Mevlevi Sheikh Ibrahim Gamard was invited to write about his association with Mevlevi tradition as part of the celebration of the thirtieth year since the founding of the International Mevlana Foundation (Istanbul and Konya)
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A Westerner's Mevlevi Journey
by Ibrahim Gamard
This poor one (fakeer, "and God is the Rich") first encountered Hz. Mevlana's Mesnevi in 1975; he read its complete translation
in English, and thought it was the greatest book of religious mysticism that he had ever found. The next year a Mevlevi Sheikh
named Suleyman Loras Efendi came to Los Angeles from Konya, Turkiye, in order to visit a group of Western Sufis who had been
practicing a form of Mevlevi whirling. The Sheikh initiated fakir and several others as Mevlevi whirlers (semazens) and he led
them in a shortened version of the Mevlevi Whirling Prayer Ceremony (Sema) in a gymnasium, while listening to a cassette tape
recording of Mevlevi whirling music called "Beyati."
The next year, fakir and his wife travelled to Konya for the first time, met the Sheikh, and went to Hz. Mevlana's tomb, which he
likened to a fountain of divine Grace. This was the beginning of fakir's devotion to Mevlana's mausoleum (turbehane), which
included over forty pilgrimages (ziyaret) to Konya during the past fifty years.
Fakir had converted to Islam in 1984 and performed the Hajj ritual in 1999. Later that year, another Mevlevi sheikh, named Shefik Can Efendi, came to the US from Istanbul. He was invited by a Mevlevi group that was based in Santa Cruz, California. Fakir fell spiritually in love with the Sheikh, who was in his nineties and was very learned in the original Persian of Mevlana's works. Fakir offered his allegiance bey'at) to the Sheikh, who accepted it, and he became the Sheikh's disciple (murid).
Fakir waited to visit his Sheikh until clear spiritual guidance came. This occurred when he met Esin Chelebi Bayru, the Vice-President of the Mevlana Foundation and the sister of the President who had been invited to California by a universalist Sufi group. When fakir told her that he had taken hand with Shefik Can Efendi, she said: "I visit him every weekend. You must come to Istanbul and I will take you to his house." Soon after, in April 2004, fakir travelled to Istanbul and went with Esin hanim to Shefik Can's house. The Shaykh remembered fakir and how he played his flute next to his hospital bed in California. He said (about fakir, translated): "He will go very fast." And then he looked at fakir with a spiritual gaze, commented on the light on his face, and said to the others (about fakir), "I see more than you can (referring to his spiritual senses), even though I can't see well." Esin hanim asked the Sheikh's permission to take fakir to Konya and it was granted. They took a bus (together with a woman friend of Esin's) and saw the Sheikh's empty grave there. After returning to Istanbul, fakir told the Sheikh how blessed he was that his empty grave was so near to Hz. Mevlana's tomb. After hearing this, he became very happy and told his wife, Sebahat hanim, to go to the closet and give fakir his suit jacket, vest, and pants. He then asked fakir to put these on and they fit well. Fakir then stood in front of the Sheikh, bowed, and whirled out of joy. The Sheikh also gave fakir a sweater that his mother had knitted for him. Esin hanim and Nur Artiran (who assisted the Sheikh by gathering material for the books he was writing) were present. During another visit, the Sheikh gave him him a signed copy of his translation into Turkish from Persian of Hz. Mevlana's complete quatrain poems [rubaiyat], published in 1991. This was significant because fakir had been teaching himself to read Persian since the early 1980's in order to understand Hz. Mevlana's teachings in the original language. And fakir had been gradually translating Mevlana's quatrains into English for many years. When fakir told te Sheikh that he would be returning to the US the next day, he said, "We will be connected. heart to heart." These were the last words that he said to fakir. Twelve days after fakir returned to the US, he received news that Shefik Can had a major stroke. In September of that year, fakir returned to Istanbul and visited Shefik Can Efendi in his island home. It was unclear if the Sheikh remembered him, as he was not talking, but he signed his name in one of his books as a gift. He had a second stroke a couple of months later and passed away in January 2005.
