Teaching
Sultan Walad taught his father's Sufi path. Aware that many disciples found Rumi's writings hard to understand, he re-interpreted them in simpler language, in poems and in discourses. In the Turkish verses of his Rabab-nama he asks the reader to pray that the self be effaced, as a drop is lost in the sea, and to seek out and hold fast to one whose soul is alive through love. 1, 4
Who it is for
For readers who want to see how Rumi's teaching was explained and passed on by his son, in plain teaching verse and discourses. He wrote as a Muslim Sufi; this catalogue lists him among related paths, and 'nondual' is our word for this, not his.
Life and places
- He was born in 1226 in Larende (Karaman), where his grandfather Baha al-Din Walad and later his father Rumi taught in a madrasa. The family moved to Konya when he was three, and he spent most of his life there. 1
- He served Rumi's closest companions, Shams al-Din of Tabriz, Salah al-Din Zarkub and Husam al-Din Chalabi. In 1246 he brought Shams back to Konya; after Shams disappeared, Rumi told him to take Salah al-Din Zarkub as his shaikh, whose daughter Fatima he married. 1, 4
- When Rumi died in 1273, Sultan Walad persuaded Husam al-Din Chalabi to lead Rumi's followers; on Husam al-Din's death in 1284 he became head of the order himself. 1, 2
- He led the order until his death in 1312. In these years he wrote the Walad-nama (1291) and the Rabab-nama (1301) and sent representatives to many parts of Asia Minor. 1, 4
Public context
- He was a Muslim Sufi shaikh and poet, Rumi's son and eventual successor. Under his leadership Rumi's followers were for the first time formed into an organised Sufi order, the Mevlevi. 1, 3
- He was the first in Asia Minor to write a considerable body of verse in Turkish; E. J. W. Gibb called the Rabab-nama, with its Turkish couplets, the starting point of West Turkish poetry. 1, 4
- His Walad-nama contains a wealth of information about the life of Rumi and his circle. 1
Works
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Walad-nāma (Ebtedā-nāma) (The Book of Walad)
Book · 1291 · Kitābkhānah-i Iqbāl, Tehran
Sultan Walad's Persian poem of about 10,000 couplets, written in 1291 following his father's example. It tells of Rumi and his companions and teaches the Sufi path, with a wealth of information about the life of Rumi's circle.
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Rabāb-nāma (The Book of the Rebec)
Book · 1301 · McGill University Institute of Islamic Studies, Tehran branch, with the University of Tehran
A didactic Sufi poem in Persian couplets that opens with praise of the rebec, as the Masnavi opens with the reed. It explains aspects of Sufism and passages of Rumi's works and contains a long series of couplets in Turkish, among the earliest West Turkish poetry.
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Maʿāref (Discourses)
Book · Mawlā, Tehran
A compilation of Sultan Walad's discourses in Persian prose. In their written form they are more structured than the discourses of Rumi in Fihi ma fihi.
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Dīvān-e Solṭān Walad (Collected Poems)
Book · Kitāb-furūshī-i Rūdakī, Tehran
His collection of Persian lyric poems, over 12,700 verses, many written in emulation of Rumi's ghazals; it also contains verses in Turkish and a few in Greek.
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Entehā-nāma (The Book of the End)
Book · Intishārāt-i Rawzanah, Tehran
Sultan Walad's last poem in Persian couplets, of about 8,000 verses, devoted to teachings on Sufi doctrine and practice.
The short summaries are ours.
In their own words
Short passages in the words of Sultan Walad (Baha al-Din Muhammad Walad), each with its source. Where the quoted text is not in the language of this page, a translation follows and says whose it is.
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Praying, say to Him a-weeping dolefully: / ‘Through Thy grace divine do Thou have ruth on me; / ‘That I see Thee clearly, ope mine eyen wide; / ‘That I drop-like fall midmost the sea, and bide. / ‘E’en as when the drop into the sea doth run, / ‘Two they rest not, drop and sea become but one. / ‘So would I, e’en as that drop, become the sea; / ‘Die not, but e’en like the sea, alive would be!’
