Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (30 September 1207 – 17 December 1273), commonly known as Rumi, was a Sufi mystic, poet, and founder of the Islamic brotherhood known as the Mevlevi Order. His family hailed from Balkh. Rumi is an influential figure in Sufism, and his thought and works loom large both in Persian literature and mystic poetry in general. Today, his translated works are enjoyed all over the world.
The rapidly advancing Mongol hordes forced his family to flee west early on in his life. After spending time in various cities across Iran, Baghdad, and Damascus, he settled in Konya with his family at age 19. Until recently, Konya had been a province of the Eastern Roman Empire, hence his name, Rumi, i.e. "the Roman". Although he was exposed to Sufi thought from his early childhood, he was expected to follow his fathers footsteps as an Islamic scholar.
However, the arrival to Konya of the mysterious wandering dervish, Shams Tabrīzī, would alter the course of his life permanently. Rumi and Shams became infatuated with each other, causing Rumi to neglect his duties. When Shams mysteriously disappeared, Rumi experienced an intense period of grief reflected in his Divan of Shams Tabrīzī. This was the defining moment in the evolution of Rumi's spiritual worldview, and marked the beginning of his poetic output.
His Masnavi, often called a "Qur'an in Persian", is considered one of the greatest poems of the Persian language.C.E. Bosworth, "Turkmen Expansion towards the west" in UNESCO History of Humanity, Volume IV, titled "From the Seventh to the Sixteenth Century", UNESCO Publishing / Routledge, p. 391: "While the Arabic language retained its primacy in such spheres as law, theology and science, the culture of the Seljuk court and secular literature within the sultanate became largely Persianized; this is seen in the early adoption of Persian epic names by the Seljuk rulers (Qubād, Kay Khusraw and so on) and in the use of Persian as a literary language (Turkmen must have been essentially a vehicle for everyday speech at this time). The process of Persianization accelerated in the 13th century with the presence in Konya of two of the most distinguished refugees fleeing before the Mongols, Bahā' al-Dīn Walad and his son Mawlānā Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, whose Mathnawī, composed in Konya, constitutes one of the crowning glories of classical Persian literature." Many Muslims, particularly in the Turko-Persian cultural sphere, regard the Masnavi as one of the most important works of Islamic literature, falling behind only the Quran.
Rumi's works are widely read today across his native Greater Iran as well as in Turkey, where the Sufi brotherhood he founded is based. His poems have been translated into many of the world's languages, and Rumi has been described as the "world's most popular poet." In the United States, he has become the best selling poet in recent years.
Name He is most commonly called Rumi in English. His full name is given by his contemporary Faridun bin Ahmad Sipahsalar as Muhammad bin Muhammad bin al-Husayn al-Khatibi al-Balkhi al-Bakri (). He is more commonly known as Mawlānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (). Jalal ad-Din is an Arabic name meaning "Glory of the Faith". Balkhī and Rūmī are his nisbas, meaning, respectively, "from Balkh" and "from Rûm", as he was from the Sultanate of Rûm in Anatolia.
According to the authoritative Rumi biographer Franklin Lewis of the University of Chicago, "[t]he Anatolian peninsula which had belonged to the Byzantine, or eastern Roman empire, had only relatively recently been conquered by Muslims and even when it came to be controlled by Turkish Muslim rulers, it was still known to Arabs, Persians and Turks as the geographical area of Rum. As such, there are a number of historical personages born in or associated with Anatolia known as Rumi, a word borrowed from Persian literally meaning 'Roman,' in which context Roman refers to subjects of the Byzantine Empire or simply to people living in or things associated with Anatolia." He was also known as "Mullah of Rum" ( mullā-yi Rūm or mullā-yi Rūmī)."ملای روم" in Dehkhoda Dictionary
Rumi is widely known by the sobriquet Mawlānā/MolānāH. Ritter, 1991, DJALĀL al-DĪN RŪMĪ, The Encyclopaedia of Islam (Volume II: C–G), 393. ( ) in Iran and popularly known as in Turkey. Mawlānā () is a term of Arabic origin, meaning "our master". The term Mawlawī/Mowlavi (Persian) and (Turkish), also of Arabic origin, meaning "my master", is also frequently used for him.Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (Maulana), Ibrahim Gamard, Rumi and Islam: Selections from His Stories, Poems, and Discourses, Annotated & Explained, SkyLight Paths Publishing, 2004.
