Rumi

Rumi

 in full Jalal al-Din al-Rumi byname Mawlana (Arabic: “Our Master”)

(born c. Sept. 30, 1207, Balkh, Ghurid empire—died Dec. 17, 1273, Konya, Anatolia) The greatest Sufi mystic and among the most renowned Persian poets. He was a teacher at a madrasah in Anatolia when he met Shams al-Din (“Sun of Religion”), a wandering dervish who revealed to him the inner mysteries of divine majesty; their intimate relationship scandalized Rumi's followers, who likely had Shams al-Din murdered. The disappearance of his companion turned Rumi to poetry, and his Divan-e Shams (“Collected Poetry of the Sun”) contains verses on his love and longing for Shams al-Din. His main work, the didactic epic Masnavi-ye Ma'navi (“Spiritual Couplets”), widely influenced Muslim mystical thought and literature. He is believed to have composed poetry while in a state of ecstasy and often accompanied his verses by a whirling dance. After his death, his disciples were organized as the Mawlawiyyah (Mevlevi), a Sufi order called in the West the “whirling dervishes,” and his influence on Turkish culture is inestimable. His poems, originally in Persian, have been translated into a number of languages, including English, and have enjoyed a worldwide following into the modern period.