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Sunday, June 24, 2018
The Extraordinary Genius of Albert Einstein - Full Documentary HD
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Thursday, June 08, 2006
Mevlana Jalal’uddin Rumi: His Life and Poetry
by Mark W. Muesse
In the land where he spent the greater portion of his life, the country we today call Turkey, the mystic poet Rumi is scarcely known by that name. The Turks call him Mevlana, or “our master.” “Rumi” is more of nickname than a surname, and it simply means the “Roman” or more accurately, the “Byzantine,” since this part of the world was once the Byzantine Empire, the successor of the East Roman Empire.
But this “Rumi” was not a Roman, or a Byzantine, or even a Turk. He was born in the area of Balkh in present-day Afghanistan, then known as Khorasan, a place bustling with Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and Zoroastrians. Jalal’uddin Rumi was born into this religiously diverse place on 30 September 1207, making him the contemporary of two other great mystics, Francis of Assisi (c. 1182-1226) and Meister Eckhart (c. 1260-1328). Jalal’uddin’s father, Baha’uddin Walad, was an expert in Islamic law and a preacher who tended toward mysticism. Jalal’uddin’s mother died early in his life. He himself was the only one of his father’s several children to survive childhood.
Rumi’s early life was characterized by frequent dislocation. When he was five, the family moved to Samarqand to escape invasion by the Mongols led by Genghis Khan. As the Mongols continued to encroach, Baha’uddin Walad took his family westward. They traveled in this general direction for about a decade, but their precise whereabouts are uncertain. When they reached the Middle East, they likely went on pilgrimage in the holy city of Makkah, to fulfill the requirement incumbent on all Muslims. But if so, Rumi never mentions the pilgrimage in his writings. In fact he seems rather skeptical about traveling for religious purposes.
Oh you who’ve gone on pilgrimage—
where are you, where, oh where?
Here, here is the Beloved!
Oh come now, come, oh come!
Your friend, he is your neighbor,
he is next to your wall—
You erring in the desert—
what air of love is this?
If you’d see the Beloved’s
form without any form—
You are the house, the master,
You are the Kaaba, you!
Where is a bunch of roses,
if you would be this garden?
Where, one soul’s pearly essence
when you’re the Sea of God?
That’s true—and yet your troubles
may turn to treasures rich—
How sad that you yourself veil
the treasure that is yours! 1
Rumi and his family settled for a while in Damascus, a great center of Arabic learning, where Jalal’uddin studied with eminent scholars and poets. The family’s sojourn did not end in Damascus but eventually continued to central Anatolia, in present-day Turkey, where they stayed in Laranda, then part of the Seljukid kingdom. In Laranda, Jalal’uddin married at age 18 and fathered his first child, a son.
Rumi’s early travels would certainly have made him familiar with the caravanserai, the guest house where weary travelers stayed and refreshed, often for months during winter, before proceeding on their journey. In his later poetry, the caravanserai becomes an image encouraging
hospitality toward all life, all experiences:
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent as a guide from beyond. 2
Eventually, Rumi’s family settled in Konya, the Anatolian capital, once called Iconium when it was part of the Roman Empire. In the 13th century, Konya was becoming a center for refugee scholars and artists under the patronage of the sultan. Konya was also center for Islamic piety, and it still is today. There is a decidedly different atmosphere in Konya than in other parts of Turkey, which are far more secularized.
In Konya, Rumi’s father taught traditional Islamic theology at a madrasa, or seminary. When Baha’uddin died, Rumi assumed his father’s post as a theologian and jurist. Apparently, Jalal’uddin had little or no inkling of his father’s mystical bent, which Baha’uddin may have kept secret from his son.
It also seems that Jalal’uddin himself had no interest in mysticism as a young man. Sufism was rather suspect among orthodox Muslims, and Rumi seems in his early life to have been every bit a conventional Muslim. During this period, in the 1230’s and 1240’s, he led a normal life for a religious scholar, teaching, praying, and helping the poor.
But in October 1244, when he was 37 years old, Rumi had an encounter that would forever change his life. There are several conflicting accounts of this event. One story maintains that on his way home from the madrasa, Rumi met a wandering dervish (Sufi) who asked him a question that impacted him like a Zen koan. There are even different versions of this question, and today we are not certain of its actual content. But it stirred Rumi profoundly.
