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{{Short description|Sufi scholar and poet (1207–1273)}}
{{Other uses}}
{{for|the animated movie character|KPop Demon Hunters}}
{{Pp-semi-indef}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2016}}
{{Infobox religious biography
| era                = [[Islamic Golden Age]] <br/> (7th [[Islamic calendar|Islamic century]])
| honorific-prefix = Mawlānā, Mevlânâ
| name             = Rumi
| native_name      = {{nobold|رومی}}
| native_name_lang = fa
| image              = مولانا اثر حسین بهزاد (cropped).jpg
| image_size         = 250px
| caption            = Rumi, by Iranian artist [[Hossein Behzad]] (1957)
| title              = ''Jalaluddin'', ''jalāl al-Din'',<ref name="EI">Ritter, H.; Bausani, A. "ḎJ̲alāl al-Dīn Rūmī b. Bahāʾ al-Dīn Sulṭān al-ʿulamāʾ Walad b. Ḥusayn b. Aḥmad Ḵh̲aṭībī." Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2007. Brill Online. Excerpt: "known by the sobriquet Mewlānā, persian poet and founder of the Mewlewiyya order of dervishes"</ref> ''Mevlana'', ''Mawlana''
| birth_date         = 30 September 1207
| birth_place        = [[Balkh]] (present-day [[Afghanistan]])<ref>{{Cite web |date=7 January 2024 |title=Rumi {{!}} Biography, Poems, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rumi |access-date=28 January 2024 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> or [[Wakhsh]] (present-day [[Tajikistan]]),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Harmless |first1=William |title=Mystics |date=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-804110-8 |page=167 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8pBmFhnrVfUC&pg=PA167}}</ref><ref name="Balkh" /> [[Khwarezmian Empire]]
| death_date         = 17 December 1273 (aged 66)
| death_place        = [[Konya]] (present-day [[Turkey]]), [[Sultanate of Rum]]
| resting_place      = Tomb of Mevlana Rumi, [[Mevlana Museum]], [[Konya]], Turkey
| mother           = Mo'mena Khatun
| father           = Baha al-Din Valad
| spouse           = Gevher Khatun, Karra Khatun
| children         = [[Sultan Walad]], [[Ulu Arif Chelebi]], Amir Alim Chelebi, Malike Khatun.
| religion         = [[Islam]]
| denomination     = [[Sunni]]<ref>{{citation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1y-hxhLSWsEC&pg=PA48|title=The Complete Idiot's Guide to Rumi Meditations|year=2008|page=48|publisher=Penguin Group|isbn=9781592577361}}</ref>
| jurisprudence    = [[Hanafi]]
| creed            = [[Maturidi]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Lewis|first=Franklin D.|title=Rumi: Past and Present, East and West: The life, Teaching and poetry of Jalal Al-Din Rumi|date=2014|publisher=Simon and Schuster|pages=15–16, 52, 60, 89}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Zarrinkoob|first=Abdolhossein|title=Serr-e Ney|date=2005|publisher=Instisharat-i Ilmi|volume=1|pages=447}}</ref>
| Sufi_order       = [[Mevlevi]]
| notable_ideas    = [[Sufi whirling]], [[Muraqaba]]
| order            = [[Sufi]] 
| philosophy       = [[Sufism]], [[Mysticism]]
| known_for        = [[Mathnawi]], Rumi Music
| main_interests   = [[Sufi poetry]], [[Hanafi]] jurisprudence, [[Maturidi]] theology
| works              = [[Masnavi-e-Ma'navi|''Mathnawī-ī ma'nawī'']], [[Diwan-e Shams-e Tabrizi|''Dīwān-ī Shams-ī Tabrīzī'']], [[Fihi Ma Fihi|''Fīhi mā fīhi'']]
| predecessor      = [[Shams Tabrizi|Shams-i Tabrizi]] and [[Baha-ud-din Zakariya]]
| successor        = [[Husam al-Din Chalabi]], [[Sultan Walad]]
| influences         = [[Muhammad]], [[Abu Hanifa]], [[al-Maturidi]], [[Al-Ghazali]], Muhaqqeq Termezi, [[Baha-ud-din Zakariya]], [[Farid al-Din Attar|Attār]], [[Sanai|Sanā'ī]], [[Abusaeid Abolkheir|Abu Sa'īd Abulḫayr]], [[Abul-Hassan Kharaqani|Ḫaraqānī]], [[Bayazid Bistami|Bayazīd Bistāmī]], [[Sultan Walad]], [[Shams Tabrizi]], [[Ibn Arabi]], [[Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi]]
| influenced         = [[Jami]], [[Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai]], [[Kazi Nazrul Islam]], [[Abdolhossein Zarrinkoob]], [[Abdolkarim Soroush]], [[Hossein Elahi Ghomshei]], [[Muhammad Iqbal]], [[Hossein Nasr]]<ref>[[Ramin Jahanbegloo]], ''In Search of the Sacred : A Conversation with Seyyed Hossein Nasr on His Life and Thought'', [[ABC-CLIO]] (2010), p. 141</ref> [[Yunus Emre]], [[Eva de Vitray-Meyerovitch]], [[Annemarie Schimmel]]
| nationality      = [[Khwarezmian Empire]], then [[Sultanate of Rum]]
| home_town        = [[Wakhsh]] (present-day [[Tajikistan]]) or [[Balkh]] present-day [[Afghanistan]]
| module             = {{Infobox Arabic name|embed=yes
| laqab = Jalāl ad-Dīn<br/>{{lang|fa|جلال‌الدین}}
| ism = Muḥammad<br/>{{lang|fa|محمد}}
| nasab = ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Aḥmad<br/>{{lang|ar|بن محمد بن الحسين بن أحمد}}
| nisba = ar-Rūmī<br/>{{lang|ar|الرومي}}<br/>al-Khaṭībī<br/>{{lang|ar|الخطيبي}}<br/>al-Balkhī<br/>{{lang|ar|البلخي}}<br/>al-Bakrī<br/>{{lang|ar|البكري}}}}
}}
{{Contains special characters|Perso-Arabic}}

'''Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī''' ({{langx|fa|جلال‌الدین محمّد رومی}}), or simply '''Rumi''' (30 September 1207&nbsp;– 17 December 1273), was a 13th-century poet, [[Hanafi]] ''[[faqih]]'' (jurist), [[Maturidi]] [[Kalam|theologian]] (''mutakallim''),<ref>Ahmad, Imtiaz. "The Place of Rumi in Muslim Thought." Islamic Quarterly 24.3 (1980): 67.</ref> and [[Sufism|Sufi]] [[Mysticism|mystic]] born during the [[Khwarazmian Empire]].<ref name=lewis>{{cite book |first=Franklin D. |last=Lewis |title=Rumi: Past and Present, East and West: The life, Teaching and poetry of Jalal Al-Din Rumi |publisher=Oneworld Publication |year=2008 |page=9 |quote=How is that a Persian boy born almost eight hundred years ago in Khorasan, the northeastern province of greater Iran, in a region that we identify today as in Central Asia, but was considered in those days as part of the greater Persian cultural sphere, wound up in central Anatolia on the receding edge of the Byzantine cultural sphere, in what is now Turkey, some 1,500 miles to the west?}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Annemarie |last=Schimmel |title=The Mystery of Numbers |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=7 April 1994 |page=51 |quote=These examples are taken from the Persian mystic Rumi's work, not from Chinese, but they express the yang-yin{{sic}} relationship with perfect lucidity.}}</ref>

Rumi's works are written in his mother tongue, [[Persian language|Persian]]. He occasionally used the [[Arabic]] language<ref name="Franklin Lewis" /> and single [[Old Anatolian Turkish|Turkish]]<ref name="Annemarie Schimmel" /> and [[Cappadocian Greek|Greek]] words<ref name=Dedes1993>{{cite journal |last1=Δέδες |first1=Δ. |year=1993 |title=Ποιήματα του Μαυλανά Ρουμή |trans-title=Poems by Mowlānā Rūmī |journal=Τα Ιστορικά |volume=10 |issue=18–19 |pages=3–22}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Meyer |first1=Gustav |title=Die griechischen Verse im Rabâbnâma. |journal=Byzantinische Zeitschrift |date=1895 |volume=4 |issue=3 |doi=10.1515/byzs.1895.4.3.401 |s2cid=191615267}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tlg.uci.edu/~opoudjis/Play/rumiwalad.html|title=Greek Verses of Rumi & Sultan Walad|website=uci.edu|date=22 April 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120805175317/http://www.tlg.uci.edu/~opoudjis/Play/rumiwalad.html|archive-date=5 August 2012}}</ref> in his verse. His ''[[Masnavi]]'' (''Mathnawi''), composed in [[Konya]], is considered one of the greatest poems of the Persian language.<ref>{{cite book |first=Louis |last=Gardet |chapter=Religion and Culture |title=The Cambridge History of Islam, Part VIII: Islamic Society and Civilization |editor-first=P.M. |editor-last=Holt |editor2-first=Ann K.S. |editor2-last=Lambton |editor3-first=Bernard |editor3-last=Lewis |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1977 |page=586 |quote=It is sufficient to mention [['Aziz Nasafi|'Aziz al-Din Nasafi]], Farid al-Din 'Attar and Sa'adi, and above all Jalal al-Din Rumi, whose Mathnawi remains one of the purest literary glories of Persia}}</ref><ref name="C.E. Bosworth p. 391">C.E. Bosworth, "Turkmen Expansion towards the west" in UNESCO History of Humanity, Volume IV, titled "From the Seventh to the Sixteenth Century", UNESCO Publishing / Routledge, p. 391: "While the Arabic language retained its primacy in such spheres as law, theology and science, the culture of the Seljuk court and secular literature within the sultanate became largely Persianized; this is seen in the early adoption of Persian epic names by the Seljuk rulers (Qubād, Kay Khusraw and so on) and in the use of Persian as a literary language (Turkmen must have been essentially a vehicle for everyday speech at this time). The process of Persianization accelerated in the 13th century with the presence in Konya of two of the most distinguished refugees fleeing before the Mongols, Bahā' al-Dīn Walad and his son Mawlānā Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, whose Mathnawī, composed in Konya, constitutes one of the crowning glories of classical Persian literature."</ref> Rumi's influence has transcended national borders and ethnic divisions: [[Persians|Iranians]], [[Afghans]], [[Tajiks]], [[Turkish people|Turks]], [[Kurds]], [[Cappadocian Greeks|Greeks]], [[Central Asian peoples|Central Asian Muslims]], as well as Muslims of the [[Indian subcontinent]] have greatly appreciated his spiritual legacy for the past seven centuries.<ref name="hurriyetdailynews.com">{{cite web | url=https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/rumi-work-translated-into-kurdish-77675 | title=Rumi work translated into Kurdish|website=Hürriyet Daily News | date=30 January 2015 }}</ref><ref name="Nasr1">{{cite book |last=Seyyed |first=Hossein Nasr |title=Islamic Art and Spirituality |publisher=Suny Press |year=1987 |page=115 |quote=Jalal al-Din was born in a major center of Persian culture, Balkh, from Persian speaking parents, and is the product of that Islamic Persian culture which in the 7th/13th century dominated the 'whole of the eastern lands of Islam and to which present day Persians as well as Turks, Afghans, Central Asian Muslims and the Muslims of the Indo-Pakistani subcontinent are heir. It is precisely in this world that the sun of his spiritual legacy has shone most brillianty during the past seven centuries. The father of Jalal al-Din, Muhammad ibn Husayn Khatibi, known as Baha al-Din Walad and entitled Sultan al-'ulama', was an outstanding Sufi in Balkh connected to the spiritual lineage of Najm al-Din Kubra.}}</ref> His poetry influenced not only [[Persian literature]], but also the literary traditions of the [[Ottoman Turkish language|Ottoman Turkish]], [[Chagatai language|Chagatai]], [[Pashto]], [[Kurdish languages|Kurdish]], [[Urdu]], and [[Bengali language|Bengali]] languages.<ref name="hurriyetdailynews.com"/><ref>{{Cite news |last=Rahman |first=Aziz |date=27 August 2015 |title=Nazrul: The rebel and the romantic |work=Daily Sun |url=http://www.daily-sun.com/printversion/details/70741/Nazrul:-The-rebel-and-the-romantic |url-status=dead |access-date=12 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170417122146/http://www.daily-sun.com/printversion/details/70741/Nazrul:-The-rebel-and-the-romantic |archive-date=17 April 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.daily-sun.com/printversion/details/339651/A-tribute-to-Jalaluddin-Rumi|newspaper=Daily Sun|last=Khan|first= Mahmudur Rahman|date=30 September 2018|title=A tribute to Jalaluddin Rumi}}</ref>

