It is not surprising if a peri (fairy) lines up in Solomon’s prayer hall;
but you should watch Solomon himself lining up and standing in audience before that peri.
Such a peri that, from the light of her face, a human became an angel;
the peri was freed from hardship and affliction, delivered from the anxiety of seeking a cure.
With the development brought by that peri, the human’s eye was opened; because of that peri’s face, even the angel found the pearl of glass, and so did the devil.
Selfhood, ego were purified; the water of manliness dried up; the peri became human, the human became peri.
The pride of Tabriz and of the soul, the soul’s eye, Shams al-Din’s reflection, made the peri joyful, and brought it to a state even more joyful than the soul.
Mevlana
CXX
(p. 267) At every breath, from left and right, the sound of love comes: We are going to the meadow, to the grassland, who wishes to watch?
The time for sitting at home has passed; the time has come to go to the garden and orchard; the blessed morning has dawned, the time for meeting and reunion has arrived.
O king, breaker of hosts, awake from this heavy sleep; ride the horse of fortune and prosperity; now is our turn for reunion.
The drum of fidelity has been beaten; the road to the heavens has been swept;
your pleasure and joy are now immediate; where is the deferred trade to be paid tomorrow?
Rome extended its hand and routed the night’s Abyssinian; the world of the exalted and the world of the base are both shining, sparkling brightly.
Blessed is the one who has escaped from this color and scent; for —
in the soul, in the heart, there are so many other colors and scents beyond this color and scent.
In this clay, an alchemical workshop has been set up, yet still;
blessed is the soul, the heart, that has escaped from clay.
—————m ——. ————7T——
This ghazal is under the letter “T”; it was forgotten and written here.
Divan-i Kebir
CXXI
The physician again entered at the door of Ayyub; again, Joseph of Canaan came and was reunited with his Jacob.
The heart left its home to go to where its beloved was; but then it saw that the beloved’s home was in fact the heart itself.
The heart vanished, and the meaning of the saying “I am the one who seeks myself, and I am the one who is sought” became clear and manifest.
* Praise be to God, Jesus arrived and our Azar was revived; praise be to God that Moses showed his miracle.
Praise be to God that Moses was saved from all those who followed Pharaoh; praise be to God that the lover came and settled beside the beloved.
– Praise be to God that the sun of love rose from the east and shone;
it cast its fire and fervor into hearts and souls.
Praise be to God that the cupbearer of the unseen washed away all faults with wine.
Praise be to God that the one who desired, who crushed his heart, was freed from sorrow and went away.
This ghazal is under the letter “Sh”; it was forgotten and written here.
EXPLANATION
Continuation of Bahr-i Remel
B. 51. Jesus ~ cradle. It is related in the Qur’an that Jesus spoke while still in the cradle, declaring himself a servant and prophet of God (Qur’an 19:29-33).
B. 53. The nafs (nafs, the lower self) commands evil. Qur’an 12:53.
B. 72. Kirman — cumin. In Turkish, the equivalent proverb is: “Selling cress to a cress seller.”
B. 150. They drink. Qur’an 76:5.
B. 172. The world — cradle. Qur’an 20:53, 43:10.
B. 209. The Kaba in the verse refers to the qalb (qalb, the heart).
B. 211. The Trust. Qur’an 32:72.
B. 237. The hand cut off. The Qur’an commands that the hand of the thief, whether male or female, be cut off (Qur’an 5:38).
B. 273. The one who is near. Qur’an 50:16.
B. 290. Not in the east. Qur’an 24:35.
B. 318. You did not throw when you threw, but Allah threw. Qur’an 8:17.
B. 322. Sky — rope. The saying “Where is the sky, where is the rope?” is a Persian proverb used for two unrelated things.
B. 325. Bone — bird of sovereignty. It was believed that the bird of sovereignty called Huma ate bones.
B. 349. There is a lesson for those who know. Qur’an 12:111.
B. 384. Hasan. A randomly mentioned name; like “so-and-so.”
B. 405. Jesus — house. “And a certain scribe came and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” (Matthew 8:19-20)
B. 428. Surely We have given you a clear victory. Qur’an 48:1.
B. 429. Did We not expand your breast for you? Qur’an 94:1.
B. 430. Sana’i. From this verse, it is understood that Mevlana, though rarely, used the pen name of Hakim Sana’i, whom he greatly esteemed; indeed, he also called Shams “Sana’i.”
B. 460. Nigāristān. A house adorned with various pictures and statues, an idol house.
B. 467. Qur’an 51:47.
B. 468. Qur’an 9:112.
B. 469. Qur’an 70:4.
B. 470. Qur’an 21:93.
B. 471. Qur’an 28:80.
B. 472. Qur’an 26:44.
B. 473. Qur’an 56:10.
B. 474. Qur’an 37:165.
B. 475. Qur’an 59:13. “Nonexistence, poverty is complete” — a saying among Sufis.
B. 476. Qur’an 67:1.
B. 477. Qur’an 25:42.
B. 478. Sidra. Qur’an 53:14, 16.
B. 479. Qur’an 68:19.
B. 536. Victory. Qur’an 46:1-2.
B. 595. They prostrate. Qur’an 3:113.
B. 612. Be! Qur’an 2:117 and many other verses.
B. 636. Neither in the east nor in the west. Qur’an 24:35.
B. 640. Between them is a barrier. Qur’an 55:20.
B. 676. Keykubad, Sanjar, Suhrab. In Iran, Keykubad is the second king of the Keyanid dynasty. It also means “great king.” Sanjar ruled the Seljuks of Iran from 1117 to 1157. Suhrab is the son of Rustam; he was mistakenly killed by his father, not recognizing him.
