Life Increasing Light
The subject of today's conversation is; What is the real source of respect for people, respect for thought and tolerance, which is integrated with Hz.Mevlana.
In the past, our spiritual elders used to start a conversation with a hadith or a salutation to our Prophet.
Let us at least imitate them and start with a nât-ı şerif that Hz. Mevlana wrote for our Prophet. Inshallah, our words and conversations will be healing for the soul and food for the spirit.
O beloved of Allah! You are the Messenger of the Unique Creator,
You are the pure and unique one whom Allah has chosen from among His servants;
The coy one of Allah Almighty, the high ranked and perfected one of the universe
You are the light of the eyes of the prophets and the light of our eyes;
On the night of Miraj, Gabriel was in his rikab,
You are the one who set foot on the nine layers of green dome;
O Messenger of Allah! You know that your nations are weak,
You are the guide of the headless, footless helpless;
The cypress of the orchard of prophethood, the first spring of the world of knowledge,
You are the rose bush of the Shari'ah vineyard, the sublime sponge;
Shamsi Tabrizi memorized the Prophet's eulogy,
Mustafa and Mujtaba, you are that high Ulu.
There is no doubt that the most honorable, the most exalted of all creatures, the intercessor of all creatures, the master of the universe is our Prophet. We begin our humble words with thousands of salutations, sir.
Mawlana said in the Masnavi: Allah bestows many blessings on the people of supplication, and He also grants them a good long life.
It will be a manifestation of these couplets that our teacher Şefik Can has lived an auspicious and fruitful life of ninety-six years and spent his whole life devoted to the Prophet Mevlana and his works.
By the grace of Allah Almighty, this poor man was blessed to know this blessed person and to be with him.
Şefik Can, who is considered to be the last Mesnevi-han of our century, always had a great sadness in his heart about Hz.Mevlana and Mevlevism; it was the misunderstanding of Hz.Mevlana's views and thoughts about human love and the value he gave to human beings. The fact that the superior human love, tolerance and understanding seen in Hz.Mevlana was seen as if it was a behavior unique to Hz.Mevlana outside of Islam deeply hurt Şefik Can Hoca.
For this reason, he made great efforts for the most accurate understanding of the Prophet Mevlana.
In the years when I first got to know our teacher, people from all over the world, from all nations and religions came to him and asked him various questions about Hz. Mevlana and his teachings. Before answering these questions, Şefik Can Hodja would say the following to everyone without exception: Sir, Hazrat Mevlana, like all the other guardians, is a great prophet on the Muhammadan path. He said, "As long as I live, I am the servant and slave of the Qur'an. I am the soil of the ground where the Prophet Muhammad trod.
Now imagine that in the words of a person who says, "I am the servant and slave of the Qur'an, I am the soil on which the Prophet Muhammad treads," is it possible to think of anything contrary to the Qur'an and the Sunnah of our Prophet? Therefore, he would say that the answer to your question was given by the Prophet Mevlana in accordance with the Qur'an and the Hadith of our Prophet, and then he would try to answer the question.
At first, I was quite surprised by this behavior of Şefik Can Hoca; I used to find it difficult to understand why he felt the need to tell everyone that Hz.Mevlânâ was a great wali on the Muhammadan path before answering the questions asked to him. Because in my opinion, Hz.Mevlânâ was a great wali and everyone already knew this. Maybe it is necessary to say "Decency Yâ Hû", but let me tell you sincerely that at first I considered this sensitivity of our teacher Şefik Can to be a bit unnecessary.
But later on, especially after seeing those who say "I am a Mevlevi but I am not a Muslim" abroad, or those who perceive Hz. Mevlana's love for humanity and tolerance at home as if it were a personal thought outside of Islam, I realized how right Şefik Can was in this sensitivity.
Love of humanity, tolerance, and therefore respect for all religions, as you know, are united only with Hz. Mevlana.
