Maududi
Maududi (Maulana Abu’l Ala Maududi) (Abu al-Ala Maududi) (Syed Abul A'ala Maududi) (Maudoodi) (Modudi) (Mawdudi) (Molana) (Sayyid Abu’l-A‘la’ Mawdudi) (Shaikh Syed Abul A'ala Mawdudi) (September 25, 1903 - September 22, 1979). Pakistani writer, orator, and politician who was born in India. He began his public career when he was only 24 years old. He published a collection of essays entitled Al-Jihad fi al-Islam (“Jihad in Islam”) that caused a stir among Islamic scholars. In 1933, he took over as editor of a monthly magazine, Tarjuman al-Quran. The magazine offered an interpretation of the Qur’an that emphasized that Islam as revealed to Muhammad, its prophet, did not draw a distinction between the spiritual and the temporal worlds. In 1941, Maududi decided to enter politics by establishing the Jamaat-e-Islami (the Party of Islam). For six years, however, from 1941 to 1947, Maududi and the Jamaat-e Islami opposed Muhammad Ali Jinnah, his All-India Muslim League, and their demand for the creation of Pakistan, a homeland for the Muslim population of British India.
Maududi’s opposition to the idea of Pakistan was based on the belief that nation states could not be reconciled with the concept of the Muslim umma (community) that included all Muslims. The umma could not be divided by borders that separated nation states. Once Pakistan was born, Maududi decided to move to the new country and established himself and the Jamaat-e-Islami in Lahore. Once in Pakistan, he turned his attention to creating an Islamic state in the country created by Jinnah and the Muslim League. Maududi’s program consisted of two parts. First, he wished to define strictly the meaning of being a Muslim, excluding all those who deviated even slightly from subscribing to what he defined as the basic tenets of Islam. Second, he wanted Pakistan to adopt an Islamic political system rather than the systems borrowed from the West.
Maududi’s first serious confrontation with the state of Pakistan came in 1953 when he led a movement against the Ahmadiyya community. The movement turned violent and martial law had to be imposed before law and order was restored in the country. A military court sentenced Maududi to death but the sentence was later reduced. Maududi had to wait more than 20 years before the Ahmadiyyas were declared to be non-Muslims. This action was taken in 1974 by the administration of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. It was during the early years of the regime of President Zia ul-Haq that Maududi’s views had the greatest impact on Pakistan. Zia made several attempts to introduce Islam into the country’s political and economic structures. Although Zia was not successful in the area of politics, he introduced a number of Islamic financial instruments. These included the imposition of taxes such as zakat and ushr.
Maududi’s influence was not limited to Pakistan. He influenced the radical Egyptian Islamist Sayyid Qutb, who in turn influenced such ideological heirs as Osama Bin Laden; Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind sheik who was convicted of bombing the World Trade Center in 1993; and Ayman al-Zawahiri, head of the radical Egypt-based movement, Islamic Jihad. Maududi’s core concept is based on the traditional idea of Islam as a comprehensive way of life -- the total obedience of society and government to the authority of traditional Islamic law.
Maududi envisioned a theocratic state in which God is recognized as the supreme civil ruler and in which religious authorities rule as God’s representatives. This idea stands in direct opposition to a basic tenet of the United States system of government: the separation of church and state and it is this idea which stands as a source of conflict between the United States and Islamic fundamentalists around the world.
Maududi’s writings also stressed the evils created by imperialism and international capitalism. He argued that the universal acceptance of Islam would eliminate poverty, injustice, and the oppression of the masses. His admirers consider him the most systematic thinker of modern Islam, while his critics dismiss him as an impractical romantic. Nonetheless, he has an international reputation in the Muslim world, and revivalists have a particular respect for his thought.
Maulana Abu’l Ala Maududi see Maududi
Abu al-Ala Maududi see Maududi
Syed Abul A'ala Maududi see Maududi
Maudoodi see Maududi
Modudi see Maududi
Mawdudi see Maududi
Maududi (Maulana Abu’l Ala Maududi) (Abu al-Ala Maududi) (Syed Abul A'ala Maududi) (Maudoodi) (Modudi) (Mawdudi) (Molana) (Sayyid Abu’l-A‘la’ Mawdudi) (Shaikh Syed Abul A'ala Mawdudi) (September 25, 1903 - September 22, 1979). Pakistani writer, orator, and politician who was born in India. He began his public career when he was only 24 years old. He published a collection of essays entitled Al-Jihad fi al-Islam (“Jihad in Islam”) that caused a stir among Islamic scholars. In 1933, he took over as editor of a monthly magazine, Tarjuman al-Quran. The magazine offered an interpretation of the Qur’an that emphasized that Islam as revealed to Muhammad, its prophet, did not draw a distinction between the spiritual and the temporal worlds. In 1941, Maududi decided to enter politics by establishing the Jamaat-e-Islami (the Party of Islam). For six years, however, from 1941 to 1947, Maududi and the Jamaat-e Islami opposed Muhammad Ali Jinnah, his All-India Muslim League, and their demand for the creation of Pakistan, a homeland for the Muslim population of British India.
