Hacı Veyis Efendi (ks) (1858-1935) is a scholar who is remembered with respect by Master Ali Ulvi Kurucu in his memoirs; he had a great share in his upbringing and in his becoming a sincere believer. This person, who is considered one of the famous saints of Konya , gave the most beautiful examples of guidance, invitation, Islamic consciousness, cooperation and sacrifice throughout his life. He trained many students in his mosque, where he worked for years without receiving any payment. He made that mosque a home for the homeless, a meal for the unfed, and a stop for knowledge for those who sought knowledge. Ali Ulvi Kurucu himself addresses those who read his grandfather’s life in his memoirs as follows:
It would be right if the honorable people who read my memoirs and see these lines said: ‘Why did this man called Ali Ulvi Kurucu remain so poor despite having seen such a grandfather, being raised in such a family, and growing up in such an environment?’ What should I do? I am trying to compensate for these shortcomings to some extent by introducing those great figures and presenting them as models to be followed by future generations .
We would like to take these words spoken with great humility by the Master upon ourselves and present to you, our valued readers, a small section from the life of this esteemed person. We share with you the story of the Selam tree among the many saplings and trees that Hacı Veyis Efendi planted throughout his life. A tree that is orderly with its roots, trunk, branches and leaves, and is worthy of its name.
The Growth of the Selam Tree
In the village of Şatır in Konya, there was a young man nicknamed Öksüz who worked with a scythe and a hammer, who was an orphan from his mother and an orphan from his father . He was quick-witted, loyal to his job, but also had a very beautiful, very sonorous voice, he could not work without singing folk songs, he would get bored. He did not know Fridays or holidays, he did not care much about prayers or ablutions, and he was not respected by the villagers because he was ignorant and an orphan.
During threshing season, the work in the fields would be very intense. It would start with the morning greeting and would only end with the evening greeting. In such a situation, everyone from the village would go to the fields to help many workers like Mehmed, and even relatives and kinsmen would come from the city center. The Imam of Ulu Mosque, Hacı Veyis Efendi, who was residing in Konya, came to help during such a threshing season.
He had left behind repentant wine drinkers, neighbors who were gambling dens, those who were pardoned despite their cruelty, immigrants who were fed and given drink in the courtyard of his mosque, poor students who were educated, and many more. Now it was Öksüz Mehmed’s turn because Mehmed, who was a laborer in the field of Hacı Veyis Efendi, had the fate of working with this devoted imam for a while. Mehmed would not understand that he was actually studying at the desk of this venerable scholar, who was an opportunist of the word of truth, who was waiting for every moment to guide someone, who was thinking about how to bring someone closer to Allah.
The time came and they started working together. The task of separating the wheat grains from each other was left to Mehmed who was driving the heifer, and the task of collecting the straw left after threshing was left to Hoca Efendi. Mehmed could not work without singing folk songs, but when Hoca Efendi came to him, he could not open his mouth, he could not even hum a chorus out of shame. For this reason, he was very upset and kept turning around the heifer.
In those years, the most important job to be done in Konya, the capital of wheat, was to sort the wheat, but for the Hodja there was a more important job. While Mehmed was spinning around the trowel on the heir and the Hodja was blackening the stalks, he said to Mehmed at one point, ” My son, you are spinning around the trowel and disappearing from sight. Then you come back. Greet me every time you come near me, right?” “If the Hodja said so, he must know something,” said Mehmed and started to greet the Hodja every time he returned. “Salamu alaikum.”, “Aleykumselam.”, “Selamu alaikum.”, “Aleykumselam.” greetings were given and received for hours, greetings were given and received, and at least a thousand greetings were given throughout the day.
I Became a Tree of Greetings Here!
If he were one of Hoca Efendi’s students in the mosque, he would never complain, but Mehmed said this naively and bravely: “Hoca, for God’s sake, let me breathe a little. I have become a tree of greetings here!” One day, when he works side by side with the Hoca, the air of the essence helps Mehmed. Would Hacı Veyis Efendi ever abandon Öksüz Mehmed? The tree of greetings must be grown, its roots deepened, watered sufficiently, and exposed to the sun. Otherwise, the tree withers, rots from the inside, and perishes.