But it is a fact that the main source of this vast tolerance and love of humanity in Mevlana is Islam. The provisions of the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet.
In order to be an example for our subject. I would like to present to you, our esteemed listeners, what a British professor who came from the "KEMBİRİÇ" University in England and gave a lecture about slavery at Istanbul University said.
Expressing the truth as it is without any distortion, this esteemed scholar says exactly the following:
Neither Moses, nor Jesus Christ, nor the Plato, Socrates, all the great philosophers of Greece, the great philosophers of Rome, the great thinkers of Europe, none of them spoke about slavery. They did not remember that slaves existed, that they were human beings. Even Aristotle, one of the Greek philosophers, said that the gods made the bones of slaves thick so that they would serve free people better. No philosopher, no prophet has ever dealt with slaves as human beings. Throughout history, only the Prophet Muhammad said that slaves are human beings too. He ruled that slaves should be fed from what you eat and clothed from what you wear, and for the first time in the world, he protected their rights by saying that slaves are human beings too."
An English professor came from KEMBİRİÇ University in England and told us these things at Istanbul University. I don't know whether to be sad or happy, but this issue alone shows the value that Islam gives to human beings in the clearest way.
To say that slaves, who were not even considered as animals in their time, were human beings and to protect their human rights was only the master of the universe.
Can there be a more important love of humanity and respect for human rights than this? Such a high humanitarian value has never been bestowed upon any Prophet or ummah before our Prophet.
Sir, don't misunderstand; we are not saying anything against Moses or Jesus. They conveyed the orders and commands of Allah Almighty to their ummahs. But it is a fact that all the beauties were perfected with the Holy Prophet. Of course, the value given to the human being, who is the equal of creation, reached its peak with the master of the universe.
One of the greatest qualities of the Prophet Mevlana is that he respected everyone's beliefs. Again, this respect for belief is not a behavior unique to the Prophet Mevlana himself, but comes from his devotion to the Prophet Muhammad and his Muhammadan morality.
Again, to give a small example from the Holy Prophet:
During the time of your Prophet, a Jew and a Muslim had a fight. Because the Muslim who was fighting was stronger and more powerful, he beat the Jew. The Jew complained to the Prophet about the Muslim who had beaten him. The Prophet called the Muslim who had beaten the Jew to him. He scolded him saying, "Why did you beat this Jew like that and break his mouth and nose? The Muslim tried to defend himself and said, "O Messenger of Allah, this man is your Prophet in the most crowded place in Medina, and who is Muhammad, he is the ummah son of a widow in Mecca eating dry bread. However, Moses spoke to Allah on Mount Tur. Of course, Moses who spoke to Allah is much greater and more exalted than the one you call your Prophet. I could not bear his contempt for you, so I broke his mouth and nose.
The Holy Prophet said, "This is not what you are doing, you have done the wrong thing; he loves and praises his own prophet and respects him because he is a person who loves Prophet Moses and follows his religion. And you love me because you are devoted to me, you love me, you value me. There is no need to fight with each other over this. Don't look down on other people's faith so that they don't disrespect your faith.
This statement of the Prophet is also a verse from Surah Al-An'am, verse 108: "Do not insult their gods whom they invoke besides Allah, lest they, in their ignorance, transgress their limits and insult Allah"
This is a very small example of the respect and love shown to human beings and thought in the time of the Prophet.
As it is understood, the respect for the infinite human being and thought in Hz. Mevlânâ are all qualities that a true Muslim should have. It is the most beautiful living of Muhammadan morality.
It is the transformation of the words of the Prophet Muhammad, the servant and slave of the Qur'an, who said, "I am the soil of the earth."
In the Masnavi, Mawlana said that Allah Almighty sent Prophet Muhammad and his successors, the great guardians, to this world as divine mercy.
