Transcriber’s Notes
Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations
in hyphenation have been standardised but all other spelling and
punctuation remains unchanged.
The footnotes are located at the end of the book.
Italics are represented thus _italic_.
TRÜBNER’S
ORIENTAL SERIES.
EDINBURGH: PRINTED BY
BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO., PAUL’S WORK
AND CHANDOS STREET, LONDON
THE MESNEVĪ
(USUALLY KNOWN AS THE MESNEVĪYI SHERĪF, OR HOLY MESNEVĪ)
OF
MEVLĀNĀ (OUR LORD) JELĀLU-’D-DĪN, MUHAMMED, ER-RŪMĪ.
BOOK THE FIRST.
_TOGETHER WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE AND ACTS
OF THE AUTHOR, OF HIS ANCESTORS, AND
OF HIS DESCENDANTS_;
Illustrated by a Selection of Characteristic Anecdotes,
AS COLLECTED BY THEIR HISTORIAN,
MEVLĀNĀ SHEMSU-’D-DĪN AHMED, EL EFLĀKĪ, EL ‘ĀRIFĪ.
_TRANSLATED, AND THE POETRY VERSIFIED_,
BY
JAMES W. REDHOUSE, M.R.A.S., ETC.
LONDON:
TRÜBNER & CO., LUDGATE HILL.
1881.
[_All rights reserved._]
“Mathnaoui ou Methnevi (in Persian and Turkish: _Mesnevī_). C’est le
nom d’un des plus fameux Livres de l’Orient, composé en vers Persiens
sur un grand nombre de différentes matières de Religion, d’Histoire, de
Morale, et de Politique.
“Il a été composé par Gelaleddin Mohammed, fils de Mohammed, Al Balkhi,
Al Konoui, environ l’an 600 de l’Hegire.
“Les surnoms de Balkhi et de Konoui sont donnés à cet Auteur, parce
qu’il était natif de la ville de Balkh en Khorassan, et qu’il vint
s’établir ensuite dans celle de Cogni en Natolie.
“Ce fut dans cette même ville qu’il institua un ordre de Derviches plus
spirituels que les autres, lesquels on appelle ordinairement Mevlevis,
qui font leur Capital de l’ouvrage de leur Maistre, auquel ils ne
portent guères moins de respect qu’ à l’Alcoran. C’est pourquoi on
donne aussi souvent au Mathnaoui le surnom de Mevlevi.
“Il y a un grand nombre de Commentaires Persiens et Turcs sur ce
Livre, dont la poésie est estimée si excellente, que tous ses vers en
sont cités, comme autant de sentences.”—_D’Herbelot_, Bibliothèque
Orientale.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE vii
_SELECTED ANECDOTES._
CHAP.
I. Bahā’u-’d-Dīn, Veled, Sultānu-’l-‘Ulemā 3
II. Seyyid Burhānu-’d-Dīn, Sirr-Dān 13
III. Mevlānā Jelālu-’d-Dīn, Muhammed 18
IV. Shemsu-’d-Dīn, Tebrīzī 99
V. Sheykh Salāhu-’d-Dīn, Ferīdūn 110
VI. Chelebī Husāmu-’d-Dīn, Hasan 113
VII. Bahā’u-’d-Din, Sultān Veled 122
VIII. Chelebī Emīr ‘Ārif 126
IX. Genealogical 132
_THE MESNEVĪ--BOOK I._
PREFACE i
INTRODUCTION.--PLAINT OF THE REED-FLUTE 1
TALE
I. The Prince and the Handmaid 4
II. The Oilman and the Parrot 19
III. The Jewish King, Persecutor of Christians 25
IV. Another Jewish King, Persecutor of Christians 55
V. The Lion and the Beasts 67
VI. The Greater (Spiritual) Warfare 101
VII. The Merchant and the Parrot 114
VIII. The Harper 139
IX. The Poor Scenite Arab and his Wife 165
X. Patience and Perseverance 212
XI. The Lion’s Hunt 218
XII. Joseph and the Mirror 228
XIII. The Prophet’s Amanuensis 234
XIV. The Chinese and Roman Artists 248
XV. Zeyd’s Inspiration 254
XVI. ‘Ali’s Forbearance 270
CONCLUSION 289
TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE.[1]
The historian El Eflākī was a disciple of Chelebī Emīr ‘Ārif, a
grandson of the author of the Mesnevī. ‘Ārif died in A.D. 1320; but
as the dates of ‘Ārif’s successors are carried down to A.H. 754 (A.D.
