In the Name of God, the Merciful, the
Compassionate
In the widespread darkness
of the night of materialism, for a peaceful and a beautiful spiritual
dawn, we only can seek help from our cultural heritage which is related
to religion, science, philosophy and literature. The discriminatory
powers of the world are forcing weak nations to have their own
identities even under the bright shadows of the concept of a global
village. Human beings need once again the same contemplation which had
played a great role in the past as far as demolishing of earthly gods
and their shades and symbols were concerned.
Aljeli, Ibn ul Arabi, Imam
Ghazali, Ibni Sina, Mevlana Jelaleddin Rumi and Muhammad Iqbal (who have
taken their models and principals of thought from the holy book which
has created a great civilisation, known as anti idolism,) have evolved
the concept of a superman who can seek help from the almighty Allah. God
according to Muslim philosophy is the fountain of all the creations
alone.
Mevlana Jelaleddin Rumi is
the greatest poet of the world. His dimensional poetry is matchless. He
wrote his poetry in such an expressive style that a Philosopher and a
common reader can appreciate it equally. The national poet of Pakistan
Allama Muhammad Iqbal writes in one of his Persian long poems:
Rumi, the spiritual guide,
with an enlightened heart, is the leader of the caravan of love and
spiritual intoxication.
His heart is full of the
light of the Quran: Jamshed's cup is meaningless in presence of his
mirror.
The guide from Rum
converted my clay into elixir and built up new lights from my dust.
The reed (song) from the
reed of that reed player of noble birth filled my being with commotion.
By the blessings of the
guide from Rum, I read out, once again the hidden mysteries of the
branches of knowledge.
(Pas chah Bayad Kard ve
Asrar e Khudi)
Poetry for Mevlana
Jelaleddin Rumi and his spiritual pupil the national poet of Pakistan
Muhammad Iqbal was neither to carve out idols, nor to worship them.
The lyrics of their nature
had given out new melodies;
In his wisdom-oriented
poetry Mevlana Jelaleddin Rumi has drawn the line at building human
character and refused to get on with the concept of lustful and selfish
love prevalent in the sensuous perceptions of poetry of his age. His
poetry and treatises brought to light the ethical love charged with
spiritual ecstasy. Though at places he has used stories and metaphors
dwelling upon pleasure-seeking incidents but through this magnetic
method always established the supremacy of religious faith and mystical
way of life. Mevlana in one of his verse says:
the ill-mannered person
does not keep his immorality only within himself but by and large brings
disaster to the world around him. So facing approximately the same
situation he has tried to conclude that:
Last night the pious man
with lamp roamed about the city saying that being sick of brutes I have
yet to find a human being. These lazy fellow travellers have upset me
and I am longing for God’s Lion and Rustum the Persian Hercules. I said
that the thing we cannot find we have found. He said I am yearning for
that which cannot be found. In this particular perspective Mevlana
conversed with his audience through his voluminous literary and mystical
works. He told them to follow the path of Prophet Muhammad PBUH the
principles of which are derived from Quran.
And if you speak of
perfidy, it reeks of piety
And if you speak of doubt,
this doubt turns into faith
If you speak of
crookedness, it reveals straightness
Oh crookedness, how you
embellish straightness
Mevlana Jelaleddin Rumi
himself was a pious lover and he had great care for the deeds of other
truthful lovers. He was of the opinion that if a person is showing undue
frankness in the process of loving even with God but his love and faith
have sincerity than nobody even having the position of Moses will treat
him harshly God would not like that and will show his anger saying that
O Moses the lovers who know etiquette are quite different from the
lovers wounded and burnt in spirit. God doesn’t see someone’s outer self
and language but he accepts his inner self and condition.
O you who've gone on
pilgrimage -
where are you, where, oh
where?
Here, here is the Beloved!
Oh come now, come, oh come!
Your friend, he is your
neighbour,
he is next to your wall -
You, erring in the desert -
what air of love is this?
If you'd see the Beloved's
form without any form -
You are the house, the
master,
You are the Kaaba, you! . .
.
Where is a bunch of roses,
if you would be this
garden?
Where, one soul's pearly
essence
when you're the Sea of God?
That's true - and yet your
troubles
may turn to treasures rich
-
How sad that you yourself
veil
the treasure that is yours!
Rumi 'I Am Wind, You are
Fire'
Translation by Annemarie
Schimmel
As far as Mevlana
Jelaleddin Rumi’s poetry is concerned, we cannot take it into account
fully, in a small sitting or in a brief article. However it is safe to
say that the pivotal point of his poetry is Man in and outside this
world.
Mevlana Jelaleddin Rumi
himself says :
Every shop stocks some
special merchandise, at Masnavi's shop is offered the "Faqr", (i.e.
life of resignation and contentment.)
Our Masnavi is the shop of
"Oneness".
Whatever you see beside the
"One" is an idol.
.
Call it the water of life,
and not a mere "word".
