The Life of Mowlana Jalaluddin Rumi - Essay Example

Mowlana Jalaluddin Rumi Introduction Mowlana Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-1273), the thirteenth century Persian poet and the founder of the Mowlana Sufi Order, is the best selling poet of all time in the United States of America, and he is popularly known as a poet who symbolizes universal compassion in his famous verses. His life, teachings, lifestyle, and the Sufi order he founded, known as the Whirling Dervishes, have contributed to relevant researches, along with his poetic contribution. Through his lifestyle and the Sufi order, he spread a new way of living which was neglected in the world until then. Significantly, as the greatest mystic poet of Islam, Rumi recaps the hopes, frustrations, paradoxes, contradictions, etc of the modern America and the world as whole. His teachings, lifestyle, and the poetic writings, along with his popularity, confirm that there is an insatiable thirst for spiritual answers in America for the troubling questions of the modern living. "He is a symbol of unity," observes Akbar Ahmed, "and his fame tells us about the greatness of American society." (Ahmed, 19) Mowlana Jalaluddin Rumi is also greatly popular as the writer of the book Masnwi, prevalently known as the Persian Koran, and the founder of the Whirling Dervishes, the Mevlevi Sufi order. In this exploratory analysis, the focus has been laid on the life and teachings of Rumi, specifically his Sufi lifestyle and his Whirling Dervishes. Mowlana Jalaluddin Rumi: Life and the Sufi lifestyle Rumi is the most renowned Persian poet and mystic who has left an enduring imprint on the modern world through his life and teachings, and his Sufi life style contributed profoundly to his current reputation. It has been observed by several modern critics that there has never been another poet and Islam theologian who immensely influenced the spiritual and literary life of Islamic lands as Rumi, the poet and mystic. His influence on the modern thinkers and mystics, along with a great number of thinking population, is indubitable, and he left a significant way of living to the modern man. "Over the centuries he has inspired thinkers, poets, and mystics from the shores of the Bosphorus to the Bay of Bengal and beyond." (Yarshater, xi) Through his life and Sufi lifestyle, Mevlana inspired his followers, and the most significant characteristic of his philosophy and Islamic mysticism was that he was distinct from the ordinary Muslim teachers of the orthodox type. His life style and Sufi order was the result of his spiritual and mystic leadership which was enabled by his period which is known as one of the most spiritual periods of Islam. Rumi was born in a period which was blessed with a spiritual environment. It was a period where "in almost every corner of the Islamic world were found great saints, poets, and mystical leaders, who, in the darkness of political and economical catastrophes, guides the people towards a world which was unhurt by change, telling them the secret of suffering love, and taught that God's inscrutable will and His Love may reveal itself in affliction even better than in happiness." (Schimmel, 10) Rumi made his remarkable contribution to this spiritual environment through his teachings, Sufi lifestyle, and works, and people remember him for these contributions. Jalaleddin Rumi, one of the great spiritual masters and poetic geniuses of Islamic world as well as the entire mankind, had a great understanding of living and he founded the Mevlevi Sufi order for the followers who were attracted by his teachings. The secret of Tawhid or unity or God's Oneness, the illumination of the Koran, the conscience of faith, and the peace of Muhammad's ethics etc contributed to Rumi's infinite tolerance. The most essential characteristic of the maturity and distinct quality of Rumi's personality is that fact that he practiced all that he preached, illustrating his words through his actions. It is evident, as Hidayetoglu observes, that "Rumi cleverly exhibited with his own lifestyle, the sublime tolerance imbibed from the joy of Tawhid and the overflow of Muhammadi exuberance." (Hidayetoglu, 90-91) Rumi's way of life was mainly the result of his religious life and his early religious training and practice helped him in his later teachings. Through this training, he attained the awareness of divine love, worship, asceticism and self-discipline, piety, consciousness of God, humility, and tolerance