The great wali Jalaladdin Rumi (quddisa sirruh), who was full of love for Allahu ta'ala, never played reeds or any other instrument. He did not listen to music nor did he ever dance (raqs). Commentaries have been written in every country in many languages to his Mathnawi (Mesnevi), which has more than forty-seven thousand couplets that have been spreading nur (light) to the world. The most valuable and tasteful of these commentaries is the one by Mawlana Jami which has also been commentated on by many others. And, of these, 56 pages, which covered only four couplets, of the commentary by Sulaiman Nesh'et Effendi was published during the time of Sultan 'Abd al-Majid Khan by the Matba'a-i Amira in 1263 A.H. In this book, Mawlana Jami (quddisa sirruh) wrote, "The word 'ney' in the first couplet of the Mathnawi [Listen to the reed...] means a perfect and exalted human being brought up in Islam. Such people have forgotten themselves and everything else. Their minds are always busy seeking Allahu ta'ala's rida (approval, love). In the Persian language, 'ney' means 'non-existent.' Such people have become non-existent from their own existence. The musical instrument called 'ney' is a plain pipe and the sound from the ney is completely from the player. As those exalted men are emptied of their existence, the manifestation of Allahu ta'ala's Akhlaq, Sifat and Kamalat (moral qualities, attributes and perfection) are observed in them. The third meaning of the word 'ney' is reed-pen, which again means, or points to, an insan-i kamil (perfect human). Movements and writings of a pen are not from itself, nor are the actions and words of a perfect human; they are all inspired to him by Allahu ta'ala." 'Abidin Pasha 'rahmatullahi ta'ala 'alaih', the governor of Ankara during the time of Sultan 'Abd al-Hamid Khan the Second, gave nine proofs in his Masnawi Sharhi to show that 'ney' meant insan-i kamil. Also, the Mawlawi (Mevlevi) Shaikhs were learned and pious persons. Uthman ('Uthman) Effendi, one of them, wrote a book titled Tazkiya-i-Ahl al-bayt, in which he refuted the Rafidi book Husniya with documents, thus rendering a great service to Islam. Later some ignorant people thought the 'ney' meant 'musical instrument' and began to play musical instruments such as flutes and drums and dance. Musical instruments were placed in the mausoleum of that great master of Tasawwuf (Mawlana Jalaladdin Rumi). Certainly, people who have read the explanations of Mathnawi (Mesnevi) and know that sun of truth well, will not be misled by such falsifications. Jalaladdin Rumi (quddisa sirruh) did not even perform loud dhikrs (to recite Allahu ta'ala's name loudly). In fact he declared: "Pes zi jan kun, wasl-i jananra taleb, Bi leb-u-bi-gam migu, nam-i Rabb!" In his Mathnawi, which means, "Therefore, with all your heart, you desire to reach the Beloved. Without moving your lip and tongue, say [in your heart] the name of your Rabb!" Later, people ignorant of Islam entertained their nafses by playing instruments, such as the ney, saz and tambourines and by singing lyrics and dancing. In order to call these sins 'ibadat and to make themselves known as men of din they even lie; they say, "Mawlana also used to play and dance like this. We are Mawlawis; we are following his path."
As-salamu 'alaykum, But is it his birthday according to the Hijri or Gregorian calendar? I would understand that as being his 800th anniversary according to the Gregorian calendar. It would have been quite a few years ago according to the Islamic (Hijri) calendar. I mean I am 30 years old in Gregorian years but 31 in Hijri, so imagine the difference over 800 years!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7016090.stm Bashnaw az nay ke hikayat mikonad... May Allah give us all a portion of Mawlana's love. amin. The khanaqah where Mawlana studied in Afghanistan...
