Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī, often called Rumi (September 30, 1207 – December 17, 1273), was a Sufi mystic, poet, and founder of the Islamic brotherhood known as the Mevlevi Order. His family came from Balkh. Rumi is a significant figure in Sufism, and his ideas and writings have a major influence in Persian literature and mystical poetry. Today, his works are read and appreciated worldwide.

The fast-moving Mongol armies forced his family to leave their home and move west early in his life. After living in several cities in Iran, Baghdad, and Damascus, he moved to Konya with his family at age 19. Until recently, Konya had been part of the Eastern Roman Empire, which is why he was called Rumi, meaning "the Roman." Although he was introduced to Sufi ideas as a child, he was expected to follow his father’s path as an Islamic scholar.

The arrival in Konya of a mysterious wandering dervish named Shams Tabrīzī changed Rumi’s life forever. Rumi and Shams became deeply connected, causing Rumi to neglect his responsibilities. When Shams suddenly disappeared, Rumi experienced a deep period of sorrow, which is reflected in his work Divan of Shams Tabrīzī. This event marked an important turning point in Rumi’s spiritual journey and the start of his poetic writing.

His Masnavi, often called a "Qur'an in Persian," is considered one of the greatest poems in the Persian language. Many Muslims, especially in regions where Turkish and Persian cultures blend, view the Masnavi as one of the most important works of Islamic literature, second only to the Quran.

Rumi’s writings are widely read today in his homeland, Greater Iran, and in Turkey, where the Sufi brotherhood he founded is based. His poems have been translated into many languages around the world, and Rumi is often called the "world's most popular poet." In the United States, he has become the best-selling poet in recent years.

Name

Rumi is most often called by the name Rumi in English. His full name was written by someone who lived at the same time as him, Faridun bin Ahmad Sipahsalar, as Muhammad bin Muhammad bin al-Husayn al-Khatibi al-Balkhi al-Bakri (Arabic: محمد بن محمد بن الحسين الخطيبي البلخي البكري). He is better known as Mawlānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (Arabic: مولانا جلال‌الدین محمد رومی). The name Jalal ad-Din means "Glory of the Faith" in Arabic. The words Balkhī and Rūmī are part of his name that show where he was from. Balkhī means "from Balkh," and Rūmī means "from Rûm," as he was born in the Sultanate of Rûm in Anatolia.

According to Franklin Lewis, an expert who wrote about Rumi's life at the University of Chicago, "the Anatolian peninsula, which had belonged to the Byzantine, or eastern Roman empire, was recently taken over by Muslims. Even after Turkish Muslim rulers controlled the area, it was still called Rum by Arabs, Persians, and Turks. This is why many people from or connected to Anatolia were known as Rumi. The word Rumi comes from Persian and means 'Roman,' which in this case refers to people who lived in or were connected to Anatolia during the time of the Byzantine Empire." He was also called "Mullah of Rum" (Arabic: ملای روم or ملای رومی).

Rumi is widely known by the name Mawlānā / Molānā (Persian: مولانا) in Iran and as Mevlânâ in Turkey. The word Mawlānā (Arabic: مولانا) means "our master." Other names used for him include مولوی Mawlawī / Mowlavi (Persian) and Mevlevi (Turkish), both of which also mean "my master" and come from Arabic.

Life

Rumi was born to Persian parents in a village called Wakhsh, located on the east bank of the Wakhsh River, which is now known as Sangtuda in present-day Tajikistan. This area was close to Balkh, where Rumi’s father, Bahâ' uddîn Walad, worked as a preacher and legal scholar. He lived and worked there until 1212, when Rumi was about five years old, and the family moved to Samarkand.

At that time, Greater Balkh was a major center of Persian culture and Sufism had been practiced there for many years. Besides his father, the most important influences on Rumi were the Persian poets Attar and Sanai. Rumi wrote, "Attar was the spirit, Sanai his eyes twain, And in time thereafter, Came we in their train," and also said, "Attar has traversed the seven cities of Love, We are still at the turn of one street." Rumi’s father was also connected to the spiritual lineage of Najm al-Din Kubra.

Rumi lived most of his life in the Persianate Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, where he wrote his works and died in 1273 AD. He was buried in Konya, and his shrine became a place where people visited to honor him. After his death, his followers and his son Sultan Walad founded the Mevlevi Order, also known as the Order of the Whirling Dervishes, famous for the Sufi dance called the Sama ceremony. He was buried next to his father, and a shrine was built over his remains. A biography of Rumi, written by Shams ud-Din Ahmad Aflāki between 1318 and 1353, includes both true events and legends about him. Scholars like Professor Franklin Lewis have separated the legendary parts from the factual details in Rumi’s life.

