jewelers market in Konya... When the tack-tack sounds of the goldsmiths‟ hammers reached Rumi‟s ear, a state came over him and he began to spin. Just then a voice from the Unseen said to the jeweler Selahaddin-i Zerkub, “Go out, Mevlana is whirling, the people are gathering around him.” Hearing this, he sprang out of his shop. He threw himself at Mevlana‟s feet and went into raptures. At that moment he gave an order to his apprentices: “Don‟t stop beating the hammers until Mevlana comes out of the sema, even if the gold sheets turn to dust.” Aflaki goes on:
“This craft was such that the gold sheets could only withstand a certain amount of hammer strikes before they became useless.
“From noon until mid-afternoon Mevlana took not one break from the sema. Yet Selahaddin noticed that not a single gold sheet had been hammered to pieces and ruined, but rather his whole shop was filled with sheets of gold and all the hammers had also turned to gold. Selahaddin saw the material of both worlds (the temporal world and the hereafter) in his shop. He rent his robe and ordered them to sack his shop. 26
“He immediately abandoned the passions of this world and the next. He joined Mevlana‟s spiritual talks. The two remained friends and engaged in mystical conversation for ten whole years.”13 Selahaddin became Rumi‟s successor as well as in-law. Sultan Walad‟s wife, Fatima Çelebi, was Selahaddin‟s daughter. That‟s the sema; its ecstasy sets you ablaze and starts you spinning. Speaking of, I can‟t forget the time we were in Bodrum, at the Midtown shopping mall in Ortakent. My wife Neval was provisioning food from Carrefour. Nazlı and I were trailing behind in the store. I looked and saw a child who had come in with his mother. He was entertaining himself with a game, twirling around in circles and such. I went up to him and said, “Look son. son. You don‟t spin like that, you spin like l ike this.” I showed the child how to spin in the sema style. Soon after, Nazlı, the boy, and I were engaged in the sema. People gathered around to watch us. I paid them no mind. We went on spinning. At some point Neval found us. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“The child was content, but...” The sema must be in everyone‟s nature, I thought. Our grandson, Demirhan Kemal, who is the same age as the child in the supermarket, often joined our practice sessions with Abdurrahman Hodja. One day, when I left the room, he turned to Abdurrahman and said, “I will do it after my grandpa.” If only you knew how much I wanted that. In any case, Nazlı and I practiced everyday in our living room at home. Abdurrahman Hodja came once a week and supervised us. One day, we were in one of our training séances. We had popped a CD in, and were rubbing our feet.
13
Aflaki, Aflaki, ibid, p. 535-6. 27
Neval popped her head in. i n. She looked at Nazlı and me. Then she turned her attention to my foot.
“Your toe toe is bleeding,” she said. My left big toe was indeed bloody. I had not even felt the pain. I turned to Neval.
“I was on the nail board!” I cherish that scar on my foot as a souvenir from those days of practice!
28
2 CROSSING THE TEKKE THRESHOLD
kind of circle is the circle of love? “What kind The lovers who set foot within the circle are such marvels that they reap joy from death! To be able to enter this circle, you must throw your head like a ball in front of the lance of love!”14 My training with Abdurrahman Hodja continued. We trained on the nail board for about a month or six weeks. Finally he said, “Okay, hodja, that‟ll do.” I stepped off the nail board and offered prayers of gratitude. gratitude. I would have liked to continue practicing with the board, but I couldn‟t. The particleboard no accepted the nail: it had come out. The area around the nail had split in such a way that would not allow for another. Evidently that stage had passed and there was no going back. “All right then!” I said. I got the message. I did not persist. Abdurrahman Hodja and I now began a “closed” sema on the wooden floor of the living room. With my hands locked in position over my chest, I launched first into half circles, and then into full circles. It continued this way for a few months. I was doing nine rotations, then eighteen, increasing by multiples of nine. It was now time for the open sema. Arms sweeping up from below like a tulip budding, they opened into the sky as though embracing the heavens. Again the same circles, as we played a recording of the ney ney in the background. Nazlı and I gained fluidity in the living room under our teacher‟s instructions.
14
ŞC, II, p. 380. 29
We trained in sweat suits. My sports attire would end up soaking wet at the end of our exercises. Sweat poured down my face in torrents. t orrents. But the rehearsal and preparations for the sema were actually fun. It was a different kind of pleasure. When we practiced in the evenings, the setting sun turned the pane glass window of our apartment into a mirror, making it so I could follow my movements in the reflection. Abdurrahman Abdurrahman Hodja took his job seriously, and I was satisfied with his discipline. May God be pleased with our semazen semazen guide. One day he said, “If it‟s possible, hodja, could you come to the ceremony and we could observe it. If you could come even earlier, we could do our class in the circle there.” What more could I want? That week the ceremony was at the Yenikapı Mevlevi Lodge in Merkez Efendi. The national government and the Zeytinburnu Municipality worked together to salvage the lodge from its decrepit state. They restored it to its original condition as much as possible before handing it over to Fatih Sultan Mehmet University as part of the university‟s Alliance of Civilizations Institute. The Merkez Efendi area is famous for its kofta! But more importantly, it is the location of Merkez Effendi‟s tomb. They restored his mausoleum along with the yard and surrounding area. It looks nice. Musa bin Mustafa bin Kılıç bin Haydar, better known as Merkez Effendi, was a profound mystic from Denizli Province in southwestern Turkey. He was born sometime between 1460 and 1465 in the village of Sarımahmutlu in what was then Germiyan Province. We visited his family home in the village of Buldan. They have now erected a statue of him in the courtyard of the old prison building. In our culture, we generally don‟t make statues of saints, 30
but this particular holy man man has not one, but two! One in Denizli and the other in Manisa. Before he became Merkez Effendi, Musa Effendi was studying theology. He was drawn to Sufism and came to Istanbul. He received “signals of ecstasy” emanating from the neighborhood of Kocamustafapaşa, yet he paid them no heed. He resisted them even, because he was not pleased with Sümbül Sinan Effendi, the Khalwati sheikh at the Sufi lodge in that area, who had the people doing the sema and performing dhikr while whirling. He preferred to stay away. “What‟s the need?!” he thought. That was until one night he saw Sümbül Effendi in a dream. The holy sheikh comes Merkez Effendi‟s house. Once there he forces the door.
“Dear God!” “Dear God!” says Musa Effendi, and mobilizing his wife, they pile up whatever whatever they have behind the door. door. But it‟s no use!
Sümbül Effendi shoves the door open and enters. The furniture goes tumbling across floor. The next morning, Musa Effendi said to himself, “I may as well go and listen to that holy man, albeit covertly.” He went to the mosque where Sümbül Sinan Effendi was giving his sermon and hid behind a column. column.
Sümbül Effendi was interpreting some verses from the Taha Surah. That day he gave seven interpretations. Initially, he said, “O people of the congregation! You understand here. Musa Effendi also understands.” He went on to interpret the deeper, more esoteric meanings of these verses. He said, “O people of the congregation! You did not understand this commentary, and neither did Musa
Effendi.” The mention of his name alone surprised Musa Effendi. After the sermon, he clasped Sümbül Sinan‟s hands and begged 31
forgiveness. But in return he got a scolding, “Why did you try so hard to keep us from crossing the threshold last night?” Musa Effendi was outright flabbergasted. Right there and then he became a disciple and joined the lodge.
would you you cre cr eate the uni uni ver ver se? se? ” “ H ow would There are many legends regarding Musa Effendi. We haven‟t the space for all them here. But we cannot omit this one: One day his master asked him, “If you had created the universe, how would you have done it?”
“I would leave everything as it is,” he answered. “God created everything in its proper place.” “Bravo, Musa Effendi! You mean to say that you would leave everything centered as it is. Therefore, your name henceforth shall be Merkez (center) Effendi.” Merkez Effendi found the center of his own truth and also became the center of his ma master‟s attention, and thus his successor! On his sheikh‟s orders, Merkez Effendi went away to Manisa to further his spiritual journey. There he invented mesir macunu, macunu, a sweet, curative paste made from herbs that is now a popular confection at festivities throughout the Turkish Aegean region. He eventually returned to Istanbul after receiving a divine “message.” He came back only to find that his sheikh had passed. He assumed his post, which he held for 23 years until his death. His body is sealed sealed in the tekke tekke he built. The sources from that era all agree that Merkez Effendi was a compassionate, gentle, and good-humored good-humored person. He was as curious as he was educated. One night Merkez Effendi went into sequestration. His wife went to check on him, but when she did not see him in there, she became worried, and went out looking for him. She finally found Merkez Effendi in the courtyard of the tekke with a conical cap atop his head, performing the sema like a Mevlevi. 32
He said to his wife, who was staring at him in astonishment, “Only God knows the truth, but some day there will be a Mevlevi lodge constructed near our tekke!” I approached the walls of the lodge Merkez Effendi foresaw, and turned toward the cemetery immediately behind it. I recited the Fatihah Surah and went in through the gate. The gate had a subway-style turnstile. The bright metal parts did not jive ecologically with this historic place. But what could I do? They were right, for it was a university, and they had to control the comings and goings. The private security minding the gate said that Abdurrahman Hodja had not yet arrived, and since no one from the sema committee was inside, I was not allowed in. I would just have to wait outside. Granted, I did not give my name nor did I remind him that I was a faculty member. But still, I did not like his attitude at all. Yet never in my life have I spoke the phrase, “Do you know who I am?” And it would be especially unbefitting of a semazen candidate to utter such words. So I stepped aside, pulled up my coat collar against the cold and waited. Some time later, Dr. Recep Şentürk, the director of the Institute, arrived in his official car. He was a fine researcher, and I held him in high regard. He saw me and said, “Hodja, what are you doing here?”
“I‟m here for sema practice.” He did not understand at that moment what I had meant. He invited me to his office for tea, but just then Abdurrahman Hodja “Another time,” we said, taking leave of each other. arrived. “Another time,” We could now cross the threshold of the Mevlevihane and go inside.
33
Yenikapı
Threshold. The tekke threshold. Crossing the tekke threshold – these these words carry many meanings in the Sufi lexicon. Let me recall the legend of Yunus Emre, that great Turkish poet saint. One day in his youth, Yunus the dervish grew restless restless and took off into lands unknown. He left the tekke without asking permission from his sheikh, Taptuk Taptuk Emre. Years go by before he stopped and said, “I have been wandering far and wide.” The force that had driven him to the road in the first place finally gave inspiration to his heart, and he once again returned home. But, how would he get the great Taptuk to forgive him...
Taptuk‟s wife greeted him at the door and said to him, “Lie down on that threshold.” She pointed to the area in front of the door. “The holy man‟s eyes can no longer see very well. “When he goes outside he will trip over you... “He will ask, „Whose there?‟ and I‟ll say, „Yunus.‟ And if he says, „Our Yunus,‟ you will know that you are still in his heart and that he held no grudge. You will kiss his hands and come inside. If he does not say that, then there is nothing to be done. You will get up and leave.” The next morning Yunus pulled through. Through tears of joy, j oy, the old sheikh indeed exclaimed, “Our Yunus!” “Our Yunus!” The “threshold” he lay down upon is the Sufi‟s station. This threshold is the door to Absolute Knowledge; it is the station of Ali, of the dervishes, and of the insan al-kamil , the Universal Man. So out of respect, we do not step on the threshold. The threshold is the “passage” that separates – or links – the the inside of the house with the outside. It is a step. In Sufi terms it is called “barzakh,” the chasm between earth and heaven. The true friends of God are those who can dabble in both this world and the
34
world beyond, who can transport themselves between them, and appear in both the material and spiritual world at the same time. That threshold is the place where God commanded Moses to “leave your two shoes (as well as your worldly and empyreal identities) outside and come as you are.” Sufis also use the threshold to mean initiation into the order and admittance into the lodge. Is it easy to cross the threshold? Some people mull it over and over before they submit. They calculate and they weigh, and their hearts going back and forth, yet for the life of them they cannot cross the spiritual threshold in their heart. What can I say, submission is hard. Some come along and never cease pacing back and forth in front of the lodge like a convict in a prison yard, yet cannot muster the courage to knock on the door and cross the threshold. They remain imprisoned in the dungeon of the world. Others though, like Merkez Effendi, receive a divine touch that pushes them inside. It wasn‟t for nothing that I told you about Merkez Effendi‟s dream. We were now at the door of the Yenikapı Mevlevihane, that is to say, at the tekke door.
Mi M i nd the 3 Ts ( Ter Ter r a, Tom Tomb, Tekke Tekke)) ! In order to know Man and Universe, you have to get to the bottom of the three “T”s: Terra, Tekke, and Tomb. You must know the lay of the land and follow the path, while also acknowledging acknowledging the saints who came before you. And you will realize that the wheel that the Almighty has cast down and set in motion is spinning between the tekke and the tomb. Years ago a young man heard glowing reviews about my master, Faik Baba. So he went to him and requested that he let him undertake a spiritual journey. First Faik Baba looked him over carefully. Then he asked him where he lived. 35
When the applicant gave him his address, Faik Baba said, “Tell me the name of a saint buried in a tomb around there.” The youth could not answer. He became annoyed.
“First learn that, son, then come to us,” he said, sending away the unfortunate young man. I have already mentioned the issue of “ecology.” I was not joking. This is called being in tune with your your surroundings. surroundings.
I‟ve come across this ignorance often while asking directions to a tomb. You give the name of a tomb, and the person has no clue. But if it‟s the name of a shopping center, they can tell you where it‟s at quicker than using a navigation device! Yet if you omit the T‟s I listed above, there would be no such thing as Turkish history. You cannot write the history of the Turks without Tasawwuf , that is, without Sufism. Those who don‟t know Sufism will fail to understand anything about us. That goes for Turks as well. This may come across as a big claim to some. Sure, but the dervish way of thinking is this: Sufism not only served as a catalyst for “Islamization” of the Turkish people, but also took on the special responsibility of civilizing, as well as sustaining, Turkish national identity, selfhood, and spirit. The saints of Khorasan led the Turkish holy wars armed with wooden swords. This brigade, known among scholars as the “colonizing Turkish dervishes,” established lodges in the lands they conquered and laid the substructure for those who would come after them. Settlements formed with the tekke as the “center.” Situated in foreign provinces, these places showed an affinity to the people and offered a way for non-Muslims to warm up to the Turks. They taught and demonstrated to Turks and the local people alike how they should comport themselves.
36
Those who remember the Turks only for their sword, accusing us of barbarianism, barbarianism, should also consider the elements of heroism and the saintliness in our identity. We are a people of hero-saints, the alperen. alperen. The tekkes put in place a “tradition” of socialization, cohesion, and peaceful coexistence. Their presence in every neighborhood made tekkes the sites of civilization in Turko-Islamic city planning. The tekkes provided education and training. They were centers for arts and crafts, as well as places of healing, where they applied treatment and therapy through music. The tekkes played another important role. With the dissolution of the multiethnic Ottoman Empire in the age of nationalism, and the subsequent founding of the Republic, the existence of the tekkes became a vital sanctuary in the struggle to preserve our identities in the areas outside the borders of the Turkish nation state. Those tekkes are the places in the Balkans today where you will first encounter the “remains” of a Turkish past. I have seen this with my own eyes on trips I took for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was the eighties and Özal was prime minister. The Republic of Turkey was opening up to the Balkans with a large delegation. We went to Macedonia. The late Özal was indefatigable. After a packed all-day program, he would gather everyone together, even the consultants. From midnight until two in the morning he would have us all give our summary of the day. It was miserable trying to keep pace with him. Alas, we have left such days behind. I must have drunk so much coffee in order to stay awake and not fall asleep by his side. One night I tossed and turned for a while in my hotel bed before giving up. I climbed out of bed and got dressed in time to hear the morning call to prayer. I went down to the lobby hoping to find some coffee at reception. 37
I looked up and saw Özal‟s press consultant ready for work at the crack of dawn.
“What‟s going on?” He laughed. “Don‟t say a word,” he said. Oh Lord, I was worried. Then I saw Özal getting off the elevator. He looked at me and said, “Mim Kemal‟s coming too.” There were five of us. We all squeezed into the official car they had provided Özal. The driver stopped in front a Bektashi tekke. The lodge officials greeted us. Everyone had on traditional robes and felt hats. For a moment it was like we had stepped back into Ottoman times. We all did the morning prayer together, after which we performed dhikr. There we were, side-by-side, shoulder-to-shoulder, arm-toarm with Özal doing dhikr! It was quite something to be in the same circle as the prime minister! An hour later we were back at the hotel. The official program had already started. Functioning tekkes are not just found in the Balkans, but also in places in the Middle East that were once Ottoman lands. After the tekkes were shuttered in Turkey, the late M. Celâleddin Bakır Çelebi, the 21st generation grandson of Rumi, was forced to live in Aleppo for a time. He remarked on this point:
“The reason to consider that place [the Mevlevi lodge where he stayed] to be a part of the homeland is that this tekke, which is in an Arab country, is a true center of Turkish culture... I remember many Dedes living there, who up until their death, stubbornly refused to speak any other language besides Turkish. For the Dedes, the wind that came from the north, from Anatolia, as well as the rain clouds, had a different kind of character to them. For them, the smell of home blew in on that wind. The water of home was in that rain. I 38
remember one Dede taking his Mevlevi sikke off his head, pressing it against his chest, and fulfilling his dire longings for home with the rain water pouring down his hair and beard.”15
hose who sacr sacrii fi ce thei thei r live li vess ma may ente enterr this thi s path path” “ T hose We‟re back to Mevlevi lodges. The Mevlevi lodges that were established in the SeljuqOttoman lands were modeled after the one in Konya. Sultan Bahaeddin Walad‟s son, Emir Arif Çelebi, was instrumental in this expansion. Mevlana said to his son, “Bahaeddin! Arif is my son, not
yours.” “I then got to thinking what it means to be a son,” wrote Sultan Walad. “And I said that he is Mevlana‟s pure servant.” “Bahaeddin, the true child (the dutiful child, let‟s say – mkö) – mkö) is not the offspring of a sheikh, but the one who is a servant and disciple. It is hoped that Arif will bring our generation‟s guardianship over the path to perfection, because our Arif is a child of spiritual states, and a sea of vision. The knowledge of truth will be found in him in the highest degree. He is the sultan of those dervishes. He has reached maturities within maturity.” According to the record, Mevlana then recited this line:
“One can only take this path when he sacrifices his life / the moment he takes the first step.”16 One must be a worthy heir. And it‟s not the child connected through parentage who is preferred and favored, I mused, but the one connected through the path. Just as I was writing these lines, my cell phone rang: It It was Hüseyin Top!
15
Celaleddin Bakır Çelebi; Mevlana Okyanusunda Okyanusundan n (Konya: Valilik yay., 2. Bakır Çelebi; Hz. Mevlana
Baskı: 2004), p. 171-2. 16 Aflâki, ibid .,., p. 660-1. 39
“Child,” he said, “We were together in spirit this evening. If only you knew what adventures we experienced.” My eyes teared up, because I was thinking of him too. This had to have been a divine communication! I prayed, “God, let this this humble man (me) be worthy of him – my my Dede – and and of his love and favor.” Arif Çelebi was quite a grandson. He was fervent and a bit of a tough guy. He spent his life wandering throughout Anatolia, lighting the Mevlevi lamp across these lands, finding followers, and establishing tekkes. He is now sealed in the same mausoleum as his father and grandfather. grandfather. I cannot pass up this opportunity to share an anecdote about him. There was once an influential sheikh in Tokat. This sheikh objected to man prostrating before man. He could not stand his disciples venerating Mevlana, and so would castigate them for it. One day Arif Çelebi came up to him and bellowed:
“It‟s not your place to prostrate before us, because the prostration you do is blasphemy itself! This is because you see us as you see yourself, as human. You have not transcended mankind to reach the station of the angels. You gaze upon us with Satan‟s deceitful gaze.” The man cowered in fear.
Çelebi went on: “You are ignorant of the light inside the sheikh who brims with intellect, because you are an ass. But our disciples not prostrating is a complete blasphemy, because turning one‟s back on God‟s light and imitating the cult of the devil is the business of the blind. It is a huge mistake... mistake... Our friends therefore obey God‟s command, which was, „O angels, prostrate before Adam. And they did prostrate. They did not exhibit pride‟ (Al-Baqara 2:34, Al-Isra 40
17:61, Taha 20:16), from time immemorial until eternity. While the angels‟ prostration meant a thousand tributes for them and determined their valor, it spelled blasphemy blasphemy and rejection for Satan.” The sheikh accepted Çelebi‟s answer, cringed, and felt regret. He apologized and became a Mevlevi. He saved his hide in God‟s eyes.17 There is no need here to go one by one listing the locations of Mevlevi lodges founded across Eurasia. But Tokat is different. It is special. The lodge there opened in Rumi‟s day. The emir of Tokat at the time, Muiniddin Süleyman Pervane, requested its construction. That one fell into ruin, but was replaced in the 17th century during the reign of Sultan Ahmed I. The last incarnation of this Mevlevi lodge, which still stands today, was constructed under Sultan Abdulmejid‟s initiative. The wooden building is preserved today as a museum. When we went to Tokat for a talk I was giving on people with disabilities, I asked our hosts to take us there. So we went. Like many museums of this kind in Turkey, they had attempted to bring the past to life through the use of mannequins. In the sema hall, mannequins of dervishes turned by themselves on mechanical mechanical platforms. Feeling the call, I jumped in among them and did the sema. Just then I got a call on my cell. It was Tayfur, the head semazen in Denizli. “You crossed my mind, so I said to myself, I‟ll give him a call,” he told me.
“Good to hear from you, Tayfur!” I said. We chatted for a second before hanging up. I laughed to myself, then turned to the museum staffer, who was looking at me in astonishment. “What is your name, son?” I asked. “Tayfur!” he said. The world of synchronicities. Nothing is random in this universe!
17
Aflâki, ibid .,., p. 667 41
Interestingly, the Mevlevi lodges around Istanbul there were built to be tekkes were mosty constructed in resort areas. They were not places where people lived full time. Baha Tanman, an expert in this field, offers us a reason for this: “To get to the source of the peculiar distribution of Istanbul Mevlevi lodges, we have to look at the formation of an elite class among the Mevlevis themselves, and their preference to stay away from the gossip of „crude ascetics.‟”18
“However,” he adds, “at no time did the palace and the aristocracy monopolize Mevlevism. Mevlevism embraced lots of people from different circles, yet through the sophisticated cultural milieu it represented, an „elite‟ rather than „elitist‟ school of Sufism
emerged.”19 Tanman is quite correct. When you look at Mevlevi lodges from afar you immediately notice their plain but noble structure. The most important element is their functionality. Larger Mevlevi lodges were constructed as part of a külliye, or a complex of buildings, with a courtyard in the middle and a cemetery on the periphery. In addition to the private quarters where the sheikh‟s family lived, the other components consisted of dervish cells, a sema hall, a sanctuary in the men‟s quarter, a common space, a kitchen, and a refectory. While Tanman searched for sources that would have given rise to the unique architectural features of the Mevlevi lodge, the first thing that came to his mind was the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. Did the Prophet‟s point of departure on the Mi‟r aj aj serve as inspiration for the sema halls? 18
Mevlevi Mevlevi Dünyasında Bahariye Mevlevihanesi (İstanbul: İstev, 2013), p. 57.
19
Ibid . p. 78. 42
He says that it might have, but the most significant source of inspiration for Istanbul tekkes is found in the wood-heavy architecture of houses practiced in the city from the 17th Century on. The affinity of Mevlevi tekkes to housing architecture, according to him, must have been to invoke the Masjid an-Nabawi ,” or and the Prophet‟s own house. The first tekke was the “bayt ,” home, where Muhammad met with his companions. It was here that the Sufi seeds were planted. Was the Prophet not also the leader – or or sheikh – on God‟s path and His kingdom on earth? He instilled Absolute Knowledge into those who entered his heart (bayt (bayt ). ). You cross the tekke threshold in order to enter his heart. Shall we too cross that threshold? Let‟s knock on the door to the Mevlevihane, ask permission to enter, and see what‟s cooking inside.
O, My M y N i ghti ghti ngale ngale of Suffe S ufferr i ng I‟ve often wondered how many people in olden times, passing by a Mevlevi lodge, had stopped suddenly, turned towards the door, and said, “I heard them calling, „Come!‟ so I came and I surrendered”? In those days, there were no CCTV cameras to record them, so alas we will never know. But let‟s go with this imaginary scenario above and say we have a dervish candidate. He knocks on the door and declares he wants to be initiated into the Mevlevi order. goodness sake, son, this is an occupation full of ordeals “For goodness and suffering,” we warn him. “Will you be able to withstand it?” Ordeal is a requisite. The term for this is chilla, chilla, which comes from the Persian word for “forty.” In Sufism the ordeal requires the dervish to withdraw to a closed room or cell, and enter seclusion, a period in which he occupies himself with worship and dhikr. They do this for forty days and forty nights.
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In Mevlevism, however, the ordeal lasts for 1001 days. According to one legend, the Mevlevis adapted this number because the total amount of time Rumi spent in seclusion during his life amounted to 1001 days. Our potential dervish persists. “I will submit to the ordeal too,” he says. He is now requesting to take the vow. By doing so, he commits himself to the path. So we administer the oath. Once again, deliberation here is important. We give the candidate a three-day grace period, in case he changes his mind. So before even starting the ordeal, the candidate is made to sit for three days on a narrow, raised platform near the kitchen door called the “ saka postu,” which derives its name from saka, saka, a water carrier, and post and post , a sheepskin mat on which he actually sits. From here he watches the activities of the tekke. His three days come to an end. If the candidate decides to stick with it, he is brought to the elder kettle maker, where he is dowered with his robes and given kitchen duties. Our initiate then begins his training under the senior cook. Mevlevi lodges have 18 such branches of service to remind the candidate of the 18 thousand universes. In Mevlevism, Mevlevism, the kitchen is a sacred hearth where the raw are cooked, and the green are ripened. At the same time, our dervish will train in music and the art of the sema. Before I forget, let me note that our new dervish does not don the sikke on his head until he is ready to participate in the sema ceremony. You can get a sense of the spiritual atmosphere that these initiation processes invoke by stopping by the t he Galata Mevlevihane in Tünel the next time you find yourself in Istanbul. Climb up the hill from the Galata Bridge and through the cosmopolitan yet shabby vibrancy of Tünel to the tekke. Cross the tekke threshold, greet Şeyh 44
Galip, and go through into courtyard. Ah, tranquility. A different world suddenly opens up before you. I don‟t know how it happens, but every time I enter, I get the same feeling, that same sense of curiosity. How does all that racket and noise from the street not make it in here? Wonders upon wonders! You get the feeling you just teleported into another dimension. dimension. The Galata Mevlevihane is not unfamiliar to me. When I was a shorts-wearing middle school student, I would walk there from Nişantaşı where we lived. I‟d buy a ticket and go in. There I would stand in the garden, motionless for a while. At the time I felt like my surroundings were spinning around me. It was like l ike a game game to me. Now I am spinning around in the same space, one Sunday afternoon a month. This is how they prep the initiate, by turning him on the spit. It is the same with the dervish candidate, whom they cook for 1001 days. There is no other way to become a Dede. The ability to cross the tekke threshold matters. It is not a numbers game; it‟s quality over quantity. The predisposed and the foreordained may enter. They called you not because it was your turn, but because you were chosen. It is not a matter of filling the tekke. Being a dervish – that that is, being a steward and servant of the door (“der ” means door in Persian, after all) – is a tough occupation. Those who know, know a story. I‟ll tell it here. There was a sheikh whose disciples were few. The tekke was nearly empty, and his disciples could no longer bear it. “Master, if only others could benefit from your abundance,” they said.
“Hey, hey, my sons. Could anything be easier?” The sheikh went out to the square in Eminönü, and approached one of the pigeons. He caught the animal by its head and snapped it off. 45
The people in the square gasped. They began to gather, looking on in astonishment. astonishment. When a sufficient crowd had gathered, the holy man wetted the tip of his finger with his saliva and rubbed the pigeon ‟s neck. Voila its head became “reattached.” Then he said, “Come on, flutter and fly,” he said. The pigeon suddenly took flight. The onlookers indeed saw the sheikh‟s “miracle.” They inquired about the holy man and flocked to the tekke. Now the tekke was filling up chock-a-block with candidates. It filled up and spilled over. The disciples did not like what they saw. They could no longer meet with their sheikh and talk face to face. He could no longer help them with their difficulties. Plus they had to tend to all the guests. They came up to their sheikh. “This is no good,” they said. “How wonderful were the old days. We miss those times.” The sheikh laughed. “Ha, ha, my sons, nothing could be
easier.” He went to lead the first prayers of the day with a leather flask under his armpit. During the ritual prayer, he squeezed the water skin, and naturally the air escaped. Pfft, pfft. The congregation assumed the holy man was breaking wind. Paying them no mind he went, pfft, pfft, again and again. The congregation was aghast. Rather than leave the prayer to relieve himself, the sheikh had gone on praying. Afterwards, they said, “Our prayer session was disgusting.” They stormed out of the lodge. “What kind of sheikh it this guy?” they grumbled to one another. They vowed never to return.
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The disciples understood the situation. They learned their lesson. “That is what a crowded congregation is like,” said their sheikh. “They came for a flutter, and left on account of a fart”! There is a similar story told about Şeyh Galip Effendi, the famous postnishin postnishin at the Galata Mevlevihane who wrote the Sufi classic, Hüsn-ü Aşk (Beauty (Beauty and Love). The fame of Şeyh Galip had spread far and wide. At one point no one could enter the Galata Mevlevihane; Mevlevihane; it was that t hat crowded. The disciples and dervishes were in an uproar. So Şeyh Galip instructs them, “Paint me a sign that says „His Excellency Muawiyah.‟ Have it framed and bring it.” The sign venerates Muawiyah ibn abi Sufyan, the first Umayyad Caliph, who was a controversial controversial figure in Islam along the Sunni-Shia divide. They did what he said, and hung it next to the door of the toilets! Those coming to the ceremony who purported to be the ulema, the custodians of Sunni religious knowledge, were displeased that the sign was hung in a mean place.
“You‟re putting the name of a companion who was merely a scribe for the Prophet‟s revelations there?!” They decided to never step foot in the tekke again. And when those of the ahl-i bayt persuasion, persuasion, that is the Shias, came and saw the sign, they recoiled in disgust. “What business does the name of a person who betrayed the grandsons of the Prophet have here?” They too decided never to return to the t he lodge again. And so the lodge went back to the way it was, and the dervishes carried on their spiritual pleasure in their own world. Besides Şeyh Galip, the Galata Mevlevihane cemetery also contains the remains of Ismail Ankaravi, the forbearer of Masnavi interpreters.
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May God have mercy on them and may we benefit from their abundance.
The sheikh who lived in the hollow of a sycamore We went off on a tangent. Where were we? Ah, I was entering the Yenikapı Mevlevihane with my semazen teacher, Abdurrahman Tevruz.
Yenikapı is a “first class” Mevlevi lodge. It is regarded as one of the main centers, second only to the one in i n Konya. Its origin story is based on an epic legend. During the 17th century lived a man named Malkoç Mehmed Effendi. He had just been fired from his job in the Janissary Corps. In his newfound free time he would come to the area which is now Yenikapı to while away the hours in the cafes there. There was a local ascetic there who had been living for six or seven years in the hollow of a sycamore tree, which grew on the site of the future Mevlevi lodge. This mystic spent every moment of his day worshipping and performing dhikr. He eventually caught the attention of Malkoç Mehmed Effendi. Mehmed Effendi approached the ascetic and, feeling moved by him, latched onto him.
“Pray for me,” he begged. “Let my honor be restored.” So the saint, whom he learns later is Kemâl Ahmed Dede, scribbled some things on a piece of paper, folded it up, and gave it to Mehmed Effendi. “Do not open until this day” he warned, giving him a precise date. Then one day Malkoç Mehmed Effendi was suddenly reinstated in the Janissary Corps. That day was in fact the date that Kemâl Ahmed Dede had wanted him to read his letter. He opened the piece of paper and there, written in black and white, it said, shall be restored on this date.” “Honor shall With his honor and wealth restored, he had a Mevlevi lodge constructed on that land, which he had come to own. On February 9, 48
1649, with an order from Konya appointing Kemâl Ahmed Dede as its first postnishin first postnishin,, the Yenikapı Mevlevihane opens its doors! This tekke contributed to the cultivation of many figures who would leave their mark on Mevlevi history. As far as I can remember, Buhurizade Mustafa Itri and Hammamizade Dede Effendi, masters of our classical music, both trained in this lodge. Also deserving mention is Hasan Ali Yücel, the Republic‟s leftist, nationalitarian, and secularist Minister of Education. He had been an admirer of this place since childhood. Here is what he wrote about it in his memoirs:
“I really loved that tekke. The people there were polite, and the garden and yard were big. Everyone‟s movements were measured and calm. Nobody interfered with anyone, no one talked incessantly. Inside was a place where children and adults could breathe comfortably.”20 With his personage and legacy, Yücel occupies a contentious position in i n our history. In this matter, I am of the same mind as my friend, scholar Ahmed Güner Sayar, Sayar, who writes:
“...Hasan Ali Yücel was not a Mevlevi, yet in spirit he was. He was a Mevlevi aficionado who undeniably loved Mevlana. He was a Mevlana devotee, or in the terminology he put forward, a
Mevlanist.”21 Let me be reminded that one of the Divan-e the Divan-e Kabir copies copies I am using today to write Semazen Semazen was published during his time in office.
20
Yenikapı Mevlev Yenikapı Mevlevihanesi‟nin ihanesi‟nin İnsanları İnsanları (İstanbul: Zeytinburnu Bel. yay, 2012), p.
