KONYA, Turkey // As conductor of 20 of the world’s most accomplished whirling dervishes, and 30 of the greatest Sufi musicians, Fahri Ozcakil holds one of the highest spiritual positions in Turkey.
But despite his high status, Mr Ozcakil remains resolutely humble.
“I am nothing,” he says. “As human beings, our capacity is limited. I am just the temporary bearer of this great moral responsibility.”
In this spirit of deep humility, Mr Ozcakil gathered with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, international religious leaders and thousands of worshippers in Turkey’s Central Anatolian city of Konya on Wednesday to celebrate the most important day in Sufi Islam - the death of the poet Rumi, 741 years ago.
December 17 is known in Turkey as Seb-i Arus, or Wedding Night, and recognises Rumi’s belief that when a Sufi dies they are reunited with God.
Seb-i Arus is the culmination of an annual week-long celebration of Rumi’s life and work that attracts one million people to the city of Konya, where he is buried.
Loved by Sufis worldwide for poetry that transcends religious, cultural and ethnic boundaries, Rumi helped to forge the identity of Sufis as Muslims who actively promote open-mindedness, tolerance, love and mystical practises like whirling and chanting.
He also founded the first order of whirling dervishes - a group of religious spinning dancers, based in Konya, who dedicate their lives to Sufism and have always welcomed non-Muslims to enjoy their ritual.
The Sufi identity tends to overlap with Sunni and Shia identities, and comprises no more than 5 per cent of the world’s Muslims.
But despite their relatively small population - and the fact that some more conservative Muslims view them as heretics - Sufis have played a major role in shaping Islamic culture.
In recent years, despite the increasingly conservative tendencies of Turkey’s present government, the country has witnessed a surge in Sufi worship, especially among its urban, secular-minded population.
Turkey’s most widely read female author, Elif Safak, has placed Sufism as a central theme in several of her internationally best-selling novels.
Numerous television programmes debate and discuss Sufism and its influence can be seen across Turkish popular culture, including the music of composer Mercan Dede. The DJ and producer fuses traditional acoustic Turkish instruments with more modern beats.
“In this daily life of madness and stress, people want to look inside themselves and ask the questions: ‘Who am I? What does my life mean?’” said Sukran Ozbekler of the Turkish women’s cultural association, who was visiting Konya for Seb-i Arus.
“Sufism contains answers.”
Konya, which is the capital of Konya province, is considered one of Turkey’s most conservative cities.
But when Sufi pilgrims from around the world descend upon it for Seb-i-Arus, the city’s residents embrace them.
Like Mr Ozcakil, locals and pilgrims alike are eager to discuss Rumi’s place within Islam, his poetry and his transcendent love for God and humanity.
“I brought my daughters [to Konya] to introduce them to the love of Mevlana,” said Ishmael Hosein, referring to the name given to Rumi by his admirers, meaning “our master”. Mr Hosein is an Indian Sufi Muslim from Delhi.
Among the most famous of Rumi’s stories is how the spiritual, trance-like whirling of the dervishes came to be.
According to the poet, he was wandering Konya’s main bazaar when he heard craftsmen hammering gold into shape. The rhythmic hammering on the metal sounded to Rumi like a chant of Allah’s name. He then raised his arms and began spinning until he reached “oneness with God.”
During Seb-i Arus the dervishes reenact Rumi’s whirling in a spectacular 90-minute ceremony called Sema, which is rich in symbolism.
The dervishes wear tall felt hats, or sikk, which represent tombstones and the death of the ego.
Some describe the feeling of witnessing a Sema as “having wings and flying off the ground with the rhythm and sounds.”
Mr Ozcakil, who is the head of the Konya Turkish Tasawwuf Music Ensemble, participated in his first Sema at the age of 11. He is now 53.
Since 2008, Mr Ozcakil has taken up the role of postnisin in the Sema. The postnisin represents the physical embodiment of Rumi and acts as the spiritual head of the entire Sema ritual.
“As a dervish turns, his heart is the house of God,” said Mr Ozcakil, adding that the Sema ceremony is “just 10 per cent of being a Sufi.”
“You must be a good Muslim and feel the presence of God in your daily life with deep meditation and prayer,” he said.
More conservative Mullahs have traditionally clashed with Sufis throughout Islamic history, and attacks on Sufis and Sufi sacred places have increased in the wake of the Arab spring.
In Syria, numerous Sufi shrines, tombs and graves have been destroyed by ISIL and other extremist groups.
But Sufis will not be responding with violence, said Mr Ozcakil.
“There is no such barbaric or savage behaviour allowed in our religion,” Mr Ozcakil said after the Sema. “These people have nothing to do with Islam.”
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
