IECRC (USA & Canada)

Issue #11

July 8, 2006 / Jamaduth Thani 12, 1427

Hazrat Maulana Jalaluddin Muhammed Rumi (1207 – 1273 CE, may Allah Almighty be pleased with and have mercy on him) is one of the greatest Saints in Islamic history and the most famous in the West because of his spiritual and mystical poetry emphasizing love of Allah Almighty and His Beloved Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him).

Maulana Rumi (may Allah have mercy on him) was born on the 6th of Rabbi al-Awwal in the Islamic Hijri year 604 in Balkh, present-day Afghanistan. His father, Hazrat Bahauddin Walad (may  Allah have mercy on him), was a great Muslim scholar and also a Sufi saint who came from the family of Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him), First Caliph of Islam. Maulana Rumi (r.a.) grew up in this learned household and was a fully accomplished scholar himself. His family migrated from Central Asia towards Eastern Turkey and completed the Hajj pilgrimage, after which Hazrat Bahauddin Walad became the head of a seminary school (madrasa) in Konya, Turkey. When he passed away, Maulana Rum (r.a.) took his place at the head of the school. During this time, Maulana Rum (r.a.) was a spiritual disciple of first his father, and then Syed Burhanuddin Mahaqqiq (may Allah have mercy on him) until the latter passed away.

One version of the famous meeting that Maulana Rumi (may Allah have mercy on him) had with Hazrat Shams Tabrez (may Allah have mercy on him), was that once Maulana Rumi (r.a.) was teaching a group of his students and referring to his handwritten books and notes while Hazrat Shams Tabrez (r.a.) happened to come along and asked him about those notes. Maulana Rumi (r.a.) replied that the books and notes were beyond the understanding of Hazrat Shams Tabrez (r.a.). Then Maulana Rumi (r.a.) continued his class, meanwhile Hazrat Shams Tabrez (r.a.) threw all the books into a nearby pond of water. The students noticed this and started beating him. This caught the attention of Maulana Rumi (r.a.) who complained about losing his knowledge. Hazrat Shams Tabrez (r.a.) replied that he could return the books, so he recited Bismillah and retrieved the books from the water and they were intact. Now Maulana Rumi (r.a.) was surprised and asked how this was possible – to which Hazrat Shams Tabrez (r.a.) replied that such knowledge was beyond that of an external scholar.

Thus began the relationship between Maulana Rumi (may Allah have mercy on him) and Hazrat Shams Tabrez (may Allah have mercy on him). Maulana Rumi (r.a.) is reported to have mostly retired from his public life and spent a lot of time with Hazrat Shams Tabrez (r.a.). Once Hazrat Shams Tabrez (r.a.) was driven from Konya but returned. The second time that Hazrat Shams Tabrez (r.a.) disappeared, it was permanent. There is a famous Persian couplet:

Maulvi hargis na shud Maula e Rum

Ta ghulame Shams Tabrizi na shud

Maulana (religious teacher) Rumi could

never have become Maula Rumi

Without submitting to

Spiritual Guide Shams Tabrez

Maulana Rumi (may Allah have mercy on him) then formed companionship with Hazrat Saladin Zarkub (may Allah have mercy on him) and then later Hazrat Husam Chelebi (may Allah have mercy on him). The latter encouraged the Maulana to write the famous Masnavi-ye Manavi or Mathnawi Shareef, which is a very long poem containing as many verses as the Iliad and the Odyssey put together. Among Maulana Rumi’s other famous works are the Diwan Shams-e-Tabrez, and Fih ma Fih (What is in it, is in it).

In his commentary on the Mathnawi Shareef, Maulana Abdur Rahman Jami (may Allah have mercy on him), the famous 15^th century CE Persian Sufi Saint and poet, writes:

“The word ‘ney’ (reed) in the first couplet of the Mathnawi (“Listen to the reed, how it tells a tale, complaining of separations…”) means a perfect and exalted human being brought up in Islam. Such people have forgotten themselves and everything else. Their minds are always busy seeking the rida [approval] of   Allah, The Most Exalted.”