Rumi's works are widely read today in their original language across [[Greater Iran]] and the Persian-speaking world.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.rferl.org/content/Interview_Many_Americans_Love_RumiBut_They_Prefer_He_Not_Be_Muslim/2122973.html|title=Interview: 'Many Americans Love Rumi...But They Prefer He Not Be Muslim'|date=9 August 2010|newspaper=RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty|language=en|access-date=22 August 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/LH14Ak01.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100816123932/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/LH14Ak01.html|url-status=unfit|archive-date=16 August 2010|title=Interview: A mystical journey with Rumi|website=Asia Times|access-date=22 August 2016}}</ref> His poems have subsequently been translated into many of the world's languages and transposed into various formats. Rumi has been described as the "most popular poet",<ref name="BBC-Haviland">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7016090.stm|title=The roar of Rumi—800 years on|first=Charles |last=Haviland|work=BBC News|date=30 September 2007|access-date=30 September 2007}}</ref> is very popular in [[Turkey]], [[Azerbaijan]] and [[South Asia]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.omifacsimiles.com/brochures/divan.html|title=Dîvân-i Kebîr Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī|website=OMI – Old Manuscripts & Incunabula|access-date=22 August 2016}}</ref> 
and has become the "best selling poet" in the United States.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20140414-americas-best-selling-poet|title=Why is Rumi the best-selling poet in the US?|last=Ciabattari| work=BBC News | first=Jane|date=21 October 2014|access-date=22 August 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,356133,00.html|title=Rumi Rules!|last=Tompkins|first=Ptolemy|date=29 October 2002|newspaper=Time|issn=0040-781X|access-date=22 August 2016}}</ref>

==Name==
He is most commonly called ''Rumi'' in English. His full name is given by his contemporary [[Faridun bin Ahmad Sipahsalar]] as ''Muhammad bin Muhammad bin al-Husayn al-Khatibi al-Balkhi al-Bakri'' ({{langx|ar| محمد بن محمد بن الحسين الخطيبي البلخي البكري}}).<ref>{{Cite book| last = Sipahsalar| first = Faridun bin Ahmad | title = Risala-yi Ahwal-i Mawlana | date = 1946| page=5| editor = Sa'id Nafisi| location = Tehran | url = https://archive.org/details/RisalaEFaridunBinAhmadSipahsalarDarAhwalEMaulanaJalaluddinMaulaviFarsi/page/n17/mode/2up?view=theater}}</ref> He is more commonly known as ''Molānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī'' ({{lang|fa|مولانا جلال‌الدین محمد رومی}}). ''Jalal ad-Din'' is an [[Arabic]] name meaning "Glory of the Faith". ''Balkhī'' and ''Rūmī'' are his ''[[Nisba (onomastics)|nisbas]]'', meaning, respectively, "from [[Balkh]]" and "from [[Rum (endonym)|Rûm]]", as he was from the Sultanate of Rûm in [[Anatolia]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Rumi|title=Selected Poems |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rKbpCAAAQBAJ&pg=PT350 |year=2015 |publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=978-0-14-196911-4|page=350}}</ref>

According to the authoritative Rumi biographer [[Franklin Lewis]] of the [[University of Chicago]], "[t]he Anatolian peninsula which had belonged to the Byzantine, or eastern Roman empire, had only relatively recently been conquered by Muslims and even when it came to be controlled by Turkish Muslim rulers, it was still known to Arabs, Persians and Turks as the geographical area of Rum. As such, there are a number of historical personages born in or associated with Anatolia known as Rumi, a word borrowed from Persian literally meaning 'Roman,' in which context Roman refers to subjects of the [[Byzantine Empire]] or simply to people living in or things associated with [[Anatolia]]."<ref>{{cite book|first=Franklin |last=Lewis|title=Rumi: Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teachings and Poetry of Jalal al-Din Rumi|publisher= One World Publication Limited|year= 2008|page= 9}}</ref> He was also known as "Mullah of Rum" ({{lang|fa|ملای روم}} ''mullā-yi Rūm'' or {{lang|fa|ملای رومی}} ''mullā-yi Rūmī'').<ref>[http://www.vajehyab.com/dehkhoda/%D9%85%D9%84%D8%A7%DB%8C+%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%85 "ملای روم"] in ''[[Dehkhoda Dictionary]]''</ref>

Rumi is widely known by the [[sobriquet]] ''Mawlānā''/''Molānā''<ref name="EI" /><ref name="encyclopaedia1991">H. Ritter, 1991, ''DJALĀL al-DĪN RŪMĪ'', ''[[The Encyclopaedia of Islam]]'' (Volume II: C–G), 393.</ref> ({{langx|fa|مولانا}} {{IPA|fa|moulɒːnɒ}}) in [[Iran]] and popularly known as {{lang|tr|Mevlânâ}} in Turkey. ''Mawlānā'' ({{lang|ar|مولانا|rtl=yes}}) is a term of [[Arabic]] origin, meaning "our master". The term {{lang|fa|مولوی}} ''Mawlawī''/''Mowlavi'' (Persian) and {{lang|tr|Mevlevi}} (Turkish), also of Arabic origin, meaning "my master", is also frequently used for him.<ref>Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (Maulana), Ibrahim Gamard, ''Rumi and Islam: Selections from His Stories, Poems, and Discourses, Annotated & Explained'', SkyLight Paths Publishing, 2004.</ref>

==Life==
[[File:Jalal al-Din Rumi, Showing His Love for His Young Disciple Hussam al-Din Chelebi.jpg|thumb|Jalal ad-Din Rumi gathers [[Sufi]] mystics]]

===Overview===
Rumi was born to Persian parents,<ref>{{Citation |last=Yalman |first=Suzan |title=Badr al-Dīn Tabrīzī |date=7 July 2016 |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-3/badr-al-din-tabrizi-COM_25104?s.num=7&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.encyclopaedia-of-islam-3&s.q=rumi+jalal+al+din |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam THREE |access-date=7 June 2023 |publisher=Brill |language=en|quote='''Badr ''al''-''Dīn'' Tabrīzī''' was the architect of the original tomb built for Mawlānā ''Jalāl'' ''al''-''Dīn'' ''Rūmī'' (d. 672/1273, in Konya), the great Persian mystic and poet.}}</ref><ref name="Annemarie Schimmel">Annemarie Schimmel, The Triumphal Sun: A Study of the Works of Jalaloddin Rumi, SUNY Press, 1993, p. 193: "Rumi's mother tongue was Persian, but he had learned during his stay in Konya, enough Turkish and Greek to use it, now and then, in his verse."</ref><ref name="Franklin Lewis">Lewis, Franklin: "On the question of Rumi's multilingualism (pp. 315–317), we may still say that he spoke and wrote in Persian as a native language, wrote and conversed in Arabic as a learned "foreign" language and could at least get by at the market in Turkish and Greek (although some wildly extravagant claims have been made about his command of Attic Greek, or his native tongue being Turkish) (Lewis 2008:xxi). (Lewis, ''Rumi: Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teachings and Poetry of Jalal al-Din Rumi'', 2008). Lewis also points out that: "Living among Turks, Rumi also picked up some colloquial Turkish." (Lewis, ''Rumi: Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teachings and Poetry of Jalal al-Din Rumi'', 2008, p. 315). He also mentions Rumi composed thirteen lines in Greek (Franklin Lewis, ''Rumi: Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teachings and Poetry of Jalal al-Din Rumi'', One World Publication Limited, 2008, p. 316). On Rumi's son, Sultan Walad, Lewis mentions: "[[Sultan Walad]] elsewhere admits that he has little knowledge of Turkish" (Sultan Walad): Lewis, ''Rumi, "Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teachings and Poetry of Jalal al-Din Rumi'', One World Publication Limited, 2008, p. 239) and "Sultan Valad did not feel confident about his command of Turkish" (Lewis, ''Rumi: Past and Present, East and West'', 2000, p. 240)</ref><ref name="Nasr2">Seyyed Hossein Nasr, ''Islamic Art and Spirituality'', SUNY Press, 1987. p. 115: "Jalal al-Din was born in a major center of Persian culture, Balkh, from Persian speaking parents, and is the product of that Islamic Persian culture which in the 7th/13th century dominated the 'whole of the eastern lands of Islam and to which present day Persians as well as Turks, Afghans, Central Asian Muslims and the Muslims of the Indo-Pakistani and the Muslims of the Indo-Pakistani subcontinent are heir. It is precisely in this world that the sun of his spiritual legacy has shone most brilliantly during the past seven centuries. The father of Jalal al-Din, Muhammad ibn Husayn Khatibi, known as [[Baha al-Din Walad]] and entitled Sultan al-'ulama', was an outstanding Sufi in Balkh connected to the spiritual lineage of [[Najm al-Din Kubra]]."</ref> in [[Balkh]],<ref>Lewis: ''Rumi: Past and Present, East and West. The Life Teachings and Poetry of Jalâl al-Din Rumi''. One World Publications, Oxford, 2000, S. 47.</ref> modern-day [[Afghanistan]] or [[Wakhsh]],<ref name="Balkh">[[Annemarie Schimmel]], "I Am Wind, You Are Fire," p. 11. She refers to a 1989 article by [[Fritz Meier]]:{{Blockquote|Tajiks and Persian admirers still prefer to call Jalaluddin 'Balkhi' because his family lived in Balkh, current day in [[Afghanistan]] before migrating westward. However, their home was not in the actual city of Balkh, since the mid-eighth century a center of Muslim culture in (Greater) Khorasan (Iran and Central Asia). Rather, as Meier has shown, it was in the small town of Wakhsh north of the Oxus that Baha'uddin Walad, Jalaluddin's father, lived and worked as a jurist and preacher with mystical inclinations. Lewis, ''Rumi&nbsp;: Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teachings, and Poetry of Jalâl al-Din Rumi'', 2000, pp. 47–49.}} Lewis has devoted two pages of his book to the topic of Wakhsh, which he states has been identified with the medieval town of Lêwkand (or Lâvakand) or Sangtude, which is about 65 kilometers southeast of Dushanbe, the capital of present-day Tajikistan. He says it is on the east bank of the Vakhshâb river, a major tributary that joins the Amu Daryâ river (also called Jayhun, and named the Oxus by the Greeks). He further states: "Bahâ al-Din may have been born in Balkh, but at least between June 1204 and 1210 (Shavvâl 600 and 607), during which time Rumi was born, Bahâ al-Din resided in a house in Vakhsh (Bah 2:143 [= Bahâ' uddîn Walad's] book, "Ma`ârif."). Vakhsh, rather than Balkh was the permanent base of Bahâ al-Din and his family until Rumi was around five years old (mei 16–35) [= from a book in German by the scholar Fritz Meier—note inserted here]. At that time, in about the year 1212 (A.H. 608–609), the Walads moved to Samarqand (Fih 333; Mei 29–30, 36) [= reference to Rumi's "Discourses" and to Fritz Meier's book—note inserted here], leaving behind Baâ al-Din's mother, who must have been at least seventy-five years old."</ref> a village on the East bank of the [[Wakhsh River]] known as [[Sangtuda]] in present-day [[Tajikistan]].<ref name="Balkh" /> The area, culturally adjacent to [[Balkh]], is where Mawlânâ's father, Bahâ' uddîn Walad, was a preacher and jurist.<ref name="Balkh" /> He lived and worked there until 1212, when Rumi was aged around five and the family moved to [[Samarkand]].<ref name="Balkh" />

