Life Increasing Light

The issue of the place of women in society, which began with the creation of Adam and Eve and has remained alive in all religions and civilizations since then, has been constantly discussed and debated. Every society, thought and civilization that has reigned on earth has put forward various opinions about women, and within the framework of these opinions, women have been assigned a place in society and a value in minds.

In this sense, the issue of women's place in society has been a problem in Islamic nations, and for some reason it has not been possible to understand Islam's view of women fully and accurately. The idea that Islam does not give women the value they deserve and pushes them out of social life has always come to the fore. Of course, it is not possible to accept this. This is the result of prejudiced thinking without sufficient research.

If the place of women in different societies until the advent of Islam and the Prophet Muhammad is reviewed, I believe that the value given to women by Islam and its sublime messenger, the Prophet Muhammad, and therefore by the Prophet Mevlana, will be much better understood. For this reason, I would like to provide brief information about the place of women in other societies before the Prophet.

In Hindu society, women had no rights in marriage, inheritance and other transactions. In the Vedas, the sacred books of the Hindus, the woman was depicted as a creature worse than a hurricane, death, poison and a snake. Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, initially did not accept the woman into his religion because she was a creature subject to his feelings. His close friend Amenda asked him: -How should we treat women?

-You will not look at them at all."

-But if we have to look?

-Then you won't talk to them.

-If we have to talk?

-In that case, he said, you should be extremely wary of them.

Amenda pitied women and protected them. At her insistence, the Buddha, after much hesitation, reluctantly accepted women into his religion, but said that it was very dangerous for Buddhists. Once he said to his saintly friend Amenda, "If we had not accepted women into our religion, Buddhism would have continued in its purity for many centuries. But I don't think this religion will survive for a long time because women have come into our midst."

During the Sassanid rule in Iran, women were not given any rights and value. It was even permissible to marry sisters. Women had no rights and no law.

The Chinese did not consider a woman as a human being, they did not even see the need to give her a name. They called her not by name but by number, 1,2,3. Women were called "Pig" in the society.

In ancient Greece and Rome, whose civilization Westerners admire, women had no rights. She was regarded as a mere child-bearing machine. She was not even considered worthy of love, claiming that her body structure was aesthetically inferior to that of a man. Perverted love between men for each other was in vogue. While their women were at home doing household chores, the men lived with the young men and were never separated from them. Even at public banquets, they would go with these young men without hesitation and never take their wives with them.

In England, a woman was considered an unclean being and could not touch the Bible. This situation was ended only in the reign of Henri VIII (1509-1547) with a resolution passed by the parliament and women were allowed to read the Bible after that.

The Jews had organized the family based on the absolute dominance of the man. Jewish daughters were like servants in their fathers' homes. If the father wanted, he could sell them. In Jewish law, a woman was considered an unholy creature because she deceived people and led them to evil.

Christians, on the other hand, have always looked down upon woman and regarded her as a devil, since Eve was the cause of the first sin and thus prepared the disaster of humanity.

The situation of women in the Arabian peninsula before the Prophet was heartbreaking. Women were deprived of the right to marry, to start a family and to inherit. Prostitution was widespread. The girl child was a burden in the family materially and a cause of shame spiritually. The father, who had infinite rights in the management of the family, saw no harm in burying his daughter alive and killing her. (Şefik Can Mevlânâ life ideas personality. p.189.)

As briefly mentioned above, throughout history women have been deprived of their rights and treated with contempt and insult. Before Islam, women were not considered as human beings and were bought and sold like objects. Islam was the first to rescue women from this bad situation in society, to give them value and property rights. In his farewell sermon, the Prophet said: "O people, fear Allah about women. For you have taken them as a trust from Allah and you have made them lawful for yourselves by the word of Allah. You have rights over women and they have rights over you."

The Holy Qur'an makes no distinction between men and women. Both men and women are considered equal in being subject to Allah's commands and prohibitions.

The Prophet emphasized that all human beings are as equal as the teeth of a comb and described men and women as two halves of a whole. Therefore, according to Islam, superiority can only be achieved through taqwa, i.e. a sense of responsibility towards Allah.