Maududi’s opposition to the idea of Pakistan was based on the belief that nation states could not be reconciled with the concept of the Muslim umma (community) that included all Muslims. The umma could not be divided by borders that separated nation states. Once Pakistan was born, Maududi decided to move to the new country and established himself and the Jamaat-e-Islami in Lahore. Once in Pakistan, he turned his attention to creating an Islamic state in the country created by Jinnah and the Muslim League. Maududi’s program consisted of two parts. First, he wished to define strictly the meaning of being a Muslim, excluding all those who deviated even slightly from subscribing to what he defined as the basic tenets of Islam. Second, he wanted Pakistan to adopt an Islamic political system rather than the systems borrowed from the West.
Maududi’s first serious confrontation with the state of Pakistan came in 1953 when he led a movement against the Ahmadiyya community. The movement turned violent and martial law had to be imposed before law and order was restored in the country. A military court sentenced Maududi to death but the sentence was later reduced. Maududi had to wait more than 20 years before the Ahmadiyyas were declared to be non-Muslims. This action was taken in 1974 by the administration of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. It was during the early years of the regime of President Zia ul-Haq that Maududi’s views had the greatest impact on Pakistan. Zia made several attempts to introduce Islam into the country’s political and economic structures. Although Zia was not successful in the area of politics, he introduced a number of Islamic financial instruments. These included the imposition of taxes such as zakat and ushr.
Maududi’s influence was not limited to Pakistan. He influenced the radical Egyptian Islamist Sayyid Qutb, who in turn influenced such ideological heirs as Osama Bin Laden; Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind sheik who was convicted of bombing the World Trade Center in 1993; and Ayman al-Zawahiri, head of the radical Egypt-based movement, Islamic Jihad. Maududi’s core concept is based on the traditional idea of Islam as a comprehensive way of life -- the total obedience of society and government to the authority of traditional Islamic law.
Maududi envisioned a theocratic state in which God is recognized as the supreme civil ruler and in which religious authorities rule as God’s representatives. This idea stands in direct opposition to a basic tenet of the United States system of government: the separation of church and state and it is this idea which stands as a source of conflict between the United States and Islamic fundamentalists around the world.
Maududi’s writings also stressed the evils created by imperialism and international capitalism. He argued that the universal acceptance of Islam would eliminate poverty, injustice, and the oppression of the masses. His admirers consider him the most systematic thinker of modern Islam, while his critics dismiss him as an impractical romantic. Nonetheless, he has an international reputation in the Muslim world, and revivalists have a particular respect for his thought.
Maulana Abu’l Ala Maududi see Maududi
Abu al-Ala Maududi see Maududi
Syed Abul A'ala Maududi see Maududi
Maudoodi see Maududi
Modudi see Maududi
Mawdudi see Maududi
Mawardi, Abu al-Hasan al-
Mawardi, Abu al-Hasan al- (Abu al-Hasan al-Mawardi) (Alboacen) (Abu al-Hasan Ali Ibn Muhammad Ibn Habib al-Mawardi) (972-1058). One of the most famous thinkers in political science in the Middle Ages. He was also a great sociologist, jurist and mohaddith. He served as Chief Justice at Baghdad and as an ambassador of the Abbasid Caliph to several important and powerful Muslim states. Al-Mawardi is most famous for his book Al-Havi on jurisprudence. His full name was Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Habib al-Mawardi.
Al-Mawardi was born in 972 at Basra. He received his early education in fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) from the famous jurist Abu al-Wahid al-Simari. Subsequently, he went to Baghdad for advanced studies and studied under Sheikh Abd Al-Hamid and Sheikh Abdallah al-Baqi. He was an exceptional student and became proficient in ethics, political science, jurisprudence, and literature.