Rumi’s father was Bahā ud-Dīn Walad, a theologian, legal scholar, and mystic from Wakhsh. He was also known as Sultan al-Ulama, or "Sultan of the Scholars." Some sources, like Sultan Walad’s Ibadetname and Shamsuddin Aflaki, say Rumi was a descendant of Abu Bakr. However, modern scholars disagree with this claim. Similarly, the idea that Rumi or his father had royal ancestry through the Khwarazmshah is considered a legend with no historical evidence. The most detailed family history traces their lineage back to six or seven generations of famous Hanafi jurists.

The name of Baha al-Din’s mother is not recorded in historical sources, but he called her "Māmi," which means "Mama" in Persian. She was a simple woman who lived into the 1200s. Rumi’s mother was Mu'mina Khātūn. For many generations, Rumi’s family worked as Islamic preachers in the Hanafi Maturidi school, a branch of Islam that was relatively open-minded. This tradition continued with Rumi and his son Sultan Walad.

When the Mongols invaded Central Asia between 1215 and 1220, Baha ud-Din Walad, with his family and followers, traveled west. According to some accounts, Rumi met the famous Persian poet Attar in Nishapur, a city in Khorāsān. Attar recognized Rumi’s spiritual potential and gave him a book called Asrārnāma, which discusses the soul’s struggle with the material world. This meeting deeply influenced Rumi and inspired his later works.

From Nishapur, Walad and his group traveled to Baghdad, where they met scholars and Sufis. They then went to Mecca for pilgrimage, passed through Damascus, Malatya, Erzincan, Sivas, Kayseri, and Nigde, and finally settled in Karaman for seven years. In Karaman, Rumi’s mother and brother died. In 1225, Rumi married Gowhar Khatun in Karaman. They had two sons: Sultan Walad and Ala-eddin Chalabi. After his wife died, Rumi married again and had another son, Amir Alim Chalabi, and a daughter, Malakeh Khatun.

In 1228, Baha' ud-Din moved to Konya in Anatolia, invited by 'Alā' ud-Dīn Key-Qobād, the ruler of Anatolia. Baha' ud-Din became the head of a religious school, and after his death, Rumi, then twenty-five, took over as the Islamic molvi. One of Baha' ud-Din’s students, Sayyed Burhan ud-Din Muhaqqiq Termazi, continued to train Rumi in Islamic law and Sufism. For nine years, Rumi studied under Burhan ud-Din until the teacher died in 1240 or 1241. Rumi then began his public life as a jurist, issuing religious rulings and giving sermons in Konya’s mosques. He also taught in the madrassa.

During this time, Rumi traveled to Damascus and lived there for four years. His life changed completely when he met the dervish Shams-e Tabrizi on November 15, 1244. Shams had searched for someone who could endure his company, and a voice told him, "What will you give in return?" Shams answered, "My head!" The voice then said, "The one you seek is Jalal ud-Din of Konya."

On December 5, 1248, Shams disappeared after being called to the back door during a conversation with Rumi. Many theories exist about his disappearance, including that Rumi’s youngest son killed him, that

Teachings

Rumi, like other mystic and Sufi poets in Persian literature, wrote about love that fills the world. His teachings also include ideas from a Quranic verse that Shams-e Tabrizi said shows the main message of religious guidance: "Know that ‘There is no god but He,’ and ask forgiveness for your sin" (Q. 47:19).

According to Shams-e Tabrizi’s interpretation, the first part of this verse tells people to learn about tawhid (the oneness of God). The second part tells them to deny their own existence. Rumi believed that tawhid is best lived through love. He wrote that love is "that flame which, when it blazes up, burns away everything except the Everlasting Beloved."

Rumi’s desire to reach this ideal is shown in a poem from his book The Masnavi:

"I died to the mineral state and became a plant, I died to the plant state and reached animality, I died to the animal state and became a man. Then what should I fear? I have never become less from dying. At the next step, I will die to human nature so that I may lift my head and wings to soar among the angels. I must also jump from the river of the angel’s state. Everything perishes except His Face. Once again, I will become sacrificed from the angel’s state. I will become that which cannot be imagined. Then I will become non-existent; non-existence says to me, ‘Truly, to Him is our return.’"

The Masnavi combines stories, scenes from daily life, Quranic teachings, and deep spiritual ideas into a complex and detailed work.

Rumi strongly believed that music, poetry, and dance could help people reach God. He thought music helped people focus completely on God, so intensely that their souls were destroyed and then brought back to life. From these ideas, the practice of whirling Dervishes became a ritual. His teachings formed the basis for the Mevlevi order, which his son Sultan Walad organized. Rumi encouraged Sama, which means listening to music and turning or dancing in a sacred way. In the Mevlevi tradition, Sama represents a spiritual journey through thinking and loving to reach the Perfect One. During this journey, the seeker turns toward truth, grows through love, gives up the ego, finds truth, and reaches the Perfect One. After this journey, the seeker returns with more maturity, ready to love and serve all creation without discrimination based on beliefs, races, classes, or nations.

