Jalal al-Din Rumi was born on September 30, 1207 in Balkh (Afghanistan).
His father Baha' Walad was descended from the first caliph Abu Bakr and
was influenced by the ideas of Ahmad Ghazali, brother of the famous
philosopher. Baha' Walad's sermons were published and still exist as
Divine Sciences (Ma'arif).
He fled the Mongols with his son in 1219, and it was reported that
at Nishapur young Rumi met 'Attar, who gave him a copy of his Book of
Mysteries (Asrar-nama). After a pilgrimage to Mecca and other travels,
the family went to Rum (Anatolia). Baha' Walad was given an important
teaching position in the capital at Konya (Iconium) in 1228 by Seljuk
king 'Ala' al-Din Kayqubad (r. 1219-1236) and his vizier Mu'in al-Din.
Rumi married and had a son, who later wrote his biography. In 1231 Rumi
succeeded his late father as a religious teacher. His father's friend
Burhan al-Din arrived and for nine years taught Rumi Sufism. Rumi
probably met the philosopher ibn al-Arabi at Damascus.
In 1244 Rumi's life changed dramatically when he met the dervish
Shams al-Din of Tabriz. Rumi spent so much time with him that his
disciples became jealous until Shams was murdered in 1247. To the music
of flute and drums Rumi invented the circling movements of the whirling
dervishes and began writing mystical love poetry. his disciples formed
the dervish order called the Mevlevis.
After 1249 the Seljuk governors paid tribute to the Mongol empire.
As vassal of the Mongol Baiju, Mu'in al-Din governed Rum for twenty
years starting in 1256, and he patronized the mystical poet.
His disciple Husam al-Din Hasan urged Rumi to write mystical poetry
and tales called Masnavi in the style of Sana'i and 'Attar. Rumi
completed six books of these before he died on December 17, 1273. Many
of his talks were written down in the book Fihi ma fihi, which means "In
it what is in it" and is often referred to as his Discourses.
Jalaludin Rumi Poems:
Description of Love
A true lover is proved such by his pain of heart;
No sickness is there like sickness of heart.
The lover's ailment is different from all ailments;
Love is the astrolabe of God's mysteries.
A lover may hanker after this love or that love,
But at the last he is drawn to the KING of love.
However much we describe and explain love,
When we fall in love we are ashamed of our words.
Explanation by the tongue makes most things clear,
But love unexplained is clearer.
When pen hasted to write,
On reaching the subject of love it split in twain.
When the discourse touched on the matter of love,
Pen was broken and paper torn.
In explaining it Reason sticks fast, as an ass in mire;
Naught but Love itself can explain love and lovers!
None but the sun can display the sun,
If you would see it displayed, turn not away from it.
Shadows, indeed, may indicate the sun's presence,
But only the sun displays the light of life.
Shadows induce slumber, like evening talks,
But when the sun arises the 'moon is split asunder.'
In the world there is naught so wondrous as the sun,
But the Sun of the soul sets not and has no yesterday.
Though the material sun is unique and single,
We can conceive similar suns like to it.
But the Sun of the soul, beyond this firmament,
No like thereof is seen in concrete or abstract.
Where is there room in conception for His essence,
So that similitudes of HIM should be conceivable?
Everything other than love
for the most beautiful God
though it be sugar- eating.
What is agony of the spirit?
To advance toward death without
seizing
hold of the Water of Life.
you
and I sitting on the verandah,
apparently
two, but one in soul, you and I.
We
feel the flowing water of life here,
you
and I, with the garden's beauty
and
the birds singing.
The
stars will be watching us,
and
we will show them
what
it is to be a thin crescent moon.
You
and I unselfed, will be together,
indifferent
to idle speculation, you and I.
The
parrots of heaven will be cracking sugar
as
we laugh together, you and I.
In
one form upon this earth,
and
in another form in a timeless sweet land.
O lovers, lovers it is time
to set out from the world.
I hear a drum in my soul's ear
coming from the depths of the stars.
Our camel driver is at work;
the caravan is being readied.