In another account, Rumi was teaching by a fountain in a square in Konya. The wandering stranger pushed through crowd and tossed into the fountain the books from which Rumi was teaching. When Rumi demanded to know who this stranger was and why he did this, the stranger replied: “You must now live what you have been reading about.” The stranger then turned to the books at the bottom of the fountain and said “We can retrieve them. They’ll be as dry as they were.” He picked one up from the bottom of the fountain, and it was dry. Rumi said “leave them.”
From that moment, Rumi and the stranger, whose name was Shams’uddin of Tabriz, became inseparable companions. Rumi writes, “What I had thought of before as God I met today in a human being.” Rumi and Shams were literally inseparable for the next several months.
What took place between them during this time is not altogether clear; later, Rumi would speak of that time as being transported into sphere of Divine Love. They isolated themselves from the rest of the world to enjoy this deep communion (sohbet), much to the consternation of Rumi’s family and students. Rumi was so rapt in this experience with Shams that he totally neglected his teaching and family responsibilities.
Shams, apparently, was not such an easy person to get along with. He was reputedly rather arrogant with a sharp tongue. He even said himself that he prayed to find a single person who could bear his company and was thus “directed to Anatolia.” In spite of Shams personal qualities, it is clear that Rumi encountered in him the very embodiment of the divine itself. Rumi writes:
It is not right that I should call you human [banda, servant]
But I am afraid to call you God [khuda]! (Diwan-i 2768).
Shamsulhaqq [Sun of Divine Truth],
if I see in your clear mirrorNothing but God,
I am worse than an infidel! (Diwan-i 1027).
Whether it be infidelity or Islam, listen:
You are either the light of God or God,
[khuda]! (Diwan-i 2711). 3
To understand the scandalous nature of these verses, one needs to know that idolatry is the highest sin in Islam. To Muslims idolatry is shirk, associating God with something that is not God. When Rumi compares Shams to God, he could commit no greater sin from the conventional point of view.
Thus it is not surprising that Rumi’s family and students were extremely suspicious of the mysterious Shams. He was probably not very likeable, and he seemed to be leading Rumi towards heresy. Shams must have caught drift of their suspicion because one day he simply disappeared without warning, after about a year with Rumi. Rumi was devastated by the loss.
Yet, it is at this point that his transformation began to accelerate. Rumi became a poet. He began spontaneously to sing and whirl, and he himself did not understand why this happened. He maintained that he was not the author of the verses that began pouring forth from his mouth.
for the full text please go click the following link:http://explorefaith.org/mystery/poetsRumi_ext.html
In the land where he spent the greater portion of his life, the country we today call Turkey, the mystic poet Rumi is scarcely known by that name. The Turks call him Mevlana, or “our master.” “Rumi” is more of nickname than a surname, and it simply means the “Roman” or more accurately, the “Byzantine,” since this part of the world was once the Byzantine Empire, the successor of the East Roman Empire.
But this “Rumi” was not a Roman, or a Byzantine, or even a Turk. He was born in the area of Balkh in present-day Afghanistan, then known as Khorasan, a place bustling with Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and Zoroastrians. Jalal’uddin Rumi was born into this religiously diverse place on 30 September 1207, making him the contemporary of two other great mystics, Francis of Assisi (c. 1182-1226) and Meister Eckhart (c. 1260-1328). Jalal’uddin’s father, Baha’uddin Walad, was an expert in Islamic law and a preacher who tended toward mysticism. Jalal’uddin’s mother died early in his life. He himself was the only one of his father’s several children to survive childhood.
Rumi’s early life was characterized by frequent dislocation. When he was five, the family moved to Samarqand to escape invasion by the Mongols led by Genghis Khan. As the Mongols continued to encroach, Baha’uddin Walad took his family westward. They traveled in this general direction for about a decade, but their precise whereabouts are uncertain. When they reached the Middle East, they likely went on pilgrimage in the holy city of Makkah, to fulfill the requirement incumbent on all Muslims. But if so, Rumi never mentions the pilgrimage in his writings. In fact he seems rather skeptical about traveling for religious purposes.
Oh you who’ve gone on pilgrimage—
where are you, where, oh where?
Here, here is the Beloved!
Oh come now, come, oh come!
Your friend, he is your neighbor,
he is next to your wall—
You erring in the desert—
what air of love is this?