319 21
Mevleviliği (İstanbul: Ötüken, 2002), p. Hasan Ali Yücel‟ in in Tasavvufi Dünyası ve Mevleviliği
320. 49
Abdurrahman Hodja and I talked all the way to Yenikapı Mevlevihane‟s sema hall. We ducked into a little room to the left of the entrance marked “Dressing Room.” We left our belongings there and entered the sema hall. Imagine a wide, circular room. The door was opposite the qibla, and in that wall was a mihrab. The sema hall basically consists of two stories. The hardwood flooring on which the sema is performed occupies the center of the building at ground ground level. Surrounding Surrounding this circle is the spectator area, area, partitioned off with railings. A mezzanine then runs along the perimeter above the spectator area, accessible by a staircase. This is where the musicians play. Abdurrahman Hodja opened the partition gate to the polished walnut floor where the sema takes place. We severed our heads toward the qibla and entered the circle. The postnishin‟s post is placed in front front of the qibla qibla wall. The walk along the right side of the circle towards the direction of the qibla symbolizes the semazen‟s journey to God, or his “ascension.” At the hatt-ı ıstıva‟ , or halfway point, the dervish greets his master in front of the mihrab. He then begins the arc along the left side back towards the sema hall door. This is the “descent.” The hatt-ı ıstıva‟ is an imaginary line running from the sheikh‟s sheepskin to the gate. This halfway point is the threshold. It is barzakh, barzakh, limbo. It is the passageway between the two t wo worlds. You do not step on this line. When you come up to it, you “sever your head,” before taking wide respectful steps to cross over it. This is the site of fana fillah and fillah and baqa billah, billah, annihilation of the self before God, and subsistence in union with God, respectively. Abdurrahman and I did our prayers and began our drills. There was not a soul around, neither semazen nor spectator. Pardon! We were in fact not alone. We were in their presence presence all along. I am talking about the inhabitants of the sarcophagi. Sema 50
halls generally have a large niche in which lie the sarcophagi of the tekke‟s former sheikhs (and their families), covered in precious mantles. Yenikapı is no different. The solemnity of the turbaned sikke atop the sarcophagi gives you the impression that the saints are there in the flesh, standing up watching you.
It‟s like they got up out of their coffins and are telling you, “Come on, son, keep going, you can do it!” You feel their encouraging breaths on the back of your neck. This is the wisdom of why the sarcophagi are placed there, in the sema hall itself. It is to demonstrate the union, integration and the fusion of tomb and tekke, to say, “Don‟t think even for a moment moment that they are dead; they are living.” To say the ceremony is first performed in their presence is not wrong. The rhythm that arose as my feet touched and withdrew from the wood reflected my breathing. I whirled for a while, thinking to myself, if this is exercise, who knew it could actually be so enjoyable!
“Okay, this is enough, hodja,” said Abdurrahman, bringing me back down from from the sema. sema. The attendees had already arrived.
sag a? Love’s, love’s...” “ Whose sag When I left the sema hall, I felt “lightened.” I felt something else, too, but I can‟t explain it! Emptiness... I can‟t fully say absence, but emptiness. Something like that. However I am not using the word emptiness in its negative sense. It was more like I had just jettisoned something. something. There is also the feeling of a corridor leading from your heart to the heavens. Through that corridor “things” are transmitted down from above. What is being transmitted exactly? 51
The Divan-e The Divan-e Kabir records records a line Rumi recited at that moment of transmission. Perhaps it will shed some light on this matter.
“Whose circle I wonder is the circle that binds the soul‟s foot and renders the soul helpless? Whose circle would that be? Love‟s...love‟s... A state comes over us. We leave the strangeness of ourselves. Whose story is this? Whose saga? Love‟s, love‟s...”22 I thanked Abdurrahman Hodja and left the Yenikapı lodge. In the following days I would practice at the Bahariye Mevlevihane in Eyüp. The trip to Bahariye Mevlevi lodge takes you past the Eyüp Sultan Mosque to your left and the water on your right. When you continue along the waterfront the greenery suddenly envelops you, and there it appears, a magnificent white structure on the Golden Horn. In the olden days, during the age of the Ottoman sultanate, beautiful gardens covered this stretch of the Golden Horn. The springtime – bahar in in Turkish – had had a different kind of sweetness to it here, which lent itself to the name, “Bahariye.” State dignitaries and wealthy merchants once lived in grand mansions along this waterfront. The imperial Sadabad Palace and the cluster of other palaces owned by nobles and wealthy merchants during the Tulip Period were located not too far up from fr om here in Kağıthane. On the weekends the leisure class would sail the Golden Horn. Writers from that period remarked that when the pleasure boats passed in front of the Mevlevi lodge, they would stop the singing and music on board and listen to the divine music emanating from the tekke.23 The neighborhood residents and Sufi enthusiasts also held the tekke in high esteem. They would flock to the lodge on ceremony 22
ŞC, DK, I, p. 164. 23 Mevlevi Mevlevi Dünyasında Bahariye Mevlevihanesi (İstanbul: İstev, 2013), p. 81 52
– “feast.” They treated their ears and days and – in in Mevlevi parlance – “feast.” souls to the ceremony that would begin following the afternoon prayer. However, the waterfront that had come into vogue during the Tulip Period began to fall into decline by the early 19th century with Mahmud II‟s destruction of several palaces and the construction of a sprawling thread factory in their place. In the process that began with this event and continued into Republican era, the Bahariye factories wrecked havoc on the smaller workshops. The Mevlevi lodge too fell victim to the encroaching industrialization. It eventually caught fire, crumbled, and turned to ruin. The restoration – or rather the complete reconstruction – is quite new. The Mevlevihane is currently under the stewardship of the Entrepreneurial Businessman‟s Association (GIV), and the Foundation for Science, Art, History, and Literature (ISTEV). They do a ceremony once a month. The sema hall regained its principal function. And by entering the circle under its magnificent dome, we reclaimed it also. They even offered us soup at the end of the ceremony, as in the olden days. Let me just say that I love historic tekkes and tombs. I will visit them at the drop of a hat. I take my family and friends and we travel places to check them out. I can‟t get enough. Each place has a different, calming vibe, an air that offers relief. Let me tell you a story about a certain Sheikh Daquqi, as told in the third volume of the Masnavi the Masnavi.. This friend of God spent most of his time on the road. Before setting out, he would pray to God, “O Lord! Let me encounter your pure servants.”
53
Finally, one day God shouted down to him, “You have my love, what more do you want? God is with you, so why are you seeking mankind?” Daquqi gave the following answer: "If I were sitting in the middle of the ocean, I would gaze at the water in the jug.” Shall I explain? Daquqi is saying, “O my Lord, yes, I am sitting in the ocean of unity. I am pleasantly witnessing your divine names and attributes in my own body. But two of the same manifestations do not take place at one stage. And And the same manifestation manifestation does not occur at two stages. For that reason, my ambition to see the face of Your saint is but to witness Your beauty. beauty. I want to taste the pleasure, which is different at every stage.”24
That‟s how it is. Just as the renowned Masnavi Masnavi commentator, Ahmed Avni Konuk, explained it above, the saints are searching for each another and seeking out one another‟s conversation. Same with the close relationship between Mevlana and Shams. Therefore, we say that every holy site – be it a place or a person – has its own particular “air.” Those who know, know. For example, I caught the same “scent” at Khoja Ahmet Yassawi‟s tomb when I went there with Demirel as I did when I had visited it with Özal. I cannot really describe the kind of spiritual atmosphere that was in Yasi, Kazahkstan, but it was something like walking inside of that man towards his heart. And for a moment I had the feeling that it was just the two of us, that I was alone with the forefather of Sufi saints. Istanbul is very fortunate in this sense. It is the cradle of saints. There is a saint, or several even, in every neighborhood. Merkez Effendi, Yahya Effendi, Sümbül Effendi, Zafir Effendi – the the list goes on! At each tomb, your spirit is lightened and you sense that 24
Konuk, V. p. 516. 54
you are closer to God there. It takes away life ‟s anxieties and the day‟s stress. You see the heavens heavens shining through the clouds. When I take a trip outside of Istanbul, either for business or pleasure, my first stop is always a tomb or a tekke. When I get to a city, I first start by visiting the local saints. I ask the saints for their blessing and I receive it. Fortune comes my way and I succeed in whatever I am doing, thanks be to God. I make a point to t o stop by Mevlevi lodges and visit the Mevlevi saints. I cannot help it – if if the right r ight conditions prevail, I immediately do nine circles in the sema hall. It‟s become a habit, and I don‟t see the harm in it.
I‟ve already mentioned it above, but I‟ll say it again: these places each have their own, distinct vibe. There is something in the air around them, and these two “T”s, tombs and tekkes, give my country a special kind of atmosphere.
I‟ve talked about my sensitivity to ecology. In fact, I even wrote a book called The Ecology of Love. Love. Indeed, let me put this to you: Tombs and tekkes are Turkey‟s true “purification facilities.” They purify the air. It‟s a kind of spiritual “detoxification!” The reason is clear: the breath that comes off our tongues whenever we gossip and spread malicious banter pollutes the air around us.
It‟s a bad habit we have. Unfortunately we are helpless in the face of this weakness. When two people meet, out come the criticism, accusations, and little jabs. However, when you pray at the tombs and perform dhikr in the tekkes, the act of remembering the beautiful names of God cleanses the air!
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Our respiratory system cleans our blood, does it not? And how does it do it? With the rhythm of the heart! This is the outward, or matter. zahir , dimension of the matter. Now look at the t he matter from the spiritual, batin, batin, angle. When that dhikr rolls off the tongue, and travels from the mouth to the heart, the spiritual condition within the body makes a turn t urn toward the positive. In contemporary terminology, terminology, you are loading up on positive energy. At these “purification facilities,” the bad energy is removed from the body and the air. This spiritual substructure of tombs and tekkes is why I love my country so much.
C ountr untr y of of Sp S pi r i tual ual Pr P r ofundi undi ty I have spent a lot of time abroad. There was even a time – around the time of the 1997 post-modern coup – that that I wanted to get out of the country for good. But I could neither leave behind my saints, nor would I be able to find that “spiritual profundity “spiritual profundity”” in the West. We Turks are fortunate in that respect. I understand that as a country you would want to become a powerhouse in the international international political system, I understand. But, there is strategic profundity and then there is mystical profundity. I am an aspirant of the latter. To me, the value of this country lies not with those on top, but rather with those “below.” Condemn me if you like, but that‟s how I feel. These saints are the whole reason this country is known as “the cradle of civilization.” I don‟t know whether or not we are aware or conscious of this fact. Let me just add that “if only!” is not an expression found in the Sufi lexicon.
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But naturally we expect people to show respect and decency at those places and in the presence of our saints. There are few spectators at the ceremony who abide Abdurrahman Hodja‟s polite advisory to not make noise or use flash photography. One day we were at Yenikapı. It was a full house, which is all fine and well, but some people who could not find seats were starting to file in around the sarcophagi! They were leaning on the coffins of these saints! My God! Yet the audience at the Galata Mevlevihane, whose attendees are mostly tourists, made not a peep. They watched in silent awe. What a sad contrast, no? Mevlevism means being a chelebi. chelebi. A chelebi is chelebi is someone who is affable, courteous, and cultured. And boy are we in desperate need of those! Yahya Effendi placed a sign above his tekke‟s threshold that read, “Manners, for God‟s sake!” The culture of manners that the tekkes offer must pervade our family life. What I mean is that we must practice “sustainable” moral comportment comportment not just when we step over the thresholds thresholds of tombs t ombs and tekkes, but in every place under the firmament. Let me take this further: we must treat every place, every inch of this earth, as a
“tekke.” When the Ottoman tekkes were shuttered, Ahmed Celaleddin Dede, one of the last sheikhs of the t he Bahariye Mevlevihane, Mevlevihane, retired to his house in Üsküdar and and put his feelings to paper: “The whole universe is a tekke and all creation is doing dhikr The firmament is its dome, and all the stars its chandelier Its most brightly lit lamps are the moon and the sun Closing the tekkes will never bring an end to this t his dhikr.” 25 25
Tanman, Ibid Tanman, Ibid ., ., p. 39. 57
3 SENSING MYSTICAL RESONANCES
“Ah, the voice of the ney, the ney that alerts the entire world of secrets… The ney is a pretext; this goes beyond the ney; it is the wing sound of the bird bird of dominion. dominion. There is nothing other than God; well, what are all these veils? Except that these veils pull pull the people of of God towards God.”26 Without fail, I was going to the sema hall every day there was a ceremony. We did our training beforehand, and then stuck around afterwards to watch the sema. One day our brother Mert, who had been teaching percussion to Nazlı and me, said, “Come, hodja, join us today. You‟ll play the
bendir.” “Sure... I would love to.” I said. The bendir is a large, handheld frame drum, which the bendirzen plays bendirzen plays with his fingers. And so I ended up joining the musicians! I had been promoted. I was nervous, of course.
“You‟ll do fine, hodja,” said Mert. “If you get stuck, follow me. You already know the usul s,” s,” he reassured me, referring to the rhythmic cycles of classical Turkish music. Hopefully what the great masters say, that “If you you really learn something inside out, you will do good every step of the way,” would be true on my first semazen foray. That‟s what I hoped,
26
AG, DK, IV, p. 308 58
anyway. “All right, then,” I said to myself. I severed my head, climbed the stairs, and went over to the musicians‟ area. I was alone on the mezzanine overlooking the sema floor. There was still time. No one had arrived yet. Resting on the chairs were the instruments: the qanun, qanun, rebab, rebab, bendir , kudüm, and the ney. ney. They were anxiously awaiting the ceremony, just as I was. They could hardly wait. Mevlana understands their language. He speaks with them and he makes them speak. Listen to them and hear what those instruments are telling the musicians, who will voice their hearts.
“The çeng ,27 when left without you, deteriorates, and becomes an ill and miserable being. being. The ney fills with sorrow in your absence and begins to moan and cry. Bring the çeng to to your ear, and heal it. Kiss the ney and caress it. The T he bendir also begs you. „Please,‟ it says, „Take me in your hand! Strike my face, strike, strike, let my face be touched by your strikes, and may the radiance join in harmony.‟” 28 Musical instruments are ready and waiting for their own glorifications of God. They have inherent expectations of the t he Mi‟raj. During ceremonies, the musicians take their places first and greet the semazens. semazens. Sema observers barely notice the communication between musician and semazen, yet it‟s deep. And intense. I can‟t even fathom a semazen who is cut off from the musicians, who cannot not hear them. t hem. May God protect him! The musician feeds the semazen “his energy.” As a semazen, your ear therefore will always be on the musician.
27
The çeng is a Turkish harp.
28
ŞC, DK, I, p. 19-20. 59
An interesting communion exists between musician and semazen. Look at how the semazen wraps himself up in silence as he whirls. Not a sound escapes his mouth. Though his dhikr may be silent, his heart is bursting. It is spilling over. However, he must keep his silence so as not to breach etiquette. It is here that the musician steps in. The musician is the semazen‟s wail and moan! It is the musicians who both awaken the semazen‟s feelings as well as represent, interpret, and declare them. Mevlana says, “The lovers (the semazens semazens – mkö) – mkö) wail like the ney; it‟s as though love itself is the person playing that ney!” The musicians perch on the balcony while the semazens whirl and lose themselves below. It‟s like the scene in Shakespeare‟s Romeo and Juliet where the paramours proclaim their love. But the love here far exceeds metaphorical love. Take note again. The spectators can barely see the musicians. Their focus is on the semazens. With the ensemble out of view, you get the impression that the sound of the ney is emanating from the whirls of the dervishes. Mevlana seems to make you think as much:
“The ney (meaning semazen-mkö) is visible, but the blower of the ney is unseen; my ney is drunk from the wine of his lips!”29 Since we‟re on the subject, l et‟s touch on another angle: the dialogue between the neyzen and neyzen and the semazen. Rumi describes it best in the following dialogue. The passage is lengthy, but a short excerpt should suffice:
“(Semazen:) I said to the ney, „You are a friend of the true friend, a confidant. Therefore you know everything. Do not hide Mi‟raj – mkö)‟ mkö)‟ secrets from me! (so that I too may arrive at the Mi‟raj – The ney said to me (to the semazen - mkö): „Don‟t get too deep into this business. If you were to feel and sense and understand
29
ŞC, DK, II, p. 421 60
all of what I know, you would die; you would melt away and be
gone.‟ I said to it (the ney- mkö), „My salvation is in my wretchedness and in my death. If you want to do me a favor, set me ablaze! Engulf me in flames, make me burn, so that neither my wits nor my knowledge nor my understanding remain.‟ The ney said (to the semazen-mkö), „How could I block the caravan of love with my burning voice and my wailing? I know that the wagon master (the sheikh-mkö) is the one who knows and understands everything.‟”30 This brilliant dialogue, which goes on, comes from the Divanthe Divane Kabir . It describes exactly what occurs in the ceremony. Didn‟t I tell you that the sema and the Divan the Divan are intertwined?
Let‟s take a minute to talk about the ney. Though the origin of this reed flute goes back to t o the ancient Sumerians, what matters from our point of view is that it has became an important Sufi symbol. According to legend, Muhammad could not longer bear the intensity of the resonances of love that were flowing through him after he “saw the face of the Friend” on the Mi‟raj. So he told Ali the secret. Now Ali was set ablaze and began to burn with that same love. He could not stand it and shouted into a dray well the secret of unseen knowledge. One day, as the Prophet was walking about, he caught wind of the words he had told Ali. As they swayed in the wind, the dead reeds inside the dry well voiced the secrets he had told them, the secrets that open the door of unseen knowledge! In Sufism, the ney serves as a metaphor for the insan al-kamil , the perfected human, the Universal Man. 30
ŞC, DK, III, pp. 263-264. 61
The process by which the ney went from reed plant to woodwind is similar to how the saints transcend the states they go through: “I burned, I cooked, I became.” When Mevlana begins the Masnavi the Masnavi with “Listen to the ney!” he really means, “Listen to me!” Yes, the ney is Rumi himself. But whose voice is the one that is heard? Rumi reveals the answer in his quatrains: “And we are like the ney, the air inside us and the sound emanating out from us is from
You.” The musicians arrived. The ceremony would soon commence. My first sema as bendirzen. bendirzen. The ceremony began with a human voice, followed by the accompaniment of the ney, the küdum drum, and the other instruments. The sema hall came to life. O the wind brought forth by the voice, the music, and the skirts, the breath being the thing they shared in common… the breaths of dhikr envelope the sema hall in a mystic resonance. Like a scene of awakening, or of resurrection, magical resonances soon began to permeate the spectators. They had stopped moving now, petrified in a spellbound pose. I didn‟t use to be like this. In Rumi‟s day, “when the fire engulfs the chimney,” the affected would rip open the front of their shirts and cast themselves into the circle. That was how he began the sema. How else should it begin? The musicians are not just communicating with the semazens, but with the spectators. Did the rebab keep rebab keep quiet when the ney spoke? rebab says, „I am a piece of skin that has fallen off its “The rebab flesh. How could I not cry, how could I not suffer the pangs of
separation?‟ 62
The piece of wood too says, „I was a verdant branch. The axe chopped me down and the saw cut me up.‟ O kings, we are strangers of separation, we cry out to God, whose court we will return to in the end. Hear our cries. First we left God and came to this world, but we will return to Him again, whirling from state to state, form to form. Our voice resembles the caravan bell, or a lightning bolt striking down from the clouds.”31 The rebab says rebab says to the spectator, “wake up and join us.” The rebab rebab rends the listener‟s “veil of ignorance,” says Mevlana. In the Divan-e the Divan-e Kabir ‟s ‟s quatrains, Rumi writes that “an arrow flew from the bow of his rebab; rebab; it passed through the layers of skin and, overcoming the obstruction of the body, it reaches the heart.”32 Hearts vary. Some are sealed up and others are prone. Mevlana would say, “The sound of the rebab is rebab is the sound of
heaven‟s door.” Some people came up to him and asked, “We also hear that sound. Why do we not thirst as you do?” Mevlana gives a thought-provoking thought-provoking answer:
“What we hear is the sound of heaven‟s door opening. What you hear, though, is the sound of that door closing.”33 In short, the musician and the semazen are united – they they have become one. Together they are saying to you, the observer, “Come.” They have transformed into the divine call of Gabriel! Music brings out man‟s metaphysical profundity. It transports him back to his essence. 31
AG, IV, p. 179.
32
ŞC, DK, IV, p. 156. 33 Eflâki, Ibid ., ., p. 385. 63
This is the power of magical resonances!
N otat tati ng the S pi r i t of of the Unive ni verr se What we recognize as matter is comprised of vibrant “resonances.” Even immovable inanimate objects. Scientists tell us that everything that exists in the “universe” is in a state of resonance, and that energy comes from these resonances. Energy equals life. So then resonance is life itself. Interesting, so the mysteries of the universe‟s resonances are found in Man too. When we listen to ourselves, we notice that the rhythms of our breath, heart, and pulse have a distinct “resonance.” When we die, our resonances cease to be. Therefore, our life is connected to the rhythmic operation of a system we call the “body.” Those resonances enable action by releasing r eleasing energy. According to experts, this is the dominant understanding in the medical disciplines of Eastern civilizations. They back up their claim by pointing out the richness and diversity of remedial methods there are based on this understanding. Ancient civilizations have always emphasized the same thing: the body‟s (Man‟ s) rhythm is tuned to the rhythm of the universe. Both Man and Universe “perform dhikr” in sync with the rhythm that God set forth. Music is the basic element that synchronizes these resonances. Therefore music is at the foundation of existence and creation. The formation of the cosmic order began with the coalescence of Divine Power through rhythm and tone, that is, through the vehicle of music. This was how God‟s frequencies were received by us and the rest of the material plane. The creation of the universe began with a sound – “ – “ Kun!” Be! 64
Not only that, the creation of the universe as well as its operation contain the same principle. Man and the universe can, in and of themselves through their relationship with one another, sustain the vitality worthy of the composition that God arranged. People who are aware of this resonance order are at one with the whole universe. They possess the ability to speak to, commune with, and understand every thing in it, animate or inanimate. In short, they can make sense of themselves and the world in which they live. By this means – through the mastery of music – these individuals can put together, like a puzzle, the secrets the creator reveals to them over time. And so, the only way to advance to this level of wisdom is to achieve achieve a state of yaqin of yaqin with with the Creator. Let me also add that according to what monotheistic religions profess, the Day of Judgment will explode with the sounding of a trumpet. And so, a world made by music and experienced by music ends by music. This is why mankind has attached sanctity to music. Music was originally collected from the sacred realm and dispersed. It was created in the heavens and sent down to earth. According to this belief, music facilitates the journey to the sacred realm. In this framework, music is both the bridge and the vehicle. Naturally, it is through music that we can reach that boundless truth we we call the Creator. This is the very reason why someone would want to drop everything and embark on this journey! j ourney! The inhabitants of ancient civilizations associated the attainment of the supernatural with the concept of ultimate “liberty.” The sacred realm was purified and washed of the constraints of time and place, which was something that did not exist in the temporal – or public – world. world. If the basic element that makes humans human is the soul, and if the soul was blown into someone by a divine source, then there is 65
in every individual‟s subconscious or cognizance a desire to return to one‟s fundamental homeland. Take the bird in a cage. Even if that t hat cage was made of gold, it is obvious why the bird cries out in despair. By being embodied in the flesh, the soul is plucked from its home and confined. The soul‟s deepest yearning is to be freed from its material limitations. Once free, the soul can reach true liberty (everlastingness and immortality) by arriving once again at divine union. Over the course of history, traditional civilizations situated this mystical experience in a philosophical backdrop through their mythologies, and they sustained it by aestheticizing it through art. They knew enough to pass this mystical experience down to future generations.
Sham Shamans, ns, L over s, and D er vi she shes Turkish epics reflect the balance of the relationships between God, the Universe, and Man. You can see the workings of the same magical resonances in the rich musical culture that spans from the Turks on the Mediterranean Mediterranean to the Uighurs in Western China. Within the spirituality of Tengrism, “shamans” carried out ceremonies indigenous to those times using the rhythm they kept with their drums and the dances they performed with their bodies. As time went on, the kopuz , “our national instrument,” would be added to the drum. Later the kopuz would transform into the “bağlama” in the Anatolian cultural reservoir. When Turks hear the word kopuz , we instantly think of Dede Korkut, the travelling bard of Turkic folklore. Dede Korkut! In the eyes of Turkic peoples, he is “a sage or saint who prophesizes about the future, a master musician, a diplomat, an 66
adviser to kings, a community elder, and a lion-hearted hero who triumphs over all hardships.”34 The Turk is molded after him, and he lives on as flesh and bone. Though his tomb (one of many) may be in Bayburt, in Northeastern Turkey, he achieved achieved immortality. immortality. The various Turkic peoples had their own names for the Turkish image that crystalized in the personage of Dede Korkut. The Altay Turks called him the “qam” (shaman), the Kyrgyz the “minstrel,” the Oghuz the “bard,” and the Azeris and Turkmen the “lover” or “dervish.” Turkish bards in the style of Dede Korkut, kopuz in hand, breathed life into our literature through the poetry they recited, and enlivened our music with the idioms and hymns they sang. The legends reminded the Turkish people of their true spirit and opened the “path of love” to our people. Islam graced the Turks through the efforts of Khoja Ahmed Yesevi on the one hand, and through their ventures toward Anatolia and the West where they interacted with the Islamic lands that were coalescing at the time. Sufism was the main artery of Islam, which would nourish the Turkish personality, identity, and spirit. We know from his own work, Divan-i Hikmet Divan-i Hikmet (The (The Book of Wisdom) that Yesevi performed the sema. But without a doubt, the dominant figure in Anatolian Islam is Haji Bektash Veli, an Alevi and the founder of the Bektashi Sufi order. They call the dervish ceremonies “cem” in Alevi-Bektashi belief. They perform cem cem ceremonies to the accompaniment of
34
brayev; „„Şaman Korkut;‟‟ Uluslararası Dede Korkut Bilgi Şöleni (Ankara: Şakir İ Şakir İ brayev;
AKM yay., 1999), p. 215. 67
music and semah and semah,, a dance of mystical and aesthetic meaning – not not to be confused with with sema. Today Turkish Folk Music‟s most delectable songs are semahs. semahs. At Ersin Baykal‟s Turkish Folk Music choir, my daughter Nazlı and I went through the songs of seven famous bards – Nesimi, Fuzuli, Şah Hatayi, Pir Sultan Abdal, Kul Himmet, Virani and Yemini. The semah The semah also also brings to life a mystical “journey.” There is no need to go into great detail here, but I would like to mention how Sheikh Safi, a Bektashi saint, expressed his feelings during semah during semah:: semah reaches the “After leaving its effect in the heart, the semah brain. It informs the mind and brings forth a conversation that resembles divine inspiration. Tears flow from your eyes. And so the effect of the semah reaches the soul. The soul reaches such a state that the heart flies once again to the world from which it came. The aspirant cannot help at that moment but cry out in praise and glory. The semah semah summons the grace of God. The dervish spinning during the semah semah resembles the turning of a grindstone. „Divine love‟ pours into the dervish‟s heart.”35 Ah, those mystic resonances! You‟ll appreciate how powerful they are!
D hik hi kr and the A esthet stheti c of of L ove “Join the sema, enter through dhikr, burning burning, crying Hu / Burning burning attaining the love of God, crying Hu. They found God, arriving face to face with Hu / The Friend appeared all around, burning burning, crying Hu.” So go the words of poet Niyazi Misri. Ah, “Hu,” the most perfect name name for Him. He Himself.
35
Mustafa Erbay (haz.); Şeyh Safi Buyruğu (Ankara: Ayyıldız, 1994), p. 132-3. 68
Lyrics, instruments, and the sema form an architecture of dhikr that we can call the “aesthetic of love.” We see the quiet dhikr performed at the individual level appearing as a communal ceremony in the tekkes. Different orders call it by different names (remembrance, sema, dhikr, etc.), but essentially it is all dhikr, constructed on very similar pillars. Now let me try to give you a general outline of how a dhikr ceremony takes place. After performing the evening and/or night prayer, the sheikh turns to his followers and opens up the conversation. This conversation revolves around Sufi topics, and at the sheikh‟s signal will soon turn towards music. The dhikr ceremony begins with the ney, an instrument that unfurls the heart.
ted” as everyone recites in unison Afterwards, the “veil is lif ted” the Basmala Basmala (In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful…), performs salawat , does prayers of repentance, and – depending on the place – chants chants hymns known as gulbenks as gulbenks.. This usually consists of an en masse repetition of God‟s name. These exclamations, as they go from “ piano” to “ forte” on the musical staff, is called “lifting the veil,” a metaphor describing how dervish is able to see the truth once he removes removes the “veil” that covers his eyes. Then everyone recites selections of the Qur‟an that pertain to the path. As a more clamorous percussion style comes into play, the program goes into hymns. The dervishes who have beautiful voices and a certain attainment of knowledge perform a repertoire chosen by the head dhikr performer. performer. The dhikr tempo increases – at the sheikh‟s discretion – during the eulogies that are interspersed between the hymns. Hearts 69
froth and boil over to the rhythm of the tambourines, bendirs, and erbanis, erbanis, and the dervishes‟ dhikr crescendos into a roar. Dhikr begins with the Tawhid , the affirmation of God‟s oneness. Immediately Immediately after, each order remembers the names of God in their own way. Reciting the names of God – Hay, Haqq, Hu – symbolizes the dervish‟s ascent through the levels of the soul, and – who knows – maybe maybe even facilitates it! Dhikr is performed either kneeling (kuud ( kuud ) or standing (kiyam (kiyam). ). You kneel for kuud dhikr. dhikr. You cast your head back and forth toward your heart in narrow circles that veer slightly to the left. The heartstrings resonate from this movement, and the dhikr of the tongue unites with the dhikr of the other tongue – the the heart, the soul. From that moment on, such a state is manifested that the words, “I entered the dhikr of now, all my organs became a t ongue,” rings true. The dervish now glorifies God with his whole being. When the dervishes perform dhikr standing up, the body moves right, then left, in synch with the rhythm. Simultaneously, the body leans a little forward and then a little backward. In some orders, the sheikh puts his right hand on the shoulder of the person to his right, while placing his left hand on the waist of the dervish to his left, forming a “circle.” He circles around with right foot forward, left foot back. This style is called “devran” or “circular” dhikr. In this tunnel of exuberance, the semazens throw themselves into the middle of the circle and begin to circle the sheikh, like moths encircling a candle. The sema, dhikr circles and resonances and all, emanates out from the sheikh in the center towards all corners of the tekke.
70
The sheikh is responsible for preserving the divine atmosphere of the tekke. He therefore whirls among the dervishes and remains there. The dervishes who have entered a state of ecstasy are not permitted to break the “unity.” The senseless or exuberant dervishes are kept under a certain control. Dhikr is also a part of the music. The sheikh must keep the dervishes who have lost themselves in ecstasy in step with the music. So he “regulates its voltage” them by lightly touching their hearts. Dhikr is virtually an art if it is performed aesthetically and beautifully. Yet it is also a “science”! Hindus adapted this science, which they got from the Sufis. Dhikr is the source of what is today advertised as “breath therapy”! After all, the voice and the breath are resonances. A resonating effect lies behind every word. Words, which are created by the union of sounds, also have a soul. You can say that each one has a different “energy.” Sufis strive to render themselves a vessel for the manifestations that stem from the energy of the Creator‟s name glorified. They do this by remembering God‟s name – that is, by performing dhikr – to to the reinforcing power of music. This allows the lover to be one with the Beloved. It enables tawhid . In short, this is the secret “wisdom” behind dhikr! Consider what the participants in the “circle of tawhid ” are able to feel after the ceremony. In the most modest expression, dhikr focused on the heart sets the dervish on fire. According to Sufis, the fruit of dhikr is “ecstasy.” This divine ecstasy first causes certain emotional states to wash over the body, paving the way for qurbiyat . 71
Secondly, perhaps more importantly, ecstasy expands a person‟s world of “thought.” In other words, it facilitates “cognitive
leaps.” Due to the ecstatic states that it ignites, dhikr instills Man with knowledge and insight when it is performed with all its musicality. During ecstasy, a person reaches a station of observation. He opens up to inspiration, his power of perception strengthens, he gains a new understanding, and he sees the unseen. He resolves his hardship.
Me M ehme hmed D umlu umlu al- Kütahyevi Kütahyevi I learned music and dhikr from and because of Mehmed Dumlu al-Kütahyevi. One day, a feeling came to me: “Get up, you must go to Kütahya. Someone is waiting for you there.”
Nazlı was going into third grade, so it must have been 2001. The message was very clear. It repeated itself to the point that its meaning was unmistakable and could not be ignored. I did not brush it off. I told my wife, Neval, “This weekend we‟re going to Kütahya!”
“But why?!” “To have a look around!” “Well, then...” I arranged a stay at a thermal hotel and procured a guide. We hit the road. As I drove I thought, “Yes, I understand. A saint is calling me from there, yet how will I find him? I know neither his name nor his address.”
It‟s a five-hour drive from Istanbul to Kütahya. I spent those hours dreaming about the meeting. As we approached Kütahya, I noticed my heart rate rising and an outbreak of sweet excitement. Something was going on. It was neither delusion nor hallucination. 72
I did not say anything to my wife, but after checking into our hotel and meeting our guide, I tried to direct him with little hints. “Brother, if there is a respected personage who is asking for a prayer. Bring us to him. Or to tombs... historic sites, musicians, something...” But it was for nothing. The guy turned out to be very secular. He took up the day marching us all over the place. It was already evening and we were going back home the next day. There was no “development” of any kind. I felt irritated i rritated and depressed! I went back to the guide, annoyed. annoyed.
“We came all the way to Kütahya.” I said. “We‟ve wasted a day. We are going back without even buying a tile. 36 Moreover, the children are hungry.” The poor guy grew alarmed. He said, “Okay, sir, okay. I can take you to a place now. It‟s both a restaurant and a porcelain workshop and showroom.” He described the way and we went. We drove 10 kilometers out of Kütahya. We were on the road to Antalya. He made me take a U turn ahead. We stopped on the main road in front of “Can Çini” (Soul Porcelain). It was just as he said. We headed for the entrance, I in front and the others trailing after me. The automatic sliding door opened before me. Just as I crossed the threshold, I looked and saw standing two paces away a tall man with a white beard and a white suit, majestic and convivial as can be. He approached me.
“Welcome, Mim Kemal, I have been expecting you.” The area was crowded with local and foreign tourists. I didn‟t care. I threw myself on the ground.
36
Kütahya is famous for its porcelain wares. 73
They tell you man prostrates before man! If divine light manifests in Man, then, as Emir Arif Çelebi said, not falling to our knees is to us a blasphemy. blasphemy. He grabbed me and lifted me up. He took my arm. O what resonances! My body trembled like a leaf. Tears streamed down my face. Oh the love! It was him. He was the one who had called me! My saint took us upstairs. We sat down to eat. But where was my appetite?
