Rumi's Son, Sultan Walad's Life and Works سلطان ولد - پسر مولانا

That "world" is illumination, delight, and permanence;
This "world" is darkness, affliction, and transience.
The result is this:
Pass away from self-hood,
So that you may gaze upon God continually.
Sultan Walad

Become purified from pride of self-existence,
so that drunkenness may come to you
without the need of goblet and wine.
Sultan Walad

Ascend like Jesus without the need of
the donkey of the body,
upon the heavens, and pass beyond Moses.
Sultan Walad

The dervish is passing beyond the body and the soul,

The dervish is superior to the earth and the heavens.
God's intended aim is not the worldly creation
God's intended aim concerning the world,
is the dervish.

Sultan Walad

"Baha al-Din Muhammad-i Walad (Persian: بها الدین محمد ولد), more popularly known as Sultan Walad (Persian: سلطان ولد), was the eldest son of Jalal Al-Din Rumi, Persian poet and Sufi, and one of the founders of the Mawlawiyaa (Persian: مولویه)order. He was given the name of his grandfather Sultan al-Ulama Baha al-Din Walad. Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi sent Sultan Walad and his brother Ala al-Din Muhammad to Aleppo and Damascus for the study of religious sciences. Sultan Walad was deeply trusted by Rumi, and it was him that Rumi sent to seek Shams Tabrizi after the disappearance of Shams.

Sultan Walad married the daughter of Salah al-Din Zarkub, Fatima Khatun. He had two daughters by her and one son (Jalal Ali-Din Arif). Sultan Walad at the insistence of his entourage, took up the succession which, at his father's death, he had declined in favour of Husam Al-Din. With Sultan Walad, the Mawlawiya order starts in the true sense of the word, since he gathered the followers (Murids) of his father around himself and organized the order. He also erected a mausoleum for his father, which also became the center of his order. He died at the advanced age of nearly ninety years on 10 Radjab 712/12 November 1312 in Konya and was buried next to his father. For nearly fifty years he had lived in the shadow of his famous father, whose personality had determined the life and work of his son even beyond his death.

Written Work

Sultan Walad like his fathers was prolific and has left a considerable Persian literary heritage.

Ibitda Nama (The book of the beginning - ابتدانامه)

The first Persian poetic verse book of Sultan Walad, in the style Mathnawi (a type of Persian verse) is the Ibtidā-nāma (The book of the beginning), also called Walad-nāma (The book of Walad) or Mat̲h̲nawī-yi Waladī. Composed around 1291, it is written in the meter of the Hadiqe of Sanai. It constitutes an important source for the biographies o Baha al-din (Rumi’s father) and Mawlānā (Rumi) as well as for the early history of the order. It chronicles the history of the Mawlawwiya order, as well focusing primarily on Rumi. It also describes the predecessors and successors of Rumi. One of the students of Rumi, Salah al-Din Zarkub who had a close spiritual relationship with Sultan Walad is also mentioned. This work provides a first hand account by Rumi’s son who was very close to the many of the events described in the book. Overall, it is a hagiographical book, and promotes an image of Rumi as a miracle-working saint. It also provides a first hand account of the Mawlawwiya order and the major personages associated with its history, including Baha al-Din, Borhan alDin, Shams, Rumi, Salah al-Din Zarkub, Hosam al-din and finally Sultan Wad. The work contains over 9000 lines of poetry in Persian. A first critical edition was produced by the Iranian scholar Jalal al-Din Homai in 1937. A French translation appeared in 1988 through the efforts of Djamchid Mortazavi and Eva de Vitray-Meyerovitch as ‘’La Parole secrete: l’enseignement du maitre Soufi Rumi’’.

Rabab-Nama- رباب نامه

Rabāb-nāma, a Persian Mathnawai, composed, at the behest of a notable, within five months of the year 700/1301 in the meterr ramal of his father's Mathnawī. It contains 7745 lines in Persian, 35 in Arabic, 22 in Greek and 157 in Turkish. A critical edition was prepared by Ali Soltani Gordfaramazi in 1980 and published in Montreal as a collaborative effort between McGill University’s Institute of Islamic Studies and the University of Tehran under the title: ‘’Rabāb-nāma az Sultan Walad, Farzand-e Mowlana Jalal al-Din Mowlavi’’[3]. Sultan Walad composed the Rabāb-nāma between April and August of 1301 at the request of certain saint whom Sultan Walad repeatedly praises in the text. This “man of God” approached Sultan Walad with the suggestion that since had already produced a Mathnawi in the meter of Sanai’s Hadiqe, he should now set to work on a mathwnawi in the same meter as the Mathnawi of his father, Rumi. Sultan Wlad beings this work in an imitation the song of the reed flute (Persian: Nay) at the beginning of the Mathnawi, but instead has the Rabāb start the opening tale: “Hear in the cry and wail of the Rabāb A hundred chapters on the depth of love”. At one point Sultan Walad references his fathers work as being “sent-down”, suggesting he regarded Rumi’s writing as quasi-divinely inspired.

