| Jalal-al-Din Rumi and Self-Discovery | | Print | |
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Page 2 of 2 Some anti-Islamic writers have even claimed or suggested that Rumi really wasn’t a Muslim, because they falsely believed that the line, “I am not a Christian, a Jew, a Zoroastrian, or a Muslim” expressed Rumi’s true attitude toward Islam. But as I said, this poem is not in the earliest manuscripts and so is not a genuine Rumi poem. Nicholson first published a translation of this line [na tarsa na yahud-am man na gabr-am na musalman-am] in 1898, but he admitted that, “The original text does not occur in any of the editions or MSS used by me” (p. 281). In his book on Rumi, The Way of Passion, Andrew Harvey went so far as to claim that “Mohammed wasn’t a Muslim, Buddha wasn’t a Buddhist, and Christ wasn’t a Christian! So how could Rumi be a Muslim? Religions are a cosmic disaster because immediately when the sacred fire is lit, somebody steals it to illuminate some grim old sanctuary” (pp.151–52). Apparently ignorant of the universal Islamic belief that Muhammad was the final prophet, he declared, “Rumi is a prophet, talking to us with poetry to inspire our transformation” (p.158). Harvey, like many Westerners, tries to elevate Sufism (Islamic mysticism) as a universal religion of love, distinct from “orthodox Islam.” For example, he mistranslates part of a Rumi quatrain as a rejection of Islamic religious laws in a way reminiscent of the Christian rejection of the laws of Judaism: “Tell the night ‘Our day has no night; Our religion has no law but love’” (p.47) [correct translation: “Repeat until night: ‘Our days have no nights/ In the path of Love, and Love has no rules’” (ta shab me-go ke roz-e ma-ra shab nest/ dar maZhab-é ‘ishq-o ‘ishq-ra maZhab nest) Rumi’s Quatrain no. 375] In his book, Rumi and the Sufi Tradition: Essays On the Mowlavi Order And Mysticism, John Moyne, who provided the literal transla-tions for Coleman Barks’ immensely popular versions of Rumi, stated that “Rumi was a devout Muslim” who “frequently expressed utmost reverence for the Prophet” and who “had memorized the Koran and frequently quoted from it …” (p.25) And he also said, “It is generally understood that Sufism, tasawwuf, grew within the Islamic milieu, and the terms Islamic mysticism and mystics have often been used as synonyms of Sufism and Sufis” (p.31). However, then Moyne then expressed agreement with earlier generations of Western orientalists by saying, “However, there are compelling arguments that the origins of the theosophy and doctrine of Sufism go back to the pre-Islamic era” (p.31). He also referred to “the alien origins of Sufism” (p.53). In the last chapter of the book, Moyne constructed an imaginary debate between Rumi and a group of orthodox Islamic jurists. Moyne described it as “an imaginary account of what could have taken place in the encounter between our mystical poet and the members of a delegation who attempted to persuade the celebrated Sufi poet back to formal and ritual orthodoxy” (p.59). He suggested misleadingly that this imaginary account is “reconstructed from the available texts.” And with a false appearance of objectivity, he added: “This genre of writings integrates what can be extracted from actual writings of and about Rumi, and a historical novel. Often the free flow of fictions depicts more effectively the sentiments of such an encounter than the concatenation of a set of passages from limited documents.” In Moyne’s fantasy about Rumi (that may have expressed his own resentment toward the ayatollahs in Iran than anything having to do with Rumi) by saying that the most learned and capable among the “priests” (but there are no “priests” in Islam) were sent to “go to Rumi and persuade him to come back to the fold … to the norms of the Islamic law and tra-dition. It was in the pursuit of this mission that a delegation of the most learned and respected, but highly conservative, jurists arrived at the Monastery … A prolonged debate and discussion ensued which lasted for several days. Here are some excerpts from the records of this debate …” (pp.61–62). In Moyne’s fantasy, Rumi says the following: “There are many ways to reach God, I have chosen dance and music as my path … Dance … leads to a frenzy that results in understanding humanity. In performing Sema, a man can reach a state of spiritual frenzy where he is under the control of a Divine power; he whirls and dances under the spell and control of mysterious angelic powers … A mystic whirls around his own soul and the soul of his beloved … Shams and I say that we must find God from among His creations. We must find the way to feel God and see Him within ourselves. At that