"The shop of Oneness,
Talking about Rumi, the greatest Sufi poet is like flying in the celestial sphere amongst the heavenly stars and planets. Today, in this world full of misery, sorrow, pain, suffering, ingratitude, and materialism, the spiritual influence of Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi is being felt by people of diverse beliefs throughout the world. He is being recognised in the Western countries, as he has been for last seven centuries in
the Middle East, Africa and Asia, as one of the greatest literary abd spiritual figures of all time. Rumi, without doubt, is the most eminent Sufi poet whom Persia has produced, while his momentous mystical work, Mathnawi desrves to rank amongst the great poems of all times. Sir Muhammad Iqbal, one of the most renowned thinker and philosopher of Pakistan, and who himself has been moulded into the pattern set by Rumi, once remarked that, "The world of today needs a Rumi to create
an attitude of hope, and to kindle the fire of enthusiasm for life." These humble pages are created by this feeble slave, a sinner, who is in need of God's mercy, in a hope that such a modest presentation will enlighten and enrich the troubled souls of humanity everywhere. Let each word of the Maulana, the greatest of all spiritual teachers, provide nourishment to our emaciated spirits, and cause sweet flowers to grown in the barren soil of our hearts, with sweet-scented fragrance all around our painful and tattered existence .
The Master Sanai lived during the eleventh and twelvth centuries, and is reckoned to be the earliest Afghan teacher to use the love-motive in Sufism.
Maulana Jalal-ud-din Rumi(born in Balkh, Afghanistan) acknowledged him as one of his inspirations. Attempts were made by religious fanatics to brand him an apostate from Islam,
but they did not succeed. Characteristically, his words have regularly been employed since then by the spiritual descendants of these narrow clerics to bolster their own pretensions. By a quite familiar process, when Sufi terminology and organization had been adopted by religious enthusiasts to the extent that the distinction between the Sufis and these superficialists had been blurred, the fanatics tried more than once to claim that Sanai was not a Sufi at all. The reason
for this was that his thoughts could not be easily reconciled with narrow religiosity.
Rumi's major work, generally considered to be one of the world's greatest books, is his Mathnavi-i-Maanavi (Couplets of Inner Meaning). His table-talk (Fihi Ma Fihi), Letters(Maktubat), Divani Kabir, and the hagiography Munaqib El-Arifin, all contain important parts of his teachings. The few selections, from all of these sources, are meditation-themes which can be taken as aphorisms and declarations of dogma, or as pieces of sage advice. Their Sufic usage, however, goes far beyond this. Rumi, like other Sufi authors,
plants his teachings within a framework which as effectively screens its inner meanings as displays it. This technique fulfills the functions of preventing those who are incapable of using the material on a higher level from experimenting effectively with it; allowing those who want poetry to select poetry; giving entertainment to people who want stories; stimulating the intellect in those who prize such experiences.
Of the most revealing of his sentences is the title of his table-talk: 'In it what is in it' ('You get out of it what is in it for you' ). Rumi had the uncomfortable Sufi habit of excelling in literary and poetic ability beyond all his contemporaries, while constantly affirming that such an attainment was a minor one compared with Sufihood.
"And i'm intoxicated.
Here you'll see at every corner someone intoxicated,
Rocking and rolling he was a sail,
Where are you from I asked;
I begged take me as your friend,
"The Way has been marked out.
"Of this there is no academic proof in the world;
"Go higher! Behold the Human Spirit."
Among human beings, there must always exist those, whom through Divine Grace, have received their Trusts from God in this worldly life. They move about
in the world as if they were part of it, yet inside, their hearts and souls are in the Divine Presence. If they ask of God, their request is accepted, and if they look at
mankind, it is always with the eye of mercy to those less fortunate than themselves. They are known as the Friends of God, called Awliya in Sufism. It is Sufism which is related to them and they are product of Sufism. Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi was such a friend of God.
"God, in spite of the skeptics,
Caused spiritual gardens with sweet flowers to grow
In the hearts of His friends.
Every rose that is sweet-scented within,
That rose is telling of the secrets of the Universal.
Their scent, to the confusion of the skeptics,
Spreads around the world, rending the veil."
..........Rumi (Mathnawi)
Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi was born on 30th September 1207 (6 Rabi al-Awal, 604) in Balkh, in what is today Afghanistan. He died on 17th December 1273 (5 Jamadi al-Awal, 672). His life, therefore, covers the entire span of the thirteenth century, which was the seventh century of Islam. At an early age his family left Balkh because of the danger of invading Mongols, and settled in Konya, Turkey, which was than the capital of Seljuk Empire. His father, Maulana Bahauddin, was a great religious teacher who received a position at the University of Konya.
You Are Drunk
No one is around showing us the way home.
Again and again I told you,
Drink less a cup or two.
I know in this city no one is sober,
One is worse than the other,
One is frenzied and the other gone mad.
Come on, my friend, step into the tavern of ruins,
Taste the sweetness of life in the company of another friend.
And the cup-bearer makes her rounds.
I went out of my house a drunkard came to me,
Someone whose glance uncovered,
A hundred houses in paradise.
With no anchor but he was the envy
Of all those sober ones remaining on the shore.
He smiled in mockery and said,
One half from the east,
One half from the west,
One half made of water and earth,
One half made of heart and soul,
One half staying at the shores and,
One half nesting in a pearl.
I am your next of kin.
He said I recognize no kin among strangers;
I left my belongings and entered this tavern,
I only have a chest full of words,
But can't utter a single one."
The Way
If you depart from it, you will perish.
If you try to interfere,
With the signs on the road,
You will be an evil-doer."
True Reality
For it is hidden, and hidden, and hidden."
The human Spirit
Rumi's Spiritual Message
Come to me each and all
Raw, burned or baked
Clothed or naked
Poor or wretched
Humble or bigoted
Loved or hated
Come ye all, tell me all
Tell me your untold tale
Of betrayal and separation
Of longing and lamentation
Of pain and affliction
Of joy and adoration
Of unity and affirmation
Every secret you unveil
Harken to the sound of the reed
Resonating bliss and delight
For a nexus firm and bright
To the divine sacred light
After separation and fright
From the ghastly sight
Of an unholy dogma or creed
This reed is Rumi
A gnostic well- aware
Of life's hope and despair
Of man's love and care
And capacity to forebear
The life of a solitaire
No matter how gloomy
This reed is Shams-eddin
The Sun that cast glaring light
Upon Rumi, day and night
Like the spirit of a meteorite
Piercing and glowing bright
Transforming into an acolyte
Of his disciple Jalal-eddin
Disciple - master kindred souls
Taking chances
In love's trances
In destiny's lances
In reckless dances
In joyful glances
Brethren changing roles
In the secret heart of heaven remain
The ecstasy they evoke
The envy they provoke
The tradition they broke
The tender words they spoke
Waiting for the world to soak
In thunderous rain
The cosmic lightening will strike
The words will fall like rain
And spread across the plain
Heavenly Love shall restrain
Lust and greed insane
The sacred purging the profane
In East and West alike
The Story of Rumi - The Great Sufi Saint
Rumi : A Builder Looks For A Rotten Hole
Rumi : Beloved Is All, Lover Just A Veil
The Rubaiyat Of Omar Khayyam
Sufism : The Gnostic Knowledge of God
The Great Sufis From Afghanistan
Sufism And Islam
E-mailAhmed H. Makhdoom