1353), when Eflākī’s collection of anecdotes was completed, the
historian must have outlived this last date. As a disciple of the Emīr
‘Ārif, he was a dervish of the order named Mevlevī, as being followers
of the rule and practices of Mevlānā Jelālu-’d-Dīn, er-Rūmī, commonly
known in English literature as “the dancing dervishes,” expressed by
Americans: “whirling dervishes.” The dervishes of the order do not all
dance or “whirl.” Some are musicians, and some singers or chanters, who
may, however, be occasional dancers also.
Eflākī’s work gives a sufficiency of dates to fix the principal events
that he commemorates. His dates do not agree exactly with those found
in other historians. They are, however, sufficiently near for general
purposes not of a chronologically critical nature. They commence with
A.H. 605 (A.D. 1208), and thus cover a period of 145 years dated,
besides another 30 years of the lifetime of Jelāl’s grandfather
undated, who was a noble of such high standing and of so great a
reputation for learning and sanctity at Balkh, that the king gave him
his only daughter in marriage, unsolicited. His mother was also a
princess of the same royal house with his wife.
This royal house was the one known in history as that of
_Kh’ārezm-shāh_ or the Kharezmians. They were overthrown, and Balkh
(the ancient Bactra, or Zariaspa), their capital, destroyed, by Jengīz
Khān in A.D. 1211. A remnant of their kingdom was continued for twelve
years longer by the last of the line, who died, at once a fugitive and
an invader, in Azerbāyjān, in a battle fought against the combined
forces of Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor.
Jelāl’s family claimed descent from Abū-Bekr, a father-in-law and
the first successor of Muhammed, the lawgiver of Islām. One of the
descendants of Abū-Bekr was among the conquerors of the ancient
Bactria, when it was first brought under Muslim rule, in about A.D.
650, under the Caliph ‘Ūthmān; and his children had maintained a
prominent position in that country, possessed of great wealth, until
the time immediately preceding the irruption of Jengīz.
Jelāl was the youngest of three children, two being sons, born of the
princess, his mother, in Balkh. The eldest, a daughter, was already
married, and remained behind with her husband, when her father and
brothers left their native city some time between A.D. 1208 and
1211, in which latter year they were at Bagdād. There is no further
mention of Jelāl’s elder brother. Jelāl was five years old when they
left Balkh. By way of Bagdād they went to Mekka, thence to Damascus,
and next to Erzinjān, in Armenia; thence to Larenda, in Asia Minor.
Jelāl’s mother was still with the party. He was now eighteen years old;
and was married, at Larenda, to a lady named Gevher (Pearl), daughter
of a certain Lala Sherefu-’d-Dīn of Samarqand, in A.D. 1226.[2] She
bore him two sons there, ‘Alā’u-’d-Dīn (afterwards killed in a tumult
at Qonya) and Bahā’u-’d-Dīn Sultān Veled, through whom the succession
of the house was continued. She appears to have died rather young;
for Jelāl afterwards married another lady of Qonya, who outlived him,
and by whom he had two other children, a son and a daughter. (See
Anecdotes, Chap, iii., No. 69, for a variant.)
After the birth of Sultān Veled at Larenda, Jelāl’s father was invited
to Qonya by the Seljūqi king, ‘Alā’u-’d-Dīn Kayqubād, where he founded
a college, and where he died in A.D. 1231. The king built a marble
mausoleum over his grave, with this date inscribed on it. The king
himself died, five years later, in A.D. 1236.
At his father’s death, Jelāl went to Aleppo and Damascus for several
years to study, and then returned to Qonya, where he was appointed
professor of four separate colleges. His reputation for learning and
sanctity became very great.
But before this journey to Damascus, he appears to have paid a visit to
Larenda. For, a former pupil of his father’s at Balkh, who had become
a great saint and anchoret, came to Qonya to seek Jelāl, and was the
cause of his returning from Larenda to the capital.
This was the Sheykh and Seyyid Burhānu-’d-Dīnn, who became Jelāl’s
spiritual teacher for some time. The dates given do not agree in the
various branches of Eflākī’s compilation; for he here gives a period of
nine years’ spiritual study at Qonya under Burhān.
