Mevlânâ’s Views on Şems
Mevlânâ has not explicitly spoken about Şems’s martyrdom. He has only mentioned that he had disappeared. Mevlânâ went to Damascus twice after Şems’s martyrdom and searched for him. This situation shows that the fate of Şems was not revealed to Mevlânâ. Mevlânâ hoped that Şems was still alive and searched for him. However, some rubaiyat and mersiyas written by Mevlânâ about Şems indicate that he had heard of his death. Therefore, Mevlânâ’s contemporaries did not speak about Şems’s martyrdom. However, later on, Eflâki recorded this narration.
The Death of Alâeddin Çelebi
The death of Alâeddin Çelebi took place at the end of the month of Şevval in the year 660 (1262). This was fifteen years after Şems’s martyrdom. According to Eflâki, Mevlânâ was not present at Alâeddin Çelebi’s funeral and did not perform the prayer. In his letters to Alâeddin Çelebi, Mevlânâ advised him not to come to the city, for the rumors to end, not to become enemies with people, and not to separate from his family. Moreover, Mevlânâ stated that after Alâeddin’s death, he had reconciled with him.
Mevlânâ’s Period of Peace and Productivity
After Şems arrived, Mevlânâ told those who were compatible with him that they should receive spiritual benefits from Şems and made him his successor. Şems stated that the spiritual benefits he received from Mevlânâ were sufficient for himself and three people. These people were Mevlânâ Bahâeddin, Mevlânâ Salâhaddin, and Mevlânâ Husâmeddin. Salâhaddin became Mevlânâ’s successor after Şems’s martyrdom. Salâhaddin came from a goldsmith family and received the succession from Seyyid Burhaneddin, who was the successor of Mevlânâ’s father.
After Salâhaddin’s death, Mevlânâ told people to recognize Çelebi Husâmeddin Hasan as their leader and to follow him. Çelebi Husâmeddin played an important role in the writing of Mevlânâ’s Masnavi. While Mevlânâ was performing semâ, walking, sitting, even eating, or even washing in the bathhouse, he would speak, and Husâmeddin would write. Each volume, once completed, was read by Çelebi, and Mevlânâ would make corrections; the volume was then finalized with the addition of the preface.
Mevlânâ’s Journey to Eternity
Mevlânâ’s journey to eternity came along with a long life process. This process included many stages such as marriage, education, becoming a student, spiritual training, meeting Şems, semâ gatherings, the people’s criticism, Şems’s martyrdom, the wound of the heart, two hopeful journeys to Damascus, the period of caution and peace, becoming a cousin with Çelebi Husâmeddin, and the writing of the Masnavi. Mevlânâ’s strong body was worn out by this intense life process. In his later years, he suffered from illness. In one letter, Mevlânâ described himself as follows: “This body is full of illnesses. Some are sick, some are healthy. Some are like a lion that has been cut, some are like a broken wheel. The heart desires to go, but the soul does not move. Some go step by step, some stumble and rise. Some walk and reach their destination; some are tested and turn back. Neither does he die, nor does he remain healthy.”