The only rose of my fate, sweet musk-scented hair

My enshrouding sphere, You bestow abundantly,

Wings of the angel lay down for you on the way to the Lote-tree.¹

The Station of Two-Bows’ Length, the highest peak of all,

You are the breath of the original nature,² the cosmos’ lofty call.

You are the rain of mercy and compassion from the most Supreme,

You are the Master of existence, prior even to Adam.

O the Ocean of Light! Would your grace cascade from a fountain?

The myriads of hearts would each become for you a crystal pool.

Black Locks you must be called, O the Beloved,

I wonder if my cry can reach you, dull, enfeebled.

My troubles are far too many, and I myself possess no cures at all,

I spent summers in vain, and am left in poverty in the fall.

“Perhaps a hand will be extended,” I thought, “if I knock on your door,”

“Perhaps my Master could find a cure for this sinner.”

I am afraid to hear you say, “Who is he?”

Then, all abodes would become a dungeon for me.

You are a cure for troubles, let this heart burn,

O the Beloved of the Merciful; to ashes let it burn.

Moons split at your command,³

Nothing but a full moon is seen in your face.

Purest water pours down from your fingers quenching armies,⁴

The hardest hearts soften in rapture with your breath.

Your blessed saliva is a heavenly river and a salve for the wounded,

Every moment in your company is time spent in heaven.

Black Locks I say, for the color of the Hira cave

Is united in harmony with that of the Miraj night.

Hajar al-Asad⁵ is imbued in black,

Inspired by the black of your hair, O the Beloved with rosebud lips.

Black Locks I say, for the pitch black of the Ka‘ba,

Draining the color of your eyes, as if from Kawthar.

O Black Locks, come before laments are no longer of use,

O Black Locks, come before my life comes to a close.

O Black Locks, come before my love fades in my heart,

O Black Locks, come before the Angel descends to take this life away.

With sparkling light, bestow upon me the horizons of future,

May all the horror on the road change into glory.

Burying my face into your prints in the dust,

Burning in flames, crying your name “O Muhammad!”

I wish to reach the land beyond, thirsty and tired,

On my lips, may cries of “water” and “Lord” become entwined.

Perhaps my burning could be the lowest of mercy,

A kiss from an angel whispering “He” while touching.

O Black Locks, all my days roam in this way,

Each ordeal passes engulfed in longing for you.

Stop this pain, put an end to this longing,

Uproot and hurl away this torment of separation from my heart.

Hurl it away to the unknown or to extermination,

Burn this heart forever with your light of reunion.

________________________

1. sidrat al-muntaha: (the Lote-tree of the Boundary) a station which the Prophet was raised during his Ascension.

2. fitrat: the original state in which humans are created by God

3. One of the well known miracles of the Prophet was “splitting the moon.” Once, the most staunched idolaters of Mecca came and asked him to show them a miracle to prove his mission. The Prophet prayed and the moon split. One half of the moon appeared above a mountain while the other half appeared above another mountain. This miracle is confirmed by the following verse: The Hour has approached and the moon split (Qamar 54:1).

4. This verse refers to one of the Prophet’s miracles. The Prophet dipped his fingers into a pot of water and immediately after he took them out, from each water flowed like a fountain.

5. Hajar al-Asad is the black stone that is found in one of the corners of the Ka‘ba in Mecca. Pilgrims start circumambulation from the corner on which this stone is placed.

Galib’s master work Hüsn ü Ask (“Beauty and Love”) is viewed as one of the most distinguished works of Turkish Literature. It is known for its perfect presentations of symbols and characters with which he tells the story of a dervish who strives to attain a state of perfection after passing difficult tests and obstacles.

