Rumi Revisited: New Insights into His Life, Teaching and Legacy

This book is a collection of studies of the Persian mystic poet Jalal al-Din Rumi. He has a special place in the West today.1 He is one of the best-selling authors in America. Brad Pitt tattooed a line from his poetry on his arm; Beyonce called her son Rumi; and pop divas such as Madonna are inspired by Rumi, she has based her album 'A Gift of Love' on Rumi's poetry. Other musicians also take Rumi as inspiration; a huge trade in adaptations of his poetry has even sprung up; and there is a wide range of merchandise such as calendars, key rings and T-shirts with Rumi's verses and portrait.

Jalal al-Din Rumi was born on 30 September 1207 (Rabi? I 604) in the village of Vakhsh in present-day Tajikistan and he died on 17 December 1273 (5 Jumada II 672) in Konya, in present-day Turkey.2 He is known by his nickname, Mowlana (or Mowlavi, Mevlana), meaning 'our master' in various Islamic countries. The name Rumi means 'from Rum,' the Persian designation for the west from a Persian topographical perspective, alluding usually to the Byzantine and Greek cultural areas. Rumi's family originally hailed from the city of Balkh in present-day Afghanistan, but in 609/1212 the family emigrated to Samarkand, in present-day Uzbekistan, with the five-year-old Rumi. Rumi's father, Baha? al-Din, was a preacher and religious scholar, and the reason the family left Balkh was a disagreement between Baha al-Din and the philosopher Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (who died about 606/1209). For years, the family travelled from one town to another, staying for four years in Sivas and seven years in Karaman, where Rumi's mother died. In 626/1228, the Saljuq Sultan, Key Qubad, invited Rumi's father to Konya to run a college. The family moved to Konya, but Rumi's father died just three years later. When one of his former students, Sayyid Burhan al-Din Mu?aqqiq, a learned theologian, came to Konya to visit his teacher, he found that he had died a year earlier. He decided to stay in Konya, teaching at the college, and Rumi became his pupil. Mu?aqqiq died in 637/1239. During this period, Rumi grew into a distinguished theologian who himself attracted students.

In 642/1244, Rumi's life changed forever. He met the wandering dervish, Shams al-Din Mu?ammad Tabrizi, who had just come to Konya. Shams was a qalandar mystic (a 'vagabond'). These mystics criticised the hypocritical piety of the established religious representatives in society by flouting the holiest norms, values and rituals of Islam with their provocative behaviour, for instance by drinking wine in public, praising other religions such as Christianity and Zoroastrianism, or by appearing (semi-)naked in the streets with, at most, some rags around their waists. The qalandars were very pious but hid their piety behind sinful behaviour. They radically renounced worldly existence and disapproved of outward shows of faith. Shams, as a qalandari type of mystic, had been nicknamed 'the flyer' or 'the kite' (paranda) because of his constant wanderings from one place to another. Rumi's son, Sul?an Valad, described Shams in his book, Ibtida-nama ('The Book of Beginnings'), as a perfect lover of God and a saint. According to Sul?an Valad, Shams had attained the highest mystical stage possible.

Rumi was so profoundly moved by his encounter with Shams, whom he revered as a beloved spiritual guide, that he was transformed. The intensity of their relationship sparked jealousy among Rumi's students, leading to threats being made against Shams. These threats eventually forced Shams to flee to Damascus on 11 March 1246 (21 Shavval 643). In his despair, Rumi began composing love poems that expressed his deep longing for Shams. Desperate to reunite with his spiritual guide, Rumi sent his son, Sul?an Valad, to Damascus to bring Shams back. Upon Shams' return to Konya tensions resurfaced, and the students once again plotted to kill him. Shams fled a second time, but he was persuaded to return once more. His ultimate fate remains shrouded in mystery, but it is believed that he was murdered in 1247/644. Unaware of this, Rumi assumed that Shams had left again and journeyed to Damascus in search of his cherished friend.