“I had a problem,” he said, “so I prayed. I said, „Dear God, send me a servant of God to solve i t.‟ Last night in a dream I saw two wedding bands made of white gold. In the middle was you (and your wife). And today, you came.” He acted very modest, in fact. He – my my sultan – would would be the one to solve our problems. He would help our lives – especially Nazlı‟s – Nazlı‟s – and and alter their direction. I will explain in just a bit. He apparently wanted me to organize symposiums on Şaban-ı Veli, Sunullah-ı Gaybi and Evliya Çelebi. Naturally, I stepped up to the plate and undertook this noble project. Or I should say, I “contributed” to it. It was all his doing; I merely helped with the good deed. It is impossible to conceive the workings of this world! I had visited his porcelain shop ten years prior to this when I had stopped in with a conference committee. But, while the committee went in, I waited outside until the visit was over. To smoke. There was a slight distance between us that day and I did not venture to cross that threshold. The others did not cross it either, I‟m sure. My moment would come ten years later, when his ecstasy took me and, carrying me on its wind to his threshold, plopped us down in his embrace! It was a divine scenario, what else can I say! 74
He was so full of love! Sometımes at conferences, he could not help but jump up and shout, “I am Love, Love!” He was pure beauty, this saint. I served him for seven years. The Turkish folk singer Zara wrote the hymn, “Sultanım,” for Mehmed Dumlu. Now, Mustafa Ceceli sings it. And he sings it quite well. For some reason, tears flood my eyes every time I hear it. it .
“While I have no other wealth than my life/ I have come to pass beyond my life/ Accept what happens, my sultan / I came to burn with your your love.” He really loved music. Underneath Can Çini was a tekke, the lodge of Halveti-Şabani. God knows how many times times we did get too far into dhikr there with the saint, though, as Nazlı would not stay in the women‟s section. She kept running back to me and taking her place in the circle. No one one minded her intrusion.
There‟s a Turkish folksong, “The Wellsprings of Kütahya.” I think it was sung for this holy man. It reminds me of my saint. The classical singer Münir Nurettin Nurettin Selçuk‟s song, “I came for sweet quietude,” was not sung for the neighborhood of Kalamış, as the song goes, but for Kütahya. It touches all of us. Indeed, a sweet air of quietude prevailed around him. Our sultan told us that music suits Nazlı, so the two of us signed up for chorus. “Rhythm suits the bendir,” he said, so we began practicing percussion instruments together. t ogether. At fifty years old, I took up music. I called him a “heart doctor.” He had written us a prescription. At his direction, the stage was set for me to become a bendir player. Thanks to him, Nazlı was soon “rehabilitated.” He also led me to teach other special children in the same situation.
75
He was enlightened. Let the light of God shine even brighter. I bow in memory of him. He remains to this day in my wife‟s heart as well as in the heart of my daughter. I am looking at a photograph of him on the bookshelf in my living room. My saint has taken the stage, with Zara on one side, and Nazlı on the other, and they are singing.
P eople wi th Di D i sab sabi lit li ti es: Unit Uni ty and and D i sti sti ncti ncti on When Nazlı and I said, “Let‟s learn song and music, rhythm and dance,” God went ahead and placed wonderful people in our path. Our life brightened and became more colorful. It gained meaning. A day came when those magical resonances started to come from us. I used to offer musical therapy classes at several special education centers. I volunteered my time, taking nothing in exchange aside from the happiness I received when I was able to “get through” to those children. Being the object of their love gave me wings. Beginning with basic metric structures, we later experimented together with more difficult beats. I chose a song and a folk dance for each rhythm pattern, giving my outstanding students a more holistic therapy. One dimension can be such a drag! Our repertoire included African rhythms, Native American dances, gypsy and Eastern music, as well as Turkish folk songs and Ottoman classical music. We even did a waltz to Dede Efendi‟s classic, “Yine bir Gülnihal.” They might have learned slowly, but they did learn it. Together we produced a product of labor interwoven with patience. We formed a group and performed concerts under the name, “Rit -
mim.”37 I was overjoyed when they received standings ovations. 37
Ritmim means Ritmim means “my rhythm” in Turkish. The stylized version emphasizes the
mim, which begins Muhammad‟s name. author‟s first name, and the Arabic letter mim, 76
And get this: despite the dozens of music forms we worked with, do you know which music had the greatest effect on our young performers? Turkish Sufi music! One day a student of mine memorized the hymn “Ağla Yakup Ağla” (Weep, Jacob, Weep). As he sung, the other students stopped what they were doing and focused on the singing. They were entranced. I must take this further, I thought to myself.
Nazlı‟s knowledge of Sufi music was already solid. My daughter and I had been going through hymns every evening like there was no tomorrow. So we started to share the selections we had learned with the youth at the rehabilitation center. They took hold. Meanwhile, I had just begun learning the sema. So I introduced them to the sema too. They loved it. We immediately started whirling. I had them listen to a CD of a ceremony and the spinning continued. One day – I‟ll never forget it – a fifty-or-so-odd- years-old student of mine named Ali whose mind has been stunted from phenylketonuria, phenylketonuria, also wanted to join. He came up to me with enthusiastic, childish movements. movements. “Me too, me too,” he exclaimed. I immediately took him into the middle and showed him how to do it. He began to whirl in his own way. I watched him. His face took on such a serene and beautiful expression that I could not help myself but invite his mother and older sister, who were waiting outside, into the class. They had to see this. Ali had lost his father. As he did the sema, we could see he was silently crying.
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When he noticed his mother, he hugged her and clung to her. “I saw Dad!” he said with great excitement. “He was here. We turned around and around together,” I froze. The magic resonances had done what they do. I have several vision-impaired children in my class, and they too do the sema. I look at their faces, and I see how they shine as they spin. That same light, the same as that which emanates from the faces of the semazens is shining down on them. A boy named Gökhan came into the class with good news. “Teacher,” he said to me, “did you know that last night I saw Rumi in my dream?” We – supposedly – see see in the daytime, but his eyes were opened at night, spiritually. He was seeing the conical capped semazens portrayed in Şeyh Galip‟s classic poem. How many of us can even see those saints in our dreams? And then to see the great Mevlana? Blind Gökhan was seeing them. Gökhan was our Ibn UmmMaktum, the Prophet‟s muezzin who saw not with his eyes, but with his heart. Indeed, Gökhan studied our hymns. He memorized them on the first listen, too. Then there was Kerem. I am a wounded gazelle. I hunt after and select other wounded gazelles. I first saw him working at a fast food restaurant at the mall. Like Nazlı, he carries in his cells a 47th chromosome. chromosome. God has placed an additional “sorrow of love” in these children! I headed for the counter to meet him. Before I could say anything, he blurted out, “Ah, Kemal hodja!” I was stunned. Turns out he had been following everything about me on the internet. I couldn‟t believe it. He praised what I had done for those with Down Syndrome. Then he paused and looked into my eyes.
“Husayn‟s heart must be in you,” he told me, referring of course to the Prophet‟s grandson. Yet I don‟t know if he had come 78
up with this, or someone had mentioned it to him. In any case, the resonances in those words were enough to reach my heart. I was with Nazlı and Neval. We waited for Kerem to get off work. He came over to our table and we talked for a while. I invited him to my weekend rhythm class. He showed up with his family. His father was a teacher at an Alevi cemevi. cemevi. He performed the “sema” as we studied the hymns. And he was doing it willingly. Mind you, he was performing the sema, not the semah the semah.. There was one girl, Mukaddes. She was Sunni. When we were practicing “Bugün bize pir geldi” (Today a master came to us), she was doing a semah a semah!! My Lord, what You are capable of! The sema/ semah semah suited our children very well. They found peace and contentment. contentment. Nadir Dede at the International Mevlana Foundation Foundation in Konya had told me that he had a group of disabled individuals perform the sema in Denizli. He was of the same opinion, that the sema was a cure. Then the day came when the administration passed on to me a grievance they had received. The parents – I couldn‟t believe it – complained about the religious music! On February 28, after class was out, I knocked on the office door. I cancelled the classes. Well, it was a beautiful project while it lasted. In the twenty-first century, we have begun to grow intolerant of differences, especially those related to ethnic and religious affiliations. Accepting differences, assuming responsibility for them, and evaluating them in their own richness of temperament temperament used to be a humanistic point of view.
79
And it was the people with disabilities, who have the most distinctive and apparent differences, who were explaining this ethical viewpoint to society. We were demonstrating how differences can come together by bringing the voice, music and dance of different cultures into “one” place.
Doesn‟t embracing distinction and unity, which is the essence of multiculturalism, already exist in Sufism‟s principle of the “harmony of opposites”? What a shame they were unable to see that! And here I was explaining at my conferences why Sufism and personal disability disability were intertwined. intertwined. Why Why was that, I wonder?! Was I wasting my breath saying that Sufism is the cure for the pains of post-modern post-modern man? man? I certainly wasn‟t! The sema brought those children together. We were .” embodying “tawhid .” The administration and I disagreed, and that was that.
Sem Sema and the L i vi ng D ead Let‟s return to our sema. We are in the sema hall and the ceremony is about to end. I am tired, but I have carried through, thank God. The Mevlevi ceremony is hard work for the bendir player. This music is not composed of simple rhythm cycles of 3, 5, or 7 beats. The peşrev piece, played as the semazens circle around the floor, is performed in Devr-i Kebir usul , a cycle consisting of 28 or 56 beats! And the usul s change from act to act. For example, the first salam uses salam uses Düyek and Devri and Devri Revan, Revan, usul s consisting of 14 beats per bar, while the second salam second salam uses uses Evfer , which has 9 beats. Do you think it‟s easy to go from one rhythmic cycle to another? But that‟s how it is. Mert and I hugged. I also kissed my bendir. It had not embarrassed me. 80
Sufism regards the bendir, along with the other instruments of its class, the daf , cymbal, erbani and erbani and kudüm, as a sacred instrument. Ever since the days of the ancient Central Asian Turks, the bendir was likened to the sun, as it was circular. This exceptional celestial entity warms Man and the universe, but also burns and scorches. It therefore reflects the jamal and jalal attributes of the Creator. Secondly, the drum is also the emblem of sovereignty. It symbolizes independence, or in other words, strength. There is both power and divinity divinity in the drum. I love the bendir. Can there be dhikr without it? The beating of the drums carries you – in in dhikr – to to the sema. For this reason, Turks of old called the drum the qam‟s steed (or his Buraq). Buraq). Percussion instruments form a “bridge” between the material (world) and the spiritual (universe).
“No usul , no vusul ,” ,” say the greats, meaning union with God (vusul ) cannot happen with music. In the body, the bendir corresponds to the heart. The bendirzen‟s fingers is what makes the semazens feel those magical resonances and whirl. And the beat in those fingers reflects the beating of the heart! The bendir player, for all his mastery at playing, requires equally virtuosity from the ceremony‟s composition. Writing the music for a Mevlevi ceremony is not a job for just any composer! Sema “scores” are the pinnacle of Turkish classical, court, and Sufi music. The great masters therefore made a point of notating their musical lives and repertoires. Some compositions, compositions, such as those of Dede Efendi, have made history, practically becoming common heritage. People still play and listen to them today with the same joy. They are still used in the sema. 81
Well, what is the source of the joy these musical pieces give us? First of all, music was created in the heavens and sent down to earth. We‟ve said as much already. Now, let‟s take a step back, chronologically. God gave us a body. Here we are at the stage just before God sent us to earth. The Creator gathered our souls before him and spoke to us. That “moment” is the moment the music started! Our God asked all the souls gathered there, “ Alastu bi Rabbikum? Rabbikum? Am I not your Lord?” This sweet address would remain forever in the souls of lovers, and the joy of it would pang their memories. After people are dispatched into the world, all the beautiful sounds constantly remind them of Him and His lovely music. They will seek it out. This is why the lovers, the dervishes, dream of reaching God and merging with Him while they listen to pleasant melodies. You see, the whole reason the sema was written, listened to, and whirled in was to experience once again those mystical resonances. Mevlana says the following words for a reason:
“The person who does not surrender to the effects of sema music, who freezes and stands aghast, and becomes lower than those t hose who die and become nothing should put dirt on his head! Because he is not a true person. He is the walking dead.”38 True, so true! Can anything resist the music of the sema? The ceremony I attended with Mert, my bendir teacher, was performed at the Yenikapı Mevlevihane. There is a huge chandelier
38
ŞC, DK, II, p. 365. 82
that hangs down from the dome of the sema. Electric lamps also dangle from the ceiling over the saints‟ sarcophagi. In the merriment and commotion of the sema, the lights swayed back and forth to the music and the rhythm of the bendir. They remained on, but the light they gave off brightened and dimmed to the beat. Like a pulse. Even those material objects succumbed to the ecstasy of mystical resonances and engaged in dhikr. They too had surrendered to the sema. I have no other explanation for it. In any case, I saw it with my eyes. I have no reason to lie to you!
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4 WEARING THE CLOAK OF NONEXISTENCE
am not this me, which you see. So then tell me who is the “I am that I call „me‟? I am not the „me‟ that that is spoken. Well, tell me „me‟ that who is the one that speaks with my tongue! In fact, I am nothing more than a head-to-foot tunic. Tell me who is the being whose tunic I am!”39 We continued our sema training with Abdurrahman Hodja. We have opened our hands and found the tulip. We have spun as a .” pole in one place. place. Now the time had come come for “ yürük .” For this section, the semazens first hold themselves erect. Then spin in place around an imaginary nail. The left foot must not leave the ground, nor should the foot slide left or right at the start of each spin. The toe also must stay fixed to that invisible nail. The semazen spins in place without dragging his “pole” foot. This is called “holding the pole.” That‟s the first part. Easy? Nope. There is no way to check on your foot as you spin. If you look at the ground, you may very well lose your balance. They say the semazen sees with his feet. And for good reason. You will notice this too. Your toes will be your eyes; they will know where to step. There is a secret “wisdom” behind this. The semazen then moves around the sema hall. He moves the same way our world does, spinning on his own axis while also spinning around the space. Two spins, one within the other. So you begin by “holding the pole.” Then you travel with your left foot .” trailing behind. This is what we call “ yürük .” You will move in measured steps and turn at a certain distance, watching out for your fellow semazens in front of you and behind you. 39
ŞC, DK, IV, p. 87. 84
After much hard work, we accomplished this feat. The training had ended. As I wiped the sweat off, Abdurrahman Hodja said, “Now you‟ll get your dowry.”
“Dowry?!” In Mevlevi literature, receiving the dowry means assuming the semazen garments. Up until that point we had always trained in our sweat suits. Now, the time time had come for for “dress rehearsal.”
“It will be made especially for you,” Abdurrahman told me. “Our friend friend will come soon to take your measurements.” It was at that moment – yes, yes, at that moment – that that I suddenly felt my heart was burning. An acrid pain overcame my heart. The pain in my heart exited my my eyes as tears. tears. Abdurrahman Abdurrahman was surprised. Though reaching this stage was significant for me, there was something else that triggered the tears. t ears.
“Ah Neval, my one and only...” When we got married we could afford neither a dowry nor a proper wedding. wedding. That was the the way it had had to happen. And I know that even though she bore a tinge of regret, she would not throw my inadequacy back in my face. She is a classy lady. I had a photographer “photoshop” some wedding pictures for friends when they asked! So we did have wedding photographs, it‟s just that while the heads were ours, the bodies and wedding attire were someone else‟s! I burned with grief over the fact that I had been unable to buy my bride a wedding dress. When I look back on the forty odd years that we have navigated together, we did not break each other‟s hearts even once. 85
How did she so gracefully gracefully endure such a strange husband who always lived close to the edge? Her support, or more accurately, her labor was behind each of my successes. In fact, she remained an unsung hero during these moments, hidden behind the scenes. I am indebted to her. My wife is truly exceptional. I feel in her the breath of Khadija, the Prophet‟s first wife, or even the reflections of Fatimah, his youngest daughter. hymn by Şeyh Rüşdî, “O Fatimah....” There‟s that rast hymn O F ati mah! You’ve suff suf fer ed much hard har dship shi p The guilt sits in me like li ke a stone whenever I listen to that song. The hymn was written from Ali‟s point of view. It goes like this:
“There are forty patches in your khirqa You have suffered much hardship in my home If Mustafa40 asks you Please don‟t complain, Fatimah.”
“Marriage is one spirit in two bodies,” says the Hadith. “If only this state could be manifested in those two most beloved beauties (Ali and and Fatimah),” I thought. Fatimah is the daughter of Khadija, a woman of the Prophet, a woman of heaven. When it came time for Fatimah to marry, the Prophet said to her suitors, “I am waiting for inspiration.” Abu Bakr, Umar, and Sa‟d ibin Mu‟adh thought that Ali was a suitable match for her, and had brought the issue up with Ali. Fatimah was in Ali‟s heart, but there was the question of his poverty.
40
Another name for Muhammad 86
“Don‟t hesitate,” they said. “Go, take it up with the Prophet.” Emboldened, Ali arrived at the Abode of Happiness. He politely conveyed conveyed his request. request. Our dear Prophet smiled, “Do you have anything for the
marriage?” “A sword, and my camel.” “As well as that coat of mail I gave you as a present.” “Yes, that too, O Messenger of God.” “The sword is necessary for war. The camel too. Let that coat of mail be Fatimah‟s bride price. Sell it and bring me the money... Oh Ali! Here is the divine news: God Almighty has already drawn up in the heavens the marriage contract between you and Fatimah.” Ali was overjoyed. Osman bought the chainmail. He then later gifted it to Ali as a wedding present. Ali brought the bride price to Muhammad. The Prophet used the money to buy refreshments for the wedding. And so they celebrated. However, Fatimah was silently weeping in a corner.
“Why are you crying, my daughte r?” “Father, money should not be involved in my bride price.” “Well, what should there be then, Fatimah?” “Father, Your Excellency, if you are going to be an intercessor on behalf of the believers who sin until the Day of Judgment, then I too want to be an intercessor to the believers who have sinned. With your permission, let this be my bride price.” God granted this wish. The Prophet said to the bridegroom, “O Ali! Your wife is so precious, there there is no other woman above above her.”
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This marriage would soon bring Hasan and Husayn into this world. To me, there is a similarity between “matrimony” and “initiation.” Both of them involve a serious contract. Looking at it in this light, you can actually make a long list of parallels when you give it more thought. thought. I will point out the most significant comparisons. comparisons. The Şazeli Sufi order describes their dervishes as “brides of God.” Then there is Mevlana‟s final walk to God, which is memorialized every year as the Sheb-i Arus, Arus, or “wedding night.” And in a marriage ceremony, the groom wears black and the bride wears white. Black represents nonexistence, nonexistence, while white symbolizes existence. It‟s as though the groom is being told, “Annihilate yourself, destroy your ego.” The colors may also signify, “Sacrifice yourself and you will exist.” The groom in black who transitions from “I” to “we,” will then be able to lift the t he veil and see the Beauty. Ah, those secret codes! Marriage really is a sacred institution. No wonder they talk about the miracle of marriage. A marriage built on a hallowed foundation will work out. In such a marriage, the couple drown in happiness, acting as “saints” to one another. Look how beautifully our Sufi religion is woven through every facet of social life. If the dervish candidate is married, the Sufi order requires him to get permission from his spouse before he joins. The order does not get in the way of family. We always keep in mind the above example of the Prophet‟s family. We can pursue the path to the Prophet‟s dominion by emulating such a family. We never stop learning from him and his examples!
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The hoi polloi toss around the belief that marriage drains the love out of a relationship. That‟s true... if we are talking about tabloid love! If the couple embarks on the road of matrimony with love, then it will be good, and it will last. When the lover and beloved come together, neither lover nor beloved remain! Why? They attain unity (tawhid (tawhid ) within love and from love. It is not love that ends, but the two parties. Love fuses their selves (their egotism) together, and in the fire of love they are reduced to ash. This is vuslat , the true union. Far from being an end, it is a new beginning. Those who disappear in love will be brought back to life with love. Sometimes at conferences I say, “Yes, every day I love my wife more than I did the previous day,” and I let them think about that little piece of wisdom. This is because I am able to love. The heart grows, expands, and opens up, all because of love. When Sufism enters the heart, it widens its diameter to accommodate the seven heavens. This is Sufism‟s the body-as-vessel body-as-vessel concept. We need to understand the wisdom in the story of Fatimah‟s bridehood, to consider the actions of the Prophet in this t his case, and to keep in mind Hasan and Husayn, the product of that sacred marriage, so that we can identity with and mirror these choice examples in our lives as people of the faith. Taking up a Sufi path is not an easy kind of marriage. There are some characters who masquerade as sheikhs and take on disciples yet have no clue how to behave toward their own biological children. If you cannot be a father to your own child, then don‟t ruin someone else‟s child! We know that not every man is cut out to wear the hat of fatherhood. Think about it. It is worthwhile to remember that your 89
personality and identity is, at its core, the clothing you wear. It can‟t look phony or frumpy. For this very reason, some schools of Sufism place a lot of importance on clothing. They reason that knowing the background of the symbolism can stimulate and facilitate the transition from imitation of belief to verification verification of belief.
T he D er vi sh Do D owr y Every order has their own form of “dowry.” It used to be that the dowry – the garments indicating membership in the order – marked the initiate in all aspects of his life. The dervish wore them both in public and in private, in ceremony and on the street. However such an all-encompassing approach is not possible under today‟s circumstances, nor is it really appropriate. In any case, at minimum the skullcap and the taj al-sharif , or “noble crown,” whose design is specific to each order, provide an outward dimension of that sense of membership, at least at the ceremonies. The Şazeli -Arûsî path used to practice this all-encompasses dress code. The great Abd as-Salam al Asmar, for example, recommended that his dervishes always wear white, the color of purity. That was was in the fifteenth fifteenth century. century. But let‟s get back to Mevlevism. Among the orders, the Mevlevis have the most specific and particular dowry. The Prophet‟s Mi‟raj inspired the “wardrobe” used in the dervish ceremony. And well in advance, let me quickly point out. When God invited the Prophet into his presence via the archangel Gabriel, he sent Muhammad a dowry that consisted of a crown, a mantle, a belt, a staff, a pair of sandals, Buraq and a throne. This is the noble source of the semazen‟s clothing. Let me start with the white tennure tennure that the semazen wears. Two words come together: ten and ten and nur , flesh and light. 90
The tennure is an article of clothing that enlightens your flesh. At the same time it symbolizes the semazen‟s burial shroud. Seen another way, the tennure resembles the inverted Arabic letters, lam and lam and alif . The inverted “la,” read “illa,” recalls the phrase, “la ilaha illa llah ” – there there is no god but God. The sash wrapped around the semazen‟s waist is called an alif-ye namad . The literal meaning of the word is “Companionship linked by felt,” with namad the the Persian for felt, and alif , which can also mean friendship. It wraps around the waist three times. Gabriel tied a heavenly-wrought belt three times around the Messenger‟s waist. This practice is tradition. The wisdom is this: it indicates that you have taken control of your hands, your tongue, t ongue, and your waist (i.e. your loins). It signifies that you trust in the covenant, in submission, and in astonishment. It demonstrates your faith and your willingness to exert yourself in order to attain Tawhid al- Af‟al (Unity of God‟s Acts), Tawhid al-Sifat (Unity (Unity of God‟s Attributes), and Tawhid al-Dhat (Unity (Unity of God‟s Essence). The waistcoat worn by the semazen is called a “mintan,” ,” a term meaning “bouquet of whereas the jacket is a “destegül ,” roses.” The rose, of course, symbolizes the Prophet. The semazens then are dressed in roses. You can smell the scent of roses on them as they sweat. And the sikke, the conical felt hat, represents the semazen‟s headstone. The sheikh also wears a sikke. His though is not a plain sikke, but a sikke with a turban wrapped around it like a sash. A band or cord – called called a taylasan – comes comes out of the turban and hangs down on the left side of the sikke. We can say something about that too: It sends the message that in the sheikh love has met the mind; the taylasan is taylasan is suspended from the head to the heart. Lastly, the semazen wears a black khirqa. Mevlana perscribed this: 91
“Even if you want the truth, you must abide by us and never stop searching for it with us. Even if you don‟t know how to sing and play a folk song, you must play and sing with us... ...When you are with us, you will see the truth. You will begin to laugh not only with your lips, but also with your whole body, like a rose. Then the fetters of earthly desires shackled around your feet will be loosened, and you will reach astonishment and everything will be shown to you crystal clear. Be a dervish for a moment! Don the dervish khirqa and see the saints whose hearts have come alive! Then cast off those silk robes and wear the khirqa with us. When a seed falls to the ground, it becomes alive in the soil. It grows and becomes a sapling. If you understand this symbol and these delicate words, you too will abide by us, you too with leave your pride and ego, and fall to the ground with us, and mingle in the
dust.”41 Let‟s dwell for a moment on the symbol of the khirqa. When Nimrod wanted to throw Abraham in the fire, they stripped him of his clothes, leaving him stark naked. Yet Gabriel, on God‟s orders, saved Abraham from Nimrod‟s fire by dressing him in a khirqa that had come down from the highest level of heaven. Over the course of time, that khirqa would be passed down to Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph! When Jacob opened the bundle sent to him, he took out the coat and said, “I smell the scent of Joseph.” That‟s the khirqa we are talking about. The khirqa that will open Jacob‟s eyes when he rubs it on his face, the one that will restore his vision. The Masnavi Masnavi commentator Ankaravî finds the secret of Joseph‟s shirt in the semazen‟s khirqa. 41
ŞC, DK, I, p. 51. 92
“Whichever dervish dervish wears it will be saved from Nimrod‟s fire, the same as Abraham; and like Joseph, he will find shelter in the pit and reach the station of knowledge and vision; and like Jacob when Joseph‟s separation prevented the eyes of his heart from seeing truth, his eyes will open and see again, and he will feel completely relieved. But under one condition: that khirqa must be for the 42 purpose of breaking breaking the nafs.” There are many legends in the Sufi world pertaining to the khirqa. Each one conceals a different lesson. The foremost story is the one in which the Prophet takes Fatimah, Ali, Hasan, and Husayn under his mantle. These five people – Muhammad included – are known as Ahl al-Kisa, al-Kisa, the People of the Cloak. These five are protected by the hand of God. They say Muhammad had Ali and Umar send his khirqa to Uwais al-Qarani, whom the Prophet alluded to when he said, “I am getting a scent of the Compassionate coming from Yemen.” This khirqa now rests in the Hırka-i Şerif Mosque in Istanbul‟s Fatih district. Another legend based on the khirqa says that Gabriel came to the Prophet with a khirqa woven from the leaves of the heavenly Tuba Tree.
“O Messenger, God has sent this to you. Wear it, and then later have someone else wear it.” At first Muhammad offered it to Abu Bakr.
“O Abu Bakr, what would you do if I gave this to you?” “I would wear it and invite people to the faith.” Next he turned turned to Umar. Umar.
“O Umar! What would you do if I gave it to you?”
42
Kanar); Mevleviler iler Şeyh Rüsuhüddin İsmail bin Ahmed el Ankaravî (yay. haz: M. Kanar); Mevlev Yolu. Yolu. (Istanbul: Şule, 2012), p. 66. 93
“I would wear it and invite people to justice with it.” Then he asked Uthman.
“O Uthman! And if I gave it to you?” “O Messenger, I would wear it and use it to summon people to virtue and modesty.” Lastly, he turned to Imam Ali.
“O Ali! What would you do with it if I gave you this khirqa?” he asked.
“I would wear it and summon people to enlightenment and cover their faults with it, O Messenger!” The Prophet gave the khirqa to Ali. All of these answers are drops of wisdom that have been distilled through the character and temperaments of those perfect men. The aforementioned Tree of Tuba is a family tree of saints whose roots cling to heaven and whose branches dangle towards earth. On each branch is perched a saint. “If you you find such a tree,” says one hadith of the Prophet, “sit under it, benefit from its shade, and eat its fruit.” The story of the khirqa made from the Tuba Tree mentions the famous saint Kharaqani (whose tomb is in Kars, in Eastern Turkey). 43 Kharaqani is the sultan of hearts that Bayazid Bastami alluded to when he said that he was made aware of his scent two hundred years before he would grace the world!
Ali‟s khirqa also has a story. His brother, Jafar, lost his arms in battle with the Byzantines and became a martyr. When Ali heard this painful news, he cut the sleeves off his khirqa in honor of his
43
Anadolu‟nun Kalbi Harakani Yavuz Selim Uzgur (yay. hz: S. Yalsızuçanlar); Anadolu‟nun
(Istanbul: Timaş, 2013), p. 48-49. 94
brother. That khirqa turned into the short-sleeved short-sleeved “haydariye” worn by dervishes!
T he B ody is is the R ai ment of of the S oul! When the black khirqa is worn with the white tennure, it illustrates the dialog between “existence and nonexistence.” They act as interlocutors. The black represents fana represents fana,, spiritual death, while the white represents baqa, baqa, subsistence and permanence through God. The message here is, “Wear the the khirqa of nonexistence so that you will find baqa, baqa, reach everlastingness, and take flight towards His light, as did Jafar al- Tayyar.” You have to wonder if this inspired the contrasting colors worn by today‟s bride and groom. When the semazens attend the Sheb-i Arus Arus celebrations as the brides of God – while wearing the khirqa in accordance with Mevlana‟s wish – both both the Lover and the Beloved are united in their bodies as one. They are ready to step into the “circle of love” where they strive to arrive at Love (at His door). Well, does wearing this clothing make you a Mevlevi? The true dervish comprehends the meaning of the clothing and can reformulate and rearrange himself according to it. Hence Mevlana asks:
“What is the sign or indication of dervishhood? A dervish is that generous person who scatters pearls around him, that helpful person who bestows favors on everyone, that soft-spoken one who speaks ill of nobody and utters words of value. But the person who wears a patched khirqa sewn from a hundred pieces to deceive everyone is not a dervish. Give something to that dervish, to that
indigent!”44 Yes, the body wears the clothing, but really the body is the clothing.
44
ŞC, DK, I, p. 142. 95
Surprised, are we? Don‟t be surprised. These are Rumi‟s words: “The body is for the soul a raiment.”45 Now, let‟s attempt to examine that body – through the perception of a Sufi.
Let‟s do a “flashback” to the very beginning. We are returning to the moment at which everything began. We‟ll follow the story of the body from its origin. The spirit is content in its true homeland, because it is with God there. Creation began with “ Kun!” Be! The Almighty dressed the soul in a raiment of skin. He embodied it. He materialized materialized it. From that moment on, the spirit wore that cage of flesh. It remains imprisoned in the body. In other words, the body is for the spirit a dungeon, or a grave. This is how God sent Man into the world. For the spirit, this was not only separation, but also exile. The spirit despaired. The pain of separation cut the spirit to the quick. It laments. Its salvation lies in rending its cage of flesh, of its bird flying that coop, of breaking free from the body. However, what God wants is not a “death,” such as that. The soul cannot understand why this is happening to it. First of all, it cannot grasp its situation. It needs to wait and be patient. When God created Man, He told the angels to prostrate before him. But Satan did not obey this command. The devil saw Man as beneath him! him! By divine design, God placed that devil within Man. We call the devil within the nafs. And that nafs is a “body guard” assigned to the special duty of preventing the soul from escaping the body. 45
Konuk, V, p. 428. 96
It indeed has a duty: to endear itself to the soul and to the world, so that the soul forgets its creator and its original home. The nafs will hypnotize the soul. It will plunge it into bodily pleasures to make make it forget.
“You, O human, what is a soul anyway? You are a body. You consist of the body,” the nafs will say to the soul, hoping it forgets the covenant uttered on the Day of Alast. It will erase its memory, and break it off from its past and its essence. This is the nafs, this is Satan. Never say never! For the body loves indulgence. Mevlana warns the dervishes about it at this stage:
“As long as you keep consisting of the body like this, meaning that as long as you live only for the body through eating, drinking, and relishing in pleasure, you will never know that your soul exists. But if you consist of the soul rather than the body, then you will enter the purview of the soul and there you will remain forever.”46 Satan is the thief of souls. The choice is yours, dervish, either go along with your nafs, or reclaim your soul. This is the trap set before Man. For mankind, this crossroads is fundamentally fundamentally a “test.” A person must understand that the passions of the nafs are temporary – even even if it has a distinctive taste – and and that the impending regret will leave an unrelenting torment of conscience. To be frank, you must pass this test. You must not be held a captive of your body and its bodily pleasures. God does not wish to torture his servants, let alone inflict pain. The main thing to grasp is God‟s intention for creation. God Almighty wants the world to improve and to rejuvenate. And he wants humankind to carry this out and make it happen.
46
ŞC, DK, III, p. 274. 97
Man must undertake this duty. When we put it like that, humans are supposed to be God‟s representative on earth. A person so inclined will rush to serve in His name for His satisfaction. God will be the hand, foot and tongue of such a servant. Yet although everyone is born with a disposition towards the true path, they are not ready to bear this burden. They must be prepared and conditioned. They must be trained. Only people who have perfected themselves are worthy to perform such a sacred occupation. God only entrusts his love to those who can handle it. Mevlana provides a two-step formula for reaching perfection. Listen closely:
“Don‟t get careless in the well of the body. Grab hold of the bucket of the heavens. Joseph held onto that bucket and delivered himself from the well. He went on to attain status and power. Like Mustafa, seek out purity on a dark night, because at night that sovereign travelled the Mi‟raj and reached a unique and unparalleled state.”47 The first step gets the soul out of the well (of the nafs) while the second phase enables the soul to reach divine perfection. The saints consider this process the taming of the nafs and the purification of the soul, a process in which these two components run parallel and even intertwine with one another. Sufism acts on the command, “Die before you die!” This is the “killing” of the devil within you, not the killing of your nafs. Your nafs is your steed. The goal is to t o save it from the devil, to tame it as you would tame a stallion. There is energy bound up in the nafs. If you reclaim it, that nafs will break off in i n the direction you, the real you – or or better yet the soul – wants wants to go. With this in mind, let‟s read from the Divan-e the Divan-e Kabir Kabir :
47
AG, DK, I, p. 79. 98
“Die, die, escape from this nafs, because this nafs is like a pair of shackles. You are bound with it as though you were captives. To break out of this dungeon, get a crowbar; once you destroy the dungeon and break out, you will all be kings and masters.” 48 Mevlana also says, “Like Jesus, we are bound to this cradle of a body, but like Mary, we are pregnant with the light l ight of God.”49 Every person‟s “body” is like Mary. If, by God‟s command, Gabriel breathes the “Holy Spirit” into them, then these holy men will leave the body, just as Jesus did. Gabriel symbolizes the sheikhs, the masters, the saints. They are endowed with the breath of Jesus. They wake the sleeping and bring the dead to life. They are obliged to raise a dutiful child. This is how the Divan-e the Divan-e Kabir Kabir frames frames the story of Mary in this context. Sufism relieves the soul. It brings it peace, in both senses of the word – inner calm as well as the attainment of God. The soul rejoices as it becomes more certain of Him. The soul we are talking about is the one that succeeds in triumphing over the body. Don‟t the angels prostrate before those humans who can achieve this? The topic of prostration before man keeps popping up. Let it, for it‟s important. The more angles we tackle it from the better, for herein lies the crux of Sufism. Those who grasp it have cracked the Knowledge of Mysteries.