Sheikh Galib, who was also known as Galib Dede, is considered to be the last of the great classical Ottoman poets. Born in Istanbul in 1757, when the Ottoman Empire was at its height, he is one of the most important figures in the Sufi tradition. His father was a government official with some connection to the Mevlevi Sufi order, the order of “whirling dervishes” founded by Rumi. He compiled his first divan (book of poetry) at twenty-four years of age, and at twenty-six he finished his master work Hüsn ü Ask (“Beauty and Love”) in less than six months. Hüsn ü Ask is a divan of his poetry and a poetic allegory which is seen as one of the best books of classical Ottoman poetry. Galib went to Rumi’s town of Konya to finish his period of seclusion (çile)¹ so that he would become a sheikh of the Mevlevi order, but he returned to Istanbul at his father’s insistence. Seclusion is an important stage in the Sufi path (tasawwuf), during which a dervish purifies his body from human desires and matures his soul spiritually. Galib completed his seclusion and spiritual education in the Galata house of the Mevlevis in Istanbul in three years, and became a Dede (Master) of the house. He was appointed as Sheikh of the Galata house of the Mevlevis during the time of Sultan Selim III and became a very close friend of the Sultan.

At first, Galib attempted to combine a government career with the interior life of a Sufi, but he eventually turned his focus wholeheartedly to the spiritual life. By this time, he was already famous for his poetry, which was admired even by Sultan Selim III, who was a patron of poets and the sultan at that time. Sheikh Galib deeply affected the sultan spiritually, trained many students and passed away at the age of forty-three in 1799. His tomb is in a place called Hamusan (“Place of silence”) in the Galata house of the Mevlevis in Istanbul.²

The spiritual adventure of a soul: Hüsn ü Ask

Classical Turkish poetry is full of images and symbols which scholars discuss in terms of their function in symbolic meaning, whereas they agree on their lexical meaning. The range of symbols, which are often repeated, has been widened and enriched for centuries. They enrich the content of the poetry by making the words denser and wider in terms of meaning, and they are also seen as an indicator of superiority, originality and privilege while evaluating the poets’ literary skills. The poet aims to say much in few words, a simple but powerful approach that makes the poetry mysterious and something in which readers find their own images and thoughts.³

Galib’s poetry was at a peak in terms of richness of imagination and this has made him a role model for many later poets who emulate his poetic style. His master work Hüsn ü Ask (“Beauty and Love”) is viewed as one of the most distinguished works of Turkish literature. It is known for its perfect presentations of symbols and characters with which he tells the story of a dervish who strives to attain a state of perfection after passing difficult tests and obstacles. Hüsn ü Ask is a quest by a man for his interior life. The man is searching for himself in this quest, and while reflecting his interior life, it also shows the soul of the man. Sheikh Galib says that he took the idea from Rumi’s Mesnevi, claiming that Mesnevi is something that belongs to all humanity, not just Rumi. Hüsn (Beauty) and Ask (Love), who are the main characters of the story, are two people born on the same day in a tribe in the desert. According to the story, Hüsn is very beautiful, she shines like the moon, and she represents all beauty. Ask is very brave, honest, and handsome, and he represents all the love and effort that is directed toward beauty. It is as if Hüsn and Ask are tailored for each other, but Ask has many tests and obstacles to pass in order to prove his capacity to deserve Hüsn.⁴

The obstacles and tests represent the suffering (çile) of the dervish, or our deeds in life that will lead us to the afterlife. Hüsn represents God, all that is most beautiful and most gracious and which represents all beauty in life and the hereafter. Ask stands for the man who desires beauty, who above all seeks it in his soul and in his consciousness. This is true because God created humans for Himself, so that humans always seek eternity and eternal love, whether knowingly or unknowingly. According to Sufism (tasawwuf), a person cannot be satisfied in his or her soul until he or she finds the reason behind his or her creation; thus people always seek this ultimate reason. The Qur’an also expresses this as

Be aware that it is in the remembrance of God, and whole-hearted devotion to God, that hearts find rest and contentment. (Rad 13:28)⁵

During the journey, Hüsn has to face many different tests and is required to pass all of them fully in the given time. Galib describes this: “It is not easy to get Hüsn, you have to pay a great deal. You have to find the required chemical first. This chemical is only found in the realm of the heart and, it is something that transforms anything into gold. You will find dragons with a thousand heads in this realm of the heart. If you pass the dragons, your way will lead you to the sea of fire. On the shore of the sea of fire, you will see a ship made of wax. You have to pass over the sea of fire with that ship made of wax. If you pass over the sea, a witch of many evils will be waiting for you on the other side. Your way will lead you to a desert in which lions, giants and many wild animals are waiting for you. Creatures that sound like thunderstorms will jump on you. There will always be fire in this desert. If you pass through the desert, you can arrive in the homeland of the heart. Find the chemical over there and come back by the same way. What you call life is too short, like the blink of an eye. If you want to get Hüsn, you have to be very quick.”⁶