If you’d see the Beloved’s
form without any form—
You are the house, the master,
You are the Kaaba, you!
Where is a bunch of roses,
if you would be this garden?
Where, one soul’s pearly essence
when you’re the Sea of God?
That’s true—and yet your troubles
may turn to treasures rich—
How sad that you yourself veil
the treasure that is yours! 1
Rumi and his family settled for a while in Damascus, a great center of Arabic learning, where Jalal’uddin studied with eminent scholars and poets. The family’s sojourn did not end in Damascus but eventually continued to central Anatolia, in present-day Turkey, where they stayed in Laranda, then part of the Seljukid kingdom. In Laranda, Jalal’uddin married at age 18 and fathered his first child, a son.
Rumi’s early travels would certainly have made him familiar with the caravanserai, the guest house where weary travelers stayed and refreshed, often for months during winter, before proceeding on their journey. In his later poetry, the caravanserai becomes an image encouraging
hospitality toward all life, all experiences:
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent as a guide from beyond. 2
Eventually, Rumi’s family settled in Konya, the Anatolian capital, once called Iconium when it was part of the Roman Empire. In the 13th century, Konya was becoming a center for refugee scholars and artists under the patronage of the sultan. Konya was also center for Islamic piety, and it still is today. There is a decidedly different atmosphere in Konya than in other parts of Turkey, which are far more secularized.
In Konya, Rumi’s father taught traditional Islamic theology at a madrasa, or seminary. When Baha’uddin died, Rumi assumed his father’s post as a theologian and jurist. Apparently, Jalal’uddin had little or no inkling of his father’s mystical bent, which Baha’uddin may have kept secret from his son.
It also seems that Jalal’uddin himself had no interest in mysticism as a young man. Sufism was rather suspect among orthodox Muslims, and Rumi seems in his early life to have been every bit a conventional Muslim. During this period, in the 1230’s and 1240’s, he led a normal life for a religious scholar, teaching, praying, and helping the poor.
But in October 1244, when he was 37 years old, Rumi had an encounter that would forever change his life. There are several conflicting accounts of this event. One story maintains that on his way home from the madrasa, Rumi met a wandering dervish (Sufi) who asked him a question that impacted him like a Zen koan. There are even different versions of this question, and today we are not certain of its actual content. But it stirred Rumi profoundly.
In another account, Rumi was teaching by a fountain in a square in Konya. The wandering stranger pushed through crowd and tossed into the fountain the books from which Rumi was teaching. When Rumi demanded to know who this stranger was and why he did this, the stranger replied: “You must now live what you have been reading about.” The stranger then turned to the books at the bottom of the fountain and said “We can retrieve them. They’ll be as dry as they were.” He picked one up from the bottom of the fountain, and it was dry. Rumi said “leave them.”
From that moment, Rumi and the stranger, whose name was Shams’uddin of Tabriz, became inseparable companions. Rumi writes, “What I had thought of before as God I met today in a human being.” Rumi and Shams were literally inseparable for the next several months.
What took place between them during this time is not altogether clear; later, Rumi would speak of that time as being transported into sphere of Divine Love. They isolated themselves from the rest of the world to enjoy this deep communion (sohbet), much to the consternation of Rumi’s family and students. Rumi was so rapt in this experience with Shams that he totally neglected his teaching and family responsibilities.
Shams, apparently, was not such an easy person to get along with. He was reputedly rather arrogant with a sharp tongue. He even said himself that he prayed to find a single person who could bear his company and was thus “directed to Anatolia.” In spite of Shams personal qualities, it is clear that Rumi encountered in him the very embodiment of the divine itself. Rumi writes:
It is not right that I should call you human [banda, servant]
But I am afraid to call you God [khuda]! (Diwan-i 2768).
Shamsulhaqq [Sun of Divine Truth],
if I see in your clear mirrorNothing but God,
I am worse than an infidel! (Diwan-i 1027).
Whether it be infidelity or Islam, listen:
You are either the light of God or God,
[khuda]! (Diwan-i 2711). 3
To understand the scandalous nature of these verses, one needs to know that idolatry is the highest sin in Islam. To Muslims idolatry is shirk, associating God with something that is not God. When Rumi compares Shams to God, he could commit no greater sin from the conventional point of view.
