Elif Shafak is one of Turkey’s most acclaimed and outspoken novelists

Sultan Walad 
KONYA, SEPTEMBER 1248
Beggars, drunks, prostitutes, orphans, and thieves … He distributes all his gold and silver to 
criminals. Since that awful night, my father has never been the same. Everyone says he has lost 
his mind to grief. When asked what he is doing, he tells the story of Imra’ul-Qays, the king of 
Arabs, who was very well liked, notoriously rich and handsome, but one day, unexpectedly, 
walked out of his perfect life. Qays put on dervish robes, gave up all his wealth, and from then 
on wandered from one landscape to another. 
“This is what losing your beloved does to you,” my father says. “It dissolves your king-self into 
dust and brings out your dervish-self. Now that Shams is gone forever, I am gone, too. I am not a 
scholar or a preacher anymore. I am the embodiment of nothingness. Here is my 
fana
, herein my 
baqa
.” 
The other day a ginger-haired merchant who looked like the worst liar on earth knocked on our 
door. He said he had known Shams of Tabriz way back from his years in Baghdad. Then, 
dropping his voice to a confidential whisper, he swore that Shams was alive and well, hiding and 
meditating in an ashram in India, waiting for the appropriate time to emerge. 

---

As he said all this, there wasn’t a trace of honesty on his face. But my father got delirious. He 
asked the man what he wanted in return for this wonderful news. Without the least bit of shame, 
the merchant said that as a young boy he had always wanted to become a dervish, but since life 
had taken him in another direction, he would at least love to have the caftan of a scholar as 
famous as Rumi. Upon hearing this, my father took out his velvet caftan and handed it to him, 
just like that. 
“But, Father, why did you give your precious caftan to that man when you knew so well that he 
was lying?” I inquired as soon as the man was gone. 
And this is what my father said: “You think a caftan is too high a price to pay for his lie? But my 
dear son, imagine, if he were telling the truth, if Shams were really alive, I would have given my 
life!”