Fakir first met Faruk Hemdem Chelebi on April 9, 2004 in his mother's apartment during this same visit to Istanbul. He is the President of the International Mevlana Foundation and the son of Dr. Celaleddin Chelebi, who started the Foundation in 1996. Subsequently, in 2007, fakir was changing out of his whirling garments after participating in a Sema at Galata Mevlevi lodge when it was announced that Chelebi Efendi had granted authorization (icazet) for fakir to be a Mevlevi teacher and guide (Sheikh) and Sema leader (postneshin).
During the nearly thirty years since then, fakir has striven to help continue the basic elements of Mevlevi tradition, such as through his website (www.dar-al-masnavi.org), which he started in 2001. The website receives hundreds of visitors per month. It includes a discussion group which, over the years has covered a wide range of topics that are on the website. (During these years, fakir supported his wife and daughter by working as a psychologist doctor.)
A) Continuing the Mevlevi tradition of the Chelebi lineage (Makam-Chelebiler]: by publishing an article on his website titled, "The Leader of All Mevlevis." The article explains how the authority of the present Makam-Chelebi (Faruk Chelebi) Efendi derives directly from the patrilineal heritage of Hazret-i Mevlana to his grandson, Ulu Arif Chelebi until it reached Abdul-Halim Chelebi, the last Grand Chelebi of the Mevlevi Order, until 1925; finally. it reached the latter's great-grandson, Faruk Chelebi. A prime right of the Makam-chelebi is that only he can authorize and appoint new Mevlevi sheikhs. During the past years of Faruk Chelebi's leadership, he has appointed twent two sheikhs and three Mesnevi teachers. The article includes the names of all of the above, updated as they are appointed.
B) Continuing the Mevlevi practice of the remembrance of God (zikru llâh) by chanting the Name of God (ism-i Celal: “Alah, Allah, Allah. . . ) silently or with a group of Mevlevis. It can be a joy to chant at the same time as anything rhythmic: such as one's breath or heartbeat, when walking, and so on.
C) Continuing the Mevlevi tradition of the Whirling Prayer Ceremony [Sema]: as a Mevlevi whirler (semazen) for thirty years (on and off) in numerous Semas starting in the US and ending in Turkiye, in the historical Galata Mevlevi Sema hall (semahane) in Istanbul; as a Mevlevi Sema leader (semazenbashi) in an outside courtyard of the famous Ayasofya Mosque in Istanbul; as a Mevlevi Sema co-leader (ikinci postneshin) in California and Istanbul and, in recent years, in Semas led by Postnesin Nadir Karnibuyukler Efendi in Konya, in an outside amphitheater next to the famous turquoise dome that is above Hz. Mevlana's tomb. Fakir has always understood Sema as a form of the remembrance of God [zikru llah] and he has chanted silently, "Allāh" while whirling.
D) Continuing the Mevlevi tradition of the sacred music of the Whirling Prayer Ceremony (ayinler): by learning to play Mevlevi music on the Turkish reed-flute (ney); also, by translating from Persian a number of musical compositions for the Sema (placed on his website) that are sung by Mevlevi musicians during the Sema Ceremony.
