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Dschalal ad-Din Rumi (Mevlana)

Related paths

  • 1207–1273
  • taught in Konya, Anatolia (present-day Turkey)

Teaching

Rumi taught the Sufi path: to overcome the self (nafs) under the guidance of a master and so to experience God directly. He speaks of this path above all as love. The soul suffers separation from its source, like the reed in the opening verses of the Masnavi that was cut from its reed bed, and love burns away everything except the Beloved. In Sufi terms this is the annihilation of the self (fana), whose complement is subsistence (baqa). 1, 2

Who it is for

For readers who want to meet the longing for God and the passing away of the self as a Muslim Sufi poet and teacher put them, in stories and poems. This catalogue lists him among related paths; 'nondual' is our word for this, not his.

Life and places
  • He was born in 1207 into the family of Baha al-Din Walad, a preacher and scholar from Balkh in Khorasan. 3, 4
  • As the Mongols advanced, the family moved west; after the pilgrimage to Mecca and some years in Anatolian towns such as Larende (Karaman), they settled in Konya around 1229. 3, 4
  • He succeeded his father, who died in 1231. Burhan al-Din Muhaqqiq Tirmidhi, his father's principal Sufi disciple, became his mentor, and in 1244 he met Shams al-Din of Tabriz, who became his mystic mentor. 1, 3, 4, 5
  • After Shams disappeared in 1247, Rumi gave more time to teaching his disciples. He dictated the Masnavi to his disciple Husam al-Din Chalabi, who wrote it down, and died in 1273 with the poem unfinished. 3, 6

Where to start

  • The Masnavi, which opens with the song of the reed (Book One, verses 1–18). R. A. Nicholson's English translation from the Persian, published from 1926 by the E. J. W. Gibb Memorial, can be read on the Internet Archive. 2, 7, 8
  • Fihi ma fihi, his discourses as noted down by students, for his teaching in prose. A. J. Arberry translated it into English as Discourses of Rumi (1961). 1, 9
Public context
  • He was a Muslim scholar and Sufi. He taught in the madrasa in Konya that he had inherited from his father, and the Masnavi cites the Qur'an and the sayings of the Prophet more often than any other poem of its kind. 1
  • The Mevlevi order is named after him. It was first formed into an organised Sufi order under his son Sultan Walad, who led it from 1284 until his death in 1312. 4, 5
  • Coleman Barks, whose English versions of Rumi are widely read, does not read Persian; according to The New Yorker, he recasts nineteenth-century translations into American verse. 10

Works

  • Masnavī-ye Maʿnavī (The Mathnawi)

    Book · 1262 · Trustees of the E. J. W. Gibb Memorial

    Rumi's long didactic poem in Persian, in six books of couplets. It teaches the Sufi path through stories with commentary, and opens with the reed's lament at being cut off from its source.

    openlibrary.org

  • Dīvān-e Shams-e Tabrīzī (The Divan of Shams of Tabriz)

    Book · Amīr Kabīr, Tehran

    Rumi's collection of lyric poems (ghazals) in Persian, dedicated to Shams al-Din of Tabriz, his mystic mentor.

    openlibrary.org

  • Fīhi mā fīhi (Discourses)

    Book · Amīr Kabīr, Tehran

    Rumi's main prose work: 71 discourses compiled from the notes of students who attended his teaching circle. He often tells a story and then draws out its teaching.

    openlibrary.org

The short summaries are ours.

More works of Dschalal ad-Din Rumi (Mevlana) in the library

In their own words

Short passages in the words of Dschalal ad-Din Rumi (Mevlana), each with its source. Where the quoted text is not in the language of this page, a translation follows and says whose it is.

  • Listen to the reed how it tells a tale, complaining of separations— / Saying, “Ever since I was parted from the reed-bed, my lament hath caused man and woman to moan. / I want a bosom torn by severance, that I may unfold (to such a one) the pain of love-desire.