Intiha-nama - انتها نامه

The Intihā-nāma is another Persian Mathnawi. It was composed for the purposes, and is a kind of summary of the first two mathnawī (Ibtida Nama and Rabab Nama). It contains about 8300 lines of poetry.

Diwan-i Walad - دیوان ولد

The Diwan of Sultan, in Persian contains contains 9256 Ghazals and Qasida, and 455 quatrains. Approximately there are 12500 lines. Sultan Walad describes this as his first literary work, but he continued to add to it until his death. The Diwan has been published under the title: “Divan-e Soltan Walad, ed. Said Nafisi (ehran, Rudaki, 1959).

Ma’arif-i Waladi (The Waladi Gnosis - معارف ولدی)

Also called al-Asrār al-d̲j̲alāliyya[3]. It is a Persian prose work in a style approaching the spoken language and containing accounts of Sulṭān Walad's thoughts and words. The title is an evocation of his grandfather's work by the same title. An uncritical edition appeared as an appendix to an undated Tehran print of Mawlānā's Fīhi mā fīh; a scholarly edition was prepared by Nadjib Mayil-i Hirawi, Ma'arif, Tehran 1367/1988. A collection of 56 of his sermons and lectures in the book demonstrates that he spoke from the pulpit in a straightforward and enganing manner. Sultan Walad punctuated his discourses with lines of verse from Persian poets such as Sana’i, Attar and his own father, Rumi. The Ma’arif has been pubhsed under the title “Ma’aref-e Baha al-Din Muhammad b. Jlal al-Din Muhammad Balkhi, Manshur beh Sultan Walad, edited by Najib Mayer Haravi (Tehran, Mowla, 1988)

Turkish and Greek poems

Besides approximately 38,000 lines of Persian poetry in Sultan Walad’s work, in the Rababb Nama there are 22 lines in Greek and 157 in Turkish[4] In the Diwan-I Walad, there are 15 Ghazals in Turkish besides the approximately 9200 Ghazals and Qasida in Persian[5], and four Ghazals in Greek. Thus Sultan Valad composed approximately 300 verses in Greek and Turkish.Sultan Walad admits to his poor knowledge of Greek and Turkish. For example in his Ebteda-Nama, Sultan Walad admits twice in Persian after some of the lines in Greek/Turkish:

بگذر از گفت ترکی و رومی

که از این اصطلاح محرومی

گوی از پارسی و تازی

که در این دو همی خوش تازی

Translation:

Let go of the languages of Greek (Rumi) and Turkish (Turki)
Because you lack knowledge in these two,
Thus speak in Persian and Arabic,
Since in these two, you recite very well.

And also elsewhere in Ghazal in his Diwan, he writes:: If I knew Turkish, I would have brought one to a thousand. But when you listen to Persian, I tell the secrets much better. He also says: If I had known Turkish, I would have told you, the secrets that God had imparted on Me.

According to Mehmed Fuad Koprulu, the Turkish poems are: Written in a very crude and primitive manner and with a very defective and rudimentary versification replete with zihaf (pronouncing long vowels short) and imalā (pronouncing a short vowel long). Also according to Mehmed Fuad Koprulu: Sultan Walad’s motivation in writing Turkish poetry, just as it was with composing and reciting Persian poetry, was to raise the religious consciousness of the people of Anatolia, to guide them and instill in them a sense of the greatness of Mawlana and The fact he occasionally resorted to Turkish derives from his fear that a large majority who did not undesrand Persian, would be deprived of these teaching. Also the Greek verses gives us one of the earliest specimen of Islamic poetry in the Greek languages, and some of the earliest extensive attestation of Cappadocian Greek.