After Burhān’s instructions and departure from Qonya to Qaysariyya,
where he died, and after Jelāl’s studies at Aleppo and Damascus, with
his subsequent return to Qonya and appointment to the four colleges,
another great saint came to visit Jelāl at this latter city. This
was Shemsu-’d-Dīn of Tebrīz, for whom Jelāl conceived a very great
friendship. He is mentioned in the Mesnevī several times in very high
terms. He appears to have been exceedingly aggressive and domineering
in his manner. This roused a fierce animosity against him, which at
length broke out in a tumult. Jelāl’s eldest son, ‘Alā’u-’d-Dīn, was
killed or mortally hurt in this disturbance. The local police seized
Shemsu-’d-Dīn in consequence, and he was never again seen alive by
his friends. Jelāl went himself to Damascus, in hopes that he might
have been sent away, or have got away, privately. But the effort was
fruitless. Later traditions cause his corpse to have been recovered and
buried at Qonya, differing, however, as to the place of interment.
When Jelāl found that he required assistance in conducting all the
various duties that fell on him, he selected first for that office his
former fellow-student-, Sheykh Salāhu-’d-Dīn Ferīdūn, surnamed Zer-Kūb
(the Goldbeater), from his business. He assisted Jelāl for about ten
years, and died in A.D. 1258.
Jelāl now took as his assistant his own favourite pupil, Hasan
Husāmu-’d-Dīn, surnamed the son of Akhī-Turk, through his being
descended from some man of celebrity of the name or designation
of Akhī-Turk. There appears to have been a large family of very
influential men residing at Qonya and other towns of Asia Minor, all
calling themselves Akhī, and distinguished as Akhī Ahmed, Akhī Eshref,
&c. The word “Akhī” is Arabic, and signifies “my brother.” It may also
mean “one related to a brother,” as a servant, slave, client, &c., of
some prince, &c.; or of some dervish “brother” of some religious order.
Indeed, these very numerous individuals named Akhī, may have been each
a “brother” of such a fraternity or fraternities, or even of some
industrial guild.
Ten years after Husām was taken as his assistant by Jelāl, this latter
was called to his rest in December A.D. 1273; and was buried in his
father’s mausoleum, leaving Husām as his successor. But meanwhile, at
Husām’s suggestion, and with himself as the first amanuensis thereof,
the Mesnevī had been composed, in six volumes, books, or parts, by
Jelāl. The second volume was commenced in A.D. 1263. There had been an
interval of two years between the completion of the first and this,
caused by Husām’s grief at the death of his wife. The whole work is
stated to contain twenty-six thousand six hundred and sixty couplets. A
seventh volume or book has been also attributed to the Mesnevī, to make
up the number to that of the “seven planets;” some say it was composed
or collected by Sultān Veled. The anecdotes of Eflākī make mention of
many hundreds of odes composed also by Jelāl.
He is said to have instituted his peculiar order of dervishes, with
their special dress, the Indian garb of mourning, in memory of his
murdered friend, Shemsu-’d-Dīn of Tebrīz; and to have adopted the
use of instrumental music, the flute, the rebeck, the drum, and the
tambourine, with singing or chanting, as an accompaniment to the holy
dance, on account of the lethargic nature of the “Romans.” As a child
is tempted to take a salutary medicine by the exhibition of a little
jam or honey, so Jelāl judged that the “Romans” might be tempted to
a devotional love for God through the bait of sweet sounds addressed
to their outward senses. Dancing or twirling by dervishes was of much
older date, as will be recollected in one of the tales of the Arabian
Nights.
Husām died in A.D. 1284, just ten years after his teacher Jelāl; whose
son, Bahā’u-’d-Dīn, Sultān Veled, succeeded Husām as chief of the
order, and died in A.D. 1312. His son, Chelebī Emīr ‘Ārif, succeeded
him, and passed away in A.D. 1320; two of his half-brothers becoming
chiefs of the order after him in succession.
Eflākī informs us that he undertook the compilation of his work at
the express desire of his spiritual teacher, Chelebī Emīr ‘Ārif.