    Masnavī-ye Maʿnavī (The Mathnawi) · Book I, verses 1–3 (opening of the Proem); Nicholson's translation, vol. II (1926), p. 5 · archive.org Quoted translation: English translation from the Persian by R. A. Nicholson (1926); verses separated by /. The reed's speech that opens in verse 2 closes in verse 8; the word 'separations' is hyphenated across a line break in the print.

  • The lover’s ailment is separate from all other ailments: love is the astrolabe of the mysteries of God. / Whether love be from this (earthly) side or from that (heavenly) side, in the end it leads us yonder. / Whatsoever I say in exposition and explanation of Love, when I come to Love (itself) I am ashamed of that (explanation).

    Masnavī-ye Maʿnavī (The Mathnawi) · Book I, verses 110–112; Nicholson's translation, vol. II (1926), p. 10 · archive.org Quoted translation: English translation from the Persian by R. A. Nicholson (1926); verses separated by /. The words in brackets are Nicholson's.

  • His friend called to him, “Who is at the door?” He answered, “’Tis thou art at the door, O charmer of hearts.” / “Now,” said the friend, “since thou art I, come in, O myself: there is not room in the house for two I’s.

    Masnavī-ye Maʿnavī (The Mathnawi) · Book I, verses 3062–3063 (story of the person who knocked at a friend's door); Nicholson's translation, vol. II (1926), p. 167 · archive.org Quoted translation: English translation from the Persian by R. A. Nicholson (1926); verses separated by /. The friend's words continue in verse 3064.

  • The religion of Love is apart from all religions: for lovers, the (only) religion and creed is—God.

    Masnavī-ye Maʿnavī (The Mathnawi) · Book II, verse 1770 (story of Moses and the shepherd); Nicholson's translation, vol. II (1926), p. 312 · archive.org Quoted translation: English translation from the Persian by R. A. Nicholson (1926). The Encyclopaedia Iranica cites the same couplet as Book II, verse 1774.

  • I have bestowed on (my) young Fortune (Ḥusámu’ddín) the name of Pír (old), because he is (made) old by the Truth, not (made) old by Time. / So old is he that he hath no beginning: there is no rival to such a unique Pearl.

    Masnavī-ye Maʿnavī (The Mathnawi) · Book I, verses 2940–2941 (on the Pir, addressed to Husam al-Din Chalabi); Nicholson's translation, vol. II (1926), p. 160 · archive.org Quoted translation: English translation from the Persian by R. A. Nicholson (1926); verses separated by /. The words in brackets are Nicholson's. The section, headed 'Concerning the qualities of the Pír (Spiritual Guide)', opens in verse 2934 with an address to Husam al-Din.

  • When the Light of God, Ḥusámu’ddín, drew the reins (of his spirit) back from the zenith of Heaven— / (For) after he had gone in the ascension to (spiritual) realities, without his (life-giving) springtide the buds (of mystic knowledge) were unburst (in my heart)— / When (I say) he returned from the Sea towards the shore, the lyre of the poesy of the Mathnawí became attuned (again).

    Masnavī-ye Maʿnavī (The Mathnawi) · Book II, verses 3–5 (opening of Book II); Nicholson's translation, vol. II (1926), p. 222 · archive.org Quoted translation: English translation from the Persian by R. A. Nicholson (1926); verses separated by /. The words in brackets are Nicholson's; 'knowledge' is hyphenated across a line break in the print. Verse 7 gives the year 662 (1263–64) for the beginning of Book II.

  • O Ẓiyá’u ’l-Ḥaqq (Radiance of God), Ḥusámu’ddín, thou art he through whose light the Mathnawí hath surpassed the moon (in splendour). / O thou in whom hopes are placed, thy lofty aspiration is drawing this (poem) God knows whither. / Thou hast bound the neck of this Mathnawí: thou art drawing it in the direction known to thee. / The Mathnawí is running on, the drawer is unseen—unseen by the ignorant one who hath no insight. / Inasmuch as thou hast been the origin of the Mathnawí, if it become increased (in size), (’tis) thou (who) hast caused it to increase.