etc. These marked the pillars of his Sufi lifestyle. This training also helped him in realizing the merit of serving people and service to human beings was considered by as the ultimate service to God. "Rumi spent his days mostly praying and serving people who came to visit the Sufi center, preparing food for them, collecting wood for cooking and heating, and cleaning the toilets and bathrooms used by visitors." (A short outline of the life of Rumi) It is indubitable that the Sufi lifestyle and Sufi path which Rumi recommended was an inspiring system of knowledge which was beyond an imaginary idealism. Significantly, "his understanding of Sufism is the act of maturing in the world of gnosis, realization, and rapture." (Hidayetoglu, 85) This great Sufi leader clearly envisaged the realities of life and accepted them with no attempt of giving up. His Sufi lifestyle emphasized opposition to idleness and complete detachment from earthly life. It concentrated to revive a life within life itself and understood world as opposing to the life in God. "In Sufism, the purpose is servant-hood and annihilating the self is the divine will." (Hidayetoglu, 85) The Sufi lifestyle as promulgated by Rumi, characteristically, enjoyed perfect adherence to Islamic principles and the teachings of Prophet Muhammad. Tolerance is the chief merit of his lifestyle and his peaceful and tolerant teachings have appealed to people of all sects and creeds. "His doctrine advocates unlimited tolerance, positive reasoning, goodness, charity and awareness through love. To him and to his disciples all religions are more or less truth." (Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi) Rumi's Sufi life style concentrated on a life which leads along the path of love and freed the human beings from the bondage of earthly living. He believed that the human beings are blessed with the best possible path, both materially and spiritually. It is the special benefit of the human beings that they can achieve the level of the best creations of God and it is a status that equips them with the ability to utilize and develop their bequest of spiritual attributes. People who can reach beyond the material world and escalate toward the greater levels of the heart and soul achieve spiritual freedom and nearness to God. It is through being near to God that human beings are able to reach self realization. Thus, the Sufi lifestyle emphasizes a living beyond the material world and reaching out to God. Those live in this lifestyle reach the nearness of God and they become Friends of Truth. Rumi not only preached this way of living, but, more significantly, practiced the Sufi lifestyle. Therefore, it is obvious that Rumi was one of the perfect representatives of the Sufi devotees. In fact, the way of life of the Sufi devotees emphasizes love and service to fellow beings in order to become perfect human beings and thus to enjoy the best pleasure of God. Rumi's way of living immensely contributed to Sufism and has attracted people from every region of the world. "Rumi's path of love within Sufism's inclusiveness has always attracted people from all cultures and backgrounds, and this is certainly the major reason for Rumi's appeal in both the East and the West." (Seker, 1) Rumi led the theoretical aspect of this new lifestyle which emphasized love and service of human beings and this theoretical path is Sufism, whereas the practical aspect is Dervishood. He was the leader of this lifestyle at his time and continues to be the leader for all times. His mature dervishood, which is taken from this world and decorated with angelic qualities, put a perfect example of devotion to God through passion and love with which he inspired millions. Throughout his life time, "Rumi proved himself to be both a powerful personality and an eminent scholar. For not only did he talk about compassion and tolerance, but he actually produced an exemplary atmosphere where these values were upheld, thereby opening the door to dialogue through his message." (Seker, 2) Mowlana Jalaluddin Rumi and the Whirling Dervishes One of the major contributions of Rumi to the world is the Whirling Dervishes, which is also called Sema, and this denotes the divine love and mystical ecstasy focusing on the union with the Divine. Through music and the dance, it was intended to persuade a meditative state on the love of God, and this has been a motivation of Rumi and part of the inspiration of Turkish custom, history, beliefs and culture. The Sama or