He began his career as a qadi -- a judge. He quickly moved up due to his exceptional abilities and served as the Chief Justice of Abbasid Caliphate at Baghdad. Caliph al-Qasim bi AmrAllah appointed him as an ambassador to Buwahid and Seljuk Sultanates. He was well liked in this capacity and received rich gifts and tributes by most Sultans. He was highly respected and valued even after Buwahids took over Baghdad. Al-Mawardi died in 1058.
Al-Mawardi made original contributions in political science and sociology. In these fields, he wrote three monumental works: Kitab al-Ahkam al-Sultania, Qanun al-Wazarah, and Kitab Nasihat al-Mulk. Al-Mawardi formulated the principles of political science. His books deal with duties of the Caliphs, the chief minister, the cabinet, and the responsibility of and relationship between the government and citizens. He has discussed the affairs of state in both peace and war.
Al-Mawardi elaborated on guidelines for the election of the Caliph and qualities of voters, including the requirement of purity of character and intellectual capability. Al-Mawardi is the author and supporter of the Doctrine of Necessity. He was against unlimited power delegated to provincial governors. His books Al-Ahkam al-Sultania and Qanun al-Wazarah have been translated into several languages.
Kitab Aadab al-Dunya wa al-Din was al-Mawardi’s masterpiece in ethics. It is still a very popular book in some Islamic countries.
Al-Mawardi’s contribution to the science of sociology has been monumental. His work formed the foundation which was further developed by Ibn Khaldun.
The works of al-Mawardi include:
* Al-Ahkam al-Sultania w'al-Wilayat al-Diniyya (The Ordinances of Government)
* Qanun al-Wazarah (Laws regarding the Ministers)
* Kitab Nasihat al-Mulk (The Book of Sincere Advice to Rulers)
* Kitab Aadab al-Dunya w'al-Din (The Ethics of Religion and of this World)
Abu al-Hasan al-Mawardi see Mawardi, Abu al-Hasan al-
Alboacen see Mawardi, Abu al-Hasan al-
Mawardi, Abu al-Hasan al- (Abu al-Hasan al-Mawardi) (Alboacen) (Abu al-Hasan Ali Ibn Muhammad Ibn Habib al-Mawardi) (972-1058). One of the most famous thinkers in political science in the Middle Ages. He was also a great sociologist, jurist and mohaddith. He served as Chief Justice at Baghdad and as an ambassador of the Abbasid Caliph to several important and powerful Muslim states. Al-Mawardi is most famous for his book Al-Havi on jurisprudence. His full name was Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Habib al-Mawardi.
Al-Mawardi was born in 972 at Basra. He received his early education in fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) from the famous jurist Abu al-Wahid al-Simari. Subsequently, he went to Baghdad for advanced studies and studied under Sheikh Abd Al-Hamid and Sheikh Abdallah al-Baqi. He was an exceptional student and became proficient in ethics, political science, jurisprudence, and literature.
He began his career as a qadi -- a judge. He quickly moved up due to his exceptional abilities and served as the Chief Justice of Abbasid Caliphate at Baghdad. Caliph al-Qasim bi AmrAllah appointed him as an ambassador to Buwahid and Seljuk Sultanates. He was well liked in this capacity and received rich gifts and tributes by most Sultans. He was highly respected and valued even after Buwahids took over Baghdad. Al-Mawardi died in 1058.
Al-Mawardi made original contributions in political science and sociology. In these fields, he wrote three monumental works: Kitab al-Ahkam al-Sultania, Qanun al-Wazarah, and Kitab Nasihat al-Mulk. Al-Mawardi formulated the principles of political science. His books deal with duties of the Caliphs, the chief minister, the cabinet, and the responsibility of and relationship between the government and citizens. He has discussed the affairs of state in both peace and war.
Al-Mawardi elaborated on guidelines for the election of the Caliph and qualities of voters, including the requirement of purity of character and intellectual capability. Al-Mawardi is the author and supporter of the Doctrine of Necessity. He was against unlimited power delegated to provincial governors. His books Al-Ahkam al-Sultania and Qanun al-Wazarah have been translated into several languages.
Kitab Aadab al-Dunya wa al-Din was al-Mawardi’s masterpiece in ethics. It is still a very popular book in some Islamic countries.
Al-Mawardi’s contribution to the science of sociology has been monumental. His work formed the foundation which was further developed by Ibn Khaldun.
