MAULANA’S DEVOTION TO MUHAMMAD (PBUH)

Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi was profoundly attached to Allah and the Prophet, the last envoy He sent. In this famous quatrain he exclaimed his devotion to Allah and Muhammad as follows:

My soul in my skin is such a slave to the Quran; I am dirt on the road of God’s distinguished Prophet Muhammad.

Whoever attributes other words besides these to me, I will complain before the words and the carrier of them.

He Must Be Affirmed

Maulana Jalaluddin explains at length in the Mesnevi that no hesitancy should be shown in affirming Muhammad because when he was just a child he carried some extraordinary qualities, that even the big idols at the Kaaba knew his apostleship was in the making, and that even a baby miraculously recognized the Prophet.

The idolaters failing to approve of Muhammad in spite of his simplicity and trustworthiness and the truth of what he said, plus his miracles that no one could match, is based on emotional reasons, not rational ones. They displayed an example of dogmatic disbelief. Maulana gives many examples related to this. According to him, in spite of their knowing the last prophet Muhammad very well, they did not affirm him because of their jealousy.

The Necessity of Following His Path

It is necessary to follow the Prophet Muhammad, because, saving man from idolatry, ignorance and oppression, he established tawhid (belief in unity), knowledge, rights and justice. For this reason, Maulana was pleased to follow Muhammad.

New, fortunate friends, it is our duty to put our lives on the line; the head of the caravan is Mustafa, who is praised by the world.

We learned the art of soldiery from God; we are wrestlers of love and friends of Ahmed.

O my soul, the unaccepted one becomes weary and fed up; but I am from the line of the Prophet (I do not shrink from my duty). O my soul, I am the skirts of the sultan’s garment, running behind him.

Let countless Arabian horses be yours; let Ahmed-i Muhtar’s Buraq be ours.

Even if the whole world is a holiday and full of joy, let the world be yours; let the beloved be ours; that is enough for us.

But in order to follow on the path of Muhammad Mustafa and scale the heights like him, love is necessary. Maulana insistently indicates that only words or form are not sufficient to prove we love the Prophet; in addition to these, it is important to follow his path. “He is constantly giving greetings to the Prophet, but where is Mustafa’s purity in him?” asks Maulana. Once he scolded Amir Pervane who wanted some advice from him, “You read the words of Allah and his envoy, spoke of them as you should and you know them as you should, but you didn’t take advice from them or act on any verse or hadith as you should; then why would you listen to my advice and act upon it?”