By Dr. Rasoul
Sorkhabi
Many literary, cultural and
spiritual organizations have organized events to celebrate the 800th
anniversary of Rumi's birth in 2007. UNESCO organized an international seminar,
performance and exhibition from 6-14 September in Paris, and issued a
Commemorative Medal in honor of Moulânâ Rumi. On 26 June, the United Nations
Organization hosted a gathering in New York
(with the participation of representatives from Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkey), and the
UN Secretary-General Mr. Ban Ki-moon commented: "Rumi's poetry is timeless. But
its celebration at the United Nations is extremely timely. Events of recent
years have created a growing gulf between communities and nations. They have led
to a worrying rise in intolerance and cross-cultural tensions ... As Moulana
teaches, we must be mindful of the people around us, and love them as human
beings and God's creatures." Rumi's poetry reaches our heart and mind seven
centuries after his death and in various lands and among different peoples
because Rumi sees the Divine love shining everywhere and in all ages. His path
and poetry is based on love. In the very beginning of his great work Masnawi Ma'nawi Rumi says that his
poetry of love is the "root of the root of the root of all religions." He thinks
of love as food ("Mâ eshgh khoreem: we eat love"); he sees love as a creative
force in the fabric of the universe; he considers God as a friend (doost or yâr) and beloved (mahboob or ma'shoogh) on earth and in our
heart.
Who was this ecstatic poet and
enlightened teacher? What we know of Rumi's life story comes from three Persian
biographies written shortly after his death, one by his son Sultan Valad and the
other two by his disciples Feridoon Sepah-sâlâr and Ahmad
Aflâki.
Jalâluddin Mohammad was born on 30
September 1207 in the city of Balkh (in
present-day Afghanistan) which was then a
political, economic and cultural center in the eastern part of the Persian
kingdom. His father, Bahâ Valad, was a Muslim teacher and preacher who favored
the mystic's path of experiencing rather than the philosopher's method of
arguing to understand spiritual truths. His sermons criticizing the philosophers
of his day angered the followers of Imam Fakhruddin Razi, the great theologian
of Balkh who was
also a teacher and close friend of Sultan Mohammad Khârazm-Shah. The king
himself, although attended some of Bahâ Valad's sermons, apparently did not like
the growing gathering around a pious, mystic preacher who criticized
philosophers and kept distance from the court. Jalâluddin grew up in Balkh and was educated by
his father and also by a tutor Borhânnuddin Tirmadhi (who was Bahâ Valad's
disciple). As the power of Genghis Khan and the threat of his Mongol army grew
and as the supporters of the king and philosophical scholars made life difficult
for Bahâ Valad in Balkh, he decided to take his family and
migrate westward. This was around 1219 when Jalâluddin was barely a teenager.
About three hundred people were in Bahâ Valad's caravan. They stopped at the
city of Nishabour where the great Persian poet Attâr
lived. Attâr was impressed by the young Jalâluddin and presented him with a copy
of his Asrâr Nâmeh ("The Book of
Secrets") which he had composed during his own youth. He also told the boy's
father: "The fiery words of this boy will kindle the hearts of lovers all over
the world." (If this conversation did take place, Attâr's prophecy has come
true.) Jalâluddin was fond of reading poetry by Attâr and Sanâ'ee (another
Persian Sufi poet) and viewed himself as continuing their tradition of spiritual
poetry.
Bahâ Valad and his family were in
Baghdad when the Mongols sacked Balkh and massacred its
people. After making a pilgrimage to Mecca, Bahâ Valad and his family moved to
Anatolia (Asia Minor or Byzantine) which was then called Rum in Persian - hence
the name Rumi as he is known in the Western languages. (The Eastern people
usually call him Moulânâ, "our master," or Mevlana in Turkish pronunciation. The
name Moulavi, "my master', often used in Iran is
relatively a newer title.) Anatolia was then ruled by the Seljugh Dynasty whose
Persian-speaking Muslim kings were of Turkish origin and had conquered the
Byzantine kingdom in Anatolia in the
11th century. In the town of Laranda (Karaman), Rumi's mother died
(her tomb still exists there), and in 1224 the eighteen-year-old Jalâluddin
married a girl - Ghouhar Khâtun - whose family had accompanied Bahâ Valad's
westward sojourn. They soon had two sons - Sultan Valad (who became Rumi's
successor) and Alâ'eddin (who died long before Rumi). In 1228, Bahâ Valad and
his family moved to the city of Konya (now in
southwest Turkey) at the request of the Seljugh
king Sultan Alâ'eddin Kayghobâd. A school was built there for Bahâ Valad for his
classes and sermons. In 1231 Bahâ Valad died at the age of 80. Rumi took over
his father's position, and shortly later, his tutor from Balkh, Borhânuddin Tirmadhi, came to Konya and undertook a
systematic training of the young scholar both in the Islamic and literary
subjects and in the Sufi tradition. In 1233, Rumi was sent to Aleppo and Damascus (both
now in Syria) to study with the great
teachers of the day. Seven years later, Rumi returned to Konya. A scholar par excellence Rumi became a popular
preacher and teacher in Konya with numerous students and followers.