The works of al-Mawardi include:
* Al-Ahkam al-Sultania w'al-Wilayat al-Diniyya (The Ordinances of Government)
* Qanun al-Wazarah (Laws regarding the Ministers)
* Kitab Nasihat al-Mulk (The Book of Sincere Advice to Rulers)
* Kitab Aadab al-Dunya w'al-Din (The Ethics of Religion and of this World)
Abu al-Hasan al-Mawardi see Mawardi, Abu al-Hasan al-
Alboacen see Mawardi, Abu al-Hasan al-
Mawdud ibn ‘Imad al-Din Zangi, Qutb al-Din
Mawdud ibn ‘Imad al-Din Zangi, Qutb al-Din (Qutb al-Din Mawdud ibn ‘Imad al-Din Zangi) (Izz ad-Din Mas'ud I bin Mawdud) (1130-1193). Atabeg of Mosul (1149-1169) and youngest brother of Nur al-Din Mahmud Zangi of Damascus and Aleppo. In the writings of western chroniclers of the Crusades the name of Mawdud is transcribed as Malducus, Maldutus or Manduit.
Izz ad-Din Mas'ud I bin Mawdud was a Zangi emir of Mosul. He was the brother of emir Saif ad-Din Ghazi II, and the leader of his armies. When his brother died 1180 he became the governor of Aleppo. When As-Salih Ismail al-Malik got sick, he indicated in his will that Izz ad-Din Mas'ud should succeed him. When he died in 1181, Izz ad-Din rushed to Aleppo, fearing that Salahu'd-Din would try to conquer it.
When he arrived to Aleppo, he got into its Castle, took over all the money and the gold and married the mother of As-Salih Ismail al-Malik. He knew he could not keep Aleppo and Mosul under his governance, as the eyes of Salahu'd-Din were on Aleppo, so he reached an agreement with his brother Imad ad-Din Zengi II the governor of Sinjar to exchange Sinjar with Aleppo. In 1182, Izz ad-Din became the governor of Sinjar. In 1193, he went back to Mosul where he got sick and died. He was succeeded by his son Nur ad-Din Arslan Shah I.
Qutb al-Din Mawdud ibn ‘Imad al-Din Zangi see Mawdud ibn ‘Imad al-Din Zangi, Qutb al-Din
Izz ad-Din Mas'ud I bin Mawdud see Mawdud ibn ‘Imad al-Din Zangi, Qutb al-Din
Mawdud ibn ‘Imad al-Din Zangi, Qutb al-Din (Qutb al-Din Mawdud ibn ‘Imad al-Din Zangi) (Izz ad-Din Mas'ud I bin Mawdud) (1130-1193). Atabeg of Mosul (1149-1169) and youngest brother of Nur al-Din Mahmud Zangi of Damascus and Aleppo. In the writings of western chroniclers of the Crusades the name of Mawdud is transcribed as Malducus, Maldutus or Manduit.
Izz ad-Din Mas'ud I bin Mawdud was a Zangi emir of Mosul. He was the brother of emir Saif ad-Din Ghazi II, and the leader of his armies. When his brother died 1180 he became the governor of Aleppo. When As-Salih Ismail al-Malik got sick, he indicated in his will that Izz ad-Din Mas'ud should succeed him. When he died in 1181, Izz ad-Din rushed to Aleppo, fearing that Salahu'd-Din would try to conquer it.
When he arrived to Aleppo, he got into its Castle, took over all the money and the gold and married the mother of As-Salih Ismail al-Malik. He knew he could not keep Aleppo and Mosul under his governance, as the eyes of Salahu'd-Din were on Aleppo, so he reached an agreement with his brother Imad ad-Din Zengi II the governor of Sinjar to exchange Sinjar with Aleppo. In 1182, Izz ad-Din became the governor of Sinjar. In 1193, he went back to Mosul where he got sick and died. He was succeeded by his son Nur ad-Din Arslan Shah I.
Qutb al-Din Mawdud ibn ‘Imad al-Din Zangi see Mawdud ibn ‘Imad al-Din Zangi, Qutb al-Din
Izz ad-Din Mas'ud I bin Mawdud see Mawdud ibn ‘Imad al-Din Zangi, Qutb al-Din
Mawdud ibn Mas‘ud, Shihab al-Din wa’l-Dawla
Mawdud ibn Mas‘ud, Shihab al-Din wa’l-Dawla (Shihab al-Din wa’l-Dawla Mawdud ibn Mas‘ud) (b. c. 1010). Ruler of the Ghaznavid dynasty (r.1041-1050). He had to combat the Saljuqs in eastern Khurasan and Sistan.