Greater Balkh was at that time a major centre of Persian culture<ref name="C.E. Bosworth p. 391" /><ref name="Nasr2" /><ref>Lewis, ''Rumi: Past and Present, East and West: The life, Teaching and poetry of Jalal Al-Din Rumi'', Oneworld Publication Limited, 2008 p. 9: "How is that a Persian boy born almost eight hundred years ago in Khorasan, the northeastern province of greater Iran, in a region that we identify today as Central Asia, but was considered in those days as part of the greater Persian cultural sphere, wound up in central Anatolia on the receding edge of the Byzantine cultural sphere"</ref> and [[Sufism]] had developed there for several centuries. The most important influences upon Rumi, besides his father, were the Persian poets [[Attar of Nishapur|Attar]] and [[Sanai]].<ref>Jafri, Maqsood, ''The gleam of wisdom'', Sigma Press, 2003. p. 238: "Rumi has influenced a large number of writers while on the other hand he himself was under the great influence of Sanai and Attar.</ref> Rumi expresses his appreciation: "Attar was the spirit, Sanai his eyes twain, And in time thereafter, Came we in their train"<ref>Arberry, A. J., ''Sufism: An Account of the Mystics of Islam'', Courier Dover Publications, November 9, 2001. p. 141.</ref> and mentions in another poem: "Attar has traversed the seven cities of Love, We are still at the turn of one street".<ref>Nasr, Seyyed Hossein, ''The Garden of Truth: The Vision and Promise of Sufism, Islam's Mystical Tradition'', HarperCollins, 2 September 2008. p. 130: "Attar has traversed the seven cities of Love, We are still at the turn of one street!"</ref> His father was also connected to the spiritual lineage of [[Najm al-Din Kubra]].<ref name="Nasr1" />

Rumi lived most of his life under the [[Persianate society|Persianate]]<ref>Grousset, Rene, ''The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia'', (Rutgers University Press, 2002), 157; "...the Seljuk court at Konya adopted Persian as its official language".</ref><ref>Aḥmad of Niǧde's "al-Walad al-Shafīq" and the Seljuk Past, A.C.S. Peacock, Anatolian Studies, Vol. 54, (2004), 97; With the growth of Seljuk power in Rum, a more highly developed Muslim cultural life, based on the Persianate culture of the Great Seljuk court, was able to take root in Anatolia</ref><ref>Findley, Carter Vaughn, ''The Turks in World History'', Oxford University Press, 11 November 2004. p. 72: Meanwhile, amid the migratory swarm that Turkified Anatolia, the dispersion of learned men from the Persian-speaking east paradoxically made the Seljuks court at Konya a new center for Persian court culture, as exemplified by the great mystical poet Jelaleddin Rumi (1207–1273).</ref> [[Seljuk dynasty|Seljuk]] [[Sultanate of Rum]], where he produced his works<ref>[[Coleman Barks|Barks, Coleman]], ''Rumi: The Book of Love: Poems of Ecstasy and Longing'', HarperCollins, 2005, p. xxv, {{ISBN|978-0-06-075050-3}}.</ref> and died in 1273{{nbsp}}AD. He was buried in [[Konya]], and his shrine became a place of pilgrimage.<ref>Note: Rumi's shrine is now known as the "Mevlâna Museum" in Turkey.</ref> Upon his death, his followers and his son [[Sultan Walad]] founded the [[Mevlevi Order]], also known as the Order of the Whirling Dervishes, famous for the [[Sufi dance]] known as the [[Sama (Sufism)|Sama]] ceremony. He was laid to rest beside his father, and over his remains a shrine was erected. A [[Hagiography|hagiographical]] account of him is described in Shams ud-Din Ahmad Aflāki's ''Manāqib ul-Ārifīn'' (written between 1318 and 1353). This biography needs to be treated with care as it contains both legends and facts about Rumi.<ref name=howisit>Lewis, ''Rumi: Past and Present, East and West'', Oneworld Publications, 2000.{{Blockquote|How is it that a Persian boy born almost eight hundred years ago in Khorasan, the northeastern province of greater Iran, in a region that we identify today as Central Asia, but was considered in those days as part of the Greater Persian cultural sphere, wound up in Central Anatolia on the receding edge of the Byzantine cultural sphere, in which is now Turkey}}</ref> For example, Professor [[Franklin Lewis]] of the University of Chicago, author of the most complete biography on Rumi, has separate sections for the hagiographical biography of Rumi and the actual biography about him.<ref name="hagiographer1" />

===Childhood and emigration===
Rumi's father was Bahā ud-Dīn Walad, a theologian, jurist and a [[mysticism|mystic]] from Wakhsh,<ref name="Balkh" /> who was also known by the followers of Rumi as Sultan al-Ulama or "Sultan of the Scholars". According to Sultan Walad's ''Ibadetname'' and Shamsuddin Aflaki (c.1286 to 1291), Rumi was a descendant of [[Abu Bakr]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Fundamentals Of Rumis Thought|first=Sefik |last=Can|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ9RCwAAQBAJ&q=aflaki+rumi+abu+bakr&pg=PT36|year=2006|publisher=Tughra Books|isbn = 9781597846134}}</ref> Some modern scholars, however, reject this claim and state it does not hold on closer examination. The claim of maternal descent from the [[Khwarazmshah]] for Rumi or his father is also seen as a non-historical hagiographical tradition designed to connect the family with royalty, but this claim is rejected for chronological and historical reasons. The most complete genealogy offered for the family stretches back to six or seven generations to famous Hanafi jurists.<ref name="hagiographer1">Lewis, ''Rumi: Past and Present, East and West'', Oneworld Publications, 2008 (revised edition), pp. 90–92: "Baha al-Din’s disciples also traced his family lineage to the first caliph, Abu Bakr (Sep 9; Af 7; JNO 457; Dow 213). This probably stems from willful confusion over his paternal great grandmother, who was the daughter of Abu Bakr of Sarakhs, a noted jurist (d. 1090). The most complete genealogy offered for family stretches back only six or seven generations and cannot reach to Abu Bakr, the companion and first caliph of the Prophet, who died two years after the Prophet, in C.E. 634 (FB 5–6 n.3)."</ref><ref name="hagiographer2">Algar, H., [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/baha-al-din-mohammad-walad-b “BAHĀʾ-AL-DĪN MOḤAMMAD WALAD“], ''Encyclopedia Iranica''. There is no reference to such descent in the works of Bahāʾ-e Walad and Mawlānā Jalāl-al-Dīn or in the inscriptions on their sarcophagi. The attribution may have arisen from confusion between the caliph and another Abū Bakr, Šams-al-Aʾemma Abū Bakr Saraḵsī (d. 483/1090), the well-known Hanafite jurist, whose daughter, Ferdows Ḵātūn, was the mother of Aḥmad Ḵaṭīb, Bahāʾ-e Walad's grandfather (see Forūzānfar, Resāla, p. 6). Tradition also links Bahāʾ-e Walad's lineage to the Ḵᵛārazmšāh{{typo help inline|date=June 2022}} dynasty. His mother is said to have been the daughter of ʿAlāʾ-al-Dīn Moḥammad Ḵārazmšāh{{typo help inline|date=June 2022}} (d. 596/1200), but this appears to be excluded for chronological reasons (Forūzānfar, Resāla, p. 7).</ref><ref name="hagiographer3">(Ritter, H.; Bausani, A. "ḎJalāl al- Dīn Rūmī b. Bahāʾ al-Dīn Sulṭān al-ʿulamāʾ Walad b. Ḥusayn b. Aḥmad Ḵhaṭībī". ''Encyclopaedia of Islam''. Edited by P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W. P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2009. Brill Online. Excerpt: "known by the sobriquet Mawlānā (Mevlâna), Persian poet and founder of the Mawlawiyya order of dervishes"): "The assertions that his family tree goes back to Abū Bakr, and that his mother was a daughter of the Ḵhwārizmshāh ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Muḥammad (Aflākī, i, 8–9) do not hold on closer examination (B. Furūzānfarr, Mawlānā Ḏjalāl Dīn, Tehrān 1315, 7; ʿAlīnaḳī Sharīʿatmadārī, Naḳd-i matn-i mathnawī, in Yaghmā, xii (1338), 164; Aḥmad Aflākī, Ariflerin menkibeleri, trans. Tahsin Yazıcı, Ankara 1953, i, Önsöz, 44).").</ref>

We do not learn the name of Baha al-Din's mother in the sources, only that he referred to her as "Māmi" (colloquial Persian for Māma),<ref name="hagiographer4">Lewis, ''Rumi: Past and Present, East and West'', Oneworld Publications, 2008 (revised edition). p. 44: "Baha al-Din’s father, Hosayn, had been a religious scholar with a bent for asceticism, occupied like his own father before him, Ahmad, with the family profession of preacher (khatib). Of the four canonical schools of Sunni Islam, the family adhered to the relatively liberal [[Hanafi]] [[fiqh]]. Hosayn-e Khatibi enjoyed such renown in his youth—so says Aflaki with characteristic exaggeration—that Razi al-Din Nayshapuri and other famous scholars came to study with him (Af 9; for the legend about Baha al-Din, see below, "The Mythical Baha al-Din"). Another report indicates that Baha al-Din's grandfather, Ahmad al-Khatibi, was born to Ferdows Khatun, a daughter of the reputed Hanafite jurist and author Shams al-A’emma Abu Bakr of Sarakhs, who died circa 1088 (Af 75; FB 6 n.4; Mei 74 n. 17). This is far from implausible and, if true, would tend to suggest that Ahmad al-Khatabi had studied under Shams al-A’emma. Prior to that the family could supposedly trace its roots back to Isfahan. We do not learn the name of Baha al-Din's mother in the sources, only that he referred to her as "Mama" (Mami), and that she lived to the 1200s." (p. 44)</ref> and that she was a simple woman who lived to the 1200s. The mother of Rumi was Mu'mina Khātūn. The profession of the family for several generations was that of Islamic preachers of the relatively liberal [[Hanafi]] [[Maturidi]] school, and this family tradition was continued by Rumi (see his Fihi Ma Fih and Seven Sermons) and Sultan Walad (see Ma'rif Waladi for examples of his everyday sermons and lectures).

When the [[Mongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire|Mongols invaded Central Asia]] sometime between 1215 and 1220, Baha ud-Din Walad, with his whole family and a group of disciples, set out westwards. According to hagiographical account which is not agreed upon by all Rumi scholars, Rumi encountered one of the most famous mystic Persian poets, [[Attar of Nishapur|Attar]], in the Iranian city of [[Nishapur]], located in the province of Khorāsān. Attar immediately recognized Rumi's spiritual eminence. He saw the father walking ahead of the son and said, "Here comes a sea followed by an ocean."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Suspended Somewhere Between: A Book of Verse|last=Ahmed|first=Akbar|publisher=PM Press|year=2011|isbn=978-1-60486-485-4|pages=i}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi|last=El-Fers|first=Mohamed|publisher=MokumTV|year=2009|isbn=978-1-4092-9291-3|pages=45}}</ref> Attar gave the boy his ''Asrārnāma'', a book about the entanglement of the soul in the material world. This meeting had a deep impact on the eighteen-year-old Rumi and later on became the inspiration for his works.

From Nishapur, Walad and his entourage set out for [[Baghdad]], meeting many of the scholars and Sufis of the city.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-12-13 |title=Rumi {{!}} Biography, Poems, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rumi |access-date=2025-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> From Baghdad they went to [[Hejaz]] and performed the [[Hajj|pilgrimage]] at [[Mecca]]. The migrating caravan then passed through [[Damascus]], [[Malatya]], [[Erzincan]], [[Sivas]], [[Kayseri]] and [[Nigde]]. They finally settled in [[Karaman]] for seven years; Rumi's mother and brother both died there. In 1225, Rumi married Gowhar Khatun in Karaman. They had two sons: Sultan Walad and Ala-eddin Chalabi. When his wife died, Rumi married again and had a son, Amir Alim Chalabi, and a daughter, Malakeh Khatun.

On 1 May 1228, most likely as a result of the insistent invitation of [[Kayqubad I|'Alā' ud-Dīn Key-Qobād]], ruler of Anatolia, Baha' ud-Din came and finally settled in Konya in [[Anatolia]] within the westernmost territories of the [[Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm]].