Apart from all these, it is possible to understand the value given to women with Islam even with a single hadith. Our Prophet said: "Three things have been made me to love from your world. The first is women, the second is fragrance, and the third is prayer, the light of my eyes." In this very important hadith, the Prophet mentioned women even before prayer, which is one of the basic pillars of Islam, the pillar of religion and the light of my eyes.

I regret to say; I regret to say that those who are ignorant of the spirit of these words with a very high spiritual value, let alone understanding the highest value given to women and the divine meaning pointed out in these words, cannot see the wisdom and divine providence in the multiple marriages of that exalted person, who was free from human impurities, There are those who associate these meaningful words with sexuality and think that he said them because of human interest and weakness in women, and they have distanced themselves from the original meaning by perceiving the second fragrance mentioned as any flower or perfume scent.

As can be seen, with the value given to women by Islamic thought, the dignity and effectiveness of women in society has increased. Especially the women who were close to the Prophet were very supportive of him thanks to their faith. Later on, they contributed significantly to the spread of Islam through the hadiths they transmitted.

Moreover, it is a well-known fact that Muslim women played an active role in the life of the Prophet during the Prophet's time, both in daily life and during wars, together with the Prophet and the Companions.

The Companions and Islamic greats - especially the Prophet Mevlana - who adopted this perspective of the Qur'an and the Prophet as a maxim for themselves, have always been exemplary in terms of giving women their due value.

As long as I live, I am the servant and slave of the Qur'an and the soil of the ground on which the Prophet Muhammad treads." In the light of the Prophet's divine words, the Prophet Mevlânâ also highly valued and appreciated the dignity in women. He expressed this high dignity he saw in women as follows in Mesnevi Şerif:

"The Prophet said: The woman is more than victorious over the wise and the people of the heart. The ignorant people also prevail over the woman. Because they are very harsh and rude. Men who are ignorant and rude have little kindness, grace and love. Because in their creation, the quality of animalism is superior. Love, kindness and pity are human traits, human qualities. Anger and lust, on the other hand, are animal habits and animal qualities. A woman is not just a lover. She is the light, the radiance of the Truth. It is as if she is not a creature but a creator." ( Şefik Can. Mes.vol.1.2435.) Although some people, far from the deep meaning expressed in these couplets, have said that because the woman gives birth, Hz. Mevlânâ said "the woman is not created but as if she is the creator", those who know the spirit of the subject have said that if this high value given to the woman was only for giving birth, all female animals would also give birth.

Mevlânâ, who saw the spiritual secret and truth in women with the light he received from the Prophet and who glorified and valued women in the clearest and clearest way without hesitation, lived as a monogamous man throughout his life, and although it was a tradition to use concubines in those times, he never had a private concubine. In one of the most important sources on Mevlevism, Flâki's Menakıbü'l-Arifin (Menakıbü'l-Arifin), we see that Hz. Mevlana, who always regarded women as a very important element of the society and had many female disciples both from aristocratic families and from the public, went to women's sema assemblies and performed sema with them and that roses were sprinkled on him by women. The narrations in the same work are generally from Kerrâ Hatun, the wife of the Prophet Mevlana, Mutahhara and Şeref Hatun, the daughters of Sultan Veled, Fatima Hatun, the mother of the great Ārif Çelebi and the daughter of Salâhaddin Zarqûbî, Melike Hatun, the daughters of Mevlana and the great Arif Çelebi, and many other women who were Mevlana's disciples. It is clear from this that the women from the Mevlevi family who loved Mevlana were always together with the Mevlevi elders, meeting and talking with them.

Eflakî writes that the Prophet also guided women, but since this was considered a special behavior reserved only for the Prophet, no guardian in any century until Hz. Mevlânâ had shown such interest and closeness to women. Hz. Mevlânâ, who was the first person after the Prophet to show such respect and interest in women and to show this without hesitation, of course walked with them on the path of divine love, and did not hesitate to assign spiritual responsibilities to women as well as men.