Life
Overview Rumi was born to Persian parents,Annemarie Schimmel, The Triumphal Sun: A Study of the Works of Jalaloddin Rumi, SUNY Press, 1993, p. 193: "Rumi's mother tongue was Persian, but he had learned during his stay in Konya, enough Turkish and Greek to use it, now and then, in his verse."Lewis, Franklin: "On the question of Rumi's multilingualism (pp. 315–317), we may still say that he spoke and wrote in Persian as a native language, wrote and conversed in Arabic as a learned "foreign" language and could at least get by at the market in Turkish and Greek (although some wildly extravagant claims have been made about his command of Attic Greek, or his native tongue being Turkish) (Lewis 2008:xxi). (Lewis, Rumi: Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teachings and Poetry of Jalal al-Din Rumi, 2008). Lewis also points out that: "Living among Turks, Rumi also picked up some colloquial Turkish." (Lewis, Rumi: Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teachings and Poetry of Jalal al-Din Rumi, 2008, p. 315). He also mentions Rumi composed thirteen lines in Greek (Franklin Lewis, Rumi: Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teachings and Poetry of Jalal al-Din Rumi, One World Publication Limited, 2008, p. 316). On Rumi's son, Sultan Walad, Lewis mentions: "Sultan Walad elsewhere admits that he has little knowledge of Turkish" (Sultan Walad): Lewis, Rumi, "Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teachings and Poetry of Jalal al-Din Rumi, One World Publication Limited, 2008, p. 239) and "Sultan Valad did not feel confident about his command of Turkish" (Lewis, Rumi: Past and Present, East and West, 2000, p. 240)Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Islamic Art and Spirituality, SUNY Press, 1987. p. 115: "Jalal al-Din was born in a major center of Persian culture, Balkh, from Persian speaking parents, and is the product of that Islamic Persian culture which in the 7th/13th century dominated the 'whole of the eastern lands of Islam and to which present day Persians as well as Turks, Afghans, Central Asian Muslims and the Muslims of the Indo-Pakistani and the Muslims of the Indo-Pakistani subcontinent are heir. It is precisely in this world that the sun of his spiritual legacy has shone most brilliantly during the past seven centuries. The father of Jalal al-Din, Muhammad ibn Husayn Khatibi, known as Baha al-Din Walad and entitled Sultan al-'ulama', was an outstanding Sufi in Balkh connected to the spiritual lineage of Najm al-Din Kubra." in Wakhsh,Annemarie Schimmel, "I Am Wind, You Are Fire," p. 11. She refers to a 1989 article by Fritz Meier: Lewis has devoted two pages of his book to the topic of Wakhsh, which he states has been identified with the medieval town of Lêwkand (or Lâvakand) or Sangtude, which is about 65 kilometers southeast of Dushanbe, the capital of present-day Tajikistan. He says it is on the east bank of the Vakhshâb river, a major tributary that joins the Amu Daryâ river (also called Jayhun, and named the Oxus by the Greeks). He further states: "Bahâ al-Din may have been born in Balkh, but at least between June 1204 and 1210 (Shavvâl 600 and 607), during which time Rumi was born, Bahâ al-Din resided in a house in Vakhsh (Bah 2:143 [= Bahâ' uddîn Walad's] book, "Ma`ârif."). Vakhsh, rather than Balkh was the permanent base of Bahâ al-Din and his family until Rumi was around five years old (mei 16–35) [= from a book in German by the scholar Fritz Meier—note inserted here]. At that time, in about the year 1212 (A.H. 608–609), the Walads moved to Samarqand (Fih 333; Mei 29–30, 36) [= reference to Rumi's "Discourses" and to Fritz Meier's book—note inserted here], leaving behind Baâ al-Din's mother, who must have been at least seventy-five years old."Lewis: Rumi: Past and Present, East and West. The Life Teachings and Poetry of Jalâl al-Din Rumi. One World Publications, Oxford, 2000, S. 47. a village on the East bank of the Wakhsh River known as Sangtuda in present-day Tajikistan. The area, culturally adjacent to Balkh, is where Mawlânâ's father, Bahâ' uddîn Walad, was a preacher and jurist. He lived and worked there until 1212, when Rumi was aged around five and the family moved to Samarkand.
Greater Balkh was at that time a major centre of Persian cultureLewis, Rumi: Past and Present, East and West: The life, Teaching and poetry of Jalal Al-Din Rumi, Oneworld Publication Limited, 2008 p. 9: "How is that a Persian boy born almost eight hundred years ago in Khorasan, the northeastern province of greater Iran, in a region that we identify today as Central Asia, but was considered in those days as part of the greater Persian cultural sphere, wound up in central Anatolia on the receding edge of the Byzantine cultural sphere" and Sufism had developed there for several centuries. The most important influences upon Rumi, besides his father, were the Persian poets Attar and Sanai.Jafri, Maqsood, The gleam of wisdom, Sigma Press, 2003. p. 238: "Rumi has influenced a large number of writers while on the other hand he himself was under the great influence of Sanai and Attar. Rumi expresses his appreciation: "Attar was the spirit, Sanai his eyes twain, And in time thereafter, Came we in their train"Arberry, A. J., Sufism: An Account of the Mystics of Islam, Courier Dover Publications, November 9, 2001. p. 141. and mentions in another poem: "Attar has traversed the seven cities of Love, We are still at the turn of one street".Nasr, Seyyed Hossein, The Garden of Truth: The Vision and Promise of Sufism, Islam's Mystical Tradition, HarperCollins, 2 September 2008. p. 130: "Attar has traversed the seven cities of Love, We are still at the turn of one street!" His father was also connected to the spiritual lineage of Najm al-Din Kubra.