===Education and encounters with Shams-e Tabrizi===
[[File:Shams ud-Din Tabriz 1502-1504 BNF Paris.jpg|thumb|A page of a copy c. 1503 of the ''[[Diwan-e Shams-e Tabriz-i]]''. See [[Rumi ghazal 163]].]]
Baha' ud-Din became the head of a [[madrassa]] (religious school) and when he died, Rumi, aged twenty-five, inherited his position as the Islamic molvi. One of Baha' ud-Din's students, Sayyed Burhan ud-Din Muhaqqiq Termazi, continued to train Rumi in the [[Shariah]] as well as the [[Tariqa]], especially that of Rumi's father. For nine years, Rumi practised Sufism as a disciple of Burhan ud-Din until the latter died in 1240 or 1241. Rumi's public life then began: he became an Islamic Jurist, issuing [[fatwas]] and giving sermons in the mosques of Konya. He also served as a Molvi (Islamic teacher) and taught his adherents in the madrassa.

During this period, Rumi also travelled to [[Damascus]] and is said to have spent four years there.

It was his meeting with the [[dervish]] [[Shams-e Tabrizi]] on 15 November 1244 that completely changed his life. From an accomplished teacher and jurist, Rumi was transformed into an [[Asceticism|ascetic]]. Sufi mysticism places great emphasis on the master-disciple relationship, in which the younger disciple studies under an older master. It is essential to engage in discipleship to reach ''fana'', the highest level of spiritual development in Sufism.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stewart |first=Courtney A. |date=2018-10-01 |title=Art of the Sufis - The Metropolitan Museum of Art |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/art-of-the-sufis |access-date=2025-03-02 |website=www.metmuseum.org |language=en}}</ref>

Shams had travelled throughout the Middle East searching and praying for someone who could "endure my company". A voice said to him: "What will you give in return?" Shams replied, "My head!" The voice then said, "The one you seek is Jalal ud-Din of Konya."

On the night of 5 December 1248, as Rumi and Shams were talking, Shams was called to the back door. He went out, never to be seen again.<ref>{{cite web |title=Hz. Mawlana and Shams |url=http://www.semazen.net/eng/show_text_main.php?id=166&menuId=17 |url-status=dead |website=semazen.net}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=February 2025|reason=Not accessible, website of unknown authority}} There are many theories as to Shams's disappearance. The most popular are that Rumi's youngest son killed him, that he was killed for blasphemy, or that Shams, a known wanderer, simply chose to move on.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=de Groot |first=Rokus |date=2011 |title=Rumi and the Abyss of Longing |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45236317 |journal=Mawlana Rumi Review |volume=2 |pages=61–93 |doi=10.1163/25898566-00201008 |jstor=45236317 |issn=2042-3357}}</ref>

For more than a month, Rumi refused to believe the rumors of Shams's death and waited for his return. After forty days, Rumi accepted that he was dead and began dressing in black to signal his mourning.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=James |first=Delaney |date=2019 |title=RUMI: The Homoerotic Sufi Saint |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26851798 |journal=CrossCurrents |volume=69 |issue=4 |pages=365–383 |jstor=26851798 |issn=0011-1953}}</ref> Rumi's love for, and his bereavement at the death of, Shams found their expression in an outpouring of lyric poems, [[Diwan-e Shams-e Tabrizi|''Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi'']]. He himself went out searching for Shams and journeyed again to Damascus. There, he realised:
{{blockquote|
Why should I seek? I am the same as<br />
He. His essence speaks through me.<br />
I have been looking for myself!<ref>''The Essential Rumi''. Translations by Coleman Barks, p. xx.</ref>
}}

===Later life and death===
[[File:Ahmad ibn Hajji Abi Bakr al-Katib - Double-page Illuminated Frontispiece - Walters W6252B - Full Page.jpg|thumb|Double-page illuminated frontispiece, 1st book ({{langx|fa|دفتر}}, "daftar") of the Collection of poems ([[Masnavi-e-Ma'navi|''Masnavi-i ma'navi'']]), 1461 manuscript]]

Mewlana had been spontaneously composing ''[[ghazal]]s'' (Persian poems), and these had been collected in the ''Divan-i Kabir'' or Diwan Shams Tabrizi. Rumi found another companion in Salaḥ ud-Din-e Zarkub, a goldsmith. After Salah ud-Din's death, Rumi's scribe and favourite student, [[Husam al-Din Chalabi|Hussam-e Chalabi]], assumed the role of Rumi's companion. One day, the two of them were wandering through the Meram vineyards outside Konya when Hussam described to Rumi an idea he had had: "If you were to write a book like the ''Ilāhīnāma'' of Sanai or the ''Mantiq ut-Tayr'' of 'Attar, it would become the companion of many troubadours. They would fill their hearts from your work and compose music to accompany it." Rumi smiled and took out a piece of paper on which were written the opening eighteen lines of his ''Masnavi'', beginning with:

{{blockquote|
Listen to the reed and the tale it tells,<br />
How it sings of separation...<ref>{{cite book |title=Rumi: Daylight: A Daybook of Spiritual Guidance |date=1999 |publisher=Shambhala Publications |isbn=978-0-8348-2517-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cRhfAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT11}}</ref>
}}

Hussam implored Rumi to write more. Rumi spent the next twelve years of his life in Anatolia dictating the six volumes of this masterwork, the ''Masnavi'', to Hussam.

In December 1273, Rumi fell ill; he predicted his own death and composed the well-known ''ghazal'', which begins with the verse:

{{blockquote|
How doest thou know what sort of king I have within me as companion?<br />
Do not cast thy glance upon my golden face, for I have iron legs.<ref>{{cite book |last= Nasr |first=Seyyed Hossein |title= Islamic Art and Spirituality |publisher= SUNY Press |year= 1987 |page= 120 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=EBu6gWcT0DsC&pg=PA120 |isbn= 978-0-88706-174-5}}</ref>
}}
[[File:Maulana Jelaledin Muhammad Rumi in konya.jpg|thumb|Tomb shrine of Rumi, [[Konya]]]]
Rumi died on 17 December 1273 in [[Konya]]. His death was mourned by the diverse community of Konya, with local Christians and Jews joining the crowd that converged to bid farewell as his body was carried through the city.<ref name=Mojaddedi-19>{{cite book|first=Jawid |last=Mojaddedi|chapter=Introduction|title=Rumi, Jalal al-Din. The Masnavi, Book One|publisher=Oxford University Press (Kindle Edition)|year=2004|page=xix}}</ref> Rumi's body was interred beside that of his father, and a splendid shrine, the "Green Tomb" ([[Turkish language|Turkish]]: Yeşil Türbe, {{langx|ar|قبة الخضراء}}; today the [[Mevlana Museum|Mevlâna Museum]]), was erected over his place of burial. His epitaph reads:

{{blockquote|
When we are dead, seek not our tomb in the earth,
but find it in the hearts of men.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://anatolia.com/anatolia/Religion_and_Spirituality/Mevlana/Default.asp|title=
Mevlana Jalal al-din Rumi|website= Anatolia.com|date=2 February 2002|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020202002121/http://anatolia.com/anatolia/Religion_and_Spirituality/Mevlana/Default.asp|archive-date=2 February 2002}}</ref>
}}

Georgian princess and Seljuq queen [[Tamar Gurju Khatun]] was a close friend of Rumi. She was the one who sponsored the construction of [[Mevlana Museum|his tomb]] in [[Konya]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Crane |first1=H. |title=Notes on Saldjūq Architectural Patronage in Thirteenth Century Anatolia |journal=Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient |date=1993 |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=1–57 |id={{ProQuest|1304344524}} |doi=10.1163/156852093X00010 |jstor=3632470}}</ref> The 13th-century [[Mevlana Museum|Mevlâna Mausoleum]], with its mosque, dance hall, schools and living quarters for dervishes, remains a destination of pilgrimage to this day, and is probably the most popular pilgrimage site to be regularly visited by adherents of every major religion.<ref name=Mojaddedi-19/>

==Teachings==
[[File:Turkey.Konya021.jpg|thumb|''Maṭnawīye Ma'nawī'', [[Mevlana Museum]], [[Konya]], Turkey]]
Like other mystic and Sufi poets of Persian literature, Rumi's poetry speaks of love which infuses the world.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}} Rumi's teachings also express the tenets summarized in the Quranic verse which Shams-e Tabrizi cited as the essence of prophetic guidance: "Know that ‘There is no god but He,’ and ask forgiveness for your sin" (Q. 47:19). 

In the interpretation attributed to Shams, the first part of the verse commands the humanity to seek knowledge of ''[[tawhid]]'' (oneness of God), while the second instructs them to negate their own existence. In Rumi's terms, ''tawhid'' is lived most fully through love, with the connection being made explicit in his verse that describes love as "that flame which, when it blazes up, burns away everything except the Everlasting Beloved."<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|first=William C. |last=Chittick|title=RUMI, JALĀL-AL-DIN vii. Philosophy|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/rumi-philosophy|year=2017|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Iranica}}
</ref>

Rumi's longing and desire to attain this ideal is evident in the following poem from his book the [[Masnavi]]:<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.dar-al-masnavi.org/n-III-3901.html|title=The Mathnawî-yé Ma'nawî – Rhymed Couplets of Deep Spiritual Meaning of Jalaluddin Rumi. |author=Ibrahim Gamard (with gratitude for R. A. Nicholson's 1930 British translation)}}</ref>
{{Verse translation|italicsoff=y|rtl1=y|
{{lang|fa|rtl=yes|
از جمادی مُردم و نامی شدم
وز نما مُردم به حیوان برزدم
مُردم از حیوانی و آدم شدم
پس چه ترسم کی ز مردن کم شدم؟
حملهٔ دیگر بمیرم از بشر
تا برآرم از ملائک بال و پر
وز ملک هم بایدم جستن ز جو
کل شیء هالک الا وجهه
بار دیگر از ملک پران شوم
آنچ اندر وهم ناید آن شوم
پس عدم گردم عدم چون ارغنون
گویدم که انا الیه راجعون}}
|
I died to the mineral state and became a plant,
I died to the vegetal state and reached animality,
I died to the animal state and became a man,
Then what should I fear? I have never become less from dying.
At the next charge (forward) I will die to human nature,
So that I may lift up (my) head and wings (and soar) among the angels,
And I must (also) jump from the river of (the state of) the angel,
Everything perishes except His Face,
Once again I will become sacrificed from (the state of) the angel,
I will become that which cannot come into the imagination,
Then I will become non-existent; non-existence says to me (in tones) like an organ,
[[Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un|Truly, to Him is our return]].}}

The ''Masnavi'' weaves fables, scenes from everyday life, Qur'anic revelations and exegesis, and metaphysics into a vast and intricate tapestry.

Rumi believed passionately in the use of music, poetry and dance as a path for reaching God. For Rumi, music helped devotees to focus their whole being on the divine and to do this so intensely that the soul was both destroyed and resurrected. It was from these ideas that the practice of [[Sufi whirling|whirling Dervishes]] developed into a ritual form. His teachings became the base for the order of the Mevlevi, which his son Sultan Walad organised. Rumi encouraged [[Sama (Sufism)|Sama]], listening to music and turning or doing the sacred dance. In the Mevlevi tradition, ''samāʿ'' represents a mystical journey of spiritual ascent through mind and love to the Perfect One. In this journey, the seeker symbolically turns towards the truth, grows through love, abandons the ego, finds the truth and arrives at the Perfect. The seeker then returns from this spiritual journey, with greater maturity, to love and to be of service to the whole of creation without discrimination with regard to beliefs, races, classes and nations.{{citation needed|date=September 2016}}

In other verses in the ''Masnavi'', Rumi describes in detail the universal message of love:

{{blockquote|
The lover's cause is separate from all other causes<br />
Love is the astrolabe of God's mysteries.<ref>{{cite book | last =Naini | first =Majid| title =The Mysteries of the Universe and Rumi's Discoveries on the Majestic Path of Love | author-link=Majid Naini}}</ref>
}}

Rumi's favourite musical instrument was the [[ney]] (reed flute).<ref name="BBC-Haviland" />

==Major works==
[[File:Meeting of Jalal al-Din Rumi and Molla Shams al-Din.jpg|thumb|An [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] era manuscript depicting Rumi and [[Shams-e Tabrizi]].]]

Rumi's poetry is often divided into various categories: the quatrains (''[[Ruba'i|rubayāt]]'') and odes (''[[ghazal]]'') of the ''Divan'', the six books of the ''Masnavi''. The prose works are divided into The Discourses, The Letters, and the ''Seven Sermons''.