Who could Mevlânâ, who was a divine mercy to the whole universe, see outside of this mercy; because one of the basic principles in the unlimited human love and tolerance of the Almighty Mevlânâ is the manifestation of the verse "Man is the most honorable of all created beings" which Muslims emphasize sensitively. Mevlânâ embraced all human beings with the awareness of this honor. He tolerated and loved the creatures because of the creator he was in love with, without any struggle of the ego.
Saying "Thousands of shame be upon those who see nothing but shame in human beings", Hz. Mevlana, instead of looking for shame and flaws in the creatures and dealing with others, accepted them as mirrors in accordance with the hadith that the believer is the mirror of the believer, saw his own shortcomings and corrected himself.
They asked Hazrat Mawlana how he acquired all these manners and he said, "I learned manners from those who have no manners. To those who asked him how this could be, he said that instead of condemning them when I saw their misbehavior, I did not do that ugly behavior myself, I accepted them as a mirror and thus became the owner of decency.
Again, I would like to present a legend.
One day Mawlana was passing by a mosque and a preacher was preaching in the mosque, referring to non-Muslims: "Thank God, Allah Almighty did not make us infidels". When Hazrat Mawlana heard this, he was suddenly enraged that this preacher was not only a heretic himself but was also leading the people astray. When his friends with him could not understand this situation, they said: This preacher weighs himself with the scales of Christians and brags that one dirham is too heavy. If he can afford it, let him weigh himself with the scales of the saints and awliya, then he will see his own worth and shortcomings, and he will weep day and night and ask Allah for forgiveness.
The important thing is to see those who are ahead of us and realize our own shortcomings, instead of seeing ourselves as superior to others.
That is why he said in the Masnavi, "Do not call anyone an infidel, everyone has his divine relic, you do not know how people will breathe their last breath.
Our spiritual elders: It is better for you to weep and lament for a sin that you cannot abandon, to see yourself helpless and to beg and plead to Allah day and night, than to rejoice in a sin that you have abandoned and to take credit for it.
With this in mind, Hazrat Mawlana said the following in the Masnavi: If everyone first saw his own shame and defect, would he not try to correct it? But people are ignorant of themselves. That is why they do not see their own shortcomings, but always see the shortcomings of others and keep saying them.
In the Masnavi, he explained at length how seeing shame and flaws in people leads people to irreparable situations. I would like to present a very well-known story of our Prophet in the Masnavi on the subject.
Prayer of four Indians
Four Indian Muslims entered a mosque for prayer. They made rukûa and prostrated to worship.
Each one of them made the intention, brought the takbir, and started the prayer in the realization of their own shortcomings and mistakes, with sincere supplications.
At this time the muezzin of the mosque came. One of the Indians who was praying, forgetting that he was in prayer, said, "O muezzin, have you recited the adhan, or is there still time?" The other Indian, who was in prayer, said, "Shut up, brother; you have spoken and your prayer has been broken.
The third Indian said to the second: "My brother. What fault do you find with him? You too have spoken in prayer, look at yourself, give advice to yourself.
The fourth one said, 'Praise be to Allah, I did not fall into the well like the three of you, so I did not break my prayer by talking in prayer like you.
So the prayers of all four of them were broken. Those who see the faults and faults of this and that fall into mistakes, lose their way and fall into error more than those who have faults and faults. If a person sees someone's fault or defect and tells about it, he is buying that defect himself.
Yes, dear listeners, in the couplets I have presented:
Four Indian Muslims entered a mosque for prayer. They made rukûa and prostrated to worship.
Each one of them made the intention, brought the takbir, and started the prayer in the realization of their own shortcomings and mistakes, with sincere supplications.
It is clear from these couplets that these people standing in prayer are not completely ignorant people, but they are standing in prayer aware of their own shortcomings. This is a sign of perfection. Nevertheless, they can see each other's faults and talk about them.
Please, let us broaden our horizons and not perceive prayer as only the five daily prayers we perform in the mosque or on the prayer rug in our homes.
