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Life and teaching of Rumi

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Rumi : Biography

The Sufi saint Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-1273) is considered "the supreme genius of Islamic mysticism," and has been called ',the greatest mystical poet of any age." As a young boy he showed all the signs of saintliness and his father called him Maulana, "Our Master." By age twenty-four he was an acknowledged Master of Arabic grammar, Islamic law, Koranic commentary, astronomy, and Suli lore. But it wasn't until he met his Master, Shams-I Tabriz, at the age of thirty-seven, that he came to experience the highest truth. Many legends surround this meeting, and they all tell of the dramatic destruction of Rumi's books by Shams, and Rumi's recognition that book-knowledge could not lead him to the highest truth. Rumi's son wrote: 'After meeting Shams, my father danced all day and sang all night. He had been a scholar-he became a poet. He had been an ascetic-he became drunk with love." But the ecstatic unity with his Master soon ended. Two years after meeting Shams-whom Rumi described as "the Beloved clothed in human form"-his Master suddenly disappeared, and was never seen again. Rumi was left with an unspeakable emptiness, and a grief that he tried to fill with singing and dancing. It was at this time of longing that an endless cascade of poetry began to pour from Rumi's lips. Thousands of verses flowed out as he called and called to his lost Beloved. In the end, Rumi found that he was calling to himself, that the Beloved he longed for was with him all the time. In one of his quatrains Rumi writes: 'All my talk was madness, filled with dos and don'ts. For ages I knocked on a door-when it opened I found that I was knocking from the inside!"



Source : Jonathan Star, The Inner Treasure

Rumi : Bibliography

- Arberry, A. J. Mystical poems of Rumi, first selection, poems 1-200. University of Chicago Press, 1968
- Arberry, A. J. (Arthur John). Mystical poems of Rumi, 2: second selection, poems 201-400. University of Chicago Press.
- Arberry, A. J. Discourses of Rumi. J. Murray, 1975
- Chittick, William C. The Sufi path of love: the spiritual teachings of Rumi. State University of New York Press, 1983
- Keshavarz, Fatemeh. Reading Mystical Lyric: The Case of Jalal al-Din Rumi. University of South Carolina Press, 1997
- Nicholson, Reynold Alleyne. Rumi, poet and mystic. Unwin Paperbacks
- Nicholson, Reynold Alleyne. Selected poems from the Divani Shamsi Tabriz. Cambridge University Press, 1896; reprinted.
- Nicholson, Reynold Alleyne. The Mathnawi of Jalalu’ddin Rumi. Islamic Book Service or Luzac; 3 vols. Text, 3 vols. Translation, 2 vols. Commentary
- Schimmel, Annemarie. I am wind, you are fire: the life and work of Rumi. Shambhala Distributed by Random House, 1992
- Schimmel, Annemarie. Look! This is love; poems of Rumi. Shambhala
- Schimmel, Annemarie. The triumphal sun: a study of the works of Jalaloddin Rumi. State University of New York Press, 1993
- Thackston, W. M. Signs of the unseen: the discourses of Jalaluddin Rumi. Threshold Books
- Barks, Coleman. Delicious laughter: rambunctious teaching stories from the Mathnawi of Jelaluddin Rumi. Maypop, 1990
- Barks, Coleman. One-handed basket weaving: twenty poems on the theme of work. Quelquefois Press
- Barks, Coleman. The essential Rumi. Harper.
- Barks, Coleman. We are three: new Rumi poems. Maypop Books
- Barks, Coleman.; Arberry, A. J. Birdsong: fifty-three short poems. Maypop (These translations have been re-worked from A.J. Arberry's volume The Rubaiyat of Jalal al-din Rumi .. (London, 1949)"--Introd.).
- Barks, Coleman.; Arberry, A. J. Like this. Maypop, 1990
- Barks, Coleman.; Bly, Robert. Night & sleep. Yellow Moon Press.
- Barks, Coleman.; Green, Michael. The illuminated Rumi. Broadway Books
- Barks, Coleman.; Moyne, John. This longing: poetry, teaching stories, and selected letters. Threshold Books, 1988
- Cowan, James. The Divan of Shems of Tabriz: selected odes. Element.
- Cowan, James. Where two oceans meet: a selection of odes from the Divan of Shems of Tabriz. Element.
- Ergin, Nevit Oguz. Crazy as we are: selected rubais from Divan-i Kebir. Hohm Press.
- Ergin, Nevit Oguz. Magnificent One: selected new verses from Divan-i kebir. Larson Publications
- Harvey, Andrew. Speaking flame. Meeramma, 1989
- Harvey, Andrew. Love's fire: re-creations of Rumi. Meeramma, 1988 (ruba`iyat)
- Helminski, Camille Adams; Helminski, Edmund. Rumi—daylight. A daybook of spiritual guidance. Threshold Books, 1990
- Helminski, Camille Adams; Helminski, Kabir. Jewels of remembrance: a daybook of spiritual guidance, containing 365 selections from the wisdom of . . Rumi. Threshold Books
- Helminski, Edmund. The ruins of the heart: selected lyric poetry of Jelaluddin Rumi. Threshold Books
- Helminski, Kabir. Love is a stranger: selected lyric poetry of Jelaluddin Rumi. Threshold Books.
- Homaee, Mahdokht Banoo, trans. Sirr-i dilbaran dar hadis-i digaran = Lover's secret told in the talk of others : stories of the Masnavi of Maulana Jalal al-Din Muhammad Balkhi Rumi (Book 1 and 2) with notes and a brief biography of Maulana (Persian and English). Selected and summarized. Boston 1998. Softbound, $20 including postage (Pars Mass Media, 22 Geraldine Dr., Norwood, MA 02062; Tel & Fax (781)-769-5190)
- Kia, Fereydoun.; Chopra, Deepak. The love poems of Rumi. Harmony Books.
- Liebert, Daniel. Rumi--fragments, ecstacies. Source Books, 1981
-Moyne, John.; Barks, Coleman. Open secret: versions of Rumi. Threshold Books
- Moyne, John.; Barks, Coleman. These branching moments: forty odes by Rumi. Copper Beech Press, 1988
- Moyne, John.; Barks, Coleman. Unseen rain: quatrains of Rumi. Threshold Books, 1986
- Shiva, Shahram. Rending the veil: literal and poetic translations of Rumi. Hohm Press
- Star, Jonathan; Shiva, Shahram. A garden beyond paradise: the mystical poetry of Rumi. Bantam Books

Rumi : Portraits

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Miniature painting of Rumi by Hossein Behzad
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Rumi : Links

Islam, Abd el-Kader, Abu Bakr al Sabbak, Abu Sa'id, Adda Bentounès, Ahmad Al-Alawi, Al Nuri, Al-Junayd, Araqi, Attar, Baba Kuhi of Shiraz, Bistami, Cheikh Ahmed Tidiane Sy, Cheikh Bamba Dieye, Dhu-l-Nun, Frithjof Schuon, Ghazzali, Hallaj, Hujwiri, Ibn 'Arabi, Ibn' Ata' Allah, Iraqi, Jami, Kalabadhi, Khaled Bentounès, Nazir, Others Sufis Teaching, Rabia al-Adawiyya, Rumi, Shabistari, Sheikh Badruddin, Sheikh Muzaffer, Sidi Hamza al Qâdiri al Boutchichi, Umar Ibn Al-Farid, etc.

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