O F C H I L D H O O D Once, Osman visited Rumi with his father who was able to easily perceive the inner mystery of Osman’s childhood. He smiled and shared little Osman’s secret with his father. Osman grew up and developed a courageous heart. One day he paid a visit to the old man and chatted with him until morning. After finishing his morning prayers, Osman went to his room to rest where he noticed his holy book, the Qur’an, on a shelf on the wall. He did not want to lie down with his feet pointed toward it, so he fell asleep while sitting on his bed. While halfway asleep in such a position, he saw a dream that affected him so much that as soon as he woke up he rushed to find someone he could share what he saw with. He found his mentor, the old man from before. Osman’s mentor was able to sense that there was some- thing out of the ordinary in this dream. Paying the utmost of attention and care he listened as the young Osman told him, “Last night, I saw a dream.” To which the old man replied, “Tell me about your dream, my dear boy.’’ “In my dream, I felt that God was addressing me, ‘Osman you respected My Holy Word. I will make you, your family, and your followers into great, generous, honorable people and I have given you a grand state that will survive until the Final Day,’” he told the old man. The old man listened to Osman, his eyes full of tears. He kept himself quiet as his insides gushed with joy: “Can this young man really be the one I’ve been waiting for?” “If it is him who will be the founder of such a state, his fitrat must not be spoiled and he will need to be guided,’’ he thought. Beginning that day, he started to look after him with the utmost of care. He protected Osman from others’ attempts to harm his fitrat. Osman, like every child, possessed a secret, a big one. Later, Osman visited the old man again and described an- other dream he saw to him. “This time I saw you in my dream. A crescent appeared from your bosom, turned into a full moon, and entered my chest. After that, a tree began to grow out of my navel. As it continued to grow, the shadows left by its branches covered three continents. The Tigris, Euphrates, Nile, and Danube rivers flowed from the roots of this tree. The fields were full of crops and the trees of fruit. The mountains were covered with forests. I saw cities in the valleys ornamented with minarets and towers. I heard the azan (call to prayer) coming from those minarets. Suddenly a strong wind made the fresh leaves of the trees turn toward Istanbul. Istanbul looked like a diamond between two rubies and two emeralds sitting between two seas and two continents. It was as if that precious stone on the ring resembled a country spanning the entire world. While I was trying to put on that ring, I suddenly woke up.” Osman’s mentor, Edebali, listened to young Osman’s childhood secret with tears flowing from his eyes. He listened, and then he turned his eyes toward to the sky and prayed. He then turned to Osman and said, “Osman, God will give you and your descendents a great state and kingdom. The whole world will be under your reign under which the believers will find peace. My daughter, Bala Hatun, will be your wife.” The young Osman carried out his childhood the secret step by step. He founded a small state that would turn into a great empire. He was no longer the little Osman; he had become Osman Bey, whose childhood secret harbored the Ottoman sycamore. From then on, par- ents in Anatolia waited for their own Osmans, viewing themselves as the caretaker of a similar secret. In such an environment, some of the children reflected Osman’s secret, while others Fatih’s.2 I would like for you, the reader, to stop and ask yourself: How many parents today are aware of the secret of childhood? What would your answer be if your child told you that he would establish a new state? Most probably he would be told him to go complete his home- work, asked to stop daydreaming, and urged to finish college and find a good paying job. On one hand, we see Sheikh Edebali’s approach to Osman’s childhood secret and his effort to understand and bring forward his innate secret and, on the other; we see the attitudes of many parents in today’s world as expressed by their words to their children. One perspective is Anatolian Pedagogy and another, modern pedagogy.