See what Hazrat Mawlana said in Divan-i Kebir:
There are a hundred kinds of prayer, a hundred kinds of bowing and a hundred kinds of prostration for those who see the might and power of Allah, the Creator of the universe, in every particle and in everything, and who make His divine beauty their altar.
In prayer one recognizes oneself as being in the presence of Allah. Let's say we bow in prayer, we collect the prayer rug, we are no longer in the presence of Allah.
That is why Hz. Mevlana said: "My Tekkem is the world, my madrasah is the world.
In reality, one has to remember that one is in the presence of God in the street, at work, in every moment of life. The four people mentioned here actually saw someone's shortcomings in life and when they said that, they fell into the same mistake. Notice that the fourth one has only gratitude. He is only thankful, saying, 'O Lord, thank God I did not speak. Even this thanksgiving of his causes his prayer to be spoiled, and this is the situation of the preacher preaching in the mosque that I have just tried to present.
Also, in the couplets presented, it was said that if a person sees someone's shame and defect and tells about it, he buys that defect himself. Again, those four people described in the Masnavi are the best example of this; they fell into the same mistake while trying to warn each other.
A question like this may come to mind: what should we do when we see someone's mistake, should we not tell them so that they continue to make that mistake?
No, sir, of course we will say it; of course we will make an effort to correct that wrong, of course we will make an effort to correct that wrong, don't misunderstand this issue.
Hz. Mevlana also said that to forgive the oppressors is to oppress the oppressed. Please pay attention to how important this statement is. Tolerance also has a point of view, a limit, an etiquette and manners. What Allah does not tolerate, what the Prophet does not accept; how dare the servant tolerate and accept such a thing?
One may be obliged to forgive and tolerate what is too much for one's own self, but it is different when the problem is social; when it concerns everyone.
In relation to our subject, see what Hz. Mevlana says: In order to prevent poisoning of the whole body, cut off the finger bitten by the snake. You do not cut off only one finger. Think that the whole body will be poisoned and destroyed with this finger and act accordingly. These couplets were said within the framework of our relations with society.
Our Prophet Ali forgave those who spat on his face, but he did not let go of "ZULFIKAR" when necessary.
The point is that when we see a mistake in someone, we should not condemn them, belittle them, humiliate them, or gossip about them in a way that offends them. It is a matter that you all know, what a good example for us that our master Hasan Hussein showed how to perform ablution to a person who did not know how to perform ablution.
Of course, it is our greatest human duty to try to correct his wrong in the most graceful way, without offending him.
The best way to do this is to guide with the state, not with the tongue. One of our Sufi elders used to say that if you are selling rose oil, you don't need to shout like a bazaar vendor, just apply a little bit of that rose scent and people themselves will come and say, "What a nice scent this is," and they themselves will aspire to that scent. The point is to make ourselves smell a little rose before trying to sell rose oil to others.
We continue where we left off with Mesnevi couplets:
"Every human being has many diseases from his nafsani habits and animal morals, if he has an ointment, shouldn't he apply it on himself?
Seeing one's own flaws and condemning oneself is the ointment and medicine to heal that flaw. If a person regrets the crimes and sins he has committed, if he becomes broken and broken, if he feels a full conscientious regret, then the hadith "If the saint of a people becomes a loser, pity him" will be lived by that person."
The only way to live a very important hadith of our Prophet, not with the tongue, but with the state, is to sincerely repent and sincerely regret our sins. Of course, the intercessor of the person who experiences such regret will be the master of the universe. May Allah Almighty grant us such a heart repentance and state regret.
If we continue with the Masnavi from where we left off again; "If the shame and defect you see in a believer is not in you, do not be sure of yourself, do not trust yourself too much! It may happen that you may commit that shame one day; your shame will spread among the people and be heard around like the man you condemned.