stage we will be beyond all worldly and heavenly elements. All religions will merge and we will reach a height that is beyond human perception …” Moyne then quotes the non-Rumi line, “I am not Christian nor Jew, I am neither Gabr nor Muslim.” (pp.63–65) However, Rumi did not abandon Islam after becoming absorbed in ecstatic dance and music -- as many Western and Westernized people would like to believe. There are many accounts in the Persian sources of his performing the five daily prayers with his disciples and attending the weekly Friday congregational prayer in the mosques in Konya. It has been recognized for centuries that much of Rumi’s Persian poetry is an inspired translation of thousands of verses of the Qur’an as well as translations of many traditional sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. In an article written by Seyyed Hossein Nasr entitled “Rumi and the Sufi Tradition,” he states, “One of the greatest living authorities on Rumi in Persia today, Hadi Ha’iri, has shown in an unpublished work that some 6,000 verses of the Diwan and the Mathnawi are practically direct translations of Qur’anic verses into Persian poetry.” (From Chelkowski. ed., The Scholar and the Saint, p.183) In an authentic quatrain composed by Jalal al-Din Rumi, he tells us: I am the servant of the Qur’an as long as I have life. I am the dust on the path of Muhammad, the Chosen one. If anyone quotes anything except this from my sayings, I am quit of him and outraged by these words. [man banda-yé qur’an-am, agar jan dar-am man khak-é rah-é muHammad-e mukhtar-am gar naql kon-ad joz in, kas az goftar-am bezar-am az-o, w-az-in sokhan bezar-am] -- Rumi’s Quatrain no. 1173, translated by Ibrahim Gamard and Ravan Farhadi (in “The Quatrains of Rumi,” an unpublished manuscript) Here, the Persian word “bezar” translated as “quit of” and “outraged” also means disgusted, fed-up, repelled, estranged. The meaning is that no one should interpret Rumi’s speech and poetry as having meanings that do not conform to the revelation and practice of Islam. After generations of biased books written by Western orientalists about Sufism, during the last couple of decades, Western scholars of Sufism are finally acknowledging that Sufism is none other than Islamic mysticism, inspired by the Holy Qur’an and the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). For exam-ple, in a book titled All the King’s Falcons by Professor John Renard, he wrote that Rumi’s popularity in the West is mainly “as a mystic, a Sufi, and a source of spiritual inspiration,” secondly as a great poet with a vast repertory of imagery, and thirdly as a thinker influenced by Neoplatonic metaphysics. Renard asks what is missing from material available on Rumi’s life and works. He answers: Although it may seem all to obvious to need saying, Rumi was a Muslim. Yet what one sometimes hears about his attitude to formal religious affiliation is that he cared not a fig to what community one belonged -- and perhaps even went so far as to deny the importance of his own adherence to Islam. For reasons such as that, or perhaps because of the oddly persistent notion that Sufis have always drifted off toward the fringes of Islamic society, relatively little attention has been given to what one of the world’s most prominent and popular Muslims thought and felt about Islam’s most fundamental notions and principles.” (John Renard, All the King’s Falcons: Rumi on Prophets and Revelation, 1994, p.xiv) John Renard’s book gives examples of the treasures which Rumi excavated from the Qur’anic “mother lode.” He writes, From that mine he brings forth the rough gems of the tradition, cutting and polishing them as only he can, so that they reflect his own insight into, and interiorization of, the central themes of Islamic life … ritual prayer, jihad, pilgrimage, fasting, his understanding of the significance of revelation, and his interpretation of the crucial events of early Islamic history as enshrined in the life of Muhammad.” (Renard, p.xiv) I wasn’t always religious. I started out as a pantheist, after having an experience of the transcendent Oneness of the universe when I was a young man: all was miraculously One, uniquely Many, and blissfully No-Thing -- all at the same time. Since all was One and nothing was separate, I could not see the use of prayer, since there was nothing separate from me to pray to. However, years later I became religious when I experienced that, in addition to transcendent Oneness, there is also the simultaneous reality of the Divine Other: the Lord of Majesty who governs the universe, who is also the Only Beloved who attracts true lovers nearer and nearer. After I became more religious, I found