An Investigation of Mystical Conduct in Masnavi Molavi and Sultanvalad

Molana Jalal-Al-Din is one of the mystics who never ceased his quest for Allah during his life and successfully reached the heights of wisdom by consistency in the mystic way. Molana grew up under the supervision of a wise and enlightened father who was in companionship of great people and benefited a lot from spiritual powers. When his father died, Borhan Mohaghegh took the responsibility of his guidance and elevated the young Molana in mystic science and made him one of the saints who was in love with Allah. After Borhan Mohaghegh guidance, Shams-e-Tabrizi promoted him to the highest levels of devotion to Allah.In addition, there was an appropriate and suitable condition for Soltan Valad, to grow spiritually. He was an invaluable and experienced father who help him pave the way in spiritual growth and help him pass the hard and uneventful mystic path. He considered his father as an everlasting wise and insightful man and believed that the other saints sacredness is because of his father leadership or Velayat (Soltan Valad, 1363:497).The same as his father, Soltan Valad had a close companionship with the ancestors of Molavi's way and apperceived the presence of Pir-e-Termez and even remembered his words about the mystic way and made use of them in his teaching. Moreover, he was one of the companions of Shams-e-Tabrizi and received lots of guidance from him (Vaseghi et al, 1393:184-189). He respected all the fellows and followers of Molana and sought their assistance along his mystic way. Even when he was selected as the leader of the Molana's way, he never ignored the great men like Karim-al-din Baktmar and was constantly proud of his companionship (Soltan Valad, 1363:610).Sultan Valad trained by the instructions of the pioneers of the Molavi's way specially Molavi, unravel the secrets of magnificent thoughts of his father by creating works such as Masnavies (Ebteda Name, Robab Name and Enteha Name) and the Divan of Poems and Maaref. As such he provided the researchers with a new explanation of his father's mystic experiences with new interpretations. The survey of his works indicates that SultanValad not only rendered Molana's thoughts, he had also attained some experiences and revelations in the practical mystics. Nevertheless, Molana's greatness and his great works kept SultanValad in isolation and that is why his works did not receive the attention they really deserved from the scholars.

This study is a basic research done in the library using the descriptive-analytical method. First, the issue of mystic way was scrutinized through the study of the Masnavi Manaavi and the Masnavis of Soltan Valad and then Molana's and Soltan Valad's viewpoints about the issue of mystic were studied and analyzed. Beside the common conceptions between the father and the son who were both the followers of Molavieh way, Soltan Valad's novel explanations and interpretations of his father's words and his new visions were studied.

In the mystic viewpoint, in order to reach the truth of one's existence and attaining integrity, a person has no other option but entering the mystic way. The mystic way is to move toward the sanctuary of Allah, the movement in which there is no shortcoming or flaw form the lover and what is important is to reach the Allah sources of unity. The real mystics avoid all sources of evil and bad deeds and devote all their mankind characteristics for the sake of divine characteristics (Nasafi, 1381: 103). Nasafi, the author of Zobdato-al-Haghayegh believes that: “mystic way is to move away from the devil words to the divine words, from the devil deeds to the divine deeds, from the devil moral to the divine moral and forgetting yourself and become unite with Allah” (Nasafi, 1381: 103).The mystic way is a spiritual movement which leads to self-realization and this way he can recognize the unique Allah (Abarghohi,1364:95). Attar Neishabori considers mystic way as a necessary condition for self-realization and believes that if the mystic knows himself well and gets to know this fact quiet well, he can see his level beyond the angles and the saints and thus he can reach high spiritual positions (Attar, 1388:198). The mystic way is to select a voluntary death. The true men who resort to the magnificent Allah refuge would attain a wondrous truth and reach the infinite secrets beyond the material world (Semnani, 1366:68). Molasadra considers the real mystic as someone who tries to look for Allah through his heart and does what is appropriate for a follower by following the rules of Quran and the Prophet and Ahlul-Beit (AS) (Mola Sadra Shirazi, 1360:80).After finishing the mystic period, the mystics are divided into two groups: some are the members of companionship and live among the ordinary people and the others choose to be secluded (Nasafi, 1386:121).There are many words and thoughts about the mystic way in the Masnavi Maanavi which Soltan Valad has been affected by and has talked about in his Masnavis and has provided some unique interpretation for them.