In 1249, Rumi encountered ?ala? al-Din Zarkub, an illiterate blacksmith with a pleasant personality. Recognising Shams' spirit in ?ala? al-Din, Rumi chose him as his new companion. This decision again provoked jealousy among his followers, who could not understand why Rumi would select an uneducated man as his closest confidant. Rumours of a plot to murder ?ala? al-Din began to circulate. When Rumi learned of these plans, he threatened to leave Konya. His followers, realising their mistake, repented and begged for forgiveness. ?ala? al-Din Zarkub remained Rumi's companion for 10 years until his death on 29 December 1258 (1 Muharram 657).

A new chapter in Rumi's life began with his encounter with ?usam al-Din ?asan Chalabi (d. 683/1284), with whom he maintained a close friendship for 10 years until Rumi's death on 17 December 1273.3 ?usam al-Din was the inspiration behind Rumi's great mystical epic, The Spiritual Couplets (Mathnavi-yi ma?navi). This work is an unconventional commentary on the Qur?an, often called 'the Qur?an in Persian' due to its religious themes. The poem, consisting of 25,683 couplets, contains several references to ?usam al-Din. It is said that when ?isam al-Din asked Rumi to compose a spiritual poem, Rumi had already written 18 couplets of the famous introduction about the reed flute, and he withdrew the poem from his turban. The Mathnavi is a huge poem, almost as long as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey taken together.4 The term mathnavi refers to a poetic form which has been widely used in Persian poetry, and several monumental works such as Firdowsi's Shah-nama and Ni?ami's romances are written in the mathnavi form. It refers to rhyming couplets using scheme aa, bb, cc, etc. which allow the poet to continue his poem ad infinitum. The form is used especially for epic poetry in different genres ranging from heroic epic and romantic to ethical, didactic, philosophical and even medical. Rumi's poem is inspired by the poet ?akim Sana?i of Ghazna (d. 525/1130) who wrote an influential didactic poem, ?adiqat al-?aqiqa va shari?at al-?ariqa ('The Garden of the Truth and the Laws of the Path'), which has over several centuries become a source of inspiration for generations of poets in the Persian cultural areas. Rumi's Mathnavi addresses mystical topics in a random order, with the themes connected associatively through long and short stories that illustrate mystical and theological concepts. From the 14th century onwards, this monumental poem was read, recited and commented upon in Persian, from Bosnia to Bengal. The Mathnavi is written in such a way that people of all walks of life can easily understand it and in many ways its readers can identify with the poem's characters. The anecdotes and stories used to convey religious themes and concepts show the poem's didactic nature. It is no surprise that the Mathnavi is the most widely read poem in the Islamic world.

In contrast to his Mathnavi, in which Rumi assumes the role of a teacher, he presents himself in his lyrical poems (ghazals) as an emotional poet, a man deeply in love, who identifies himself with his beloved. Rumi often uses the pen name Shams or variations of it to demonstrate that his identity has merged with that of Shams. In many places, the allusion to Shams serves as a pretext for praising the divine beloved. Rumi composed around 3,300 ghazals, an unprecedented number of poems in the Persian literary tradition, especially when we compare this number to the output of the greatest lyric poet of Persia, ?afi? (715?-?792/1315?-?1390), who wrote fewer than 500 ghazals.5 In addition to the ghazals, Rumi also composed several panegyrics (qa?ida), strophic poems and approximately 2,000 quatrains (ruba?i).6 The Persian scholar, Badi? al-Zaman Furuzanfar, published these poems in 10 volumes under the title Divan-i Kabir or Kulliyyat-i Shams-i Tabrizi.7 Rumi's lyrical poetry not only explores the longing for a (transcendental) beloved, but also treats philosophical, ethical and mystical themes. In his love poems, we witness a lover expressing his yearning for Shams, his overwhelming sense of loss, and his boundless sorrow. He also wrote ghazals for his other beloved companions. In addition to his poetry, Rumi authored several prose works on mystical and religious subjects. The most famous of these are probably Fihi ma fihi ('It Is What It Is'), seven sermons entitled Majalis-i sab?a ('Seven Sessions'), and a collection of letters (Maktubat).8

As I mentioned at the beginning of this introduction, Rumi is exceptionally popular today, with an amazingly increasing number of translations and adaptations into European languages in recent years. There are...