The preface gives the year A.H. 710 (A.D. 1310) as that of its
commencement, and the colophon at the end mentions A.H. 754 (A.D. 1353)
as the date of its completion. He thus spent forty-three years in his
labour of love. The copy used for the present translation was written
in A.H. 1027 (A.D. 1617), and belongs to the library of the India
Office, being No. 1670. It is a quarto volume of 291 numbered folios
of two pages each folio, and twenty-three lines in each page. It is
subdivided into a preface, of two folios, and ten chapters of very
different lengths, thus:
1. Acts of Bahā’u-’d-Dīn Veled, Sultānu-’l-‘Ulemā 14 folios.
2. Acts of Seyyid Sirr-Dān, Burhānu-’d-Dīn, Termizī 5 ”
3. Acts of Mevlānā Jelālu-’d-Dīn, Muhammed 155 ”
4. Acts of Shemsu-’d-Dīn, Tebrīzī 23 ”
5. Acts of Sheykh Salāhu-’d-Dīn, Zer-Kūb 11 ”
6. Acts of Husāmu-’d-Dīn, Khalīfa of God 14 ”
7. Acts of Mevlānā Bahā’u-l’Alcoran-Dīn, Sultān Veled 13 ”
8. Acts of Chelebī Emīr ‘Ārif 45 ”
9. Acts of Chelebī Emīr ‘Ābīd, &c. 6 ”
10. Genealogical 2 ”
—-
Total 288
The work contains many hundreds of anecdotes, related to Eflākī by
trustworthy reporters, whose names are generally given, and a few
for which he vouches himself as an eyewitness. Every anecdote is
the account of a miracle wrought by the living or the dead; or is
the narrative of some strange or striking event. It is, in fact, a
species of the Acts of the Apostles of the Mevlevī dervish fathers,
and is a rare specimen of what fervid religious enthusiasm can invent
or exaggerate, pious credulity can believe, and confiding ignorance
accept. In these days of Christian “Spiritualism,” let not the reader
be over-shocked at learning that Muslim “Saints,” lovers of their
Creator, and beloved by Him in return, hold themselves and are held by
their dervish brethren to be the successors and spiritual inheritors of
the prophets, from Adam to Muhammed; that, in virtue of this spiritual
communion with God, they know all the secrets and mysteries of heaven
and earth, and not only suspend or overrule the laws of nature at their
will, but also deal out death or disease by their anger, health or
prosperity by their blessing; the whole in strict accordance, however,
with the eternal will and foreknowledge of Him by whom alone all things
are made.
The anecdotes translated are chosen as being characteristic of various
points of dervish credence or assertion. Most of them inculcate
some moral truth or point of practical wisdom. A few will be found,
however, to go far beyond the credible; and one or two, unless totally
misunderstood by the translator, are simply and grossly blasphemous.
These last are here given as specimens of the exaggerated dervish
doctrines which cause the orthodox among the ‘Ulemā[3] of Islām to hold
all such quasi-religious associations to be more or less heterodox.
The dervishes of Islām appear to be a kind of Gnostics. They style
themselves Poor, Impassioned, Adepts, and Perfect. In many respects
their doctrines correspond with those of Buddha, Pythagoras, and Plato,
making all souls that are destined to salvation to be emanations
from the divine Light or Glory of God, in which they will be again
congregated; and all those doomed to perdition to have been formed
out of the Fire of His wrath, to which also they will eventually be
consigned.
It is but too patent to the translator that he is bound to sue for the
kind indulgence of a critical public, in offering them the present
volume in verse. He has no claim to being a poet himself; and had never
practised the art of metrical composition until very lately. Sensible
himself to the earnestness of thought and beauty of diction imbedded
in the writings of the great poets of Islām, and keenly aware of the
condition of dry bones to which literal prose translation almost always
reduces a songster’s numbers, he has preferred to clothe his author
in a presentable garb, though it be but a crumpled wrap, rather than
exhibit him to readers of taste as a mangled mass, stripped of all
beauty, and in great measure divested even of cognisable form, through
the conflict of dictions and diversities of ideas.
He is in the position of the raindrop sung by Sa’dī (see Chap, iii.,
No. 14, of the Anecdotes), and mentioned of old by Chardin, Addison,
and Sir William Jones. May the thoughts in the Mesnevī be the gems that
will make his effort acceptable to the British public. At most, he
is but the diver who risks extinction in the hope that he may have a
chance to offer an acceptable pearl of price to those for whom he has
worked:—
“A raindrop, from a cloud distilled,
At sea’s expanse with tremor filled,
Mused: ‘Where the main rolls, am I aught?
