Asceticism and struggle in Mawlana

Man, as the manifestation of God's attributes, has a divine substance in himself. The divine will has limited this substance with the material world, this situation has caused the human substance to be faulty. In Sufism, the all of bad habits and lowness desires are called "nafs". "Nafs" has been described as more dangerous than the enemy on the side. In this study, the sūfīstried to get rid of the evil attributes of the "nafs" with the methods of asceticism and struggle. These practices are known as eating less, talking less, sleeping less and seclusion in the sūfītradition. Asceticism and struggle are based on Quran verses and hadiths, seen in the practices of the ascetics, took place in the works at the notional level with the writing of Islamic sūfīsm. One of the sufis who took a place subjects of asceticism and struggle in his writings is Mawlana. In this study, Mawlana's views on asceticism and struggle have been tried to be revealed by making use of Mawlana's works named Mathnawi, Dīvān-i Kebīr and Fīhi Mā Fīh, Mecālis-i Seb'a ve Mektubāt, Ahmed Hamdi Konuk's commentary on Mathnawi, Tāhiru'l Mevlevi's commentary on Mathnawi named "Şerh-i Mathnawi", translation of Menākıb-ı Mawlana Rumi Sipehsâlâr which describing the period in which Mawlana lived, Menākıbu'l-ārifīn and İbtidā-Nāme. In this context, Mawlana's understanding of nafs is analyzed, then it has been understood that he saw nafs as the greatest obstacle to the development of human beings. When the works of his period are analyzed, it has been determined that Mawlana did not leave the path of asceticism and struggle throughout his life. It has been determined that he trained his nafs by reducing eating, speaking, sleeping, and by performing seclusion and sema. Within the framework of his works and the commentaries of his works, Mawlana's approach to the subject of asceticism and struggle has been tried to be revealed.