Content:

O reader who seeks the truth! May Allah make you attain the highest point in the truth and the intrinsic knowledge that you are seeking. Know that it is very difficult both the understand these spiritual states as well as to describe them.

These spiritual levels and stages that Allah’s beloved slaves attain are not physical levels or visible ranks or states that they may be described and explained. Although this is the case let us try to understand these at least a little:

"Tevhid", the belief of unity, means to know and consider something as one. That is to know and believe that Allah is One, Unique and Peerless. In fact, God says in the Noble Quran: "Do not take with Allah any other god" (17/22).

"Ittihad" means to be one. The level of ittihad is superior to the level of tevhid because in the former there is only the notion of knowing Allah one while there is the notion of being one with Allah. How is that possible?

How can a human being who is a powerless and mortal being be one with Allah? Allah is indeed not a physical being so that we may go and be one with him and stay together.

Some people whose understandings are limited have thought of man’s being one with God as "hulul" (man’s penetration in Allah) and so they have made a mistake. The belief of hulul carries the meaning of penetrating another body and as such is not an Islamic belief and brings a believer to disbelief. In this matter, Rumi says the following:

"Ittihad is not hulul, it is your effacement."

As a matter of fact, the main point of being one with God, ittihad is this: If the person who enters the path of Allah, cleanses his self (nefs) by properly and thoroughly performing asceticism, self-mortification, good deeds, and worship duties, that person has found a way to ittihad. That person’s being one with God means that he is obeying Allah’s commandments completely and he dissolved his personal choice and will with God’s choice and will.

Rumi says in Mesnevi:

"The water of the sea takes a dead man on its head and carries him on the surface of the water. How can a living person escape the sea? If you kill your desires and do away with your human attributes, the sea of secrets carries you over its head." (Mesnevi, v. I, no. 2842)

There are many different religions and creeds in our world inhibited by billions of people. All over the world there are mosques, churches and synagogues in the skies. It is a fact that since Adam from the earliest times of the history to our day people of many different colours, many different nations worshipped in countlessly many houses of worship, prayed to idols that they made themselves in countlessly many temples. It is an indeniable fact that there is a need to worship in human beings’ creation. A person who doesn’t believe will surely feel an emptiness inside. After losing his religious faith, Tevfik Fikret felt the need to believe very clearly and complained:

"All is empty, earth is empty, sky is empty, heart and conscience is empty,

I’d like to hold on to, but there is no point in front of me."

The forgiven Mehmed Akif said: "A faithless, rusty heart is burden in one’s chest."

Even in our day, no matter how much they have become materialistic people still couldn’t do away with religious belief. Russia showed a most recent example of this to the whole world. Religion that was banned by the communists couldn’t be eliminated. In spite of all the effort, the view that says ‘Religion is a tranqillizer that passifies people." proved wrong.

How was Rumi viewing the "religious feelings" which is an inevitable spiritual need for human beings?

Since Rumi saw people as beings that carry the Divine Entrustment he loved the human beings no matter what faith or creed they belonged to and therefore respected all religions. It is for this reason that behind the coffin of that great saint, not only Moslems but also Christians and Jews that were in Konya at that time shed tears.

As Eflaki writes, a preacher in Konya, when talking of Christians, said: "Praise be to Allah that He didn’t create us among the Christians." When they related this statement to Rumi, Rumi said about that preacher: "He is astray himself and also making others astray. He is weighing himself with the balance of the Christians and boasting because he happened to be one gram heavier. If he came and weighed himself with the balance of the prophets and saints then he would realize his value."

The fact that Rumi respected all religions doesn’t mean that he saw all the religions as one and equal to each other. The point here is not to see all religions including Islam as one but to see their essences as one.

So Rumi says at the title of the verse 500 in the first volume of the Honourable Mesnevi:

"The difference between the religions is a matter of practice and walking on the path, but not a matter of the truth of the path."

