Page 101 - The Profound Darkness of the Hypocrite

A D N A N O K TA R ( H A R U N Y A H Y A )

of our religion and who openly admit that they are against every kind of religious
thought, yet adopt a total opposite position when it comes to Rumi's views and
works, should be closely examined.
Other than those people who are against Islam, it is attention-grabbing that
'some people with hypocritical character, who present themselves as Muslims
but attract attention with their apathy to Islam, are also approaching Rumi's
views genially in the same way'.

To understand the reasons for this, Rumi's works and opinions should first be

closely examined.
As it is known, Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi lived during the 13th century. One
of his most important works is Masnawi. How many of the views in this book,
which was written and compiled after his death, actually belonged to Mawlana

Rumi and how many belonged to other people is questionable. While some his-

torians assert that 'Rumi's son wrote Masnawi and ascribed it to his father',
others propound that 'Masnawi was written by three different people'.
Whoever really wrote Masnawi, there are lots of expressions in this work that
are incompatible with the Qur'an. Some acts, which are clearly stated to be 'unlawful'
in the Qur'an, are falsely asserted to 'be lawful in Islam'. In an obscene and im-

proper manner, the book consists of anecdotes that comprise 'homosexuality and
child molestation' and 'sexual apartheid along with humiliation of women',
while 'defending wine as lawful', 'asserting Masnawi as a holy book', 'declaring
life to have come into being through evolution' and 'implying that Rumi is a

prophet'. However, these are all repugnant to the commands of Islam and the

Qur'an.
Indeed, the reason for the deep interest of Islam's opponents and those who
target Islam while appearing to be Muslims toward Rumi should be looked for at
this very point.

Views in Masnawi that are contrary to Islam may not belong to Rumi per
se. The people who added these parts may have done it because of their own ig-
norance or nescience. However, in any case, the dissemination of these statements
that are ascribed to Mawlana Rumi and that are incompatible with the Qur'an
and Turkish-Islamic moral values and presented falsely 'under the name of Islam'
is a grave danger both in terms of religion and society. Some Muslims who don't

have sufficient information on Islam might become 'confused' due to the situation
they face and they might unconsciously wander away from Qur'anic principles and
beliefs.
Moreover, this situation has created a very favorable ground for hypocrites
who want to distort Islam in accordance with their polytheistic beliefs. These nar-

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