P r ostr str ati on Be B efor e Y our Self Self There is also prostration “within” Man. We hear about this subject from our great masters, who recall holy men who “have prostrated to themselves.” Though they have denied us - in public – any explanation. 48
AG, DK, III, p. 41.
49
AG, DK, IV, p. 12. 99
What does it mean, I wonder. Prostrating before oneself? Only here will I “reveal” the part of it related to our topic. We must look to Rumi, of course. These are topics that go over all our heads. And they can turn us on our heads. In fact, when we become dervishes, there a kind of overturning, an upending at the end. The ghazal below, if you are sufficiently tuned in, is like the “kernel of the kernels” of Sufism.
Let‟s read it carefully: “While the body slept, the spirit dismounted the steed of the body, and came came on foot to a simple world, to the world of dreams. Just then comes a deluge of love. It overtakes and washes the spirit away. That flood gushes from the seas. The spirit swept away by the flood suddenly opens its eyes. It sees itself as a lovely body of water. This water, like sugar, instinctively effervesces and froths. The people were staring at the spirit in this state. The spirit was also surprised, not at the people, but at itself. It was looking at its own state. There was the world of placelessness. For there was neither a prostrator, nor a rug on which to prostrate. So in such a state, the spirit was prostrating before itself.
„O joy of life! O joy of life!‟ it places its lips to its own lips and kisses itself. Every thing is born from another thing. t hing. O spirit! You were not born from nobody.”50 In the simplest of terms, the truth Rumi is talking about here is the prostration of the body to the soul! Prostration of oneself to oneself!
50
ŞC, DK, III, p. 250-1. 100
The chosen servant who reaches this state has found God in the world and has seen His beauty. Owing to that perception, the body (the flesh) flesh) has become become friends with the soul. Man is not a wolf to man (to himself, to his nafs), after all. He has become a Friend. Put another way, the body has become a receptacle for God‟s manifestations! The water of life fills the chalice of the body. That fortunate servant has drunk the wine of Mansur and attained everlastingness. When that spirit finds the Beloved, it becomes a servant. It gets equipped with divine spiritual knowledge that enables it to carry out its work with joy. This must be what it is to win God‟s grace. Listen to Mevlana:
“O lover, come, you are now a Moses! This body is also your staff. O how you loved your body, and held onto it. I will make it a wooden staff (Meaning, „I will turn you into a piece of firewood for the fires of hell‟ – hell‟ – mkö) mkö) But you discarded your body, you scorned it. And so I turned 51 it into a skillful dragon.” The lines above tell how God turned the Moses‟ staff into a dragon, alluding to the episode in the Qur‟an where Moses battled the Pharaoh‟s sorcerers and defeated them with his faith in God. The sorcerers, seeing the power of God, threw themselves to the ground in prostration. Thus concludes the story of the “body.” Our intention was never to negate the body from head to toe. We denigrated the body in order to reveal a kernel of wisdom. If the
51
ŞC, DK, II, p. 338 101
body were completely “evil,” would God have created mankind with this dimension? He created no unnecessary thing. We have already discussed above the “evolution” of the body. And now we are saying that if the body knows who and what it is vested with – if it has reached this state of awareness – it is dignified. If God “breathed” the spirit into mankind from the light of Muhammad, Muhammad, then I shall shout, “O Man, know what you possess!” The body is the soul‟s representative to the world, so to speak. It should reflect on the outside the purity on the inside. Dirty, ragged clothing is unbecoming to a Sufi, as is an unhealthy physique. Sufis should look nice. They must set an example. That‟s how the Prophet comported himself. We have a responsibility to represent. r epresent. Money is not the issue. Cleanliness and hygiene require very little budget. The attention and care Sufis show towards their bodies is something to behold and emulate. Perhaps what I wrote earlier had led you to believe that the Sufi approach to the body was one of contempt and degradation. This is not the case. As with the soul, the Sufi predilection is towards the body‟s physical and spiritual spiritual evolution. It It is the aestheticization aestheticization of the body. Think about the semazens. How would it look if a slovenly and disheveled dervish entered the circle among the neat and trim semazens? The semazens must therefore take care of themselves as long as they wear that tennure. They have to. Dozens of fashion programs populate the TV landscape. On the one hand, we have this shopping mania fed by consumer society, which in its excess is distasteful. That aside, let me point this one thing out to you: When we try something on and look in the mirror, don‟t we ask, “Does this fit me?”
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And then on the other hand, we have fitness centers popping up like weeds all over the place. Fine, people are taking care of themselves. We too visit them. Nazlı‟s special situation requires her to keep an eye on her weight, and the solution is exercise. So she goes with her father to the gym. Thanks to this, I also stay “fit.” I actually do look after myself. I weighed 106 kilos when I graduated high school. I lost weight in college doing heavy exercise (Tae Kwon Do and weightlifting). I dropped down to 65 kilos! My weight fluctuates from time to time, but I am still at 65 kilos! I love food, but I eat little, and being hyperactive, I metabolize it quickly. We need to take care of our bodies. I paid special attention to my physical condition after I started doing the sema. I did regular exercises to strengthen my leg muscles. It was not bad! As a 60-year-old stepping into the circle with all these young men, I could not afford to fail and embarrass myself. myself. I look around the gyms. People usually work out in front of a mirror. They are checking up on their body and its progress. But don‟t keep focusing on the outward form. It‟s not the shell, but the kernel inside that demands focus. If you‟re all good on the inside, it reflects on the outside. Instead of asking, “Does it fit me?” we must ask “Do I fit it?” Say you‟re at a shopping mall. You go into a name brand store with nice clothes are hanging from the racks. Think for a moment. What did these garments go through to reach this point here where they please you? How many people have worked and toiled in their production? And now they are at the counter! If you believe that every inanimate object has a soul, then you may consider how the clothes on the hangers are also preparing for their Mi‟raj – as in Rumi‟s story of the chickpea, wherein the
103
chickpea‟s Mi‟raj is its meeting with you, the eater. 52 They have been prepared for that moment. moment. If a shady, dishonest person buys these clothes, they will despair. To spend their life on a person like that! It‟s heartbreaking. heartbreaking. The places a person like that goes to – seedy seedy bars and gambling dens – will will trouble and torment those clothes.
It‟s the same with your body. If you use your body in illicit and malicious ways, all parts of your body will testify against you in death. On the Day of Judgment they will recall how you used them for dirty deeds. They will file complaints against you. Why wouldn‟t they? You used them in ways they did not want to be used. Yet, as I mentioned earlier, your body and its parts had dreams. When you worship, pray and perform good deeds, you have used your organs and tissues to commit these fine deeds. They become a party party to this.
Let‟s return to the scene of the clothes hanging on the rack. That garment is sweating bullets hoping that the bad person does not buy it. Yet when a decent person comes along, it begs with the tongue of its whole being, “Buy me!” It knows that that person will start a family, engage in ritual prayer, and visit sacred tombs with it. When the person who bought it arrives at the Mi‟raj, the garment will take its share of it. These are the eyes through which we must look at the clothes in the store. I browse through them and ask myself, “Whom will they vouchsafe?” Some are fortunate, some are lucky, and some are wretched! We buy the clothes on the rack with money. Does anything come to mind? How much did you pay for the fabulous garment garment God has given you? We take into consideration the cost of the most basic 52
Masnavi, Masnavi, 3:4159 104
undershirt. Yet what did we give for that body we have worn every day for our entire lives, that body which is such an amazing mechanism that biologists call it a “miracle.” Such a diagnosis begs us to ask ourselves if we are worthy of this body. Do we fit this gift of God? That gift is entrusted to us. Will we be able to lay claim to that body on Judgment J udgment Day? I could definitely tell you my position.
T ai lor lor of F ate Don‟t forget, the greatest tailor is God, the Tailor of Fate! “Tomorrow I will don my long caftan and, taking my thousand yards of „love,‟ I will go to the shop of the lovers‟ tailor. He is the kind of tailor that sews a garment that separates you from you and makes you a different person. You enter as Yazid and leave as Zayd.” 53 The lovers‟ tailor is the sheikh, the friend of God, the saint. Sufism is tailoring. It is the tailoring of love. Mevlana is saying that you enter the tekke as Yazid - the man who cursed the Prophet‟s family – and leave as Zayd, that exceptional youth who was Muhammad‟s adoptive son. The friends of God are the tailors of Man. Speaking of tailoring, I had my first tennure made in Konya. They took my measurements, and the son-in-law of my good friend Mehmet Tülüce, whom I knew from my days in television in the 1980s, made the garment.
“Give my regards to the tailor,” I said to Mehmet, “and don‟t forget to pray for the cloth before the scissors cuts it. And if it‟s possible, when the dowry is finished, go to Mevlana‟s tomb, get his blessing, and mail mail it to me.”
53
ŞC, DK, I, p. 140. 105
That was the custom. They even used to leave the dowry under the sarcophagus. For my second tennure, I had Ercan make it, who studied bendir under Mert Nar my my dear friend from the sema sema committee. committee. Abdurrahman had his student put on the tennure at home, and watched them while they performed prayers to see how it fit and how it would hold up. Etiquette is important in the Mevlevi tradition. We are historians; throughout history, we have seen that etiquette and decorum demonstrate a nation‟s maturity. States that observe protocol have seen their organizational power grow strong. The Ottoman state is an example of this. We cannot underrate the importance of formal procedure and ceremony. There are symbols hidden in every aspect of a ceremony. We must observe a method and etiquette in the way we sit, stand, and even eat. At least that‟s what I think. We put on the tennure. We put a thin rope around it, through the waist. After tying it tight, we wrapped the alif-ye namad around around the center of the belly three times. The outside end is brought to the right hand side of the waist for initiates. The sash migrates towards the left as the semazen gains more seniority. This is a rite. We adhered to it, praise to God! We put the tennure on, but when it came time to whirl, there was an issue. I could not for the life of me make it turn.
“Alas!” I said to myself. “I won‟t be able to do this. Getting that tennure into the air is not as easy as it looks!” I can‟t say I wasn‟t disappointed. It was very difficult for me. Was it gravity that was not allowing me to do it? Regardless, I could not raise it! The tennure must lift in such a way so that it does not turn in an even line parallel to the ground like a children‟s hula-hoop, or droop down towards the ground. 106
As you whirl, it should turn too. It should open up in an arc. Image and form matter. The issue was aesthetics, the aesthetics of love. I was lifting my right leg up and pushing it with my body, but it just wasn‟t working. Yet I was not going to give up this passion.
“Effort,” said Abdurrahman Hodja. “It takes effort.” We worked for a while at home. My wife watched us. “It is not going well,” she would say politely. I noticed, dear, it‟s quite obvious. I am a believer. I don‟t give up that easy. But the situation was clear.
“O Kemal effendi,” I reprimanded myself, “If you cannot control this tennure, how will you take control of your body?” We took a break from practice during the summer. We spent some time in Milas, in Turkey‟s Aegean region. I brought my dowry to the summer home. I did not get lazy. I practiced every day. I whirled on the ceramic floor of the house, turned on the slate-paved patio out back, and spun on the grass lawn. In that heat, the sweat cascaded down my back like a cataract.
There‟s nothing determination won‟t get you, so why not let it be getting your your tennure into the air! I worked so much that after a month my footwear fell apart from practicing on those hard surfaces. The chilla was chilla was over for my first pair. But not for me. I bought new ones and began whirling again. I was slowly opening up. I had stopped being so obstinate with the tennure now. It began listening to my words, so much so that the tennure was soon helping me once I got it up in the air. When the skirt takes flight, the weight of the three-inch or so strip of wool sewn into the bottom of the tennure‟s skirt begins to 107
carry you. Regulating your speed now becomes an issue. It is a matter of practice. You have to keep pace with that speed. Not only that, your tennure must maintain a certain speed to stay airborne while you have to keep pace with the rhythm the musicians are playing. Every ceremony has its own unique melody and rhythm. The feet must keep up. If the music speeds up, the feet will work accordingly. If it slows down, the legs will move up and down to keep the tennure afloat. A semazen nightmare is the tennure slowing down and getting stuck between the legs. At that moment you stumble and fall. You might resume whirling after the “accident,” but unfortunately it does not look good. In practice, the tennure would slow down from time to time, and I would have to try to raise it up again. I whirled faster, trying to do the sema without losing my balance.
semazen‟s life is founded upon balance: The earth/heaven/material/spiritual. They impart this truth on you in sema training. It wore me out, but I think t hink I succeeded. At summer‟s end my teacher was surprised at this development. No pain no gain, they say. And it‟s true with God‟s blessings too. It takes effort. I cannot stress this enough. God does not easily bestow blessings and wisdom on his dervishes. He wants progress payments. It takes both himmat – spiritual grace and the favor the saints – and and effort. Effort is an important i mportant element element of the path. My masters would tell me – though though only God knows the truth – that that once you have earned it, God does not take back what He has given you. It is enough that you don‟t lose your balance – the balance of God. God. Keep your your eye on the destination. 108
“Praise be my exhaustion,” you will say. You should be grateful. Mevlana was said to be thin and delicate. One day Tabib Ekmeleddin came to visit him. After the evening meal, Mevlana devoted himself to the sema. He performed the sema for three days and three nights. If we are to believe Aflaki‟s account, Tabib Ekmeleddin threw his turban to the floor and shrieked and shouted. “This state is outside the power of man,” he exclaimed. “None of the saints have demonstrated this kind of power.” He later explained what he saw to the philosophers and doctors of the age. All of them became disciples in earnest, and said, “This great man was empowered by God.” Another of Aflaki‟s anecdotes puts Rumi in the hamam. He looked at his own body. His body had turned thread thin. These words poured from his lips:
“Never in in my life have I been ashamed of anyone, but today I am ashamed of my weak body, because it has said of me with all of its being, „Not one day did you afford me peace.‟ O the things it has concealed and left unsaid. How it complains. It says, „Because I could carry the burden you left me no comfort. You allowed me not even a single night to relax and regroup my strength.‟ Yet what could I do, my peace comes from its suffering (from its fatigue –
mkö).”54 The peace of lovers resides in fatigue. Mercy hides in punishment. punishment.
54
Eflâki, ibid ., ., p. 150, 329. 109
5 SANCTIFYING THE SIKKE
“Take the cotton of heedlessness out of your ears! Open the eye of your heart, ditch your miserly ego and come join the ranks of the God lovers!”55 Spring had come. We started training again in Istanbul. Every week Abdurrahman Hodja and I would meet at my house or in the Mevlevihane where the sema occurred, and we would get to work. The sema was settling into my body. But it had to get better. We practiced for three more months. During the last month we went over the flow of the ceremony, or more accurately, its traffic pattern. We went through every step of the sema, right down to the finest details, like how to walk and greet each other when entering and exiting the circle. We learned all of this. Hopefully I would remember it all when the time came. Before you even enter the circle, the thrill and excitement starts to surge up inside you like a storm. The best thing is to work as though you will never enter the circle, yet be ready as though you will be called up at any moment. To be honest, I was not thinking of this.
“Fate!” I said, evading the thought. I had no idea it would have such a positive impact on me. Satisfaction had enveloped my entire being. Then again, I had been in the Sufi circle for twenty odd years before I started with the sema. We were Sufis.
55
ŞC, DK, I, p. 105 110
Then one day Abdurrahman came and said to me, “Hodja, today we are going to do something different. We will begin with the Basmala, Basmala, and you will not stop doing the sema until I say so.” He stepped aside, pulled out his prayer beads, and began recalling the “Beautiful Names of God,” sometimes in a loud voice as though to encourage me to join him. When we finished the litany of 1001 names of God, Abdurrahman Abdurrahman said, “Okay!” And so we began. We whirled and whirled without pause, completing the whole process without a hitch. We were done with the ordeal of sema training. He came up beside me and we said our prayer of supplication.
“You are now ready to enter the circle,” he said. “Thanks be to God!” Tears welled up in my eyes and ran down my cheeks. Believe me, I couldn‟t even imagine I would be able to cross this threshold. But before I could enter the circle, they had to sanctify my sikke. “I met with the Dede,” said Abdurrahman. Abdurrahman. “We will take care of it at the Mevlevihane before the sema.” The first sema coincided with the Sheb-i Arus. Arus. And it would also be at the Galata Mevlevihane. I would become a Mevlevi in the presence of the great Şeyh Galip, in that “museum” to which I would often run off to during my childhood years! The big day arrived. I showed up in Galata early that day. I paid homage homage and prayed at Şeyh Galip‟s tomb before heading for the sema hall. I stepped over the threshold with my dowry in the rucksack on my back. This time it was a different step. The sema hall was being prepared for the ceremony. The museum employees were setting out the spectator chairs while one of our semazens was busy laying out the posts the posts in in the circle. 111
Kerem took the Dede‟s post over his shoulder and placed it with care in front of the mihrab. His grandfather was Mustafa Holat, who had been the postnishin postnishin for a long time in Konya. He was retired. Kerem was also a very good semazen. In olden times, the Meydancı Dede – the the dervish responsible for the setting up the circle – would would take the postnishin the postnishin‟s sheepskin, alert the semazens to get ready, and obtaining permission from the sheikh, would lay it down in the circle.
“How many of us are there today?” I asked Kerem. “Seventeen, and you. Eighteen semazens.” The number of semazens is supposed to be in multiples of nine. Nine is the Mevlevis‟ lucky number. If the number is eighteen, then it corresponds to the eighteen thousand universes.
“Did the Dede arrive?” “He came. He‟s resting inside.” I fixed my eye on the sheepskin. The postnishin The postnishin‟s mat was red in color. We can trace the symbol back to the Prophet Abraham. Jus as Abraham was about to sacrifice his son, Isaac, God sent Gabriel to give him a ram instead. After Abraham sacrificed the ram, he performed his prayers on its its hide. The post The post of of the Mevlevi sheikhs is red also because that is the color of the sunset. Since Mevlana walked to God as the sun went down, red has been adopted as the color of “vuslat ” (union/death). Similarly, when the sun rises there first appears a reddish hue on the horizon. This symbolized the birth to truth, to the true world. In Mevlevism, the post the post is the center of oneness and the station of Mevlana. It is also of course the station of those who have taken up his path, the sheikhs.
112
pi r embr aces ces the the elevat levatii on of the soul” “The pir The postnishin The postnishin is a master. He is expected to be an insan alkamil , that perfected human, or “Universal Man.” The Universal Man, according to Rumi, is chosen from the material world. The sky is a servant to him, a slave almost. He is a “blessed soul,” a “pearl.” His job is to brighten up the earth. He devotes his life to the world. He operates on the order given to him, which is “Wherever there there is a crimp in the world, straighten it out.”56 Rumi puts it nicely:
“They are such lofty beings that when they ride their horses the seven heavens become their race course. When they lay down, the sun and the moon serve as their pillows. They are such strange fish that there lies a Jonas inside each one of them. Such rose bushes are they that they adorn and beautify the firmament. They make the sky sumptuous and magnificent. On the Day of Judgment, they milk the fires of hell and drink it so that the sinners do not burn in it. They forgive all those who desire heaven. They have orders, but they neither pray nor ask for anything, nor do they curse those t hose around them. Through their beauty and benevolence they make even mountains dance in the sky. Like sugar, they sweeten even the salty seas with their sweetness. They turn their bodies into souls, and render their souls immortal. They turn stones into rubies. They steer unbelievers to belief. They are more obvious than everyone else, yet they are more hidden than anyone. If you want to see them clearly, rub into your eyes the earth they tread on, because they open the eyes of those born blind, and and give them sight.
56
AG, DK, III, p. 413. 113
Though you may be a low, contemptible person, straighten up like a thorn and seek them out. Be sharp so that they turn all your thorns into roses, wild roses.”57 O lowly Mim Kemal Effendi, you will soon meet the Dede. Let‟s see what your first impression will be. Will you warm up to him? Will he like you or will he sanctify your sikke only out of protocol? That kind of thing does happen. It‟s different for dervishes, but semazen training has become for some a sort of modern dance class. We feel it has gone that way, anyway. For us, being a semazen occupies our entire being, not just a weekday evening. What was the Dede like? I did not know. I had only read his book, Mevlevi Ways and Customs. Customs. He was from Hatay. He was a theologian. He had been an imam and orator in Istanbul‟s biggest mosques. He had attended the conservatory and practiced music. He arrived at Mevlevism through Midhat Bahari Beytur, a famous Sufi poet and sheikh. In regards to the Çelebi family, he was close to the late M. Celaleddin Bakır Çelebi. Bakır Çelebi. They co-published the Mevlevi EvradMevlevi Evrad-ı Şerifesi, the order‟s daily litany. The Dede is most famous for interpreting the Masnavi for contemporary Turkish audiences. H. Hüseyin Top Dede was also a poet. He compiled his poems into a book called Mevlana Neş‟esinden Esintiler (Hints of Mevlana‟s Mirth). Let me share the last quatrain of his poem,
“Semazen.” “Enrapt and devoted he loses himself The vessel runneth over breaking the dam The pir embraces the elevation of the soul In love‟s embrace whirls the semazen.”
57
ŞC, DK, I, p. 400. 114
The penultimate line reads in Turkish, “ Pir‟im kucaklıyor can can bülendini.” Bülend is in fact my middle name. It was my maternal grandfather‟s name. I took Bülend as my pseudonym, and, along with his last name, Üstündağ, used it for the book I wrote about Down syndrome, a trait my daughter Nazlı has. The word “bülend ” popped up here in the Dede‟s poem.
Hüseyin Dede was the most senior of the Mevlevi sheikhs. He was the elder, the head of the order. He was respected, vouched for, and loved. I was certain of his credentials. Yet I had no idea, at this stage, about his esoteric side. I was still saying to myself, “We shall
see!” Mevlana filled my heart once again. Were their hints of Mevlana in the Dede? Like I said before, the sema and the Divan-e the Divan-e Kabir go go hand in hand. They are intertwined. In the sema universe, kernels of wisdom unfold one by one from that blessed book. The ghazals will save your life. They will light up your perception. Here‟s what Rumi has to offer:
“At the moment the divine light illuminates the visage of that beautiful being, the one who arrogantly refuses to bow down at his feet and prostrate before him is, in essence, truly the devil.” This suddenly reminds me of Emir Arif Çelebi‟s Tokat story, which I recounted earlier, about the shiekh who objected to man prostrating before man. Surely you haven‟t forgotten. In any case, Mevlana writes:
“The person who fails to see at that moment the divine light in that beautiful face is as good as a lifeless body. He is lower than Satan.
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His enlightened face is the qibla for the worthy. If you too are worthy, then lay your heart on the ground in front of that majestic
face!”58 Lay it down so that you can take the first step away from your self and towards God‟s purpose of creation. God Almighty wants His servant to know Him and to love Him. He therefore wants you on the path, to seek out a guide and find one. Secure the Universal Man who will bring you to Him. God is summoning His servants. He is saying to them,
“Come!” Mevlana is passing this call onto us.
“God is saying to his servant, „O servant of mine! Turn around and come to our door, take the cotton of heedlessness out of your ear and listen to the voice from the heavens that says, “Come, hurry, don‟t stop there!”‟”59 God has opened the gate of his rose garden to his servant in the other world. Yes, God created your soul, and also gave it sorrow, but don‟t forget that the God who gave you your sorrow certainly possesses the cure for it. And God, in Rumi‟s words, is telling his servant, “Wake up!” Doesn‟t the stench of this world make you uncomfortable, as it did the gazelle who was thrown into the donkey corral? If being among fetid corpses disgusts you, does it not grieve your soul to remain among the dead that rummage around in this trash heap called the world, which is comprised half of vultures and half of carcasses? Does it not make you sick? You need to rise from the dead, O servant, says God Almighty in his infinite mercy. He wants to save us. Pay attention and look around. Not everyone is dead. “This world and the next world is 58
ŞC, DK, I, p. 172. 59 ŞC, DK, I, p.91. 116
chock full of the everlasting and eternal living who have given their lives for mankind.” This is good news for the servants of God. Yes, but there is a catch: “Where then is the eye with which to see them?”
“Each living soul, equivalent to the number of particles in the universe, shines and orbits like suns in those boundless heavens that God created, but where is the eye with which to see them? In the days of old each one was like us, a bat who could not see the truth. But by the grace of the Creator, each one of those bats became a sun.” And so Rumi tells us to heed God‟s call to “come.” Listen, he tells us. God is calling you to the sema:
“Divine inspiration is secretly and constantly pouring down from the heavens and into the hearts of man. „For however long it takes, you will remain settled on the earth like sediment.‟ Rise to the sky, rise to the sky.” 60 Rumi is known for starting many a verse with that entreaty, doing so he is telling us to cast aside the conceit and “Come!” In doing arrogance that is keeping us from heeding God‟s call… Quick, come before you run out of time. Come close. “Leave the „me, myself, us, ourselves‟ behind!”
“Come, come nearer! Come, come, forget „us‟ and „I.‟ Keep coming until there is no you and no us. Neither „you‟ nor „we‟ shall remain!” 61 I too have “come” on Mevlevism‟s “sweet invite.”62 I have “come” to the hearthstone of Mevlana, who says, “Come, come, you
60
ŞC, DK, I, p. 102. 61 ŞC, DK, I, p. 101. 62
AG, DK, III, p. 373. 117
will not find a friend like us,” and who asks, “Where in the two worlds would you find lovers as beautiful as us?”63
thr ough ug h the hid hi dden door oor , ascend ascend to the heavens!” “Go thro I was deep into these thoughts when Abdurrahman Hodja arrived and squeezed my shoulder. “You‟re not dressed yet!” I jumped right away into the room reserved for us to change. As I dressed, my hands and feet trembled. Abdurrahman Hodja helped me. He got me ready for the t he circle. We were dowered.
“Hurry, let‟s go see the Dede,” he said. I grabbed my sikke. Hüseyin Dede was seated in a chair. I wanted to run up to him, clutch his hand and kiss it. He did not allow me the chance. He got up from his seat.
“Let‟s do the ceremony.” He was going to sanctify my sikke! He looked around. There was a set of steps close by. We shuffled over to them. He placed his chair at the qibla and sat down. He took me along. I knelt before him in the kuud position. position. That day Murat Nar, my bendir teacher, had come to consult with the Dede about something. Coincidentally he would be one of the witnesses. Hüseyin Dede took my sikke. He recited the Al-Ikhlas Surah, and blew over the front of my sikke. He read it again, blowing to the right, and then once more, more, blowing to the left. Then he placed my head on his right knee so it faced the qibla, and holding the sikke in front of the qibla, he recited a prayer. This is what he said:
“May God bless us with his infinite wisdom and benefit us with his abundance, as he did Muhammad, the axis of the saints, the rescuer and sultan of those who have attained spiritual maturity, the proof for those who have reached God, the most cherished among
63
AG, DK, III, p. 377. 118
those who know God, who is our master and the master of the saints, and is glorious in Truth, sharia and religion. Through your power, from your vicegerent to Hüseyin Fahreddin Dede, from him to his adopted son, Midhat Bahari Beytur, and from him to your servant,
Hüseyin Top…” Hüseyin Dede took my sikke into his hands and kissed first the right side, then the left, and finally the front. He kissed me in the same manner. He then put the sikke on my head, and recited the Takbir with with his hands atop my sikke:
“Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, la ilaha illâlâh, wallahu akbar, Allahu akbar wa wa lillahil-hamd.” “God is the Greatest, God is the Greatest, there is no god but God, and God is the Greatest, God is the Greatest and praise be to
God.” The semazens also joined in the Takbir . The Dede caressed my back three times with his right hand. He then stood up. He grabbed my right hand in both of his, and we kissed each other‟s hands in Mevlevi fashion. We had “met.” Afterwards he gave me some advice. Then the head semazen turned me over to Abdurrahman Hodja. The semazens were already lined up in order. I went to the end of line. The 18th man! The custom was for the semazens to line up according to seniority. The head semazen sprinkled us with the scent of roses and gave us his final instructions. He took his leave from the Dede. And reciting one Al-Fatihah and three Al-Ikhlas, we began walking toward the sema hall. The people in the room were calm and collected, their attention on us. The musicians were also ready, standing at attention.
119
The museum official opened the gate separating the circle from the visitor section. From there we made our entrance onto the wooden floor. It was as though I could hear Rumi:
“If you step outside this world, this six-doored tekke (the body-mkö) – that is, if you can prevent yourself from falling in love mkö) – that with the material world, you will encounter the pure lovers of God. If you get on well with them, if you see them through ups and downs, you will experience spiritual pleasures, and become
enraptured.” I had met the lovers of God, praise be!
“Inside you is a hidden door. Do not keep searching for the six doors, the six sides! You will go through those hidden doors and ascend to the heavens, you will fly to the t he other side.”64 I had arrived at the sema. I had come to ascend to the heavens. The spectators made not a sound. They must have been holding their breaths. We severed our heads at the threshold, and with the head semazen leading us, we walked towards our sheepskins that were set out on the right side of the floor. Not a sound was heard other than the patter of our feet on the hardwood. The semazen takes slow but decisive steps. Looking at no one, he walks clad in his khirqa, turned in upon himself.
Everyone‟s eyes were on the semazens, “who walk side by side” with God‟s love. Their eyes, however, wavered left nor right. They went straight for the post the post .
I‟ll be honest: It is a stunning scene! When the black-clad black-clad conical-capped semazens appeared, Şeyh Galip‟s poem came alive before our eyes.
64
ŞC, DK, III, p. 342. 120
“What did I dream, but a crowd, all of whom wore conical hats / Oh what a sublime, majestic and divine aura they had.” We waited behind our mats, feet sealed with the toes of our right foot covering the big toe of our left foot. The Dede was coming. His steps were slower than ours, but rhythmic. He seemed to walk to the beat of the usul that was yet to come. I focused on him, and on his face. When the Dede gets serious, the lines in his face immediately sharpen. You think you are seeing a hawk or an eagle emerge as his eyes come together with his brow. Yet when you are one on one with him and he cracks a smile, beauty suddenly suddenly erupts from from his face. The Dede greeted us, and we greeted him in return. When he sat on his post his post , we followed suit and took our places on our knees.
alive ve!! R i se! se! P op your your hea head out of of the ground!” “Come ali The ceremony had begun. It opened with a salawat, or na‟t , which is an ode to Muhammad. The Mevlevi salawat is the “ Na‟t -ı Mevlana,” composed by the great Buhurizade Mustafa Itri Effendi. You can easily find this na‟t on on CD or online, beautifully beautifully sung by the late Hafız Kani Karaca. It begins, “O Mevlana, Friend of God… O God‟s lover, messenger of the one and only Creator,” and it goes on from there.
“You are the paragon whom the glorious and mighty Lord has selected and created, and rendered pure. You are God‟s treasure, the heart of the universe. You are the light of all the prophets‟ eyes, the apple of our eye. On the night of the Mi‟raj, Gabriel held the stirrup of your saddle. You stepped onto his back and mounted like so. You are the universe itself. 121
O Messenger of God, you know your people are wretched and weak. You are the one who will run at full speed to show the weak the way. You are springtime in the land of Marifah of Marifah.. In the vineyard of Sharia, you are the rose stem and the original nightingale. nightingale. Shams Tabrizi learned the Prophet‟s na‟t (beautiful traits) by heart. Mustafa Mustafa (pure, innocent) and Mujtaba Mujtaba (chosen), you are the master most exalted.” As the na‟t is is recited, we bow when we hear the names of the Prophet, Mevlana and Shams. When this is over, the ney comes in with several beats from the kudüm player. The post taksimi, taksimi, a musical improvisation, has now begun, representing the archangel Raphael sounding his horn, just as it is written written in the Divan-e the Divan-e Kabir Kabir :
“The Apocalypse has erupted, and all secrets, all deeds performed, and all incidents have come to the fore and spilled out into the open. The sound of trumpet and horn (the ney- mkö) raises the dead.”65 When the taksim taksim is over, the kudüm player gives his instrument an initial strike with his mallet. This kudüm strike marks the announcement announcement of creation, God‟s command, “Be!” (kun! (kun!). ). Again from the Divan-e the Divan-e Kabir Kabir :
“O rotten, decomposed pile of bones; O body which has become food for worms, worms, centipedes, and ants! Come alive! Rise! Pop your head out of the ground!” 66 At that moment, the peşrev started in. The Dede and all of us semazens slapped our hands intensely on the ground and rose to our feet. This is called the “darb-ı celâl ” in Mevlevi terminology, 65
ŞC, DK, III, s. 297; AG, DK, III, p. 373. 66 ŞC, DK, III, s. 297; AG, DK, III, p. 373 122
roughly meaning the “strike of glory.” This act represents both “be”ing and our rising from the grave to the sound of the trumpet. The next part of the ritual is known as the “ Devr-i Veledi,” also spelled “ Dawr-e Waladi,” which is a circumambulation performed in honor honor of Rumi‟s son, Sultan Walad. The postnishin The postnishin stands stands in front of his post his post . He turns to the right, r ight, and on beat with the rhythm of the peşrev, he puts his right foot forward. And dragging his left, he begins to walk. The semazens follow the Dede, with the head semazen at the front and the others trailing behind. They have embarked on their metaphorical post-Judgment Day journey towards finding the Absolute Truth, a feat accomplished by following the path taken by the insan al-kamil and and tracing his footsteps exactly. Mevlana encourages the semazens, saying, “A river flows towards the sea, running over rock after rock, burbling and weeping as though it has been separated from its essence, yet it reaches the
sea.”67 This ambulation reminds one of Fuzuli‟s “Ode to Water.” The water has to flow from its source, passing over stones, soil, and barren lands, splashing this way and that, on its arduous journey towards God‟s ocean. Following the perfect master, and tracing the path – or canal – that he has cut is the shortest way to rejoin the ocean. To flow behind the sheikh and efface yourself in him is to experience “ fanâ fî 'sh-shaykh,” annihilation in the sheikh. fanâ fî 'sh-shaykh In the geography of Sufism, the semazens must first bring themselves to a sheikh, follow his path, and annihilate themselves in him, in his sea, before they can reach the Beloved‟s ocean. Annihilation in the sheikh is a station on the path to fanâ fî 'llâh, annihilation in God. 67
ŞC, DK, I, p. 336. 123
Trailing after the postnishin postnishin in the Devr-i Veledi Veledi represents this journey. Indeed, when the head semazen, following directly behind the sheikh, arrives in front of the post the post , he steps with his left foot over – but not on – the the hatt-ı istiva, istiva, the imaginary line extending between the gate and the top of the post . There he waits with his right foot turned back. The semazens approach. Starting with the head semazen and the dervish directly behind him, the semazens turn to look each other in the eyes, in the spot between the eyebrows. They bring their right hands over their hearts inside their khirqas, acknowledge one another, and once again continue on their way, following the Dede. This line of greeting is called “cemâl seyri” (admiring the beauty) or coming coming “cemâl cemâle cemâl cemâle ” (beauty to beauty). It is a matter of reenactment and representation. The 47th verse of the Al-Hijr Surah says, “And We will remove whatever is in their breasts of resentment, [so they will be] brothers, on thrones facing each other.”68 As expressed in the verse, whoever holds a grudge in his heart against his brother will not be his counterpart. In coming face to face, we are bringing to life the hadith, “One believer is a mirror to another.” The wisdom behind these circumambulations circumambulations lies within this understanding. understanding. The Devr-i The Devr-i Veledi consists Veledi consists of three trips around the sema hall. When it is over, the Dede and semazens return to their sheepskin stations.
held the the mi r r or to my face” “He held Why three trips around the floor?