Legacy

Sultan Walad was instrumental in laying down the Mawlawiya order and expanding the teaching of his father throughout Anatolia and the rest of the Muslim world. According to Professor. Annemarie Schimmel:
“ I have always wondered what kind of Person Sultan Walad was the obedient son who never contradicted his father (unlike his younger brother, 'Ala al-Din, Shams al-Din's bitter enemy), and who tried to fulfill all of his wishes. Sultan Walad must have had a very strong personality to be able to carry out his duties and, toward the end of his life, to integrate his experience into the formation of the Mevlevi order. I know of only one other case in the history of Sufism which attests such a loving, complete surrender of a son to his father."

سلطان ولد

بهاءالدين احمد، پسر مولانا جلاالدين بلخي (مولوي) معروف به سلطان ولد يا ابن عارف از عارفان اواخر قرن هفتم و اوايل قرن هشتم هجري است.

سلطان ولد صاحب سجاده و خليفه پدر خود مولوي بود. علوم ظاهري و باطني را از وي اخذ کرد، از شمس الدين تبريزي که مرشد مولوي است و از پدر زن خود شيخ صلاح الدين فريدون زرکوب، و از شيخ حسام الدين چلبي حسن بن محمد که به ترتيب خليفه مولوي بودند، فوائد بسياري راجع به فنون طريقت تحصيل نمود تا در عرفان بمقام بلند رسيد. پدرش مي گفت که آمدن من در دنيا بجهت ظهور تو بود و اين سخنان اقوال من ميباشد و تو فعل من هستي. عبدالرحمن جامي درباره سلطان ولد چنين آورده است: «وي سيد برهان الدين محقق و شيخ شمس الدين تبريزي را خدمتهاي شايسته کرده و با شيخ صلاح الدين که پدر خاتون وي بود، ارادت تمام داشت و پانزده سال چلبي حسام الدين را قائم مقام و خليفه پدر خود مي داشت و به سالهاي بسيار کلام والد خود را به لسان فصيح و بيان فصيح تقرير مي کرد. وي را مثنوي است بر وزن حديقه حکيم سنائي بسي از معارف و اسرار در آنجا درج کرده است، بارها خدمت مولانا وي را خطاب کردي: «انت اشبه الناس بي خلقا خلقا» و عظيم دوستش داشتي، گويند که بقلم سطبر بر ديوار مدرسه خود نوشته بود که بهاءالدين ما نيکبخت است و خوش زيست و خوش ميرود و الله اعلم. و گويند که روزي وي را نوازش ميفرمود و مي گفت: بهاءالدين! آمدن من باين عالم جهت ظهور تو بود اين همان سخنان قول منست و تو فعل مني.

روزي خدمت مولانا را گفت به دمشق رو بطلب مولانا شمس الدين و چندين سيم و زر با خود ببر و در کفش آن سلطان ريز و کفش مبارکش را طرف روم بگردان. چون به دمشق رسي در صالحيه جائي است مشهور، يکسره به آنجا رو که وي را آنجا يابي که با فرنگي پسري صاحب جمال شطرنج مي بازد. چون وي برد زر مي ستاند و چون آن پسر مي برد سيلي ميخورد؛ زنهار که انکاري نياري که آن پسر هم از اين طايفه است. اما خود را نمي داند، ميخواهد که وي را به وي شناسا گرداند. چون سلطان ولد به جانب دمشق رفت، مولانا شمس الدين را هم آنجا که نشان داده بود يافت که با آن پسر شطرنج مي باخت. با جماعت همراهان پيش وي سر نهادند و رقتها کردند، آن فرنگي پسر چون آن بديد، بزرگي وي را دانست، از بي ادبيهاي خود خجل شد سر برهنه کرد و ايمان آورد و به انصاف بايستاد. خواست که هر چه دارد به يغما دهد، مولانا شمس الدين نگذاشت، فرمود که بفرنگستان باز گرد و عزيزان آن ديار را مشرف گردان و قطب آن جماعت باش.