In ocean’s presence, sure, I’m naught.’
Itself, thus eyed with scorn profound,
In oyster’s bosom nurture found.
Time’s wheel wrought changes manifold;
Rich pearl of price the raindrop’s told.
Meek modesty its prize received;
By naught’s gate ent’ring, worth achieved.”
KILBURN PRIORY, LONDON. 1880.
SELECTED ANECDOTES
FROM THE WORK ENTITLED
THE ACTS OF THE ADEPTS
(MENĀQIBU ’L ‘ĀRIFĪN),
BY
SHEMSU-’d-DĪN AHMED, EL EFLĀKĪ.
THE ACTS OF THE ADEPTS.[4]
CHAPTER I.
_Bahā’u-’d-Dīn, Veled, Sultānu-’l-‘Ulemā_ (_The Beauty of the Religion
of Islām, Son, Sultan of the Doctors of the Law_).
1.
The king of Khurāsān,[5] ‘Alā’u-’d-Dīn Muhammed, Khurrem-Shāh, uncle of
Jelālu-’d-Dīn Muhammed Kh’ārezm-Shāh, and the proudest, as he was the
most handsome man of his time, gave his daughter, Melika’i-Jihān (Queen
of the World), as to the only man worthy of her, to Jelālu-’d-Dīn
Huseyn, el Khatībī, of the race of Abū-Bekr.
An ancestor of his was one of the original Muslim conquerors of
Khurāsān. He was himself very virtuous and learned, surrounded with
numerous disciples. He had not married until then; which gave him many
an anxious and self-accusing thought.
He himself, the king, the king’s daughter, and the king’s Vazīr were
all four warned in a dream by the Prince of the Apostles of God
(Muhammed) that he should wed the princess; which was done. He was then
thirty years old. In due course, nine months afterwards, a son was born
to him, and was named Bahā’u-’d-Dīn Muhammed. He is commonly mentioned
as Bahā’u-’d-Dīn Veled.
When adolescent, this latter was so extremely learned that the family
of his mother wished to raise him to the throne as king; but this he
utterly rejected.
By the divine command, as conveyed in the selfsame night, and in an
identical dream, to three hundred of the most learned men of the
city of Balkh,[6] the capital of the kingdom, where he dwelt, those
sage doctors unanimously conferred upon him the honorific title of
Sultānu-’l-‘Ulemā, and they all became his disciples.
Such are the names and titles by which he is more commonly mentioned;
but he is also styled Mevlānāyi Buzurg (the Greater or Elder Master).
Many miracles and prodigies were attributed to him; and some men were
found who conceived a jealousy at his growing reputation and influence.
2.
In A.H. 605 (A.D. 1208) he, Bahā’u-’d-Dīn Veled, began to preach
against the innovations of the king and sundry of his courtiers,
declaiming against the philosophers and rationalists, while he pressed
all his hearers to study and practise the precepts of Islām. Those
courtiers maligned him with the king, calling him an intriguer who
had designs on the throne. The king sent and made him an offer of the
sovereignty, promising to retire elsewhere himself. Bahā answered that
he had no concern with earthly greatness, being a poor recluse; and
that he would willingly leave the country, so as to remove from the
king’s mind all misgivings on his score.
He accordingly quitted Balkh, with a suite of about forty souls,
after delivering a public address in the great mosque before the king
and people. In this address he foretold the advent of the Moguls to
overturn the kingdom, possess the country, destroy Balkh, and drive out
the king, who would then flee to the Roman land, and there at length
be killed.
So he left Balkh, as the prophet (Muhammed) had fled from Mekka to
Medīna. His son Jelālu-’d-Dīn was then five, and the elder brother,
‘Alā’u-’d-Dīn, seven years old.
The people everywhere on his road, hearing of his approach or
forewarned in dreams of his coming, flocked to meet him and do him
honour. Thus he drew near to Bagdād. Here he was met by the great
Sheykh Shahābu-’d-Dīn, ‘Umer, Suherverdī, the most eminent man of the
place, deputed by the Caliph Musta’zim to do him honour. He became the
guest of the Sheykh.
