From the unique advice of Sheikh Edebali to Othman Ghazi
“O Son!
You are the Emir! From now on anger is for us, clemency is for you… Feeling to be offended is for us, pleasing the souls is for you… Blaming is for us, bearing is for you… Weakness and faults are for us, tolerance is for you … Disagreements, fights and arguments are for us, justice is for you… Evil eye, predicting bad luck and unjust interpretation is for us, forgiveness is for you…”
“O Son!
From now on dividing is for us, integration is for you… Laziness is for us, warning, encouraging and planning is for you…”
“O Son!
Your weight is heavy, your job is hard and your power is holding to a hair. May Allah the Almighty assist you and bless your emirate. May He make it good for the path of the Truth and brighten its light and make it to be seen from far away. May He give you the strength to carry your weight and the wisdom and heart to clear your path.”
“O Son!
You are strong, wise and fine speaker; but if you do now how and where to use them, you would be thrown away with the first wind of the morning. Your anger and your self get together and defeat your wisdom. That is why you should always be patient, determined and resolute.”
“Patience is very important. An Emir should know to be patient. A flower does not bloom before its time. A raw pear cannot be eaten, even if it is eaten, it would stuck in your throat. A sword without knowledge is like a raw pear…”
“Let the nation’s knowledge live in them. Do not turn your back to it. Always hear its existence. This knowledge is the thing that administers the public and keeps it alive…”
“O Son!
There are people who are born at dawn and die at night. “
“World is not as big as your eyes see. All unconquered secrets and unknowns will only be revealed through your grace and justice.”
“Respect your mom and dad! Know that blessings are with the elders.”
“If you lose your faith, you turn from greenery to deserts or arid lands.”
“Talk openly! Do not get easily offended! If you see something (which is better and more beneficial to be hidden), do not tell; if you hear, do not reveal! Do not go (as often as get people tired from you) to the places where you are loved; because, this would hurt their love and respect to you…”
“Feel sorry for the three persons: for a wise person who is among the ignorant, a rich person who gets poor and a respected person who loses peoples respect.”
“Don’t forget those who are at high places are not as safe as those at lower places.”
“Do not be afraid to insist on your rightful case. You should know that a good horse is called sorrel, and a good young man is called crazy (brave, fearless, and bold).”
“The greatest victory is to know your self. The real enemy is a human’s self, while a friend is the one who knows himself/herself. When a human sits down, it would be really difficult to stand him up. When a human sits very long, he starts to get numb. When he gets numb, he starts to talk. Then his talk turns into gossip. When gossip starts, he can never be recovered. Friend becomes enemy, and enemy becomes a monster…”
“One day a person’s strength gets exhausted but knowledge lives. The light of knowledge goes even through closed eyes.”
“When an animal dies, it leaves its saddle; when a human dies, he/she leaves his work. We should cry not for those who die, but for those who leave nothing behind. We should continue from the place they left. “
“We do not have right to halt; because we do not have much time…”
“Love must be the basis of our mission. Loving means quietness; you cannot reveal your love by shouting or reprimanding…”
“O Othman! Those who do not acknowledge their past cannot know their future. Know your past so well that you can walk strongly to the future. Do not forget from where you came so you may not forget where you go. “
This unique advice of Sheikh Edebali to Othman Ghazi became the drifting force, which was the cause for so many material and spiritual victories, for all the members of the Ottoman society from the Sultan to the scholars, and from soldiers to dervishes. Therefore the real founders of the Ottoman State were sultans of the souls such as Edebali and those who were trained using his methods. How nicely this is explained in the following story from the book titled Gülistan:
Sheikh Sadi says:
“One day one of my friends gave me some sweet smelling clay (a piece of clean earth) in the bathhouse to clean myself with it. I asked the clay:
“What are you? Are you musk or ambergris? I am enraptured with your sweet smell.”
The clay replied:
“I am the soil of a rose bush. Its leaves get filled with dews at dawn and then dripped them on me. I got molded with these dews. In fact I am just a piece of clay, but my sweet smell comes from the rose…”
Ottoman centuries, especially the blessings of the scholars in its first three centuries, spread ineffable flagrance to the world like the clay molded with rose water. Rose is the symbol of the Prophet (pbuh), and his morals and conduct are the shah of the roses.
May Our Lord bless us with sparks from His Messenger’s (pbuh) perfect state. May Allah grant us to be a drop of dew on that exceptional Rose (pbuh).
Amin!