that I loved to pray more. I found much solace in prostrating my head to the floor or ground, as if before the Throne of God’s Majesty. I had the blessing of going on the Pilgrimage (Hajj) to Mecca and was able to prostrate my head at the base of the Ka‘ba, in Mecca, which has been called “the Shadow of the Divine Throne” on earth” -- a very profound and great blessing (thanks be to God!). Prostrating one’s head to the ground in humble submission to Almighty God is mentioned in many places in the Bible, but this form of worship has been abandoned by Jews and Christians, with rare exceptions. And the idea of prostrating tends to seem strangely “oriental” to Westerners and perhaps embarassing. “The Book of Chronicles” (II, 7:1–3) says: “When Solomon had finished his prayer … the glory of Yahweh filled the Temple. The priests could not enter the house of Yahweh because the glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh. All the sons of Israel … bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the earth; they worshiped and gave praise to Yahweh, ‘for He is good, for His love is everlasting.’” That is pure Islam. And in a famous story about the Prophet Jesus, peace be upon him, the “Gospel of Matthew” [26:39] states that he “fell on his face in prayer saying, ‘Father, if possible let this cup [of suffering] pass from me, but not as I will, but as You Will.’” That is the essence of Islam and the essence of Sufism. This ancient form of prayer expressing surrender to the Almighty Will of the One God, as done by the prophets such as Abraham, Moses, and Jesus (peace be upon them all) was revived by the renewal of pure monotheism known as the Islamic revelation. And the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said that in the last days prior to the Day of Judgment, “a single prostration to God (in prayer) will be better than the whole world and whatever is in it” (Sahih al-Bukhari, as narrated by Abu Hurayra). He also said (may the peace and blessings of God be upon him): “The nearest a servant comes to his Lord is when he is prostrating himself. So make supplication (in this state)” (Sahih al-Muslim, as narrated by Abu Hurayra). A related Sufi saying, which has also been attributed to the Prophet (peace be upon him) is: “Whoever humbles himself before God is elevated by Him” (man tawaZa‘ li-llahi rafa‘a-hu -- Tabaqat as-Sufiyya, p.76, as quoted in “Traditions of the Prophet,” vol. 2, by Javad Nurbakhsh). Related to this, we have an account about Rumi’s absorption in prayer written by Rumi’s disciple, Sepahsalar [“Zendegana-yé Mawlana Jalaluddin Mawlawi,” pp.41-42; also quoted in Schimmel’s The Triumphal Sun, pp.357-58]. After quoting a saying of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), “There is no ritual prayer without presence of the heart” [lâ Salŕtu illa ba-HuZuru ‘l-qalb], Sepahsalar relates (and I translate here from the Persian): “One time when he was residing in a college [madrasa] during the winter season, he prostrated upon the carpet during the first part of the night. So many tears flowed from his blessed eyes that his blessed beard and face became covered with ice because of the coldness of the air and became stuck to the surface of the floor. In the morning, (his) companions prepared warm water which they poured onto his blessed face so that the ice became completely melted.” Sepahsalar then asks, “And who knows about the secrets of his inward prayer?” He then quotes from one of Rumi’s quatrains [no. 81]: “There are a hundred kinds of prayer, bowing and prostration for the one whose prayer-niche [mihrab] is the beauty of the beloved.” [Sad guna namaz-ast-o ruku‘-ast-o sujud/ an-ra ke jamal-é dost bash-ad mihrab] There is a wonderful description of the Islamic prayers in Rumi’s Mathnawi [Book Three, lines 1924-2305] in the story of the Sufi saint named Daquqi, who “traveled on the earth like the moon upon the sky” and by whom “the souls of night-travellers became luminous.” “He travelled during the day; at night he was (engaged) in the ritual prayer [namaz]. His eye (was always) open toward the King, (and) he was like the (King’s) falcon.” “In addition to such piety [taqwa] and devotions [awrad] and standing (at length) in prayer, he was always the seeker of the special elect ones of God. His main goal in travel was that he might contact one of the chosen servants of God (even) for a moment.” For years and months he went traveling “because of love for the Moon, unaware of the way, bewildered by God.” He reached a certain shore and had a vision of seven candles, the flames of which reached up into the sky. The seven candles became one, then seven again, then became seven men, then seven trees, then one tree, then