Thus it is not surprising that Rumi’s family and students were extremely suspicious of the mysterious Shams. He was probably not very likeable, and he seemed to be leading Rumi towards heresy. Shams must have caught drift of their suspicion because one day he simply disappeared without warning, after about a year with Rumi. Rumi was devastated by the loss.
Yet, it is at this point that his transformation began to accelerate. Rumi became a poet. He began spontaneously to sing and whirl, and he himself did not understand why this happened. He maintained that he was not the author of the verses that began pouring forth from his mouth.
for the full text please go click the following link:http://explorefaith.org/mystery/poetsRumi_ext.html
posted by reza at 1:45 AM
0 comments
Monday, January 30, 2006
A short assay about Rumi the king of love, from the heart of Asia Afghanistan.
A Dedication to MAWLANA JALALUDDIN Balkhi / RUMI
This web-page is dedicated to Jalaluddin Rumi (may God sanctify his holy spirit) the Greatest Saint of Islam and of mystics in our modern age. I wish you could all feed your soul by reading his words. His words are an ocean of wine, such that when you drink this wine you will be drunk forever.
When you hear his words you will find that he does not belong to any single culture or any specific faith or any nationality. He is man of peace and thirsty for justice in this cosmos and beyond. “God and him”. “Him and God”. His words are like the Sun which shines everywhere beyond race and nationality. This clearly shows that he was not from East or West neither North nor South. He was saying that you should be the centre of all light shining in the north, south, east and west. Then you belong to nowhere but everywhere. Your wisdom will shine across the whole world.
Rumi had the highest position in the Islamic world in his time as a top respected leader of thousands of Muslim scholars and governors of different Islamic nations. He was acting on behalf of his father, Husayn al-Balkhî Walad who was the top respected leader in that century. In one accidental meeting with a person unknown to him (Shams-e-Tabrizi), he changed through 180 degrees, leaving all the leadership positions and leader kinds of life. He picked one musical instrument called rubbab and started a different kind of life by dancing with the children of the alleys without position and title - just him and his wisdom which he really found his best gift from his creator. People criticized Rumi for denouncing his position of leadership. But he said “I want to be sun of the sun of the sun and to shine brightly on all creations of God”.
Yes, by that change in his life he became the king of love and will live forever.
May God bless him and all those who worked to enlighten human beings. Now, in the 21st century, his words are still the most powerful words that came from a human being from his time to now and will be forever. He was a symbol of peace and tolerance. He put his life on the journey with never a thought for his own comfort.
He born in a much-respected family in Afghanistan. He was son of Husayn al-Balkhî. His place of birth is the town of Wakhsh where his father worked as a Muslim preacher and scholar. Wahksh was part of the cultural area of the ancient city of Balkh (present called Mazar-e-Shrif in one of the province of present-day Afghanistan) which had been a major center of Islamic learning for five hundred years before Rumi was born. His father, also a great mystic, or sufi master, was from Balkh. But later he was called by the additional name, Jalâlu 'd-deen ("the Glory of the Faith"). His full name was Jalâlu 'd-deen Muhammad bin (= son of) Husayn al-Balkhî. Their family was forced to leave his motherland so they moved to unfamiliar countries. His family begun their journey and crossed Herat and then to Neyshabour in Khorassan province of Iran, then left Iran for the Middle East. In the end he found himself and his family in Konya. The Konya region is one of the most ancient settlements of Anatolia (present-day Turkey). He became known as Jalâlu 'd-deen Muhammad al-Roomee.
For centuries Anatolia had been called “Rûm” (a form of "Rome") which meant “the land of the Greeks” (who had long ruled the area from Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire and later the Byzantine Empire). In the East, he was known as Mawlana (pronounced “Mowlânâ” in Iran, India, and Pakistan; pronounced “Mevlana” in Turkey). This means "our master" in Arabic, and was traditionally a title given to Muslim scholars. However, due to his great fame, the respectful title “Mawlana” quickly came to refer primarily to Jalaluddin Rumi.
Only in the West has he been called “Rumi”. Rumi must have memorized much or all of the Holy Qur'an when he was young, because the Mathnawi and his other poetry are filled with direct quotes in Arabic, Persian paraphrases, and references to Qur'anic verses. He belonged to the Hanafi School of Islamic law, one of the four orthodox legal traditions of the Sunni branch of Islam. This means that his daily religious behavior was faithful to the many details of the Hanafi tradition of how to follow the example of the Prophet Muhammad. Rumi's first Sufi master, Sayyid Burhânu 'd-dîn Termezî, was his father's leading Sufi disciple who came to Anatolia after hearing of the death of Rumi's father. Rumi was his Sufi disciple for ten years, during which he was sent to Syria to obtain a traditional Islamic education. Sayyid Burhanuddin was also a profound mystic who instilled in Rumi a love of Persian Sufi poetry and ordered him to do a number of lengthy solitary prayer retreats.