===Poetic works===
[[File:Bowl of Reflections, early 13th century.jpg|thumbnail|''Bowl of Reflections'' with Rumi's poetry, early 13th century; [[Brooklyn Museum]]]]

* Rumi's best-known work is the ''[[Masnavi-e-Ma'navi|Maṭnawīye Ma'nawī]]'' (''Spiritual Couplets''; {{lang|fa|مثنوی معنوی}}). The six-volume poem holds a distinguished place within the rich tradition of Persian Sufi literature, and has been commonly called "the Quran in Persian".<ref>{{cite book|first=Jawid |last=Mojaddedi|chapter=Introduction|title=Rumi, Jalal al-Din. The Masnavi, Book One|publisher=Oxford University Press (Kindle Edition)|year=2004|page=xix|quote=Rumi’s Masnavi holds an exalted status in the rich canon of Persian Sufi literature as the greatest mystical poem ever written. It is even referred to commonly as ‘the Koran in Persian’.}}</ref><ref>Abdul Rahman [[Jami]] notes:

{{blockquote|{{lang|fa|من چه گویم وصف آن عالی‌جناب&nbsp;— نیست پیغمبر ولی دارد کتاب}}

{{lang|fa|مثنویّ معنویّ مولوی&nbsp;— هست قرآن در زبان پهلوی}}

}}

{{blockquote|
What can I say in praise of that great one?<br />
He is not a Prophet but has come with a book;<br />
The Spiritual ''Masnavi'' of Mowlavi<br />
Is the Qur'an in the language of Pahlavi (Persian).
}}

(Khawaja Abdul Hamid Irfani, "The Sayings of Rumi and Iqbal", Bazm-e-Rumi, 1976.)</ref> Many commentators have regarded it as the greatest mystical poem in world literature.<ref>{{cite book|first=Jawid |last=Mojaddedi|chapter=Introduction|title=Rumi, Jalal al-Din. The Masnavi, Book One|publisher=Oxford University Press (Kindle Edition)|year=2004|pages=xii–xiii|quote=Towards the end of his life he presented the fruit of his experience of Sufism in the form of the Masnavi, which has been judged by many commentators, both within the Sufi tradition and outside it, to be the greatest mystical poem ever written.}}</ref> It contains approximately 27,000 lines,<ref>Lewis, ''Rumi: Past and Present, East and West'', Oneworld Publications, 2008 (revised edition). p. 306: "The manuscripts versions differ greatly in the size of the text and orthography. Nicholson’s text has 25,577 lines though the average medieval and early modern manuscripts contained around 27,000 lines, meaning the scribes added two thousand lines or about eight percent more to the poem composed by Rumi. Some manuscripts give as many as 32,000!"</ref> each consisting of a couplet with an internal rhyme.<ref name="Mojaddedi-19"/> While the [[mathnawi]] genre of poetry may use a variety of different metres, after Rumi composed his poem, the metre he used became the mathnawi metre ''par excellence''. The first recorded use of this metre for a mathnawi poem took place at the Nizari Ismaili fortress of Girdkuh between 1131 and 1139. It likely set the stage for later poetry in this style by mystics such as Attar and Rumi.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Virani |first1=Shafique N. |title=Persian Poetry, Sufism and Ismailism: The Testimony of Khwājah Qāsim Tushtarī's Recognizing God |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society |date=January 2019 |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=17–49 |id={{ProQuest|2300038453}} |doi=10.1017/S1356186318000494 |s2cid=165288246}}</ref>

* Rumi's other major work is the ''Dīwān-e Kabīr'' (''Great Work'') or ''[[Diwan-e Shams-e Tabrizi|Dīwān-e Shams-e Tabrīzī]]'' (''The Works of Shams of [[Tabriz]]''; {{lang|fa|دیوان شمس تبریزی}}), named in honour of Rumi's master [[Shams Tabraiz|Shams]]. Besides approximately 35000 Persian couplets and 2000 Persian quatrains,<ref>Lewis, ''Rumi: Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teaching, and Poetry of Jalâl al-Din Rumi'' (2008), p. 314: "The Foruzanfar's edition of the Divan-e Shams compromises 3229 ghazals and qasidas making a total of almost 35000 lines, not including several hundred lines of stanzaic poems and nearly two thousand quatrains attributed to him”</ref> the Divan contains 90 Ghazals and 19 quatrains in Arabic,<ref>[http://www.dar-al-masnavi.org/about.html Dar al-Masnavi Website, accessed December 2009]: According to the Dar al-Masnavi website: “In Forûzânfar's edition of Rumi's Divan, there are 90 ghazals (Vol. 1, 29; Vol. 2, 1; Vol. 3, 6; Vol. 4, 8; Vol. 5, 19, Vol. 6, 0; Vol. 7, 27) and 19 quatrains entirely in Arabic. In addition, there are ghazals which are all Arabic except for the final line; many have one or two lines in Arabic within the body of the poem; some have as many as 9–13 consecutive lines in Arabic, with Persian verses preceding and following; some have alternating lines in Persian, then Arabic; some have the first half of the verse in Persian, the second half in Arabic.”</ref> a couple of dozen or so couplets in Turkish (mainly [[Macaronic language|macaronic]] poems of mixed Persian and Turkish)<ref>Mecdut MensurOghlu: “The Divan of Jalal al-Din Rumi contains 35 couplets in Turkish and Turkish-Persian which have recently been published me” (Celal al-Din Rumi’s turkische Verse: UJb. XXIV (1952), pp. 106–115)</ref><ref>Lewis, ''Rumi: Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teaching, and Poetry of Jalâl al-Din Rumi'' (2008): "a couple of dozen at most of the 35,000 lines of the Divan-I Shams are in Turkish, and almost all of these lines occur in poems that are predominantly in Persian".</ref> and 14 couplets in Greek (all of them in three macaronic poems of Greek-Persian).<ref name=Dedes1993/><ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.opoudjis.net/Play/rumiwalad.html |first=Nick|last=Nicholas|website=Opoudjis|title=Greek Verses of Rumi & Sultan Walad|date=22 April 2009}}</ref><ref>Lewis, ''Rumi: Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teaching, and Poetry of Jalâl al-Din Rumi'' (2008): "Three poems have bits of demotic Greek; these have been identified and translated into French, along with some Greek verses of Sultan Valad. [[Abdülbâki Gölpınarlı|Golpinarli]] (GM 416–417) indicates according to Vladimir Mir Mirughli, the Greek used in some of Rumi's macaronic poems reflects the demotic Greek of the inhabitants of Anatolia. Golpinarli then argues that Rumi knew classical Persian and Arabic with precision, but typically composes poems in a more popular or colloquial Persian and Arabic."</ref>

===Prose works===
* [[Fihi ma fihi|''Fihi Ma Fihi'']] (''In It What's in It'', Persian: {{lang|fa|فیه ما فیه}}) provides a record of seventy-one talks and lectures given by Rumi on various occasions to his disciples. It was compiled from the notes of his various disciples, so Rumi did not author the work directly.<ref>Lewis, ''Rumi: Past and Present, East and West&nbsp;— The Life, Teachings, and Poetry of Jalal al-Din Rumi'', Oneworld Publications, 2000, Chapter 7.</ref> An English translation from the Persian was first published by [[A.J. Arberry]] as ''Discourses of Rumi'' (New York: Samuel Weiser, 1972), and a translation of the second book by Wheeler Thackston, ''Sign of the Unseen'' (Putney, VT: Threshold Books, 1994). The style of the ''Fihi ma fihi'' is colloquial and meant for middle-class men and women, and lack the sophisticated wordplay.<ref>“As Safa points out (Saf 2:1206) the Discourse reflect the stylistics of oral speech and lacks the sophisticated word plays, Arabic vocabulary and sound patterning that we would except from a consciously literary text of this period. Once again, the style of Rumi as lecturer or orator in these discourses does not reflect an audience of great intellectual pretensions, but rather middle-class men and women, along with number of statesmen and rulers" (Lewis, ''Rumi: Past and Present, East and West'', Oneworld Publications, 2008, p. 292).</ref>
* ''Majāles-e Sab'a'' (''Seven Sessions'', Persian: {{lang|fa|مجالس سبعه}}) contains seven Persian sermons (as the name implies) or lectures given in seven different assemblies. The sermons themselves give a commentary on the deeper meaning of Qur'an and [[Hadith]]. The sermons also include quotations from poems of [[Sana'i]], [[Attar of Nishapur|'Attar]], and other poets, including Rumi himself. As Aflakī relates, after Shams-e Tabrīzī, Rumi gave sermons at the request of notables, especially Salāh al-Dīn Zarkūb. The style of Persian is rather simple, but quotation of Arabic and knowledge of history and the Hadith show Rumi's knowledge in the Islamic sciences. His style is typical of the genre of lectures given by Sufis and spiritual teachers.<ref>Lewis, ''Rumi: Past and Present, East and West'', Oneworld Publications, 2008, p. 293.</ref>
* ''Makatib'' (''The Letters'', Persian: {{lang|fa|مکاتیب}}) or ''Maktubat'' ({{lang|fa|مکتوبات}}) is the [[Letter collection|collection of letters]] written in Persian by Rumi to his disciples, family members, and men of state and of influence. The letters testify that Rumi kept very busy helping family members and administering a community of disciples that had grown up around them. Unlike the Persian style of the previous two mentioned works (which are lectures and sermons), the letters are consciously sophisticated and epistolary in style, which is in conformity with the expectations of correspondence directed to nobles, statesmen and kings.<ref>Lewis, ''Rumi: Past and Present, East and West'', Oneworld Publications, 2008, p. 295: "In contrast with the prose of his Discourses and sermons, the style of the letters is consciously sophisticated and epistolary, in conformity with the expectations of correspondence directed to nobles, statesmen and kings."</ref>

==Religious outlook==
Despite references to other religions, Rumi clearly holds the superiority of Islam. As Muslim, Rumi praises the Quran, not only as sacred book of Muslims, but also as tool to distinguish truth from falsehood. As such, the Quran features as guidebook for humanity and those who want to understand the reality of the world.<ref>Demmrich, Sarah, and Ulrich Riegel, eds. Western and Eastern perspectives on religion and religiosity. Vol. 14. Waxmann Verlag, 2020. p. 51</ref>

The prophets of Islam, according to Rumi, constitute the highest point of spiritual development and are the closest to God. Throughout Rumi's writings, Muhammad is the most perfect example of all previous prophets.<ref>Demmrich, Sarah, and Ulrich Riegel, eds. Western and Eastern perspectives on religion and religiosity. Vol. 14. Waxmann Verlag, 2020. p. 52</ref>

Despite Rumi's explicit adherence to Islam, there are traces of religious pluralism throughout his work. Although Rumi acknowledges religious discrepancies, the core of all religions is the same. The disagreement between religions does not lie in the core of these religions, but in doctrinal differences. Accordingly, Rumi criticizes Christianity for "overloading the image of God with superfluous structures and complications".<ref>Demmrich, Sarah, and Ulrich Riegel, eds. Western and Eastern perspectives on religion and religiosity. Vol. 14. Waxmann Verlag, 2020. p. 53</ref> Yet, Rumi declares that "the lamps are different, but the Light is the same; it comes from beyond".<ref>Demmrich, Sarah, and Ulrich Riegel, eds. Western and Eastern perspectives on religion and religiosity. Vol. 14. Waxmann Verlag, 2020. p. 55</ref> [[Shibli Nomani]], in his work [[Sawanih Maulana Rum|''Sawanih Maulana Rum'']], argued that Rumi should not be seen solely as a mystical poet but also as a serious theologian.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Haq |first=Sirajul |title=Maqalat e Shibli ka adbi aur tanqeedi jaiza |type=PhD |publisher=Department of Urdu, [[Delhi University]] |url=https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/439484 |language=ur |page=114 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250920114558/https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/439484 |archive-date=20 September 2025 |year=2021 |location=India |hdl=10603/439484 |url-status=live}}</ref>

His depth of his spiritual vision extended beyond narrow sectarian concerns. One quatrain reads:
{{Verse translation|italicsoff=y|rtl1=y|
{{lang|fa|rtl=yes|در راه طلب عاقل و دیوانه یکی است
در شیوه‌ی عشق خویش و بیگانه یکی است
آن را که شراب وصل جانان دادند
در مذهب او کعبه و بتخانه یکی است}}
|attr1=Quatrain 305|
On the seeker's path, the wise and crazed are one.
In the way of love, kin and strangers are one.
The one who they gave the wine of the beloved's union,
in his path, the Kaaba and house of idols are one.<ref>Rumi: 53 Secrets from the Tavern of Love, trans. by Amin Banani and Anthony A. Lee, p. 3</ref>}}

