There is nothing worse than poetry - Part 1 of 2
April 23, 2015
I wish to make people happy so much that, when friends come to visit me, I recite poetry so that they will not be sorry and bored. Then for some time I stop the poetry, and they become sad and want me to recite poetry again. And I cannot refuse them, so I recite poetry. Otherwise, where am I and where is the poetry? By Allaah, I am away from poetry, I care nothing about poetry.
In my sight there is nothing worse than poetry. What is this situation like? Upon the request of his guest someone has taken an animal’s stomach (tripe) and is washing it. This act of his and his enduring the dirty smells is to fulfill the request of his guest because he knows that his guest likes the meal prepared from the animal’s stomach. In our hometown -- the city of Balkh -- there was no occupation or craft more disgraceful than poetry. If we had not come here [to Konya] and had stayed in our hometown, we would have followed their ways. We would have worked the way they wanted. We would have been occupied with teaching, giving lectures, and classifying books, and we would not recite poetry.
(adapted from Fundamentals of Rumi’s Thought,
translated by Sefik Can, p. 201)
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Given the tendency in the modern age to present Jalaal ud-Diin Rumi as a poet, some may be surprised by his words above. Yet understanding the place of poetry in his life can be helpful to gaining a more complete understanding of who he is, how he lived, and what can be learned from his time on earth.
Jalaal ud-Diin Rumi’s view about poetry has its roots in the life of the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) and how poets were viewed in Arabia at that time. To be a poet then not only meant to compose or be a channel of one’s “own” poems but to also be a reciter of one’s own work -- and sometimes the noted work of others. (Jalaal ud-Diin’s interwove quotes of others’ poems, usually Sufi poets, into his own poems and discourses.) Arabian culture was more oral-based than paper-based in terms of keeping records (i.e. historical accounts, noted stories) and conveying social messages (i.e. “campaigns” to urge societal change). Therefore, great value was placed in those who could not only powerfully communicate with words but also craft or channel words that powerfully imprinted in the memories of those who heard them. To this end, eloquence, captivating metaphors, simplicity and accessibility of meaning, melody and rhythm, dramatic recitation were qualities poets were celebrated for. And the topics of poems were not limited to artistic expression as in modern Western culture: Arabian poems span from art to romance to history to wise teachings to prophesy to social commentary to religion and more.
It is within this setting that Muhammad received the first revelations of the Qur’aan: verses in Arabic directly from Allaah, the Absolute, delivered to him by the angel Jibriil (Gabriel). Many of these verses, which were later organized into books through divine guidance, were clearly “poetic” by Arabian standards. There are countless accounts of how people were moved by the beauty and power of the recitation of these verses, some reduced to tears. For some, verses effortlessly imprinted themselves into the memories of listeners after only one hearing, almost how today we may hear a commercial jingle or part of a song that we can’t get out of our heads.
Although Muhammad wasn’t a poet before the Qur’aanic revelations began, some who resisted his claims to be a Messenger and Prophet of Allaah grouped him with poets who also made assertions of divine authority. Such resistance was further fueled by the Qur’aan’s explicit challenge to abandon all deities and spiritual / religious approaches other than surrender to and direct worship of Allaah -- not something most of the Arabs of that day wished to hear. Some poets presented themselves as “prophets” who could foretell and shape the future, expound spiritual lessons and powers, speak to and relay messages from various deities; thus, making them worthy -- in their eyes -- of being teachers, leaders, and persons of influence in society. And, of course, some poets utilized these roles to accumulate personal fame and wealth.
Suffice it to say, most of these poets proved to be false “prophets:” many who spun their facades of deception for personal gain as long as they could. Allaah, through the Qur’aan, gave repeated explicit pronouncements that this was not the case with Muhammad:
{36} And [people] say: “What! shall we give