In other parts of The Masnavi, Rumi explains the universal message of love.

Rumi’s favorite musical instrument was the ney (reed flute).

Major works

Rumi's poetry is divided into several types. These include the quatrains (rubayāt) and odes (ghazal) found in the Divan, as well as the six books of the Masnavi. His prose works are also grouped into three categories: The Discourses, The Letters, and the Seven Sermons.

Rumi's most famous work is the Masnavi (Spiritual Couplets; مثنوی معنوی). This six-volume poem is a major piece of Persian Sufi literature. It is often called "the Quran in Persian" because of its importance. The Masnavi has about 27,000 lines, each made of a pair of rhyming lines. The rhythm used in this poem became the standard for mathnawi poetry. The first known use of this rhythm in a mathnawi poem was at the Nizari Ismaili fortress of Girdkuh between 1131 and 1139. This style later influenced other poets, such as Attar and Rumi.

Another major work is the Dīwān-e Kabīr (Great Work) or Dīwān-e Shams-e Tabrīzī (The Works of Shams of Tabriz; دیوان شمس تبریزی). This collection is named after Rumi's teacher, Shams. It includes about 35,000 Persian couplets, 2,000 Persian quatrains, 90 ghazals, and 19 quatrains in Arabic. There are also a few dozen couplets in Turkish (mostly poems mixing Persian and Turkish) and 14 couplets in Greek (all in three poems mixing Greek and Persian).

Fihi Ma Fihi (It is what It is; Persian: فیه ما فیه) is a record of 71 talks and lectures Rumi gave to his followers. These were written down by his disciples, so Rumi did not write this work directly. An English translation was first published in 1972 by A.J. Arberry as Discourses of Rumi. Another translation of the second part was published in 1994 by Wheeler Thackston as Sign of the Unseen. The language in Fihi Ma Fihi is simple and aimed at middle-class people. It does not use complex wordplay.

Majāles-e Sab'a (Seven Sessions; Persian: مجالس سبعه) contains seven Persian sermons or lectures. These talks explain the deeper meanings of the Quran and Hadith. They also include quotes from poems by Sana'i, 'Attar, and others, including Rumi himself. After Shams-e Tabrīzī, Rumi gave sermons at the request of important people, such as Salāh al-Dīn Zarkūb. The Persian used in these sermons is simple, but it includes Arabic quotes and references to Islamic history and Hadith, showing Rumi's knowledge of Islamic teachings. The style matches the way Sufi teachers and spiritual leaders usually speak.

Makatib (The Letters; Persian: مکاتیب) or Maktubat (مکتوبات) is a collection of letters Rumi wrote in Persian. These letters were sent to his followers, family members, and influential people. They show that Rumi was very busy helping his family and managing a growing community of followers. Unlike the simpler language in previous works, these letters are carefully written in a formal style. This matches the expectations of writing to nobles, leaders, and kings.

Religious outlook

Rumi clearly believes Islam is the greatest religion. As a Muslim, he praises the Quran not only as the holy book of Muslims but also as a tool to help people tell what is true from what is false. The Quran, according to Rumi, serves as a guide for all people who seek to understand the world’s true nature.

Rumi considers the prophets of Islam to be the highest level of spiritual growth and the closest to God. In his writings, Muhammad is shown as the most perfect example among all prophets.

Even though Rumi strongly supports Islam, his works also include ideas that accept other religions. He acknowledges differences between religions but believes their core teachings are the same. He argues that disagreements come from differences in beliefs, not from the main ideas of the religions. Rumi criticizes Christianity for making the image of God too complicated with extra rules. However, he also says, “The lamps are different, but the Light is the same; it comes from beyond.” Shibli Nomani, in his book Sawanih Maulana Rum, explains that Rumi should be seen not only as a mystical poet but also as a serious religious thinker.

Rumi’s spiritual views go beyond small religious differences. One of his poems states:

On the seeker’s path, the wise and the crazy are the same. In the way of love, family and strangers are the same. The one who was given the wine of union with the beloved, in their path, sees the Kaaba and the house of idols as the same.

According to the Quran, Muhammad was sent by God as a mercy to all people. Rumi agrees with this idea.

Rumi also emphasizes the importance of following religious practices and the Quran’s central role in Islam.

On the first page of Masnavi, Rumi writes:

Hadi Sabzavari, an important 19th-century Iranian philosopher, connects Masnavi to Islam in his introduction to a book about its philosophy.

