SYMBOL OF LOVE, TOLERANCE AND DIALOGUE:
“THE YEAR OF MOLANA”…
UNESCO declared 2007 as the year of
Molana. UNESCO decided to commemorate Molana Jalalaldin Rumi,
who was supposedly born 800 years ago and still lives today
with his ideas and poems, especially this year. This year
whole world talked about this great thinker and new books
about him were added to the previous ones. Various meetings,
talks, symposiums were held about him ….We would like to
talk about this great thinker who is accepted as “the symbol
of love, tolerance and dialogue” on Our Southern Azerbaijan
website.
The word Molana means “our elder” and was
added before his name to show the height of respect that
everyone has to him. He was named after Rumi because he
lived in Anatolia which was known as “the land of Rome” at
that time. Molana was born in the city of Balkh in
Afghanistan by the name of Mohammad Jalalaldin in 1207. His
father Bahaoddin Veled was known as “the Sultan of
Scholars”. Some time before the Mongolian incursion in 1221,
at first the family arrived to Mecca via Neyshshapour by
using the route of Baghdad then directed towards the north
and lived as a nomad in Jerusalem and Damascus for a while.
Afterwards they reached to Anatolia and lastly settled down
in Ghonya in 1228. The son Jalalaldin got his fundamental
teaching from his father. It is told that when they departed
from Neyshshapour, which was the first stop of their
journey, the famous philosopher Sheikh Faredettin Attar, who
saw father Valad in front of the caravan and young
Jalalaldin behind, shouted after looking at them with
tearful eyes as: “it is impossible!… an endless sea pursues
a little river!”
Two years after they settled down in
Ghonya, the father who was The Sultan of Scholars passed
away and was buried after being carried on the arms of
sheikhs, emirs, sultans of scholars and the people.
At that time due to the Mongolian
incursion that came from Asia, the rule, which had been
established by the Seljuk sovereignty, was corrupted in
Anatolia and many Principalities were sovereign there.
Desperation aroused from struggle to make a living and
hunger patrolled after the ruin and terror led by the
Mongolians. All eyes were directed on the skies; a hand of
the savior was expected.
At that time Anatolian civilization
inherited at least 4000 years and this inheritance could be
traced in the established way of life. Especially the
beliefs, traditions and social implementations dated a long
way back. As it is known, the Anatolian civilization was
composed of masses who believed in very different things:
Jews, Assyrians, Christians, and Muslim Persians who
believed in old Zoroastrianism, some Turkish tribes who
practiced Shaman traditions and Muslims… In this environment
the source of the ideas of Molana that made him famous was
Sufism which he learned from his mentors who did not lecture
in madrasahs. Molana had developed the Sufism and published
his masterpieces by adding his opinions. He composed his
poetry sincerely except the first 36 lines of his
masterpiece “Masnavi” and his writers wrote his poems. Not
only his poems but also his speeches were written by the
writers. Molana wanted to talk about “his love of god” and
“his divine love” to people by using his work of art. It is
seen in the heart of Molana that the god-the human- the
universe trio becomes “one” with this divine love; thus all
those separations and differences are removed.
The light of Molana Jalalaldin Rumi who
was born eight centuries ago and summarized his life as “I
was immature, I became mature, I became very mature”
enlightens the heart and the way of the people of today. His
poems address to anyone irrespective of time and/or country.
Those who search for the real meaning of life find it in
him. The light of Molana who influenced people from the
great German poet Goethe to the great dance master Maurice
Bejart illuminates anyone.
When Molana finished his masterpiece
Masnavi which took him night and day, he felt like saved
from a burden. He was almost eighty years-old and he felt
that he had fulfilled his mission on earth and settled his
accounts. In the fall of 1273 there were earthquakes on a
large scale in Konya and its surroundings. People were
frightened. Molana told people who came to him for shelter
as follows: “The earth is hungry: it will have a big bite
and become full”. He became ill with fever a short while
afterwards. Doctors were not able to decrease his fever. His
response in return for the get well soon wish of Sheikh
Sadreddin was didactic. Molana who put his hands in the pot
filled with water wetted his face and eyes with his hands
responded to Sheikh Sadredddin as follows: “Let the recovery
be yours! Only a shirt thinner than a membrane left between
the lover and the beloved. Don’t you want me to put off that
shirt and enjoy the ultimate union? The divine light to
become one?” Similarly Molana responded his wife Kerra Hatun
who said: “If only Molana had lived for centuries and had
filled the world with his pearls of reality and meaning” as
follows: “Are we Pharaohs or Nimrods to live for centuries?
We came to this dungeon of world to undertake a definite
mission. Whose belonging did we steal to stay here forever
as a convict?... At that time Molana talked about death, I
mean to become one with God in his lyric poems. “Those
lovers who die by knowing the reality become a candy in the
presence of God. Finally the day came: on December 17, 1273
Molana became one with his God, his lover.
The fundamental element of the ideology
of Molana is undoubtedly Sufism. Although his ideology is
similar to other ideas of Sufism, they have a major
difference. According to Molana “you have to suffer to
become a complete, mature, developed person”. It is possible
to say that this opinion of Molana could be adapted to the
opinion of the psychology of today regarding the
difficulties and pains develop the human being. When we look
through the historical process, it is possible to say that
the century that we are in is a century where political
crisis have decreased just like the century which Molana
lived. “The positive thinking” which is emphasized often
nowadays is also important to Molana. Molana talks about the
damage done to a person by anxiety and gives the example of
how a sheep getting fat on the green meadows becomes weak by
worrying about “what if I can’t find grass tomorrow?” every
night. Molana summarizes on the “positive thinking” as:
“Taste comes from inside not outside”;
“Happiness comes from positive thinking”; “see a positive
side in the trouble that you come through”
Molana commented on ‘alienation’ and
‘beating the solitude’ which are common problems of people
of today as follows: “Find a friend even made of stone”;
“call your friends and ask them about their health”; “do a
favor to your enemy, she/he will become your friend thanks
to this favor. Even if you don’t become friends, his/her
hatred will decrease; because favor is the most effective
cure to grudge”…