In fact, just like everything else that is seen in the world, physical or spiritual, religions and creeds, too, arise as manifestations of Allah’s Beautiful Names and Attributes. That is, Allah manifests Himself with the name "Hadi" (One who guides to the true path) as well as the name "Mudill" (One who leads astray). According to the Quranic verse "Say: Both believers and disbelievers act according to the way that is appropriate for them." (17/84) everybody acts in accordance to his nature and the way he is created. Everybody follows a path that suits his character. We have to be very careful in this matter. By following a path that suits one’s character one would not be necessarily following the true path. That is a religion or a creed doesn’t become the true religion or creed by just being suitable to a person’s or society’s character and feelings. The final true religion is the one, which Allah proclaimed with His book and His Messenger. Happy is the person to whose character the true religion is suitable.

As a matter of fact, since everything, all beings are reflecting the manifestations of Divine Names and Attributes, events that seem to contradict are based on a wisdom our minds cannot encompass. Everything is under God’s control, everything is from him. The followers of all religions and creeds are carrying out his orders and walking on the line of destiny that He drew.

We have no right to criticize anybody in this regard. Every follower of a creed has known his belief as right and walked on that path although it is wrong with respect to other creeds. Rumi explains this matter in the following couplets of the Mesnevi:

"In this world there are hidden ladders that lead to the heavens step by step. Each group has a different ladder. Each walk has a different heaven it leads to. Each of them is unaware of the situation of the others. The heavens are a vast land. They are so vast that there is no beginning and end to them." (Mesnevi, v. V, no. 2556)

These couplets lead to the following conclusion: In order for God to be worshipped in accordance with all the different aspects that His Divine Attributes manifest themselves God has made the views of the people in other religions which are wrong with respect to Islam seem true to them. This way, no matter what religion one is in, he believes that only his religion is true and views people in other religions as astray. But Rumi does not holding that view and he believes that no matter what religion one belongs to he is one the path of God, i.e. that path that God has assigned to and approved for him. Therefore, he never looks down on anybody who is outside of Islam and never accuses anybody as a disbeliever. Religions other than Islam are not "true religions" but they are religions that Gos controls and determines.

Since God’s predestination in the eternal past and His will are manifested in the people’s way of worshipping and believing, those who remained outside the "path of guidance" are people who are walking on the "path of misguidance" with the order and predestination of God. Therefore, our Quran doesn’t start by saying "Lord of the Moslem" but "Lord of the Worlds" (Lord of all beings, everybody and everything other than Allah). We have to know it very well that Allah alone creates guidance and misguidance. Everything depends on his will and predestination in the eternal past. If Allah wills he can guide a misguided person to the true path. He can also misguide someone walking on the true path to the path of misguidance. This is God’s will that no mind can encompass. This is also a fact that as much as finding the true path or going astray from the true path is a result of the predestination in the eternal past, with Allah’s permission our effort and endeavours have a role in it, too. It is for this reason that the gnostics have said: "The predestination of the eternal past loves effort." If one pays attention one can see and sense that Allah lead everyone to success in the field he spends his effort. If a person’s soul is ferment with evil bad deeds and inappropriate attitudes emerge from him. If a person’s essence is good good deeds and pleasant acts emerge from him. That is to say that the goodness or badness of the deeds depends on the goodness and badness of the essence. It has to restated that this view should not be misunderstood. Rumi has not seen all religions as one, he saw the essence of all religions as one. Since our Master Muhammed (pbuh) is the final prophet and Islam that He has proclaimed is the final religion Islam has of course made all previous religions invalid. It is for this reason that some Western scholars who are purely motivated with a scientific cause without any bias, research different religions and understand the essence of the different religions choose Islam. Therefore, the famous British writer Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1951) has stated: "Islam will be the final religion of humanity."

There are many common beliefs among the religions of the world. For example, murder, theft and lying are vices in all religions. Considering these common aspects of the religions Ekber Shah, the great Turkish-Mogul ruler of India, wanted to invent a new composite religion by merging all religions and creeds, but the great saint Imam-i Rabbani prevented this attempt and helped millions of Moslems in India, Pakistan and Jawa to preserve their faith. Since Islam is the final religion it doesn’t need to take anything from any other religion.

Rumi, who saw the essence of all religions as one, looked also differently at faith and disbelief and explained these notions differently: "With the eye of the heart, look at the believer and disbeliever. They don’t have anything but the cry ‘O Lord!’ and the scream ‘O Ever-Alive!’ according to their own beliefs." (Divan-i Kebir, v. V, no. 2578)

It is a fact that if we view this sky as the dome of a great house of worship, under that dome there arise many mosques, churches and synagogues. In many different ways, in many different houses of worship, in many different religions and with many different words, people of many different colours all plead to the unique and peerless Allah and ask him for his help.

