Rumi
30 September 1207 – 17 December 1273
Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi was a Persian poet, Islamic scholar, and Sufi mystic whose works, above all the Masnavi, are among the most celebrated in Persian literature. After a transformative friendship with the wandering dervish Shams of Tabriz, he produced an immense body of mystical poetry, and the Mevlevi order of whirling dervishes was founded by his followers.
Lived at the same time
Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Rumi.
- Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (1201–1274) Overlapped 66 years →
- Albertus Magnus (1200–1280) Overlapped 66 years →
- Saadi Shirazi (1210–1291) Overlapped 63 years →
- Ibn al-Nafis (1213–1288) Overlapped 60 years →
- Kublai Khan (1215–1294) Overlapped 58 years →
- Louis IX of France (1214–1270) Overlapped 56 years →
Life events
Rumi was born in or near Balkh (in present-day Afghanistan, possibly in Vakhsh in present-day Tajikistan) to the theologian Baha al-Din Walad.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgRumi's family left Khorasan and traveled through Persia, the Hejaz, and Anatolia over a period of years.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgDuring the family's stay in Karaman (Larande) in Anatolia, Rumi married Gawhar Khatun, with whom he had two sons.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAt the invitation of the Seljuk sultan, the family settled in Konya, capital of the Sultanate of Rum, where Baha al-Din headed a madrasa.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAfter Baha al-Din Walad's death in 1231, Rumi inherited his father's position as teacher and preacher.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgRumi pursued advanced religious studies in the great centers of Syria before returning to Konya as an accomplished scholar.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgThe wandering dervish Shams al-Din of Tabriz arrived in Konya, and the encounter transformed Rumi from a jurist into an ecstatic mystic and poet.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgShams vanished, possibly murdered, and Rumi poured his grief and longing into the thousands of lyric poems collected as the Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAt the urging of his disciple Husam al-Din Chalabi, Rumi began dictating the Masnavi-ye Manavi, a six-volume mystical poem of some 25,000 couplets.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgRumi died in Konya; his funeral was attended by Muslims, Christians, and Jews, and his tomb became the center of the Mevlevi order.
Source: en.wikipedia.org