Reliable sources of Mevlevî history record that Şeref Hatun, the daughter of Sultan Veled, had many disciples. Furthermore, Ârife-i Hoş-likâ Hatun from Konya was a Mevlevî caliph in Tokat. And many men were her disciples. Mevlana's path of divine love, which he walked even in those times without discriminating between men and women, was followed by his descendants after him. It is recorded in Mevlevi sources that Ulu Arif Çelebi, just like his grandfather Mevlana, met and talked with women and attended their sema assemblies.

Sakıb Dede, who was the Sheikh of Kütahya Mevlevihane for forty years in the XVIIth century, states the following in his work Sefine-i Mevleviyye, one of the most important sources in terms of the history of Mevlevism: After the death of Grandfather Mehmet, who was the Sheikh of Kütahya Mevlevihane for fifty years in the 1600s, Mesnevihan Kâmile Hanım, the daughter of Küçük Arif Çelebi, one of the Konya Çelebi, was sent to Kütahya from Konya to replace Grandfather Mehmet in the "Mashihat" office. Ms. Fatma, the daughter of Ms. Kâmile, was named Ümmü'l-Fukara because she was a Mesnevihan who served in Kütahya Mevlevihanes like her mother and she sincerely ran to all the needs of the dervishes.

Again, according to Sefine-i Mevleviye, in the early days of Mevlevism, women were no different from men. Women are given the caliphate. And in this way, women were even more respected than many men who were initiated. The equality of men and women in Mawlawism continued until the seventeenth century. After Shah Mehmet Çelebi, the grandson of Divâne Mehmet Çelebi and the son of Hızırşah Çelebi, his daughter Destina Hatun became the trustee of the Afyon Karahisar tekke and wore a cardigan and a coin like men.[Sefine 1.p.252.253.] After Destina Hatun, Küçük Mehmet Çelebi, a descendant of Divâne Mehmet Çelebi, took the post and upon his death, his eldest daughter Güneş Han was entrusted with the guidance and training of the followers and the actual sheikhship and caliphate. Güneş Khan, who was highly respected by everyone, was engaged in the guidance of the dervishes for a while, and led the Mevlevi mukababa, wearing a coin on his head and a cardigan on his back. After the passing of Güneş Khan, sources write that Güneş Hatun-i Sugrâ also served as a sheikh in the Afyon dervish lodge for a while. [Sefine 1.p.253.255] [Gölpınarlı Mevlevism after Mevlana page 279-280] [Sezai Küçük Mevlevism's last hundred years page 177-179] [Hüseyin Top Mevlevi manners and etiquette page 162]

In the XVIth and XVIIth centuries, women performed very important services in the Mevlevi order both as postnishin and Mesnevihan. They pioneered in the proper living and spreading of Mevlevism, which spread to villages in Anatolia. In his Masnavi: "When man and woman become one in wahdat, you are that one. When the thousands that make up the customs and traditions disappear, you are the one that remains." You created this "me" and "us" to show the unity of manifestation in various beings. [Şefik Can Mes.clt.1.No.1786.] In the path of Hz. Mevlana, who never saw one as two, women were given the highest value by his followers. It is clear from these words, which are based on reliable sources describing Mevlevism, that in the early periods of Mevlevism, women were not excluded from the Mevlevi community at all. Especially in those days, this path, which spread to the remotest villages and created Mevlevi villages, did not consider women inferior to men. However, over time, the responsibility given to women in the Mevlevi path has gradually diminished, and today it is almost non-existent. Can a woman be a postnishin? Can a woman become a whirling dervish? Today's Mevlevi woman, who is stuck between the debates, has recently been in a very serious search for identity.

Abdulbaki Gölpınarlı, a very important researcher on Mevlana and Mevlevism in our century, explains this in his book Mevlevism after Mevlana, as follows "Based on all the research I have done on Mevlana so far, I believe that women also participated in the sema assemblies held even in the villages, especially in the old times. However, the transfer of Mevlevi lodges to foundations, the fact that Mevlevi lodges were transferred to foundations, the fact that because of these foundations, Mevleviism came to rely on the governments in time, the fact that the governments compromised with the mashihat, that is, the sheikhs, the fact that Mevleviism descended from villages to towns to cities, and the fact that Mevleviism became the property of a certain group of people in time, restricted this high value given to women, this freedom. Unfortunately, just as we do not come across village Mevlevihâns and Mevlevi villages since the 17th century, we do not come across women Mevlevi caliphs after this century. The Ārife-i Hoş-likâ and Güneş Khans of the 17th century, the women who became postal caliphs, remained in the pages of menakıp books, and after this date it was no longer possible to find women caliphs." [Mevlevism after Mevlana page 281]

This is how Abdulbâki Gölpınarlı expressed the transition of Mevlevi women from active to passive within the order for various reasons.