How glorious, how great, how might Allah is He that His Holy Name is being pronounced in many different languages. He knows all languages, understands what everybody says, listens to the pleads of His slave who pleads to Him with his hands open, no matter where that person might be on earth or in which house of worship. He even knows what goes through their minds and hearts. In a Mesnevi couplet, Rumi explains how Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate protects His slaves and says: "The eye and the ear of the King of Spirits is at the window. He keeps an eye on what everybody, man or woman, wants and what they strive for." (Mesnevi, v. I, no. 1824)

The fact is, as Rumi states, both the Moslem who pleads in a mosque with opening his hands and a Christian makes the sign of a cross in the church and a Jew praying in a synagogue all think of Allah. If we get stuck with the formalities and overtaken by appearances we categorize them as Moslem, Christian and Jewish based on their beliefs and temples they attend. However, in the sight of Allah, no matter what religion or creed they belong to they all are His slaves and walk on the paths that He drew for them with His Predestination in the eternal past. Therefore, Ziya Pasha says: "In the sight of God, Moslem and the fire-worshipper are one." That is to say both are His slaves.

"With respect to us, disbelief is a calamity but with respect to the Creator, there is a wisdom behind it." (Mesnevi, v. I, no. 1997)

Don’t you see that the moths fly into the flame of a candle whether it is in a mosque, church or synagogue without making any distinctions between them. God has opened up His table for not only the Moslems, but also to non-Moslems and even to those who deny Him, and He is feeding them all generously. He doesn’t distinguish between them as believer or disbeliever.

In another poem, Rumi says: "Know well that belief and disbelief are like the white and yellow of an egg. There is a precipice that separates them. Therefore, they don’t mix with each other. With Allah’s grace and favour, when the mother hen takes it under her wings, both belief and disbelief vanish and the chick of unity cracks the egg and gets out." (Firuzanfer, v. IV, no. 1940)

We are all longing for a perfect, flawless human being. How difficult it is to find a perfect human being in our day. When we see some flaws that arise from being human in those valuable personalities whom we respect and love and think of a perfect people, we are disillusioned, torn down from inside, and we feel urged to love people and accept them with their both good and bad sides and we say "Flawless human being cannot be found. "But in this regard we should not be completely hopeless. In this world where people turn to materialistic values by losing spiritual values it is still possible to find superior people, flawless people and perfect people even if they are one in a million. They are the suns of the spiritual world, the world of humanity.

For a moment let’s suppose that the sun of this perceived material universe darkens and goes off: Everything on the face of the earth will be destroyed and the life will stop. But how about the suns of the spiritual world? We live because of them, we realize our humanity because of them. When they retire from the face of the earth the spiritual life will stop, the human beings will lose their humanity, grudge, anger, lies, two-facedness, envy, jealousy, lust and many other evil will cover the earth and people will start eating each other as humans in the form of beasts.

It is also known that once upon a time Diogenes, a philosopher of Sinop, walked on the streets with a lamp in his hand in broad daylight looking for a human being. Wasn’t there any humans around him. Indeed, there were plenty but the philosopher was seeing them as wolfs, foxes, rabbits and pigs in human form. In his opinion there was no human being in the streets, the streets were full of animal in human form.

A philosopher likens the people to buildings. The side of the buildings that face the street are beautiful, clean and decorated. Their back sides are poorly maintained and dirty. Somebody whom we call "a nice person" is one whom we view from one side and see his good attributes. However, there may be many bad attributes of a person whose good side we see and like. Similarly, people whom we consider bad and hate can have many good attributes. Therefore, people are both good and bad. Rumi doesn’t view man from one aspect, he considers him from all aspects. He seeks ways of salvation for man. He strives to cleanse him from his flaws and make him a true man. He tries to do away with animality in man that is in him due to his nature.

