ARCH Team Travels to Konya, Turkey

In September 2015, Dr. Cheryl Benard, President of ARCH, and Sophia Schultz, Director of International Programs, travelled to Konya, Turkey, located on the former Silk Road. The city is world-famous for being the place where the mystic, poet, and scholar Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (also known as “Mowlana” in the Persian speaking world, and “Mevlana” in Turkish) spent the last decades of his life producing many of his writings, which are still revered all over the world. His thoughts on unity, tolerance, peace and love still resonate today, 808 years after his birth – and in fact, as Jane Ciabattari notes in her article for the BBC, he is the most popular poet in the U.S. today!

Of relevance to the turmoil in our current world, Rumi was the quintessential refugee. As a child, he fled from the advancing Mongols together with his family, and his journey led him through what today is Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Syria before he reached safety in Turkey. The Mevlana Museum in Konya is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Turkey. In the city center, even a taxi stand is called after his name, the souvenirs take strange forms, including, for example, plastic replicas of his grave containing candy. Every year on December 17, his death-date, people from all over the world travel to Konya for the “Night of the Union,” as his passing symbolizes his union with God.

I didn’t come here on my own accord/Whoever brought me here/Will have to take me home/
-Rumi (interpreted by Coleman Barks)

Dr. Benard and Ms. Schultz met with Dr. Hakan Gök, Mrs. Selma Turan and Mr. Halil Ibrahim Aydogdu from Mevlana University to discuss our plans to jointly build a Rumi Garden. We reviewed potential sites including the new campus of Mevlana University and some other potential locations. We brainstormed some possible designs, education programs, and activities. Your input is welcome as we continue to solidify the planning.

ARCH’s vision is to create a series of Rumi Gardens in multiple cities internationally. The first two pilot gardens will be in Konya and in Kabul, representing the end point and the starting point of Rumi’s journey. Rumi is said to have given the following advice to his son Sultan Bahā al-Din Walad (excerpt taken from a presentation given in Karachi, Pakistan by Dr. Hakan Gök)

“Bahā al-Din! If you want to reside in Paradise forever, be friends with all and hold malice towards none in your heart. Do not ask for too much, nor attempt to be greater than anyone. Be soft, like an unguent or wax, not sharp like a needle. If you wish that no harm come to you from anyone, say, teach and think no evil; for if you speak well of somebody, you will always be joyful. This joy is that of Paradise itself. If you speak ill of someone, you will always be sad. This grief is that of Hell itself. When you speak of your friends, your inner garden, rich with roses and sweet basil, will bloom. When you speak of your enemies, your inner garden swarms with thorns and snakes; you will become downcast and exhausted.”