Abdulbaki Gölpınarlı, a very valuable Mevlana researcher, who devoted his whole life to Hz. Mevlana and his works, did not have enough time to see it, but a short time ago, one of our Mevlevi elders, Sertarik Mesnevihan Şefik Can Grandfather, who has a very important place in the history of Mevlevism, who has many valuable studies on this subject, who has no concern for any interest; He appointed a woman as his successor after him. This is a first after the XVII century. For the first time in four hundred years, a woman was actively assigned to the Mevlevi path.

Especially in the last periods of the Ottoman Empire, Mevlevi women, who felt that they were excluded from Mevlevism, put their feelings into pen and tried to express their love and affection through poems. Thus, in the 1800s, Mevlevi women poets with Divan were raised. Leyla Hanım is undoubtedly one of the most important of these poets. Leyla Hanım, who was the niece of Keçecizade İzzet Molla, was influenced by Şeyh Galib and one of her poems was composed by Sultan Mahmut II in the makam of hayati. Her divan was published at various times during the Ottoman and Republican periods. Leyla Hanım, who died in 1847, was buried in the hamushan of Galata Mevlevihanesi, where Sheikh Galib, whom she highly valued and was influenced by during her life dedicated to the Prophet Mevlana, was also present. The words she uttered while crying in front of the door of the same Mevlevihan while she was alive because she could not enter the door of the same Mevlevihan and perform sema like the men have survived to this day. Those words, which have become one with Leyla Hanım, may surprise and astonish even today's people.

One of the well-known Mevlevi women poets of the same years was Şeref Hanım. Ms. Şeref, who lived between 1809-1861, was also the owner of a divan. In her divan, she wrote various elegies not only to Hazrat Mevlana but also to Hazrat Rufa-i, whom she loved. After her death, she was confined to Yenikapı Mevlevihane for the love of the Prophet.

One of our Mevlevi women poets who grew up in the same century is Hatice Nakiye Hanım. Mrs. Nakiye, who lived between 1845-1899, was also the niece of Mrs. Şeref. Nakiye Hanım, who was a Persian and History teacher, received great attention from the elders of her time as a well-educated lady who spoke eloquently, and was awarded the Order of Compassion by Abdulhamid II for her successful works. Like her aunt Şeref Hanım, she was also enshrined in Yenikapı Mevlevihane.

Another female Mevlevi poet was Münire Hanım, the daughter of Grand Vizier Derviş Pasha. Münire Hanım, who lived between 1825 and 1903, took Arabic and Persian lessons. Münire Hanım, who was a very cultured lady of her time, was a disciple of Osman Selâhaddin Dede, one of the sheikhs of Yenikapı Mevlevihane. All of her poems are Sufi in nature. She is hidden in Karaca Ahmet Cemetery.

After the Ottoman Mevlevi women who made their names known to us by serving Mevlevism with their poems in the 1800s, there are some Mevlevi women who grew up in aristocratic families in Istanbul during the Republican period, and after the 1960s, there are some academician women who received various university education. While the Ottoman women expressed their love with their poems and served with their divans, the Republican women of the 1900s took their place in the Mevlevi path with their books, translations, articles and writings, and some of them with their outstanding services to the Mevlevi elders of their time.

Especially in Konya Mevlânâ ihtifal, which started in the 1950s and continued to develop in the 1960s, Semiha Ayverdi, Nezihe Araz, Meliha Ülker Anbarcıoğlu, Ayten Lermioğlu, Safiye Erol, Meşkûre Sargut, Mehpare Taner, Meliha Tarıkahya, ladies from our country presented their papers, Seniha Bedri Göknil and Münevver Ayaşlı, both of whom lived in their own homes in the same years, have performed important duties in this regard by offering their own homes to the Mevlevi elders of their time, while their books, articles and translations have gone down in history.

