 The
name Mowlana Jalaluddin Rumi stands for Love and ecstatic flight into
the infinite. Rumi is one of the great spiritual masters and poetical
geniuses of mankind and was the founder of the Mawlawi Sufi order, a leading
mystical brotherhood of Islam. Rumi was born in Wakhsh (Tajikistan) under
the administration of Balkh in 30 September 1207 to a family of learned
theologians. Escaping the Mongol invasion and destruction, Rumi and his
family traveled extensively in the Muslim lands, performed pilgrimage
to Mecca and finally settled in Konya, Anatolia, then part of Seljuk Empire.
When his father Bahaduddin Valad passed away, Rumi succeeded his father
in 1231 as professor in religious sciences. Rumi 24 years old, was an
already accomplished scholar in religious and positive sciences. He was
introduced into the mystical path by a wandering dervish, Shamsuddin of
Tabriz. His love and his bereavement for the death of Shams found their
expression in a surge of music, dance and lyric poems, `Divani Shamsi
Tabrizi'. Rumi is the author of six volume didactic epic work, the `Mathnawi',
called as the 'Koran in Persian' by Jami, and discourses, `Fihi ma Fihi',
written to introduce his disciples into metaphysics. If there is any general
idea underlying Rumi's poetry, it is the absolute love of God. His influence
on thought, literature and all forms of aesthetic expression in the world
of Islam cannot be overrated. Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi died on December
17, 1273. Men of five faiths followed his bier. That night was named Sebul
Arus (Night of Union). Ever since, the Mawlawi dervishes have kept that
date as a festival (cited from http://www.armory.com/~thrace/sufi/life.html) |
