Why is Ney Similar to the Perfect Man?
“That sweet-speaking reed in your note is the taste of sugar; Your note brings to me the scent of devotion day and night. Start over again, play those tunes one more time. Love of existence, be glorious over all those who love!”
Abidin Pasha explains the relationship between what the wise man is compared to as follows in his commentary: “Before the ney was cut, it would always grow and find fresh life while it was in the reed grove. While the sage’s soul was in the spirit world, it benefited from endless spiritual pleasures. When it comes to the cruel and dry world, it is dry like a thirsty reed because it is deprived of the world of spirits, which is the source of light and life.
Lovely sounds come out of the ney, and lovestruck and wise words come out of a perfect person. The sound of the ney increases the love of those who listen, and the wise person increases the love of talented people with his words of wisdom. Just as a story or a love adventure is often felt from the beautiful sounds of the flute, the states of true lovers and the secrets of the divine world are often heard and felt from the words of the sage.
Abidin Pasha also establishes a relationship between the size of the ney and the state of the wise man. Just as the size of the ney is correct, the state of the wise man is also correct. Ney cut from reeds is strange. The wise man who leaves the world of spirits is also a stranger in the world. The inside of the ney is empty of everything, it is filled only with the breath of love. wise man is also away from all kinds of gossip, his heart is filled only with the conversation and love of Allah. Ney does not produce a melodic sound on its own; it needs the breath of a master blower. The Arif also lives with a very inspiring spirit, to which he has inherited in a chained manner.”
Hacı İlyaszâde Ömer from Sivas has very nice and interesting opinions about the ney in his Mesnevi Commentary. He said that “Listen to the reed, how it tells stories, how it complains about separations; In the verse: ‘I created the ear and the eyes and the hearts for you...’, Allah mentions listening as superior to the eyes and ears, that is, before seeing and heart matters, and Molla (Rumi) also placed listening at the beginning of Mesnevi. By listening, the listener’s heart and eyes are opened and his chest is relieved. The key to this is stated in this verse of Allah: ‘Listen and take advice.’
The reed whistle tells you with the language of mood: “I was living in water and soil with my branches, leaves and roots. I was unaware of the evil, discord and suffering of the low world. I was comfortable. I was safe from everything. I was growing and flourishing. Suddenly, by accident, they separated me from my origin, my place. They cut me, underneath and above me. They pierced my chest. They branded my lungs with a lot of torture. In the end, these troubles I went through turned out to be a blessing. My separation turned into reunion. I had a good ending. I fell into the hands of the master. I came with him out of breath. I became a breathmate. The saying “Even the winds are the breath of Allah” is the hadith of the Prophet. According to this hadith, that complete and mature man breathed his holy breaths and happy breaths into my heart. Dear Mother Mary, with the divine breath, was pregnant with Jesus. Even as a child, Jesus was both calling people to the right path and serving God well. While I was a piece of reed, I became the living water and spirit of love and pureness. The God said about Mary, ‘I breathed into her my own spirit,’ mature men also breathed into me. “I became the nightingale of the garden of truth, the heroic palaces of God’s friends, the spirit-opener and cheerer of assemblies.”
Ney, says like that: What is meant here is, according to the commentator, Molla (Rumi) and the similar ones. In some copies of Mesnevi, “Bişnev ez Ney” also proves this. Here, with the flute, mature and wise people are intended, whose hearts are empty of desires, this word, that word, other than God, and secrets.
Bediüzzaman Firûzanfer, in his commentary on Mesnevi, mentions that commentators gave different and various meanings when interpreting the first couplet. However, according to Firuzanfer, Rumi’s purpose with the ney is that it is an instrument that can be played with breathing and blowing, and that he himself is a musician. “However,” says Firûzanfer, “There is also symbolism in the flute and what is meant is Rumi himself. He has lost himself. It is under the control of love and the beloved. This beloved could be Şems-i Tebrizî, Hüsameddin Çelebi or Allah.
These qualities attributed to what are more or less similar qualities. The common characteristic is what represents the “Perfect Man”:
“It is the symbol of a perfect human being who is free from earthly desires, has destroyed his ego, and is filled with divine love. The ney moans because it has fallen apart from the reed. Man has also been exiled from the eternal world, the spiritual world, to the world. He suffers because he is separated from God. As long as he lives in this world, he struggles with pain, diseases and troubles.
Man and Society
“Man will long for the happiness in the spiritual world and will look for ways to escape from the world in which he is a stranger and lives in exile.” (Can, n.d., p. 13).
According to some people, the experimenter does not actually complain about the separation. What is actually the joy of reunion? According to another interpretation, ney is the name of devotion and loyalty. Evidence for this is again a poem by Rumi:
“That sweet-speaking reed in your note is the taste of sugar; Your note brings to me the scent of devotion day and night. Start over again, play those tunes one more time. Love of existence, be glorious over all those who love!
“Be silent, do not tear your veil, flow into the jug of the silent ones, be a veil, surrender yourself to the mercy of Allah...”
