Sultan Valad

Sultan Walad, Baha’ al-Din Muhammad (1226-1312), son of Mawlana Jalal al-Din Muhammad Balkhi (Rumi). A mystic and poet flourishing in the 13^th century. Born to Jalal al-Din Muhammad Mawlawi and Gawhar Khatun, daughter of Sharaf al-Din Lala-yi Samarqandi. Similar to his grandfather, he bore the title Baha’ al-Din, though the latter and he were well-known as Baha’ Walad and Sultan Walad respectively. His name is reported as Ahmad and the date of his birth is recorded as 1223 in some sources, though his name was, according to the most widely accepted traditions, Muhammad and he was born in Laranda, in Asia Minor, in 1226. Rumi favored in him and regarded him as the most like himself in terms of physic and character. Similar to his father, Sultan Walad was quite devoted to Shams Tabrizi and on the journey which he made to Damascus at the behest of Rumi to propitiate Shams to return to Konia, he ran beside Shams’ mount and chose him as his spiritual master. He associated with Salah al-Din Zarkub (d. 1258) and was devoted to him, despite the latter’s being a commoner. Sultan Walad learned some mystical subtelties from him and married his daughter, Fatima, from whom he had a son, Chalabi Jalal al-Din Amir ‘Arif, and two daughters, Mutahhara Khatun and Sharaf Khatun, who were both mystics with the appellations ‘Abida and ‘Arifa respectively. Baha’ al-Din had two wives, Nusrat Khatun and Sunbula Khatun, from the first he had Chalabi Shams al-Din Amir ‘Abid and from the second, Chalabi Salah al-Din Amir Zahid and Husam al-Din Amir Wajid. Seven days following Rumi’s death in 1273, his representative, Husam al-Din Chalabi (d. 683), asked Baha’ al-Din to succeed his father, but he declined, and it was only after the demise of Husam al-Din, that he succeeded him upon his disciples’ request. However, he says in Waladnama that after Husam al-Din, Karim al-Din, son of Baktamur (d. 1291), served as the spiritual guide to Rumi’s disciples for seven years. Nonetheless, according to some sources, Baha’ al-Din became a spiritual guide after Karim al-Din’s death. Baha’ al-Din Sultan Walad composed poetry in Persian, Arabic, Turkish, and Greek with the nom de plume Walad. He writes in his Waladnama that he knew Persian and Arabic better than Turkish and Roman (i.e. Greek). The Arabic poetry contained in the work seems insignificant. His Arabic and Persian poetry included in Rababnama is more eloquent. His Turkish poetry constitutes the earliest of Western Turkish poetry, quite appealing to orientalists. His thoughts are more or less similar to his father’s, but they never approached the elevated and perfect state of Rumi’s. Baha’ al-Din repeats the same material treated by Rumi and as he mentions in his Waladnama, he intends to render the accounts and spiritual states of Rumi and his companions to disciples. His extant works have been composed on the models of those of Rumi, as he made mention of it in his Waladnama and Rababnama. His works include Divan of poetry, consisting of qasidas, ghazals, tarji’bands, qit’as, and quatrains. The majority of his ghazals are similar to those of Rumi. They have been published. Ma’arif, in prose, is similar to Rumi’s Fihi ma Fih. It is edited and published by Najib Mayil Herawi. Waladnama, Mathnawi-yi Waladi, or Ibtidanama, composed in 1291 in the meter of khafif makhbun maqsur, devoted to expositions of the spiritual states and miracles of Rumi and his companions, is regarded as the earliest of the sources on Rumi’s biographical account. It is edited and published with an introduction by Jalal Huma’i. The mathnawi Rababnama, identical with Rumi’s Mathnawi in terms of meter, ramal musaddas maqsur or mahdhuf, is published in Tehran in 1980. Intihanama consisting of the materials contained in his other two mathnawis, is edited and published in Tehran by Muhammad ‘Ali Khazanihdarlu. Concerning Sultan Walad, ‘Abd al-Rahman Jami says: ‘He rendered worthy services to Sayyid Burhan al-Din Muhaqqiq and Shaykh Shams al-Din Tabrizi. He was perfectly devoted to Shaykh Salah al-Din, his father-in-law, and respected Chalabi Husam al-Din as his father’s representative and successor for 15 years. He eloquently and elegantly expressed his father’s words for years. He composed a mathnawi in the meter of Hakim Sana’i’s Hadiqa in which he [Sultan Walad] included many secrets and points of intuitive knowledge. Mawlana [Rumi] addressed him many a time, saying: ‘You are most similar to me in terms of physic and character’ and he loved him so dearly. It is reported that it was written on the wall of his school in large script that our Baha’ al-Din is fortunate, lives a delightful life, and passes away delightfully. God is omniscient. It is reported that he was caressing him one day, saying: ‘O Baha’ al-Din! My coming into this world was for your emergence. These are my words and you are my acts.’ Once Mawlana asked him, ‘Depart for Damascus in search of Mawlana Shams al-Din and carry many silver and gold coins and pour them into the shoes of Shams and turn them towards Rome. When you arrive in Damascus, go immediately to Salihiyya, which is well-known, and you will find him playing chess with a beautiful, Frank boy. When he wins, he receives gold and when the boy wins, he receives blows. Beware! Do not protest, since the boy is from these people, but he is not aware of it. He intends to make him aware of it. Upon his arrival in Damascus, Sultan Walad found Mawlana Shams al-Din, playing chess with the boy. Sultan Walad and his companions paid homage to Shams al-Din and expressed their respects for him. The Frank boy perceived Shams al-Din’s exalted state and regretted his impudent conduct, removing his head gear. He believed and intended to forgo his fortune, but Mawlana Shams al-Din objected, urging him to return to the land of Franks, make them convert to faith, and serve as their spiritual guide. Then, Sultan Walad took out the gold and silver and poured them into Shams al-Din’s shoes and turned them towards Rum and requested him to accept them on behalf of Mawlana and other devoted followers of Rum. He brought his horse; Shams al-Din mounted it and Sultan Walad accompanied him on foot. Mawlana Shams al-Din said: ‘Baha’ al-Din! Mount!’ He prostrated himself and replied: ‘King mounted and servant mounted? It would never be fair.’ He accompanied him afoot from Damascus to Konia and upon their arrival in Konia, Mawlana Shams al-Din recounted Sultan Walad’s services to Mawlana [Rumi], saying: ‘I said this and he replied that’ and rejoiced recounting the accounts of his travel. Then, he said, ‘God Almighty granted me two blessings: head and secret, the former I most devotedly sacrificed in the cause of Mawlana and the latter I granted Baha’ al-Din Wala. Had Baha’ al-Din lived the life of Noah spending them all in this cause, he would not have obtained what he received from me on this journey. Hopefully, he will obtain blessings from you too.’ Sultan Walad died Konia in 1312 and was buried beside his father’s burial place. He was of a mystical mind and poetical vigor. He was acquainted with Turkish language and poetry. Consequently, he is one of the propagators of Persian literature in Turkey and one of the founders of Ottoman letters. His mathnawis, Rababnama and Waladnama, served as models for other poets. Baha’ al-Din Sultan Walad wrote a book on Sufism which is well-known as Ma’arif-i Sultan Walad. His extant Divan of poetry runs to 13,000 couplets in which he uses the nom de plume Walad.

Az Sa’di ta Jami (200-201); Tarikh-i Adabiyyat dar Iran (3/ 705-712); Nafahat al-Uns (171-473).