68
Qur‟an, 15:47. 124
That too has a wisdom to it. In Sufism there are three stages of attaining Truth, and the knowledge thereof. The dervish achieves the first stage, ilm al-yaqin, al-yaqin, the “knowledge of certainty,” by reading and studying. The Sufi has arrived at the second phase, ayn al-yaqin, al-yaqin, the “eye of certainty,” when he senses and witnesses the Truth. The ultimate stage is haqq al-yaqin, al-yaqin, the “truth of certainty,” which comes directly from God. The sema is a universe of symbols. When I visited Dr. Mustafa Çıpan, the Konya Cultural Director and a dear friend, he gave me a different interpretation of the Devr-i Veledi‟s three circumambulations. Mevlevism expects three types of “ selim” from the dervishes: Akl-ı selim, selim, kalb-i selim and zevk-i and zevk-i selim, selim, which correlate to soundness of mind, soundness of heart, and soundness of pleasure, respectively. Being sound in thought, love, and aesthetics are the qualities of spiritual maturity. So perhaps this is the message these three rotations in the Devr-i Veledi Veledi are sending us. Our brother Çıpan explained to me that, “Essentially, each of these three types of soundness complete one another by interpenetrating each other.”69 He elaborated further, but let‟s get back to my first sema. The Devr-i Veledi lasts Veledi lasts a while, as the t he number of semazens entering the it dictates the speed. Of course, the first to enter were the most senior, and since the order of participants was clear from the beginning, you just have to wait your turn. The others stood patiently together in front of their sheepskins with feet sealed. The circumambulation began, led by the Dede. There was a definite sense of solemnity in those steps. I fixed my eyes on the Dede so as not to miss a single gesture. Finally my turn came.
69
Müzesi Kataloğuu (Konya, 2014) p. 47. Mevlana Müzesi Kataloğ 125
Hüseyin Dede crossed the hatt-ı istiva‟ in front of the sema hall‟s gate and approached me from the front. Eyes fixed on mine, he tipped his head slightly, indicating that I should enter the Devr-i the Devr-i Veledi Veledi. Did I see it correctly? Yes, the Dede was insistent. That command did not relieve me of hesitation! This is because I had to leap into the rotation before the Dede passed in front of me. Otherwise, I would not have been able to enter once the Dede passed. I would have to skip skip my turn and and wait for the the next round.
“All right!” I said to myself. Leaving a distance of about two steps between the Dede and myself, I entered the Waladi rotation as the last semazen. I began marching toward the spot in front of the post . The last semazen has one thing going for him: He gets to come “celâl celâle ” with the Dede. “He held the mirror to my face and Ali appeared in my eye,” they sing in certain Turkish folk songs, and it was that precise state I felt at the sheepskin by the mihrab. It is impossible not to feel adoration toward that beauty.
“Your agony resides in Huseyin Dede‟s gaze,” I thought to myself, “and its reveals the secrets inside you.” This visual exchange repeated itself three times. So much is transmitted through these glances. The sema is a “land of wonders.” A mystery of God appears at every stage. If you solve that riddle, your world will brighten up. An enormous “ontology” fits inside the sema. Let‟s take for example the cycles. The sema explains the “wheel” of existence, you could say.
Let‟s first look at the wheel in the context of pure physics. Yes, the earth turns along with the soil beneath your feet, and overhead the moon, the sun, and all the planets are turning too. All hell would break loose if the whirlers in this cosmic dance suddenly 126
lost their balance and harmony. What a system! That‟s how it is for the semazens of God. Take heed, Kemal Effendi! As they whirl, the semazens silently perform dhikr. They repeat the names of God to the rhythm of the ceremony‟s music. The up and down, up and down of their feet to t o the beat of dhikr proclaim, “Al-lah…Al-lah…” Why this silent dhikr? Because everything, mountains and stones even, engage in dhikr, but in their own language, which you cannot hear. Yes, within the cosmic dance – the turning of the universe – all all of existence is remembering and reciting the names of God, its creator. All living creatures are in a natural and continuous state of dhikr. Though their exaltations are beyond our perception, they remember God in their own language and according to their features: f eatures:
“The seven heavens and the earth and whatever is in them exalt Him. And there is not a thing except that it exalts [ Allah ] by His praise, but you do not understand their [way of] exalting. Indeed, He is ever Forbearing and Forgiving.”70 Faced with this marvelous system of universal dhikr, praise and worship, how can humankind, whom God has graced, be expected not to claim for itself a share of it, to not take inspiration from this empyreal feast. Since humankind was created with a turn – our our conveyance to earth – there there is hope that a turn in the opposite direction will allow us to return to that source. Sufi literature explains through the concept of dawr , or whirling, that beings emerged from God and will again return to God. And with this, the sema illustrates the methodology of the journey, which which we call the seyr-u the seyr-u suluk .
70
Qur ‟an, ‟an, 17:44 127
The theory of turning back to God, to which Man and the universe are beholden, operates on the principle of tekamül , ascending spiritual improvement, or in modern parlance, “upcycling.” A being‟s mi‟raj is its ability to reach the perfection of its essence. The effort of arriving at this state of grace is concealed within the “alchemy” of turning. This alchemy is a key component to the sema. The sema carries a person from baseness to grace. Mevlana refers to the spiritual waypoints on the ascent to Truth as the mineral-plant-animal-Man mineral-plant-animal-Man cycle. This is not nature‟s “food chain” as expressed in Darwin‟s Theory of Evolution. It is the absorption of the nourishment called irfan – divine knowledge – which will reach and power the true body. Rumi explains this in the Masnavi, Masnavi, in the parable of the chickpea. The poor chickpea is cast into the pot of boiling water. As the flame sears its soul, the chickpea tries to leap to the surface of the water. At the surface, it reproaches the cook, “Why are you boiling
me?” “O chickpea!” she says. “Look at me as Abraham. And you like Ishmael, my son whom I held under the knife.” The chickpea grew from the soil. It drank water and took nourishment from the garden. It thrived and ripened. Now its time of “service” had come. It must now transition to another kingdom, if you will. We should not grieve, because the chickpea‟s true life has begun. The cook explains to the chickpea the next stop on the
“universal cycle”: “Oh chickpea!... If you were rosy in that earthly garden, you are now the rose in the t he garden of the heart. Though you parted from the water and the earth, you became food, entered the bodies of Man and became part of the living. l iving. 128
Become nourishment, strength, and thought! You entered the world a sprout, now be a lion in the jungle! Harness your animal spirit and work to service the souls of mankind. In the beginning you drew apart from God‟s attributes and came into this world. Come, hurry, hasten back to His attributes.”71 Rumi is essentially saying, “As long as the person who ate you thanks the Lord, remembers Him, and invokes Him, you too will be a party to that journey, such that as long as Man obtains energy from that nourishment, nourishment, and invokes i nvokes God‟s name, you will reach God as well. You will have achieved your own mi‟raj.” So the cook did the chickpea no wrong. The cook herself had passed through through the same cycle cycle of forms. forms.
“I was raw once,” says the woman. “I battled my nafs. I got cooked by the flame of ordeals. By completing the cycles of mineral, plant, and animal, animal, I was promoted to Man! Man! And here I am!” Here is a verse from another parable bearing a similar meaning. “When the throat of an animal is slit, its merit is
increased.”72 The verse emphasizes both the physical dimensions as well as the spiritual aspects of the food chain, and indicates how mankind will surpass this phase on his journey of irfan by slaughtering his animal characteristics. Here the “sacrificed” animal has attained its
mi‟raj. “When the throat of a human is cut, look and see what is born of it. Look at slaughter based on this.”73 Of course, the intended metaphor in this verse is death of the ego. This is a stop of nothingness, as underlined in the Sufi rally, “Die before you die!” 71
Masnavi 3:4179-82 Masnavi 3:4179-82
72
Masnavi 1:3873 Masnavi 1:3873
73
Masnavi 1:3874 Masnavi 1:3874 129
Put another way, this is man‟s “martyrdom.” Hence, Mevlana asks, “I wonder what is born of this?” He gives us the answer: “A third throat will be born, and it will be nourished by the sherbet of God and His light.”74
T he ange ng elic li c spi spi r i t ar ar i ses ses fr fr om the death of of M an Konuk summarizes the main idea of the cycle: “When divine edict concerns the manifestation of truth in the dense universe, the elemental and material carrier that God has dressed him in arrives at the „best of stature,‟ at the human phase, by surpassing the mineral, plant and animal animal phases.”75 Mevlana provides the same meaning in simpler terms:
“I died as a mineral and became a plant, I died as a plant, and became an animal, I died as an animal and became human. How could I then be afraid of dying, of waning? Let me take another step and die as man, Let me beat my wings and join the angels. Let me surpass the angels and search beyond, For everything will be annihilated except His face. Then let me be annihilated! Let me resonate like an organ, Let me say, „We will certainly return to Him.‟”76 When the cycle is complete, the soul reaches God. The fortunate person who completes this journey with God achieves Hakk al-Yaqin al-Yaqin,, and becomes a perfected human. You will find a similar sentiment in the Divan-e the Divan-e Kabir Kabir :
74
Masnavi: Masnavi: 1:3875
75
Konuk, VII, p. 268.
76
Masnavi 3:3901-06 Masnavi 3:3901-06 130
“Your body, body, your material being, goes through many hosts. It passes through the mineral, plant and animal phases. Do not dwell on the places you have reached! In this game, you will also surpass your animal host. Don‟t waste your time! Start flying!” 77 If the sema is comprised of cycles, then with each turn you will cycle through the phases of the t he nafs. You will break off and cast away your rockiness, your weediness, your animality, your ego, your nafs. You will journey toward hosting Him in your heart. These cycles you experience deep within your being constitute your sema. The semazen‟s true sema is not the one that can be seen, but the one performed performed or experienced on the inside, within within the heart. What you are seeing at sema “ceremonies” is the “reflection” of that internal sema in the mirror of the body. That internal play is difficult to comprehend. Rumi says this:
“Superior to to all the splendid semas seen in the sema hall is the sema we have in our heart. All of our elements, all the cells in our body, play and dwell in His light with hundreds of types of nourishment in a hundred different ways.”78 This must be what they call “dhikr al-daim,” or perpetual dhikr.
“The sema is the ladder to heaven,” says Rumi. “When you enter the sema, you exit both worlds, as the universe of the sema is outside the two worlds. The roof of the seventh heaven is beyond them, in the highest of places. Yet the sema ladder that brings us to God surpasses the roof of heaven. It goes higher than this roof.
77
ŞC, DK, III, p. 277-8. 78 ŞC, DK, II, p. 109. 131
Trample underfoot everything other than this; stomp it and pulverize it. The sema is yours, yours, and you you are the sema‟s. When the heaps of particles fill with sunlight, everything will begin the silent silent sema.”79 The spiritual source of the sema is the Mi‟raj of the Prophet. In other words, the sema expresses the Mi‟raj, the Prophet‟s journey of tawhid . Now that the occasion has arisen, let‟s go over that hadith. Muhammad traveled to Taif to spread the word of Islam. But when he arrived there, the people greeted him with belittlement and violent hostility. Muhammad was devastated.
“Is it my fault I could not carry out my responsibility?” wondered this most perfected and noblest of men. He was sad, but he grieved for the people, because God had called upon all people to believe. Ah, if they could only know, he lamented. That night he fell into a deep sleep. Meanwhile God said to Gabriel, “My dear Messenger is very upset. His body is injured and his heart broken. I will appear to him in person.” So that night Gabriel went down to earth to deliver God‟s invitation to the Prophet. And so began a journey that was offered to no other prophet. Gabriel first “dowered” Muhammad. He draped a garment of light over his shoulders. Then he opened his heart. He set him atop the Buraq, his celestial steed. The first stop was Medina, the second Al-Aqsa Mosque, and then the sema. They ascended the heavens. 79
ŞC, DK, II, p. 163-4 132
Together they traversed the seven levels of heaven. At each level Muhammad invoked a prophet of yore. They journeyed together until they came to the tree known as the Sidrat al-Muntaha. al-Muntaha. At that juncture, Gabriel said, “My duty ends here. I cannot go further. If I take a step beyond, I will burn and turn to ash.” The Prophet did not hesitate at all in that moment. He had resolved a long time ago that he would happily burn and be annihilated for the sake of the divine beauty. And as the author Rahim Er put it, “He spoke with God Almighty at the station of Kab-i Kavseyn, Kavseyn, in a timeless, placeless, letterless, wordless manner void of the five senses, in a way that human perception and reason would not understand, and was granted the power of seeing God.”80 At the place where Mevlana explains the Mi‟raj, he puts to paper the conversation between Muhammad Muhammad and Gabriel that illustrates the insan al-kamil ‟s ‟s superiority to the angels:
“When Ahmad 81 passed beyond the Sidrat tree, beyond Gabriel‟s place of watch, his station, and his limit, He said to Gabriel, „Come, fly after me!‟ The angel responded, „Go! Go! I am no longer your companion!‟ „…O Gabriel, though you are noble and beloved, you are not the moth nor are you the candle.‟ When the candle beckons at the moment of illumination, the moth‟s soul does not abstain from burning.”82 When God‟s call to “Come!” arrives, the friends of God – those dear moths – do do not hesitate from diving into the flame.
80
Sevgili Peygamberim (Istanbul: Peygamberim (Istanbul: BKY, 2015).
81
Ahmad is Muhammad‟s name in heaven.
82
Masnavi 4:3801-02, 133
The desire to burn is what emboldens the dervish to the sema. This is why the angels prostrate before the spirits willing to experience the Mi‟raj. The secret of the insan al-kamil ‟s ‟s superiority, on which I will elaborate later, is that they feel God‟s love in their hearts and they never shy away from annihilating themselves in this love. When the semazen steps onto the sema hall‟s hardwood floor, he is conscious of what he desires and is excessive about it. That‟s how it must be!
That‟s how it is for me! A wo wound unded gaz gazelle lle i n the ci r cle The Devr-i The Devr-i Veledi, Veledi, in which I came “cemâl cemâle ” with the Dede, was over. The Dede had withdrawn to his post his post . When the music began, the semazens stepped into motion. We cast the black khirqas off our backs, and left them on the floor in three three layers. We had shed our cage of flesh. We were about to emerge from the cloak of nonexistence, which had concealed us, and be born into our true existence. We were about to cross over into the world of the living. The Dede stood up. Abdurrahman, our head semazen, walked over to the Dede with heavy and sure steps. He stood in front of him and assumed his position to direct direct the sema. sema. His eyes scrutinized us, checking to see whether we were ready. We crossed our hands over our chest and grabbed hold of our shoulders. We stood as the letter “alif .” .” With our bodies we represented “One.” We were witnessing God‟s oneness by turning our bodies into a symbol of unity. I fortified myself again with a prayer. 134
“O God, please do not embarrass your oldest semazen here today,” I implored. I begged the saints for aid. It was that kind of journey that the heart was on! I was in fact quite surprised by this, by my nervousness. How could the Mim Kemal, who for so many years was known for his poise and confidence in front of a public audience, whether it be in the classroom, at conferences, or on the screen, tremble like a leaf caught in such a portending saba portending saba wind? wind? Moreover, I was not a stranger to Sufism. Even though I was a Nişantaşı boy, I was well acquainted with the tekke. 83 This would become a moment I definitely would never forget. To perform the sema was a dream of mine. I had trained for months to do it, i t, practicing every day.
“You are so lucky to be acquainted with the sema at your age,” I teased the youth at ISBEK, the Istanbul Science, Art, Culture, and Education Association. It was true, I was the same age as the dedes, yet the lowest ranking semazen. But better late than never! I had joined the sema at last. I had earned it. After getting permission from the Dede, Abdurrahman Hodja used his eyes to invite the semazens into the circle. The line in front of me was long. I was the 18th semazen. The dervishes severed their heads when they came before the Dede, and kissed his hand. The sheikh in turn t urn kissed their sikkes and released them into the circle. Then came my turn. I had thought that all my excitement would cease at that moment, but no! Ah, the first step. I approached the Dede. “You will be in the sema shortly, Mim Kemal Effendi,” I thought to myself. There was a 83
Nişantaşı is a neighborhood in Istanbul known for its affluency and secularism. 135
buzzing in my ears, and pressure from all sides. Probably the stress of having all these eyes on me, I supposed. I wonder if I‟ll soon
faint… The Dede gave me a sidelong glance. The ruckus encircling me ceased, clearing way for a tranquil state. Tears crept down my cheeks. Yet I was now at ease. I came before Hüseyin Dede. I bowed, and as I kissed his hand, I heard the holy man say in a hoarse voice, “Ah, my dear Kemal.” When I raised my head, I said, “Hu, my sultan!” and took my first step into the circle.
One…Two…Three… I twirled my tennure. I was doing the sema… I will later explain the next steps of the sema and what I experienced. Let‟s stick with the Dede for the time t ime being. We developed an arrangement for the days we performed the sema. Our brother Yunus would pick up Hüseyin Dede and bring him to the sema hall, and afterwards I would drop him home. In the car I could to talk to him one on one. I drove the Dede home that night, after my first sema. He needed to say some things to me. I had already guessed what the topic would be. I was initiated. Yet I had for years already been in a place where I had extensive access to the knowledge of the path. Under these circumstances, what did it mean that I had my sikke sanctified? What would it entail? In short, how would the Dede treat me? Where in this world would he deploy me? He had read my books. He knew my master‟s master, Aziz Baba. He loved and respected him, and had even performed the sema in front of him. He had read the Qur‟an in its entirety. 136
Hüseyin Dede turned to me in the car and said, “You already have the path. We just formalized it.” He was a polite, gracious, and a good-hearted insan al-kamil .
“Dede,” I said, “All I ask is that you treat me like a disciple. Think of me as the initiate I am.” And so, from that day forward my relationship with the Dede has been just that. Meditation is now necessary, as is surrender. What I have experienced over the last year has been beyond my control. Dreams, signs, synchronicities, chance meetings… God picked me up and plopped me down at the doorstep of Mevlevism. This was a gift from God. I ought to take advantage of its shade and eat its fruit…
God‟s “ways” are like that. We must enjoy them. As I was taking the Dede to Beylerbeyi, I uttered a prayer to myself. I said, “God, let traffic be heavy so that this journey lasts a
while…” And just as though the Dede had heard me, he said, “Come on, Kemal. Come to my house.” Did we not come, Dede? Did we not grab our sikkes and come? Sipping tea in the Dede‟s house had an entirely different taste to it.
137
6 PERCEIVING SERVANTHOOD
“You are a copy of the book of God. You are a mirror of the Creator‟s beauty, capacity, and ability. That which is in the world is not outside of you. So if you want something, ask yourself. Search within yourself for whatever you are searching for and find it!”84 Where did we leave off? We had just completed the Devr-i Veledi. Veledi. We kissed Hüseyin Dede‟s hand and entered into the sema‟s first salaam first salaam.. The sema ceremony contains four salaams, or “salutes,” which are accompanied by music. With each of these salaams, the dervish enters a new state of closeness to God. During the first salaam, the Dede steps forward away from his post and and blesses the semazens. He says, “Revolve around your true being. Move according to your your nature.” This blessing sums up this chapter‟s two main ideas. We will see what these two concepts mean. The sema lifts the veils, revealing the truth. At least that is what we hope to have happen. But we must be patient and let everything everything unfold in due time. After kissing the Dede‟s hand, I darted forward with quick steps – one-two-three one-two-three – away away from his post his post . I began whirling, setting my tennure into undulating motion. My arms bloomed outwards like a tulip. I hoped the speed of my feet was synchronized with the opening of my arms. With little adjustments, it came together. Most importantly, I reminded myself, “Oh, Mim Kemal, careful not to stare, neither at the spectators nor at yourself.”
84
ŞC, IV, p. 306. 138
The novice semazen is prone to panic. If he fixes his eye on anyone in the audience he is doomed to stumble. The beginner is tempted to check to see if his foot is landing correctly or if his tennure is opening properly. This is a mistake. It will make his head spin and he will get nauseous. The only place a semazen should look is at the thumb on his left hand. His eyes should be locked on that one point. After all, “The sight of the Prophet did not swerve.” 85 If your eyes waver, you will fall flat on your face. Open your hands, Mim Kemal, come on... Right fist looks to the sky, left one to the ground. In a solemn, statuesque stance, make like you are taking beneficence from God and distributing it to the people on earth. earth. The semazen is a bridge between God and the people. Better yet, an “empty vessel.” Or the dervish could be an invisible “cable” through which divine manifestations flow, moving from the inside to the outside.
It‟s as though there is a rope extending from the heavens above, and the semazen is handing it to the people. That is what it looks like in this stance the dervish assumes in the first salaam. The semazen has grabbed hold of “God‟s rope” with one hand and is offering it to the people with the other like a life preserver. The semazen is a link, a vehicle, a tool. t ool. If you look carefully, the semazen‟s head is cocked slightly to the right. They say that this tilt is exactly proportional to the tilt of the earth as it spins on its axis in the universe. While the semazen‟s head is slightly inclined to the right – in a position of supplication – his his face is turned a little to the left, with his squinting eyes fixed on his left thumb.
85
Qur‟an, 53:17. 139
As the semazen spins, he is liable to simultaneously experience the states of sukr of sukr (intoxication) (intoxication) and sahv and sahv (sobriety). The effort he makes to ascend into the sky in his attempt to arrive at the Mi‟raj and connect with God puts the semazen into a “trance.” The holiness of the sema will remain elusive if that intoxicating state of ecstasy fails to infect the body. On the other hand, the semazen must not completely lose himself. He must retain a state of sahw of sahw.. He has to remain in harmony with the other semazens. He cannot bump into the dervish in front him nor trip up the one behind him. Their tennures must not collide! Again, Sufism is the science of the “the harmony of opposites.” But this is far from easy to achieve. Mevlana succeeded in doing this, but that‟s Mevlana. When it comes to us, it‟s a different story. This is true even for the head semazen. He is there to direct the sema, even as he whirls about the floor. Before going into the initial salaam, after you kiss the Dede‟s hand, you will look at the head semazen‟s feet. If he has put his right foot forward, it means he wants to pull you into the center. You will immediately enter the circle. If he does not put out his right foot, then he is instructing you to continue going right, along the edge of the sema hall. The head semazen also travels between the other semazens, rocking them back and forth. f orth. You will barely notice that as the semazen whirls, under the tennure his left foot is fixed to the floor like a pole. It never loses connection with the ground. We call this “holding the pole.” The right foot, however, spins like an ancient millstone, revolving around the pole, turning left towards the heart. The pole follows behind it, dragging across the floor. The right foot draws almost imperceptibly towards the knee in a way that does not interrupt the flow, propelling the body forward. The foot harnesses the body‟s power without 140
jolting it. It lands on the ground, drawing a half or full circle. And like that the body completes a circular arc around itself. The sema continues in this fashion.
Şeyh Galip said, “The semazens spin around the Absolute Body in pure unity In multiplicity and unity they all travel alone, like the sun The center of their moving feet is the t he point of lost identity Fortunate to have found at beginning and end complete
union.”86 am a ser ser vant of of the Qur’an, the dus dustt of of the Prophet” “I am The musical progression of the Mevlevi ceremonies was composed by the best musicians of the age, and by taking Mevlana‟s verses as the lyrics, it creates a musical formula and tradition particular to itself. The four salaam sections are “perceived” in this progression. The rhythm and tempo corresponds to the spiritual ascension that each section portrays. Each of the four salaam sections correlates respectively to the manifestation of act, attribute, essence, and unity. In other words, salaams symbolize the journey j ourney towards sharia, observance, truth, and marifah. marifah. This last stage, marifah, marifah, is the visceral knowledge of God, achieved through vuslat . Each salaam should be understood as a waypoint in the and also the wayfarer‟s and dervish‟s – journey towards semazen‟s – semazen‟s – and dervish‟s – journey overcoming the stages of the nafs. M. Celaleddin Çelebi, whom in the 1990s I had the honor of meeting and talking with, boils the seven stages of the nafs down to four, explaining these waypoints as follows:
86
Divanından Seçmeler (Istanbul: (Istanbul: MEB, Abdülbaki Gölpınarlı (edit.); Şeyh Galip Divanından
1988), p. 20. 141
“The first salaam is a person‟s perception of his Almighty Creator and his own servanthood, as knowledge and truth awakens in him. The second salaam is the person‟s feeling of admiration in the face of God‟s power by witnessing the greatness and order in His creation. The third salaam is when that person‟s feelings of admiration and gratitude turn into “love,” and he sacrifices mind and reason to “love.” This is complete submission. This is union with God – annihilation annihilation in the Beloved. The fourth salaam is the person‟s completion of his spiritual journey, and, in fulfilling his fate, his return to his duty in creation, which is servanthood.” In this chapter and the next, we will go over the theory behind these salaams one by one using the ghazals in the Divan-e Kabir , and then look at how they are applied in the sema ceremony. The first salaam covers the perception of servanthood. The first salaam is indeed the first step: sharia! We must remember that without sharia, that is, without a solid foundation, there would be no Mevlevism! That much is clear. Rumi himself – despite despite the dozens of fabrications to the contrary – emphasized emphasized this sentiment with his own sharp tongue.
“As long as I am alive, I am a servant of the Qur‟an, the dust on Muhammad‟s path. If anyone interprets my words any other way, I object to him and to his words.”87 The sema perfectly symbolizes that journey we call the seyr-u the seyr-u süluk . This spiritual journey is intended to open a person‟s perception, step by step. And at each step the semazen semazen is expected to expand his perception. Let me repeat that the first salaam is the attainment of the consciousness consciousness of servanthood.
“Is it that simple?” you may be asking yourself. “Is that all there is to it?” But stop and think for a moment. How many people around us are truly aware of their servanthood? How much do
87
AG, DK, IV, p. 192. 142
people really feel that He is in every molecule and atom of their being?
It‟s hard to be a servant, believe me, I know. You say you are a servant to Him, okay, yet you cannot restrain yourself from bowing down to worldly deities. It doesn‟t work that way! How can this fit into the concept of tawhid , of oneness? The second point is that though we may say, “I am His servant,” how do we know whether God accepts us into his service? To me, it is a privilege to be His servant. It is good fortune. Shall I tell you a story?
It‟s from the Qisas al-Anbiya (The al-Anbiya (The Stories of the Prophets). An Israelite who knew that Moses had spoken with God approached him and said to the Jewish prophet, “Please ask. Am I going to heaven or to hell?” Moses asked God on his behalf. And the answer was the latter!
“How will I tell this man that such a terrible fate awaits him,” lamented Moses. The man appeared again.
“Did you ask? What did He say?” “Well… Unfortunately...” “Stop beating around the bush. What did he say?” “He said, „Tell that servant of mine, he is going to hell.‟” The man rejoiced at these words. He danced and jumped for joy. Moses was surprised. “My dear man, God has said you are going to hell, and yet you are frolicking around. What kind of business is this?”
143
Unperturbed, the man said, “But God called me „my servant.‟” He accepted me into his service. I am jumping for joy on account of this,” he said! If that isn‟t a lesson! And doesn‟t God call his servants back to him, as well? We have already gone over the beckoning call, “Come!” Then there‟s the hadith in which God says, “If my servant takes a step towards me, I will run to him.”
“I am walking/turning toward you,” says the semazen at every step. That is why Rumi says, “Whatever way they take me, I will demonstrate a thousand faults, but I am running on the path that leads to you.”88 He is a true servant. The perception of servanthood enters a person‟s conscience through his spiritual attainment. attainment.
“The one who knows his nafs knows himself .” .” Or, the one who knows himself knows his nafs. We must know what we are. “Who am I? Why did I come into this world? Who is my master? Who is my Lord?” Who?
“If you you are looking for the soul, know that you are the soul. If you are running after a morsel of bread, you are a piece of bread. Should you comprehend the secret meaning of this, you‟ll understand that what you are seeking is you.”89 The semazen has grasped the meaning of this, I think. Mevlana reiterates the same sentiment in his quatrains:
“As long as you look for the ore in the mine, you are a mine. If you chase after bread and only think of bread, you will become bread. If you understand this witty and symbolic phrase, then your
88
ŞC, DK, II, p. 276. 89 ŞC, DK, IV, p. 296. 144
mind will attain everything. Whatever you search for, whatever you run after, you are that thing!” 90 We have to make a decision here. It is impossible to find and to know ourselves any other way. Rumi elaborates further on this point in the Divan-e the Divan-e Kabir Kabir :
“If you‟re “If you‟re down to the last of the numbered breaths given to you, then sow nothing but love! Because, do you know how the worth of mankind is measured? By that which he seeks. Man is worthy of whatever he searches for.”91 These words call to mind a hadith.
“Even if you knew the world were about to end, plant that sapling anyway!” says the Prophet. That tree represents the “embers of love.” In other words, Muhammad advises us that even if tomorrow were to be your last day, go ahead and sow love into someone‟s heart. This is the ecology of love. The connections are surprising.
H unter unter s of of hid hi dden tre treasure sur e Mevlana tells us, “O traveller of God (the semazen-mkö)... You yourself are a gold mine, yet you do not know it!” “The Prophet proclaimed, „People are mines!‟ Each person is a different kind of mine. Some are mines of iron, while others are mines of silver, gold, agate, or diamond. O humankind! You may find treasure, but you won‟t find life. Try and find yourself, search for that hidden treasure within you! Because this treasure won‟t stay with you long. It will slip out of your hands and disappear. Find yourself, but be careful! Do n‟t let yourself get robbed! Yet whatever you do, an ever vigilant and skillful thief (your nafs-
90
ŞC, DK, IV, p. 298. 91 ŞC, DK, I, p. 310. 145
mkö) has set up an ambush on this road to God, and is lying in wait.”92 Therefore get to know your nafs. Know its games and tricks. Know your true self. This is the advice we receive as semazens. Of course, we are only human. We have weaknesses, as we noted when we talked about the body and bodily pleasures. We are indeed human, and as humans, we are incapacitated by amnesia. We often forget the oath we gave on the Day of Alast, “Yes, You are our Lord.” Mevlana therefore sends us reminders. We must not sink down to the “lowest of the low.” It‟s not that we are are the “best of stature,” but that we must attain the realization that we can be. The following is from a long ghazal. Let‟s content ourselves for now with the hardest hitting lesson:
“Your insides are filled with intestines, meaning they are filled with filth! In fact you are wallowing in filth. You are a type of filth! You have given rein to your carnal desires. Hey you, who lives with this filth, who is tainted with this filth, go and read the verse, 93 „How much they left behind of gardens and springs‟!”94 The garden here is God‟s rose garden, which is tended by the murshid , your guide and master. The springs are the rivers of Heaven. Mevlana is telling the semazen not abandon his murshid. Pursue your sheikh closely. As you follow behind him, do not let your sight waver. Stare straight ahead! Rumi not only warns us. He also encourages us. One of his most important qualities as a murshid is the constant encouragement he gives to his disciples to keep them on the straight path. He 92
ŞC, DK, I, p. 173. 93 Qur ‟an, ‟an, 44:25 94 ŞC, DK, II, p. 391. 146
emboldens us. He invigorates us. He is injecting excitement into our bodies. He is pumping energy into our souls. This is that indispensible element that will instill in us the love of service, and which is known in Sufism as himmat .
“Get up, lovers, let‟s ascend to the heavens! We have seen and understood the world we live in, so let‟s get going and move on to that world to which we are headed.” In fact, Rumi says that the gardens in both worlds are beautiful. If you have reached perfection, then the temporal world as well as the hereafter will be lovely for you. But only if you have found the gardener! That gardener is the creator of these two worlds. He is the Creator. Let‟s continue:
“All the beauty and form we see in that world prove the existence of a painter, a great artist that conceals Himself, leaving not a trace. Let‟s reach that invisible painter who is hidden from evil eyes.”95 Yes, let‟s get to Him. Come, the sema is your Buraq. If you become an insan alkamil , then you too will be issued a “visa” to embark on that journey. You will experience it when the murshids give you your ticket. Fear not, says Mevlana, “Do not say, „We have no access to that King.‟ Dealing with the gracious is not difficult. Despair not!”96 Though you may seem like a speck in the universe, do not underestimate yourself. Do you know where the grandeur of the universe rests? The miracle of the universe, O semazen, says Rumi, is in the constant remembrance of God, the Creator.
95
ŞC, DK, II, p. 350-1; AG, DK, II, p. 411-2.
96
Masnavi 1:221. 147
“Listen to the ney...” Rumi is not drawing our attention to the reeds for nothing. Listen to how beautiful nature is in this exchange:
“In winter the garden prays, „Only you we worship,‟ while in spring the garden prays, „Only you we ask for help.‟” Nature came came with fists opened opened to ask God for His His grace. All of ecology is imploring, “Open the door to joy and pleasure, do not leave me in such despair.” This is but a piece of the poem. The whole ghazal paints quite a picture of nature. A tulip talks to a rose. The daffodil constantly stares at the jasmine, admiring its beauty. The violet comes to tease. The hyacinth is drunk on dhikr, while the sweet basil is right alongside it. The grass has laid itself out like a rug under the cypress. The bud is hiding its face from lovers. The willow tree bows and tries to kiss the river.
“The creator established such a gathering so that the birds, like musicians, sing the melodies. The master of these musicians is the nightingale. He is intoxicated by the rose, and in love with the rose, and therefore so beautiful and so charming. charming. ...Oh, the first which comes last. O the first fruit which is the last of the fruit (the last semazen-mkö), O fruit which has grasped God‟s „strong rope‟ and held onto it... O one who possesses knowledge knowledge and comprehension, who has gotten to the bottom of everything and understands its essence, your hands and arms are long, your power and strength are enough for 97 everything, time is entrusted to you.” Wonderful, no?
