On the occasion of International Women's Day, a commemoration program was organized for Sâmiha Ayverdi...

With the cooperation of Üsküdar University Institute for Sufi Studies, Turkish Women's Cultural Association (TÜRKKAD) and Kerim Foundation, the program "Sâmiha Ayverdi and Reflections to Today" was organized. Within the scope of the program, two panels were held. In the program, the diversity and richness of Sufi literature, Sufi thought and culture were emphasized. It was pointed out that Sâmiha Ayverdi touched many people with her works during her time and now. Advisor to the Rector of Üsküdar University and Founder of Kerim Foundation Cemalnur Sargut expressed that "Sâmiha Ayverdi taught us that Sufism is an infinite source.”

The program, which was held at Üsküdar University Nermin Tarhan Conference Hall, was broadcasted live simultaneously on Üsküdar University Television and YouTube channel.

The opening speeches of the program were made by Üsküdar University Institute for Sufi Studies Deputy Director Prof. Emine Yeniterzi, Turkish Women's Cultural Association (TÜRKKAD) President Emine Bağlı, Üsküdar University Advisor to the Rector and Kerim Foundation Founder Cemalnur Sargut.

Prof. Emine Yeniterzi: "We will have the opportunity to get to know Sâmiha Ayverdi much better"

Üsküdar University Institute for Sufi Studies Deputy Director and Head of the Department of Sufi Culture and Literature Prof. Emine Yeniterzi stated in her speech at the opening of the program that "Today's meeting has two different beauties. We will have the opportunity to get to know Sâmiha Ayverdi, a thinker, sufi, educator, educator of the heart, an excellent author, and a very exceptional lady from İstanbul, who has a very exceptional place like a star in the horizons of this country. Those who offer us this opportunity will be our students who have completed their master's theses guided by this institute. Our thesis topics have touched many people and are about their lives, works and thoughts. Starting with İbn Meserre in the 10th century, Ebû’l Hasan el-Harakani in the 11th century, Necmeddîn-i Kübrâ, Azîz-i Nesefî in the 12th century, Mevlana Yunus Emre, Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli and Muhyiddin İbnü’l-Arabî in the 13th century, Âşık Paşa in the 14th century, Kaygusuz Abdal Eşrefoğlu Rûmî, Cemal-i Halvetî, Kemâl-i Ümmî, Yazıcıoğlu Mehmed, Ahmed-i Bîcân, and Ni’metullâh-ı Velî in the 15th century are some of them... In the theses made so far, the works of our Anatolian wisdom, which covers a history of approximately 1200 years, including 12 centuries separately, have also been examined. Süleyman Çelebi's Mevlid, Erzurumlu İbrahim Hakki's Mârifetnâme, divans, Muhammediye, Envârü'l-âşikîn, Muzakki'n-Nüfûs, and Hüsn-ü Aşk were among the works examined, and these were made on these subjects. Our Sufi culture and literature, Turkish thought and Turkish culture have a great diversity and richness."

Stating that the strengths of the institute are the diversity of the student profile, Yeniterzi expressed that "Successful students who have achieved their professional goals are in the majority. We have students with academic work experience, academics. Professionals and academics bring depth, richness, and dimension to the subject by taking the perspective of their field. For example, we had the opportunity to study the Mevlid Tradition in Western Thrace with one of our students, who is the Mufti of Xanthi, and we examined the Sufi culture in Kosovo. An economist student of ours studied the Concept of Provision in Âşık Paşa's Garîb-Nâme, which is studied by an economist and reveals the methods of interdisciplinary studies. We gather these studies under the 'Work and Work Ethics' working group. Some of the theses made in this context are 'The Effect of Spiritual Values in the Business World: The Case of Far Eastern Production Systems', 'The Positive Contribution of Sufi Science in the Creation of Occupational Safety Culture', 'Communication and Conflict Management in the Workplace: An Islamic Perspective', 'The Re-Establishment of the Value System in the Turkish Business World in the Light of Anatolian Wisdom', 'Comparison of New Leadership Approaches with Sufi Teaching'. Our professors at the institute have great efforts in these theses with their consultancy qualifications. I would like to express my eternal gratitude to our Lord for giving us the opportunity to carry out these studies with a limited academic staff."

Emine Bağlı: "A faithful lady who loves the homeland, the nation and the country..."

After Yeniterzi’s speech, President of the Turkish Women's Cultural Association (TÜRKKAD) Emine Bağlı had the floor for the opening speeches. Bağlı stated that "Especially after the May 27, 1960 revolution, some ideological currents began to circulate among our young people and university students in the country. I was a university student at the time. We understand and see so closely that they are being manipulated and used, and they do this thinking that they are doing very useful work, that they are doing something good for Türkiye. Those young people are sincere, but unfortunately those who use them have ulterior motives. Games are being played on us and we have elders who are extremely upset about it. They present the situation to our mother Sâmiha, saying where the youth is going, what will happen, what should we do? She is very sad. She is a faithful lady who loves the country, the nation and the country. He says we need to do something. Saying 'oh what a pity,' will not work, she says get organized, be informed, be so informed that you can help your children, learn the truth of the matter." She emphasized that Sâmiha Ayverdi, who established many important structures such as the Turkish Women's Cultural Association, which was founded by her in 1966, directly influenced hundreds of people during her lifetime, and that her influence still continues with the works she wrote to raise people with good morals.

