Celebrating the Birth
| The Most Commonly Recited Poem in the World: The Mevlidi Sherif |
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| Aspects of His Life - Celebrating the Blessed Birth | |
| Written by Dr. Ali Fuat Bilkan | |
| Wednesday, 22 March 2006 | |
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What do you think is the most commonly recited poem in the world? Is there such a poem that is recited before a crowded audience almost everyday? A masterpiece of Turkish literature, written in 1409, the Mevlid (Mawlid when transcribed from Arabic) is a long poem which happens to be the perfect answer to the questions above. Along with being a moving poem reflecting the Turkish people’s love and respect for the Prophet, the (nearly) 800-couplet work has become a folkloric prayer of sacred value. It is a common practice among people to hold Mevlid recitations on occasions like a birth, graduation, a death, an anniversary, and many others. In this respect, the Mevlid has a value that can never be equaled by any other poem in the world. The Greek Homer, the French La Fontaine, Baudelaire, or Rimbaud, the English Shakespeare and Milton, the German Goethe, the Russian Pushkin, or Edgar Allen Poe or Emily Dickenson of the Americans; none of these poets’ works have ever been recited as many times as that of S |
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