Mevlevilikte Müzik Felsefesi: Mesnevî’de Aşk, Mûsikî, Ney (Philosophy of Music in Mawlawi Thought: Love, Music, and the Nay in the Masnavi)

• Main Author: Yalçın Çetinkaya
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: İlmi Etüdler Derneği 2011-12-01
• Series: İnsan & Toplum
• Subjects: Music; Sama’; Love; Sufism; Zikr; Dervish
• Online Access: http://www.insanvetoplum.org/index.php/IVT/article/view/22/19
• ISSN: 2146-7099

Sama’ means to find Allah in one’s souls under the influence of music, to feel excitement, and to whirl like moths. This whirling is not done just by bodily movements. It should be performed with the entire soul, spirit, love, faith, material and spiritual being. In this whirling the lover of Truth is saved from his imaginary existence and ego, and disappears in Allah. It is the disappearance of the part in the Whole and ascendance of an atom whirling towards the Sun. It is not even necessary to concentrate on the important place of sama’ in Maulana’s life and works. By looking into a few examples we can see how Maulana combined various trends in his understanding of sama’. The pre-eternal and post eternal Friend as mentioned in his quatrains manifests Himself dancing on the curtains of the heart so that He teaches the art of whirling during sama’. This sama’ has a deep meaning; water of life gushes forth from the earth at the place where the beloved stepped his feet during his dancing. Music is universal like mysticism. Both have almost universal rules and come together through practices particular to themselves and both of them are distinguished from others by the practices of different people. Be it during a sama’ or not there is such a special relation between the dervish and the music. Music completes a dervish’s remembrance.