Cemalnur Sargut: "We saw the Qur'an in its moral and aspect of affairs in Sâmiha Ayverdi..."

Advisor to the Rector of Üsküdar University and Founder of Kerim Foundation Cemalnur Sargut stated that "The most difficult thing is to tell about one's teacher. It is not easy to describe a teacher, a human being who really saw that manifestation and experienced that manifestation. In the words of Emin Işık, 'the living Qur'an'. We have seen the Holy Qur'an in its state of morality and state from Mother Sâmiha. Our teacher was a great teacher. Naturally, she was a teacher. She was a teacher by her absence, by her presence in her absence. She was like the pen in the hand of her teacher Kenan Rifai, to whom she always said, ‘If I have a tiny bit of reputation in this world, it is from you.’ She wrote it, she said it, she told about it, but she did not have it. She drew us a vision, and she was a teacher who lived along that lines. Sufism is an eternal science. All sciences come to an end, even theology is graded, but Sufism is eternal. That's what she taught us. It is necessary to be familiar with every science so that Sufism can be explained better. Now, Sufism teaches ethics in business and how we should work in the economy. Now, Sufism teaches the philosophy of Rumi in psychology and psychiatry. Sufism is a way of life, it teaches us how to live."

After the opening speeches, the panel started. In the panels, papers prepared from five master's theses about Sâmiha Ayverdi carried out at the Institute were presented.

The first session of the panel was chaired by Üsküdar University Institute for Sufi Studies Deputy Director and Asst. Prof. Cangüzel Güner Zülfikar performed it. She shared a piece from Sâmiha Ayverdi's Hancı.

“Bilirsin, daha kendimi mânâ âleminin emekleyen bir çocuğu bulmaya başlarken, dilimin döndüğü, gücümün yettiği kadar seninle bu cihan ortasında aracılık etmeyi, önüne geçilmez bir heyecanla yaşar oldum. Çok defa susayım, artık susayım… bir daha hiç ağzımı açmayayım… dediğim de oldu. Ama çeşmenin suyunu elinin ayasıyla tıkamak gafletinde bulunan çocuk, bu karşı koyuşa isyan eden sularla nasıl tepeden tırnağa ıslanırsa, ben de ne zaman kendi kendimi susturmak istediysem o söz geçmez coşkunluğun sitemi tufanına uğradım.

Devletlim! Âfâk içinde, mâverâ içinde neyim ben? Ezelden ebede savrulan zaman harmanı içinde, bir burçak… Kâh ekilen, kâh biçilen, kâh yeşerip kâh dişlenen bir dâne…

Bu dâne, evvelce seni bilmeye özenir, bileceğini sanırdı. Zamanlar geçtikçe hiçbir şey bilmeyeceğini, bu dünyaya, sade hayran olmak için gelindiğini öğrendi.

Bilmenin âlâ derecesi bilmemek, ilmin gâyeti de ilimsizlikmiş. Buna, biz iman etmeyiz de kim eder? Söyle, kim eder?”

In her presentation titled "The Second Birth and Spiritual Resurrection in Sâmiha Ayverdi" in the panel, Şehvar Tükek, one of the students of the Institute's "Islamic Civilization, Thought, History and Literature" doctoral program, expressed that "Sâmiha Ayverdi is a educator who raises her children in harmony with matter and meaning, a mother who generously offers her knowledge in every subject to her children and wants to benefit them. She educated her children for a free life, free from the bondage of the soul, and its connection with matter, troubles and challenges. She ensured that the children she raised were freed from the bonds of humanity and born into a free world. Everyone can be beneficial to both their children and themselves under all circumstances. Whatever work you intend and are able to do, embrace it with full and genuine effort... Do not say, ‘what is going to happen,’ because it is a worldly thing... We will do something anyway. Whatever you are going to do, be the best. Thank God, but it would not be with a simple language. There is also a gratitude of the âzâ and cevârih. Ayverdi said that it is to use the strength and power she has given us in the best way and not to let our spiritual dignity be maligned, and while rebuilding the personalities of all her children and students who are subject to her, she brought them into the kingdom with the spiritual birth of the Prophet Jesus' saying, ‘One who is not born again cannot enter the kingdom.'"