Divan-i Kebir
Sanjar. Suhrab, son of Rustam; killed by his father unknowingly.
B. 681. Faqih. “Fiqh” is religious law; “faqih” is one who is knowledgeable in religious law.
B. 684. Ibn Bawwab — riqa. A calligrapher who died in 1031. His father was the curtain-keeper of Caliph Mansur, and he himself was the curtain-keeper of Ma’mun. His real name was Ali. “Riqa” and “muraqqa” are panels written in naskh with a line of thuluth above.
B. 685. Naib. A person who acts as deputy for another.
B. 706. “Sit crooked, speak straight.” A proverb.
B. 719. Dahhak. A myth in Iranian tradition: a black cloud covering the sun, later depicted as a three-headed serpent called Aji Dahaka. After Jamshid fled to China, an Arab ruler named Dahhak seized Iran. The devil kissed Dahhak’s shoulders, and from each spot a serpent grew. The devil, disguised as a physician, advised feeding the serpents the brains of young boys. When a blacksmith named Gave’s child was taken, he raised his apron as a flag and led a revolt. Dahhak was killed, and Faridun, of Jamshid’s line, was enthroned. Faridun is derived from the angel Traitana who fought Aji Dahaka. (See: Dr. Muhammad Muin: Mazdayasna va ta’sir-i on dar Adabiyyat-i Parsi, Tehran Univ. Press, Tehran-1326, p. 36).
B. 722. “If not for you…” Reported as a hadith qudsi; see explanation for Vol. I, B. 1341.
B. 812. To die with him, to live with him. Refers to Ali’s saying: “Life is but a numbered breath. When one breath is lost, a part of life is gone. You wake for yourself, but night falls for another; yet you lack the mind to understand death. Each evening, the breath that kills you keeps you alive, but it is that which keeps you alive that draws you toward death.” (Divan-i Ali, Bulak-1251, p. 34).
B. 814. Plague. A well-known contagious disease. Sometimes used for all infectious diseases.
B. 822. Smoke — fire. “Where there is no fire, there is no smoke” — a proverb.
B. 833. Muhammad. Alaeddin Muhammad Khwarazmshah was the reason for Sultan al-Ulama Muhammad Bahaeddin Veled and his son Mevlana’s migration from Balkh. He conquered Khorasan and Afghanistan in 1206, Transoxiana in 1210, Ghazni in 1215, and while preparing to attack the Abbasids, the Mongol invasion began. He died in 1230 on one of the Caspian islands where he had fled. This verse is a veiled criticism in the form of praise.
B. 835. The First Cause. According to philosophers, everything has a cause, and everything is the cause of something else. Ultimately, there is a first cause, which is not caused by anything else. All causes ultimately depend on it. This is called the First Cause.
B. 897. Sometimes you make poor, sometimes king. Qur’an 3:26.
B. 920. Seventy-two nations. “Nation” here means sharia (sharia, the sacred law). The phrase “seventy-two nations” refers to all religions.
B. 926. The cloud of Nisan (April). According to an old belief, the rain of April is full of blessing. Oysters in the sea open their mouths when it rains, and the raindrop that falls in becomes a pearl. But if it falls into a snake’s mouth, it becomes poison. The water collected from April rain was recited over with surahs and verses, and given to the sick if needed. Special, valuable vessels were made for collecting April rain, called “Nisan bowls.” There is a very ornate Nisan bowl in the Mevlana Museum.
B. 987. Samiri. Qur’an 20:87.
B. 1036. The nafs (nafs, the lower self) that has attained certainty. Qur’an 89:27.
B. 1102. Alast. Qur’an 19:29-33.
B. 1181. Nushirvan. The twentieth Sasanian king of Iran. He became king in 531, was renowned for his justice, and died in 579.
Divan-i Kebir
B. 1186. Shaking the chain. A madman, upon hearing the clatter of a chain, would become even more frenzied.
B. 1197. I do not love those who set. Qur’an 6:76.
B. 1209. Look at whom one associates with. “A person is with whom he loves.” (Hadith, Al-Jami’ al-Saghir, II, p. 173). In Turkish, the proverb “A person converses with whom he loves” has the same meaning.
B. 1210. Do not do to others what you do not like for yourself. “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” (New Testament, Matthew 7:12)
Whatever you wish for yourself, wish the same for others
This is the meaning of the Four Books, if there is any.
Yunus Emre
B. 1234. Ah, if only I could see my brothers. “When he said, ‘How I wish to meet my brothers,’ they said, ‘Are we not your brothers?’ He said, ‘You are my companions (ṣaḥāba); my brothers are those who believe in me but have not seen me.’” (Hadith; Musnad, etc., cited from Ahadith-i Mathnawi, p. 34).