However, his wife died of illness and shortly later, in 1241, his teacher
Borhânnuddin passed away too. Rumi then married Kira Khâtun, a widow with a
child from a previous marriage. This second marriage brought two more children
(one son and a daughter) to Rumi's family.
29 November 1244 is a second
birthday for Rumi. On that day, he met Shams Tabrizi in Konya. Shams (literally
"Sun") was a wandering dervish born in Tabriz, a
city in northwest Iran, and had led a long life of
traveling, practicing and studying with Sufis. His lectures collected in Maghâlât Shams ("Discourse of Shams")
demonstrate that Shams was a learned person with deep insight and wisdom. In
their first meeting, Rumi (then 37) and Shams (possibly 60) fell for each other,
and subsequent conversations and retreats (a tradition called Soh'bat among the Sufis) with Shams
revolutionized Rumi's lifestyle and perspective. He was transformed from an Âlim (scholar) to an Ârif (mystic), from a preacher to a
poet. After that Rumi seldom read books and drastically reduced his teaching
schedule. Instead he spent his days on murâghibah (meditation), samâ (music and dancing which were later
developed by his son Sultan Valad into the tradition of the Whirling Dervishes),
and mushâ'irah (poetry). Rumi's
disciples resented Shams who, in their opinion, had kidnapped their master. Once
Shams left Konya for Damascus in protest of the
disciples' misbehavior toward him; Rumi dispatched his son to bring him back.
Shams returned but after a while the same problems surfaced up. In 1248, Shams
disappeared once and for all. (Some believe that he was killed by the angry
disciples and that his tomb lies in Konya; many scholars doubt this to be true.)
Shams' disappearance devastated Rumi. He went to Damascus twice in search of Shams, but finally
concluded that Shams was within him. In years to come, Rumi found two other soul
brothers, Salâhuddin Zarkub (death in 1258), a goldsmith and a former disciple
of Borhânuddin Tirmadhi, and Husâmuddin Chelebi (death in 1284), a young
disciple of Rumi.
Rumi's poems (98% in Persian and
about two percents in Arabic) are collected in two great works: (1) Diwân Shams ("The Poetry Book of Shams")
or Diwân Kabir ("The Great Book of Poetry") which
contains some 3500 lyric odes (Ghazal) and nearly 2000 quatrains (Rubâi'yât) and is dedicated to Shams
Tabrizi. This book is full of ecstatic love poems and in many of the poems Rumi
addresses himself with the pen-name of Khamoosh ("Silent") in many poems. (2)
Masnawi Ma'nawi ("Rhymed Couplets on
Spiritual Matters") is a six-volume book of didactic poetry (stories and
parables) which Rumi recited to Husâm Chelebi during the last decade of his
life. Many of the Rumi translations in English available on the market today
(and with varying quality) are all selections from these two
works.
Rumi died on 17 December 1273, aged
67. People from diverse religions and ethnicities - Muslims, Christians, Jews,
Persians, Turks, Arabs and Greek, the rich, the poor, the elite and the
illiterate, women and men - all came to his funeral and mourned the loss of
their great spiritual master. Buried in Konya, Rumi's tomb (called "Ghobat al-Khidhra"
the Green Dome, or "Yashil Turbe" in Turkish) has become a shrine for thousands
of visitor and pilgrims each year. 17 December is celebrated as Sheb-i Arus ("Wedding Night" symbolizing
reunion with the Divine) in Konya in the spirit of Rumi's will that those
who come to his tomb should not cry and grieve but rejoice in prayer, poetry and
contemplation.
It is interesting to note that Rumi
was born on Sunday and this year 30 September (his birthday) also falls on
Sunday. Rumi died at sunset on Sunday. This symbolism of his birth and death on
a day named after the Sun is beautifully consistent with the place of Moulânâ
Rumi's personality and poetry among us. For seven centuries, his art and vision
has shined like a bright, warm sun upon our minds and hearts. Master Rumi is an
enlightening poet for all ages and peoples.
For Further Reading:
About
Author:
Dr. Rasoul Sorkhabi is director of
the Rumi Poetry Club at Salt Lake
City, Utah. A slightly
different version of this article is published in the October issue of the Persian Heritage Monthly (www.persian-heritage.org). This
article is part of an upcoming book by the author: Listen to This Flute: Understanding
Rumi. If you desire to reprint or republish this article for educational
purposes, please contact rumipoetryclub@earthlink.net for
permission.
Copyright: Rasoul Sorkhabi
(2007).
... Payvand News - 10/2/07 ... --