The 1900s were also the years when Mawlawism began to spread rapidly from the East to the West and to America, along with the rest of the world. Undoubtedly, western women who devoted themselves to Mevlevism had a great contribution to this intense interest shown in the West towards Mevlevism. Prof. Dr. Annemarie Schimmel [Germany] Eva de Vitray Meyerovitch [France] Prof. Dr. Anna Masala [Italy], who gave papers on Mevlânâ at the international congresses held in Konya in the 1970s, with her very serious research and studies on this subject, her works and translations. [Italy] are very valuable Mevlana researchers whose names we will always remember with respect.

You will all agree that Annemarie Schimmel, who has authored more than eighty books, written countless articles and lectured at various universities around the world, is one of the most prolific scholars of Sufism in our recent history. Schimmel, the most prolific scholar of Sufism in our recent history, started learning Arabic at the age of fifteen. Schimmel, who speaks nineteen languages, holds two doctoral degrees and academic specializations and seven honorary doctorate degrees, has lectured as a doctor of philosophy and theology for many years at Harvard University and various universities around the world, including Turkey. His extraordinary research, translations and writings have contributed significantly to the spread of Mevlevism throughout the world.

From the 1980s to the present day, a large number of Mevlana-loving Academician ladies from both our country and other countries have attracted attention with their papers, books and articles they have presented at Mevlana ihtifals. The Mevlânâ fan ladies who presented papers in Konya Mevlânâ ihtifal and who are generally academicians are as follows:

Dr. Müjgan Canbur

Mualla Sezgin

Müfide Basarir

Prof. Dr. İnci Enginün

Prof. Dr. Hasibe Mazıoğlu

Prof. Dr. Saime Inal Savi

Barihuda Tanrıkorur

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nilgün Açık

Prof. Dr. Gönül Ayan

Prof. Dr. H. Örcün Barışta

Assoc. Prof. Dr. A.Necla Pekolcay

Esin Çelebi Bayru

Dr. Nilgün Çelebi

Prof. Dr. Çiçek Derman

Prof. Dr. Emine Yeniterzi

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Emine Karpuz

Assist. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hülya Küçük

In addition to these academicians, whom we know for their various scholarly works, I would like to pay tribute to A. Ülker Erke, who has been trying to reflect Hz. Mevlana with her very valuable miniatures since 1960, and Cemalnur Sargut, who is well known for her Sufi works, and I would also like to pay tribute to Ms. Timsal Karabekir, who put Kazım Karabekir Cultural Center into service for the Mesnevi classes of Şefik Can, the last Mesnevi scholar of our time.

In recent years, there has been a great increase in the number of women serving abroad due to the infinite universal love of Hz. Mevlana, which has influenced the whole world.

Prof. Dr. Annemarie Schimmel, Eva de Vitray Meyerovitch, Prof. Dr. Anna Masala, and many other esteemed foreign ladies who are trying to follow in the footsteps of Prof. Dr. Annemarie Schimmel, Eva de Vitray Meyerovitch, Prof. Dr. Anna Masala, and who are included in Mevlana's chain of friendship and love with their various studies, books they have written, translations and papers they have presented in many parts of the world:

Michaela Mihriban Özelsel

Teresa Battesti

Olga Cholanchevska

Prof. Dr. Erika Glasen

Clara Murner

Prof. Dr. Natalya Prigarina

Ingrid Schaar

Prof. Dr. Anna Suvorova

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Silvia Tellenbach

Camile Adams Helminski

Anne Regard Cunz

Allah Almighty has said: I have such guardians under my firmament that no one can know them except me. For this reason, who knows how many people of the heart have spent a lifetime unnoticed, quietly, calmly, in service for centuries under our firmament. While many very valuable ladies, whose names we cannot mention here, live among us, many of them have reached the vuslat. These are just a few of them that we are aware of and can commemorate. Along with the ladies whose unspeakable and unspeakable great services we have tried to express and commemorate with very small words, I commemorate with great gratitude and respect all the ladies of the heart, whose names we cannot mention within the limited pages and minutes, and I commemorate those who have passed away with mercy and gratitude.