Seyyed Hossein Nasr states:

Rumi writes in his Dīwān:

Language

Rumi wrote his works in Persian, which is his native language. He sometimes used words from Arabic, Turkish, and Greek in his poetry. Over the past seven hundred years, people from many different ethnic groups, including Iranians, Afghans, Tajiks, Turks, Kurds, Greeks, Central Asian Muslims, and Muslims from the Indian subcontinent, have greatly valued Rumi's spiritual teachings. His poetry not only influenced Persian literature but also the literary traditions of Ottoman Turkish, Chagatai, Pashto, Kurdish, Urdu, and Bengali.

Legacy

Rumi's work has been translated into many languages, such as Russian, German, Urdu, Turkish, Arabic, Bengali, French, Italian, Spanish, Telugu, and Kannada. His writings are shared in many formats, including concerts, workshops, readings, dance performances, and other artistic projects. The English translations of Rumi's poetry by Coleman Barks have sold more than half a million copies worldwide. Rumi is one of the most widely read poets in the United States. A famous landmark in Northern India, called Rumi Gate, is located in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh. This place is named after Rumi. An Indian filmmaker named Muzaffar Ali, who is from Lucknow, made a documentary titled Rumi in the Land of Khusrau (2001). This film includes concerts based on the works of Rumi and Amir Khusrau and shows similarities between the lives of these poets.

The cultural, historical, and language connections between Rumi and Iran have made him an important Iranian poet. Many of the most important Rumi scholars, such as Foruzanfar, Naini, and Sabzewari, are from modern Iran. Rumi's poetry is displayed on the walls of many cities in Iran, sung in Persian music, and included in school books.

Rumi's poetry forms the basis of much classical Iranian and Afghan music. Modern musicians, including Muhammad Reza Shajarian, Shahram Nazeri, Davood Azad (from Iran), and Ustad Mohammad Hashem Cheshti (from Afghanistan), create contemporary versions of his poetry.

The Mewlewī Sufi order was started in 1273 by Rumi's followers after his death. His first possible successor was Salah-eddin Zarkoub, who worked with Rumi for ten years and was respected by him. Although Zarkoub could not read well and sometimes spoke incorrectly, Rumi used some of these words in his poems to show his support for Zarkoub. Zarkoub died before Rumi, so Rumi's first successor became Husam Chalabi. After Chalabi's death in 1284, Rumi's younger son, Sultan Walad, became the leader of the order. Sultan Walad is best known for writing the Maṭnawī Rabābnāma, or the Book of the Rabab. Since then, the leadership of the order has stayed within Rumi's family in Konya. The Mewlewī Sufis, also called Whirling Dervishes, believe in performing their spiritual practice, called dhikr, through a ritual called Sama. During Rumi's time, his followers gathered for musical and turning practices, as recorded in Manāqib ul-Ārefīn by Aflākī.

Tradition says Rumi was a skilled musician who played the robāb, but his favorite instrument was the ney or reed flute. The music during samāʿ includes settings of poems from the Maṭnawī and Dīwān-e Kabīr, or poems by Sultan Walad. The Mawlawīyah was a well-known Sufi order in the Ottoman Empire, and many members held official positions in the Caliphate. The center of the Mevlevi order was in Konya. There is also a Mewlewī monastery (dargāh) in Istanbul near the Galata Tower, where samāʿ is performed and open to the public. The Mewlewī order invites people of all backgrounds with these words:

"Come, come, whoever you are,
Wanderer, idolater, worshiper of fire,
Come even though you have broken your vows a thousand times,
Come, and come yet again.
Ours is not a caravan of despair."

During the Ottoman Empire, the Mevlevi order produced many famous poets and musicians, including Sheikh Ghalib, Ismail Rusuhi Dede of Ankara, Esrar Dede, Halet Efendi, and Gavsi Dede. These individuals are buried at the Galata Mewlewī Khāna in Istanbul. Music, especially the ney, plays an important role in the Mevlevi tradition.

When the modern, secular Republic of Turkey was founded, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk removed religion from public policy and limited it to personal morals and faith. On 13 December 1925, a law was passed to close all tekkes (dervish lodges) and zāwiyas (main dervish lodges), ending Sufi orders and banning their ceremonies and meetings. This law also stopped the use of mystical names, titles, and costumes, and took away the orders' property. In 1927, the Mausoleum of Mevlâna in Konya was allowed to reopen as a museum.

In the 1950s, the Turkish government let the Whirling Dervishes perform once a year in Konya. The Mewlānā festival, held over two weeks in December, ends on 17 December, the anniversary of Rumi's death, called Šab-e Arūs ("nuptial night"). In 1974, the Whirling Dervishes were allowed to travel to the West for the first time. In 2005, UNESCO named the "Mevlevi Sama Ceremony" of Turkey as a Masterpiece of the Oral