According to the Quran, Muhammad is a mercy sent by God.<ref>{{citation|url=http://corpus.quran.com/translation.jsp?chapter=21&verse=107|title=Verse (21:107) – English Translation}}</ref> In regards to this, Rumi states:

<blockquote>"The Light of Muhammad does not abandon a Zoroastrian or Jew in the world. May the shade of his good fortune shine upon everyone! He brings all of those who are led astray into the Way out of the desert."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-17EZOGivqMC|page=163|title=Rumi and Islam|first=Ibrahim |last=Gamard|isbn=978-1-59473-002-3|year=2004|publisher=SkyLight Paths }}</ref></blockquote>

Rumi, however, asserts the supremacy of [[Islam]] by stating:

<blockquote>"The Light of Muhammad has become a thousand branches (of knowledge), a thousand, so that both this world and the next have been seized from end to end. If Muhammad rips the veil open from a single such branch, thousands of monks and priests will tear the string of false belief from around their waists."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-17EZOGivqMC|first=Ibrahim |last=Gamard|page=177|title=Rumi and Islam|isbn=978-1-59473-002-3|year=2004|publisher=SkyLight Paths }}</ref></blockquote>

Many of Rumi's poems suggest the importance of outward religious observance and the primacy of the Qur'an.<ref>{{harvnb|Lewis|2000|pp=407–408}}</ref>

{{blockquote|
Flee to God's Qur'an, take refuge in it<br />
there with the spirits of the prophets merge.<br />
The Book conveys the prophets' circumstances<br />
those fish of the pure sea of Majesty.<ref>{{harvnb|Lewis|2000|p=408}}</ref>
}}

Rumi states:

<blockquote><poem>I am the servant of the Qur'an as long as I have life.
I am the dust on the path of Muhammad, the Chosen one.
If anyone quotes anything except this from my sayings,
I am quit of him and outraged by these words.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.dar-al-masnavi.org/self-discovery.html|title=Rumi and Self Discovery|publisher=Dar al Masnavi|first=Ibrahim |last=Gamard}}</ref></poem></blockquote>

Rumi also states:

{{blockquote|I "sewed" my two eyes shut from [desires for] this world and the next – this I learned from Muhammad.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-17EZOGivqMC|title=Rumi and Islam|first=Ibrahim |last=Gamard|publisher=SkyLight Paths|year=2004|page=169|isbn=978-1-59473-002-3}}</ref>}}

On the first page of the Masnavi, Rumi states:

<blockquote> "Hadha kitâbu 'l- mathnawîy wa huwa uSûlu uSûli uSûli 'd-dîn wa kashshâfu 'l-qur'ân."<br />
"This is the book of the Masnavi, and it is the roots of the roots of the roots of the (Islamic) Religion and it is the Explainer of the Qur'ân."<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.dar-al-masnavi.org/about_masnavi.html|title=About the Masnavi|publisher=Dar Al-Masnavi}}</ref></blockquote>

[[Hadi Sabzavari]], one of Iran's most important 19th-century philosophers, makes the following connection between the Masnavi and Islam, in the introduction to his philosophical commentary on the book:

<blockquote>It is a commentary on the versified exegesis [of the Qur’ān] and its occult mystery, since all of it [all of the Mathnawī] is, as you will see, an elucidation of the clear verses [of the Qur’ān], a clarification of prophetic utterances, a glimmer of the light of the luminous Qur’ān, and burning embers irradiating their rays from its shining lamp. As respects to hunting through the treasure-trove of the Qur’ān, one can find in it [the Mathnawī] all [the Qur’ān's] ancient philosophical wisdom; it [the Mathnawī] is all entirely eloquent philosophy. In truth, the pearly verse of the poem combines the Canon Law of Islam ([[sharia|sharīʿa]]) with the Sufi Path ([[tariqa|ṭarīqa]]) and the Divine Reality ([[haqiqa|ḥaqīqa]]); the author's [Rūmī] achievement belongs to God in his bringing together of the Law (sharīʿa), the Path, and the Truth in a way that includes critical intellect, profound thought, a brilliant natural temperament, and integrity of character that is endowed with power, insight, inspiration, and illumination.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tasbihi |first1=Eliza |title=Sabzawārī's Sharḥ-i Asrār: A Philosophical Commentary on Rūmīʾs 'Mathnawī' |journal=Mawlana Rumi Review |date=2016 |volume=7 |pages=175–196 |doi=10.1163/25898566-00701009 |jstor=45236376}}</ref></blockquote>

[[Seyyed Hossein Nasr]] states:

<blockquote>One of the greatest living authorities on Rûmî in Persia today, Hâdî Hâ'irî, has shown in an unpublished work that some 6,000 verses of the Dîwân and the Mathnawî are practically direct translations of Qur'ânic verses into Persian poetry.<ref>Nasr, Seyyed Hossein, "Rumi and the Sufi Tradition," in Chelkowski (ed.), ''The Scholar and the Saint'', p. 183</ref></blockquote>

Rumi states in his [[Diwan (poetry)|Dīwān]]:

<blockquote>The Sufi is hanging on to Muhammad, like [[Abu Bakr]].<ref>Quoted in Ibrahim Gamard, ''Rumi and Islam: Selections from His Stories, Poems, and Discourses&nbsp;— Annotated and Explained'', p. 171.</ref></blockquote>

==Legacy==
===Universality===
Rumi's work has been translated into many of the world's languages, including Russian, German, Urdu, Turkish, Arabic, Bengali, French, Italian, Spanish, Telugu and Kannada and is being presented in a growing number of formats, including concerts, workshops, readings, dance performances, and other artistic creations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rumi.net|title=Rumi Network by Shahram Shiva – The World's Most Popular Website on Rumi|work=rumi.net}}</ref> The English interpretations of Rumi's poetry by [[Coleman Barks]] have sold more than half a million copies worldwide,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ut.ac.ir/en/dr-braks/dr-barks.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060507142950/http://www.ut.ac.ir/en/dr-braks/dr-barks.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=7 May 2006|title=University of Tehran|work=ut.ac.ir}}</ref> and Rumi is one of the most widely read poets in the United States.<ref>Curiel, Jonathan, [[San Francisco Chronicle]] Staff Writer, ''Islamic verses: The influence of Muslim literature in the United States has grown stronger since the 11 Sep attacks'' (6 February 2005), [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/02/06/INGH7B3FM31.DTL Available online] (Retrieved Aug 2006)</ref> There is a famous landmark in [[Northern India]], known as [[Rumi Gate]], situated in [[Lucknow]] (the capital of [[Uttar Pradesh]]) named for Rumi. Indian filmmaker [[Muzaffar Ali]] who is from Lucknow made a documentary, titled ''Rumi in the Land of Khusrau'' (2001), which presents concerts based on the works of Rumi and [[Amir Khusrau]] and highlights parallels between the lives of the poets.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rumi in the Land of Khusrau (Full Movie ) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcwcL_IfKZg | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/RcwcL_IfKZg| archive-date=11 December 2021 | url-status=live|publisher=Indian Diplomacy |language=en |date=2 June 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

===Iranian world===
These cultural, historical and linguistic ties between Rumi and [[Iran]] have made Rumi an iconic Iranian poet, and some of the most important Rumi scholars including Foruzanfar, Naini, Sabzewari, etc., have come from modern Iran.<ref name="Franklin Lewis 2000">Franklin Lewis, ''Rumi: Past and Present, East and West'', Oneworld Publications, 2000.</ref> Rumi's poetry is displayed on the walls of many cities across [[Iran]], sung in Persian music,<ref name="Franklin Lewis 2000" /> and read in school books.<ref>See for example 4th grade Iranian school book where the story of the Parrot and Merchant from the Mathnawi is taught to students{{verify source|date=May 2022}}</ref>

Rumi's poetry forms the basis of much classical [[Music of Iran|Iranian]] and [[Music of Afghanistan|Afghan]] music.<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = The Overlook Press| isbn = 978-1-59020-378-1| last = Hiro| first = Dilip| title = Inside Central Asia: A Political and Cultural History of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz stan, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Iran| date = 1 November 2011}}{{page needed|date=May 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Uyar |first1=Yaprak Melike |last2=Beşiroğlu |first2=Ş. Şehvar |title=Recent representations of the music of the Mevlevi Order of Sufism |journal=Journal of Interdisciplinary Music Studies |date=2014 |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=137–150 |doi=10.4407/jims.2014.02.002 |doi-broken-date=8 September 2025 }}</ref> Contemporary classical interpretations of his poetry are made by [[Muhammad Reza Shajarian]], [[Shahram Nazeri]], [[Davood Azad]] (the three from Iran) and [[Ustad Mohammad Hashem Cheshti]] (Afghanistan).

===Mewlewī Sufi Order; Rumi and Turkey===
{{Main|Mevlevi Order|Sama (Sufism)}}

The Mewlewī Sufi order was founded in 1273 by Rumi's followers after his death.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://chnm.gmu.edu/worldhistorysources/r/172/whm.html%7ctitle=Sufism%7cwork=gmu.edu|title=Sufism|work=gmu.edu}}</ref> His first successor could have been Salah-eddin Zarkoub who served Rumi for a decade and was respected by Rumi. Zarkoub was illiterate and uttered some words incorrectly, but Rumi used some of these incorrect words in his poems to express his support and humility towards Zarkoub. Rumi named him his successor, but Zarkoub died before him.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://rch.ac.ir/article/Details?id=14559|title=Rumi's Special Companion Salah-eddin Zarkoub}}</ref> So Rumi's first successor in the rectorship of the order was [[Husam al-Din Chalabi|Husam Chalabi]] and, after Chalabi's death in 1284, Rumi's younger and only surviving son, [[Sultan Walad]] (d. 1312), popularly known as author of the mystical ''Maṭnawī Rabābnāma'', or the ''Book of the Rabab'' was installed as grand master of the order.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.islamicsupremecouncil.org/bin/site/wrappers/spirituality-mevlevi.html/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130827150758/http://www.islamicsupremecouncil.org/bin/site/wrappers/spirituality-mevlevi.html|url-status=dead|title=Islamic Supreme Council of America – Islamic Supreme Council of America|archivedate=27 August 2013|website=www.islamicsupremecouncil.org}}</ref> The leadership of the order has been kept within Rumi's family in Konya uninterruptedly since then.<ref>{{cite web |title= Mevlâna Celâleddin Rumi |url= http://www.mevlana.net/celebi.htm |access-date= 19 May 2007 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070506121512/http://www.mevlana.net/celebi.htm |archive-date= 6 May 2007}}</ref>
The Mewlewī Sufis, also known as Whirling Dervishes, believe in performing their ''[[dhikr]]'' in the form of [[Sama (Sufism)|Sama]]. During the time of Rumi (as attested in the ''Manāqib ul-Ārefīn'' of Aflākī), his followers gathered for musical and "turning" practices.

