We continue our article with the relationship between the master and apprentice in Sufism.
If the master and apprentice relationship is considered as a method of moral education, it also evokes the relationship between disciple and sheik in the understanding of Sufism. The people we call sheiks, mentors, guides, and teachers are actually accepted as people who can do servitude skillfully and teach the skills of this to their disciples. Heart training, self-purification, and good moral teachings in Sufism work with the relationship between disciple and sheik. At the end of his education, the disciple acquires the ability to guide him by getting permission from his sheik.
It’s like starting out as an apprentice in a profession and working your way up to a master’s. In the most general definition, it is called a master who does his job well and teaches his job.
PROPHETS AS MASTERS
The meaning of this concept appears as a feature of those who are praised by Allah in various ways in the sources of our religion. We know that almost all of the prophets had a craft. We know that making a living with manual labor is the sunnah of the prophets. For example, it is mentioned in the authoritative sources of our religion that Âdam was taught the names and knowledge of all objects. In this aspect, Âdam is seen as the father, teacher, and master of all professions. It is known that he was a farmer, made knives by processing iron, built buildings, and worked as a tailor. Also, It is rumored that Âdam used a bow and arrow, knew how to write, wrote 12 kinds of writing, and knew 700 languages. As can be seen, While Âdam first recognized names and things, he then did everything necessary to survive and manifested his knowledge in the field of application. According to what we read in the sources, Idris was a tailor and a master at sewing, he was a farmer, and a shoemaker, and built houses for worship. In the sources, It is also written that Idris spoke in verse, used scales, and made iron tools, weapons, arrows, and bows. The most striking feature of Nuh, was a master carpenter, as stated in the Qur’an. Hud was a trader to earn halal money. According to different sources, Salih was engaged in trade, Ibrahim was a grocer, butcher, cook, and shoemaker and was interested in agriculture, mathematics, and astronomy. He is a master with his skill in the construction of the Kaaba and other buildings. Lut, on the other hand, made a living with his own manual labor by dealing with agriculture. Ismail is a mason he built the Kaaba with Ibrahim. Yakup worked as a shepherd for 20 years with his uncle. Yusuf is the first watchmaker. It is known that Yusuf made paper for the first time in the world, people wrote on skin and bone before him, and it is known that he had a room full of papers. It is known that Şuayb was an orator of the prophets, used high literary expressions, and was a talented prophet in the art of oratory. Musa was engaged in weaving, shepherding, and engaged in chemistry. Davud could make armor, and buildings, and bend iron. It is known that he is a shepherd and is talented in music with his beautiful voice. Süleyman worked as a merchant, tinner, and weaver and built buildings. Uzeyir was a viticulturist. Elyesa had been farming. Eyyüb tied a cloth to the wounds and woven silk. Zekeriya had done carpentry. Isa was a dyer and a trader. He repaired shoes and dyed clothes. He had medical science and used it to treat patients. Lokman is a good physician and has worked as a shepherd, weaver, tailor, carpenter and merchant.
MASTER OF MASTERS OUR PROPHET MUHAMMAD
Our prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) was a shepherd and a merchant. We see that in the hadith-i sharifs narrated from our Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), attention is drawn to the sacredness of sweat, halal earnings, and doing your job in the best way possible. Some of these hadith are as follows:
“It is better for any of you to load a vineyard of wood and sell it than to beg from anyone. He either gives or does not give.”
“No one has ever eaten better sustenance than his own earnings. The Prophet of Allah, David, also ate the labor of his own hands.”
“Give the employee his wages before his sweat dries.”
“Allah Almighty says: ‘There are three types of people I will stand against as an enemy on the Day of Judgment: the person who makes promises in my name and does not keep his word, the person who sells a free person as a slave and eats his money, and the person who employs a worker and does not pay his wages even though he has done his job.”
OUR DUTY AS APPRENTICE OR MASTER
As a result, people are taught by a master the material or spiritual pursuits for which he will take responsibility. Those who are called masters are also those who are instrumental in revealing the abilities that Allah has given us and who educate us morally and socially. As we mentioned in our article, there has been a method of educating people based on the master-apprentice relationship in the historical stage of humanity in every period, in the lives of the prophets, in Turkish-Islamic culture, in the understanding of Sufism. Our religion, on the other hand, has advised us to do our jobs in the best way and to be a master. Our duty is to be able to act with the meanings of the hadiths in our writing, to be able to master our material and spiritual activities in a subtle and elegant way in our mortal life, to be able to master the abilities and emotions bestowed by Allah and thus to strive to master our servitude in a way that Allah is pleased with.
