Husam al-Din Chalabi (Hasan ibn Muhammad, Ibn Akhi Turk)

Teaching

Husam al-Din Chalabi left no writings of his own. In his Sufi tradition he is remembered as the disciple at whose request Rumi composed the Masnavi and who wrote it down. Rumi calls him the origin of the poem and 'Radiance of God' (Ziya al-Haqq), tells seekers who do not know the way to ask him, and names him a Pir, a spiritual guide, made old by the Truth and not by time.^{1, 4, 5, 6}

Who it is for

For readers who want to know the disciple to whom Rumi addressed the Masnavi and who wrote it down, and how Rumi's circle in Konya carried his teaching on after his death. He was 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 Konya around 1225 into a family from Urmia; his name was Hasan, son of Muhammad, known as Ibn Akhi Turk. His father led a futuwwa brotherhood, a guild of young men, and died while Husam al-Din was still very young. ^{1, 4, 5}
He became Rumi's disciple and, according to the biographer Aflaki, brought the members of his father's brotherhood with him. After Salah al-Din Zarkub died in 1258, Rumi made him his deputy, and Rumi secured for him the post of shaikh of the Sufi lodge of Ziya al-Din Wazir. ^{1, 2, 9}
He wrote down the Masnavi as Rumi dictated it. After the first book, completed around 1262, the work paused when his wife died; it resumed in 1263–64, as Rumi notes at the opening of Book II. ^{1, 5}
When Rumi died in 1273, Rumi's disciples and family accepted Husam al-Din as his successor. He led the order until his death in Konya in 1284 and was succeeded by Rumi's son Sultan Walad. ^{1, 2, 4}

Where to start

Rumi's words to him in the Masnavi: the prose preface of Book I and the opening verses of Books II to VI, in R. A. Nicholson's English translation (volumes II, IV and VI, 1926–1934), which can be read on the Internet Archive. ^{5, 6, 7}

Public context

He was a Muslim Sufi, Rumi's leading disciple and his first successor (khalifa) in Konya. He wrote down the Masnavi as Rumi dictated it and then revised it with him. ^{1, 2}
In the prose preface of Book I Rumi calls him 'the Abú Yazíd of the time, the Junayd of the age', and in the opening verses of Book VI he calls the Masnavi 'a Book of Ḥusám'. ^{1, 5, 7}
Rumi's early biographers, Sepahsalar and Aflaki, report that he asked Rumi to write a poem in the manner of Sana'i and Attar, whose poems Rumi's disciples were reading. ^{1, 3, 4, 8}

Works

Masnavī-ye Maʿnavī (The Mathnawi)

Book · 1262 · Trustees of the E. J. W. Gibb Memorial · Written down by this teacher

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

The short summaries are ours.

Documented teaching relationships

Learned personally with Dschalal ad-Din Rumi (Mevlana)

The Encyclopaedia Iranica describes Husam al-Din Chalabi as Rumi's leading disciple and first successor. He wrote down the Masnavi as Rumi dictated it, and Rumi made him his deputy.

Biographical tradition · iranicaonline.org , iranicaonline.org (2)
Personal encounter with Sultan Walad (Baha al-Din Muhammad Walad)

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

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
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
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
HÜSÂMEDDİN ÇELEBİ (H. Ahmet Sevgi, 1998) · TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi Signed article in Turkish in an academic encyclopaedia of Islam (Türkiye Diyanet Foundation, vol. 18, p. 512), drawing on Aflaki, Sepahsalar and Sultan Walad; read in Turkish accessed 13 Oct 2026
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
The Mathnawi of Jalaluddin Rumi, vol. IV: translation of Books III and IV, by R. A. Nicholson (E. J. W. Gibb Memorial, 1930) · Internet Archive Scan of a later reprint of the scholarly English translation from the Persian; the openings of Books III and IV read accessed 13 Oct 2026
The Mathnawi of Jalaluddin Rumi, vol. VI: translation of Books V and VI, by R. A. Nicholson (E. J. W. Gibb Memorial, 1934) · Internet Archive Scan of a later reprint of the scholarly English translation from the Persian; the openings of Books V and VI read accessed 13 Oct 2026
The Mesnevī of Mevlānā Jelālu-'d-Dīn Muhammed er-Rūmī, Book the First, with selections from Aflaki's Acts of the Adepts, translated by James W. Redhouse (Trübner, London, 1881) · Internet Archive Scan of a translation of 1881 with English selections from Aflaki's 14th-century hagiography of Rumi's circle; the translator's preface and the chapter on Husam al-Din read accessed 13 Oct 2026
Valad-nāma, section 64 · Ganjoor Persian text of Sultan Walad's poem on a volunteer-run digital library of Persian poetry; the underlying edition is not named; read in Persian accessed 13 Oct 2026

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

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