The obstacles mostly represent the devil and the carnal self (nafs) that are the two main enemies of humans, according to the Islamic faith. If one fails one of the tests, one cannot reach or will be delayed in reaching Hüsn. Hüsn has a teacher named Gayret (Endeavor), and he will be with Hüsn during this adventure. Sheikh Galib says he came to the world to write Hüsn ü Ask and ends his story by giving some advice. Humans, he says, cannot reach anything beautiful without binding it with love and passion. Sometimes, you will face huge problems, and you will feel like you are walking in a desert of fire, and sometimes you will fall into wells of sorrow, but you will be rescued from these wells by grabbing the rope that represents the Qur’an and faith in God (Al Imran 3:103). We should always have endeavor and hope. We might have obstacles, traps and tests in front of us and sometimes we might fail. But we should never give up and we should continue our journey with passion and hope. The chemical that converts anything to gold is affection; once you find it you will see everything differently.

A life devoted to the faith

Since according to tasawwuf, true love is love for the sake of God, Who is the source of all beauty and to Whom is due all worship and love, Sheikh Galib’s works display rich examples and meanings that reflect his love of God. The phrases are usually not directed to the creator directly, but the true meaning is hidden in the symbols. For example, he writes,

Love is a lamp of God, I am its moth;
love is a shackle, my heart is its crazy captive.
…
The Beloved’s candle has such a wonderful light,
its light does not fit into the lamp glass of Heaven.

According to the poet, “having God’s everlasting pleasure for a person is an everlasting treasure that is more valuable than anything else.” It is this understanding which forms the basis for a dervish’s deeds, and it is what makes a dervish’s life understandable. The dervish only wants God’s pleasure and love, and he conducts himself in such a way as to earn it. It is not important for him to be rich, powerful, or handsome, or so on, because these are not the tools that take him to divine love.

Sheikh Galib’s poem in praise of the Prophet is accepted as one of the best ever written and shows his devotion and dedication to him. It was indeed a tradition for the poets of classical Ottoman literature to write poems called “naat” dedicated to the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. In his poem, Galib begins by describing the Prophet’s features and by praising his personality, and at the end asks for his intercession for the afterlife.

O Master, you are the sultan of all prophets, king of all the honored.
O Master, you are the eternal cure for the desperate and helpless.
O Master, you are the most valuable person in the abode of God.
Master, you are the most praised and most beloved.
O Master , you are given as a mercy to us by God.⁷

In this noble eulogy of the Prophet, there are also some descriptions of the Prophet’s great friends, the places whose names the Prophet often mentioned and the Day of Judgment, on which everybody will seek help and mercy. The poet humbly asks for the Prophet’s help, not just for himself but everybody who has faith. This reflects the hope that as much as you remember, praise Prophet Muhammad and send greetings to him, the more likely he will pray for God’s mercy upon you on the Day of Judgment.

Conclusion

Tasawwuf and its effects constitute very important elements of Classical Ottoman Poetry. Drawing on the rich vocabulary and symbolism tasawwuf enables poets to convey a great many additional layers of meaning, as well as the visible lexical meanings in the lines they compose. Sheikh Galib claims that a human being is born with a given love that is from past eternity and that is divine love. Love is something that already exists in the soul and heart; it does not merely appear at a late phase. Therefore, love is not an ending but it is a beginning. Galib does not follow a path where the story goes from love of the human to divine love; in fact, he talks directly about divine love. If a person frees himself or herself from the shackles and chains of human love and finds divine love, he or she will be able to pass over the sea of fire in a ship made of wax, able to defeat giants, witches, demons and exceed all his or her limitations.

