Rumi

Rumi, the 13th-century Persian poet was born in Mowlana Jalaluddin Balkhi, in Balkhi Province, Afghanistan, then on the eastern edge of the Persian Empire, and was descended from a long line of Islamic jurists, theologians, and mystics, including his father, who was known by followers of Rumi as “Sultan of the Scholars”.

When Rumi was still a young man, his father led their family more than 2,000 miles west to avoid the invasion of Ghenghis Khan’s armies. They settled in present-day Turkey, where Rumi lived and wrote most of his life. Even as a teenager Rumi was special and recognized as a great spirit eventually becoming head of the madrasah, or spiritual learning community which reportedly had over ten thousand students.

Rumi’s life story is full of intrigue and high drama mixed with intense creative outbursts. Rumi evolved into a charming, wealthy nobleman, a genius theologian, and a brilliant but sober scholar, who in his late thirties had the most pivotal moment in his life in the meeting of his dear friend and teacher, Shams Tabriz. In Rumi’s own words, after meeting Shams he was transformed from a bookish, sober scholar to an impassioned seeker of the truth and love.

Rumi believed both his real life and his real poetry began when he met Shams. “What I had thought of before as God,” Rumi said, “I met today in a human being”. Shams and Rumi were close friends for about 4 years. Over the course of that time, Shams was repeatedly driven away by Rumi’s jealous disciples. In December of 1248, Shams again disappeared; it is believed that he was either driven away or murdered. After Shams's disappearance, Rumi fell into a deep state of grief and searched everywhere for his beloved friend but to no avail. Rumi’s mourning for the loss of his friend led to the outpouring of more than 40,000 lyric verses, including odes, eulogies, quatrains, and other styles of Eastern-Islamic poetry.

The resulting collection, Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi or The Works of Shams Tabriz, is considered one of Rumi’s masterpieces and one of the greatest works of Persian literature. In his introduction to his translation of Rumi’s The Shams, Coleman Barks has written: “Rumi is one the great souls, and one of the great spiritual teachers. He shows us our glory. He wants us to be more alive, to wake up…He wants us to see our beauty, in the mirror and in each other.”

Rumi also writes about the abolishment of the established fear-based religious orders of the world. For Rumi fear-based religion is poison and his remedy is love-based doctrine–a life journey free of guilt, fear, and shame. Rumi fell ill and died on December 17, 1273 C.E., in Konya, Turkey. Today thousands of visitors, of all faiths, visit his tomb each month, honoring the poet of legendary spiritual understanding.

For more information go to Rumi Network by Shahram Shiva — The World’s Most Popular Website on Rumi.