Satan lived for years with a good name. He was called "Azzazil" and held in high esteem among the angels. Then he was disgraced and disgraced. Look and take an example, what was his name and what has become of him now"
The most beautiful commentary to these couplets I have mentioned in the second volume of the Masnavi was made by our Mevlana in the first volume of the Masnavi: "One day Adam became proud and looked with insult and hatred at the demon, whose name was Azzazil and who became Satan. He saw himself, he liked himself, but he did not like the deeds of the cursed devil, he condemned and condemned him.
Then the zeal of Allah Almighty came out and said, "O pure Adam, you do not know the hidden secrets. If Allah wills an unexpected deed and manifests His wrath instead of His grace, He will uproot even a mountain.
At that moment, hundreds of demons like you will tear the veil of Adam, and hundreds of demons will become Azzazil again." Upon this address, Adam said, "O Allah, I have repented from my views and thoughts that condemned and condemned Satan. I will never have such arrogant thoughts again.
To condemn your servants, to condemn them, to see flaws and deficiencies in them
only you are worthy. For You alone are perfect, blameless and complete, O Lord"
Sir, as you can see, Allah Almighty does not allow even His Satan to say anything when necessary. How dare we speak against His servants who were created as equal creatures; we have no choice but to know our limitations and correct our own shortcomings and defects.
Mevlânâ's tolerance of people, his love and respect for them without any discrimination, is never an empty humanism. He embraced the whole universe with a high tolerance, seeing only Allah Almighty as the complete perfection and loving the created because of the creator.
Hz. Mevlana, who said that when love was distributed in this world, nine tenths of it was distributed to me and the remaining one was distributed to all the lovers who have come and will come; because of such an unlimited divine love and universal love covering the whole human world; for eight hundred years, every society from various religions and thoughts have tried to understand and explain him to the extent of their own comprehension.
As it is understood from the Masnavi couplets presented above, how can the Prophet Mevlana, who finds only Allah Almighty perfect, not embrace all human beings with love and respect; isn't this the truth and essence of the matter? Is there a perfect human being? What is it for us to say after even the master of the universe said, "I am human and I wonder"?
In fact, if instead of dealing with other people's mistakes, shortcomings and flaws, a person would see his own shortcomings and flaws and try to correct them, the whole issue would be solved.
There is a very beautiful saying of Hazrat NIYAZI MISRI on this subject:
I thought there was no one left for me in the world
I have left me and I know that there are no strangers left
Our Prophet Mevlana also said in the Masnavi: "If Allah gives a person an eye that sees his own shortcomings and imperfections, he will no longer see the eye that sees shortcomings and imperfections in others. Allah Almighty is Settar-ul Uyub, He never reveals anyone's shame and flaws. Unless that person reveals the faults and defects of others. If Allah wants to tear someone's veil and expose his shame and flaws, and humiliate him among people, He allows that person to condemn others and gives him the opportunity to do so.
But if Allah Almighty wants to forgive the sins of a person by covering his shame and faults, that person will no longer be able to see the shame and sins of even people who are involved in shame and sins.
If you close your two eyes that see people's shame, only then will you open your spiritual eye that sees the other world; otherwise you will always live blind and go to the other world blind."
Sir, as you know, this is a verse from the Qur'an, that those who are blind in this world will be resurrected blind in the next world.
Of course, this blindness is not physical but spiritual. This means that in this world, unless we close our eyes that see shame and flaws in others, our spiritual eyes cannot be opened. We live in the spiritual blindness mentioned in the Holy Quran and we are resurrected blind in the next world.
We also understand from the other couplets that as long as we do not reveal what we see as defects and flaws in others, Allah Almighty does not reveal our shortcomings and flaws and make us miserable and despicable among people.
If we want to be tolerated and forgiven by Allah Almighty, we must first be tolerant, forgiving and forgiving towards others.
In conclusion, since we cannot make the people around us into the kind of men we want them to be, and such a thing is never possible, we are obliged to make ourselves into the kind of servants that Allah Almighty wants us to be; if we are blessed to achieve this, then there will be no problem at all.
There is a very beautiful story in the Masnavi that is relevant to our subject.