Shihab al-Din wa’l-Dawla Mawdud ibn Mas‘ud see Mawdud ibn Mas‘ud, Shihab al-Din wa’l-Dawla
Mawdud ibn Mas‘ud, Shihab al-Din wa’l-Dawla (Shihab al-Din wa’l-Dawla Mawdud ibn Mas‘ud) (b. c. 1010). Ruler of the Ghaznavid dynasty (r.1041-1050). He had to combat the Saljuqs in eastern Khurasan and Sistan.
Shihab al-Din wa’l-Dawla Mawdud ibn Mas‘ud see Mawdud ibn Mas‘ud, Shihab al-Din wa’l-Dawla
Mawdudi, Sayyid Abu’l-A‘la’
Mawdudi, Sayyid Abu’l-A‘la’. See Maududi.
Mawdudi, Sayyid Abu’l-A‘la’. See Maududi.
Mawlawiyah
Mawlawiyah (Mawlawiyya)(in Turkish, Mewlewiyye or Mevlevi) (Mawlawi Order) (Mevlevilik) (Mevleviye) (Mowlawīya). Sufi order which takes its name from the Mawlana “Our Master,” the sobriquet of Jalal al-Din Rumi.
Mawlawiyah was a Turkish Sufi order which was known to Europe as the “Whirling Dervishes” in recognition of its distinctive meditation ritual. It derives its name from Jalal al-Din Rumi, known as Mawlana (Mevlana in Turkish, meaning “Our Master,” whose life and writings had a profound influence on the development and ritual of the order.
Rumi was born in 1207 in the Central Asian city of Balkh, where his father Baha’ Walad (d. 1231) was a religious scholar and Sufi master of some renown. The uncertain religious and political situation under the Khwarazm-shahs forced them to leave for Anatolia in 1219, and Baha’ Walad and his family eventually settled in the Seljuk capital of Konya at the invitation of ‘Ala’ al-Din Kayqubad. Baha’ Walad was given a prominent appointment as a legal scholar and preacher, a position that Jalal al-Din inherited after his father’s death. It was from his lengthy residence in Anatolia (Rum) that Mawlana Jalal al-Din came to be known as Rumi.
There can be little doubt that Rumi was familiar with Sufism from childhood. Nevertheless, most sources insist that his formal Sufi training began in 1232 with the arrival in Konya of Burhan al-Din al-Tirmidhi, a disciple of Baha’ Walad. Rumi remained his disciple until Burhan al-Din’s death nine years later.
The defining moment in Rumi’s life occurred in 1244 with the arrival of an enigmatic wandering mystic named Shams al-Din (commonly referred to as Shams-i Tabrizi). Until this time Rumi’s public persona had been defined by his role as a legal scholar and judge, with little mention of his participation in any mystical activities. He now began to devote himself entirely to the company of Shams-i Tabrizi, whom he identified as the ideal medium for gaining access to mystical knowledge of God.
Rumi’s infatuation with Shams-i Tabrizi was a source of jealousy (and probably also embarrassment) to his family and students, who apparently forced Shams-i Tabrizi to leave Konya after about two years. Rumi rushed after him and convinced him to return, but soon after that Shams vanished forever, in all likelihhood murdered by Rumi’s students with the connivance of both his son, Sultan Walad (d. 1312) and his principal disciple Husam al-Din Chalabi (d. 1283). Following Shams’ disappearance, Rumi withdrew from public life and devoted himself entirely to the guidance of Sufi disciples. He also began to compose exquisite and profuse poetry, the bulk of which is contained in two works -- the Masnavi-yi ma‘navi (approximately 26,000 verses) and the Divan-i Shams-i Tabrizi (approximately 40,000 verses). The Masnavi, written at the request of Husam al-Din Chalabi, is a didactic work in six books that rapidly gained extreme popularity in the Persian and Turkish speaking world. It has been widely translated and commented on and has been used for prognostication, as a source of mystical inspiration, and as a religious text by countless individuals as well as by several mystical organizations such as the Iranian Khaksars. It is on the basis of this work, which is the central mystical text of the Mawlawiyah, that Rumi has become the best-known Islamic mystical poet.
It is probable that a Sufi order gathered around Rumi during his lifetime. One of his early biographers, Shams al-Din Ahmad al-Aflaki al-‘Arifi, mentions an assembly room (jama ‘at khanah) attached to Rumi’s madrasah where learned conversations and musical concerts were held. Although Rumi had already come to be known as Mawlana, it is doubtful that his followers were called the Mawlawiyah at this early date. In his account of Konya, Ibn Battutah refers to them as the Jalaliyah (after Jalal al-Din). Rumi was succeeded by Salah al-Din Zarkub, who had originally been a disciple of Burhan al-Din al-Tirmidhi and who succeeded Shams-i Tabrizi as a vessel in which Rumi contemplated God. Zarkub was followed by Rumi’s disciple Husam al-Din Chalabi and finally by Rumi’s son Sultan Walad, although for the first seven years after Husam al-Din’s death the latter was under the care of a guardian, Karim al-Din ibn Bektimur. After Sultan Walad the leadership of the Mawlawiyah was almost invariably held by a descendant of Rumi.