“My son, if you knew the meaning of greetings, you would pray for me a lot. Come, let me tell you.” Hoca Efendi and Mehmed got on the steer together and both did their job and learned . “The meaning of greetings is safety, salvation, and finding salvation. It is one of the most beautiful names of Allah Almighty. Greeting means, be in Allah’s safety, stay safe, and no harm will come to you from me. It opens the door to love between people, connects them to each other, and is a means of intimacy. By greeting the person you meet, you pray, ‘May Allah keep you safe.’ The more greetings, the more prayers. Being persistent in prayer will also be a means of acceptance, God willing.” When Mehmed received his share on this matter, he said with one voice, “Peace be upon you, then, my teacher!” and his teacher responded in kind.
When the afternoon prayer arrived, Hacı Veyis Efendi called the call to prayer and offered to stand together for prayer. Mehmed was about to become lazy when he said, “I don’t have ablution.” The cleric pointed to the river and said, “Isn’t this the river? You can perform it there.” Mehmed, who performed his ablution with some reluctance, followed his cleric and prayed. Then the cleric opened his hands and began to pray: “My God! Mehmed performed ablution and began to pray. My God, make prayer love Mehmed, don’t make it difficult. In the Surah al-Baqara, you say that prayer is a burdensome task but it is not difficult for the humble. Make Mehmed one of the humble.” A villager named Ali Ağa was watching this duo in astonishment as they turned the field into a madrasah, the river into a place for ablution and the soil into a prayer rug. When he saw that Hoca Efendi was sobbing after the prayer, he also started to cry and Mehmed joined them.
That night, Mehmed’s late mother came to him in a dream. She said, “I forgave you my motherhood. After your prayers, my son, pray for me and your father!” In the morning, a villager to whom he had told his dream came to Hacı Veyis Efendi excitedly and informed him of the dream. Hoca Efendi, who was a person of praise and gratitude, said with great reverence, “If Mehmed’s prayer will not be accepted, whose prayer will be accepted? What else will happen if the tree of greetings starts prayer with an ablution on such a day?” and decided to teach this young man, who knew nothing but Allah-u Akbar, the surahs of prayer. In these lessons, Hacı Veyis Efendi also taught his student the beautiful virtues of the Sunnah.
Tree Ready to Bear Fruit
From that day on, Mehmed, who was known by the villagers as an ignorant person, who did not pray, and who did not know even one surah from the Quran, began to grow as a sapling of the Selam tree. Hacı Veyis Efendi protected his tree by saying, “Do his job, we have a lesson” to whatever the villagers gave him to do. He learned the surahs of prayer in just one week. He had grown as much as he could not have grown in months or years, and he had become a tree ready to bear fruit by putting out branches.
Those who saw the tree of salam, now known as the people of prayer, interpreted this great change as a miracle of Hacı Veyis Efendi. Hoca Efendi said, “The revival of the Sunnah is superior to miracles.” When he intended to do something, he thought , “Did our Prophet (pbuh) do this?” When this was all he cared about, every task he undertook was blessed, many barren fields became green, and many that were not as valuable as a dry branch were transformed into deep-rooted trees.
It is not known whether Mehmed, the Tree of Greetings, ever sang a folk song after that day. However, if he flourished and grew, if he fed other people by giving them fruit, and if people found safety by resting in his shade, he must have read, internalized, and put into practice the following verse consisting of the beautiful characteristics taught by his teacher:
In all circumstances, fear only Allah,
Always speak the truth in calm and in anger.
In prosperity and in hardship, you should be economical.
Come to the one who does not come, give to the one who does not give, forgive the oppressor.
Your speech will be remembrance, your silence will be contemplation, your look will be a lesson.
Source
- Düzdağ, M. Ertuğrul. Master Ali Ulvi Founder Memories 1. Gonca Publishing House, 2020.