Rumi
Maulana Jalal-ul-Din RUMI
(1207-1273)
was born in Balkh, Persia and died in Konya, Turkey. R.A. Nicholson called him “the greatest mystical poet of any age.” His spiritual and literary influence is so pervasive in the East that his name is often prefaced by the reverential term “Maulana” (our Master). He composed over 70,000 verses of poetry of divine love and ecstatic illumination. He was a pillar of Islam and a sober scholar until he met a wandering wild dervish – Shams of Tabriz and was transformed into an enraptured lover of God; traveling from knowledge to vision.
“Love has everyone by the ear dragging us back by secret ways, the one who secretly hears this is senseless.”
He reached a rare level of intimacy with the Beloved. His poetry is an enthusiastic torrent of spontaneous outpouring. Ecstatic love poetry rooted in the divine with its endless permutations of longing, union, separation and intoxication. We can only hold up our cupped hands in humble supplication and become drenched with the dizzying fragrance of his gifts. The variety and sheer number of his cannon has become essential reading for modern day seekers and lovers.