Rumi was 37 years of age when he met his second sufi master, Shamsu 'd-deen Muhammad al-Tabreezee (from Tabrîz), traditionally believed to have been about 60 years old. It is now known that Shams was not an illiterate and "wild" dervish as previously thought by Western scholars, but had a solid Islamic education and was literate and fluent in Arabic as well as Persian. And Shams himself belonged to another major orthodox school of Sunni Islamic law, called Shâfi`î.1*. In the "Discourses of Shams,"2* a collection of notes recorded by his disciples (among whom was Rumi's son, Sultân Walad), Shams reveals himself not only to be a profound mystic, but very knowledgeable about traditional and mystical interpretations of verses from the Qur'an and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. And he criticized at least one famous Sufi master for not following the daily religious behaviour of the Prophet.3 *In a biography of Rumi, written by a disciple of Rumi's grandson Aflâkî, along with many miracle stories, are many accounts of how Rumi prayed the five daily ritual Islamic prayers, fasted during the month of Ramadan, and did many extended voluntary fasts. And there are many accounts in which he voiced traditional Islamic beliefs on many topics. But it is in the masterpiece of his later life, the Mathnawî-ye Ma`nawî (literally, "Rhymed Couplets of Deep Spiritual Meaning") that he reveals himself as both a profound mystic and an extremely devout Muslim. A study of his stories and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad reveals his veneration and love for the Holy Prophet and the Revelation that was sent to him from God Most High.
Mawlânâ Jalâluddîn Muhammad al-Balkhî al-Rûmî died in 1273 and was buried next to his father's tomb in Konya, Turkey.
The anniversary of his death was commemorated for centuries according to the Islamic lunar calendar, but has been celebrated in Turkey for the past 50 years according to the Western solar calendar on 17th December. On the night of this date, Mevlevis all over the world whirl in remembrance and glorification of God, and many kinds of groups read Rumi's poetry in their own languages.
NOTES:
1*Shâfi`î: see "Rumi-- Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teachings and Poetry of Jalâl al-Din Rumi" by Franklin D. Lewis, United Kingdom: Oneworld, 2000, p. 142.
2*"Discourses of Shams": "Maqâlât-i Shams-i Tabrîzî." See Lewis, pp. 135-37.
3*not following the daily religious behavior of the Prophet: refers (in Shams' "Discourses") to "Shaykh Muhammad," believed by scholars to be the famous sufi genius, Ibn al-`Arabî, whom Shams both admired and criticized because he "did not follow" [mutâba`at] (the Prophet).
See Lewis, p. 150.
I selected some of Balkhi’s poems for you to give his gift to you.
Love endures hardships at the hand of Beloved
Through love things seem sweet,
Through love bits of copper are made gold.
Through love dregs taste like pure wine,
Through love pains are as healing balms.
Through love thorns become roses,
and through love vinegar becomes sweet wine.
Through love the stake become a throne,
Through love reverses of fortune seems good fortune,
Through love a prison seems a rose bower,
Without love a grate full ashes seems a garden.
Through love burning fire is pleasing lighter,
Through love the Devil becomes a Houri.
Through love hard stones become soft as butter,
Without love soft wax becomes hard iron.
Through love grief is as joy,
Through love Ghouls turn in to angles.
Through love stings are as honey.
Through love loins are harmless as mice,
Through love sickness is health
Through love wrath is as mercy.
Through love the dead rise to life,
Through love the king becomes slave.
Even when an evil befalls you,
have due regard;Regard well him who does you this ill turn.
The sight which regards the ebb and flow of good and ill.
Opens a passage for you from misfortune to happiness.
Thence you see the one state generating its opposite in exchange.
So long as you experience not fears after joys,
Please visit my other sites as well:
www.rumithekingoflove.blogspot.com
www.nawaayney.blogfa.com
This web-page is dedicated to Jalaluddin Rumi (may God sanctify his holy spirit) the Greatest Saint of Islam and of mystics in our modern age. I wish you could all feed your soul by reading his words. His words are an ocean of wine, such that when you drink this wine you will be drunk forever.