In her presentation titled "Sâmiha Ayverdi's Novel of Man and Devil: The Role of Satan in the Evolution of Man", Deniz Yağ stated that "In Sâmiha Ayverdi's novel Man and Devil, it is said that every being who is far from God is Devil. In Sâmiha Ayverdi's thought, the devil is described as a mirror to distinguish between good and evil. This mirror, which shows the beautiful as beautiful and the ugly as ugly, has no power to make the beautiful ugly and the ugly beautiful. If Satan had not been created, rebellion and disbelief would not have arisen, and thus it would not have been possible to speak of worship and obedience to Allah. From this point of view, Satan is a necessary entity for human evolution and is a powerful actor of the divine system. He is not the one who creates evil, but only the one who holds up a mirror to evil. Although it is Allah who allows our actions, what befits a servant is always to preserve decency and to know one’s weakness."

In his presentation titled "Sâmiha Ayverdi and Cemîl Person (Good Person)", Serkan İçtem expressed that "A cemîl person seeks the source, the reason, the Creator in all the beauties one sees. The question of who makes these beauties, which are breathtaking with their smell, color and magnificence, also contains the answer in itself. Sâmiha Ayverdi compares this situation to the separation of large rivers into thin and modest tributaries, or to people pulling it to the field with artificial means and canals. All these thin channels eventually connect to the big river, the point is not to mistake this thin tributary for the river itself, but to reach the source by following it."

The second session of the panel was chaired by Faculty Member of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at İstanbul Commerce University Assoc. Prof. Zeyneb Çağlıyan İçener. İçener stated that she closely follows the studies carried out at the Institute for Sufi Studies that follow in the footsteps of the trio of "knowledge, wisdom and hidden cause".

In the second session, Filiz Kavaklı made a presentation titled 'The Creative Freedom of Sâmiha Ayverdi' and Elif Titrek made a presentation titled 'The Principle of I'lâ-ı Kelimetullah: Remembering the Forgotten, Searching for the Lost'.

Filiz Kavaklı said that "Sâmiha Ayverdi's perception of freedom is divinely referenced and has a Sufi character. She believes that in addition to earthly captivity, spiritual shielding such as goodness, reward and the desire for paradise can only be overcome with the help of Divine Love. From this point of view, it finds freedom in the moral perfection that will take place under the guidance of Divine Love. She identifies the state of being free with being human and the state of bondage with the devil. In the free man, all aspects of the self that are considered ugly are abandoned. A free person has been able to accrue the attributes of Allah in oneself by adorning oneself with very valuable moral qualities such as being altruistic and generous. For this reason, a free man is the most perfect, superior, and perfect example of the human species. It can be said that Ayverdi's "creative freedom" constructs both personality and civilization, that is, while creating one's own personality, it also creates civilization."

Elif Titrek, one of the students of the "Islamic Civilization, Thought, History and Literature" doctoral program at the Institute for Sufi Studies, said that "We wanted to see and understand the place of the purpose of i‘lâ-yı kelimetullah in Turkish-Islamic civilization with the intention of examining the course of the principle of i‘lâ-yı kelimetullah on the axis of the past, present and future. When considered in the Sufi framework, we have determined the connection of the enthusiasm of i‘lâ-yı kelimetullah with the concepts of tawhid and decency. We think that the examination of the concept of i‘lâ-yı kelimetullah in Sâmiha Ayverdi's works from a Sufi perspective can play an enlightening role in determining the relationship between the concepts of personality and civilization in terms of spiritual values and virtues. We hope that the research to be carried out on this subject will lead to contemplation by raising the question of how the twenty-first century people can live with the principle of i‘lâ-yı kelimetullah."

Elif Titrek concludes Sâmiha Ayverdi's treatise titled From Slavery to Mastery, which she started by advocating the Islamic world to the purpose of i‘lâ-yı kelimetullah, with another dawah and says:

“Hepinizi, hepimizi tek anlayış, tek âhenk, tek gaye etrafında birleşmeye çağırıyorum. Gene hepinizi, hepimizi, dalı budağı eflâke uzanmış bir tevhit ağacının altına çağırıyorum. Allah’ın bütün yaratılmışlara eşsiz ihsanı olan Kur’ân ahlâkına çağırıyorum. Hakikate çağırıyorum. Hakk’ın Resûlü’ne çağırıyorum. Hakk’ın birliğine çağırıyorum. Sizi Allah’a, Allah’ın rızâsını kazanmaya çağırıyorum” (Ayverdi, 2009: 108).

With this call, we, hopefully, will be witnesses to the bâ’sü-bâde’l-mevte, and we hope that the motto of the word of God will spread to all souls in the world in our search for what we have forgotten and what we have lost."

Sûzidil Mevlevî Âyîni concert was performed

After the presentations and questions were answered, Sûzidil Mevlevî Âyîni by Zekâi Dede was held under the İstanbul Turkish Quarry Ömürlü Mûsıkî Ensemble.

The concert was followed by the guests with interest.

 

Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)