The Caliph sent him a present of three thousand sequins, but he
declined the gift as being money unlawfully acquired. He also refused
to visit the Caliph; but consented to preach in the great mosque after
the noon service of worship on the following Friday, the Caliph being
present. In his discourse he reproached the Caliph to his face with his
evil course of life, and warned him of his approaching slaughter by the
Moguls with great cruelty and ignominy. The Caliph again sent him rich
presents in money, horses, and valuables, but he refused to accept them.
Before Bahā’u-’d-Dīn quitted Bagdād, intelligence was received there of
the siege of Balkh, of its capture, and of its entire destruction, with
its twelve thousand mosques, by the Mogul army of five hundred thousand
men commanded by Jengīz in person (in A.H. 608, A.D. 1211). Fourteen
thousand copies of the Qur’ān were destroyed, fifteen thousand students
and professors of the law were slain, and two hundred thousand adult
male inhabitants led out and shot to death with arrows.
Bahā’u-’d-Dīn went from Bagdād to Mekka,[7] performed the greater
pilgrimage there, proceeding thence to Damascus, and next to Malatia
(Melitene, on the Upper Euphrates), where, in A.H. 614 (A.D. 1217),
he heard of the death of Jengīz. The Seljūqī Sultan, ‘Alā’u-’d-Dīn
Keyqubād, was then sovereign of the land of Rome (Rūm, _i.e._, Asia
Minor), and was residing at Sīwās (Sebaste). In A.H. 620 (A.D. 1223)
Sultan Jelālu-’d-Dīn, the dispossessed monarch of Kh’ārezm (Chorasmia)
was killed in a battle fought by him in Azerbāyjān (Atropatene) against
the Sultans of Rome, Syria, and Egypt, when his forces were totally
defeated. And thus ended that great dynasty, after ruling about a
hundred and forty years.
Bahā’u-’d-Dīn went from Malatia and remained four years near Erzinjān
(the ancient Aziris, on the Western Euphrates), in Armenia, at a
college built for him by a saintly lady, ‘Ismet Khātūn. She was the
wife of the local sovereign, Melik Fakhru-’d-Dīn. She and her husband
both died, and then Bahā’u-’d-Dīn passed on to Larenda (in Cataonia),
in Asia Minor, and remained there about seven years at the head of a
college, the princess Melika’i-Jihān, his mother, being still with him.
Here it was that his younger son, Jelālu-’d-Dīn Muhammed, the future
author of the Mesnevī, attained to man’s estate, being then eighteen
years old; when, in A.H. 623 (A.D. 1226), he married a young lady named
Gevher Khātūn, daughter of the Lala Sherefu-’d-Dīn, of Samarqand. She
gave birth in due course to Jelāl’s eldest son, ‘Alā’u-’d-Dīn.
The king had now returned to his capital, Qonya (the ancient Iconium).
Hearing of Bahā’u-’d-Dīn’s great learning and sanctity, the king sent
and invited him to the capital, where he installed him in a college,
and soon professed himself a disciple. Many miracles are related as
having been worked at Qonya by Bahā’u-’d-Dīn, who at length died there
on Friday, the 18th of Rebī’u-’l-ākhir, A.H. 628 (February A.D. 1231).
The Sultan erected a marble mausoleum over his tomb, on which this date
is recorded. Many miracles continued to occur at this sanctuary. The
Sultan died also a few years later, in A.H. 634 (A.D. 1236).
(After the death of Bahā’u-’d-Dīn Veled, and the acquisition of still
greater fame by his son Jelālu-’d-Dīn, who received the honorific title
of Khudāvendgār--_Lord_--the father was distinguished from the son,
among the disciples, by the customary title of Mevlānā Buzurg--_the
Greater or Elder Master_. The traditions collected by Eflākī, relating
to this period, vary considerably from one another on minor points
of date and order of succession, though the main facts come out
sufficiently clear.)
3.
Jelāl’s son, Sultān Veled, related to Eflākī that his father Jelāl used
frequently to say, “I and all my disciples will be under the protection
of the _Great Master_, my father, on the day of resurrection; and under
His guidance we shall enter the divine presence; God will pardon all of
us for His sake.”
4.