97
AG, DK, II, p. 429-431 148
If the universe is a feast of dhikr and worship, enough to make our mouths water, then why are we standing in the corner? Let‟s get in there! Let‟s embark on the sema and overflow with exuberance. Let‟s climb to the heavens. If the universe is doing this, why aren‟t we? They say nature is the great universe, and we the small universe, but it‟s now time to turn this around. Let‟s perform such a dhikr that the world envies us and our Beloved, that it shrinks itself to fit inside us so that it can take part in this dhikr. Many universes are rolled up inside one perfect lover. Indeed, Sufi literature always draws attention to the link between Universe and Man. Man is a partner to the universe. They were practically created symmetrically. Take for example this interesting comparison, which the early Muslim philosophers, the Ikhwan al-Safa, al-Safa, or Brethren of Purity, make between nature and the human body:
“The body itself resembles the ground, with its bones the mountains, its marrow the mines, its stomach the sea, its intestines the rivers, its veins the creeks, and its flesh the dirt and mud. The hairs on the body grow like vegetation, and the places where this vegetation grows are fertile, whereas the hairless places are like the barren earth. The body, from face to foot, is a crowded city. The back is the unpopulated regions. The front is the east, the back the west, the right the south, and left the north. Inhaling and exhaling is the wind, with the voice being the thunder, and shouting like lightning. Laughing is the moonlight, crying is the rain, and sadness is the dark of night. Sleep is like death, while awakeness is life. Days of childhood are the springtide, adolescence adolescence the summer. Maturity is autumn and old age the winter. Its movements and relationships are the like the orbits and rotations of the stars. Its birth and existence
149
are a constellation of stars whereas its death and nonexistence are like their disappearance.”98
i s a uni univver se wi thin hi n you” “There is The Man-Universe corollary not only presents us with its physical aspect, aspect, but also with with its chemical chemical one. We know that life takes shape from four elements. Two of them are water and earth, the jamal the jamal , which grants life. The other two are air and fire. These are the jalal the jalal . They burn and they kill. According to the horoscope, people‟s temperaments bear the characteristics of one of these four elements, which are built into the signs of the zodiac. If we consider that Man is made from earth and water, and angels – including the devil – are made from fire, then we have arrived at the profundity of this topic. Such are the similarities. When we make these comparisons, the issue of mankind‟s superiority also comes to the fore. Look how Sultan Walad, following in his father Jalaleddin Rumi‟s footsteps, comments on the Man-Universe Man-Universe equation: j urisprudencee say, „The heavens and the earth are “Scholars of jurisprudenc the big universe, while Man is the small universe.‟ However, the saints say the opposite. They say, „As much as it appears on the surface that Man is born from this universe, in truth the universe is born from Man.‟ Likewise the fruit appears at first to be born of the tree, but really the tree is born of the fruit. This is because the fruit is born in the cultivator‟s heart before the tree. It‟s only later that he plants the tree. Therefore the fruit comes first, then the tree. God created the universe for Man. So then, mankind came into existence first, then the universe.”99
98
As cited in my book, Aşkla Dans (Istanbul: Dans (Istanbul: İlgi, 2012), p. 59.
99
Sultan Veled (trans: Niğdeli Hakkı Eroğlu); Rebabname Rebabname (Konya, (Konya, 2. Printing: P rinting:
2012), p. 289. 150
Doesn‟t the fruit, or even the seed within that fruit, harbor a giant tree? When you plant that seed, a tree will sprout from that kernel, and in time, it will grow to bear fruit. So according to Sultan Walad, Man is primary, and Man contains the universe within him. Imam Ali had already uttered this truth centuries before: “You presumed you were but a small part, but in fact the entire universe dwells inside you!” Ali is referring to the 18,000 worlds residing in man, but only within perfected man, not in everyone. It is true that every person is born with that capacity. Everyone has potential. But what if we don‟t utilize it? What if we neglect that kernel? Well, it dries up and disappears. Just as it does for plants. That is why the orchard needs a cultivator. That cultivator cultivator is the perfected murshid. Those who are taken into the order become, as members of mankind, the essential elements of the universe. Şeyh Galip penned this well known verse:
“Look at at yourself fondly, you are the t he essence of the universe. You are Man, the apple of the universe‟s eye.” But, “Why?” we may ask. Shall we go over the question of where mankind‟s superiority is sealed? The answer is that there is “a treasure hidden inside.” That answer is found in the Divan-e the Divan-e Kabir :
“A gift has been given to you inside that mortal body of yours, a hidden treasure. Look inside your soul for this treasure, which that glorious, matchless being, who lavishes many gifts upon his servants, has granted you!”100 Well, in what part of the body is that treasure? 100
ŞC, DK, II, p. 193 151
“When you deliver yourself from that body of clay, you immediately enter the vineyard of the heart. There you drink wine and make merry. There you see thousands of beauties disassociated from the body, so then why would you stop and ask, „Where is the beauty of God, the Opener of Doors?‟”101 The superiority of mankind must be sought in the heart. Mevlana describes that heart as “Such an entity that if you were to put seven hundred of the seven seven heavens into it, they would disappear disappear in it, and be gone.”102 This is because that heart is the site of God‟s manifestations! manifestations! If we were to use a metaphor, we could say that it is His outward abode.
“I do not fit into the seven layers of heaven, but I do fit into the heart of my faithful servant,” as the hadith goes. Yes, when the universe “sees” a faithful servant, what does it do?
“Even the highest heaven, with its light and its breadth, was moved when it beheld Man (the insan al-kamil ). ). Indeed, the highest heaven has expanse and magnificence, but what is form in the face of meaning? ...The heavens appear to be high. Yet spiritual height and true greatness belong to the pure spirit.”103
“God gave me a heart...” begins Yunus Emre‟s hymn. Let‟s listen to it and learn. Back to Mevlana, from the Divan-e the Divan-e Kabir Kabir : you have a heart, circumambulate circumambulate the Kaaba of the t he heart... “If you
101
ŞC, DK, II, p. 193
102
Masnavi 5:872 Masnavi 5:872
103
Masnavi 1:2657-58, 1:589 152
The metaphorical Kaaba is the heart. Why then do you presume it is is dust?
…God‟s treasures are found in broken hearts... There are many treasures buried in ruined places.”104 Let me elaborate here. God said, “I am with the ones whose hearts are torn.” In other words, God is with the “wounded gazelles.” Need I say more? Second of all, lay to ruin the palace in the heart made of earthly idols; render it a wasteland so that your face may turn to Me. “Open a place for Me in your heart,” says our heart‟s true owner, “let me manifest there.” Everything is clear now, I hope. When God, in his capacity of Al-Hayy – the the Ever-Living Ever-Living – gave gave Man life, he breathed into him his own soul, the light of Muhammad, and gave him a spirit, with the desire that he would seek his Beloved.
Man‟s spirit is only a drop of God‟s spirit. Come, walk, and meet the whole! The semazens perform the sema in order to reunite with their essence, to find the source from which they came, and to become light and and join the ocean ocean of light. If they are successful, they will transform into the most beautiful of creations, creations, the “best of stature.” The light (treasure) that has been breathed into the faithful servant makes him the most suitable device for God‟s manifestations of beauty. He is the most efficient vehicle for receiving God‟s perfection and reflecting it, or as Mevlana puts it, “being a mirror to
Him.” Hence:
“We never expected this from a being created from clay, and cannot keep seeing his faults and criticizing him. O person who seeks out faults! Do not scorn anybody. Of whatever community and 104
AG, DK, VII-2, p. 344. 153
whichever religion they may be, there is a piece of God (which is a kernel of potential that is hidden and waiting to be found, to bloom like a bud-mkö) within him. Man is God‟s mirror.”105 Do not waver here, Mevlana warns. “Yes, Man is not God, but it is His wont to t o reflect in Man the secrets of greatness.”
There‟s more to this verse, as Mevlana returns to the topic of prostration before before man: you are to truly prostrate before Man with heart, soul and “If you body, it is by God‟s order, not for show. You turn your face from the qibla, and wherever you turn, that place becomes in your heart the
Kaaba.”106 God is everywhere, ready and waiting! This semazens‟ awareness of servanthood is based on this.
Worshi Wor ship p i s the wi tness tness to belie li ef The ceremony‟s first salaam lasts for about 7-8 minutes. Within this time, some semazens – like yours truly – will falter at places. This is because they struggle to transcend the qualities appropriate to their nature. The world pulls them by the tennure, and for some reason the body becomes careless. But on the other hand, their spirit wants to lift them up to the heavens. A duel is playing out in their hearts.
Let‟s admit that it is difficult work at this stage to keep pace with servanthood using all of your being. And semazens, especially those in my position – novices, novices, that is – are are liable to complain from time to time.
“The floor in that part of the sema hall is a bit uneven, that‟s why I stumbled” is a common one.
105
AG, DK, I, p. 79.
106
AG, DK, II, p. 300. 154
Or, “They did not put enough powder down. That‟s why my should‟ve been.” feet were not as quick as they t hey should‟ve been.” The excuses are many, believe me.
Let‟s not forget that the sema is a form of worship. And it‟s this worship worship that leads leads to fervor. Therefore, the daily prayers are important. After Hüseyin Dede sanctifies a sikke, the advice he gives the semazen is “Amen, son, do not neglect to pray five times!” There are those who do and those who don‟t observe this mandate. The Dede therefore politely emphasizes that this ritual prayer is mandatory. mandatory. I have been acquainted with the prayer rug since I was 18. After my sikke was sanctified decades later, I took out a prayer score sheet so that I could make up all the prayer debt I had acquired from before I was 18. After every prayer time I would work towards paying off my my prayer debt, making an effort to lighten the load. In all his works, Rumi places special emphasis on meticulously observing all of Islam‟s tenants. The sema, contrary to the claims and allegations of ill-intentioned and ignorant people, is not an alternative to worship! On the contrary, the sema makes a person aware of his servanthood, and even warms him to the idea of it. It is a spiritual practice that is performed so that the semazen does not fixate on the form of worship, but rather that he can get down to the essence of worship and grasp the spiritual meaning of it. You can find many anecdotes in the Masnavi that focus on daily prayer. We can recall the stories of Sheikh Daquqi, of Moses and the shepherd, of Satan and Muawiyah, of the four Indians in the mosque, and of the master and his observant slave. I won‟t go through all of them one by one. Those who wish to find out more can look these stories up in this magnificent work.
155
However, I want to share with you Rumi‟s fixation on this, as it relates to the whole of worship:
“Whether it‟s daily prayer and fasting, or the hajj and jihad, all of them are a witness to belief. Almsgiving and the abandonment of jealousy bear witness to the secret in one‟s heart. ...Fasting attests to the fact that since he has abstained from what is halal, how could he indulge in what is haram. Almsgiving attests to the fact that since he has distributed his own wealth, how can he covet the wealth of another? But should those witnesses be false witnesses, then his case will be thrown out in the court of Divine Justice.”107 Surpassing form to arrive at essence! Could it be explained any more precisely than this! Let me reiterate: what Mevlana is emphasizing is not belief by imitation, but belief by verification. In order to grasp the core of the profession of faith, acts of worship must originate from within and come to the fore from there, meaning that a connection must be established between the physical worship performed by the body and that which is inside and intangible. Actions have got to be the outcome of faith and belief. Acts of worship will, as Rumi points out in the above passage, attest to the believer‟s servanthood. When the believer stops to do his ritual prayers, his spirit embarks on a journey from multiplicity towards unity. Yet the body is standing still.
“And so,” says Konuk, “The sema of the Mevlevis is something that relies on this meaning. Their spirits, as they are in 107
Masnavi 5:183-84, Masnavi 5:183-84, 189-191 156
prayer through the melodies of the ney and the beautiful singers, go on a journey that begins at multiplicity and which is bound for unity. And the trace of passion and misery in their souls manifests in their outward forms, and they spin like celestial bodies, turning in the 108 endlessness of space as a mirror to God‟s existence.” Essentially, “No prayer is complete without heart,” according to hadith. In Fihi Ma Fih, Fih, Mevlana clinches the issue‟s perceptional dimension:
“Action is not prayer and fasting. These are the representations of action. Spiritual action is on the inside.”109 Indeed, the Prophet‟s mandate is clear: “Daily prayer is the mi‟raj of the believer.” Mevlevis, like members of other orders, are expected to be constantly in prayer. Hence, the An-Nisa Surah, “And when you have completed the prayer, remember Allah standing, sitting, or [lying] on your sides.”110 As they whirl, the semazens are engaged in remembering the beautiful names of God. And in the Divan-e the Divan-e Kabir Kabir Rumi Rumi writes:
“O God! If I can‟t give You my heart in its entirety during prayer, I do not consider this prayer! ...My purpose in performing performing prayer is to find You in my heart, so that I am with You, and that I no longer suffer the pain of separation! Otherwise, what kind of prayer is this? As long as I am sitting with You, my face could be at the mihrab, and my heart at the
market!” 111 108
Konuk, IX, p. 89
109
A. A. Konuk (trans.)/ S. Eraydın (edit.); Fîhi Mâ Fîh (Istanbul: İz, 2006), p. 71.
110
Qur‟an, 4:103. 111 ŞC, DK, II, p. 375. 157
Mevlana describes the obligation of the hajj in similar terms:
“The hajj is a visit to God‟s house, but the pilgrimage to the house‟s Master is only worthy of a true man.”112 It is necessary to visit the Kaaba, says Rumi, but I seek not only the place itself, but its Owner as well. I am on a pilgrimage because it is the Master of that house I am after. When it comes to almsgiving, look at his Letters, Letters, which have been prepared for publication by the late Abdülbaki Gölpınarlı. These illustrate how Rumi encourages generosity. You will see in this three-hundred-or-so-page tome that Rumi strived wholeheartedly to provide sustenance to the poor and needy in his midst. Each of these letters is practically a specimen of a perfect sermon emphasizing the place of almsgiving and devotion in our religion. And now fasting... There is a lengthy ghazal in the Divan-e Kabir that I think should be read at every mosque during Ramadan. Ironically, Rumi Rumi is practically barred barred from the mosque these days. days. Mosques Mosques used to hold “ Masnavi Readings.” Not anymore. Despite my petitioning, they won‟t allow it. Even during the week of Sheb-i Arus, they never mention Rumi‟s name in the sermons. With all due respect, I cannot fathom this attitude, or even the reasons behind it. In any case, here is the ghazal in which Mevlana describes his take on fasting:
“If you you want to ascend into the sky of everlasting life, know then that fasting is your Arabian steed.” Recall the key concepts above concerning the sema and look at how Mevlana connects them with fasting:
“How will your drop reach that sea? You see, fasting takes you like a flood, like the rain, and carries you to the sea... 112
Masnavi, 4:15 158
Fasting brightens your soul like the day, and purifies your heart. Then meeting with the Lord sacrifices your existence on that holy day.”113 In short, what Mevlana is emphasizing here, and what religion preaches as obligatory, is nothing other than “finding joy in
servanthood.” Worship should be performed without the fear of hell or the expectation of heaven. We should worship with passion and love. The requirements of our religion ought to be carried out with the passion and excitement of arriving at vuslat . When we do it this way, it is still ritual prayer! Yes, the daily prayers that we as semazens perform are the same prayers as anyone else‟s. The only difference is in perception. The servant‟s perception has changed. This is exactly what the sema teaches and what the dervishes learn by doing it. The first salaam is geared towards attaining that perception, the perception of servanthood.
F ear , bewi lder lder ment, and ad admi r atio ti on The dervish passes another milestone in the second salaam. If the murshid approves, the semazen overcomes the first stage of the nafs, the nafs al-ammarah, al-ammarah, and arrives at the nafs al-lawwamah. al-lawwamah. The former is the commanding self, our base animal soul, while the latter is the “accusatory” nafs, at which point the dervish begins to examine and question himself and his surroundings. Here he is no longer knocking on the tekke door, but has entered the house, the house of perception. The Sufi gets acquainted with his Lord only after he comprehends servanthood.
113
AG, DK, VII-2, p. 388-9. 159
In the first salaam you say “man „arafa nafsahu” (he knows himself), while in the second salaam you are invited on the journey towards, “man „arafa Rabbahu” (he knows his Lord). These two dicta are frequently uttered together to make the hadith, “Whosoever knows himself, knows his Lord.” In other words, inasmuch as it is a movement from servanthood to God, it is also a movement from God to servanthood. Depending on the whims of the dervish orders, the perfection of the spirit can sometimes be interchanged with the purification of the nafs. Either way the destination is always the same! The second salaam begins with the postnishin‟s prayer of supplication. When the first salaam is over, the Dede steps on his sheepskin mat and, granting permission to the semazens, offers this prayer:
“O you who whirl in the circle of love! May God grant you wellbeing, and materialize your perceptions and intentions, and may He carry you safely to the true starting point.” Here comes “love.” Has that love begun to infect our intentions and perceptions? Sure it has. And you will actually feel a sense of wellbeing in the second salaam, when you pray with the Dede and begin circling again. You will not feel the fatigue as you turn, for instance. A sense of urgency has been lifted from you. Your movements have achieved equilibrium. The point of “panic” has passed. It‟s as though the hardwood floor is turning you. As you keep turning you will start to see more of the sema hall. You will notice more of the world beyond your left thumb, on which you have fixed your eyes. Your attention can now relax a little. You no longer have to concentrate on yourself. The more you turn, the more it feels like the walls and the ceiling of the sema hall behind your thumb are doing 160
the spinning. In other words, you feel that you are not spinning, that there is a sphere turning around you. You see, that sphere is the world, the universe even. As it spins, the splendors of this universe that God has created stream by square by square in front of your eyes like a filmstrip. When astronauts look at the world and the galaxy from “above,” I imagine they must have felt this feeling. The semazen‟s hands, with his arms in the air, are in a position to touch that imaginary spinning globe. And as though he were the Titan Atlas, the semazen hoists the world onto his back, lifts it onto his shoulders, and turns it in i n his hands. If we want to be concise, we can say that in the second salaam, the semazen sees the universe and his place in that universe! The tableaus that stream before his eyes give him the ability to to see at the stations of fear, then bewilderment bewilderment then admiration. Any reflections of that grand work of art, inasmuch as he can see them (or are shown to him), point to the indescribable splendor of that work, and the even greater magnitude, power, and beauty of the “Artist” who brought that work to life. The daunting magnificence of this work of art puts the fear of God into the semazen. Mevlana smiles at his semazens semazens and says:
“If you you have taken a cursory glance at the eddying of the seafoam, look at the sea if you want to feel bewilderment!” bewilderment!”114 The foam is materiality. It is relative and temporary. The semazen could only see that much. He loses his senses even when he sees what is right before him, and jumps with fear. If only he had seen the t he ocean! Then he would surely succumb to bewilderment. 114
Masnavi 5:2907 161
Mevlana warns the semazen:
“...And that person who sees the ocean is astonished...” and “left without volition.”115 The more the semazen witnesses the splendor radiating from the truth of the universe, the more he will begin to understand that the things he is observing is beyond the measurements of this world, and are on an inconceivable scale that exceeds anything the mind can wrap itself around. Fear yields to bewilderment. bewilderment. And so Rumi says, “Bewilderment is needed so as to sweep away thought; bewilderment devours thought and remembrance.”116 The semazen is rendered speechless. This is a critical threshold. An increase or leap in knowledge is needed here so that bewilderment can give way to admiration. Beholding the beauty of the work should render the semazen astonished and in total admiration. Sheikh Daquqi depicts that state in the Masnavi the Masnavi::
“Someone asked him, „You walked barefoot on thorns and stones?‟ He answered, „I am in complete admiration and out of my mind. I am deranged.‟”117 In the story, Daquqi expressed his wonder and surprise at what he was shown in the universe with these exquisite words:
“I became astonished, so that even astonishment became astonished; the waves of bewilderment passed over the head of
rationality.”118 It is easy to the t he see the truth of things? Not at all!
115
Masnavi 5:2908, Masnavi 5:2908, 10.
116
Masnavi, Masnavi, 3:1116
117
Masnavi, Masnavi, 3:1975
118
Masnavi, Masnavi, 3:1987 162
Yet the Prophet prayed to God, “O Lord, increase my
bewilderment.” So is it easy to handle the truth of things? Again, no. Those who see do not speak of it. After the servant, who up until that moment had praised God and embraced His similitude, goes through the fear-bewilderment-admiration process, he stands aghast and exclaims, “Oh Lord! I affirm that nothing is like You.”
“Being head over heels for you and praising you took my mind and my thoughts out of my head. I was left dumbfounded. The only thing left was the strength to utter an „ah.‟”119 An “ah”! Believe me, it is like that. You may witness this as you watch the sema. You might hear that “ah” escape from someone‟s breast. Perhaps you will not notice from which semazen it came, but it is a sound that bursts from the heart as though it is rending the flesh. fl esh. The semazen must remain reserved and solemn. He has to keep silent as he performs his dhikr inside him. He is already whirling to the name of God – Al-lah, Al-lah, Ah-lah – with with fear in the first syllable and admiration and astonishment in the second. Yet he cannot always keep quiet! A moment comes when you cannot help yourself. A wail beyond your control escapes into the sema hall. Interestingly, Interestingly, there is more relief and calm than sadness in that wail. I would even venture to say contentment. Yes, you will go back and forth between fear and hope, but you will fulfill the Dede‟s prayer and achieve that wellbeing. wellbeing. The exquisite taste, flavor and pleasure of that state are indescribable. It could be that you are anxious about it ending, and for fear of that you will cry out.
119
ŞC, III, p. 261. 163
But you will be grateful. “O sema, you have carried me to this
station!” The experience is like those times when your stomach is full, but the delicacies before you are so lovely that you refrain from leaving the table so that your eyes can also get their share. Rumi attests to this. Indeed, you will actually say to yourself, “The work of religion is nothing but astonishment.”120 The second salaam is short compared to the others. You are sad to see it end. It will strike like lightening into your heart. Hopefully what we say in the Mevlevi dinner prayer will come true, which is “this one‟s over, may the next one come again soon.” The second salaam is done and sealed, but the sema continues. The third and forth salaams await you. Prepare to be surprised in the coming chapters. Yet I must add this. Let‟s say that you did not reach any higher on the sema ladder, that you climbed down from the level of the second salaam. How would the world appear to your eye? Each salaam carries you to waypoint on the journey of perception. Considering this, look at what you have gained. In other words, what have you acquired as a servant by completing the second salaam? Let‟s look at it with concrete examples.
It‟s time to leave. You have taken off your tennure and gotten dressed. You go outside. You get into your car and are driving home. You have found wellbeing at the sema hall. But when you take a step outside, you dive right back into the streets, the traffic, the drivers disobeying the rules, the litter bugs throwing trash on the sidewalk, the guys blasting their music in their cars, the t he refugees and beggars approaching approaching you you at red lights.
120
Masnavi, Masnavi, 1:312 164
“Welcome back to the world!” everything is saying to you. If you are a believer who has surpassed your nafs al-ammarah and made it to servanthood, you will now start to ponder what you see “outside” through the lens of the lawwamah stage. lawwamah stage. You will get annoyed, even at yourself. You condemn everything, adding your former ego to this list. You should phrase your complaints like this: “How long will this road, the road of fighting, keep on going?” 121 Why do we keep fighting with each other? What a shame it is for us.
“We, all of us, all people, are in truth one substance. Our mind is one, our head head is one! one! However, because of this cruel fate, we see
double!” “We are God‟s light, we are God‟s mirror!” You cannot bear such an empty and meaningless turning of the world. For in the sky, in the sema, the world turns so beautifully! “World,” you want to shout, “Come, come, come closer!” You want to summon all the world‟s inhabitants to the sema. You want to roll down the window and yell at the top of your lungs, “Come, save yourselves from selfishness. Come to terms with everyone, get along with everybody! As long as you keep to yourself, you will be but a drop of water, a grain of sand. Yet if you unite with everyone and meld together, what a sea, what a gold mine you would be!” Let me shout it out, you say, and bring the people together. You cannot do that, for they t hey would call you crazy. The crowds may even gang up on you and give you a sound thrashing. So you sit your car, annoyed. Your hands dig into the innocent steering wheel.
121
ŞC, DK, III, p. 371 165
You keep quiet, because you are not yet in your right mind. You have not advanced to lunacy. That comes in the third salaam. Return now to your home and your family. We‟ll be waiting for you at the Mevlevihane. We still have two more salaams to get through.
166
7 BURNING IN THE FIRES OF LOVE
“Don‟t think that a life spent without His love – the love of that singular Artist who brightens the world with His beautiful works is a life, l ife, for it will disappear and be gone. On the path to God, you – is arrive at the truth not by talking about your beliefs, but by living
them.”122 It‟s a wonderful ghazal, summing up Sufism and the sema in one fell swoop. I will return to it at the end of this chapter, but for now let‟s just let it sink in. We have alluded to the singular Artist in the previous salaam. The second salaam rendered us astonished and in complete admiration. And we semazens have supposedly seen the perfection in the creation and functioning of the universe. Yet we have perceived but an iota of the treasure God has bestowed on humankind in this universe, and we have been grateful a thousand times over for our servanthood and that consciousness, honoring and praising our Creator to whom we have sacrificed ourselves. And this is still the beginning! At the start of the third salaam, the Dede revealed in a blessing what we we will experience experience from this stage onward: onward:
“May God grant you peace, O ye who walk on the path of love, and may the veil be lifted from your eyes so that you see the secrets of the age and the true center.” The keyword in this prayer of supplication is “love.” You shall discover what that word conceals. 122
ŞC, DK, II, p. 60. 167
Oh the things Rumi dresses us in! First the cloak of nonexistence, now the cloak of love. We will see how those who wear it catch fire.
That‟s how Rumi is. No one else in the Sufi world has written about love as he experienced it. So we‟ve clung to his tennure and are journeying towards love. We are anxious and excited. I have contemplated the importance Mevlana places on love, but I still can‟t say that I completely understand the “miracle” of love. Why such emphasis on love? If Rumi says, “A person void of love, even if he were a king, is a dead man shrouded in silk,” 123 then love must surely contain some kind of secret wisdom.
It‟s true, I am a romantic. In my youth I was quick to fall in love, and when I did, it shook me to the core. That‟s how I ended up marrying my wife. Everyday I loved her more than the previous day. Given this context, I can partly understand the emphasis Mevlana places on “love.” Yet sometimes I wonder if it is a bit exaggerated. Then again, Mevlana says some pretty harsh things about those who shun love:
“If a person‟s pulse does not quicken with love, even if he were Plato, consider him an ass!”124 Don‟t engage in such asininity! Our sikkes have been sanctified. You are now a Mevlevi, Mim Kemal. Listen to the ney! Hear the glad tidings the reed flute is imparting on you.
“Love is the Jesus of our time. It seeks out the dead to revive them. Come, be astonished at its beauty. Die, and be not afraid!”125
123
ŞC, DK, I, p. 216. 124 ŞC, DK, II, p. 98. 125 ŞC, DK, II, p. 114. 168
If you say, “All right, my Sultan,” then it shall be so. Now it is is time for that “admiration” we attained in the second salaam to turn into “love” in the third.
It‟s impossible not to be impressed by what Rumi has said about love and how he describes it. Love is having Jesus in one‟s heart; it seeks out the dead to revive them. Love, for Mevlana, is the Messiah. It is the Khidr. A healer like Jesus, a gracious host like Abraham.
philosopher‟s stone that turns copper into gold. It Love is a philosopher‟s even transforms dust into treasure. Love is at once Zulfiqar, the mighty sword of Ali, and the water of life, granting immortality to those who drink it! The epic of love goes on and on, rolling off Rumi‟s tongue. When he writes about his own relationship with love, Rumi says that one day we are the children of love, and the next we give birth to love. The expressions, “We are servants of love” and “We are disciples of love,” come up frequently in his writings. But when it comes to Mevlana himself, who is so immersed in love, he will surprise you by saying, “Do not ask me about love. Do not ask anyone else about love. Ask Love.”126 We must experience love for ourselves! We will experience it in the sema and see for ourselves. There is no way out, semazen. No longer can you escape love.
“Love, it so rattled Plato‟s chains, that he left behind all reason, as did Abu al-Hassan al-Kharaqani.
126
AG, DK, III, p.512. 169
Let it be known, in the name of love, that even if there were hundreds of bastions, hundreds of castles inside your body, no one could save your soul from love. Even if you became a lion, love hunts down lions. If you turned into an elephant, love would become a rhinoceros. If you hid at the bottom of a well hoping to save yourself, love would scoop you out like a bucket; it would tie a rope around your neck and pull you out. If you turned into a hair, love would split those hairs. If you were a kebab, love would be the spit, roasting you through and through. Love beguiles both men and women, robbing them of their senses, yet love also brings justice, order and assurance into the
world.”127 The head semazen has signaled. Taking permission from the Dede, he scanned us with his eyes, and was convinced we were ready. We semazens began our walk toward the post the post . At that moment, I felt we were slaves of love, our feet bound by chains and shackles. I could almost hear the metallic clank of the t he chains. When we stopped to pray, bowing before the Dede, I felt as if our fetters were cast off and tossed on ground in front of the post . This was the world of love, the third salaam. When you are set free into the circle of love, the bonds that tether you to the world dissolve in an instant. You open your hands to freedom, to the sema. With these emotions we begin to whirl.
127
AG, DK, III, p. 173. 170
i s a stra strange ng er i n a str str ange ng e land” “Love is That pleasure of servanthood we tasted in the second salaam is an honor bestowed upon the semazen. We have learned about the superiority of Man. With that comes a feeling of - we won‟t say pride, of course – but but something that makes you say, “Really, I‟m all that?...” You have been called an integral part of the universe. Yet, interestingly, that feeling will at once depart from you as you pass through that short corridor of time between the second and third salaam. On the contrary, when the semazen embarks on the third salaam, he bows his head as a slave of love. A strangeness descends over him. Yes, this is the word: strange! But why? The strangeness comes from the clothing worn by those who sail off towards love! The clothes you are wearing when you enter the floor have everything to do with this. After all, love itself is strange! I am amazed at Rumi, how he has so nicely put this into words:
“This love, like the spirit, is a stranger that has come into this world from beyond. Love, like Mustafa, went abroad to steer the infidels towards belief. He came to this land and settled. That springtide of beauty came to bring relief and rain down favors to rejuvenate our dry and forlorn trees.”128 The first line comes from the Hadith, and refers to Muhammad. The Prophet ventured into a foreign land (from God‟s presence down to the surface of the earth), and graced the world to bring belief to mankind. His spirit came to us as breath, and settled into Man, who where created from dust and water.
128
ŞC, DK, III, p. 200 171
Our Prophet brings spring into the world to grace it with the climate of love. The fortunate trees (servants) come alive spiritually from his abundance. They produce leaves and buds, which of course blossom. This means love comes from the esoteric realm. It originates in the spiritual world, as a gift from God. May God prepare you for “poverty,” like he did the “Stranger” (Muhammad). That is, may He make you a lover who has eyes for no one other than Him. Aflaki comes to mind. He writes in the Ariflerin Menkıbeleri Menkıbeleri that Shams Tabrizi issued a statement on Rumi:
“Mevlana‟s secret is veiled like Islam‟s secret. Like Islam, he has come across as strange ( garip, garip, in Turkish). Look at what kind of secret he has: Islam began as strange and it will once again go back to being strange. How happy are the strange!”129 So we were at the sema. The third salaam started like the other salaams. You could not tell the difference by the way the melody began. The difference, though, is on your shoulders. The state of being strange feels as though you are taking your self, that stranger, and hoisting him onto your back, and spinning him around. You are like a father picking up your sick child and rushing him to the doctor. The comparison is quite accurate, really. As a dervish initiate, you first arrive at Mevlana‟s infirmary, where you will see the heart doctor. Don‟t forget you have an appointment. I have already taken a step toward admiration. You cannot do so without having it turn into love. This is a necessary procedure. pass” the world and temporality, Heart surgery, that is. You will “by- pass”
129
Aflâki, Ibid , p. 273. 172
and slip into the artery of Love. This is something like a railroad switch changing the direction of the train. The outsider looking in assumes that the semazens in the sema are merely “whirling.” But what I keep reiterating is that in the sema there is an exchange going on, one which is constantly underway, but like the dhikr dhikr of objects, objects, you cannot cannot see or hear hear it. One thing that is happening, for example, is that the semazen‟s spiritual perception awakens in the sema. When this occurs, he finds solutions for the problems he had long thought were hopeless. In other words, the dimensions of his thinking have expanded. Rumi would occasionally issue fatwas while engaged in the sema. Those who requested these legal and religious judgments preferred him to give them during the sema. Why? His mind was clear and his channels open, ready for inspiration. And so, in the third salaam the secrets of love become clearer. Love is both the reason behind creation and the incentive for the continued functioning of the universe! Sufis believe that God, Al-Wadud (The Loving), gave the order “ Kun!” on account of the hadith, “I was a hidden treasure. I wanted to be known and to be loved.” Again, according to Sufis, God Almighty called the Prophet, “Habibi,” meaning “my love,” for He sent that man down to grace the world, and said of him, “If it weren‟t for you I would not have created the universe.” Muhammad Muhammad is i s Habibullah, God‟s Beloved. To the Sufis, God intended to be loved. God wishes to be a god that feels love. Love is a blessed gift. It comes from on high. And so God loves His servants.
173
And the servant? Does he just remain unresponsive to this love? Mankind, in whose hearts God has entrusted the divine gift, must certainly justify the reason he was created. He too will love his Creator. He will run to his original lover. He must be ready to sacrifice himself for Love. Just as Muhammad left Gabriel at the Sidrat al-Muntaha during the Mi‟raj, you will leave the mind there too and enter the waters of love. The mind will be sacrificed to love, while the body will be sacrificed to the soul. The semazen will barely be able to take a step towards the abode of the lovers. But he will be able to attain the privilege of seeing the essence of God and the universe. If he could see, then he would concur with Fuzuli, who said, “If there there is anything in the universe it is love.” If he could see, then he would shout like Yunus Emre, “Love is to me religion and creed.” The third salaam is the “cosmic room” in which this vision is revealed. We need to discuss the subject of Ruyatullah, Ruyatullah, or the vision of God, with caution. We have to t o camouflage it as communicating with Him through qurbiyat (nearness), and as feeling God‟s existence deep inside ourselves, so as to remain discreet. If were are to touch upon the functionality of love in this context, this is the aspect we need to speak of and which will suffice: we use love in in the sense of divine manifestations that enable people to feel feel the existence existence of God within within them. And when we say manifestation, we are talking about the “divine light,” An An- Nur Nur . 174
Here is the equation: the light that the semazen will benefit from will manifest and crystallize cr ystallize in proportion to his love. The more love, the more light! Put another way, a dervish devoid of love will remain in the shadows, untouched by the divine light. So what are we waiting for? Let‟s run to Love. Let‟s get the wheels spinning and turn towards love.
