For poems of Rumi go to Mawlana Archive
Mawlana Jallaludin Balkhi-Rumi (محمد بلخی)
(28 September 1207–17 December 1273)
Summary
Mawlana (مولانا)was a 13th century Persian (Iranian) poet, theologian and jurist. He was born in Balkh, Khorasan, Iran (modern Afghanistan). His family migrated westwards towards Neishapour and after meeting Attar, another famous Iranian poet, they performed the Hajj and then settled in Konya which used to be a mainly Persian city. It was here where he glorified the New Persian language and he wrote the finest of all persian poems.
He was buried in Konya and his shrine became a place of pilgrimage by Iranians and others.
Mawlana's Tomb in Konya, Turkey
Perhaps Rumi's best friend was Shams Tabrizi (who was from Tabriz, Iran) and he was also a very famous persian poet. He influenced Rumi so much that Rumi wrote a book of poetry called Divan-e-Shams (دیوان شمس) and also Shams' influenced caused Balkhis desciples to be envious and thus killing him.
Famous Thoughts
From Wikipedia
The general theme of his thoughts, like that of the other mystic and Sufi poets of the Persian literature, is essentially about the concept of Tawhid (unity) and union with his beloved (the primal root) from which/whom he has been cut and fallen aloof, and his longing and desire for reunity.
The "Masnavi" weaves fables, scenes from everyday life, Qur’anic revelations and exegesis, and metaphysics, into a vast and intricate tapestry. Rumi is considered an example of "insan-e kamil" — the perfected or completed human being. 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 use of music, poetry and dancing 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 Whirling Dervishes developed into a ritual form. He founded the order of the Mevlevi, the "whirling" dervishes, and created the "Sama", their "turning", sacred dance. In the Mevlevi tradition, Sema represents a mystical journey of spiritual ascent through mind and love to "Perfect." In this journey the seeker symbolically turns towards the truth, grows through love, abandons the ego, finds the truth, and arrives at the "Perfect". The seeker then returns from this spiritual journey with greater maturity, so as to love and to be of service to the whole of creation without discrimination against beliefs, races, classes and nations.
According to the Iranian Shahram Shiva, one reason for Rumi's popularity is that "Rumi is able to verbalize the highly personal and often confusing world of personal/spiritual growth and mysticism in a very forward and direct fashion. He does not offend anyone, and he includes everyone. The world of Rumi is neither exclusively the world of a Sufi, nor the world of a Hindu, nor a Jew, nor a Christian; it is the highest state of a human being — a fully evolved human. A complete human is not bound by cultural limitations; he touches every one of us. Today Rumi's poems can be heard in churches, synagogues, Zen monasteries, as well as in the downtown New York art/performance/music scene." According to the Iranian Professor Majid M. Naini, Rumi's life and transformation provide true testimony and proof that people of all religions and backgrounds can live together in peace and harmony. Rumi’s visions, words, and life teach us how to reach inner peace and happiness so we can finally stop the continual stream of hostility and hatred and achieve true global peace and harmony.
In other verses in Masnavi, Rumi describes in detail the universal message of love:
- Love’s nationality is separate from all other religions,
- The lover’s religion and nationality is the Beloved (God).
- The lover’s cause is separate from all other causes
- Love is the astrolabe of God’s mysteries.