The two most distinctive features of the Mawlawiyah are their process of initiation through a lengthy orientation rather than the trials typical of other Sufi orders, and the importance they give to sama’ (audition) as a form of meditation. Some elements of the sama’ are traceable to Rumi, although major features continued to be added until the time of ‘Adil Chalabi (d. 1460), a great-grandson of the Sultan Walad. The only significant changes since that time concern the occasion and frequency of the sama’; these occurred under the reign of the Ottoman sultan Selim III (r. 1789-1807) and again in the period after the Turkish religious reforms of 1925.
The sama’ of the Mawlawiyah is carried out in a wood-floored circular room called a sama’ khanah (Turkish, semahane). The room is normally surrounded by galleries for guests and a separate one for the musicians. Before the sama’ begins, the officiating Sufi (called meydanci dede) places a skin, marking the seat of the shaykh, at the opposite end of the room from the qiblah. He then gave an order for the call to prayer to be sounded, after which the shaykh entered the room followed by the participants (referred to as sama’ zan). After performing their ritual prayers the participants gathered around the seated shaykh to listen to hymnsand readings from the Masnavi, which are accompanied by music. The shaykh then recites the “prayer of the skin” (pust duasi).
Following this prayer all participants, including the shaykh and the meydanci dede, go through a complex and choreographed series of salutations. Accompanied by a simple beat from the musicians, the participants walk in a circle up to the skin with their arms folded under their cloaks (khirqah). On reaching the skin, each participant bows in salutation to the person in front of him, passes the skin while facing it and stepping over the diameter of the circle extending from the skin to the qiblah, turns around to face the person behind him, performs the identical salute, takes three steps back, turns around to face forward, and continues walking in a circle. Many outside observers appear to have been impressed by the sight of the sema zens wearing tall caps and black cloaks over white tunics, two of them facing each other across the skin and the remainder walking in a circle with their eyes lowered and heads bowed. After completing the round of salutations the shaykh sat on his skin and the sama’ itself begins, comprising several cycles or rounds (dawra), in which each sema zen extends his arms to the side with the right palm facing upward and the left downward and whirls counter-clockwise, using his left foot as a pivot.
The form of the sama’ is imbued with mystical meaning for the Mawlawiyah: the upturned right hand symbolizes the mystic’s receipt of divine grace, while the downturned left hand implies that what is received from God is passed on to humanity. Thus the sema zen represents a conduit whereby God showers blessings upon the planet. A similar representation of the relationship between the celestial and the terrestrial is accorded to the hall itself, with the right half symbolizing the descent from God to human beings in the physical realm, and the left symbolizing ascent from the physical state to mystical union with God in the spiritual realm.
The Mawlawiyah had been an order of courtly art and culture since Rumi’s day and had always encouraged and nurtured court poets and musicians. As such, it is in contrast to more popular orders such as the Bektashis, which have been more in tune with the needs and aspirations of the Anatolian populace. This distinction was exploited by the later Ottoman sultans, who favored the Sunni and courtly Mawlawiyah against the more populist and predominantly Shi‘a Bektashis favored by the Janissaries. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, it became a tradition for the head of the Mawlawiyah to gird the imperial sword on the new sultan.
The importance of the Mawlawiyah to the development of Ottoman culture cannot be overemphasized. It has had a definitive impact on the development of art and music, and luminaries such as the court poets Nef‘i (d. 1635) and Seyh Galib (d. 1799), and composers such as Iti (d. 1712) and Zeka’i (d. 1897) were all Mawlawis. In fact, the Mawlawiyah is so closely identified with Ottoman Turkish culture that it has enjoyed almost no success in non-Turkish societies. The only exceptions are certain cities in non-Turkish regions of the former Ottoman Empire, such as Damascus, Tripoli, Homs, Jerusalem, and Beirut in the Middle East, and a larger number of cities in Greece, Bosnia, and other parts of the Balkans. However, these were all towns with significant Turkish populations, and only the center in Beirut is known to have remained active into the latter half of the twentieth century. In contrast, the founder of the order still enjoys widespread fame and reverence rivaled by only one or two other Sufi figures.