When you hear his words you will find that he does not belong to any single culture or any specific faith or any nationality. He is man of peace and thirsty for justice in this cosmos and beyond. “God and him”. “Him and God”. His words are like the Sun which shines everywhere beyond race and nationality. This clearly shows that he was not from East or West neither North nor South. He was saying that you should be the centre of all light shining in the north, south, east and west. Then you belong to nowhere but everywhere. Your wisdom will shine across the whole world.
Rumi had the highest position in the Islamic world in his time as a top respected leader of thousands of Muslim scholars and governors of different Islamic nations. He was acting on behalf of his father, Husayn al-Balkhî Walad who was the top respected leader in that century. In one accidental meeting with a person unknown to him (Shams-e-Tabrizi), he changed through 180 degrees, leaving all the leadership positions and leader kinds of life. He picked one musical instrument called rubbab and started a different kind of life by dancing with the children of the alleys without position and title - just him and his wisdom which he really found his best gift from his creator. People criticized Rumi for denouncing his position of leadership. But he said “I want to be sun of the sun of the sun and to shine brightly on all creations of God”.
Yes, by that change in his life he became the king of love and will live forever.
May God bless him and all those who worked to enlighten human beings. Now, in the 21st century, his words are still the most powerful words that came from a human being from his time to now and will be forever. He was a symbol of peace and tolerance. He put his life on the journey with never a thought for his own comfort.
He born in a much-respected family in Afghanistan. He was son of Husayn al-Balkhî. His place of birth is the town of Wakhsh where his father worked as a Muslim preacher and scholar. Wahksh was part of the cultural area of the ancient city of Balkh (present called Mazar-e-Shrif in one of the province of present-day Afghanistan) which had been a major center of Islamic learning for five hundred years before Rumi was born. His father, also a great mystic, or sufi master, was from Balkh. But later he was called by the additional name, Jalâlu 'd-deen ("the Glory of the Faith"). His full name was Jalâlu 'd-deen Muhammad bin (= son of) Husayn al-Balkhî. Their family was forced to leave his motherland so they moved to unfamiliar countries. His family begun their journey and crossed Herat and then to Neyshabour in Khorassan province of Iran, then left Iran for the Middle East. In the end he found himself and his family in Konya. The Konya region is one of the most ancient settlements of Anatolia (present-day Turkey). He became known as Jalâlu 'd-deen Muhammad al-Roomee.
For centuries Anatolia had been called “Rûm” (a form of "Rome") which meant “the land of the Greeks” (who had long ruled the area from Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire and later the Byzantine Empire). In the East, he was known as Mawlana (pronounced “Mowlânâ” in Iran, India, and Pakistan; pronounced “Mevlana” in Turkey). This means "our master" in Arabic, and was traditionally a title given to Muslim scholars. However, due to his great fame, the respectful title “Mawlana” quickly came to refer primarily to Jalaluddin Rumi.
Only in the West has he been called “Rumi”. Rumi must have memorized much or all of the Holy Qur'an when he was young, because the Mathnawi and his other poetry are filled with direct quotes in Arabic, Persian paraphrases, and references to Qur'anic verses. He belonged to the Hanafi School of Islamic law, one of the four orthodox legal traditions of the Sunni branch of Islam. This means that his daily religious behavior was faithful to the many details of the Hanafi tradition of how to follow the example of the Prophet Muhammad. Rumi's first Sufi master, Sayyid Burhânu 'd-dîn Termezî, was his father's leading Sufi disciple who came to Anatolia after hearing of the death of Rumi's father. Rumi was his Sufi disciple for ten years, during which he was sent to Syria to obtain a traditional Islamic education. Sayyid Burhanuddin was also a profound mystic who instilled in Rumi a love of Persian Sufi poetry and ordered him to do a number of lengthy solitary prayer retreats.
