Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī was born in 1207 and was a 13th century Persian poet, jurist, scholar, theologian and mystic. Rumi’s influence is global, and he continues to be one of the most celebrated poets in the world today.
He was born to Persian-speaking parents, either in modern-day Tajikistan or Afghanistan. He was strongly influenced by his father, and also by the two Persian poets, Attar and Sanai. His father was a theologian, jurist and mystic from Balkh, who was also known by the followers of Rumi as Sultan al-Ulamam meaning ‘Sultan of the Scholars’. His mother’s family had been Islamic preachers of the liberal Hanafi rite for several generations, and this family tradition was continued by Rumi.
It was his meeting with the dervish Shams of Tabriz on the 15th of November 1244 that completely changed his life. From an accomplished teacher and jurist, Rumi became a mystic and lover of the Divine.
Shams had travelled throughout the Middle East searching and praying for a person who could endure his company. The story goes that a voice had said to him, “What will you give in return?” and Shams had replied, “My head!” The voice then said, “The one you seek is Jalāl ad-Dīn of Konya.”
On the night of the 5th of December 1248, as Rumi and Shams were together, Shams was called outside never to be seen again. It is widely rumoured that he was murdered.
Rumi’s love for Shams, and his bereavement at his death were expressed in his lyric poems, Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi. He went searching for Shams journeying to Damascus, but there he realised that that there was no more reason to seek him, as they were one, merged in the spiritual sense of laya avastha. He wrote, “His essence speaks through me. I have been looking for myself!”
The ladder of this world is
‘me and mine’.
At last this ladder will fall.
So whoever sits higher on it
Will break more bones.