In the passage starting with the 1416. couplet of Mesnevi in volume II, Rumi says: "The human body is like a jungle where predators roam. We have to be very careful and watchful not to be victimized and torn in pieces. In our body there are thousand of wolves, thousands of pigs, clean, dirty, beautiful and ugly, thousands of attributes. If one of these attributes in us overweighs we go under the influence of that attribute. Sometimes the wolf in man takes the control of the city of body and it acts, then the attribute of wolf appears. Sometimes, the human being becomes a beautiful person like Joseph with a face as beautiful as the moon. Goodness, evil, hate, grudge keep on flowing from hearts to heart through secret channels. Every moment there is a different thing that emerges in the hearts. The human being sometimes turns into devil, sometimes into angel, sometimes into a trap, and sometimes into a beast."

Rumi considers the reason, which is the faculty for thought, cognition and comprehension, from two points of view:

According to Rumi, reason is the faculty of man, which is both very valuable and sometimes not very useful. He elaborates his views in two stages. At the first stage, the reason very valuable divine gift that distinguishes man from animals and lets him attain humanity. Man defeats his self (nefs) with reason and becomes a superior being with escaping from his lowly desires. Reason is a holy light in the heart, truth and falsehood can be distinguished with it. With the same token our Prophet says: "Whoever is stupid, i.e. has no reason, is our enemy." Explaining this Prophetic Tradition Rumi says:

"Our Prophet said: ‘Whoever is stupid, he is our enemy and he is the bandit that cuts our way.’ On the other hand, smart person is our soul (very close friend), the cool wind that comes from him brings us the odors of (reyhan) and sweet basil. Even if reason gets upset with me and start to scoulder at me I submit and I won’t object. Because it has a blessing from my Blesser and Creator. His getting upset with me and scouldering at me is not without benefit. He doesn’t come to visit empty handed. If a stupid person comes and puts a desert in my mouth my fever rises from it and I become ill." (Mesnevi, v. IV, no. 1947)

Rumi cannot stop praising the reason:

"If reason was to become visible, show its face once and disclose its appearance to this world, even the day would be dark in comparison to its light. On the other hand if stupidity came forward and show itself the night would remain bright in comparison to it." (Mesnevi, v. IV, no. 2181)

"The torn cloth of stupidity does not accept any patch, o you who gives advice, don’t labour in vain, don’t spread that seed of wisdom." (Mesnevi, v. IV, no. 2265)

There is parable in the passage starting with the 2750. couplet in the III. volume of Mesnevi about Jesus’ running away from the stupid. Again I am presenting this to you in the words of Rumi:

"Jesus, son of Mary, was running towards the mountain as if he was running from a lion that wanted the shed his blood. Somebody ran behind him and asked:

- What is wrong? There is no one behind you. Why are you running as fast as a bird flies?

Jesus was running so fast that he didn’t even turn around and answer the man because of his hurry. The man ran a little bit more after Jesus and he called out again:

- For God’s sake, stop for one moment. Why and from whom are you running away? I want to know.

Jesus said:

- I am running away from a stupid. Don’t stop me, let me get away.

The man said:

Aren’t you the Messiah who opens up the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf?

Jesus:

- Yes, I am.

The man asked again:

- Aren’t you the one who makes a dead man jump like a lion that just found a prey?

Jesus:

- Yes, I am.

Upon this the man said:

- O pure and clean spirit! Whom are you afraid of when you have so many miracles?

Jesus said:

- I read the Greatest Name that Allah has granted me upon a blind person and his eyes opened, I read it upon a deaf and his ears started hearing, I read it upon a rock like a mountain and it split and fell into pieces. I read it upon a dead person and he came back to life and rose. But I read it to a stupid man a hundred thousand times but it didn’t help."

After explaining that the reason is a great gift for man in many different perspectives, as seen in the above examples, Rumi makes beautiful metaphor to let us know that the reason cannot take us further on the path of God, the path of love. He likens the reason to Gabriel (pbuh) and says:

"While Our Prophet was ascending towards God during the Night of Ascent with the guidance of Gabriel (pbuh) they came to a point where the reason said: ‘O Ahmed, if I take one more step further I burn, you leave me here, from this point onwards you proceed further, o king of spirit, this is my limitation.’"