It is related that when the _Great Master_ departed this life, his son,
Jelālu-’d-Dīn, was fourteen years old. (This is apparently a copyist’s
error for “twenty-four.” Jalāl is said to have been born in A.H.
604--A.D. 1207.) He married when seventeen (or eighteen); and often
did he say in the presence of the congregation of his friends, “The
_Great Master_ will remain with me a few years. I shall be in need of
Shemsu-’d-Dīn of Tebrīz (the capital of Azerbāyjān); for every prophet
has had an Abū-Bekr, as Jesus had His apostles.”
5.
Shortly after the death of the Great Master Bahā’u-’d-Dīn Veled, news
was received by the Sultan ‘Alā’u-’d-Dīn of Qonya of the arrival of
Sultan Jelālu-’d-Dīn Kh’ārezm-Shāh on the borders of Asia Minor. The
Sultan went and prayed at the tomb of the deceased saint, and then
prepared to meet the Kh’ārezmians, who were in the neighbourhood of
Erzenu-’r-Rūm (Erzen of the Romans, the ancient Arzes, now Erzerum).
Scouts brought in the intelligence that the Kh’ārezmians were very
numerous; and great anxiety prevailed among the Sultan’s troops. He
resolved to see for himself.
He put on a disguise and set out with a few followers, on fleet horses,
for the Kh’ārezmian camp. They gave out that they were nomad Turks of
the neighbourhood, their ancestors having come from the Oxus; that
latterly the Sultan had withdrawn his favour from them; and that,
in consequence, they had for some time past been looking for the
Kh’ārezmian advent. This was reported to the king, Jelālu-’d-Dīn, who
sent for them and received them kindly, giving them tents and assigning
them rations.
During the night King Jelālu-’d-Dīn began to reflect that every one had
hitherto spoken well of Sultan ‘Alā’u-’d-Dīn, and a doubt arose in his
mind in consequence respecting the story of these newcomers, especially
as he learned that the Sultan was on his march to meet him. Consulting
with the Prince of Erzenu-’r-Rūm, further perquisition was postponed
until the morrow.
But at midnight the deceased saint of Qonya, Bahā-Veled, appeared
in a dream to Sultan ‘Alā’u-’d-Dīn, and warned him to fly at once.
The Sultan awoke, found it was a dream, and went to sleep again. The
saint now appeared a second time. The Sultan saw himself seated on his
throne, and the saint coming to him, smiting him on the breast with his
staff, and angrily saying, “Why sleepest thou? Arise!”
Now the Sultan did arise, quietly called his people, saddled horses,
and stole away out of the camp. Towards morning King Jelāl caused
guards to be placed round the tents of the strangers to watch them. But
afterwards, when orders were given to bring them to the king’s presence
to be questioned, their tents were found to be empty. Pursuit was
attempted, but in vain.
After an interval the two armies came into collision. The Sultan of
Qonya was victorious. From that time forward, whenever difficulties
threatened, he always betook himself to the shrine of the saint, Bahā
Veled, who always answered his prayers.
(As Sultan Jelālu-’d-Dīn Kh’ārezm-Shāh has already been stated to have
died in battle in Azerbāyjān in A.D. 1223, whereas the saint of Qonya
did not die until A.D. 1231 eight years afterwards, the discrepancy of
that date with the present anecdote is irreconcilable.)
6.
The Great Master, Bahā Veled, used to say that while he himself
lived no other teacher would be his equal, but that when his son,
Jelālu-’d-Dīn, should succeed him at his death, that son of his would
equal and even surpass him.
7.
Seyyid Burhānu-’d-Dīn Termīzī[8] is related to have said that one night
the door of the mausoleum of Bahā Veled opened of itself, and that a
great glory shone forth from it, which gradually filled his house, so
that no shadow fell from anything. The glory then gradually filled the
city in like manner, spreading thence over the whole face of nature. On
beholding this prodigy the Seyyid swooned away.
This vision is a sure indication that the whole human race will one day
own themselves the disciples of the descendants of the great saint.
8.
Before he quitted Balkh, Bahā Veled one day saw a man performing his
devotions in the great mosque in his shirt sleeves, with his coat upon
his back. Bahā reproved him, telling him to put on his coat properly
and decently, then to continue his devotions. “And what if I will
not?” asked the man in a disdainful tone. “Thy dead-like soul will obey
my command, quit thy body, and thou wilt die!” answered Bahā. Instantly
the man fell dead; and crowds flocked to become disciples to the saint
who spoke with such power and authority.