بعد از آن سلطان ولد زر و سيمي که آورده بود در کفش مولانا شمس الدين ريخت و کفش ويرا بطرف روم گردانيد و از زبان خدمت مولانا و ساير مخلصان روم استدعا کرد وي قبول فرمود. اسبي که داشت پيش کشيد، مولانا شمس سوار شد و سلطان ولد پياده در رکاب وي روان گشت. مولانا شمس الدين فرمود که بهاءالدين سوار شو! سر بر زمين نهاد و گفت: شاه سوار، و بنده سوار، اين هرگز روا نباشد. از دمشق تا قونيه در رکاب وي پياده غاشيه بر دوش رفت. چون به قونيه رسيد، مولانا شمس الدين خدمتهاي سلطان ولد را با مولانا تقرير ميکرد و ميگفت که من وي را چنين گفتم و وي جوابم چنين ميداد و بشاشت بسياري نمود؛ پس گفت: مرا از موهبت حق تعالي دو چيزست سر و سر، سر را در راه مولانا به اخلاص فدا کردم و سر را به بهاءالدين ولد بخشيدم. اگر بهاءالدين را عمر نوح بودي و همه را در اين راه صرف کردي آنش ميسر نشدي که در اين سفر از من به وي رسيد، اميد است که از شما نيز نصيبها يابد.»

موافق آنچه در شرح حال شمس تبريزي گفته شد، عاقبت به زعم بعضي شمس بدست علاءالدين محمد پسر ديگر مولوي کشته شد.

سلطان ولد علاوه بر پايان ششم مثنوي ديواني مرتب و منظومه اي به طرز مثنوي پدرش دارد و کتاب ديگري نيز تأليف کرده بنام "ولدنامه" که مشتمل بر شرح حال پدر و جدش ميباشد. وي بعد از وفات حسام الدين حسن بن محمد (متوفي به سال 684 هجري) که از اکابر اصحاب جلال الدين رومي و خليفه و جانشين وي در تمامي فنون طريقت خليفه همين حسام الدين شد ودر سال 712 هجري در قونيه وفات يافت و در جوار پدرش مدفون گرديد. سلطان ولد ذوقي عارفانه و قريحه اي شاعرانه داشت و به لغت و شعر ترکي نيز آشنا بود بهمين جهت وي يکي از عوامل انتشار ادبيات ايران در ترکيه و از بانيان ادبيات عثماني ميباشد و مثنوي هاي رباب نامه و ولدنامه او مدتها سرمشق ايشان بوده است. تولد او در شهر لارنده در روز 25 ربيع الثاني سال 623 هجري و مرگش در قونيه در روز دهم رجب سال 712 هجري اتفاق افتاده است.

بهاءالدين سلطان ولد در نظم و نثر فارسي مهارت داشته و مجالس و تقريرات و مشافهات پدر را در کتابي به نام "فيه مافيه" جمع کرده است. و کتابي خود در تصوف نوشته که به نام "معارف سلطان ولد" مشهور است. دفتر هفتم مثنوي را به خطا به او نسبت ميدهند. از منظومه هاي او سه مثنوي در دست است. يکي به نام "رباب نامه" در دو مجلد و ديگري به نام "ولدنامه" که در سال 690 هجري به پايان رسانيده است. ديوان اشعار وي شامل سيزده هزار بيت که در آن ولد تخلص نموده در دست است.

چون ز عشق رخ او نیست مرا هیچ قرار

آمدم باز که بینم رخ آن خوب عذار

می عشقش چو بنوشید دلم از کف جان

مست گشتم که نداندم سر خود از دستار

بدویدم بدر یار و بگفتم ای ماه

که برون آی ز پرده بنما آن رخسار

بنمود او رخ خود را که بمن بنگر لیک

طمع و طلم زنهار توهش دار و مدار

گفتم ای جان نظری کهن سوی این خسته دلم

که ز بدر رخ تو همچو هلالست نزار

غیر تو هیچ کسی نیست بعالم دیگر

از سر لطف بدان دست سر بنده بخار

گفت بگذار مرا رو غم خود خور یارا

تا نگردی تو هلاک و نشوم من افکار

عاشقان رخ من خونی و رندند و دلیر

تیغ بر روت کشند از سر غیرت ناچار

گفتم ای بت غم عشقت نه چنانست که آن

برود از سر من گر بکشندم بردار

چاره خود نیست مرا از دو یکی کار اکنون

یا بوصلت برسم یا که شوم کشتهء زار

از برای تو اگر کشت شوم باکی نیست

مرگ باشد پی آن شخص که باشد بیمار

فد من گشت خمیده مثل چنگ ز غم

بنوازش نفسی گرنه شد از عشق چو تار

گر بخوانی تو بر خویش مرا وررانی

کز غم عشق تو من هیچ نگردم بیزار

تا منم زنده فغانست نصیبم بجهان

گه کنم شوی بکوی تو گهی در بازار

تاج و تختست ولد را غم عشقت صنما

فخر آرد زغلامیت و ندارد او عار

سلطان ولد