seven trees lined up as if for the Islamic ritual prayer, with one tree in front as if the prayer leader. The trees became seven men who understood Daquqi’s thoughts, and who asked him to lead them in the ritual prayer. He spent an hour in that chosen company in contemplation, became separated from himself, and his spirit became freed from the bounds of Time. Rumi comments here that during the part of the ritual prayer in which the worshipper prays for salutations and benedictions upon the righteous [Salihin], that praises of all the prophets is blended: “The praises become entirely mixed; the jugs (are) poured into one basin. Since He (who is) the object of praise is no more than One, from this viewpoint religions are but one religion.” (zan-ke khwod mamduH joz yak besh nest/ kesh-ha z-in roy joz yak kesh nest -- line 2124) [This verse, however, should not be taken out of context and interpreted to mean that Rumi was expressing approval for other religions or saying that religious differences don’t matter. Rather, it expresses a sublime mystical awareness beyond the ordinary human mind in which all separateness has vanished. Daquqi went forward to lead the prayer. “When they proclaimed the greatness of God [takbirs -- Allahu akbar], they went out from the world, like sacrificed animal … (for) the meaning of proclaiming the greatness of God is, ‘O God, we have become a sacrifice in Your Presence!’ At the moment of slaughtering, you say ‘Allahu akbar,’ (which you should also do) likewise in slaughtering the base self [nafs] which is worthy of being killed … They had lined up in rows in the presence of God, as (during) the Resurrection, reckoning (their sins) and saying fervent devotional prayers [munajat]. They were shedding tears, standing before God like one rising straight up on the Day of Resurrection.” Each time the worshipper bows and prostrates, he is commanded to account for his deeds and for his gratitude to God. However, Daquqi became distracted from pure absorption in the prayer before God and heard the cries of people on a ship in danger of sinking because of a whirlpool. He prayed to God to be merciful and to save the people from death, and because of his prayer they were saved. “God makes that (kind of) prayer, since he is annihilated [fana-st]; that prayer and that answer are from God.” The people on the ship were saved at the same moment the ritual prayer ended. But the seven exalted saints objected to the interceding prayer of Daquqi as interfering with the Supreme Free Will of God, and so they disappeared. [It is interesting to note here, that Rumi presents the most exalted Sufi saints as continuing to do the ritual Islamic prayers and being extraordinarily submitting of the Will of God—–in a way which is similar to the mysterious Khidr, who was so obedient to God’s Will that even Moses could not tolerate his mysterious actions. Daquqi grieved over losing contact with those seven saints for years, shedding lifetimes of tears in longing for them. In a manner that would seem to express his own longing for his own missing teacher, Shams-i Tabrizi, Rumi ends the story by saying: O Daquqi with eyes (shedding tears) like a stream! Don’t cease hoping (and) seek them! Seek! For search is the pillar of good fortune. Every opening (of happiness) is from fixing (the goal) within the heart. (Detached) from preoccupation with the business of the world, keep saying with (all your) soul, “Where? Where?” [ku, ku?] like the dove. (For) God has tied asking in prayer [du‘a] to (His saying in the Qur’an, 40:62), “I will answer!” The prayer of anyone whose heart is purified from ailments will go (directly) to the Lord of Glory! ay daquqi ba do chashm-é hamcho jo hin ma-bor omed, ishan-ra be-jo hin be-jo ke rukn-é dawlat jostan-ast har goshade dar del andar bastan-ast az hama kar-é jahan pardakhta ku-wo ku me-gu ba-jan chun fakhta nek be-n’gar andar-in ay muHtajib ke du‘a-ra bast Haq dar istajib harke-ra del pak shod az i‘tilal an du‘a-ash me-raw-ad ta Zu ‘l-jalal —Rumi’s Mathnawi, III:1924–2305. [About the Author] Dr. Ibrahim Gamard, a licensed psychologist by profession, has been a student of Sufism for over thirty years. He has been a member of the Mevlevi tradition of Islamic sufism (the tradition which originated with Jalal al-Din Rumi himself), since 1976. He has studied classical/medieval Persian for many years and is the author of Rumi and Islam: Selections from His Stories, Poems, and Discourses (Sky-light Paths Publishing, 2004). This is a book of translations from Persian of some of Rumi’s stories about the virtues of the Prophet, his references to sayings of the Prophet, and his praises of the greatness of the Prophet (upon whom be peace). |