E) Continuing the tradition of reading and studying Hz. Mevlana's deep wisdom in his books of poetry and prose, plus the books of some of his contemporaries in translation and in the original Persian; by teaching himself to read classical Persian over a period of many years, starting about 1980; by reading the entire Mesnevi in Persian (with the aid of English translation and matching audio recordings); by translating thirty-six complete ghazals (on his website, together with transliterations and explanatory notes) from Mevlana's Divan; by translating all of Hz. Mevlana's (nearly two thousand) quatrains with the aid of an Afghan scholar whose native language is Persian (a project that took twenty-two years before it was published, in 2008, plus an additional four years until it came out in a second revised edition in 2023); by writing his first book titled, "Rumi and Islam" (which contains translations of a number of stories from the Mesnevi about the virtues of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) plus explanatory notes); by writing his second book, "The Quatrains of Rumi" (which is bilingual and contains numerous explanatory notes); by writing his third book, Sultan Walad: "Following in the Footsteps of Rumi and Shams" (2023, which consists of selected translations from the discourses of Hz. Mevlana's son, Sultan Veled); this book was originally written in Turkish by a scholar who lives in Konya (it was later translated and expanded by fakir into English); by translating, during the past four years from Persian, the arliest hagiography of Mevlana's life (by Sepahsalar, forthcoming) in collaboration with an Iranian scholar originally from Isfahan; by studying (with the help of English translations) Hz. Mevlana's "Discourses" (Fihi ma fihi), most of the "Discourses of Shams" (Makalat), and all of the well-known hagiography of Hz. Mevlana's life (by Aflaki); by translating one hundred forty selections from the Mesnevi (that are on his website, together with transliterations and explanatory notes); by establishing a Mevlana research library (that includes four editions of the Mesnevi in Persian, three multi-volume commentaries, a multi-volume glossary of terms, three editions of the Divan, the discourses of Mevlana's father (Baha'uddin Veled), plus a number of books composed by other Sufi poets, such as 'Attar and Sana'i.; by establishing a second website, www.masnavi.net (which was built for him by two software engineers); it contains the entire Mesnevi in three (searchable) languages (English, Persian, and Turkish) all matched together with twenty-six thousand audio files in Persian;; by reading the entire Masnavi in Persian (with the help of English translations and Persian audios on the website); by keeping this website online for over ten years, which receives thousands visitors per month.
Early on, fakir became acutely aware of how the enormous popularity of Mevlana's poetry in our time has given rise to many verses and poems that do not belong to Hz. Mevlana as claimed, plus many distorted interpretive versions (often wrongly called "translations" when the authors cannot read Persian). Consequently, a major emphasis in his books and website involves the refutation of false "Rumi poems." A concordance at the end of The Quatrains of Rumi lists fifty-two books in English that contain translations and versions that can be compared with the accurate translations in the book.
F) Continuing the Mevlevi tradition of following the basic practices of the religion of Islam. Fakir taught himself to read the entire Qur"an in Arabic (with the aid of translation). In addition, he has translated and transliterated the "Evrad-i Sherif" (which contains prayers from the Qur'an and Hadiths), plus he has done the same with the Ninety-Nine Names of God (both are on his website). Also, he visited the tomb of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), before proceding to Mecca (in 1999).
>G) Continuing the Mevlevi tradition of making pilgrimage to Mevlevi tombs, primarily Mevlana's tomb. Fakir has travelled to Konya more than forty times over the years, often twice a year. He loves to stand in front of Hz. Mevlana's tomb and to feel the blessings that emanate from it; these blessings spiritualize him while he is in Konya. When he is in the Mevlana Mausoleum, he does not ask for favors for himself. Rather, he prays for blessings to be upon the souls of Hz. Mevlana, his father, son, disciples, and family members; he does the same at the "place" (makam) representing Shems-i Tabrizi nearby, as well as upon Mevlana's mother in the city of Karaman.
Traditionally, Mevlevis lived together in lodges ttekkes, dergahs) and followed the Mevlevi Sufi path (tarikat) as a group effort. Nowadays, a century after the closure of the lodges, Mevlevi gatherings more often take place in rented rooms, dance studios, and classrooms guided by a Mevlevi teacher, or assistant teacher, who may also provide instruction and guidance via the Internet.
This article tells the story of a Westerner who began traveling to Konya and Istanbul in search of what remains of living Mevlevi traditions. He found that little survives besides the Whirling Prayer Ceremony (Sema) and its music. But what continues are Mevlevi traditions that can be strengthened by participating in them, either individually or as a member of a group—such as learning to whirl, to play Mevlevi music on a musical instrument, and to study Mevlevi books. Although the Mevlevi order of Sufism is no longer allowed to have legal status as a dervish organization, Mevlevi traditions today are supported by an educational and cultural non-profit organization called the International Mevlana Foundation. It was started thirty years ago (in 1996) by Dr. Celaleddin Chelebi, who was the grandson of the last Grand Chelebi of the Mevlevi Sufi Order of the Ottoman Empire. His son is Faruk Hemdem Chelebi, the President of the International Mevlana Foundation. It has been said that the purpose of the International Mevlana Foundation is to comprehend, articulate, and to keep alive the timeless truths of Hz. Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi, which are contained in his books and teachings, and to carry them over to the coming generations around the world.