According to Rumi there comes a time when the reason is no good anymore. How come the reason that defeats the self, does a lot of good to us, raises us to humanity, makes us attain faith, is thrown away like an old fashioned lamp?

"Akil" the Arabic word for reason is derived from the word "ikal" that means "watch-chain". Since the watch-chain ties the watch to the vest, if you try to pull and extend something beyond their range it breaks.

Let us hear Rumi’s views on music and whirling from his own blessed mouth:

"Wise men have said: ‘We have taken these beautiful sounds and melodies from the whirling of the heavens.’ These pleasant sounds that people produce with musical instrument or their voices are taken from the rotation of the heavens. We all were components of Adam. We have heard those melodies while we were in Heaven. Although entering this body cage made of mod and water and dressing in clay may have caused doubts in our spirits and misled us, we nevertheless still remember some of those melodies. It is for this reason that the music and whirling is nourishment for lovers of God. In whirling there is peace of heart, a connection to Allah and hope of finding the Beloved. When we listen to those beautiful sounds the imagination in our hearts strengthens those imaginations even take on forms from the breaths." (Mesnevi, v. IV, c. 733)

In the above Mesnevi couplets it is very touching how Rumi explains the men’s fascination with the music even from very early ages as an expression of the longing felt for Allah. It is a fact that even from the very early ages that history records men have been very much influenced by music.

Women who heard the sound of the magic flute of Krishna, a dark and handsome young men who is the equivalent of Apollon of the Indian mythology were were being spell taken and would leave their homes and run to the forests to see Krishna. This way they would be relieved of fear, sorrow and tiredness under the influence of the music. The last hero of the Greek mythology, Orpheus of Thrace would play such pleasant melodies with his lyre that even the predators would come out of their cave and lay down by his feet to listen to his music. When he started playing his lyre not only animal but also even the trees would shake with ecstasy, the rocks would tear from their places and roll down to towards him.

Prophet David’s voice was very beautiful and influential. When he started to recite the Psalms the rivers would stop flowing and listen to him. The birds would fall on the ground, the trees would prostrate and even the animals would be tame. Old people explained the beautiful voices, which excited their spirits with myths since they were not aware of the unseen and did not know that the music was a memory of the melodies heard in the Heaven.

Yes, as Rumi says in music there are sounds that come from beyond. Some things awaken in our hearts when we listen to the music. Beautiful voices and melodies take us away from our selves. We forget ourselves. It is as if we enter a secret and mysterious world that we don’t know and cannot really understand. It is as if we escape the body cage and strike our wings towards the heavens to be cleansed. We become a different being. Someone who longs to our Eternal Beloved from. Whom we were separated and who feels the disparity of the exile in this world is crying inside our selves. So then what is the whirling that Rumi refers to that he describes as the nourishment for the lovers of God?

Whirling (sema) means listening to music, moving with the excitement induced by the music and entering into ecstasy and whirling. According to Sufis whirling has different effects on people’s spirits. It enhances one’s love of Allah and produces many spiritual states. These spiritual states cleans the vices in the heart and finally opens one’s eye of the heart. In a way whirling is a lover of Allah’s expression of the love and excitement he feels for Allah in the form of turning. Thus whirling is saving the dervish from him self, his existence and makes him spiritually closer to Allah. It is as if the chick in the egg of the ego is trying to hatch the egg shell, the spirit bird imprisoned in the body cage is striking wings to rise to the heavens and the Divine Entrustment stuck in mud is attempting to come out of the mud. Whirling is to find God in one’s heart by the influence of the music and to turn like a moth in this excitement. This whirling is not the mere turning of the body. This whirling is the turning with the heart, spirit, love, faith and with all one’s physical and spiritual existence. In this kind of a whirling the lover of God escapes his imaginary existence, his ego and is effaced in Allah. The effacement of the particle in the whole is shivering and whirling elevation of an atom to the sun. When a true "semazen" whirling dervish who has cleansed his heart from dirty desires, has abolution and dressed in "kefen" -the wrapping for the deceased- whirls to spiritual tunes of the music is not self conscious any more. The spectators watch the whirling dervishes whirl but they are not aware of the fact that the dervishes themselves are not there. Only the images of the whirling dervishes are seen. Their real existences have escaped themselves and gone to beyond. If you take these words as memorized sentences, common clichet and frequently repeated views on whirling you will be wrong. If you do not feel tense, if your mind is not preoccupied and if you are in peace, during a whirling ceremony when the dervishes are floating in tune with the spiritual music in the whirling hall also you will experience the whirling in your spirit. That whirling and that harmony takes you from yourself and also you go to beyond. When you feel all this outside the whirling what would you have possibly felt had you participated in the whirling? Many people have explained the whirling. There have been many nice things said about the whirling. But the one who best explained, felt and made felt the whirling has been Rumi himself. How nice does the following ode which I took from a manuscript but couldn’t locate in the Firuzanfer edition of the Divan-ı Kebir describe the whirling:

