Shams of Tabriz

The Sufi Path of Love:!
Jalal al-Din Rumi
Bittersweet
In my hallucination!
I saw my beloved's flower garden!
In my vertigo, in my dizziness!
In my drunken haze!
Whirling and dancing like a spinning wheel!
I saw myself as the source of existence!
I was there in the beginning!
And I was the spirit of love!
Now I am sober!
There is only the hangover!
And the memory of love!
And only the sorrow!
I yearn for happiness!
I ask for help!
I want mercy!
And my love says:!
Look at me and hear me!
Because I am here!
Just for that!
I am your moon and your moonlight too!
I am your flower garden and your water too!
I have come all this way, eager for you!
Without shoes or shawl!
I want you to laugh!
To kill all your worries!
To love you!
To nourish you!
Oh sweet bitterness!
I will soothe you and heal you!
I will bring you roses!
I, too, have been covered with thorns
Persian Sources
1. Ahmad Aflaki, Manaqib al-‘Arifin!
2. Isma’il Anqurawi, Sharh-i Kabir
3. All Rumi’s book in Persian
4. Feraydun ibn Ahmad Sipahsalar, Zindigi
nama-y-i Muwlana
5. Abdul-Husayn Zarrinkub, Arzish Mirath
Sufiyya
6. Abdul-Husayn Zarrinkub, Pilih pilih ta
Mulaghat-i Khuda
English Sources
1. Rumi, Selected poems from Divan-e
Shams-e Tabrizi, trans. Reynold A.
Nicholson!
2. Rumi, Mathnawi, trans. Reynold A.
Nicholson!
3. Rumi, Masnavi, trans. Jawid Mojaddedi!
4. William Chittick, The Sufi Path of Love:
The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi!
5. Annemarie Schimmel, The Triumphal
Sun!
6. Omid Safi, Did the Two Ocean Meet?
His Life
•
•
Balkh!
• 604/1207!
His Father:!
• Muhammad ibn Husayn ibn Ahmad
Khatibi Bakri Balkhi (d. 1231)!
• Baha Walad!
• Preacher and Scholar!
• Kubrawiyya order!
• Najm al-Din Kubra (d. 1221)!
• Uneasy relationship with exoteric
scholars!
• Ma’arif
Migration
•
•
Mongol Invasion!
Nishapur!
• Attar!
• “Your son will soon be
kindling fire in all the world’s
lovers of God.”
Baghdad to Larande
•
•
•
Baghdad!
Hajj!
Syria
Anatolia
•
•
•
Larande!
• ‘Ala’ al-Din Kayqubad!
• Mu’in al-Din Parvaneh!
Konya!
Baha Walad passed away in 1231.
Molana
•
•
•
•
•
Exoteric Sciences!
• Islamic Jurisprudence (fiqh)!
• Interpretation of Quran (tafsir)!
• Philosophy!
• Theology (Kalam)!
• Logic (Mantiq)!
Hanafite School(Hanafi Madhhab)!
Sufism =>Mystical Knowledge!
Burhan al-Din Tirmidhi (d. 1240)!
Preaching!
• Madrasa (Islamic Seminaries)!
• Mosque
Meeting Shams of
Tabriz
•
“I was the country’s sober
ascetic, I used to teach from
the pulpit- but destiny made
me one of Thy hand
clapping lovers” (Diwan
Shams)!
!
•
“My hand always used to
hold a Koran, but now it
hold Love’s flagon. !
My mouth was filled with
glorification, but now it
recites only poetry and
songs.”
Shams of Tabriz!
Qalandar
•
•
Shams => Qalandar!
• Reprehensible acts!
• Against systematization of Sufism!
• Against Master-Disciple relationship!
• Used to shave their faces!