 From the investigation of the mystic way in Masnavi Maanavi and Soltan Valad's Masnavies, it can be concluded that these two followers of the Molavieh way have many common viewpoints and that Soltan-Valad has been affected by his father's thoughts and viewpoints and has also used his experiences and his mystic revelations to give new view points and interpretations. Molana hears the return to the real homeland from the panpipes (Ney) and Soltan Valad based on Molana's thoughts, thinks of lyre (Robab) as the secret to return to the spiritual worlds and believes that if Ney only conveys one message, there are many hidden groans in the Robab and therefore it better describes parting. Rabab, which is the sign of true lovers, reluctantly calls on Allah to taste the joinery. Robab also speaks of the unseen worlds and illustrates the endlessness of these heavenly worlds.Molana refers to the homeland in the hadith "loving the homeland is from to Allah" as divine temple. Sultanvalad while confirming Molana's belief, believes that when the man joins his real land, he changes from a lover to a beloved and will be united with Allah the way Halaj did. Molana and Soltan Valad both believe that every little component will finally return to its totality and will join its type. Therefore, the human should know his real nature by knowing himself and if he is among the true believers, he should not stay in the materialistic world. According to Sultanvald, all senses and forms have been originated from Allah, so they must return to their origin. He believes that the message of all the Qur'an's revelation is to return to the true homeland.In Masnavi Maanavi, Molana enquires the mystics to release their souls from the lust and whims by avoiding the material world and this way arrive at the devotion stage and perceive the spiritual affairs by their hearts. Soltan Valad believes that quitting the material world means the negation of everything except Allah. With the interpretation of the hadith "believers do not affect by the same vice twice" he affirms that the human should not be trapped by the materialistic world and dreams because he has been deceived by it several times.Molan insists on the necessity of having a spiritual company in the mystic way and believes that the lonely mystic will lead to deviation. Soltan Valad asks the mystics to accompany the real mystics and if they cannot find a spiritual leader they can seek a spiritual company. He also believes that if the seeker does not reach his goals with one disciple, he must hire a new disciple to achieve his transcendent goal. Of course, this disciple must have a luminous alliance with the former disciple, and both think of a common goal.In Masnavi Maanavi, Aref-e-Balkhi asks the mystics not to be satisfied at any level of mystic stages and never feel they have reached perfection. This concept is repeated in Soltan Valad's Masnavis as well. SultanValad also affirms with the interpretation of the hadith " everyone who spend two days the same, he is a loser" that the mystics should always be improving and if they don't see any improvement in themselves, they must have been stuck in the mystic way. So it is on the seeker that like Prophet Moses (pbuh), find somebody like Khezer (pbuh) to follow. SultanVald confesses that by Moses and Khazr (AS), he means Molana and Shams, because Molana, despite the high spiritual level, returned to Shams. In Molana and Soltan Valad's doctrine, the level of mystics are different. In Valad,s idea, the saints who have reached the beloved state are superior than the other. He believes that Shams Tabrizi, who was a real lover of Allah, also led Molana to this stage. Before Shams arrived, Molana classified at the second stage of believers.Molana believes that mystic is of two types: moving to Allah and moving in Allah (Allah's characteristics). Moving to Allah is finite but moving in Allah is infinite. According to Mohaghegh Termezi , Soltan Valad has also believe in the same division for the mystics: Moving to Allah and moving in Allah. Based on his ideas moving toward Allah is low rank level but delving into Allah names and attributes will reach the seeker to Allah. According to SultanValad, the seeker in moving in Allah and in the realm of closeness, every moment sees a new power and a new world, and there is no end to the wonders of this stage.