MEVLANA CELALEDDİN-İ RUMİ

“Those who get along are the ones who share the feelings rather than the same language.” The great thinker Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi leads humanity by shedding his gracious light all around the world. The journey that began in Belh and ended up in Konya resulted in a great gift to the city: Mevlana, a man of peace, love, understanding and art. With Rumi’s philosophy, Konya became a city of peace, serenity and tolerance. Rumi’s universality in his teaching that advocates unlimited tolerance, positive reasoning, goodness, charity and awareness through love for humanity was his touchstone in his life. This indicates why we all need today Rumi’s belief in dignity of life, human life in particular and urge to rejoin the spirit to divinity and find the real self with love, tolerance, hope and peace. “Konya and Mevlana are inseparably entwined.” The ecumenical call from Rumi’s Shrine reaches out to a great number of people around the world and Rumi Museum is visited by about 2 million people every year.

SAMA CEREMONY (WHIRLING DERVISHES)

“Sama” which means hearing and listening also comes to mean, in sufisim, listening to beautifully recited Quran and religious poetry as well. Starting from the first sufis, it has been very important to recite the Quran beautifully and to read poetry about religion, and to listen to the Quran and such poetry recited in the same way. Mensurable and harmonious sounds are usually followed by rhythmic and harmonious movements. And such movements have been named as “circulation, revolving, movement, dance and whirling". So, “Sama” has been used both for hearing and listening, and for moving and dancing along with the effect of nice rhythmic musical sound performed in harmony. And as the dervishes mostly dance by whirling, “sama” has been called also “whirling and revolving”. And the place where the “sama” is performed is called Samahane (the whirling room).

The Mawlawi Sama which is also known as the Mawlawi Muqabala consists of many aesthetical elements of art such as poetry, music, dance, ethics and manners of conduct. And it is these mentioned elements which make the spirit rear up and exalt it so that they are considered to be the important and inevitable ways to get closer to God. As an outcome of this understanding, there has occured a very rich culture made up of literature, music, ethics and manners of conduct in Mawlawi Order. And this culture has a very important role for a high class community in terms of both their aesthetical concerns and spiritual lives.

The Mawlawi Sama Ceremony has so many symbols in almost every step from music to clothing. The sikke (tall honey-colored felt hat) of the Mawlawi dervish who is dead in ego, represents the tombstone, his tennure (the long white skirt) represents the shroud, and his khirqa (black cloak with long, large sleeves) represents the tomb. Samahane (the whirling room) is the universe; and the right hand side is the visible and the known material world whereas the left hand side is the spiritual world. Moving towards right from the post symbolizes decending from highness (from ulwi to sufli), and moving towards the post at the end of the khatt-i istiwa (the invisible straight line) symbolizes ascending which tells about the spiritual journey (sayr-i suluq) in the end attaining maturity and a greater perfection. The reed-flute (nay) represents the “perfect and mature human”. Blowing the red-flute also represents the Archangel Israfil blowing the Sur (trumpet). Slapping the floor and then rising up to feet signifies both “Be”ing and the dead rising from the grave after the trumpet is heard. The three tours in Sultan Walad Cycle imply the three levels of knowledge "İIm-al yakeen, ayna'l yakeen, haqqu'l yakeen" meaning knowing, seeing and being/becoming.

The sheikh standing at the red post represents Rumi. And red is the color of the manifested world. He is the one who knows the path leading to Truth (God), so it is only he who can step on the khatt-i istiwa (the invisible straight line) representing the shortest way to reach the Truth. The walk in the Sultan Walad Cycle represents following the steps of a spiritual guide, the man of inner perfection, and trusting him to attain the salvation instead of staying bewildered knowing nothing about what to do and seeking where to go on the day of Resurrection.Sama consists of four salutations: The first one is the state of being aware of the Exalted Creator and of the servanthood by borning into Truth with knowledge. The second salutation is the state of seeing the greatness, the order and harmony in the creation of human being, and facing the highness and power of the Exalted Creator and feeling adoration to Him. The third one is the state of turning the feelings of adoration and gratefulness into love; and this is the sacrifice of mind to love. This is also the point of full submission. And in the last salutation is the state of completing the spiritual journey and, bowing to the inevitable, realizing the servanthood which is the duty assigned in the creation.

And finally;

it is said :

"Even if you know all the spiritual levels, and even if you have attained them, never give up servanthood as it is the highest rank and level; but those who know and do not know are not the same. "
In order to preserve and revive especially the Sama Ceremony and the culture and tradition of the Mawalawi Order, which occured in the 13th century and has developed and got into a shape, and thus become an important part of Turkish history and culture, this tradition must be introduced and carried on to the next generations causing no degeneration and no harm in terms of its technique and inner perfection and original form. That is why the Mawlawi Order and the Sama ceremonies , each of which is one of our cultural richnesses, have been considered by UNESCO to be among the 'Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity' . Also, for the Sama Ceremonies to be performed as in the original form and proper atmospheres, The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has published a notice accordingly. Besides, the Metropolitan Municipality of Konya has been holding these ceremonies at International Mawlana Culture Center every Saturday as free of charge. Providing such an important cultural service to domestic and foreign guests, the Metropolitan Municipality aims at pointing Konya as the only place proper and close to the original form of the ceremony.