Ahmet D. Bahadir is a post-doctoral researcher with a special interest in Ottoman literature.

Notes

1. Denoting abandonment of all worldly pleasures and delights, çile is used to express an initiate’s spending at least forty days in strict austerity and self-discipline in the name of spiritual training. During this period initiates keep to the absolute bare minimum in meeting such bodily needs as eating, drinking, sleeping, and speaking, and spend most of their time in worshiping, mentioning God, thinking and self-supervision. They spend the period of çile either in a silent corner of a dervish lodge or in a quiet room in their homes.
2. Ayvazoglu, B., Kugunun Son Sarkisi, Kapi Press, Istanbul: 2006.
3. Capan, P., “On Seyh Galib’s Image of Fire,” University of Muðla, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Turkish Language and Literature, Muðla: 2005.
4. Holbrook, V. R., Beauty and Love (“Hüsn ü Ask”), Mla Texts and Translations, 2006.
5. Unal, Ali, The Qur’an: An Annotated Interpretation in Modern English, The Light, Inc, NJ: 2008, p. 505.
6. Holbrook, 2006.
7. Pala, I., Divan of Sheikh Galib, Kapi Press, Istanbul: 2005.

In our essay, we will briefly introduce Wach’s basic understanding of each of the four concepts, namely teacher, student, master, and disciple, and then elaborate, examining in detail some of the perspectives. At the same time, we will try to look at some different aspects of the subject upon which Joachim Wach did not focus.

According to Wach, the teacher is the possessor of certain crafts, for example, knowledge in a certain subject or of a skill, and he teaches what he knows or possesses to his students. Therefore, he it is not his person itself that is respected by the student, rather it is his knowledge or skill. On the other hand, the very character and participation of the master are crucial in the learning process; therefore, it is not his knowledge or skill that is admired and esteemed by the disciple, but rather his very essence and individuality. Consequently, while the teacher is considered as a replaceable object in the educational process, the master is regarded as an essential component.

The teacher provides only knowledge, ability, or a definite subject matter, and his merit consists in his willingness to give freely. On the other hand, to give is also a kind of merit for the master, but he gives something different to his disciples from what the teacher gives to his students. The master gives himself to his disciples and consumes himself. However, the teacher lives for a certain task and gives a certain craft; consequently, he is consumed by his task.

The student respects the teacher as a body of knowledge and the teacher-student relationship exists in the common interest that is the subject matter. The disciple is interested in the personality of the master rather than his knowledge. For that reason, the master-disciple relationship survives in different interests; that is to say, while the master’s interest is the student himself, the student’s concern is the master’s very existence. On that ground, the master and disciple have an irreplaceable value for one another, while in the teacher-student relationship, both components are replaceable.

When the student opens himself to the teacher, he makes himself dear, and his value depends on his success or failure in the subject. The sharpness and intelligence of the student stimulates the praise of the teacher. On the other hand, for the master, the sharp eye or the intellect of the disciple makes no difference. Moreover, being a disciple is not based on personal worth, but is rather a relationship in which a fellowship of destiny is predominant.

After introducing the main nuances of the teacher-student and the master-disciple relationships, as Wach perceives them, let us elaborate on some points that are given only a brief mention in Wach’s paper.

One of the points that Wach explores concerning comparison between teacher and master is time. Wach asserts that the teacher is worried about time, especially its passing, while the master’s concern focuses on the moment. The teacher has much to teach and wants to have completed his task at the end of the course. He wants his students to graduate so that they can go out and teach what they have been taught. However, the master has no concern about when his disciples will complete his course, because the right time for the matriculation of the disciple cannot be determined in advance. In other words, the right time can be at any moment. Consequently, each moment is a treasure for both the master and the disciple in this learning process; the right knowledge or the gnosis-in the Sufi sense-can be given and obtained at any moment.

Moreover, the teacher teaches a certain type of knowledge or skill; therefore, his course must end at a certain time period. However, the master teaches of himself and provides knowledge of life; therefore, this teaching phase may last for a life time.