THE MAN WHO KILLED HIS MOTHER
"A man is thrown into prison; those who are in the prison immediately go to him and ask him, 'Get well soon; what wind of fate has brought you here?
The man says very calmly that he killed his mother. The people there suddenly became angry and started to condemn and shame him, saying, "What a bad man you are, would anyone ever kill his mother?
One of them said, "Didn't you ever think about your mother's rights, would you ever kill your mother? What did she do to you, what did she do to you that you killed her?
The person who killed his mother defends himself by saying, I killed my mother, but I was right because she committed a very bad shameful act with someone else.
One of them says, "It may be very bad, but a mother is a mother. Instead of killing your mother, you should have killed the man who did it with your mother.
The man is very calm; if I killed the man who did that with my mother, I would have to kill one person every day. Because my mother had made a habit of it. Instead of killing one person every day, I killed my mother and got rid of her."
Underneath every story Mevlana tells, there is always a truth to be told.
That is why; after this story he says: "O human being, the mother in the story is your nafs. She is the symbol of your ego. Come to your senses and kill your ego too. Because of that ugly nafs, every day; every moment; you are trying to kill a man's life, you cannot finish killing men in this world.
If you kill your ego and ignore its wishes, if you don't listen to it, you will not only be free from apologizing for your mistakes, but you will not be surrounded by bad people with bad manners."
If we summarize the subject of love, respect and tolerance for human beings in Hazrat Mawlana, it should be known that Hazrat Mawlana's spiritual duty as a perfect murshid is to be instrumental in the guidance and eternal bliss of people within the framework of the purpose of his creation. With the zeal of this divine purpose and the consciousness of the spiritual duty he undertook; in his vast tolerance, there is the secret of Tawheed, the light of the Qur'an, the consciousness of faith and the vast peace of the Prophet's ethics.
Hazrat Mevlana is not only a thinker, a Sufi or a poet. He is the sun of the sign of Awliya. He is the spiritual heir of our Prophet and the manifestation of the secret of Velâyah according to the hadith "ULEMA IS THE HEIR OF ENBIYAN".
Once again, I would like to emphasize that the love of humanity in Hz. Mevlana is never an empty humanism.
I conclude my words with a prayer of our Prophet Mevlana found in the Divan-ı Kebir and I wish you to stay in health, well-being, peace, love and love until the next Irfan Assembly. Be against goodness, sir.
O my almighty God
O Lord of the seven heavens. O Lord of the Throne of Glory.
O my Lord. O Lord of everything.
O my Lord who sent the Torah, the Gospel, the Psalms, the Qur'an, which distinguishes between truth and falsehood
O my Lord, who makes seeds and kernels to grow and flourish.
I seek refuge in You from the evil of every animal that submits to Your mighty hand.
Surely my Lord is on justice and equity.
He who takes refuge in Your mercy, in Your grace, will never be harmed.
I seek refuge in your mercy.
O my Lord who shows the right path to those who have lost their way
Who forgives those who sin.
O Allah, Who forgives the mistakes of those who stumble
Show us the truth as the truth. Grant us to follow it
Show us what is wrong in the West as wrong and grant us the ability to avoid it.
O Allah, do not leave us in the hands of the nafs. Do not leave us in the hands of any of the creatures
Do not leave us to us, not even for the blink of an eye or even for less time
O Lord, be a friend to us. Be a Hifzzer to us. Be our helper. Help us by coming to our rescue, supporting us in every situation, in every work with your inayat.
O One who is exalted from every imperfection
O sultan of all creation
O my Lord, who is not born, who gives no birth, who has no equal.
Have mercy and compassion on us with your infinite mercy.
Make this prayer of ours one of the prayers accepted in your presence.
O Allah, for the sake of our great Prophet Muhammad Mustafa
Close our eyes that see shame and fault in others. Grant us ears that hear and eyes that see the truth.
Amen, Amen. Amen.