According to tradition, Rumi was himself a notable musician who played the [[rebab|''robāb'']], although his favourite instrument was the ''[[ney]]'' or reed flute.<ref name="order">{{cite web|url=http://www.hayatidede.org/V1/about_moa.html|title=About the Mevlevi Order of America|work=hayatidede.org|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130112195131/http://www.hayatidede.org/V1/about_moa.html|archive-date=12 January 2013}}</ref> The music accompanying the ''samāʿ'' consists of settings of poems from the ''Maṭnawī'' and ''Dīwān-e Kabīr'', or of Sultan Walad's poems.<ref name="order" /> The Mawlawīyah was a well-established Sufi order in the [[Ottoman Empire]], and many of the members of the order served in various official positions of the Caliphate. The centre for the Mevlevi was in Konya. There is also a Mewlewī monastery ({{lang|fa|درگاه}}, ''dargāh'') in [[Istanbul]] near the [[Galata Tower]] in which the ''samāʿ'' is performed and accessible to the public. The Mewlewī order issues an invitation to people of all backgrounds:

{{rquote|right|<poem>''Come, come, whoever you are,''
''Wanderer, idolater, worshiper of fire,''
''Come even though you have broken your vows a thousand times,''
''Come, and come yet again.''
''Ours is not a caravan of despair.''<ref>{{cite book |last= Hanut |first= Eryk |title= Rumi: The Card and Book Pack : Meditation, Inspiration, Self-discovery. The Rumi Card Book |publisher= Tuttle Publishing |year= 2000 |page= xiii |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Q42DV0Fk96MC&pg=PR13 |isbn= 978-1-885203-95-3 |no-pp= true}}</ref></poem>
}}

[[File:Turkey.Konya008.jpg|left|thumb|Rumi's tomb in [[Konya]], Turkey]]

During Ottoman times, the Mevlevi produced a number of notable poets and musicians, including Sheikh Ghalib, Ismail Rusuhi Dede of Ankara, Esrar Dede, Halet Efendi, and Gavsi Dede, who are all buried at the Galata Mewlewī Khāna (Turkish: ''Mevlevi-Hane'') in Istanbul.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.istanbulportal.com/istanbulportal/Divan.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060325015105/http://www.istanbulportal.com/istanbulportal/Divan.aspx|url-status=dead|title=Web Page Under Construction|archivedate=25 March 2006}}</ref> Music, especially that of the ney, plays an important part in the Mevlevi.

With the foundation of the modern, secular [[Republic of Turkey]], [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk]] removed religion from the sphere of public policy and restricted it exclusively to that of personal morals, behaviour and faith. On 13 December 1925, a law was passed closing all the ''[[Khanqah|tekkes]]'' (dervish lodges) and ''zāwiyas'' (chief dervish lodges), and the centres of veneration to which visits (''ziyārat'') were made. Istanbul alone had more than 250 ''tekke''s as well as small centres for gatherings of various fraternities; this law dissolved the Sufi Orders, prohibited the use of mystical names, titles and costumes pertaining to their titles, impounded the Orders' assets, and banned their ceremonies and meetings. The law also provided penalties for those who tried to re-establish the Orders. Two years later, in 1927, the Mausoleum of Mevlâna in Konya was allowed to reopen as a Museum.<ref>Mango, Andrew, ''Atatürk: The Biography of the Founder of Modern Turkey'', (2002), {{ISBN|978-1-58567-011-6}}.</ref>

In the 1950s, the Turkish government began allowing the Whirling Dervishes to perform once a year in Konya. The Mewlānā festival is held over two weeks in December; its culmination is on 17 December, the Urs of Mewlānā (anniversary of Rumi's death), called ''Šab-e Arūs'' ({{langx|fa|شبِ عُرس}}) (Persian meaning "nuptial night"), the night of Rumi's union with God.<ref name="urs">{{Cite web|url=https://www.kloosterman.be/intro/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060904005519/http://www.kloosterman.be/rumi.php|url-status=dead|title=Intro|archivedate=4 September 2006}}</ref> In 1974, the Whirling Dervishes were permitted to travel to the West for the first time. In 2005, [[UNESCO]] proclaimed "The [[Mevlevi Order|Mevlevi]] [[Sama (Sufism)|Sama]] Ceremony" of [[Turkey]] as one of the [[Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity]].<ref>[http://www.unesco.org/culture/intangible-heritage/39eur_uk.htm The Mevlevi Sema Ceremony] [[UNESCO]].</ref>

[[File:5000 TL A reverse.jpg|thumb|Rumi and his mausoleum on the reverse of the 5000 Turkish lira banknotes of 1981–1994]]
Rumi and his mausoleum were depicted on the [[Obverse and reverse|reverse]] of the 5000 Turkish lira banknotes of 1981–1994.<ref>Banknote Museum: 7. Emission Group—Five Thousand Turkish Lira—[http://www.tcmb.gov.tr/yeni/banknote/E7/274.htm I. Series] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100302151913/http://www.tcmb.gov.tr/yeni/banknote/E7/274.htm |date=2 March 2010}}, [http://www.tcmb.gov.tr/yeni/banknote/E7/276.htm II. Series] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100302152017/http://www.tcmb.gov.tr/yeni/banknote/E7/276.htm |date=2 March 2010}} & [http://www.tcmb.gov.tr/yeni/banknote/E7/278.htm III. Series]. Retrieved 20 April 2009. {{webarchive|url=https://www.webcitation.org/5hFIaQq0J?url=http://www.tcmb.gov.tr/yeni/eng/ |date=3 June 2009}}</ref>

===Religious denomination===
As [[Edward G. Browne]] noted, the three most prominent mystical Persian poets, Rumi, [[Sanai]] and [[Farid al-Din Attar|Attar]], were all Sunni Muslims and their poetry abounds with praise for the first two caliphs, [[Abu Bakr]] and [[Umar ibn al-Khattāb]].<ref>Browne, Edward G., ''A Literary History of Persia from the Earliest Times Until Firdawsh'', 543 pp., Adamant Media Corporation, 2002, {{ISBN|978-1-4021-6045-5|978-1-4021-6045-5}} (see p. 437).</ref> According to [[Annemarie Schimmel]], the tendency among [[Shia]] authors to anachronistically include leading mystical poets such as Rumi and Attar among their own ranks, became stronger after the introduction of [[Twelver Shia]] as the state religion in the [[Safavid Empire]] in 1501.<ref>Schimmel, Annemarie, ''Deciphering the Signs of God'', 302 pp., SUNY Press, 1994, {{ISBN|978-0-7914-1982-3|978-0-7914-1982-3}} (see p. 210).</ref>

===Eight-hundredth anniversary celebrations===
[[File:Mawlana Rumi - Stamp Afghanistan 1968.jpg|thumb|Rumi on a 1968 Afghan stamp]]

In Afghanistan, Rumi is known as ''Mawlānā'', in Turkey as ''Mevlâna'', and in Iran as ''Molavī''.

At the proposal of the Permanent Delegations of Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkey, and as approved by its executive board and General Conference in conformity with its mission of "constructing in the minds of men the defences of peace", [[UNESCO]] was associated with the celebration, in 2007, of the eight hundredth anniversary of Rumi's birth.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zaman.com/?bl=culture&alt=&hn=30647|title=Haber, Haberler, Güncel Haberler, Ekonomi, Dünya, Gündem Haberleri, Son Dakika, – Zaman Gazetesi|work=zaman.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060317005548/http://www.zaman.com/?bl=culture&alt=&hn=30647|archive-date=17 March 2006}}</ref> The commemoration at UNESCO itself took place on 6 September 2007;<ref name="UNESCO">{{cite web |url=http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=34694&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090629034959/http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=34694&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 June 2009 |title=UNESCO: 800th Anniversary of the Birth of Mawlana Jalal-ud-Din Balkhi-Rumi |date=6 September 2007 |publisher=UNESCO |quote=The prominent Persian language poet, thinker and spiritual master, Mevlana Celaleddin Belhi-Rumi was born in 1207 in Balkh, presently Afghanistan. |access-date=25 June 2014}}</ref> UNESCO issued a medal in Rumi's name in the hope that it would prove an encouragement to those who are engaged in research on and dissemination of Rumi's ideas and ideals, which would, in turn, enhance the diffusion of the ideals of UNESCO.<ref name="UNESDOC">{{cite web |url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001473/147319e.pdf |title=UNESCO. Executive Board; 175th; UNESCO Medal in honour of Mawlana Jalal-ud-Din Balkhi-Rumi; 2006 |date=October 2006 |publisher=UNESDOC – UNESCO Documents and Publications |access-date=25 June 2014}}</ref>

On 30 September 2007, Iranian school bells were rung throughout the country in honour of Mewlana.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hamshahrionline.ir/News/?id=36533|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071030220408/http://hamshahrionline.ir/News/?id=36533|url-status=dead|title=همشهری آنلاین|archivedate=30 October 2007}}</ref> Also in that year, Iran held a Rumi Week from 26 October to 2 November. An international ceremony and conference were held in [[Tehran]]; the event was opened by the Iranian president and the chairman of the [[Iranian parliament]]. Scholars from twenty-nine countries attended the events, and 450 articles were presented at the conference.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-16/0710285006110934.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071220190936/http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-16/0710285006110934.htm|url-status=dead|title=Int'l congress on Molana opens in Tehran|date=28 October 2007|archivedate=20 December 2007}}</ref> Iranian musician [[Shahram Nazeri]] was awarded the [[Légion d'honneur]] and Iran's House of Music Award in 2007 for his renowned works on Rumi masterpieces.<ref>[http://www.iran-daily.com/1385/2676/html/art.htm#s178308 Iran Daily — Arts & Culture — 10/03/06] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013123631/http://www.iran-daily.com/1385/2676/html/art.htm#s178308 |date=13 October 2007}}</ref> 2007 was declared as the "International Rumi Year" by UNESCO.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chnpress.com/news?section=2&id=6694|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927192444/http://www.chnpress.com/news/?section=2&id=6694|url-status=dead|title=News &#124; Chnpress|archivedate=27 September 2007|website=www.chnpress.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.personallifemedia.com/podcasts/living-dialogues/episode003-coleman-barks.html|title=Podcast Episode: Living Dialogues: Coleman Barks: The Soul of Rumi (Thought-Leaders in Transforming Ourselves and Our Global Community with Duncan Campbell, Visionary Conversationalist), Living Dialogues.com|work=personallifemedia.com|date=14 April 2023 }}</ref>

Also on 30 September 2007, Turkey celebrated Rumi's eight-hundredth birthday with a giant Whirling Dervish ritual performance of the ''samāʿ'', which was televised using forty-eight cameras and broadcast live in eight countries. [[Ertugrul Gunay]], of the [[Ministry of Culture and Tourism (Turkey)|Ministry of Culture and Tourism]], stated, "Three hundred dervishes are scheduled to take part in this ritual, making it the largest performance of sema in history."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/154044/300-dervishes-whirl-for-Rumi-in-Turkey|title=300 dervishes whirl for Rumi in Turkey|date=29 September 2007|work=Tehran Times}}</ref>

===''Mawlana Rumi Review''===
The ''Mawlana Rumi Review''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://portal.issn.org/resource/ISSN/2042-3357|title=Mawlana Rumi Review|issn=2042-3357}}</ref> is published annually by The Centre for Persian and Iranian Studies at the [[University of Exeter]] in collaboration with The Rumi Institute in [[Nicosia, Cyprus]], and Archetype Books<ref name="archetypebooks.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.archetypebooks.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041217082004/http://www.archetypebooks.com/|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 December 2004|title=archetypebooks.com}}</ref> in [[Cambridge]].<ref name="archetypebooks.com" /> The first volume was published in 2010, and it has come out annually since then. According to the principal editor of the journal, Leonard Lewisohn: "Although a number of major Islamic poets easily rival the likes of [[Dante]], [[Shakespeare]] and [[John Milton|Milton]] in importance and output, they still enjoy only a marginal literary fame in the West because the works of Arabic and Persian thinkers, writers and poets are considered as negligible, frivolous, tawdry sideshows beside the grand narrative of the [[Western Canon]]. It is the aim of the Mawlana Rumi Review to redress this carelessly inattentive approach to [[world literature]], which is something far more serious than a minor faux pas committed by the Western literary imagination."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Lewisohn|first= Leonard|url=http://www.jadidonline.com/story/27052010/frnk/rumi_journal_eng |title=Editor's Note|journal= Mawlana Rumi Review}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Poetry|Islam}}

===General===
* [[Blind men and an elephant]]
* [[Sant Mat]]
* [[Symphony No. 3 (Szymanowski)]]

===Poems by Rumi===
* [[Rumi ghazal 163]]

===Persian culture===
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[List of Persian poets and authors]]
* [[Persian literature]]
* [[Persian mysticism]]
{{div col end}}

===Rumi scholars and writers===
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Hamid Algar]]
* [[Rahim Arbab]]
* [[William Chittick]]
* [[Badiozzaman Forouzanfar]]
* [[Hossein Elahi Ghomshei]]
* [[Fatemeh Keshavarz]]
* [[Majid M. Naini]]
* [[Seyyed Hossein Nasr]]
* [[Franklin Lewis]]
* [[Leonard Lewisohn (Islamic studies scholar)|Leonard Lewisohn]]
* [[François Pétis de la Croix]]
* [[Annemarie Schimmel]]
* [[Dariush Shayegan]]
* [[Abdolkarim Soroush]]
*[[Abdolhamid Ziaei]]
* [[Abdolhossein Zarinkoob]]
{{div col end}}

