Rumi was probably born on 30 September 1207 in the province of Balkh in the district of Wakhsh in Khorasan (now in modern Afghanistan/Tajikistan). He died on 17 December 1273 in Konya in Seljuqid Rum (now modern Turkey). He was laid to rest beside his father, and over his remains a splendid shrine was erected. A hagiographical account of him is described inShams ud-Din Ahmad Aflāki’s Manāqib ul-Ārifīn(written between 1318 and 1353). This hagiographical account ofhis biography needs to be treated with care as it contains both legends and facts about Rumi. For example, Professor Franklin Lewis, Chicago University, in the most complete biography on Rumi has a separate section for the hagiographical biography on Rumi and actual biography about him. Rumi’s father wasBahā ud-Dīn Walad, a theologian, jurist and a mystic from Wakhsh, who was also known by the followers of Rumi asSultan al-Ulamaor“Sultan of the Scholars”. The popular hagiographer assertions that have claimed the family’s descent from the Caliph Abu Bakr does not hold on closer examination and is rejected by modern scholars. The claim of maternal descent from the Khwarazmshah for Rumi or his father is also seen as a non-historical hagiographical tradition designed to connect the family with royalty, but this claim is rejected for chronological and historical reasons. The most complete genealogy offered for the family stretches back to six or seven generations to famous Hanafi Jurists. We do not learn the name of Baha al-Din’s mother in the sources, but only that he referred to her as“Māmi”(Colloquial Persian for Māma) and that she was a simple woman and that she lives in 13th century. The mother of Rumi wasMu’mina Khātūn. The profession of the family for several generations was that of Islamic preachers of the liberal Hanafirite and this family tradition was continued by Rumi (see his Fihi Ma Fih and Seven Sermons) and Sultan Walad (see Ma’rif Waladi for examples of his everyday sermons and lectures). When the Mongols invaded Central Asia sometime between 1215 and 1220, Baha ud-Din Walad, with his whole family and a group of disciples, set out westwards. According to hagiographical account which is not agreed upon by all Rumi scholars, Rumi encountered one of the most famous mystic Persian poets,‘Attar, in the Iranian city of Nishapur, located in the province of Khorāsān. ‘Attar immediately recognized Rumi’s spiritual eminence. He saw the father walkingahead of the son and said,“Here comes a sea followed by an ocean.”He gave the boy hisAsrārnāma, a book about the entanglement of the soul in the material world. This meeting had a deep impact on the eighteen-year-old Rumi and later on became the inspiration for his works. Jalal ad-Din Rumi gathers Sufi mystics From Nishapur, Walad and his entourage set out for Baghdad, meeting many of the scholars and Sufis of the city. From there they went to Baghdad, and Hejaz and performed the pilgrimage at Mecca. The migrating caravan then passed through Damascus, Malatya, Erzincan,Sivas, Kayseri and Nigde. They finally settled in Karaman for seven years; Rumi’s mother and brother both diedthere. In 1225, Rumi married GowharKhatun in Karaman. They had two sons: Sultan Walad and Ala-eddin Chalabi. When his wife died, Rumi married again and had a son, Amir Alim Chalabi, and a daughter, Malakeh Khatun. On 1 May 1228, most likely as a resultof the insistent invitation of‘Alā’ ud-Dīn Key-Qobād, ruler of Anatolia, Baha’ ud-Din came and finally settled in Konya in Anatolia within the westernmost territories of the SeljukSultanate of Rûm. Baha’ ud-Din became the head of a madrassa (religious school) and when he died, Rumi, aged twenty-five, inherited his position as the Islamic molvi. One of Baha’ ud-Din’s students, Sayyed Burhan ud-Din Muhaqqiq Termazi, continued to train Rumi in the Shariah as well as the Tariqa, especially that of Rumi’s father. For nine years, Rumi practicedSufism as a disciple of Burhan ud-Din until the latter died in 1240 or 1241. Rumi’s public life then began: he became an Islamic Jurist, issuing fatwas and giving sermons in the mosques of Konya. He also served as a Molvi (Islamic teacher) and taught his adherents in the madrassa. When we are dead, seek not our tomb in the earth, but find it in the hearts of men. The 13th centuryMawlana Mausoleum, with its mosque, dance hall, dervish living quarters, school and tombs of some leaders ofthe Mevlevi Order, continues to this day to draw pilgrims from all parts of theMuslim and non-Muslim world. Jalal al-Din who is also known as Rumi, was a philosopher and mystic of Islam. His doctrine advocates unlimited tolerance, positive reasoning, goodness, charity and awareness through love. To him and to his disciples all religions are more or less truth.Looking with the same eye on Muslim, Jew and Christian alike, his peaceful and tolerant teaching has appealed to people of allsects and creeds. Teachings A page of a copy circa 1503 of the Diwan-e Shams-e Tabriz-i. The general theme of Rumi’s thought, like that of other mystic andSufi poets of Persian literature, is essentially that of the concept of tawhīd – union with his beloved (theprimal root) from which/whom he has been cut off and become aloof – and his longing and desire to restore it. TheMasnaviweaves fables, scenes from everyday life, Qur’anic revelations and exegesis, and metaphysics into a vast and intricate tapestry. In the East, it is said of him that he was “not a prophet — but surely, he has brought a scripture”. Rumi believed passionately in the useof music, poetry and dance as a path for reaching God.For Rumi, music helped devotees to focus their whole being on the divine and to do this so intensely that the soul was both destroyed and resurrected. It was from these ideas that the practice of whirlingDervishesdeveloped into a ritual form. His teachings became thebase for the order of the Mevlevi which his sonSultan Waladorganized. Rumi encouraged Sama, listening to music and turning or doing the sacred dance. In the Mevlevi tradition,samāʿrepresents a mystical journey of spiritual ascent through mind and love to thePerfect One. In this journey, the seeker symbolically turns towards the truth,grows through love, abandons the ego, finds the truth and arrives at thePerfect. The seeker then returns fromthis spiritual journey, with greater maturity, to love and to be of service to the whole of creation without discrimination with regard to beliefs,races, classes and nations. In other verses in the Masnavi, Rumi describes in detail the universal message of love.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Jul 2013 07:50:38 +0000
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