He asks that we forgive him
for the disturbance he has caused us,
He asks why we travelers are asleep.
Everywhere the murmur of departure;
the stars, like candles
thrust at us from behind blue veils,
and as if to make the invisible plain,
a wondrous people have come forth.
Etertinity
Beauty
unveils His exquisite form
in
the solitude of nothingness;
He
holds a mirror to His Face
and
beholds His own beauty.
he
is the knower and the known,
the
seer and the seen;
No
eye but His own
has
ever looked upon this Universe.
His
every quality finds an expression:
Eternity
becomes the verdant field of Time and Space;
Love,
the life-giving garden of this world.
Every
branch and leaf and fruit
Reveals
an aspect of His perfection-
They
cypress give hint of His majesty,
The
rose gives tidings of His beauty.
Whenever
Beauty looks,
Love
is also there;
Whenever
beauty shows a rosy cheek
Love
lights Her fire from that flame.
When
beauty dwells in the dark folds of night
Love
comes and finds a heart
entangled
in tresses.
Beauty
and Love are as body and soul.
Beauty
is the mine, Love is the diamond.
They
have together
since
the beginning of time-
Side
by side, step by step.
The Love
to
cause a hundred veils to fall each moment.
First,
to let go of live.
In
the end, to take a step without feet;
to
regard this world as invisible,
and
to disregard what appears to be the self.
Heart,
I said, what a gift it has been
to
enter this circle of lovers,
to
see beyond seeing itself, to reach and feel within the breast
Reason
seeks a profit.
Love
comes on strong,
consuming
herself, unabashed.
Yet,
in the midst of suffering,
Love
proceeds like a millstone,
hard
surfaced and straightforward.
Having
died of self-interest,
she
risks everything and asks for nothing.
Love
gambles away every gift God bestows.
Without
cause God gave us Being;
without
cause, give it back again.
He said, "Who is at my door?"
I said, "Your humble servant."
He said, "What business do you have?"
I said, "To greet you, 0 Lord."
He said, "How long will you journey on?"
I said, "Until you stop me."
He said, "How long will you boil in the fire?"
I said, "Until I am pure.
"This is my oath of love.
For the sake of love
I gave up wealth and position."
He said, "You have pleaded your case
but you have no witness."
I said, "My tears are my witness;
the pallor of my face is my proof.'
He said, "Your witness has no credibility;
your eyes are too wet to see."
I said, "By the splendor of your justice
my eyes are clear and faultless."
He said, "What do you seek?"
I said, "To have you as my constant friend."
He said, "What do you want from me?"
I said, "Your abundant grace."
He said, "Who was your companion on the 'ourney?
I said, "The thought of you, 0 King."
He said, "What called you here?"
I said, "The fragrance of your wine."
He said, "What brings you the most fulfillment?"
I said, "The company of the Emperor."
He said, "What do you find there?"
I said, "A hundred miracles."
He said, "Why is the palace deserted?"
I said, "They all fear the thief."
He said, "Who is the thief?"
I said, "The one who keeps me from -you.
He said, "Where is there safety?"
I said, "In service and renunciation."
He said, "What is there to renounce?"
I said, "The hope of salvation."
He said, "Where is there calamity?"
I said, "In the presence of your love."
He said, "How do you benefit from this life?"
I said, "By keeping true to myself
Now it is time for silence.
If I told you about His true essence
You would fly from your self and be gone,
and neither door nor roof could hold you back!
In The Arc Of Your Mallet
Don't go anywhere without me.
Let nothing happen in the sky apart from me,
or on the ground, in this world or that world,
without my being in its happening.
Vision, see nothing I don't see.
Language, say nothing.
The way the night knows itself with the moon,
be that with me. Be the rose
nearest to the thorn that I am.
I want to feel myself in you when
you taste food,
in the arc of your mallet when you work,
when you visit friends, when you go
up on the roof by yourself at night.
There's nothing worse than to walk
out along the street
without you. I don't know where I'm going.
You're the road, and the knower of roads,
more than maps, more than love.
