Beltud organises a spiritual evening about the poet Rumi, in collaboration with IWG

On the 28th of September, BELTUD and IWG (the Interreligious Working Group) organized an evening of dance, music and reflection in Saint Peter's church in Ghent, the perfect location for a spiritual night. The chairs were put around a beautiful floor painting, where the dancers swirled around in their magnificent robes.

Idris Ünver, the host of the evening, introduced the semazen, a sema dance performed by the dervish. The master AbdulKadir DIKICI performed a beautiful dance, accompanied by Mevlut Akgüngör on ney (a flute) and by Robert Micin on oud (a string instrument). The acoustics of the church made the concert truly come to life.

The main subject of the event was Rumi, a Persian philosopher and poet of the 13th century. His poems were read and discussed. It was obvious that they still hold relevance in the 21st century. Zen master Frank De Waele Roshi talked about two more contemporaries of Rumi, Saint Francis of Assisi and the Japanese Zen master Dogen Zenji. Even though they lived in different continents, their poems are very similar and can still be read today. Zen master Ruud Baanders played some intermezzos on the shakuhachi, a Japanese flute used for meditation.

Bahattin Kocak, professor of Islam, then described Rumi’s most famous poem, The Guest House, of which you can find the lyrics below.

The semazen ceremony ended with a poem of peace for all prophets and humans. And wasn’t this the purpose of this gathering: to live together in peace and establish a dialogue with individuals and communities of other ideologies and religions. At the end of the evening, the people kept conversation going while having a drink and snack. They demonstrated the encounters Rumi wrote about:

Out beyond ideas of rightdoing and wrongdoing,
There is a field.
I will meet you there.