Rumi was 37 years of age when he met his second sufi master, Shamsu 'd-deen Muhammad al-Tabreezee (from Tabrîz), traditionally believed to have been about 60 years old. It is now known that Shams was not an illiterate and "wild" dervish as previously thought by Western scholars, but had a solid Islamic education and was literate and fluent in Arabic as well as Persian. And Shams himself belonged to another major orthodox school of Sunni Islamic law, called Shâfi`î.1*. In the "Discourses of Shams,"2* a collection of notes recorded by his disciples (among whom was Rumi's son, Sultân Walad), Shams reveals himself not only to be a profound mystic, but very knowledgeable about traditional and mystical interpretations of verses from the Qur'an and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. And he criticized at least one famous Sufi master for not following the daily religious behaviour of the Prophet.3 *In a biography of Rumi, written by a disciple of Rumi's grandson Aflâkî, along with many miracle stories, are many accounts of how Rumi prayed the five daily ritual Islamic prayers, fasted during the month of Ramadan, and did many extended voluntary fasts. And there are many accounts in which he voiced traditional Islamic beliefs on many topics. But it is in the masterpiece of his later life, the Mathnawî-ye Ma`nawî (literally, "Rhymed Couplets of Deep Spiritual Meaning") that he reveals himself as both a profound mystic and an extremely devout Muslim. A study of his stories and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad reveals his veneration and love for the Holy Prophet and the Revelation that was sent to him from God Most High.
Mawlânâ Jalâluddîn Muhammad al-Balkhî al-Rûmî died in 1273 and was buried next to his father's tomb in Konya, Turkey.
The anniversary of his death was commemorated for centuries according to the Islamic lunar calendar, but has been celebrated in Turkey for the past 50 years according to the Western solar calendar on 17th December. On the night of this date, Mevlevis all over the world whirl in remembrance and glorification of God, and many kinds of groups read Rumi's poetry in their own languages.
NOTES:
1*Shâfi`î: see "Rumi-- Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teachings and Poetry of Jalâl al-Din Rumi" by Franklin D. Lewis, United Kingdom: Oneworld, 2000, p. 142.
2*"Discourses of Shams": "Maqâlât-i Shams-i Tabrîzî." See Lewis, pp. 135-37.
3*not following the daily religious behavior of the Prophet: refers (in Shams' "Discourses") to "Shaykh Muhammad," believed by scholars to be the famous sufi genius, Ibn al-`Arabî, whom Shams both admired and criticized because he "did not follow" [mutâba`at] (the Prophet).
See Lewis, p. 150.
I selected some of Balkhi’s poems for you to give his gift to you.
Love endures hardships at the hand of Beloved
Through love things seem sweet,
Through love bits of copper are made gold.
Through love dregs taste like pure wine,
Through love pains are as healing balms.
Through love thorns become roses,
and through love vinegar becomes sweet wine.
Through love the stake become a throne,
Through love reverses of fortune seems good fortune,
Through love a prison seems a rose bower,
Without love a grate full ashes seems a garden.
Through love burning fire is pleasing lighter,
Through love the Devil becomes a Houri.
Through love hard stones become soft as butter,
Without love soft wax becomes hard iron.
Through love grief is as joy,
Through love Ghouls turn in to angles.
Through love stings are as honey.
Through love loins are harmless as mice,
Through love sickness is health
Through love wrath is as mercy.
Through love the dead rise to life,
Through love the king becomes slave.
Even when an evil befalls you,
have due regard;Regard well him who does you this ill turn.
The sight which regards the ebb and flow of good and ill.
Opens a passage for you from misfortune to happiness.
Thence you see the one state generating its opposite in exchange.
So long as you experience not fears after joys,
Please visit my other sites as well:
www.rumithekingoflove.blogspot.com
www.nawaayney.blogfa.com
posted by reza at 4:26 PM
0 comments
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
عید شما مبارک.happy eid to you
Love is like a mirror.When you love a beloved one you will see yourself in that mirror,That is you but not in your body.When you see it you should get it in that moment otherwise it will goes far beyond that you can reach to it.
Love is like opening your arms, as much as you open that much you will receive it.Love is pure pain always in need,never should you expect from it to give you the earthy comfort but it will take that earthy comfort from you.
Love is a wing it takes you to wherever it goes none stop, always you are her guest.
It will fly you to unlimited places.
Love is invisible, everybody can not see it but if you see it you will never lose it the way that you have found it.
The value love is the gap between to breaths.
