Rumi
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"Beyond good and evil there is a field where we can all meet."--Rumi |
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Rumi (1207 – 1273), was a 13th-century Persian poet, Islamic jurist, theologian, and mystic, known as the author of the Masnavi.
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THE appellation Rūmi, or Syrian, is given to the Persian poet Jalāl-ad-din because most of his life was passed at Iconium in Rum, or Asia Minor. His full name is recorded as Jalāl-ad-din Mohammed Rūmi ; he is generally known as Jalāl-ad- din, or Splendor of the Faith, " but it is convenient to record his name, according to Western methods, under the simple form Rūmi. This Persian poet may best be remembered as the founder of the Maulavi sect of dervishes, or the whirling dervishes as they are often called ; whose austerity of life, mystic philosophy, enthusiastic devotion, and religious ecstasy superinduced by the whirling dance, are familiar to readers of Eastern literature.
The writings of Jalāl- ad- din, like Jāmi, Nizāmī, and others, breathe the religious spirituality of Sufi philosophy: the world and all that is comprised therein is but a part of God, and the universe exists only through God ; the Love Divine is all- pervading, and the rivers of life pour their waters into the boundless ocean of the supreme soul ; man must burnish the mirror of his heart and wipe away the dross of self that blurs the perfect image there. This is a keynote to the " Rūmian's " religious and mystic poetry. Jalāl-ad-din Rumi was not only himself renowned, but he inherited renown from a noble father and from distinguished ancestors. The blood of the old Khvarismian kings flowed in his veins. He was born in Balkh, Bactria, A. D. 1207.
The child's father was a zealous teacher and preacher, a scholar whose learning and influence won for him so great popularity with the people of Balkh as to arouse the jealous opposition of the reigning Sultan. Obliged to leave his native city, this worthy man wandered westward with his family, and ultimately settled in Syria, where he founded a college under the generous patronage of the Sultan of Rūm, as Asia Minor is termed in the Orient. He died honored with years and with favors, at a moment when his son had recently passed into manhood. Upon his father's death Jalāl-ad-din succeeded to the noble teacher's chair, and entered upon the distinguished career for which his natural gifts and splendid training had destined him.
He was already 12488 JALAL-AD-DIN RUMI married ; and when sorrow came in the untimely death of a son , and in the sad fate of a beloved teacher, his life seems to have taken on a deeper tinge of sombre richness and a fuller tone of spiritual devotion, that colors his poetry. Revered for his teaching, his purity of life, and his poetic talents, the " Rūmian's " fame soon spread, and he became widely followed . Among many anecdotes that are told of his upright but uneventful life is a sort of St. Patrick story, that ascribes to him supernatural power and influence. Preaching one time on the bank of a pond, to a large concourse of eager listeners who had assembled to drink in his inspired words, his voice was drowned by the incessant croaking of innumerable frogs. The pious man calmly proceeded to the brink of the water and bade the frogs be still.
Their mouths were instantly sealed. When his discourse was ended, he turned once more to the marge of the lake and gave the frogs permission again to pipe up. Immediately their hoarse voices began to sound, and their lusty croaking has since been allowed to continue in this hallowed spot. To-day, Jalāl-ad- dîn Rūmī's fame rests upon one magnum opus, the 'Masnavi' or ' Mathnavi. ' The title literally signifies " measure, " then a poem composed in that certain measure, then the poem par excel lence that is composed in that measure, the ' Masnavi. ' It is a large collection of some 30,000 or 40,000 rhymed couplets, teaching Divine love and the purification of the heart, under the guise of tales, anecdotes, precepts, parables, and legends.
The poetic merit, religious fervor, and philosophic depth of the work are acknowledged. Six books make up the contents of the poem ; and it seems to have been finished just as Jalāl-ad-din, the religious devotee, mystic philosopher, and enthusiastic poetic teacher, died A. D. 1273.
The best collection of bibliographical material is that given by Ethé in Geiger and Kuhn's ' Grundriss der Iranischen Philologie, ' Vol. ii . , pages 289-291 . The first of the six books of the ' Masnavi is easily accessible in a metrical English version by J. W. Redhouse, London, 1881 (Trübner's Oriental Series) ; and three selections are to be found in S. Robinson's 'Persian Poetry for English Readers, ' 1883 , pages 367-382 . Both these valuable works have been drawn upon for the present sketch. The abridged English translation of the Masnavi ' by E. H. Whinfield, London, 1887 (Trübner's Oriental Series) , is a standard to be consulted.
See also
- Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm
- On Persian culture
- Persian philosophy
- List of Persian poets and authors
- Mastan Ensemble
- Persian literature
- Persian mysticism
- Persian people
- Tajik people
- Spiritual Islam
- Other
- Rumi experts
- Hamid Algar
- Rahim Arbab
- William Chittick
- Badiozzaman Forouzanfar
- Hossein Elahi Ghomshei
- Kabir Helminski
- Fatemeh Keshavarz
- Majid M. Naini
- Seyyed Hossein Nasr
- Franklin Lewis
- François Pétis de la Croix
- Annemarie Schimmel
- Abdolkarim Soroush
- Dariush Shayegan
- Abdolhossein Zarinkoob
- English translators of Rumi poetry
- William Chittick
- Ravan A. G. Farhadi
- Nader Khalili
- Franklin Lewis
- Majid M. Naini
- Reynold A. Nicholson
- James W. Redhouse
- Shahram Shiva
- Interpreters of Rumi