His personal utterance and meetings
with other Sufi masters=> Qalandari
behaviour
Shams and Rumi
First Encounter
1. Shams asked,“Who was the greater mystic, Bayazid [a Sufi saint] or
Muhammad?” This is a shocking question, I mentioned, "What a strange
question! Muhammad is greater than all the saints," Rumi replied. "So, why is it
then that Muhammad said to God, ‘I didn’t know you as I should have,’ while
Bayazid proclaimed, ‘Glory be to me! How exalted is my Glory! [that is, he
claimed the station of God himself]?" Rumi explained that Muhammad was the
greater of the two, because Bayazid could be filled to capacity by a single
experience of divine blessings. He lost himself completely and was filled with
God. Muhammad’s capacity was unlimited and could never be filled. His desire
was endless, and he was always thirsty. With every moment he came closer to
God, and then regretted his former distant state. For that reason he said, “I have
never known you as I should have.” It is recorded that after this exchange of
words, Rumi felt a window open in his heart and saw smoke rise to heaven. He
cried out, fell to the ground, and lost consciousness.
A second version of their meeting; Shams of Tabriz, passing by, asked him, "What are you doing?" Rumi
scoffingly replied, "Something you cannot understand." (This is knowledge that cannot be understood
by the unlearned.) On hearing this, Shams threw the stack of books into a nearby pool of water. Again
this is another prrof for his rebellious personality. Rumi was extremely upset and angry, scolded Shams
and said that someone these books belonged to his father and they were only one. Shams put his hand
into the pool and took all the books out and to Rumi’s surprise they were all dry. Rumi then asked
Shams, "What is this?" To which Shams replied, "Mowlana, this is what you cannot understand." (This
is knowledge that cannot be understood by the learned.) This made Rumi confused and he thought that
all these years, his efforts were futile and now is in deep love.
!
A third version of the tale has Shams passing by Rumi who again is reading a book. Rumi regards him as
an uneducated stranger. Shams asks Rumi what he is doing, to which Rumi replies, "Something that you
do not understand!" At that moment, the books suddenly catch fire and Rumi asks Shams to explain
what happened. His reply was, "Something you do not understand."
Shams-i Tabrizi
•
Importance of Shams!
• “Blessing
is excess, so to speak, an excess of everything. Don't be content with
being a faqih (religious scholar), say I want more – more than being a Sufi (a
mystic), more than being a mystic – more than each thing that comes before you.”!
• Awhad
• The
al-Din Kirmani (d. 1238) = Shahid-Bazi!
Throne Verse (Ayat al-Kursi)
The Throne Verse
‫آية الكرسي‬
“Allah! There is no God but He,
the Living, the Self-subsisting, the Eternal.
No slumber can seize Him, nor sleep.
All things in heaven and earth are His.
Who could intercede in His presence without His permission?
He knows what appears in front of and behind His creatures.
Nor can they encompass any knowledge of Him except what he wills.
His throne extends over the heavens and the earth,
and He feels no fatigue in guarding and preserving them,
for He is the Highest and Most Exalted.”
•
•
Sham and Rumi =>Seclusion!
Shams left!
• Sultan Walad (d. 1312)!
• ““The springtime of Lovers has come,!
! ! that this dust bowl may become a garden;!
! ! the proclamation of heaven has come,!
! ! that the bird of the soul may rise in flight.!
! ! The sea becomes full of pearls,!
! ! the salt marsh becomes sweet as kauthar,!
! ! the stone becomes a ruby from the mine,!
! ! the body becomes wholly soul.”!
Shams left
forever
•
•
Murdered !
• 1247!
• Ala’ al-Din!
Mausoleum!
• Khoy (Azerbaijan,
Iran)!
• Konya (Turkey)
Reed-Flute!
‫!نی‬
Break
Intoxicated by Love
Because of your love!
I lost my sobriety!
I am intoxicated by the madness of love!
In this fog!
Have became a stranger to myself!
I'm so drunk I've lost the way to my house!
In the garden I see only your face!
From trees and blossoms!
I inhale only your fragrance!
Drunk with the ecstasy of love!
I can no longer tell the diference!
Between drunker and drink!
Between lover and beloved!