B. 1240. I am God. This saying is famously attributed to Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj.
Bahr-i Remel -Musaddas-
B. 1252. God does what He wills. Qur’an 2:40 and other verses.
B. 1300. Rukn-i Yamani. The name given to a corner of the Kaba (Eyup Sabri: Mir’at al-Haramayn, Istanbul 1301, pp. 11-12).
B. 1314. Masculinity — femininity. In Islamic belief, angels have neither masculinity nor femininity.
B. 1346. Sick — qibla. In some schools, it is customary to turn the face of a dying patient toward the qibla, or to turn the bed so that the feet point toward the qibla.
Mevlana
B. 1368. Forty mornings. “I kneaded Adam’s clay with My two hands for forty mornings.” (Hadith qudsi; from Ahadith-i Mathnawi, p. 198).
B. 1410. Strike their necks. Qur’an 7:12.
B. 1412. The original of the Book is with Him. Qur’an 12:39.
B. 1442. The moaning pillar (Hannane direği). The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), while delivering sermons, used to lean on a date palm. When a pulpit was made, and he began to preach from it, the tree made a sound like weeping. The Prophet descended from the pulpit and placed his hand on the tree, and the sound ceased (Bukhari, Bulak-1312, Kitab al-Jumu’a, vol. II, p. 9). For this reason, the tree was called “the moaning pillar.”
B. 1461. Fish — Ox, Lion. According to an old folk belief, the world stands on the horn of an ox, and the ox stands on the back of a fish. There are also zodiac signs of the Ox, Fish, and Lion.
– B. 1503. Sin — Ya Sin. Sin is a letter in the Arabic alphabet. Since it has two teeth and a bowl, and the word “sinn” in Arabic means “tooth,” this letter has been likened to a tooth. “Ya Sin” is the name of the 36th surah of the Qur’an.
B. 1517. Two kings on one throne. “Two kings cannot sit on one throne” — a saying.
B. 1545. Alast. Qur’an 7:172.
B. 1570. Sufi — shaving. In the branches of Sufism (Sufism, taṣawwuf) that separated from the Malamatiyya, such as the Qalandariyya, Haydariyya, Adhamiyya, Jami’yya, Mawlawiyya, Bektashiyya, etc., there is a ceremony of shaving the initiate. Some of these groups, called “char-darb,” even shave their hair, beard, eyebrows, and mustache with a razor.
B. 1587. Maryam — date palm. Qur’an 19:25.
_ B. 1624. The moon was split. Qur’an 54:1.
B. 1625. Watchman — staff. It is understood that watchmen used to walk at night striking their staffs on the ground. This custom continued in our country until recently.
Divan-i Kebir
B. 1637. Sermon — marriage. The request for a girl’s hand in marriage is called a sermon. The recitation of the formulas of offer and acceptance is the marriage contract.
B. 1638. Talqin. After the dead are placed in the grave, or after burial, reciting to the deceased at the grave about the truth of religious beliefs is called talqin.
B. 1653. You will never see Me. Qur’an 6:143.
B. 1655. You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help. Qur’an 1:5.
B. 1676. Kaba Qawsayn. Qur’an 53:9.
B. 1686. Abu Said. One of the great shaykhs of Khorasan. His name was Fazlullah, known as Abu Said ibn Abi’l-Khayr. He died in 1049.
B. 1688. Fariduddin Attar. This great Sufi, who won Mevlana’s respect and affection and authored many works such as Mantiq al-Tayr and Ilahi-Nama, carried the Qalandari spirit. Attar, born in Nishapur, lived between the 12th and 13th centuries; there are various reports about his date of death.
B. 1688. Sana’i also died in 1130-1131, author of the Persian poetic work Hadikat al-Haqiqa, also known as Hakim-i Ghaznawi.
B. 1691. Khalil — sucking his finger. According to popular tradition, Nimrod, after a dream, began to kill male children. When his mother gave birth to Khalil Ibrahim (Abraham), she left him in a cave. Whenever she could, she nursed him secretly. When she could not, Abraham would suck his finger, and milk would flow from it.
B. 1695. Closer than the jugular vein. Qur’an 50:16.
B. 1801. Water under the straw. This saying also exists in Turkish.
B. 1889. Wearing the fur coat inside out. An idiom meaning to fall out with someone; also used to frighten children by wearing the coat inside out.
B. 1920. The second of two. Qur’an 9:40.
B. 1956. God does what He wills. Qur’an 3:40; 14:27; 21:18.
Mevlana
B. 1991. Khalil — birds. Qur’an 2:260.
B. 2003. We have sent it down. Qur’an 15:9.
B. 2007. Man is hasty. Qur’an 17:11.
B. 2008. Our Lord, pour out sabr (sabr, patient endurance) upon us. Qur’an 2:250.
B. 2010. There are men within it. Qur’an 9:108.
B. 2043. Suha — prostration of forgetfulness. Suha is a tiny star. If a mistake is made in prayer, after finishing, two prostrations are performed.