Maulana Jami (r.a.) says that ‘Ney’ also means non-existent, because these men are emptied of themselves. Finally he says ‘Ney’ refers to the reed-pen. A pen’s writings are fully controlled by its writer, which also points to men emptied of existence and perfectly submitting to the will of Allah, The Most Exalted.

This brings up the point that Maulana Rumi (may Allah have mercy on him)  was a true Muslim scholar and Sufi. Unfortunately, there have been many mistranslations or misrepresentations of Maulana Rum (r.a.). He himself writes in his Diwan:

man banda-yé Qur’ân-am, agar jân dâr-am

man khâk-é rah-é Muhammad-e mukhtâr-am

gar naql kon-ad joz în, kas az goftâr-am

bêzâr-am az-ô, w-az-în sokhan bêzâr-am

I am the servant of the Qur’an

as long as I have life.

I am the dust on the path of

Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), the Chosen one.

If anyone quotes anything

except this from my sayings,

I am quit of him and

outraged by these words.

Maulana Rumi (may Allah have mercy on him) was a poet, jurist, theologian and scholar of the highest accord. He emphasized however that true knowledge is not found in books, but at the feet of the Noble Friends of Allah Almighty. For any given individual that person is his or her Shaykh or Spiritual Guide (Murshid / Pir). Maulana Rum (r.a.) mentions the importance of the Shaykh when he writes:

Sad kitaboh, sad waraq, dar nar kun

Aur jaan-o-dil rah, janibeh, dil daar kun

Throw all (100) your books into the fire

And turn with heart and soul to the Awliya

[For without them one cannot reach perfection.]

In the Mathnawi Shareef, Maulana Rumi (r.a.)  writes the following:

“Seeing a man who was tilling the earth, a fool, unable to control himself, cried out, “Why are you ruining this soil?” “Fool,” said the man, “leave me alone: try to recognize the difference between tending the soil and wasting it. How will this soil become a rose garden until it is disturbed and overturned?”

This verse brings to mind the importance of the Shaykh who is the tiller, where he may test the spiritual disciple (Mureed) in order for the Mureed’s full inner potential to be realized.

Maulana Rumi’s (may Allah have mercy on him) importance continues throughout the centuries and across cultures. Hazrat Allamah Iqbal (may Allah have mercy on him), the great 19^th century CE poet-philosopher of the Indian Subcontinent, separated by six centuries of time, famously attributed Maulana Rum as his Pir when he wrote “Pir-e-Rumi, Mureed-e-Hindi” and also about himself:

Tu bhi hai us qaafla-e-shawq mein Iqbal

Jis qaafla-e-shawq ka salaar hai Rumi

You too are a member of that

caravan of longing Oh Iqbal

That caravan of longing

whose guide is Rumi

Maulana Rumi (may Allah have mercy on him) passed away into the realm of Divine Beatitude on 5th Jamadi-u-‘l-Akhar 672 Hijri in Konya, Turkey and his tomb is near to that of his Shaykh Hazrat Shams Tabrez (r.a.). This shining star of the East however lives on through his legacy of love, devotion, and piety, which continues through the centuries to fragrance, nourish and heal the broken hearts that it encounters. May Allah Almighty give us the ability to learn from him and follow in his footsteps. Ameen.

Naveed Agboatwala

Mr. Agboatwala has been with the IECRC since its inception and is one of its most dedicated and hard working contributors. He is a Software Engineer by profession and a research scholar by nature. Brother Naveed leads the IECRC Friday (Juma) prayers. He handles all of IECRC’s audio releases and is an invaluable technical support resource to the rest of the IECRC team.

Biography of Maulana Rum (rahmatullahi alayhe):

• Hazrat Maulana Jalauddin Rumi (ra) – Part 1 (Urdu)
• Hazrat Maulana Jalauddin Rumi (ra) – Part 2 (Urdu)