Approached from a different angle, time is a valuable concept in the teacher-student relationship only when the teacher teaches, as this relationship is based on teaching and learning. On the other hand, time is a valuable component in the master-disciple relationship, because even the master’s silence or a look can be a great method of teaching. In other words, the master-disciple relationship is not based solely on certain actions.

When we look at the issue from the perspective of the student and the disciple, we can determine that students plan that they will give a certain time period to their teacher, but the disciples are ready to sacrifice their whole life to their master. The students are worried about the passing of the time; this is not a fault. Yet, the disciples do not worry about time; if they do worry, it means that they feel a great need to spend much time with their master.

Another issue that Wach raises in his paper is about the future of students and disciples. He asserts that the student will become a teacher, but the disciple will never become a master. Wach states that as the master’s existence is irreplaceable, the disciple can never take the place of his master. On the other hand, the teacher is not unique; therefore, the student can replace him. Agreeing with Wach about this specific idea, we also would like to say that although the disciple cannot replace his master, he certainly can become a master and there are many examples of this in the history of the master-disciple relationship. For instance, one of the famous Sufi masters, Abdussalam b. Mashish, had only one disciple during his whole life, Shazili, through whom he gained fame. This was because Shazili, after his master Ibn Mashish, also became a great master and founded the Shazili Sufi order. As the example shows, the disciple can never be his master, but he can be a master who carries on the tradition.

One of the distinctions between discipleship and studentship that Wach makes is that while discipleship drives the disciples to envy and jealousy, studentship is usually a base for mutual love. This stems from the fact that in the master-disciple relationship, the master’s very existence is the sole interest of all the disciples; therefore, they are unable to share him. On the other hand, in the teacher-student relationship, the common interest of the students is the subject matter; therefore, students usually do not experience any problem in terms of sharing. Agreeing with these contentions of Wach, we also would like to add that although discipleship usually becomes a base for jealousy, the masters do not desire that their disciples feel jealousy towards each other.

One of the great masters was Said Nursi, who lived in Turkey and died in 1960. He had a very different approach to the disciple-master relationship. Nursi’s significance rests in the very core of his teachings. In his teaching, he creates a completely new concept called fana fi’l-ikhwan and according to this concept, disciples must annihilate themselves in their fellow disciples instead of annihilating themselves in the character of the master. This mutual annihilation that occurs between disciples is called tafani and both these concepts, fana fi’l-ikhwan and tafani are fundamental in the teachings of Nursi.

One of the points that Wach should have dealt with more clearly in his paper is the emotional nature of the master-disciple relationship. For us, the master-student relationship is a relationship of compassion-love. As Wach points out, the master’s very concern is humanity; it is through his sacred knowledge that the master can perceive the ability of humanity to live cheerfully and painlessly. Therefore, the master willingly takes on the role of savior and bravely says ‘Yes’ to his destiny. His soul is willing to be sacrificed. Apparently, the main emotion that rests in the soul that accepts sacrifice is compassion; the master’s group of disciples is a small sample of humanity, so therefore, the master is always compassionate to his disciples. He cares for them deeply; lives and dies for them. On the other hand, the disciple returns this compassion with his deep love.

To elaborate on the compassion of the master, we can say that the master’s compassion toward his disciples, thereby, toward humanity, contains three main emotions: protection, endurance, and sacrifice. The relationship of the master to his disciples is like that of a mother to her children. Therefore, the master is always worried about the security of his disciples. The security that we talk about here is generally not a physical one. Since the master is aware that the life of humanity is generally cheerful and painless, he wants to protect his disciples from this type of life style. The master knows and deeply believes that such an easy life is a dead and void life.

The master’s heart burns to protect his disciples, in particular the young disciples who are usually not aware of the great dangers that await them. It is due to this unawareness that they are sometimes unable to display obedience to the advice of the master. When this happens, the master’s position becomes a very heavy burden to bear, but his compassion towards the disciples provides for him the endurance that he needs.