    Masnavī-ye Maʿnavī (The Mathnawi) · Book IV, verses 1–5 (opening of Book IV); Nicholson's translation, vol. IV (1930), p. 273 · archive.org Quoted translation: English translation from the Persian by R. A. Nicholson (1930); verses separated by /. The words in brackets are Nicholson's.

  • O Life of the heart, Ḥusámu’ddín, desire for (the composition of) a Sixth Part has long been boiling (within me). / Through the attraction (influence) of a Sage like thee, a Book of Ḥusám has come into circulation in the world.

    Masnavī-ye Maʿnavī (The Mathnawi) · Book VI, verses 1–2 (opening of Book VI); Nicholson's translation, vol. VI (1934), p. 258 · archive.org Quoted translation: English translation from the Persian by R. A. Nicholson (1934); verses separated by /. The words in brackets are Nicholson's. The Encyclopaedia Iranica (Estelami) cites verse 2 for Rumi calling the poem 'Ḥosāmi-nāma'.

Documented teaching relationships

Teaching relationships are documented statements. They confer no trust and do not attest realisation.

Sources
  1. RUMI, JALĀL-AL-DIN viii. Rumi’s Teachings (Jawid Mojaddedi, 2014) · Encyclopaedia Iranica Signed article in an academic encyclopaedia on his teachings, based mainly on the Masnavi and Fihi ma fihi accessed 13 Oct 2026
  2. RUMI, JALĀL-AL-DIN vii. Philosophy (William C. Chittick, 2017) · Encyclopaedia Iranica Signed article in an academic encyclopaedia on the ideas in his works accessed 13 Oct 2026
  3. IRAN viii. PERSIAN LITERATURE (2) Classical (Charles-Henri de Fouchécour, 2006) · Encyclopaedia Iranica Signed survey article in an academic encyclopaedia, with a short section on Rumi's life and works accessed 13 Oct 2026
  4. BAHĀʾ-AL-DĪN MOḤAMMAD WALAD (Hamid Algar, 1988) · Encyclopaedia Iranica Signed article in an academic encyclopaedia on Rumi's father, drawing on his Maʿaref and the early biographies accessed 13 Oct 2026
  5. BAHĀʾ-AL-DĪN SOLṬĀN WALAD (Muhammad Isa Waley, 1988) · Encyclopaedia Iranica Signed article in an academic encyclopaedia on Rumi's son, drawing mainly on his Walad-nama accessed 13 Oct 2026
  6. ḤOSĀM-AL-DIN ČALABI (Mohammad Estelami, 2004) · Encyclopaedia Iranica Signed article in an academic encyclopaedia on Rumi's disciple and first successor accessed 13 Oct 2026
  7. The Mathnawi of Jalaluddin Rumi, vol. II: translation of Books I and II, by R. A. Nicholson (E. J. W. Gibb Memorial, 1926) · Internet Archive Scan of a later reprint of the scholarly English translation from the Persian; read in part accessed 13 Oct 2026
  8. The Mathnawi of Jalaluddin Rumi, edited and translated by R. A. Nicholson, 8 vols. (E. J. W. Gibb Memorial, 1925–1940) · Open Library Library catalogue record accessed 13 Oct 2026
  9. Discourses of Rumi, translated by A. J. Arberry (John Murray, London; 1975 reprint of the 1961 edition) · Open Library Library catalogue record accessed 13 Oct 2026
  10. The Erasure of Islam from the Poetry of Rumi (Rozina Ali, 5 January 2017) · The New Yorker Magazine essay on popular English versions of Rumi, with statements by scholars and by Coleman Barks accessed 13 Oct 2026

Compiled by us from the sources listed. Last checked 13 Oct 2026.

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This description is factual. It contains no recommendation, ranking or assurance. Statements about effects are those of the respective source.