"Do you know what the whirling is? It is hearing the voices of the spirits saying "Yes" to Allah’s question "Am I not your Lord?", it is deliverance from ego and reunion with the Lord.

Do you know what the whirling is? It is seeing the Friend’s states, hearing the secrets of God from across the curtains of the unseen.

Do you know what the whirling is? It is escaping one’s existence, continuously tasting the everlasting existence in the absolute non-existence.

Do you know what the whirling is? It is making one’s head a ball in front of Friend’s kicks of love and running to the Friend without head and feet.

Do you know what the whirling is? It is knowing Jacob’s sorrow and remedy, it is smelling the smell of reunion to Joseph from Josephs shirt.

Do you know what the whirling is? It is swallowing Pharao’s spells just like Moses’s stick every moment.

Do you know what the whirling is? It is a secret from the Prophetic Tradition "There is a moment for me with Allah where no archangel or no prophet can come in between Allah and me." It is reaching that place without any means where no angle can fit.

Do you know what the whirling is? It is, like Shams-i Tebrizi, opening the eyes of the heart and seeing the sacred lights."

According to Necmeddin Kubra, three conditions have to be observed for the whirling to be lawful and acceptable:

Place: Whirling cannot be done everywhere. Whirling should not be performed on a crowded street, a dirty place or any place where one’s heart will be distracted from Allah.

Time: Whirling cannot be done at any time. Whirling should not be done when the meal is ready or when the prayer time is approaching or where there will be a hostile reaction from outsiders.

Company: People attending a whirling ceremony should be noble-spirited, clean-hearted and good-willed people as the descendants of the Prophet. Whirling is not to be done in the presence of the people who undermine whirling, cause boredom in the assembly, have an arrogant attitude, fake ecstasy and cannot understand the value of whirling.

According to Necmeddin Kubra, if there rules were not observed the whirling would not yield the spiritual joy expected from it.

Whirling can be performed in group as well as alone. Rumi’s whirling was mostly induced by coincidences. A truly beautiful sound that he heard, a deeply meaningful and touching word or an exciting event was enough to move him and he would start whirling. How nice does Rumi describe whirling in the following poem:

"Whirling is the business of the spirit that cannot stay at one place. Don’t sit there lazily, stand up, jump. Is there any reason to wait? Do not stay here thinking, if you are a man then go where your beloved is." (Divan-ı Kebir, vol. I, p. 338)

Whirling is the comfort of the people whose spirits are alive. Only the one who is the spirit of the spirit knows this." (Divan-ı Kebir, vol. I, p. 339)

"O Lover of God, when you start whirling you go out of two worlds. This world of whirling is out of the two worlds. The roof of the seventh heaven is at considerable height. But the ladder of whirling reaches and exceeds this roof because the ladder of whirling is higher than the roof of the seventh heaven."(Divan-ı Kebir, vol. III, p. 1295)

There are many poets and philosophers who talks about sorrows and sadness and deny the existence of joy and claim that our that happiness is but a mere illusion. Some others have consider our sorrows as natural. Shaik Sa’di writes:

"Everybody suffers from a sorrow, from a problem as determined by his destiny and in his own way. No one is given the certificate of perfect happiness." Rumi, on the other hand, considers the agony and sorrows from another perspective. Saying