“Love is like a prophet who serves as a liaison between God and Man,” says Mevlana. “It comes and goes between them, bringing and taking news.”130 We already have an exemplary lover: Mevlana. Follow him. I hear Rumi‟s voice saying, “If you are a lover, if you are seriously in love, abide me and sit with me.” He calls out to the lovers, “I am proof of love. I am a verse. Read me.”131 Behold a famous anecdote. They asked Mevlana, “What does it mean to be a lover?” you were like me you would see and understand what it is “If you to be a lover!” But those who quote this sentence do not go on to the next line. They are either forgetting to do so or they are skipping it because they do not understand understand the meaning. meaning. Rumi goes on to say:
“When they call on you, you call on them too! If you can be loved, then you can love!” 132 Love is a divine gift. First God loves you, then he asks you to love Him. He is calling you to Him. If God has lit the lamp of love 130
ŞC, DK, I, p. 332
131
AG, DK, III, p. 6.
132
ŞC, DK, III, p. 403. 175
in you, you will love Him. You will love Him because He wishes you to. You will go to Him because he has summoned you. It‟s not like He doesn‟t know or won‟t recognize the servants who will love Him. Therefore go and call to Him. Shout and make noise. Make an effort so that God will have mercy, so that He will enter your heart to reconstruct you.
fi r es sho should ra r adi ate out fr fr om the lover” “The fi Don‟t confuse being in love with lazing around in a dreamlike state. Do you think God likes lazy lovers?
Let‟s picture what kind of lover Mevlana was. He himself says:
“What would happen, O brave hero, if you too were a lover like me. If you had spent all your days in madness and all your nights in lament... If you lost your mind and went mad with love, binding yourself to Him. But this is not the madness that comes from the mixing of humors or the tampering of blood, nor is it the kind of madness treatable by medicine. If doctors could taste but for a moment that suffering, they would free themselves from their bonds and rip up their medical
books.”133 Our suffering is love.
“Love is not the duty of the tender and the gentle. Love is the 134 business of wrestlers.” These words explain the lover precisely. They emphasize how that lover ought to be. And they are so embedded in me that I want you too to feel that same excitement. Feel them, and enroll yourself in the first sema course you come across.
133
AG, DK, III, p. 5
134
AG, DK, IV, p. 215. 176
“To me, the lover must be such that when he stands up, flames engulf him on all sides and all hell breaks loose.” The servant whom love has overwhelmed is a ball of fire or – to use perhaps a more accurate and gentler expression – a a torchlight. He walks with light shooting out from him. He walks like Yunus Emre, who said, “I am walking around all aflame.” Those who approach him also catch fire. Flames envelop everything in his midst. That‟s what a lover is. He burns and he ignites. The more he burns, the more he ignites. He sets off man‟s destruction, but here, destruction is in the sense of “Die before you die.” It also alludes to the part of prayer where you have risen to your feet to “stand before God.” To be judged, like on the Day of Judgment. When lovers like Mevlana enter a community, they make those around them forget the world. That is indeed what happened in Konya. Mevlana arrived at a place, and with a few words, a couple of breaths, and of course the practice of sema, those present “came to the love,” and threw themselves into the circle. Those few words were, “Let there be love!” And then there‟s the Mevlevi prayer used during greetings, “Let your love be beautiful. Let your beauty be light. Let your light be sight...” This blessing underlines the goal at the core of the third salaam. For Rumi, the sema spilled over into the world outside the sema hall. He burned with love at every moment. The ghazal continues:
“He should want a heart that burns like hell, one that will even burn down hell, so that if two hundred seas open up before that heart, it will burn them all. His single wave should generate a sea.”135
135
ŞC, DK, I, p. 421. 177
This is a reference to Abu Bakir, whose heart could destroy even hell. Muhammad‟s companion had uttered this prayer:
“O Lord, when I die make my body enormous and throw me into hell, so no one else will ever be able to fit in there.” As the believer passes over the lake of fire on his way towards paradise, the hellfire says to him, “Cross quickly, before you extinguish the fire!” Lovers are rolling floods of flame that have returned to the world to burn all its ugliness. Isn‟t that what Mevlana is saying?
“As the lover inhales and exhales, flames spread through the universe, shattering this nonessential, baseless world and scattering it like particles. God started a fire to burn all things untrue; the fire ignites the heart, makes it burn, and brings it into the center of that universe.”136 The fire that God has ignited has to be the semazen. I want to stress the above expression, “Scatter like like particles.” It is very significant. It serves as a “guide post” “guide post” placed in front of us. It has a close connection with a situation the semazen will come across shortly. Let‟s be ready. We are ready, though. Have we not surrendered to love? Have we not supplicated with the postnishin the postnishin in in front of Mevlana‟s post ? We have severed our heads and renewed our obeisance. We have drunk the wine of love from the Dede‟s hand. And from the Divan: Divan: a long time such a wine has been poured from on high, “For a drop by drop, onto our soil (body), and every particle of our soil began to shriek.”
136
AG, DK, I, p. 90-1. 178
As revealed in the Surah Ash-Sharh, “Our breast was expanded and filled with divine light. The heart started to talk. It began to talk of love.”
“The wine offered to lovers from God‟s spiritual chalice separated from the lees and entered the bottle (body- mkö) in a pure state. The blossoms of truth bloomed, unseen by the evil eye. Effort turned to love and said to me, „Stop licking your lips and start drinking the wine!‟” 137 Like I said, the Divan-e Kabir was was written as though it were for the sema. Not surprisingly, the words of the ceremony were mostly selected from this work. When you‟re watching the sema, you cannot really sense this, but the semazens are in a state of “communion” with the Dede. In the words of Rumi, “they converse with neither tongue nor lips.”
vessell fo f or God’s wi wi ne i s the heart” “The vesse The Dede speaks. But what does he say? He says, “You have the pure wine of God, and you have the wine made from the grape! The pure one is the water of life, whereas the other is filth!” The Dede adds, “Grape wine sometimes turns those who drink it into pigs, other times it reduces them to apes. That red wine turns your face pitch black 138 in the end!”
He‟s telling his semazen to not forget, to put this verse to memory:
“The vessel for the wine of God is the heart. Open that jar. An evil temperament has covered the mouth of that jar with mud. Remove that dirty clay and toss it away.”139
137
ŞC, DK, I, p. 89.
138
Black in this context is synonymous with shame. 179
“Yes, Dede,” you will say. You must say it. it . It‟s true; it was not grape wine you have drunk. This wine has drained into your heart. It mixes with your soul, where it ferments and froths up. It becomes the wine of the spirit. And “the eye of the lover” from the second salaam, “who has seen the power of God and has witnessed His art” starts to get bleary in the third salaam. Mevlana has this to say:
“The grape wine we all know belongs to the followers of Jesus, while the wine of Mansur is meant for the people of Muhammad. The latter wine has no chalice. It is consumed without a glass. There are jar-fulls of grape wine in the cellars. There are also vessels full of this other wine. There are, but you will not taste the wine of Mansur without breaking this jar, without killing the carnal emotions that belong to the body.”140 The Dede affirms this point. He says, “Unlike grape wine, the wine of Mansur is not always offered to everyone. The wind of Mansur is offered at daybreak to the lover of God who does not kill the night with sleep, but has thrown off his sheets and gotten up.” This wine is offered at the sema. As the Dede‟s semazen, you too will say, “With your permission, Dede, Dede, you have have become our cupbearer.”
“Cupbearer, fill this cup with God‟s wine. Offer this divine wine to burnt and parched hearts.” We understand that your “love turns arid land into a garden of roses. Your wave will change the clouded eye into something that scatters pearls.” Do not keep this benevolence from me, from the semazens. The Dede responds: 139
ŞC, DK, II, p. 95. 140 ŞC, DK, I, p. 45. 180
“Guests of God drink water from the same bowls as the angels. The wine comes from the sky to men who do good deeds. The lips of His true friend touches His bowls, His pitchers, and drinks from His vessels. You can only find that clear, pure wine in the cup of abstention and avoidance.”141 In this answer lies a humility particular to Sufis. The original cupbearer is God Almighty. Moreover, it indicates that He is actually in that divine wine which fills the dervish‟s jug, and his heart. That wine is the divine breath, which God breathed into his soul on the Day of Alast. His intoxication began at that moment. Yet he could not get a handle on it until now. Therefore, the Dede says to you, “Shhh.” Don‟t say anything more. Enjoy the moment. Know that “the voice comes from the world of the unseen to those worthy of address.” What comes next is divine inspiration. Do not disrupt the flow by speaking. Do not interrupt. Savor the taste of this very special wine. However, the semazen becomes exuberant off the wine of Mansur. He cannot help himself. On the one hand he is whirling, on the other he is conversing with the Dede. “O cupbearer!” he says, “This wine you have given me is some kind of water in which there are flames, hundreds of flames... It is such a water that it burns and ignites like fire.... A wine like red gold, but it came not from the juice of the grape, but from light, eradicating blindness from the eyes. It carries a man to
Saturn.” The Dede smiles at you. As someone who has tasted that wine before, maybe even drunk it hundreds of times, he says, “A strange fervor appears in he who drinks it, when that wine does something else to him, when it frees him from himself and he finds God inside 141
AG, DK, II, p.9. 181
him. Take as evidence when Mansur exclaimed not from his mouth, but from his soul, “I am the Truth!” What beautiful energy, what beautiful proof.”142 This time the Dede casts his gaze upon the spectators. He addresses the audience as if he is proud of his semazens, “These dervishes‟ lovers, as well as their spiritual luster, are not outside their hearts. They do not drink wine made of pressed grapes. They find their spiritual wine in the blood that flows through their own veins.”143 In truth, this is such a wine that if Satan drank it, he would give up evil!144 The semazens must be worthy of the Dede‟s favor. We know this from Rumi. Yes, “Not everyone can throw themselves into the fire of love. Well-bred horses carry the sultan. Dumb, sluggish horses carry saddle bags and cow dung.” Come on, Mim Kemal, I said, and quoting Rumi to myself, I uttered, “Enter into into the love that burns like fire, and purify yourself. Treat your heart well in the fire like silver, and beautify! Since you are the son of Abraham, the fire is your home!”145 I came into this circle to burn, to burn with love. I came to sacrifice myself to love. I came to be martyred by love. I had begun to converse with my self, my essence, my heart. I gave my heart instructions. I was going to unite with it, and together we would cast this devil we call the nafs into the flames. We were in negotiations. On the outside I was turning in the sema while internally I was trying to conspire with my heart. I had to persuade it.
142
ŞC, DK, III, p.110 143 ŞC, DK, II, p. 152 144 ŞC, DK, III, p. 260. 145 ŞC, DK, III, p. 86. 182
“O heart! If you want a lover, escape your self and become a stranger to yourself! Have faith in love as the moth does! Do not think of your body and your life. Hurl your self into the flames of
love!” The semazen whirls around the sema hall as though he were revolving around the flames of love. Picture an enormous flame burning in the middle of the room, at the pivot point. The semazen semazen has become a moth, encircling it. Most importantly, the semazen must throw himself into that fire. That‟s what is expected of him. When the semazen performs the sema, he thinks of that final act in the third salaam. He makes his calculations, and encourages himself:
“Turn your face to God completely, and face the Truth! Talk about true love. Do not tire out your mind. Put a shackle around its neck and bring it into the circle. Do not set it free. Be entranced like us and go mad!” The nafs countered the alliance I made with my heart, aligning itself with the mind. They have apparently conspired to make us abandon our plan of leaping into the flames.
“Do not be deceived, heart,” I tell it. “If you want immortality, lose yourself and be annihilated. Become a man of God! Do not be a slave to your carnal desires. Become a pearl in the sea of love!” The mind must not trick us. It will not trick us. We want our heart “to be one, to abandon multiplicity and arrive at unity, to achieve tahwid .” .”146
left my my self self,, I found myself” “I lef Recalling these lines from the Divan-e the Divan-e Kabir is is powerful. The heart has kept up with my whirling legs. We were marching towards the fires of love...
146
ŞC, DK, III, p. 203. 183
There was a deep ache in my heart, a burning sensation. It began as a warmth in a single spot and spread outwards as it increased in intensity. The body has been consumed in flames. I was burning, from my skin down into my genes. But, I was burning along with my nafs! As the semazen sets out on this journey to burn his nafs, he himself has caught fire! Why was I surprised, then? Didn‟t the light of religion extinguish the flame of the nafs? Both of them were ablaze. But one was nar (fire) and the other nur (light). (light). In fact, the burning in the fire of love that occurs in the third salaam consists of two parallel processes. The semazen who is graced by God‟s jalal manifestations notices that his sins, the impurities of the nafs, and his states of ugliness are burning away in the flames. He ought to notice. They are sustaining the fires of his hell. At the same time, however, he is being overwhelmed by God‟s jamal manifestations. manifestations. The light of love has enveloped him. He is also burning, in a way, but the flavors are different. One more point: Burning with the light of love makes you forget the pain of fire. Nur obscures nar . Love acts as a divine anesthetic during this burning operation. And you will burn!
“I am dying!” they scream. On this path, you must die in order to be. You will start to listen more clearly to the voice inside you. It tells you:
“Die, die; fear not this death! Only through death will you escape this polluted earth and soar to the heavens beyond!...
184
Die, die, come out of these clouds of sin that leave you without the light of love! When you come out of the clouds, you will be as radiant radiant as the full moon.”147 This death is a special kind of death. This is the death Sufis describe when they say, “Die before you die.” We must not shy away from this death, because, in the words of Rumi, “Lovers never die!” Only asses die! And look what else Rumi says to the lovers – to to the semazens in that long, well known ghazal: ghazal: – in
“If the lovers of God die on the path of love, they will be greeted by the Sultan of their souls!... When the lovers of God die, the eye of their soul opens and they see beyond to the world of the Unseen! The others die blind and deaf in the fear of death!”148 This was the reason we entered this salaam. This was our intention. Good intentions bring good results. To avoid any misunderstandings, misunderstandings, when we Sufis say, “dying,” we do not mean committing harakiri. Dying means effacing your self and achieving “non-existence.” Rumi says:
“This is what it means: quickly transcend your existence, and abandon your ego... Will we transcend existence, and if so, where will we arrive? At non-existence. If there is existence, it is nothing other than a name and pomp.”149 A paradox! That‟s the enigmatic truth of Sufism. What we see as being there is actually temporary. One day it will all be gone.
147
ŞC, DK, I, p. 443. 148 ŞC, DK, II, p. 12. 149
AG, DK, IV, p. 9 185
Therefore it is essentially nothing. At the same time, that which remains is God. What you cannot see, is that God, whom atheists consider to be non-existent – far from it! – is in that which we cannot see! If you transcend your own existence, you will see that Truth – God God – in non-existence. That‟s what we are trying to get at here! We want you to abandon your own ego, that part of you which is fleeting. We want you to play down that t hat dimension of you. There should come a time in the third salaam when the semazen, like Mevlana, must recall the words: “Whenever I left myself and abandoned my ego, I saw my self, I found my self.”150 That moment comes. There are unique shifts in the ceremony‟s usual composition. You are whirling around on fire for a while in the third salaam. After a certain time, depending on the composer‟s preference, the music changes and the melody speeds up. You enter into a magnificent musical passageway. There you whirl faster. Faster, faster. Your tennure should ripple in the shape of the lam alif ( alif ( ) ligature. Your eyes should glaze over as the music crescendos. Your feet glide over the floor, swift and quick. The left foot the pole, the right the wheel. As you move faster you succumb to the feeling that you are never stepping on the ground. Your feet kiss the ground, and come back up. After a while, you find yourself above the floor. You are levitating. You are performing the sema midair! Are they pulling you from above. Have unseen hands taken you by the chest and lifted you into the sky? It can‟t be! The spectators are not seeing anything supernatural! The semazen is still in the same place. There‟s no illusion or anything like that. Perhaps, then, the semazen has experienced a hallucination! hallucination! 150
ŞC, DK, IV, p. 9. 186
That‟s not quite right either. I don‟t know how to describe these states! I will attempt to illustrate them as best I can. Just above, Mevlana has said, “I left myself and abandoned my ego...” Concealed here is the truth of the matter: in the third salaam a moment comes in which the semazen is possessed with the sensation that his soul has wriggled out of his body and is pulled (with divine ecstasy) toward the ceiling of the sema hall. That soul soars over the body like a surveillance drone, if you will, watching it, observing it, i t, and recording it! If the semazen abandons himself (his body), his ascending spirit (his true self) can see his body performing the sema down below. He is seeing himself. And without a mirror! The artifice of the mirror is related to the secret. Now that the secret has been exposed, there is no need for the t he mirror. Here is the first stage of the wonders.
“This one‟s over, may the next one come again s oon,” say the Mevlevis during our meal prayer. And that‟s how it is. Look again and you will see more in the t he third salaam. The semazen burns as he turns, scattering flames all over the sema hall. He is taking his nafs back to the hellfire and letting it burn in the flames. As he ascends to the world of light, he feels that his existence is crumbling and separating from his soul, particle by particle, atom by atom.
It‟s like you are hearing Rumi shout, “I am nothing, nothing, nothing at all!”151 The station of nothingness. Effacement in Love, annihilation in the Beloved. Dissolution, like iron in fire, like sugar in tea. These are analogies, but analogy doesn‟t quite reflect that state. Although Mevlana expresses it well:
“It is impossible for the servant to reach God and obtain tawhid unless he transcends his own ego, overcomes his own 151
ŞC, DK, IV, p. 204. 187
existence, and becomes nothing. Tawhid is not God inhabiting the body; tawhid means getting rid of the ego, being freed from existence and annihilated. Vanity through empty and meaningless words, and outrageous acts is not God. Man is not God.”152 In his quatrains, Mevlana records the Sufi formula of perception for attaining truth, which is based on religious ordinances on the scales of “tashbih tashbih and tanzih.” Tashbih Tashbih is the concept of affirming God‟s similarity, whereas tanzih tanzih is accepting His transcendence of, or incompatibi i ncompatibility lity with, anything we know. The semazen must know this, and not confuse these states and concepts with one another. In this context, this is how Rumi expects the semazen to describe the sea he dives into:
“Love came. It became the blood that flows inside my flesh and courses through my veins. By emptying me of myself, it filled me with the Friend. The Friend covered every part of my body, every one of my particles. The only thing I had left of myself was my name, and the remainder was all Him.”153 In other words, the semazen has reached spiritual maturity. He has emptied his heart of all things temporal, leaving an empty vessel to be filled with God‟s manifestations. manifestations. God does not permit godliness to anyone. Therefore, if the semazen doesn‟t stray from Mevlana‟s path, he will be able to attain in the sema such a consciousness as this:
“O Lord! I won‟t let the skirt of your beauty and majesty out of my hand. The pleasure of the wine You offered me in eternity won‟t leave my drunken mind. You say to me, „See yourself as you are!‟ yet I cannot see myself as I am because my visible existence is
152
ŞC, DK, IV, p. 147. 153 ŞC, DK, IV, p. 64. 188
no more. In fact, I consist of non-existence. What exists is You only, my Lord!”154
“Appear as you are, be as you appear!” is a famous Rumi quote. Notice how Mevlana has expounded on the wisdom contained in that line. It takes heart to say it, for not everyone can grasp it. At this level, it‟s best we just get on with our own sema. Mevlana eggs us on.
g ave my lif li fe, I g ai ned ned the world” “I ga The speed picks up in the third salaam. I had broken loose from the sema. My tennure spun on its own. I turned automatically like the mannequins in the Mevlevihane museum, spinning on their platforms. You are no longer there as a semazen! As Rumi said, you are learning first hand what Ayn al-Yaqin al-Yaqin is. Love is the “tree of light.”155 You are climbing it. Love has become a ladder to the semazen.
“Love is a ladder you can climb to the rooftop of the sultan of beauty. Come, read the story of the Mi‟raj on the face of the lover!”156 Yes, this sema is the Mi‟raj. You are living it! Mevlana was so right, you are saying. Just as you tire of climbing the ladder, “A voice comes to the lover from His world of mysteries: „Love is God‟s Buraq. Ride it 157 into the heavens!‟” The semazen mounts the Buraq. He ascends quickly in the sema.
Mevlana‟s voice comes to his ear: 154
ŞC, DK, IV, p. 148. 155 ŞC, DK, I, p. 207. 156 ŞC, DK, I, p. 67. 157 ŞC, DK, II, p. 140. 189
“Love will get you many things. You will free yourself from this temporal world, this world of bounds, and you will go beyond, to the boundless world!”158 Yes, my sultan! We are going higher. To where? How far? Rumi names the location:
“The heart suddenly grabs me, and takes me to the tent of renowned love. I swooned when I saw the face of the sultan in that tent of love. The heart also swooned, but in another way.”159 It is not surprising that Mevlana is always telling us, “Come!” It‟s not for nothing. If only people could know! Some know. This semazen has learned. Praise be! The semazens began greeting each other “without tongue, without lips.” Each semazen transferred his experience to the dervish to his right, questioning whether whether or not he was also experiencing this moment. Perhaps he was forwarding this message to his fellow semazen, “Do not say a word, I have gotten hold of a secret treasure. I gave my life, but I gained a universe.”160 And you? The semazens hang in the emptiness of the sky. They are turning, just as the angels turn on the wheel of fate. This time the angels have stepped aside to watch the semazens. You have entered into an ocean of feelings, a “spiritual pleasure. The feeling of this spiritual pleasure has no shape or color. This pleasure is indescribable.” 161 This pleasure is not of this world. It is beyond words. I can say this, that there are lots of pleasures you can taste in the world, but there are still many more in the other world.
158
ŞC, DK, II, p. 440. 159 ŞC, DK, II, p. 60. 160
AG, DK, II, p. 410.
161
ŞC, DK, I, p. 352. 190
Rumi has said, “On the path to God, you arrive at the truth not by talking about about your beliefs, beliefs, but by living them.”162 In a prayer of supplication, the Prophet uttered, “O Lord, enlighten the secret of truth for us, and show us everything how it is.” God Almighty then invited Muhammad on the Mi‟raj. Once there, “His eyes became enlightened by lining them with the kohl of „Did we not expand for you, your breast?‟ His sight even became better than Gabriel‟s.”163 And so God endowed him with sight and made him a witness. We too strive to be a witness. I wrote in my book, A Dervish‟s Logbook , “Whether it be Mankind or the Universe – the the whole of Creation – exists exists not to see itself but to see the Creator reflected in itself. It is a matter of being able to see God‟s reflections and manifestations in Mankind and the Universe. It is being able to see both the temporal and the everlasting, the relative as well as the absolute.”164 In the third salaam, the Semazen undergoes cataract surgery so that he can focus on divine dimensions. What he gains is perception. He arrives at this knowledge through love. The faithful servant now possesses foresight and, in Sufi terminology, terminology, sees with the eye of the heart. If the semazen is worthy of the prayer the Dede recited at the beginning of the third salaam, and if he honors it, then the Semazen will begin to see everything through the eyes of Mevlana. To see the world through Rumi‟s eyes! What a privilege! privilege! Mevlana has already said to his semazens:
“Look into our eyes. See the beauty of God! These eyes are not the eyes you know. They are the eyes of truth. Yaqin is Yaqin is an eye 162
ŞC, DK, II, p. 60.
163
Masnavi, Masnavi, 6:2863
164
Mevlana Jalaluddi Jalaluddin n Rumi and Sufism: A Dervish‟ s Logbook (Istanbul: (Istanbul: Sufi,
2017), p. 288-89. 191
that twinkles with the light of true belief. And God sees beauty in us too. Keep this to yourselves, so that my blood does not spill on the ground (like what happened to Mansur- mkö).”165 They say that, “Seeing God‟s saints reminds us of God Himself.” Let‟s not forget this. In today‟s world, people chase after money from morning to night. If only they could catch a glimpse of a saintly servant and pick up on the air about him – his his “aura” if you will – and and be reminded of God. And then there are those who can even see Rumi in their dreams and in other states of mind! I have heard that the great master shows himself during the sema to a few chosen semazens. In any case, the third salaam was coming to an end. But before that happens, let‟s try to comprehend, if only just partially, the wisdom contained in the initial reaction of someone who has observed this. “O beloved, you are so apparent that you were hidden, practically out of sight.”166 We have said that in the sema a person opens himself up to inspiration. When that happens, it causes the semazen to say, “Why haven‟t I seen this until today?” All in due time. God‟s wisdom is not to be questioned! In short, the semazen will gradually begin to see in the third salaam the essence of the sema. We strove, we trained, and we were dowered. We entered the sema hall and we whirled. Very well, but did we learn completely what the “thing” we did was exactly? O Mim Kemal, the saints in the sarcophagi lying under green cloth in the corner of the sema hall have risen and are asking you this question!
165
ŞC, DK, IV, p. 244.
166
AG, DK, II, p. 225 192
They are alive. You will perform the sema, while the saints sleep in silence! As the sema whirls in front of them, the late sheikhs of the Mevlevi lodge remain indifferent, don‟t they? If you dare, shoot a glance over there, and observe how those turbaned sikkes have become the vault of the sky to the old postnishins postnishins lying underneath. It has always seemed to me like they have broke out of the solemnity of their sikkes and sprung to their feet. I don‟t begin the sema before greeting them. And sometimes they also mingle among the semazens. They inspect us as though they were our head semazen. They come up to us and ask, “Do you know what the sema
is?” You are doing it, no? So come now, explain it to me. Out of decency you don‟t answer. You keep quiet. You partake in silence. But didn‟t you enter the sema in order to be revived? They repeat the question, “Do you know what the sema is?” They wait. No response. As you whirl, they read you a long ghazal. When the third salaam ends, perhaps this will stick in your head, “Do you know what the sema is?” To hear the sound of God‟s expression, “Am I not your Lord?” is to transcend your self and reach the Lord! To see the states of the Friend is to hear God‟s secrets from behind the veils veils of the unseen unseen universe!
“...The sema is a secret! Like that which is concealed in the hadith, „My time spent with God is such that neither angel nor prophet comes between us!‟ So you see, it is arriving unmediated at a place that not even an angel can fit into!”167 Here is where the words end. The music has already been cut. It has changed. We will enter into the fourth salaam.
167
ŞC, DK, II, p. 377. 193
As a semazen candidate, you need to think about these topics, and even if you have interest in this path, and you have entered onto it, you must exercise patience. Don‟t think that you will be able to run through these stages in fifth or sixth gear during your first sema. It is hard to tell how many semas it will take for the veil to be lifted for you. Even in theaters the curtains are heavy, opening slowly to each side. And we do hope each sema will lift a curtain. How long does this waiting – this this yearning – last? last?
Don‟t think, “What if I get bored and give up?” It‟s enough that you performed the sema once, for that sema will keep beckoning you back. I would never skip a ceremony days. You will enter every sema in order to embrace it as the Mi‟raj. The Mi‟raj is what we‟re after. It is the main thing you must experience. You intend to find that sema in which you will be able to see the truth. How long that will take is unknown! It‟s up to fate, what can I say...
194
8 WHY DID WE COME INTO THIS WORLD?
is the dervish who is outside of flesh and soul. The dervish “It is is higher than the earth and the heavens. God had no reason to create this world. The dervish is God‟s reason for creating the whole world. That is to say, if it were not for the dervish, God would not have created the world.”168 In the above passage, Rumi is making a reference to the hadith of “law laaka,” in which God tells Muhammad, “If it it were not for you, I would not have created the universe.” Muhammad is the “insan al-kamil ,” ,” the Universal Man. He is the perfect embodiment of mankind. Mevlana is stressing how full of love Muhammad is, and that God, who created the universe in order “to be known and to be loved,” loved Muhammad so much that he called only him, “Habibi” my beloved. – my Rumi is in turn also drawing attention to Muhammad‟s cloak of guardianship. While he is the Prophet, the servant, the slave, Muhammad is at the same time the guardian of the Sufi path. In keeping with Muhammad‟s tradition, the heirs of this path are obligated to love God. As long as there are Universal Men, love and fervor for God will continue on this earth. As Al-Wadud , the Most Loving, God wishes to be loved by his servants. Carrying out God‟s request is the duty of the friends of God. It is a requirement of the heart. We can say that in this framework the creation of the universe was for the sake of Muhammad, the Universal Man, and that its
168
ŞC, DK, IV, p. 88. 195
continuation is for the sake of the dervishes. God‟s servants must satisfy Him by loving Him. In short, Mevlana is drawing a connection between the dervishes‟ absolute love, and God‟s mercy for mankind – despite despite all the bloodshed, cruelty and sin – through through His deferment of Judgment Day. As long as there are dervishes, there will be love, and the world will go on turning. The semazens who make a habit of loving God serve as a kind of safety valve to ensure the existence of Man and Universe. In fact, every person is expected to love God. This surprises people. The dervishes came – or or were brought – into into this world to remind people of this. That is why they say, “We learned from God the highest and most perfected degree of humanity. We are love wrestlers. That is why we are friends of Ahmad.”169 And now those “love wrestlers” are now preparing themselves themselves for the fourth salaam fourth salaam.. The Dede recites our prayer:
“O lovers! O true people! May God‟s peace be upon you! Our turning is complete. Our hearts are purified. God has „brought you to the truth of yaqin of yaqin.‟” Hopefully it will be so, Dede. The fourth salaam is the last peşrev. Our tennures are soaked in sweat. The body, however is not feeling tired. This is because we have long since severed our connection with it. You do not feel its existence. It‟s as though your senses are numbed. Our soul is satisfied. What more could we want! What did we experience? What indeed! Who could explain this better than Mevlana?
169
ŞC, DK, II, p. 294. 196
“We turned ourselves upside down, and in the end we crossed that river of truth. We banged the universes together, and we jumped jumped out of it, and lost interest in the universe. The Buraq of love we mounted was the Buraq of the highest heaven. And so we arrived in heaven in one bound. We banged the universe together like particles and caused a ruckus in order to arrive before the throne of that matchless king, but of what He is or what He is like we cannot fathom at all. There appeared at the first waypoint a sea brimming with blood. With our our bloody feet, feet, we traversed traversed the mountains. mountains. As we continued down God‟s path, human understanding, human delusion, human reason – all all of it – spilled spilled out onto the path and scattered. This is because we have transcended the six directions that surround man; we have left them behind. When we came to the border between Leyla and Majnun, our steed reared up, and we could not restrain it. We surpassed even Majnun‟s limit. By the acts of worship and goodness that we performed, we debased the nafs, which was swollen with pride so that it rivaled the mighty River Karun. After that, we courageously rode on towards His treasure. Had a particle of the paths we overcame with the light of His love remained, the desert and the plains would have come to life.”170 He just explained the semazen‟s Mi‟raj! Mevlana actually composed this ghazal while engaged in the sema! After the last peşrev, the musicians began to play the final semai. Following the Mi‟raj, I sense that this is approximately yürük semai. and figuratively the phase where the heart undergoes its cleansing
170
ŞC, DK, II, p. 328; AG, DK, IV, p. 5-6. 197
operation. Do not ask how I know this. With that music I feel like I am hearing the sound that our washing machine makes when it enters its last cycle! Sometimes the musicians recite for the benefit of the spectators a hymn known as the “ Niyaz Ilahisi,” which begins “Listen to my words...”
“...Come with love, let‟s be seekers to be remembered Let‟s live with joy and vigor Come to Mevlana, let‟s be servants The sema is pleasure, a cure for the soul, food for the spirit.” It is a wonderful hymn, this one! We recite and listen to this hymn outside the sema too, but when we perform it in the sema it takes on a different flavor altogether. The 1-2-3 rhythm of the semai form increases our enjoyment of it. Legend has it that Vienna waltzes took their inspiration from Sultan Walad‟s composition. composition. It really does resemble a waltz. Locked in a close embrace with the light, you are spinning at this stage in the sema as if you were dancing with the angels.
sema calms calms and com comforts orts souls” “The se Unable to bear it any longer, our Dede jumps into the sema. Just as Rumi would frequently do, he rends his robe and throws himself into the circle. The postnishin postnishin grabs hold of his khirqa at waist level by its right side with his left hand, and by its left side with his right hand. He opens up the chest of the khirqa, and engages in the sema. The head semazen follows suit, hot on his heels. The semazens give them the floor. And there you have the moth encircling the flame. There is more to it. Let me just come out and say it: those rotations are the circumambulation of the Kaaba. The “wheels” have turned into the “shaft.” 198
It is not me who is saying this – I I know my place. But Rumi is implying it. Let‟s read together one of his ghazals regarding the sema. You will see that I am right.