Rabāb-nāma (The Book of the Rebec) · Turkish couplets of the Rabab-nama; Gibb, A History of Ottoman Poetry, vol. I (1900), p. 158 · archive.org Quoted translation: English verse translation by E. J. W. Gibb (1900) from Sultan Walad's Turkish; lines separated by /. Gibb opens each line of the prayer with a quotation mark. -
Mazed and wildered at these words the wise abide: — / ‘How then hath the creature the Creator spied?’ / ‘No man sees that Face,’ ’tis thus I answer these, / ‘It is his own self reflected that he sees. / ‘God the Lord doth give to him of His own Light, / ‘By that Light doth he the Lord God clearly sight.’
Rabāb-nāma (The Book of the Rebec) · Turkish couplets of the Rabab-nama; Gibb, A History of Ottoman Poetry, vol. I (1900), p. 158 (second passage) · archive.org Quoted translation: English verse translation by E. J. W. Gibb (1900) from Sultan Walad's Turkish; lines separated by /, Gibb's footnote numbers left out. Gibb explains 'that Face' as the Face of God. -
Happy yonder soul whose very soul is Love, / And whose service on this Path is naught but Truth! / Dead the loveless soul must needs be held, I say; / Needs must find one who a Lover is straightway, / That he make the soul in thee alive through Love;
Rabāb-nāma (The Book of the Rebec) · Turkish couplets of the Rabab-nama; Gibb, A History of Ottoman Poetry, vol. I (1900), p. 160 · archive.org Quoted translation: English verse translation by E. J. W. Gibb (1900) from Sultan Walad's Turkish; lines separated by /, Gibb's footnote number after 'Lover' left out. Gibb explains the Lover as a mystic, one in love with the Divine Beauty.
Documented teaching relationships
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Learned personally with Dschalal ad-Din Rumi (Mevlana)
The Encyclopaedia Iranica says Sultan Walad, Rumi's son, consciously modelled himself on his father; after Shams disappeared, Rumi told him to take Salah al-Din Zarkub as his shaikh, and from 1284 he led Rumi's order.
Biographical tradition · iranicaonline.org , iranicaonline.org (2)
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Personal encounter with Shams-i Tabrizi (Shams al-Din of Tabriz)
The Encyclopaedia Iranica says Sultan Walad served Shams al-Din of Tabriz, one of Rumi's closest companions, and brought him back to Konya after he had been driven out in 1246. E. J. W. Gibb names Shams among the Sufi teachers in whose service Sultan Walad spent his youth.
Biographical tradition · iranicaonline.org , archive.org
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Personal encounter with Husam al-Din Chalabi (Hasan ibn Muhammad, Ibn Akhi Turk)
The Encyclopaedia Iranica says Sultan Walad served Husam al-Din Chalabi and, after Rumi's death in 1273, persuaded him to lead Rumi's followers; Sultan Walad succeeded him in 1284.
Biographical tradition · iranicaonline.org , iranicaonline.org (2)
Teaching relationships are documented statements. They confer no trust and do not attest realisation.
Sources
- 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
- 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
- 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
- A History of Ottoman Poetry, vol. I, by E. J. W. Gibb (Luzac, London, 1900) · Internet Archive Scan of a scholarly literary history of 1900 with English verse translations of Sultan Walad's Turkish couplets; pp. 151–162 read accessed 13 Oct 2026
- Masnavī-i Valadī, maʻrūf bih Valadnāmah, ed. Jalāl Humāʼī (Kitābkhānah-i Iqbāl, Tehran 1936) · Open Library Library catalogue record accessed 13 Oct 2026
Compiled by us from the sources listed. Last checked 13 Oct 2026.
This description is factual. It contains no recommendation, ranking or assurance. Statements about effects are those of the respective source.