9.
When Sultan ‘Alā’u-’d-Dīn had fortified Qonya, he invited Bahā Veled
to mount to the terraced roof of the palace, thence to survey the
walls and towers. After his inspection, Bahā remarked to the Sultan,
“Against torrents, and against the horsemen of the enemy, thou hast
raised a goodly defence. But what protection hast thou built against
those unseen arrows, the sighs and moans of the oppressed, which
overleap a thousand walls and sweep whole worlds to destruction? Go
to, now! strive to acquire the blessings of thy subjects. These are a
stronghold, compared to which the walls and turrets of the strongest
castles are as nothing.”
10.
On one occasion Sultan ‘Alā’u-’d-Dīn paid a visit to Bahā Veled. In
lieu of his hand the latter offered the tip of his staff to be kissed
by the Sultan, who thought within himself: “The proud scholar!” Bahā
read the Sultan’s thoughts as a seer, and remarked in reply thereto:
“Mendicant students are bound to be humble and lowly. Not so a Sultan
of the Faith who has attained to the utmost circumference of the orbit
thereof, and revolves therein.”
11.
A certain Sheykh Hajjāj, a disciple of Bahā Veled and one of God’s
elect not known to the herd of mankind, quitted the college after the
decease of his teacher, and betook himself to his former trade of a
weaver, therewith to gain an honest livelihood. He used to buy the
coarsest brown bread of unsifted flour, mash this up with water, and
break his fast with this sop alone. All the rest of his earnings he
saved up until they would reach to two or three hundred piastres. This
sum he would then carry to the college, and place it in the shoes of
his teacher’s son, Jelālu-’d-Dīn, the new rector. This practice he
continued so long as he lived.
At his death a professional washer was appointed to perform the last
ablution for Sheykh Hajjāj. In the execution of his office the washer
was about to touch the privities of the deceased, when the defunct
seized his hand with so strong a grip as to make him scream with pain
and fright. The friends came to rescue him, but they were unable to
release the imprisoned hand. They therefore sent word to Jelālu-’d-Dīn
of what had occurred. He came and saw, knew the reason, and whispered
into the ear of the deceased man: “The poor simpleton has been
unaware of the high station of thy sanctity. Pardon his unintentional
transgression for my sake.” Immediately the poor washer’s hand was
released; but three days afterwards he was himself washed and borne
lifeless to his grave.
12.
The Sultan had a governor of his childhood still living, the Emīr
Bedru-’d-Dīn Guhertāsh, commonly known as the Dizdār (Castellan), whom
he held in great esteem. One day, as Bahā Veled was lecturing in the
mosque, in presence of the Sultan and his court, he suddenly called
upon the Dizdār to recite any ten verses of the Qur’ān, saying he would
then expound them to the congregation. The Dizdār had been admiring
the eloquence of the preacher’s expositions. Upon this sudden call,
without the slightest hesitation and without ever having committed them
to memory, he recited the first ten verses of chapter xxiii., “The
believers have attained to prosperity,” &c., which Bahā forthwith
explained in such a manner as to draw down the plaudits of the
assembly. The Dizdār, with the Sultan’s permission, went to the foot of
the pulpit and declared himself a disciple to Bahā. “Then,” said the
preacher, “as a thank-offering for this happy event, do thou build and
endow a college where my descendants shall teach their disciples after
me.” The Dizdār did so, and richly endowed it. This is the college
where Jelālu-’d-Dīn afterwards lived. When the Dizdār died he left all
his possessions to enrich the foundation. (See chap. iii. No. 69.)
13.
The Sultan had a dream (something like one of Nebuchadnezzar’s). He
saw himself with a head of gold, a breast of silver, a belly of brass,
thighs of lead, and shanks of tin. Bahā Veled explained the dream as
follows:—“All will go well in the kingdom during thy lifetime. It will
be as silver in the days of thy son; as brass in the next generation,
when the rabble will get the upper hand. Troubles will thicken during
the next reign; and after that the kingdom of Rome will go to ruin, the
house of Seljūq will come to an end, and unknown upstarts will seize
the reins of government.”