===English translators of Rumi poetry===
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Arthur John Arberry]]
* [[William Chittick]]
* [[Ravan A. G. Farhadi]]
* [[Nader Khalili]]
* [[Daniel Ladinsky]]
* [[Franklin Lewis]]
* [[Majid M. Naini]]
* [[Reynold A. Nicholson]]
* [[James Redhouse]]
* Shahriar Shahriari<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.rumionfire.com/|title= Rumi on fire |last= Rumi|first= Jalaloddin|publisher= translated by Shahriar Shahriari|access-date= 2 January 2020}}</ref>
* [[Shahram Shiva]]
{{div col end}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
===English translations===
{{refbegin|30em}} 
*{{cite web |url=http://yunuspatel.co.za/books-Ma-aarif-E-Mathnavi.php
 |title=Ma-Aarif-E-Mathnavi: A commentary of the Mathnavi of Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi (R.A.)
 |last=Maulana
 |first=Hazrat
 |website=YunusPatel.co.za
 |access-date=12 July 2025
}}
* {{cite book
 |title=The Mysteries of the Universe and Rumi's Discoveries on the Majestic Path of Love
 |last=Naini
 |first=Majid M.
 |publisher=Universal Vision & Research
 |year=2002
 |isbn=978-0-9714600-0-3
 |url=http://www.naini.net/order.htm
}}
* {{cite book
 |title=The Mesnevi of Mevlâna Jelālu'd-dīn er-Rūmī. Book first, together with some account of the life and acts of the Author, of his ancestors, and of his descendants, illustrated by a selection of characteristic anecdotes, as collected by their historian, Mevlâna Shemsu'd-dīn Ahmed el-Eflākī el-'Arifī
 |last=Redhouse
 |first=James W.
 |year=1881
 |publisher=London |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HD_iA8JizyoC&dq=rumi&pg=PR5
}}
* {{cite book
 |title=Masnaví-i Ma'naví, the Spiritual Couplets of Mauláná Jalálu'd-din Muhammad Rúmí
 |last=Whinfield
 |first=E. H.
 |publisher=London
 |year=1887
 |edition=Abridged edition reprinted 1989 |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/isl/masnavi/ |archive-url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924026910251
 |archive-date=12 July 2025
 |others=Wikisource edition at [[s:Masnavi I Ma'navi|Masnavi I Ma'navi]]
}}
* {{cite book
 |title=The Masnavī by Jalālu'd-din Rūmī. Book II
 |last=Wilson
 |first=C. E.
 |publisher=London
 |year=1910
 |others=Translated for the first time from the Persian into prose, with a Commentary
}}
* {{cite book
 |title=The Mathnawí of Jalálu'ddín Rúmí
 |last=Nicholson
 |first=Reynold A.
 |publisher=Messrs Luzac & Co.
 |location=London
 |year=1925–1940
 |volume=1–8
 |others=Edited from the oldest manuscripts available, with critical notes, translation and commentary. Contains the text in Persian. First complete English translation of the ''Mathnawí''
 
}}
* {{cite book
 |title=Rending The Veil: Literal and Poetic Translations of Rumi
 |last=Shiva
 |first=Shahram
 |publisher=Hohm Press
 |year=1995
 |isbn=978-0-934252-46-1
 |others=Recipient of Benjamin Franklin Award
}}
* {{cite book
 |title=Hush, Don't Say Anything to God: Passionate Poems of Rumi
 |last=Shiva
 |first=Shahram
 |publisher=Jain Publishing
 |year=1999
 |isbn=978-0-87573-084-4
}}
* {{cite book
 |title=The Essential Rumi
 |last=Barks
 |first=Coleman
 |publisher=Harper Collins; Castle Books
 |location=San Francisco; Edison (NJ) and New York
 |year=1995
 |isbn=9780140195798 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Jvche5OxB8C
 |others=Translated with John Moyne, A. J. Arberry, Reynold Nicholson. Selections. Description of 2010 expanded edition. Includes poem “The Guest House,” cited in Mark Williams and Danny Penman (2011) ''Mindfulness'' pp.&nbsp;165–167. 
}}
*{{cite book
 |title=The Illuminated Rumi
 |last=Barks
 |first=Coleman
 |publisher=Broadway Books
 |location=New York
 |year=1997
 |isbn=978-0-7679-0002-7
 |others=Contributor: Michael Green
}}

*{{cite book
 |title=The Masnavi: Book One
 |last=Mojaddedi
 |first=Jawid
 |publisher=Oxford University Press
 |series=Oxford World's Classics
 |year=2004
 |isbn=978-0-19-280438-9
 |others=Translated from the Persian edition by Mohammad Estelami. Includes introduction and explanatory notes. Winner of the 2004 Lois Roth Prize for translation
}}

*{{cite book
 |title=Divani Shamsi Tabriz
 |last=Ergin
 |first=Nevit Oguz
 |publisher=Echo Publications
 |year=2003
 |isbn=978-1-887991-28-5
 |others=Translated as Divan-i-kebir
}}

*{{cite book
 |title=The rubais of Rumi: insane with love
 |last=Ergin
 |first=Nevit Oguz
 |publisher=Inner Traditions
 |location=Rochester, Vermont
 |year=2007
 |isbn=978-1-59477-183-5
 |others=Translations and commentary by Nevit Oguz Ergin and Will Johnson
}}

*{{cite book
 |title=The Masnavi: Book Two
 |last=Mojaddedi
 |first=Jawid
 |publisher=Oxford University Press
 |series=Oxford World's Classics
 |year=2007
 |isbn=978-0-19-921259-0
 |others=Verse translation of the unabridged text with introduction and explanatory notes
}}

*{{cite book
 |title=The Rubai'yat of Jalal Al-Din Rumi: Select Translations Into English Verse
 |last=Arberry
 |first=A. J.
 |publisher=Emery Walker
 |location=London
 |year=1949
}}

*{{cite book
 |title=Mystical Poems of Rumi
 |last=Arberry
 |first=A. J.
 |publisher=University of Chicago Press
 |year=2009
}}

*{{cite book
 |title=The quatrains of Rumi: Complete translation with Persian text, Islamic mystical commentary, manual of terms, and concordance
 |last=Gamard
 |first=Ibrahim W.
 |publisher=with A. G. Rawan Farhadi
 |year=2008
}}

*{{cite book
 |title=The Soul of Rumi: A New Collection of Ecstatic Poems
 |last=Barks
 |first=Coleman
 |publisher=Harper One
 |year=2002
}}

*{{cite book
 |title=The Hundred Tales of Wisdom
 |last=Shah
 |first=Idries
 |publisher=Octagon Press
 |year=1978
 |others=Translation of the ''Manāqib ul-Ārefīn'' of Aflākī; episodes from the life of Rumi and teaching stories
}}
*{{cite book
 |title=Rumi: 53 Secrets from the Tavern of Love: Poems from the Rubaiyat of Mowlana Rumi
 |last=Banani
 |first=Amin
 |publisher=White Cloud Press
 |year=2014
 |isbn=978-1-940468-00-6
 |others=Co-translator: Anthony A. Lee
}}
{{refend}}

===Life and work===
{{refbegin |30em}}
* ''RUMI, JALĀL-AL-DIN''. [[Encyclopædia Iranica]], online edition, 2014.
* Dr [[Khalifa Abdul Hakim]], "The metaphysics of Rumi: A critical and historical sketch", Lahore: The Institute of Islamic Culture, 1959. {{ISBN|978-81-7435-475-4}}
* Afzal Iqbal, ''The Life and thought of Mohammad Jalal-ud-Din Rumi'', Lahore: Bazm-i-Iqbal, 1959 (latest edition, ''The life and work of Jalal-ud-Din Rumi'', Kuala Lumpur: The Other Press, 2014). Endorsed by the famous Rumi scholar [[A. J. Arberry]], who penned the foreword.
* Abdol Reza Arasteh, ''Rumi the Persian: Rebirth in Creativity and Love'', Lahore: Sh. Muhammad Ashraf, 1963 (latest edition, ''Rumi the Persian, the Sufi'', New York: [[Routledge]], 2013). The author was a US-trained Iranian psychiatrist influenced by [[Erich Fromm]] and [[C.G. Jung]].
* [[Annemarie Schimmel]], ''The Triumphal Sun: A Study of the Works of Jalaloddin Rumi'', Albany: SUNY Press, 1993.
* Fatemeh Keshavarz, ''Reading Mystical Lyric: The Case of Jalal al-Din Rumi'', University of South Carolina Press, 1998. {{ISBN|978-1-57003-180-9}}.
* ''Mawlana Rumi Review'' mawlanarumireview.com. An annual review devoted to Rumi. Archetype, 2010. {{ISBN|978-1-901383-38-6}}.
* [[Seyyed Hossein Nasr]], ''Islamic Art and Spirituality'', Albany: SUNY Press, 1987, chapters 7 and 8.
* Majid M. Naini, ''The Mysteries of the Universe and Rumi's Discoveries on the Majestic Path of Love'', Universal Vision & Research, 2002, {{ISBN|978-0-9714600-0-3}}
* Franklin Lewis, ''Rumi: Past and Present, East and West'', Oneworld Publications, 2000. {{ISBN|978-1-85168-214-0}}
* {{cite book | last=Lewis | first=Franklin | title=Rumi: Past and Present, East and West | publisher=One World (UK) | date=2000 | isbn=978-1-85168-214-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/rumipastpresente0000lewi_f6r2 |url-access=registration}}
* Leslie Wines, ''Rumi: A Spiritual Biography'', New York: Crossroads, 2001 {{ISBN|978-0-8245-2352-7}}.
* ''Rumi's Thoughts'', edited by Seyed G. Safavi, London: London Academy of Iranian Studies, 2003.
* [[William Chittick]], ''The Sufi Doctrine of Rumi: Illustrated Edition'', Bloomington: World Wisdom, 2005.
* Şefik Can, ''Fundamentals of Rumi's Thought: A Mevlevi Sufi Perspective'', Sommerset (NJ): The Light Inc., 2004, {{ISBN|978-1-932099-79-9}}.
* "Rumi's Tasawwuf and Vedanta" by R. M. Chopra in ''Indo Iranica'', Vol. 60
* Athanasios Sideris, "Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi", an entry on Rumi's connections to the Greek element in Asia Minor, in the ''Encyclopedia of the Hellenic World – Asia Minor'', 2003.
* Waley, Muhammad Isa (2017). ''The Stanzaic Poems (Tarjī'āt) of Rumi''. ''Critical Edition, Translation, and Commentary, with Additional Chapters on Aspects of His Divan'' (School of Oriental and African Studies, London).
{{refend}}
===Persian literature===
{{refbegin |30em}}
* [[E. G. Browne]], ''History of Persia'', four volumes, first published 1902–1924.
* Jan Rypka, ''History of Iranian Literature'', Reidel Publishing Company; 1968 {{OCLC|460598}}. {{ISBN|978-90-277-0143-5}}
* "RUMI: His Teachings and Philosophy" by R. M. Chopra, Iran Society, Kolkata (2007).
* {{cite journal |last1=Mozaffari |first1=Ali |last2=Akbar |first2=Ali |title=Heritage diplomacy and soft power competition between Iran and Turkey: competing claims over Rumi and Nowruz |journal=International Journal of Cultural Policy |date=2023 |volume=30 |issue=5 |pages=597–614 |doi=10.1080/10286632.2023.2241872|s2cid=261025849 |doi-access=free }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{sister project links|wikt=no|commons=Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi|b=no|n=no|q=Rumi|s=Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi|v=no|species=no|author=yes}}
* {{Gutenberg author | id=43130}}
* {{Internet Archive author |search=(Rumi OR Rūmī OR Rúmí)}}
* {{Librivox author |id=2597}}
* {{OL author}}
* [http://www.dar-al-masnavi.org/ Dar al Masnavi], several English versions of selections by different translators.
* [https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/jalal-al-din-rumi Poems by Rumi in English] at the Academy of American Poets
* [http://ganjoor.net/moulavi/masnavi/daftar1/sh1/ ''Masnavi-e Ma'navi''], recited in Persian by Mohammad Ghanbar

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