"There is nothing holier or stronger that sorrow." He considers the agony not as a calamity but as a bliss and a divine grace. In the Honourable Mesnevi, the Divan-ı Kebir and his other books, he frequently declares the sorrow as a means and sometimes a test for man to mature and attain perfection. But there is a subtle point in Rumi’s view on sorrows. The notion of enduring the difficulties and calamities of life, having patient with heartburn and reaping the sweet fruit of the bitter patience this way is not adopted by Rumi. The essence of Rumi’s approach is not to silently endure the difficulties or not complaining but to love the agony. It is a religious duty to accept God’s predetermination, having patience against the calamities one faces as a result of one’s selfish actions. Doesn’t Allah commend in the Qur’an "Allah is with the patient."? Also our Prophet has brought good tiding for the faithful who are patient against the difficulties. He tells us that Allah gives sorrows only to those whom He loves very much. The hardest of the agony is given first to Prophets, then to saints and lastly to selected believers. He also commended: "Patience is half of faith." "Patience and endurance against calamities is worship." Therefore, a believer who is smitten by many difficulties and problems is a slave of Allah whom He loves very much. Since the sad man has heard these tidings is he then expected to silently accept them and not complain about them and smile while his heart burn like stoic philosopher? No, Rumi says that agony is in reality not agony but a grace of God and happiness that comes in disguise of agony. He therefore maintains that instead of endurance and patience one should love the agony. Sensing this truth the forgiven Fuzuli pleaded to Allah in the tongue of Majnun:

"Do not deny your help from the people of difficulties

That is give me a lot of sorrows and difficulties."

In the passage starting with the verse 3678 of the fifth book of the Honourable Mesnevi, Rumi explains the meaning of our pain and sorrows as follows: "The concerns and sorrows that come to heart are like a guest that knocks our door in the morning. The guest is capricious, he commands the host and behaves bad tempered and unmannerly. But the duty of the host is to treat the guest well. It is also to endure his unmannerliness and bad temper and show hospitality to him."

"Every moment a thought and a worry comes to the heart as a welcome guest.

O my dear master, think of the thought (worry) that comes to your heart as a human being because it is the tought and the spirit that make one a human being.

Don’t be sad if the thought of worry cuts the path of joy because the worry that comes to heart prepares other joys for you.

Sorrow thoroughly sweeps and cleans the house of the heart so that a new joy and happiness arrives.

It removes and throws away the dry leaves on the brach of the heart. This way it helps new and green leaves to flourish.

Sadness takes out the root of the old happiness so that new joy comes all the way from far away.

Sorrow tears off the rotten and decaying old root in order to strengthen the new root that is covered with branches and leaves.

Whatever the sorrow tears away from the heart it surely replaces it with something that is better and more beautiful. In fact it treats more favourably those who know that the sorrow is the servant of the people of sound faith and maturity.

If the cloud and the lightning did not show a sour face the vineyard would be boiled with the heat of the sun.

Fortune and misfortune, joy and sadness, come from time to time, visit one’s heart and then they leave. They are like stars, which travel from house to house, from one sign of zodiac to the other.

When the star of fortune comes to your sign of zodiac as a guest, be sweet as the fortune itself, be vibrant and lively.

Do this so that when your star of fortune reaches the moon of truth, that sultan of hearts, it can bring gracefulness and contentness from you to him.

For seven years, Job (pbuh) who was patient and content with everything showed hospitality to the guest of sorrow that was sent to him by Allah.

When the tough and sulky calamity visited Job again and again Job never complained to Allah and on the contrary thanked Him in hundreds of ways.

When the calamities that followed one another took away Prophet Job’s loved ones one by one, due to his great love of Allah, he never complained and did not frown even once.

Because of the love that Job felt for Allah, he showed such an attachment, faithfulness and obedience to Allah that he mixed with the calamity as milk with honey.

When new worries and calamities come to your heart, you don’t run away from them either. Instead run towards them and welcome them as a dear guest. Thank Allah for sending them to you and say:

‘O my Creator, o Allah, protect me from the evil of the calamities you have given to me. Do not deprive me of the bounties that will come because of these calamities and make me attain them.

O Lord, grant the ability to me to thank you for this calamity. Let me not regret why I haven’t thanked for them at the time and let me not miss this opportunity.’

Treat well thus that sour faced sorrow, rever and protect it, take all the bitterness it brings as sweet." (Mesnevi, vol. V, p.3676-3697)