the whirling dance signifies many delicate features of life: "the creation of the universe; the creation of human beings; after the realization of servanthood, as supported with the love of God; and our escalation toward the ranks of perfected human (insan-i kamil)." (Seker, 5) The Whirling Dervishes was a means for Rumi to enjoy the love for God and the practice helped him realize his ultimate goal which is the union with God. Through music and dance one reaches the contemplative state on the love of God. The Mawlawi music serves chiefly as supplement for poems of Rumi and other Sufi poets and this incorporates some of the most essential features of Eastern classical music. At the ceremony of Sema, the dervishes turn timelessly and smoothly, and they twirl, turning round on their own axis and at the same time moving in the orbit. The entire practice of the ceremony leads the devotee to an ecstatic moment of divine realization. "The ceremony can be seen as a great crescendo in three stages: knowing God, seeing God and uniting with God." (Life of Rumi) It is through the practice of revolving that the ceremony develops, and the modern scientific evidences confirm that an essential characteristic of human existence is to revolve. Everything in the universe revolves and human beings go on their lives and the ceremony is essentially celebrating this feature of human life. Therefore, the whirling dervish helps human mind in partaking in the shared similarity and revolution of the universe. It is significant to note that Sema symbolizes a mystical journey of human beings' spiritual climb through their mind and love so as to reach God. Every man desires to reach God and is on this attempt. "Turning towards the truth, his growth through love, desert his ego, find the truth and arrive to the 'Perfect,' then he return from this spiritual journey as a man who reached maturity and a greater perfection, so as to love and to be of service to the whole of creation, to all creatures without discrimination of believes, races, classes and nations." (Celbi) There are seven essential steps or parts in the ceremony of Sema. In the first part, the dervish wears a headdress which represents the ego's tombstone, and a white skirt or the ego's shroud and symbolizes his journey from the dark to the light. The drum voice in the second part symbolizes God's order to the Creation, and the third part presents the Divine Breath. The dervishes' greetings in the fourth part signify the greeting of soul to soul covered by shapes and bodies. The fifth part or the Sema (whirling) includes four salutes. "At the sixth part Sema ends with a reading of the Quran and specially of the verse from sura Bakara 2, verse 115 The seventh part is a prayer for the repose of the souls of all Prophets and all believers." (Celbi) Conclusion A reflective analysis of the life and works of Rumi establishes his role as a world-known mystic and Islamic theologian. Through his teachings, works, and practice, Rumi propagated a way of living which was greatly appreciated by the people of every place and time. Rumi is especially remembered for his Sufi lifestyle and on the Whirling Dervishes which earned him followers even in the modern world. His Sufi lifestyle proposed the best answers to the essential controversial questions of the day. The Whirling Dervishes is the Sufi order which Rumi founded and this is an essential way of life in the current human society. Works Cited Ahmed, Akbar. "A Failure of Imagination: Thinking about Culture, Tradition, and Society after 9/1 1." The West at War. Bradley C. S. Watson (Ed) Lexington Books. 2006. P 19. "A short outline of the life of Rumi." The Whirling Dervishes of Rumi. 25 Nov. 2008. . Celbi, Celeddin. "Sema: Human Being in the Universal Movement." Mevlana Celaleddin Rum. 25 Nov. 2008. . Hidayetoglu, Selahattin. "Rumi and Sufism." Rumi and His Sufi Path of Love. M. Fati Citlak and Huseyin Bingul. (Ed). Tughra Books. 2007. P 90-91. "Life of Rumi." Armory.com. 25 Nov. 2008. . "Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi." Mevlana.Net. 25 Nov. 2008. . Schimmel, Annemarie. The Triumphal Sun: A Study of the Works of Jalloddin Rumi. SUNY Press. 1993. P 10. Seker, Mehmet. "Rumi's Path of Love and 'Being Freed' with the Sama." Rumi and His Sufi Path of Love. M. Fati Citlak and Huseyin Bingul. (Ed). Tughra Books. 2007. P 1. Yarshater, Ehan. "Foreword." The Triumphal Sun: A Study of the Works of Jalloddin Rumi. Annemarie Schimmel. SUNY Press. 1993. P xi. Read More