The last main nuance of the master’s compassion is his saying “Yes” to his destiny. As soon as the master obtains his sacred knowledge, he becomes aware of his sacrificial destiny. He knows that his task is very difficult and this task may even drive him to his death. There is no other choice for him but to say “Yes” to his death. He is able to do this because of his incomprehensible compassion. At this point, although Wach sees death as the greatest sacrifice of the master, we disagree; perceiving rather that living for the sake of humanity and enduring the difficulties of the task is a greater sacrifice for the master than the acceptance of death. The difficulties that the master accepts and bears throughout his life are heavier than death itself. It is for this reason that Mawlana Jalaladdin Rumi and many others call death Shab-i Arus, “the wedding night.” It is on this night that the lover meets his beloved and the master meets his Lord; for the master, death is the end of suffering.

While the master’s compassion contains protection, endurance, and sacrifice, the love of the disciples contains respect and obedience. The following quote from Ibn Arabi symbolizes the respect of the disciples toward their master: “When I would sit before him [Abu Ya’qub al-Qumi] or before others of my Shaykhs, I would tremble like a leaf in the wind, my voice would become weak and my limbs would shake.” The respect that the disciples display for their master stems from their deep love. The other main reflection of that deep love is obedience. Although the disciples are aware of the benefits of obeying their master, these benefits are not the main reason for their obedience. Rather, such obedience arises out of their love.

Regarding this obedience, in Sufism the disciple is considered to be as a corpse in the hands of the person washing the body in preparation for burial.

In conclusion, the subject that Wach deals with in his paper is a complicated subject, and there may well be many other aspects that need to be discussed, yet it should be stated that Wach seems to have accomplished much in this field. A university professor, Wach, if not a master, certainly stands at the boundary between the realms of the master and the teacher realms.

‘They have run away again. We warned them not to do it, but our words don’t have much influence on them. This is the third time.

‘Why do they run away?’ asked a teacher

‘I don’t know. Perhaps because they want to be vagrants, wanderers.’

‘How did you manage to find them the last time?’

‘The first time we caught up with them in the bus-station. The last time they were seen sleeping on park benches. There was martial law at the time and soldiers patrolling the curfew spotted them and kept an eye on them – then, we were informed and fetched them. We told them very clearly that such behaviour would get them into serious trouble but, as I say, our warnings have proved useless.’

The three like-minded friends had made up their minds to escape this time by train. After they had bought their tickets, they tried to get onto the platform. An experienced ticket-collector was able to recognize that they were fugitives. However, he said to them:

‘It is not safe here, there are a lot of thieves about. Give me your tickets and money, and I shall keep them safe for you until the train comes. Believe me, I think of you as my own children.’

The young boys believed the ticket-collector and gave him their money and tickets. The ticket-collector informed security and asked them to find out who the students were and then to inform their school authorities.

A station security officer came up to the students and chatted to them in a kind, friendly way. When he found out what he wanted to know, he informed the school authorities.

The house-master came to the station before the train was due to leave. He collected the students and returned them to their dormitory. This time they would get a beating, he thought, because every kind of warning had been given to them. On the way to the dormitory, they met the Headmaster. When the situation to him was explained to him, he said to the house-master:

Bring me three iron bars. I am going to give a lecture and these students should attend it.

As the house-master went to get the iron bars, he thought: ‘Good Lord! Isn’t one bar enough? Is it likely to break?! Anyway, there must be some reason for it, though I can’t imagine what it is.’

He brought the three iron bars to the Headmaster .The Head then lectured the students, who listened to him in a bored, anxious way like patients waiting for an operation. Then, he said:

‘OK. Now, come, follow me.’ He led them all into the next room. Surprisingly, he spoke first to the house-master:

Take off your shirt, as I am taking off mine. And you boys, pick! It is we who deserve the beating. If we had set a good example, if we had been able to recognize and encourage the humanity in your souls, you would never have wished to be runaways. We stand before you, naked to the waist. Strike us as you wish!’

The boys who were already worn out when they entered this room, now flung themselves to the floor in misery:

‘Do whatever you want to us, but please forgive us,’ they said tearfully.

The Headmaster had not been joking. He had meant what he said. He had reached his conclusion only after serious self-examination. When he recognized in the boys’ manner and tone a desire to return voluntarily, he changed his mind about punishment. None of the boys ever ran away again.