Return of Rumi
•
•
•
Sufi Master!
Intoxicated Sufi!
Sema (Sama)!
• Whirling!
• Mevlevi Sufi order!
• ““What is the Sama‘? A Message from those hidden
within the heart. The heart-the stranger-finds peace
in their missive.!
!
It is a wind which causes the branches !
of the intellect to blossom, a sound !
which opens the pores of existence.!
The call of spiritual rooster brings Dawn, !
!
the sound of Mars’ drum brings victory.!
!
The wine of the spirit kept shooting arrows into the ! !
!
vat of the body –when the body heard the !
!
!
tambourine, it began to ferment, showing its !
!
preparedness. !
!
A marvelous sweetness has appeared in the body, !
!
for the flute and the minstrel’s lips give it all the !
!
sugar it wants.!
!
Behold now a thousand scorpions of heartache !
killed, a thousand sessions of joy without single !
!
cup!”
Inner Meaning!
“Dancewhereyoucanbreakyourownselfandpluckoutthecottonfromthe
woundofsensuality
Peopledanceandfrolicinthesquare–mendanceintheirownblood.
Whentheyhavebeendeliveredfromtheirownhands,theyclaptheirhands;when
theyhavejumpedoutsideoftheirownimperfection,theydance.
Withinthemselvestheirminstrelsplaythetambourine;theiruproarmakesthe
oceanclaptheirwaves.
Youdonotsee,buttheycanheartheleavesonthetreealsoclapping.
Youcannotperceivedtheclappingoftheleaves–youneedtheearofheart,notthe
body’sear.”
Rumi and Religious Openness
•
•
•
Popularity!
Religion of Love!
“God said to love, ‘If not for thy beauty, how should
I pay attention to the mirror of existence?”!
Sadr al-Din Qunawi
‫صدر الدین قونوی‬
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Sadr al-Din Qunawi (d. 1274)!
Aristocratic life-style!
Ibn Arabi!
Relationship with Rumi
Rumi’s passing
•
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December 1273!
Died 17 December 1273!
Green Tomb
Rumi’s works
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Mathnawi!
• 6 books!
• From 3810 to 4916 lines!
• 25000 verse!
Diwan Shams!
• 35000 Persian Couplet!
• 2000 Persian Quatrains!
• Arabic, Turkish and Greek!
Fihi ma Fihi (In it is what is in it)!
Majalis-i Sab’a (Seven Sessions)!
Maktubat (Letters)
Religion of Love
•
“MyReligionistolivethroughLove-life
throughthisspiritandbodyismyshame.”
•
“Theworstofalldeathsistobewithout
Love.
Whydoestheoystertrembles?Forthepearl.”
•
“Love’screedisseparatefromallreligions:
Thecreedanddenominationofloversis
God.”
Rumi and Islam
• “IamtheservantoftheQuranaslongasIhavelife.
IamadustonthepathofMuhammad,thechosenone.
Ifanyonequotesanythingexceptthisfrommysayings
Iamquitofhimandoutragedbythesewords.”
•
“FleetoGod’sQuran,takerefugeinittherewiththe
spiritoftheProphetmerge.
TheBookconveystheprophets’circumstancesthose
Sishofthepureseaofmajesty.”
Prophet Muhammad
Ahmad-i Akhar Zaman
• Insan-i Kamil
•
“Ahmad is (God said) Thou didst not throw
when thou threwest: To see him is to see the
Creator.!
To serve him is to serve God: to see this window
is to see the daylight.” (Mathnawi, VI, 3197-3198)!
•
“Through Mustafa their ancient feuds
vanished in the light of Islam and of pureness.!
First, those enemies became brethren like the
units of grapes in the garden;!
And at the admonition given in the words, the
true believers are brethren, they dissolve and
become one body.!
The appearance of the grapes is brethren; when
you squeeze them they become one
juice.” (Mathnawi, II, 3714-3717). !
•
Was Rumi a
homosexual?
•
Against Shahed-Bazi
To Conclude