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CONTENTS
Introduction
The Book Design
The Images
Rumi eCards
Acknowledgements
Chapter One (Verses 1-42)
Chapter Two (Verses 43-64)
Chapter Three (Verses 65-82)
Chapter Four (Verses 83-104)
Chapter Five (Verses 105-123)
Chapter Six (Verses 124-140)
Websites Devoted to Rumi
Books
Music
Credits
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
About Gary Kissiah
My Books
Copyright
About Lilalabs Publishing LLC
INTRODUCTION
Rumi -Mawlana Jalal al Din Muhammad was born in
1207 in the Balkh province which is now in the border region of Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Balkh was
a major center of Islamic learning for over five hundred years before Rumi was born. Rumi’s father-Baha
adDin Walad-was a scholar of Islam. He wrote about
his ecstatic visions and gave Rumi his spiritual education.
When the Mongols invaded Central Asia between
1215 and 1220 CE, Rumi’s family and a band of disciples traveled west to escape. In the Persian city of
Nishapur, Rumi encountered Attar who was a famous
mystic and his first master.
This meeting had a lasting effect on Rumi and inspired his work. He mentions this later in a poem:
Attar has traversed the seven cities of Love
We are still at the turn of one street.
From Nishapur, Rumi’s family traveled to Baghdad
and met many Islamic scholars and Sufis along the
way. From Baghdad they traveled to Mecca and performed the pilgrimage. The migrating caravan then
traveled through Damascus and finally settled in
Konya which is in present day Turkey.
When Rumi’s father died, Rumi inherited his father’s
position as professor in religious sciences at the largest theological school in Konya. At that time Rumi
was already an accomplished scholar in religion
and science. Rumi married Gevher Hatun and had
two sons.
When the great scholar and Sufi Burhaneddin alTirmithi arrived in Konya, Rumi studied under him
for nine years. He received training on divine love,
worship, austerity, abstinence, piety, humility, and
tolerance which are the foundations of Sufism.
Rumi spent his days praying and serving people
who came to visit the Sufi center. He learned that
serving people is ultimately serving God.
Rumi was 37 years old when he met his second sufi
master: Shamsu ‘d-deen Muhammad al-Tabreezee
(Shams). Shams was a wandering mystic with great
spiritual power.
Houston Smith describes the meeting of Rumi and
Shams as follows:
This meeting, which has been much chronicled,
was like the spark that ignites the flame. It set two
souls on fire with God’s essence and produced in
Rumi a poet and lover of humanity like few before
or since.
Another description of the meeting between Rumi
and Shams:
What we know is that for a particular period of
time, two skillful and acute spirits came together,
1
Gratitude is the wine of the soul.
Go on.
Get drunk!
30
Be calm with those in duality.
Speak sweetly and softly.
Patience polishes and purifies.
113
45
Set your life on fire.
Seek those
who fan your flames.
51
As you live deeper in the heart,
the mirror
gets clearer and clearer.
91
The source is within you.
And this whole world
is springing from it.
93
Sit. Be still and listen.
99
Apparently two, but one in soul,
you and I.
101
Be warmed with love
for only love exists.
Where is the intimacy
except in giving
and receiving?
111
Oh soul,
you worry too much.
Your arms
are heavy
with treasures
of all kinds.
115
Prayer clears the mist
and brings peace
to the soul.
122
Fortunate is he
who does not carry
envy as a companion.
.
128
I belong to no religion.
My religion is love.
Every heart
is my temple.
137
Now be silent.
Let the one who
creates words speak.
He made the door,
he made the lock
and he also made
the key.
WEBSITES DEVOTED TO RUMI
1. Rumi’s Love Poems
This site is a collection of Rumi’s love poems by two different
translators of Rumi’s work: Coleman Barks and Shahram Shiva.
http://peacefulrivers.homestead.com/Rumipoetry1.html
2. Tribute to Mevlâna Jalâluddîn Rumi
This site contains translations of poetry, a biography of Rumi, a
picture gallery, links and recommended books.
http://www.rumionfire.com/
3. The Threshold Society
The Threshold Society, rooted within the traditions of Sufism
and inspired by the life and work of Rumi, is a non-profit educational foundation with the purpose of facilitating the experience of divine unity, love, and truth in the world. The Society is
affiliated with the Mevlevi Order, and offers training programs,
seminars and retreats around the world.
http://www.sufism.org/
4. The Mevlevi Order
The Rumi Network is based on the work of the awardwinning Rumi translator, author, scholar and performer
Shahram Shiva. Shiva has been translating the poetry of
Rumi since 1988. Shiva’s translations of Rumi have been
published in several books.
http://www.rumi.net/
6. Coleman Barks
Coleman Barks is the author of numerous Rumi translations
and has been a student of Sufism since 1977. He is the translator of one of the essential books on Rumi- The Illuminated
Rumi- with Michael Green as illustrator.
http://www.colemanbarks.com/
7. Sacredtexts.com
This site contains a public domain translation of the Masnavi by E.H. Whinfield in 1898. It also contains many other
Sufi writings such as The Rubayyat of Omar Khayyam,
Poems from the Divan of Hafiz, and the Songs of Kabir.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/isl/masnavi/index.htm
8. The Mevlevi Order of America.
http://www.dar-al-masnavi.org/
This is the web site of the Mevlevi Order of America, also
known as the Whirling Dervishes. The mission of the Mevlevi Order is to be a living embodiment of the Mevlevi Way
by sharing the teachings of Rumi. The order offers cultural
programs, open workshops, and public presentations in the
spirit of inclusion, equality and love.
5. The Rumi Network
http://www.hayatidede.org/
The Masnavi is Rumi’s great masterpiece. This site has information about the Whirling Prayer Ceremony and the International
Mevlana Foundation.