This Day in History- Jalal Uddin Rumi'Death

[أبو الحسنيين]

IN THE NAME OF GOD THE COMPASSIONATE THE MERCIFUL

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*THIS DAY IN HISTORY
*The 17TH of December 1273
*Jalaluddin Rumi’s Death
*Elapsed Time: 734 years.

Jalaluddin Mohamed Balkhi (September 30.1207 –December 17.1273) was one of the greatest Muslim saints and mystics. He has also been hailed by Western scholars as the greatest mystical poet of all time after a period of over 700 years, during which his fame has endured in the Middle East, Central Asia , and the Indian subcontinent.

The popularity of his poetry has spread in the West because of its heart-felt themes of lover-beloved mysticism, and its spiritual joy which seems to emanate even from the most distorted versions in English. However, the popularization of his poetry has also been attained by a number of sacrifices: a lack of accuracy of the meanings of his words and teachings; and a deliberate minimization and evasion of verses in his poetry that reveal that he was a pious Muslim all his life, and a very devoted follower of the prayerful daily life exemplified by the Prophet Mohamed (PBUH).

He was born in what is present Afghanistan in 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 which had been a major centre of Islamic learning for five hundred years before Rumi was born. His father, also a great mystic or Sufi aster, was from Balkh . He named his son Mohamed, but later called him by the additional name of Jalal Uddin (the Glory of the Faith).

So his full name was Jalaluddin Mohamed Ibn Al Hussain Al Balkhi, later, when he moved to Anatolia (present-day Turkey) with his family, he became known as Jalaluddin Mohamed Al Rumi, this is because Anatolia had been called for centuries “Rum” (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 has always been known as “Mawlana” in Iran , India , and Pakistan and in Turkey , the term means in Arabic “Our Master” and was traditionally a title given to Muslim Scholars, however, due to his great fame, the respectful title of “Mawlana” quickly came to refer primarily to Jalaluddin Rumi. Only in the West has he has been called “Rumi.”

Jalaluddin Rumi must have memorized much or all of the Holy Quran when he was young, because the Mathnawi and his other poetry are filled with direct quotes in Arabic, Persian paraphrases, and references to Quranic verses, furthermore he belonged to the Hanafi school of Islamic law, as such it means that his daily religious behaviour and worship was faithful to the many details of the Hanafi tradition of how to follow the example of the Beloved Prophet Mohamed (PBUH).

Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi’s first Sufi master, Sayyid Burhanuddin Attermidhi was his father's leading Sufi disciple who came to Anatolia after hearing of the death of Rumi's father, Jalaluddin Rumi was his Sufi disciple for ten years, during part of 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.

Jalaluddin Rumi was 37 years of age when he met his second Sufi master, Shamsuddin Mohamed Al Tabrizi, 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 and other Orientalists, but had a solid Islamic education and was literate and fluent in Arabic as well as Persian.

Shamsuddin Al Tabrizi belonged to another major school of thought “Shafi’i” Islamic law, in the “Discourses of Shams”, a collection of notes recorded by his disciples (among whom was Rumi’s son, Sultan Walad), Shams reveals himself not only to be a profound mystic, but very knowledgeable about traditional and mystical interpretations of verses from the Quran and sayings of the Prophet Mohamed (PBUH).

In a biography of Rumi, written by a disciple of Rumi's grandson, Aflaki, 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 Mathnawi ye Ma’nawi a six –volume poem (literally, “Rhymed Couplets of Deep Spiritual Meaning”) that he reveals himself as both a profound mystic and an extremely devout Muslim.

The general theme of his thoughts, like that of the other mystic and Sufi poets of the Persian literature, is essentially about the concept of Tawhid (Unity) and union with his beloved (the primal root) from whom he has been cut and fallen aloof, and his longing and desire for re-unity.

The (real) beloved is that one, who is unique,
Who is your beginning and end.
When you find him,
You will not remain in expectation (of anything else):

He is both the manifest and also the mystery.
He is the lord of states of feeling,
Not dependent on any state;
Month and year are slaves to that Moon.
When he bids the "state,"
It does his bidding;
When he wills, he makes body (become) spirit.
*MATHNAWI III, 1417-1424

The anniversary of his death was commemorated for centuries according to the Islamic lunar calendar, but has been celebrated in Konya, Turkey for the past 50 years according to the Western or Gregorian calendar on December the 17th, 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.

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