For you
Honey
reza......
posted by reza at 4:57 AM
0 comments
Friday, January 06, 2006
Giving the dervish a whirl
Guardian and Rumi.............. you can judge
It was a highly unlikely bestseller: a book of poems written by a 13th century Islamic mystic. But Jallaludin Rumi is big business in the US, and the bandwagon that has been gathering speed over there is about to roll into Britain Peter CulshawSaturday December 1, 2001The Guardian
please check more by clicking the following link:
http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/classics/story/0,,609873,00.html
What goes round...
The popularity in the US of Rumi, a 13th-century Turkish poet, is a tragic irony, as the order of Sufi dervishes he founded is banned at home, writes William Dalrymple Saturday November 5, 2005The Guardian.
It seems almost unbelievable in the world of 9/11, Bin Laden and the Clash of Civilisations, but the bestselling poet in the US in the 1990s was not any of the giants of American letters - Robert Frost, Robert Lowell, Wallace Stevens or Sylvia Plath; nor was it Shakespeare or Homer or Dante or any European poet. Instead, remarkably, it was a classically trained Muslim cleric who taught sharia law in a madrasa in what is now Turkey.
for full story click the following links:
http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/classics/story/0,,1634757,00.html
The spirit moves in Tehran Caught between Islam and western aspirations, some younger Iranians have turned to mystic poetry for guidance. Christopher de Bellaigue joins a class of truth-seekers Saturday October 9, 2004The Guardian
About a year ago, I decided to join a class on the mystical poems of Jalal al-Din Rumi. Years before, studying Persian at Cambridge, I had read some of Rumi's 13th-century poems and remember warming to his harmonious view of the cosmos and his benevolent, highly personal Islamic faith. I told friends in Tehran, where I live, that I was looking for a teacher.
A friend, Maryam, promised to introduce me to Mr B, her Rumi teacher for the past five years. A few days later, she reported that Mr B was reluctant to have a British journalist in his class. I was dismayed but not surprised. Many Iranians regard journalists as unreliable, and resent the British for their history of meddling, spying and otherwise obnoxious behaviour in Iran. It took several months before Maryam convinced Mr B to relent.
http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1322209,00.html
It was a highly unlikely bestseller: a book of poems written by a 13th century Islamic mystic. But Jallaludin Rumi is big business in the US, and the bandwagon that has been gathering speed over there is about to roll into Britain Peter CulshawSaturday December 1, 2001The Guardian
please check more by clicking the following link:
http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/classics/story/0,,609873,00.html
What goes round...
The popularity in the US of Rumi, a 13th-century Turkish poet, is a tragic irony, as the order of Sufi dervishes he founded is banned at home, writes William Dalrymple Saturday November 5, 2005The Guardian.
It seems almost unbelievable in the world of 9/11, Bin Laden and the Clash of Civilisations, but the bestselling poet in the US in the 1990s was not any of the giants of American letters - Robert Frost, Robert Lowell, Wallace Stevens or Sylvia Plath; nor was it Shakespeare or Homer or Dante or any European poet. Instead, remarkably, it was a classically trained Muslim cleric who taught sharia law in a madrasa in what is now Turkey.
for full story click the following links:
http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/classics/story/0,,1634757,00.html
The spirit moves in Tehran Caught between Islam and western aspirations, some younger Iranians have turned to mystic poetry for guidance. Christopher de Bellaigue joins a class of truth-seekers Saturday October 9, 2004The Guardian
About a year ago, I decided to join a class on the mystical poems of Jalal al-Din Rumi. Years before, studying Persian at Cambridge, I had read some of Rumi's 13th-century poems and remember warming to his harmonious view of the cosmos and his benevolent, highly personal Islamic faith. I told friends in Tehran, where I live, that I was looking for a teacher.
A friend, Maryam, promised to introduce me to Mr B, her Rumi teacher for the past five years. A few days later, she reported that Mr B was reluctant to have a British journalist in his class. I was dismayed but not surprised. Many Iranians regard journalists as unreliable, and resent the British for their history of meddling, spying and otherwise obnoxious behaviour in Iran. It took several months before Maryam convinced Mr B to relent.
http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1322209,00.html
posted by reza at 2:10 AM
0 comments
Saturday, December 31, 2005
سال نو مبارک بر همه
Dear visitors we hope you will have a best time in the coming year 2006.There were a lot of changes in last year in the world, many disasters has been happened specially the Tsunami, the Hurricane Katrina and many other events around the world. I wish you the best year ahead full of peace and success in all level of your life.
posted by reza at 7:23 AM
0 comments
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