The distance between America and Afghanistan is not merely geographical. September 11th 2001 – Suicide bombers in ideologically fuelled aircraft demolished towers of innocent people in New York. The backlash resulted in an ongoing war of terror. A Fighter jet flapped its right wing and bombed countless Afghans in the name of self defence. A widening of the rift between the Muslim world and the West occurred; for some fulfilling the falsely premised clash of civilizations.

Ironically post September 11th, Maulana Jalalu’ddin Rumi (RA), a Sufi poet born in Afghanistan in the year 1207, became the most widely read poet in America. Hence, while Afghanistan was being pounded with bombs, words of love, from a turbaned Afghan Sufi leaped across the schism into American hearts. Speaking from beyond the grave, Maulana’s words constructed a message of peace and love at a time of intense conflict.

Maulana Rumi is a highly regarded figure in the tariqa (Sufi path). The Mevlevi order was established by his followers shortly after his death. He began his career as a preacher, theologian and philosopher, but a meeting with the mystic Shams-e-Tabriz turned Rumi’s attention to the Unseen, and he became a fervent mystic and poet. His search for union with God was manifest in the many thousands of poems he composed, presented in voluminous works such as the Mathnavi and the Diwan-kabiri. Throughout history he has inspired great figures from Mahatma Ghandi, to the Indian poet Allama Muhammad Iqbal, who was Rumi’s Murid, to present day Madonna. In the west Maulana Jalaluddin is iconicaly known as simply, Rumi.

In recent years, Rumi has increasingly been recognized globally as a leading poet, thinker and philosopher. His work has been translated into several languages and the practices of the Mevlevi order, such as the whirling dervish ritual or sama have become instantly recognizable. This culminated with UNESCO (United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization) declaring 2007 the year of Rumi, partly in celebration of the 800th anniversary of his death. Special ceremonies were held across the world from Iran, Afghanistan and Turkey to Holland. This included a project called ‘the cultural train of Rumi’s love and patience’ which toured 17 European countries. Films and documentary projects about Rumi’s life were screened, including a film called the ‘Seven Cities’ played at the Cannes film festival 2007.

Poetic consciousness

Though Rumi was a devout Muslim, his poetry extends across cultural and religious barriers .He emphasized ‘love’ as a non-descript inner language that we all can speak, and emphasized personal access to knowledge and peace through love. Rumi saw the spiritual journey beyond the complex realm of religion, but maintained his Islamic stance strictly. Whereas the important focus of mainstream religion may be to regulate human behaviour in the perceived world, the crux of Rumi’s message is that humans are capable of feeling God beyond the senses. He coaxes the individual through poetic reasoning to look beyond the façade of the material world, and transcend into the ecstacy that is reality. His poetry is tainted with a sense of vast loneliness, and he advocates God as the all loving being with whom we were separated and with whom we are to unite. Love, he says is how we will unite. He thus inspires the reader into conjuring the love inside him/her. Love is understood to be indiscriminate and love inspired by God is meant to be expressed to others as well. This phenomenon, of transcending momentarily to God, in ecstacy and truth, and then returning re energised with love to be of better service to humankind is abundantly evident in Rumi’s poetry. This same idea permeates the ritual dance called the Sama (whirling dervish ritual) performed by the Mevlevi order. The idea of this ritual is to symbolically turn towards God, ‘like the moth turning into the light’ and reach truth, after which one returns more enlightened, and to be of better service to others. The same pattern is evident in the Salah (prayer) of a Muslim. The Salah is said to be the mi’raj (ascendance to God) of a Muslim. A true prophetic consciousness, whilst enjoying the moment of rapture in its mi’raj returns unselfishly back to the earth to show mankind the way to Allah. Allah declares many times in the Qur’an that He favours those who perform Salah and do good deeds. The connection to Allah strengthens our service towards our fellow human beings.

The inwardly, personally directed nature of his poetry has made him vastly popular. Along with using music, poetry and dance as forms of divine expression, his poetry has achieved universal appeal. Coupled with an attitude of tolerance and acceptance, it is not a wonder that Rumi has been earmarked by the United Nations as a model for peaceful co-existence. It is also interesting that at a time when Muslims and the West seem locked in conflict, Rumi’s poetry is nestled in the heart of each. Whether it is a plane full of hijackers or an aircraft carrier full of fighter planes, on either side the message of love and compassion is sorely missing. When religious bigotry or political ideology incite human suffering and tread on the values which define us, the human spirit seeks a voice out of this difficulty. Vast swathes of humanity has found one through Maulana Rumi. It is to humanity which is lost and desperate that Rumi cries out to help.

Come, come, whoever you are.
Wanderer, idolater, worshipper of fire,
Come even though you have broken your vows a hundred time,
Come, and come yet again,
Ours is not a caravan of despair…

Maulana Rumi’s teachings are shared by many turuq (pl. tariqa) He shows a spiritual path of vast beauty and real happiness which man can only achieve if he realises his own Godly nature with which he has been endowed. Tasawwuf (the mystical dimension of Islam) seeks to develop the latent potential of this Godly part of man or his or her Ruh (spirit).

Muhammed Yaseen Khan is a final year medical student at the University of Stellenbosch,
Western Cape.