“The sema calms and comforts the souls of the living, those who have a spirit know this... The sema can be a time for a wedding...” says Mevlana, reminding us that the t he semazens are God‟s brides. The sema has now turned into a spiritual wedding. Naturally, we must celebrate the Mi‟raj. The spectators watch in envy the semazens turn in their white tennures, but they must wish the brides well. The sema requires us to “read” the scene, which requires an eye that can see it. We cannot expect everyone to have that kind of vision. Hence, Mevlana shouts out in the same ghazal:
“What good is this music to someone who does not see his own jewel What can a tambourine do to someone whose eye cannot see the Moon. After all, the purpose of the sema is to come together with the Beloved, the heart taker.” When we look through such a lens, the sema is a wedding night, the Sheb-i Arus. Arus. The ghazal continues:
“The people whose faces are turned toward the qibla perform the sema in this world and in the other. Especially if the Kaaba stands at the center of those who form a circle and never stop revolving around it…”171 The semazens surround the Dede. At that moment he is the insan al-kamil . He too has entered the sema. Brought to life here is the phenomenon that Mevlana is talking about when he says, “You will become such a semazen that the Kaaba will circumambulate around you!” 171
AG, DK, VI, p. 151. 199
This is the Dede‟s gratitude to the semazens who have brought his heart to God. The semazens are overwhelmed by God‟s favor and beneficence. The greatness of our Lord is clear: “He transforms those who want to into what what they want. He turns right right side up what what is upside down, and by His grace and favor He helps the many who pray turn to Kaaba for their prayers.”172 Doesn‟t our God Almighty do that? He does! From this moment forward, the music tends to wind down. The musicians are just finishing the last part. Then silence... Only the rustle of tennures remains. And the cries of “Allah...Allah!” emanating in steamy breaths from the semazens‟ charred hearts. The semazens descend to earth from the heights of the sema. Their tennures act as divine parachutes. They glide down from the heavens to the sema hall floor. When their feet land on the ground – in both senses – the semazens now assume a different identity. They have achieved a new kind of perception, having become endowed with divine knowledge. They became servants ready for the next level: marifah. marifah. At that moment one of the musicians reads a ten-verse section from the Qur‟an. The Dede and the head semazen exit the circle, while the other semazens return from the world of existence – true true existence – to to the relative world. They have been annihilated. They kiss their black (nothingness) khirqas and hoist them onto their backs in a way that symbolizes their annihilation. They kiss the ground to express their praise and gratification, before taking their places on the sheepskin mats. mats. This is a prostration of gratitude, in which the semazen conceals his spiritual state of being, which teeters between fear and 172
AG, DK, I, p. 11. 200
hope. Yes, in the sema God has honored the semazen with His jamal His jamal manifestations. But, at the same moment, fear has entered his heart. The main source of anxiety of the God lovers is to be estranged from Him. Separation. As the sema comes to close, they dread drifting away from their closeness to God. In hymns they sing, “Have I not told you? This is but a moment, it comes, it passes.” It‟s as though these lines were sung for just this occasion. The semazens conceal a prayer within that prostration of gratitude. As they listen to the Qur‟an recital, the semazens are supplicating. They plead:
“O God, do not turn this union into separation; do not make the love drunks cry ...The Kaaba of Sublimity and Prosperity is but this circle, do not destroy the Kaaba of hope. Do not take the center pole out from under the tent; the result is your tent, my king, don‟t do it. There is nothing more painful in the world than separation; Do what you want, do not do it alone.”173 O Lord, do not separate Yourself from me, do not leave me to my self. The semazen has become a ney, and laments of potential separations. He crafts stories out of these scenarios of despair. After being with you, I don‟t even want heaven. I don‟t want anything save for you. 174 This intoxication is nice, my Lord, but whatever happens let us not lose your love. Let your love be everlasting.175 The Dede roared the verses from Al-Fatihah.
173
AG, DK, IV, p. 247
174
ŞC, DK, II, p. 49 175 ŞC, DK, I, p. 1. 201
Then he stood up and recited the Mevlevi Rose Prayer:
“May the breath of our master Mevlana, the secret of Shams Tabrizi, the holy light of Muhammad, the generosity of Imam Ali, and the intercession of Muhammad, the unlettered prophet, open the hearts of the lovers, mercy to all the worlds. Let us say Hu…
Huuu…” With “Hu” we lifted our bowed heads. Bidding farewell to the semazens and the musicians, the Dede exited the sema hall. We too left, in his wake. Before we get dressed, the semazens generally congratulate each another, and pray that God accepts us.
It‟s interesting, when the ceremony ends, the spectators – whether they are Turkish or visiting tourists – do not get up from their seats. There is no mad dash for the t he door, like at Friday prayers. The spectators stay put like captives. Perhaps they have travelled to another universe and back again. They want to soak in that atmosphere, savor that feeling. Slowly they come to, and find the door. Time after time, the audience lingers at the door for a while. They want to see the Dede and the semazens, talk with them, and perhaps even touch them, to make sure they are of this world. They think of you as “alien”! You get subjected to the “E.T.” treatment. It‟s the stuff of science fiction films: Earthlings meeting extraterrestrials. extraterrestrials. Something like that. The language is the same, but you talk in different dialects.
“Doesn‟t your head turn?” “God forbid, what fame and fortune we‟d have if our heads did not turn.” “Don‟t you get sick to your stomach?” “Why would I do something nauseating!” 202
“It‟s Mim Kemal, isn‟t it?” “Yes.” “We haven‟t seen you on the screen for so long. You disappeared. We thought you died.” “I did.” “Now why on earth did you get into this business?” “Can‟t say. I never thought about it before.” “Is it difficult?” “...” “Can you do me a favor? Can we take a selfie together?” world ld we came came to gi ve our lives” “To the wor I‟ve been doing the sema three times a month for three years, and I have yet to run across a servant of God who has asked me, “Why don‟t you teach me this as well?” What a society of spectators we have become! You want to say to people, “Ask me about Mevlevism, semazens, Rumi, Sufism. Just ask.” They‟ll probably say, “Okay then.” Look at how far you got. Take it a step further. You will want to say, “Why did the semazen come into this world, O earthling astronaut? Do you want to get to know them? Shall I describe to you in the words of Mevlana who these people are?” But you remain quiet. The path‟s rules of etiquette require it. The demand must come from there. Once again your heart is speaking, but we cannot say what it is telling us. Let me write it down then:
“We have come here, like the sun, to give life to everyone. We have come to cultivate scattered seeds into a rose r ose garden. We have come to inform the earthly body of the heavenly soul. We are not anyone‟s personal riches like gold or silver. 203
We are everyone‟s property and wealth, like the sea and the mines. We are not a den of thieves like the earth. We are like the sky, trustworthy and nice. We have come, like religion, to offer mercy to those who live in fear. Come to your senses and be quiet. You are above this too. We cannot fully express it in words.”176 These are hard-hitting lines, for those t hose who understand them. If outsiders are interested in the sema, they sense that it is a kind of parapsychological folk dancing. As though it were a yoga course, they ask, “How much is the monthly membership fee?” Like yoga, the sema does calm those who perform it, as well as those who watch it. It is a wonderful therapy indeed. The sema does, of course, provide the anxious 21st century person with an excellent form of rehabilitation. Not even in India can you find such a penetrative meditation. But, we must not think of the sema as being this superficial. superficial. The dervish ceremony is an act of worship. In this context, it offers you a recipe for salvation. This really is hope for postmodern, yet hopeless, humankind. It It is a life preserver. The sema sets the stage for a journey from multiplicity to oneness, from ragged to elegant, from difference to likeness, from part to whole, from expedience to virtue, from divergence to convergence. Being able to sit at this ethical and aesthetic meal, to eat the food made from love and civility, will be a harbinger of both personal and social peace and tranquility. People do not become civilized only through mathematical intelligence. They become
176
AG, DK, V, p. 204; ŞC, DK, II, p. 362. 204
civilized by increasing their emotional – or or better yet – their their spiritual quotient. Only people who explore their own metaphysical depth can attain happiness in life. And they are the only ones who can spread happiness to those around them. The people who can see that “hidden treasure” in within themselves and in the world are the ones who can achieve serenity in their lives. You swallow hard and leave the Mevlevi lodge. You head towards your car. Everything is the same, yet it‟s not. The sema has not only changed you, but it has also changed everything around you. The world that appeared ugly to you, that annoyed you from time to time, or stressed you out, now appears lovely to you.
“My God!” you say. “I had considered only myself a semazen. But now the whole universe is in the sema. How is it that I could not see this before?” You will see beauty and smell pleasant scents you had not noticed before.
“The sun and the moon, the stars too, are turning in the sky with love, as though they are dancing. The world on which we live is also turning, performing the sema...” Amen, my Lord! Those trees... growing tall “Those trees, which are ascending to the heavens, growing and ascending on the Mi‟raj, as though they had placed in the gardens ladders to the heavens. They are inviting impassioned people to the the Mi‟raj.”177 Only the trees? Every particle that the sun strikes is engaged in the sema! Oh, Mim Kemal!
177
ŞC, DK, I, p. 92. 205
“Sit in front of the t he window and look at all the particles playing in the sunlight! They are so content with their circumstances, dancing around so nicely. This is because they have found the light they love. Whoever‟s qibla is the sun prays like this. These particles you see in the sunlight are like Sufis ceaselessly turning in the sema. But no one knows to what rhythm, to what beat, to what type of 178 instrument they are performing the sema.” I watch nature‟s semazens, transfixed. They might be dervishes, my friend. We do not know. Just like the saints, they sustain the world through their semas, and with their dhikr and their worship. The world must turn with love, said the Lord. Before the advent of Man, these long suffering and faithful semazens of nature held down the fort. I applaud you, hidden lovers. The penny just dropped! For me, anyway. Yet Mevlana has been saying this truth for centuries. I am finally awake. Good morning, Mim Kemal!
“In fact, every part of the world and every thing in it is a lover. A fire of love has descended into every thing, into every particle, into every atom even! Every thing is bustling about trying to reach the beloved. Everything is drunk on union! But they do not tell you their secrets! Only the worthy are told the secret! All beings are eating and drinking from the beautiful feast of our host, at God‟s table! Every thing is alive, every thing eats and drinks, and speaks! If it were not so, would the ants have told their secret to Solomon? Would the mountains have sung hymns along with David? If the sky were not in love, would its breast be so pure, clean and blue?
178
ŞC, DK, II, p. 109 206
If the sun were not in love, would there be any light in its face! If the ground and the mountains were not in love, would even a blade of grass grow in their hearts! If the sea knew nothing of love, if it did not understand love, would it keep thrashing about, and foaming up and spilling over? O human! Be in love! Know love! Be faithful! Find faith! The sky did not accept the burden of Amanah! Amanah! It was in love, but it was afraid afraid of making making mistakes!” 179 What words! Could a person who sees the world this way oppress even those beings whom we assume to be the most inanimate of objects God created? Would such a person trample all over the environment? How else, I am asking, can there be sensitivity to nature? “We sew and patch the fabric of the heart”
O Mevlana, how I love you. My appreciation swells the more I understand you. “I am crazy for lo ve,” you say. As your semazens, we are mad for you. “Love is crazy, but we are the craziest of the crazies,”180 no? You are the original semazen. On the voyage of the sema, the Divan-e Kabir is your “logbook.” You have recounted to us your own sema. You told us how you were wounded hundreds of times against the lance of unfading love, and how you licked your wounds. Azreal became your companion at every step you took, every whirl you turned. You were not afraid of him. You battled death face to face. But what did you say? “Far from from fearing it, I took pleasure and joy from death itself, since it appeared before me.” 179
ŞC, DK, III, p. 406. 180 (155) ŞC, DK, II, p. 316. 207
O Rumi, in your own sema you shook off the burden of existence. You stepped on the stirrups of immortality and mounted the steed of everlastingness. We heard you. We had an inner sema within our sema. That sema was your sema. You were turning in our hearts. And you told us this:
“Yet if my waist bends like a hook, then hear out of me the sound of the ney of immortality i mmortality,, hear it from me!
...Don‟t look for me in this word, or the next! In the universe that I am in, the two worlds have disappeared.”181 I am slowly beginning to understand the truth now, Rumi. It stands to reason that the truth is impenetrable without the sema, without reading the Divan-e Kabir . You did say, “If you you annihilate your own existence, you will be me without being with me!”182 You were right. You possess wisdom. You are a physician. When the body is ill, you are the salve that heals it. When the heart is sick, you are a great lover, a great friend. You are the physician of God‟s love. And you take no fee for your treatment. When the patient dies, physicians flee, but you do not. You are a kind friend, O Mevlana!183 You are a disciple of the Messiah; you have held onto the dead and breathed life into them.184 You are the treatment for the mistreated, help for the helpless, joy for the sorrowful. You feed and water the poor, the lonely, the wretched. O Mevlana, you are not the sultan of bribes, but the sultan of hearts. You sew and mend the tattered khirqas of our heart.185
181
ŞC, DK, II, p. 290-1 182 ŞC, DK, III, p. 441. 183
AG, DK, III, p. 46.
184
AG, DK, III, p. 58.
185
ŞC, DK, II, p. 289. 208
You know that you are in our hearts. You know everything about us. Our hearts are in your hands. Be kind, and explain yourself to us semazens.
“O lovers, O lovers! I turn the soil into gems. O musicians, O musicians! I fill your tambourines with gold. O thirsty ones, O thirsty ones! Today I am the cupbearer. I will turn this arid earth into Eden. I make the river of Kawthar flow. O outcasts, O outcasts! The time of salvation has come. I will turn those woeful patients, who have suffered many afflictions and endured much trouble, into kings. O alchemy, O alchemy! Look at me! Because I will turn hundreds of churches into mosques, I will transform hundreds of gallows into pulpits. O infidels, O infidels! I will open your locks because I am the absolute judge. I will make whoever I want a believer and whoever I want an infidel. You were a drop of sperm. You became blood. Then you went through the stages. You became a tall, beautiful human. O human! Come to me so that I can make you even more beautiful. Let me make you into a perfect human. I turn sorrow and pain into joy. I bring the errant back to the right path. I make the wolf Joseph. I render poison into sugar. O rose garden, O rose garden! I made the sweet basil befriend 186 the water lily. Come to my garden and take a rose from me!” That was Mevlana‟s answer. He who does this is God. And it is He who makes it happen. Those perfect servants, those lovers of God, like Rumi, are His caliphs. Rumi is at His disposal, because he is a rose in His garden. Take that rose, son of man!
186
ŞC, DK, II, p. 257. 209
The above ghazal emphasizes what must be done for God, and in His name. The heart of the matter is getting the “ember of of love” to settle into people‟s hearts. God only gives this sacred duty to His chosen servants, the “privileged few,” who have rendered their hearts an abode, and their bodies a vessel. Mevlana was among the first under the sky to be entrusted with this. They are the “inviters.” In their hearts beats the kettledrum of Muhammad. They are the trumpeters of love. They summon the people toward love, to the Beloved. “Come!” they cry. They summon us to what our “civilization” (!) lacks the most – Love. Love. They summoned me, too. That invitation came to me, and it came at time when I least expected it. I have shared with you the story of that “coming” at the beginning of this memoir. I have been in that sea called Sufism for over twenty years. I was also charged with showing others the way to the true path. But it was Mevlana who had requested that strange traveller. In an instant I found myself at the Mevlevihane. Since I wrote those lines, three years have passed in i n the home of this enlightened family. There was a unique taste, richness and sense of abundance I felt during the time I spent with the Dede and the other Sufis. It was something else. I spent these three years studying and researching. I learned Persian and indexed Rumi‟s works. I participated in the sema, and every week I would do a “Masnavi Readings” group in a different part of town. The Dervish‟s Logbook is a product of this labor, as is the book you have in your hand. I had never been far from Mevlana, but I had not entered “into” him, as such. How it happened, I don‟t know, believe me. Instead of spending all my time measured, I have a disposition or inclination to 210
always resign myself – unexpectedly unexpectedly – to the flow of events. And that‟s what happened. Even as someone who was generally perceptive, it was love that carried me to the heavens. I burned with God‟s love. I have not experienced such a burning since. I had not even sipped it. Yes, I have burned a lot in the past. But this burning was different. How can I describe to you the fiery love that Mevlana projects? I don‟t know. When I was rereading the Divan-e Kabir , I would say, “Ah, that‟s it. I am burning like that.” That is why I said in the very beginning that the Divan-e Kabir is is a “how-to guide” for the sema. I learned this first hand as I burned. I wrote this while burning! Though it‟s been centuries, this is the “miracle” in Mevlana‟s fire of love, which never goes out, but on the contrary increases, spreading and enveloping the world! It ignites all who approach it. It is tried and true! Nothing can alter the taste of this divine, spiritual love found in Rumi‟s teaching. It is never satiated. No matter how much you drink of it, you will not be satisfied. 1001 days after we met, my Dede summoned me. The Dede had prepared a text for a calligrapher to write out, and he signed that diploma on the 2015 Sheb-i Arus. Arus. It now hangs on the wall in our living room alongside a picture of him. And next to that is plaque with “Ya Hazret-i Mevlana!” that the late, great calligrapher Hamid Aytaç wrote out in the shape of a turbaned sikke. How time brings everything together in “one” place, side by side, as it flows on. It is a divine script; you will be at ease if you act it out with love and don‟t question your role. Resign yourself. That is enough. It will always turn out as your director says! 211
a heart you’ve won” “Bring a In the fourth salaam, the great director has alluded to the aspect of “marifah.” What your fellow semazens expect of you is sound morals and service in the name of God! If you have become wise in the ways of the path, then you have long since learned that true marifah means marifah means rendering service to and doing so with love and enthusiasm. God‟s servants and family – and Come, don‟t stop. Work and do your duty, semazen. There is a phrase Rumi uses in the Divan-e Kabir : “the drunken nightingale.” It is an affectionate – and fitting – name he uses for us. Listen to Mevlana call us to duty:
“O drunken nightingale! See the rose garden that overflows with roses for the love of God. Take a high tree branch as your pulpit to announce your beautiful voice to everyone! Get up there and start singing! ...As the scent of roses is the food of fairies, O love-struck nightingale, then your breath filled with burning love is the food for the brides of the garden. Spring has arrived. You have called your friends by beginning your song.”187 Once you start to become familiar with Rumi‟s terminology, and you do the readings and decode the concepts he uses, his eloquence will so captivate you that you will not want to read anything else. If only you could read the Persian original! I didn‟t believe it at first, but the Persian leaves you with a different aftertaste.
That‟s how Rumi is. Anyone who reads him wants more. You discover a new, hidden meaning each time you read it. Mevlana is a many-layered many-layered treasure.
187
ŞC, DK, I, p. 122. 212
Here he says, “Speak!” The tongues, having been run through the distillery of love, can now speak. Speak, drunken nightingale... Start speaking... speaking... Don‟t be shy. But it is we who speak of you, it says. It‟s true. Stop, let it speak. Fade from view. This world heaps a heavy load onto the semazen‟s back. I am saying it out loud. There‟s no two ways about it. We can extract the semazen‟s mission from Mevlana‟s “will.” Are you surprised? Yes, Mevlana left a will. He hid it within the Divan-e the Divan-e Kabir Kabir . Of course, it is not seen that way. I will quote it below. It‟s long, but worth it:
“If you you have a heart, circumambulate around the Kaaba of the heart. The heart is the meaning of the Kaaba, which you had thought was made from clay. God has called on you to circumambulate the Kaaba whose shape is known and visible, so that you will procure a Kaaba of the heart that has been cleaned of all impurities! Know well that if you wound or break a heart in which God resides, God will not accept your visits, even if your feet walk around the Kaaba a thousand times! Give your existence, your nonexistence, your property, and your wealth. Take a heart, take it. That heart is in a grave. Let it give you light on that t hat pitch-black night! Should you bring God a thousand sacks of gold, He will say, you want to bring us something, bring us a heart you‟ve won!‟ „If you
„Gold and silver mean nothing to us! If you want us and our approval, what we want is a heart!‟ That rundown heart you assumed was worth little more than straw surpasses the Throne of God. It surpasses the Footstool, and the Preserved Tablet, and the Pen!
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The ruined heart is God‟s purview. It is the place where God looks, and into which he fits! How great the being that created it, how powerful! Repairing a poor heart that has shattered into two hundred pieces is more more valuable to God than the hajj or the umrah! umrah!
God‟s treasures are found in ruined hearts! A good many treasures are buried in ruins! If you want to be happy and excel in spirit, take this to heart and atone; leave behind pride and arrogance! If you have aided the hearts you won, then the springs of service will gush forth and flow from your heart! The water of life flows off the tongue like a flood. Your breath, like Jesus‟s, cures diseases! Two worlds were created for one heart. Consider the meaning of the hadith, „If it were not for you, I would not have created the
universe!‟ If this were not how it was, then from where would your existence, and the existence of space, the sun, the moon, the earth, and that sky come? Quiet! If every hair on your body possessed two hundred tongues, and you tried to explain the heart with them, you would be unable to. The heart defies explanation!”188 Brilliant! This ghazal contains everything – Sufism, the love of God, the sema, and what is expected of the semazen. It is flawless. Marifah involves Marifah involves doing a favor. That favor, then, is to enter a heart. Look for a heart to enter, semazen. Do you suffer with the suffering? Do you cry with them? Do you give them a shoulder to
188
ŞC, DK, III, p. 429-431. 214
lean on? Find the wounded gazelles near you. Repair their broken hearts. Don‟t just stand there. Run to those people! This is what God wants! In the Masnavi the Masnavi,, Rumi extrapolates on an anecdote set in stone by the Noble Qur‟an and hadith. God is speaking to Moses. He says, “You, whom I have enlightened with the divine light, I am God. I fell ill, and you did not visit me.” Moses says, “But you, O God, transcend all defects and are free from harm. What kind of metaphor is this? O Lord, explain
this!” God speaks again, “Why did you not ask after me in my
sickness?” Moses says, “My Lord, you are free of plights that befall your creations, such as illness. How can you get sick? Your words confuse me. They are challenging my reasoning. Please explain a little of what you mean.” God says, “Yes, a pure, chosen servant had fallen ill. I am he. Give that some good thought! His defect is My defect. His sickness is my sickness.”189 God is with the wounded hearts. I go to the Galata, Yenikapı, and Bahariye Mevlevi lodges a few hours before the sema. I am on the sema hall floor before the ceremony begins. This time to show the youth how to whirl! I call out to the young initiates, each one newer than the next. I call out to them in the language of Rumi. I offer words of encouragement encouragement as they perform the sema:
“Come on, children! The sky turns for the lovers. That turning sky spins with love, and in love.
189
Masnavi, Masnavi, 2:2157-62 215
Not for the baker, nor for the blacksmith. blacksmith. Not for the carpenter, nor for the perfumer. Insofar as the sky turns for love, let‟s get up and get turning. Consider what He, in all his glory, said: if it were not for you I would not have created the universe. Ahmad al-Muhtar is a mine of love. Shall we for once whirl around lovers, or for how long will we whirl around corpses and dirt? But where is the eye that spies lovers? Yet they pop their heads in out of doors and walls. The door tells a secret, so does the wall. The fire tells a story, as does the water and clay. Like a scale, like a yard stick, like a touchstone – all all of which are mute, but they measure in the market and deliver judgment. Ah lover, walk, and turn like the sky. Abandon words and
talk.”190 otherr busi ness in i n the world orld but but love” “We have no othe I can hear the voice of Mevlana. Do not look outside and despair, Mim Kemal, he says. You cannot influence those who lack the vision to see. Look at the initiates before you “holding the pole.” You have done all sorts of jobs in your life – teaching, teaching, consulting, television, journalism – and and left them. You don‟t care about money and wealth, I know. But you had utopian ideals. Weren‟t you passionate about becoming a man who would change the world! Did you think that you would set the world in the orbit you established, and make it turn on its new path? You used to say the system had to change. You told yourself you could change it. You were wrong. My fellow semazen, Mim Kemal, have you ever in your life thought about what your “occupation” or your “profession” is in this world? Have you ever considered that? 190
AG, DK, V, p. 187. 216
Mim Kemal, my son, listen to me:
“God brought everyone into this world to do a job, but he brought us here to do the unskilled vocation of being unemployed! That is, we have no other job in the world aside from love. God brought us into into the world to love Him!”191 Look at the youth in front of you. You are in the middle of them. They are revolving around you. You have entered their hearts. How happy this must be for you. Be worthy of their love! Strive for that. The Dede appeared. He glanced at us and smiled. He granted us a job well done as he entered the room. Having just finished practice, we immediately went up to him. We dove into conversation. It was a beautiful feast. The feasts in heaven must be like this. A community like this must be what they call God‟s family. How beautiful you are, my Lord! How beautiful life is with you! O God, increase my knowledge, understanding, and love! One time I felt I had to show my gratitude in Konya, in the presence of the great master master himself. I travelled to Konya, which to Mevlevis is the “Abode of
Love.” Customarily, I first visited the tomb of Shams Tabrizi. We went as a family to the resting place of that mighty dervish who awakened in Rumi‟s heart the fires of love. I held Nazlı‟s hand tight. She was my Shams! When my daughter was born, I had trouble accepting her. I stayed away from her. That was until the day we came home when Neval reminded reminded me to go to Friday prayers.
191
ŞC, DK, II, p. 8. 217
I did not feel like going, honestly. In fact, I was in such a state that I barely managed to avoid a meltdown! I withdrew to the very back of the mosque. I was resentful of my Lord. My heart was broken. I was shot through the heart. I was broken. Depressed. As though the world had collapsed on me! The imam was giving the sermon. I couldn‟t even listen to it. My pain was enough for me. No inspiration or teaching could drag me out my mental whirlpool. Or so I thought. And then at that moment, God received my SOS. A new universe opened up before my eyes in broad daylight, for all the world to see. The floor of the mosque split open and a giant chasm appeared. “ Barzakh!” I thought. I was atop a mountain of hard, sharp rocks. It was dreadful sight all around. A shiver ran down my spine. My heart contracted. I was terrified. For sure my death was drawing near. A storm erupted. The wind whipped my face and the torrents of rain left me soaked. From what I could see before me, I stood at the edge of a cliff. Fireballs surged up from the bottom of the cliff into the dusky atmosphere. Oh those screams, and moans, and wails of pain. Hell was in front of me, at the bottom of the cliff. The rocks on which I was standing were sloughing off the mountain. Would I fall into that giant well of fire? Where could I flee? Even if you went all the way to India, you would not be able to escape your fate. There was another mountain opposite the cliff. It was a verdant, majestic mountain. It was spring there. Suddenly a girl appeared on a platform among the flowers. 218
She was 17 or 18 years old. She wore a blonde, braided ponytail. She was was looking at me with eyes eyes the bluest bluest of blue. It was my daughter, Nazlı. She emerged from the sky, glowing like the moonlight. moonlight. She reached out her hands, wanting to hug me. But how? There was cliff in front of me. Then suddenly I noticed it. Between the two mountains, a sharp sword had been laid down as a bridge. With its edge facing up. In order to cross to the other side, I would have to step on that sword and walk over it. I did not have the courage. The screams divulged what had happened to those who came before. I froze in place.
Nazlı stared at me and said, “Come! Come!” Mevlana was speaking through her. He was telling me to come.
“Come, there is life in this community, a joy of life... God provides. He withholds withholds from us no aid. And And so there is spiritual spiritual wine everywhere. The wine of Mansur.” Of course, at the time I did not know that those words were from the Divan-e Kabir . It wasn‟t until I started working on this book that I realized it!
“Come,” she was saying. “Come, father... Come, O despondent man! Come over here. Come, take in your hand this chalice of infinite happiness, and drink with zeal!”192 Of a sudden that fire grabbed me by the arms and pulled me toward it. The next moment we were in the heavens. We were like semazens. We whirled in the void, in the deep blue sky. We were turning and spinning together. 192
ŞC, DK, III, p. 297. 219
That was my first sema! From that day forward, a delightful delightful life unfolded before me.
Nazlı became my Shams, my sun. Nazlı carried me to the far side of Mount Qaf, to the land of spring. To Rumi‟s abode of love. Nazlı set me aflame. I had thought that burning was nar . But it turned out to be nur . That jalal fire first seared my nafs. Then it turned to jamal , and became love. Now when I look back I can grasp the wisdom of what I had experienced. And I am grateful to the almighty Creator. My Dede is of the same opinion. We hang out as a family. He knows Nazlı well. One day just the two of us were in the car, returning from the sema.
“I want to say something to you,” he said. “Nazlı has really become your your murshid.” Remembering all of this, I gave my daughter a hug in the presence of Shams Shams Tabrizi. Tears welled in my eyes. From there our next destination would the “Lovers‟ Kaaba.” We are coming, Mevlana, we are coming to you, great master. We caught a glimpse of the turquoise dome. We walked toward it until the mausoleum was across the street from us. We entered by the Rose Garden, and went in through the dervish gate. We were at the entrance to the tomb. t omb. We read on the sign above the entryway the verse the great Persian poet Jami composed when he visited Rumi‟s tomb:
“This place has become the lovers‟ Kaaba. Those who arrive here incomplete are made whole.” We were in the presence of the Master. We recited Al-Fatihah together, and prayed. 220
Now we were listening li stening to him at the foot of his sarcophagus. sarcophagus. He told us this:
“Wheat sprouts from the soil of my grave and if you make bread from that wheat your intoxication will increase when you eat it! The dough of that wheat is also mad, as is the one who makes the bread! As the oven that bakes the bread gets fired up, it succumbs to love and drunkenly drunkenly recites verses! If you come to visit my grave, you will see that the pile of dirt over me is jumping for joy! Brother, don‟t you dare come to my grave without a tambourine! You cannot approach those who love God, and those in His presence, while in distress and mourning! God created me from the wine of love. If I should die and rot, I am still love!”193 Well done, Rumi.
“What is the sema,” he asked me. Quoting the Divan-e Kabir , I said, “The sema is receiving news from the saints hidden in the heart.” It is receiving news from you.
“When letters come, the lonely heart is invigorated and finds itself at ease. Wind of this news makes the branches on the tree of the mind blossom, and wake from slumber. This rustling saves the body from drought. It expands it and brings it comfort.”
“Well, did you learn the sema?” he asked. “ Bala, Bala, my sultan. Yes.” “Well then, let‟s see you do it.”
193
ŞC, DK, II, p. 9. 221
I sealed my feet and severed my head. I supplicated at the sarcophagus.
“What are you doing?” Neval asked. “My divine Neval, if you can‟t do the sema here, where can you do it!” I opened my hand and began to turn. I whirled in Rumi‟s presence. It was his voice again:
“The body that drinks this permissible wine of the sema, and the heart that gets drunk off this wine, offered without a glass, are roasted in the fires of separation. They cook and become well-done.” My master, my Mevlana, “There is such a radiant moon inside you that the sun stops and says to it, „I am your servant.‟”194
… “I gave you what you asked for. What more do you want?” he said, and disappeared. disappeared.
194
ŞC, DK, II, p. 366. 222
Glossary of Sufi Terms
al-amanah – the the divine gift of love with which God entrusted mankind. ayn al-yaqin – the second of three stages stages of certainty certainty of God‟s existence, at which point the dervish perceives God through his senses. baqa billah – subsistence subsistence and permanence through God. batin – the the universe‟s interior, hidden, and esoteric dimension; dimension; the concealed meaning that underlies an object or an action; the unseen purview of the heart. bayt – literally literally house or abode, in Sufism it connotes the heart. bendir – a a handheld wooden-frame drum. barzakh – the chasm between earth and heaven, a barrier between the temporal temporal and the spiritual word. word. Buraq – the mystical steed that brought Muhammad to the edge of heaven during the Mi‟raj. cemevi – an an Alevi house of worship. chilla – an an ordeal traditionally lasting 40 days and 40 nights, in which the dervish remains in seclusion fasting and praying. chelebi – an an honorific title given to Universal Men associated with the Mevlevi Order. Order. Also spelled Çelebi.
çeng – çeng – an an Ottoman harp. dede – an an elder in a Sufi order. Day of Alast – the the moment of creation when God asked all of Mankind, who were still only spirit, “Alastu bi Rabbikum?” (Am I not your God?). They answered, “Bala” (Yes). Devr-i Veledi – the the part of the Mevlevi ceremony in which the semazens circumambulate around the sema hall three times. It is named after Mevlana‟s son, Sultan Walad, or Veled in Turkish. 223
dhikr – the ritual practice of invoking, remembering, mentioning or to alluding to God. erbani – a a drum similar to the bendir. annihilation in God. fanâ fî 'llâh – 'llâh – annihilation hadith – a collection of accounts describing the sayings, habits, or actions of Muhammad. Muhammad. haqq al-yaqin - the third of three stages of certainty of God‟s existence, at which point the dervish is certain of God through experiences with God. hatt-ı ıstıva‟ – the imaginary line that extends from the entrance of the hall to the sheikh‟s sheepskin mat, dividing the sema hall in two and marking the boundary between ascent and descent. himmat – spiritual spiritual grace and favor bestowed by the prophets and saints.
Hû – another name for God, literally meaning „He‟; some Sufis believe it to be the most beautiful of God‟s names; it is also the sheik‟s affirmative answer when asking permission to enter or leave. hodja – a a title meaning teacher or master. ilm al-yaqin – the first of three stages of certainty of God‟s existence, at which point the dervish knows God through what he has learned from studying. insan al-kamil – the Universal Man. A person who has reached a perfected spiritual state. Also, the Prophet Muhammad. Muhammad. irfan – divine divine knowledge jalal – God‟s attributes associated with majesty, power, and retribution. jamal – God‟s attributes associated with beauty, mercy, and love. Kaaba – the the holiest site in Islam, located in Mecca. Muslims are required to circumambulate around this black cubic structure seven times during the Hajj. 224
khirqa – the the woolen robe worn by dervishes. a percussion instrument consisting of a pair of drums kudüm – kudüm – a that are struck with a mallet. marifah – ultimate ultimate knowledge and awareness of the t he divine. Mevlevihane – a Mevlevi Mevlevi dervish dervish lodge lodge or monastery. monastery. These complexes include a sema hall, tombs, living quarters, kitchen, and other amenities. mihrab – the the prayer niche in qibla-facing wall of a mosque or sema hall.
Mi‟raj – Muhammad‟s spiritual journey through the seven heavens to the foot of God‟s throne; also known as the Night Journey. murshid – Sufi Sufi master; mentor; sheikh. nafs – the carnal soul soul or ego; Sufis Sufis are continually continually striving striving to abase, temper and perfect their nafs to the point of annihilation. annihilation. nar – hellfire hellfire see salawat. na‟t – na‟t – see ney – the the reed flute nur – divine divine light. peşrev – a classical Turkish overture performed during the devr-i veledi and during the t he fourth salaam. post – sheepskin sheepskin mat on which the semazens sit. postnishin – the head sheikh, murshid or dede of a Mevlevi lodge. qibla – the the direction towards which all Muslims must pray. It points to the Kaaba in Mecca. Mecca. qurbiyat – closeness closeness or nearness to God. rebab – a a bowed string instrument. sahv – spiritual spiritual sobriety; to abstain from spiritual intoxication; the converse of sukr. 225
salaam – an an salute or greeting; one of four movements or acts in a sema ceremony. salawat – a a blessing wished upon the Prophet Muhammad. semah – an Alevi ritual dance performed to accompaniment accompaniment of instruments as a means of reaching God.
the
seyr-u suluk – the the mystical journey toward God. Sheb-i Arus – annual celebration commemorating the anniversary of Rumi‟s death. It literally means “wedding night.” sikke – the the conical felt hat worn by semazens. sukr – state state of spiritual intoxication or ecstasy. taksim – a a long musical improvisation. tawhid – the the Oneness of God. taylasan – a band or cord that comes out of the turban and hangs down on the left side of the sikke. tekke – a a dervish lodge. tennure – the the white, sleeveless garment with a wide skirt worn by semazens. semazens. usul – a a rhythmic cycle or pattern used in Sufi music. vuslat – union union with God. wajad – spiritual spiritual ecstasy. yaqin – certainty certainty of God and His attributes.
yürük – yürük – the movement the semazens make around the sema floor, with the right foot fixed to the ground and the left trailing behind. zahir – the universe‟s exterior, exoteric dimension; the physical and visible visible manifestation manifestation of an object object or action. action.
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