Aliye visited the Juniper Tree at certain times of the day. The wisdom he saw in the Thrush chirping overhead restored the peace in his heart, even if only for a moment, and strengthened his longing for absolute peace. But nature was only a fragment of absolute peace; it was created in a state of being with a definite beginning and end, fixed on a perpetual cycle. That is why the Prophet Did not Ibrahim (a.s.) see the sun, the moon and the stars and say, “This is my Lord,” and then, seeing that they were all vanishing, did he not say, “Ene Lâ uhibbûl âfilîn” (I do not love the vanishing ones)? It is certain that Allah, the Lord and Owner of the Worlds, had bestowed upon all His servants the way of looking at nature with an eye of example, which He had bestowed upon His prophets, but those who found their way to the truth by taking an example from these (bitter-sweet) natural manifestations did not get stuck here, as if performing the Sunnah of a prophet, but continued their course from the particular to the collective. Therefore, man had to cross this threshold of nature, which is a means among means, and strive with all his might to find his way from the part to the whole. The heart burn that still smoldered softly inside her was saying almost the same things to Aliye, encouraging her to look for a lover who would lead her towards the eternal and eternal source, the whole of the truth, not its parts.
The days flew by one after the other. That undecided soul was now burning with longing for the lover who had made a breach in the cocoon she was in, waiting for the day when he would pull her out of it. Aliye was actually at the very center of the de facto structure called search. He believed and wanted it with all his might. This was now such a wanting that speechless, lipless sentences flowed from her heart towards her beloved, and her longing and need for him manifested itself in the beautiful Aliye’s state of mind as a body without hands or feet. The old dark and unpredictable dreams were now replaced by a silence whose leaven was longing. He was silent, thoughtful… His enigmatic eyes were always wandering far away, resting and cooling his endless horizon only in the shadow of that lover’s dream.
While Aliye was waiting in her inner world to drink the water of life that would nurture her seed and give her new life, a celebration was being prepared at home that she had never expected and even forgotten. The birthday of this beautiful girl, considered a blessed gift by her family, was approaching. The fact that everyone outside was on the alert to celebrate her apparent birth, while she was burning with the longing of the one who would give birth to her, was almost the only thing that made Aliye smile bitterly days later. For her family, Aliye was as delicate as a rose, as precious as a jewel. This fortunate child, who was being cared for like the apple of his eye, was never spoiled by all this care and attention, and it never even crossed his mind to use the opportunities offered to him to satisfy his own ego. It was as if he had liberated his nature from the bondage of human traits. Aliye, who brightened the face of her family with her restrained behavior, dignified stance and wishes far from excesses, was actually a prisoner of her own inner world for a long time within this portrait she drew…
The day had come. Lavish tables, decorations, instruments, everything was ready. Aliye’s birthday was celebrated with this care almost every year, in fact it was a family tradition for them. This noble family, which was considered one of the elite of society, was generous enough to do justice to its position, modest enough to be pointed out in its own neighborhood, did not see material means as a reason for being “elite”, and demonstrated the concept of nobility in every aspect. In fact, Aliye’s family set the best example for her in terms of building her structure. However, even with all these opportunities, people sometimes fail to achieve the true purpose of their creation, and fulfilling human duties and standing out in the crowd were sometimes not enough to earn the identity that was destined for them in eternity…
The guests gradually appeared at the big door of the house, greeted the family with a bow and then took their place at the reception. The hall was filled with family members and a few close family friends. Meryem was the only one among the guests who could be considered a close friend to Aliye. Meryem was Aliye’s childhood friend and relative. In fact, Mary was almost the only person in the world who tried to understand him. He was the only confidant, a loyal friend who loved Aliye with an unadulterated and disinterested love, to whom she could confide her irreparable troubles. There was Maryam with her father at the door, greeting everyone with her sparkling blue eyes. The hall was getting more and more lively, the conversations were getting deeper and deeper into the sound of the music, when Aliye appeared on the stairs of the hall like the moon with her stunning beauty in white…
O Beautiful! I can’t talk about you, I don’t have the strength;
Letters are not enough to describe you!
I need to find new letters, new words to describe you… [1]
Everyone was silently watching the beautiful Aliye, no one could say a word in the face of her stunning beauty. Finally, his father took him by the hand and brought him to the center of the hall to free him from the gaze of this speechless crowd. Aliye greeted the guests with all her grace. It was as if this greeting brought everyone back to life, and ears clogged with her beauty began to hear the music again. One by one, the guests congratulated Aliye and went back to their regular conversations, but the young girls continued to stare at her with feelings of admiration and jealousy, and the handsome men could not stop their eyes from wandering over her with a deep enthusiasm, unable to escape the bondage of her beauty. One after the other, congratulations and the kind of compliments Aliye was used to. But far from making Aliye happy, these words, which did not flatter her, made her retreat even further into her shame and made her want to disappear and melt away.
As was his custom, he bowed his head slightly, thanked her and was about to retire to his corner when Maryam gently touched him on the shoulder, pulled him to her side and congratulated him with a warm smile. Meryem was looking at Aliye with mesmerized eyes and shaking her head from left to right as if trying to gather the sentences in her mind to describe the beauty that overflowed from her. Finally, these sentences poured from her heart: “My dear Aliyec, you are a precious pearl waiting to be discovered, in whom the concept called beauty is gathered. Just like that pearl, the jewel at the bottom of the sea, covered with mother-of-pearl to protect it from the evil eye; waiting in the dark abysses for its shell to be broken with a love and longing mixed with pain…
These words, which seemed to be a heartfelt compliment from Maryam’s heart, seemed as if an apocalypse had broken out in the depths of Aliye’s heart. He calmed his trembling lips by biting them and started walking after hugging Mary tightly. She could not stop the tears that poured down like rain, and she was shaking with the intensity of the fever that enveloped her body. He kept walking, keeping his feet firmly on the ground so as not to pass out, and with a swift movement threw himself onto the balcony. It was as if these words were an inspired sign from the beloved towards him…
The moon illuminated the sky and the earth as if it wanted to show off all its skill. The song playing in the hall made the sky and even Aliye’s heart moan with a force that would not allow the situation she was in to be resolved.
The slender rose of my mind, the cheerful nightingale of my heart
I saw you that day and you burned me…
The deep emotions trapped in his walls had again put him in an out-of-body mood. It was as if his heart wanted to burst out of his chest and fly away, but where would he go? To whom would he seek refuge and beg for mercy? He slipped softly through the kitchen door and headed for the shade of the Juniper Tree, the place where he had rested his heart. He was trying to run up the hill to the tree, but the song ringing in his ears seemed to hit his senses and rise in his heart with more force with each step. At last the branches of the tree came into view, but the song continued to ring in his ears in a mysterious way. He paused for a moment, wondering if he had lost his mind or if he was really hearing this voice, and then he closed his eyes and paid attention, trying to determine the direction of the voice. The sound was coming from the lake a little further down the tree. Suddenly he turned in that direction and moved towards where the sound was coming from. Yes, there was indeed someone playing his favorite song on his violin by the lake. He moved a little closer to get a better look at this face, which he could not make out in the darkness, but the moonlight was shining right on it. Aliye’s heart was beating violently, her body shaking as if she had malaria. It was as if all his emotions had risen up and were rushing towards his chest, a stormy cycle was running through his veins. One step closer, one step closer; finally he could see her fully…
[1] Dîvân-ı Kebîr c. IV, p.1872.
to be continued…