Behold the new spirit in
the body of the "old word".
Whatever I say is at the
level of your understanding;
0, I die of the desire for
the right understanding.
Let us have a bird’s eye
view of Mevlana Jelaleddin Rumi’s concepts of words and thought
This word and voice rose
from the thought; you know not where the ocean of thought be.
But if you see that the
waves of the word are gentle you know
that ocean itself is noble.
The speaker of the word,
the listener thereof and the words, all these three, in the end, become
united in one spirit.
Mevlana sees this unity
everywhere. He by and large had always reunited himself on the
foundation of his existence. His concepts about Unity of Spirit, Unity
and Plurality, I and We, The body and the Soul, Body without Body,
Subjectivity and objectivity, The Personality and the Attributes, The
First or the Last, Mystery of Time and the Spirit of the Word are
absolutely clear. He says:
Your existence within the
existence of that life giver is like copper being melted in the
alchemist’s bowl. All things but His face are mortal, If you are not
immersed in Him, hop not for eternal life.
Describing unity of God
Mevlana Jelaleddin Rumi explains:
What it is to comprehend
God’s oneness? It is to consume one’s self before the one. (page 3 the
sayings of Rumi and Iqbal)
Explaining his concept of
accomplished man Mevlana Jelaleddin Rumi says:
As far as form is concerned
o man you are the microcosm and as far as meanings or essence is
concerned you are the macrocosm. Objectively branch of a tree is the
source of fruit. Subjectively it has become the branch of existence for
getting fruit. Had he desired not the fruit why a gardener would have
sown the seed of a tree.
So (essentially)
subjectively that tree is the creation of fruit though objectively it is
the creation of a tree.
Foundation thought comes
into practice in the end. This speciality belongs to the idea which is
the attribute of the day of beginning.
Though modern religious
existentialists too believe that essence precedes existence but they
could not understand the concept of unity given by Muslim mystics.
Mevlana Jelaleddin Rumi declares:
Wine is intoxicated from us
we are not intoxicated by it.
Body took the foundation
from us we are not created from it.
We are like honey bees and
our bodies are like wax. We have made every hole of our body like wax.
Man is made of the shadow
of 'Divine Will. So he is called the distinguished one. In this
perspective Mevlana Jelaleddin Rumi wrote many verses in his ghazals
(Divan Shams Tabriz) and Masnvi (contaning six long volumes)
I in body, an animal, in
spirit an angel, so that you may traverse the earth as well as the
skies:
This flame of wisdom not
only was rare but further kindled in the light wind of meditation and
profound and constant pondering by the real mystics of the Muslim world
for centuries to come. After embracing these spiritual concepts, a real
mystic feels himself free and as Dr. Ali Shariati explains in one of his
article about a true companion of Muhammad PBUH:
‘Returning in salvation
towards the Absolute, being all at once released from the chains, bonds
and shackles which seemingly had been wound around his soul for
centuries, he suddenly senses that he had, alone and unknown, left a
deep well and a narrow and dark cave in which he had been imprisoned
from the beginning of creation. He looks at the wilderness, a shoreless
expanse; to the horizons, distant, extensive and heaven! Full of glory,
beautiful, deep and mysterious...’
We cannot deny this truth
that for Mevlana Jelaleddin Rumi Islam, under the guidance of the
Prophet Muhammad PBUH, fulfils all of the human needs and social desires
of Man. He has preached that kind of monotheism which opens the gate of
justice and spiritual equality. He who really believes in one God
embraces love for humanity, understands the place of man in the world,
works for Man’s destiny, speaks heart’s language, views world through
heart’s eye, seeks life in mysteries of love, faces all kinds of
troubles and sorrows, analysis worldliness, learning and knowledge,
demarcates between logical reason, imperfect reason, dry logic and
spiritual reason, philosophy, force of thought and revelation. In his
Ghazals and stories he emphasised on such an education and training
which bring forth generosity, pity, human grace, keeping a secret, self
assessment, dependence on providence, repentance, good intentions,
search for reality, high aims, prayers, love of home, hard discipline,
lawfully earned bread, reconstruction of life, renewal of life,
construction of character, soul’s purification, reward and retribution,
consultation, guidance, idol breaking, good, humility, patience and
tolerance, contentment, necessity and progress, spirit of homogeneity,
righteousness, surprise, state of surrender, God’s destiny, peace of the
heart and condition of excitement and ecstasy.
Throughout the verses of
Masnavi- Maanvi Mevlana Jelaleddin Rumi has negated fully the power
oriented arrogance, despotic tyrannies, discrimination, idol worship,
carnal self and selfishness, the false guide, deceptive appearances,
disloyalty, greed and avarice, flattery, imitation, self enmity,
foolishness, the bad ruler and jealousy etc.
Under the guidance of
Mevlana Jelaleddin Rumi’s wisdom Muslim mystics and poets delivered
humanity the message of unity of races, unity of classes and unity of
spirit and body.
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