Mawlawiyya see Mawlawiyah
Mewlewiyye see Mawlawiyah
Mevlevi see Mawlawiyah
Mawlawi Order see Mawlawiyah
Mevlevilik see Mawlawiyah
Mowlawiya see Mawlawiyah
Mawlawiyah (Mawlawiyya)(in Turkish, Mewlewiyye or Mevlevi) (Mawlawi Order) (Mevlevilik) (Mevleviye) (Mowlawīya). Sufi order which takes its name from the Mawlana “Our Master,” the sobriquet of Jalal al-Din Rumi.
Mawlawiyah was a Turkish Sufi order which was known to Europe as the “Whirling Dervishes” in recognition of its distinctive meditation ritual. It derives its name from Jalal al-Din Rumi, known as Mawlana (Mevlana in Turkish, meaning “Our Master,” whose life and writings had a profound influence on the development and ritual of the order.
Rumi was born in 1207 in the Central Asian city of Balkh, where his father Baha’ Walad (d. 1231) was a religious scholar and Sufi master of some renown. The uncertain religious and political situation under the Khwarazm-shahs forced them to leave for Anatolia in 1219, and Baha’ Walad and his family eventually settled in the Seljuk capital of Konya at the invitation of ‘Ala’ al-Din Kayqubad. Baha’ Walad was given a prominent appointment as a legal scholar and preacher, a position that Jalal al-Din inherited after his father’s death. It was from his lengthy residence in Anatolia (Rum) that Mawlana Jalal al-Din came to be known as Rumi.
There can be little doubt that Rumi was familiar with Sufism from childhood. Nevertheless, most sources insist that his formal Sufi training began in 1232 with the arrival in Konya of Burhan al-Din al-Tirmidhi, a disciple of Baha’ Walad. Rumi remained his disciple until Burhan al-Din’s death nine years later.
The defining moment in Rumi’s life occurred in 1244 with the arrival of an enigmatic wandering mystic named Shams al-Din (commonly referred to as Shams-i Tabrizi). Until this time Rumi’s public persona had been defined by his role as a legal scholar and judge, with little mention of his participation in any mystical activities. He now began to devote himself entirely to the company of Shams-i Tabrizi, whom he identified as the ideal medium for gaining access to mystical knowledge of God.
Rumi’s infatuation with Shams-i Tabrizi was a source of jealousy (and probably also embarrassment) to his family and students, who apparently forced Shams-i Tabrizi to leave Konya after about two years. Rumi rushed after him and convinced him to return, but soon after that Shams vanished forever, in all likelihhood murdered by Rumi’s students with the connivance of both his son, Sultan Walad (d. 1312) and his principal disciple Husam al-Din Chalabi (d. 1283). Following Shams’ disappearance, Rumi withdrew from public life and devoted himself entirely to the guidance of Sufi disciples. He also began to compose exquisite and profuse poetry, the bulk of which is contained in two works -- the Masnavi-yi ma‘navi (approximately 26,000 verses) and the Divan-i Shams-i Tabrizi (approximately 40,000 verses). The Masnavi, written at the request of Husam al-Din Chalabi, is a didactic work in six books that rapidly gained extreme popularity in the Persian and Turkish speaking world. It has been widely translated and commented on and has been used for prognostication, as a source of mystical inspiration, and as a religious text by countless individuals as well as by several mystical organizations such as the Iranian Khaksars. It is on the basis of this work, which is the central mystical text of the Mawlawiyah, that Rumi has become the best-known Islamic mystical poet.
It is probable that a Sufi order gathered around Rumi during his lifetime. One of his early biographers, Shams al-Din Ahmad al-Aflaki al-‘Arifi, mentions an assembly room (jama ‘at khanah) attached to Rumi’s madrasah where learned conversations and musical concerts were held. Although Rumi had already come to be known as Mawlana, it is doubtful that his followers were called the Mawlawiyah at this early date. In his account of Konya, Ibn Battutah refers to them as the Jalaliyah (after Jalal al-Din). Rumi was succeeded by Salah al-Din Zarkub, who had originally been a disciple of Burhan al-Din al-Tirmidhi and who succeeded Shams-i Tabrizi as a vessel in which Rumi contemplated God. Zarkub was followed by Rumi’s disciple Husam al-Din Chalabi and finally by Rumi’s son Sultan Walad, although for the first seven years after Husam al-Din’s death the latter was under the care of a guardian, Karim al-Din ibn Bektimur. After Sultan Walad the leadership of the Mawlawiyah was almost invariably held by a descendant of Rumi.
The two most distinctive features of the Mawlawiyah are their process of initiation through a lengthy orientation rather than the trials typical of other Sufi orders, and the importance they give to sama’ (audition) as a form of meditation. Some elements of the sama’ are traceable to Rumi, although major features continued to be added until the time of ‘Adil Chalabi (d. 1460), a great-grandson of the Sultan Walad. The only significant changes since that time concern the occasion and frequency of the sama’; these occurred under the reign of the Ottoman sultan Selim III (r. 1789-1807) and again in the period after the Turkish religious reforms of 1925.
The sama’ of the Mawlawiyah is carried out in a wood-floored circular room called a sama’ khanah (Turkish, semahane). The room is normally surrounded by galleries for guests and a separate one for the musicians. Before the sama’ begins, the officiating Sufi (called meydanci dede) places a skin, marking the seat of the shaykh, at the opposite end of the room from the qiblah. He then gave an order for the call to prayer to be sounded, after which the shaykh entered the room followed by the participants (referred to as sama’ zan). After performing their ritual prayers the participants gathered around the seated shaykh to listen to hymnsand readings from the Masnavi, which are accompanied by music. The shaykh then recites the “prayer of the skin” (pust duasi).
Following this prayer all participants, including the shaykh and the meydanci dede, go through a complex and choreographed series of salutations. Accompanied by a simple beat from the musicians, the participants walk in a circle up to the skin with their arms folded under their cloaks (khirqah). On reaching the skin, each participant bows in salutation to the person in front of him, passes the skin while facing it and stepping over the diameter of the circle extending from the skin to the qiblah, turns around to face the person behind him, performs the identical salute, takes three steps back, turns around to face forward, and continues walking in a circle. Many outside observers appear to have been impressed by the sight of the sema zens wearing tall caps and black cloaks over white tunics, two of them facing each other across the skin and the remainder walking in a circle with their eyes lowered and heads bowed. After completing the round of salutations the shaykh sat on his skin and the sama’ itself begins, comprising several cycles or rounds (dawra), in which each sema zen extends his arms to the side with the right palm facing upward and the left downward and whirls counter-clockwise, using his left foot as a pivot.
The form of the sama’ is imbued with mystical meaning for the Mawlawiyah: the upturned right hand symbolizes the mystic’s receipt of divine grace, while the downturned left hand implies that what is received from God is passed on to humanity. Thus the sema zen represents a conduit whereby God showers blessings upon the planet. A similar representation of the relationship between the celestial and the terrestrial is accorded to the hall itself, with the right half symbolizing the descent from God to human beings in the physical realm, and the left symbolizing ascent from the physical state to mystical union with God in the spiritual realm.
The Mawlawiyah had been an order of courtly art and culture since Rumi’s day and had always encouraged and nurtured court poets and musicians. As such, it is in contrast to more popular orders such as the Bektashis, which have been more in tune with the needs and aspirations of the Anatolian populace. This distinction was exploited by the later Ottoman sultans, who favored the Sunni and courtly Mawlawiyah against the more populist and predominantly Shi‘a Bektashis favored by the Janissaries. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, it became a tradition for the head of the Mawlawiyah to gird the imperial sword on the new sultan.
The importance of the Mawlawiyah to the development of Ottoman culture cannot be overemphasized. It has had a definitive impact on the development of art and music, and luminaries such as the court poets Nef‘i (d. 1635) and Seyh Galib (d. 1799), and composers such as Iti (d. 1712) and Zeka’i (d. 1897) were all Mawlawis. In fact, the Mawlawiyah is so closely identified with Ottoman Turkish culture that it has enjoyed almost no success in non-Turkish societies. The only exceptions are certain cities in non-Turkish regions of the former Ottoman Empire, such as Damascus, Tripoli, Homs, Jerusalem, and Beirut in the Middle East, and a larger number of cities in Greece, Bosnia, and other parts of the Balkans. However, these were all towns with significant Turkish populations, and only the center in Beirut is known to have remained active into the latter half of the twentieth century. In contrast, the founder of the order still enjoys widespread fame and reverence rivaled by only one or two other Sufi figures.
Mawlawiyya see Mawlawiyah
Mewlewiyye see Mawlawiyah
Mevlevi see Mawlawiyah
Mawlawi Order see Mawlawiyah
Mevlevilik see Mawlawiyah
Mowlawiya see Mawlawiyah
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