Rumi (1207-1273) and the Persian Sufi Poetic Tradition
slides and commentary by Michael Craig Hillmann, September 2018 PowerPoint presentation available at www.Issuu.com/MichaelHillmann For questions about the slides, including written commentary on specific slides, write to mchillmann@aol.com
Rumi’s Works • Masnavi-ye Ma’navi [Spiritual Couplets], in 6 “books” containing 26,000+ closed couplets, sometimes called the Persian Koran. Vergil’s Aeneid has fewer than 10,000 lines! • Divān-e Kabir [Great Collected Poems] or Divān-e Shams-e Tabrizi [Collected Poems of Shams of Tabriz], 3,500+ ghazals containing 35,000 couplets and 2,000+ quatrains. Hāfez’s Divān contains fewer than 500 ghazals! • Fihi Mā Fihi [In It That Which Is in It], a collection of lectures and talks compiled from the notes of disciples. • Majāles-e Sab’eh [Seven Sessions], seven sermons or talks on seven different occasions presenting commentary on meaning in the Koran and stories about the prophet Mohammad [hadith] . • Makātib [Letters], containing letters to disciples, family members, and public figures.
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• Only poets produce poems. Only poets in English who are expert in Persian can produce English poems in translations of Rumi’s poems.
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Mashhad Shrine to Emām Rezā (d. 818)
Life in Mashhad daily calls to prayer… seeing people pray in public… the Ramazān fast …holydays and holidays… seeing the Haram from a distance and visiting it… visiting ‘Attār’s tomb and other nearby Sufi sites… keeping track of Hajj news…Koran recitations… religious expressions in everyday conversation… talk of Persian Sufi poetry…poetry in everyday life
• Spirituality in Persianate Culture • Persian carpets • Muslim architecture and architectural decoration on the Iranian plateau • Perso-Arabic arts of the book • Persian poetry • Rumi and Persian Sufi Poetry 3
Safavid Garden Compartment Carpet,16th century CE Pazyryk Garden Compartment Carpet, c.500 BCE
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an arabesque [ = eslimi] motif, late 20th- century EsfahÄ n carpet
Ardabil Shrine Carpet 1539-1540
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• two carpets and a carpet cartoon Iilustrating infinite garden patterns
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EsfahÄ n Arabesque Medallion Carpet
Contemporary Persian Carpet Designs
floral geometric
curvilinear rectilinear
Tekkeh Torkoman Gol [= rose] Carpet
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Iranian religious architecture and architectural decoration
Shāh Mosque Dome, Royal Square, Esfahān
Late 20th-century Esfahān Arabesque [= eslimi] Medallion and Arabesque Field Carpet
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Sheykh Lotfollāh Mosque, Royal Square, Esfahān, early 17 th century
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Uljaitu Mehrāb, Jāme’ Mosque, Esfahān, 1310
rectilinear Baluch tree-of-life prayer carpet curvilinear vase prayer carpet
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1st page Koran Iran 1817
Koran book cover
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Rumi Text #1 Escápe to Gód's Korán, take réfuge thére and thére with próphets’ spírits mérge. The Bóok convéys the próphets' wáys, those físh in Májesty’s pure séa…
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The Islamic vision in Persian religious architectural decoration, Persian arts of the book, and Persian carpets exhibits:
• designs that communicate infinity (infinity = aspect of Allāh) • designs that communicate indefinability (indefinability = aspect of Allāh) • stylized/idealized motifs (e.g., arabesques) suggesting denaturalization of nature (supernature = aspect of Allāh) • shapes, e.g., moqarnas, suggesting spiritualization of matter (immateriality = aspect of Allāh) moqarnas
• shapes and patterns suggesting a paradise garden (paradise = metaphor for proximity to Allāh)
“Symbolism in Modern Persian Carpet Designs,” pp. 51-63.
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“Lost Joseph” Ghazal by Hāfez (c.1320-c.1390)
Lost Joseph will come again to Canaan–don't grieve. Jacob’s hut of sorrows will become a flower garden–don’t grieve…
Joseph being sold into slavery
If the heavens have not revolved for two days in accord with our wishes, the business of the ages is not continually the same–don't grieve… O heart, if transience should flood the foundation of being, when you have Noah as captain in the storm, don't grieve. If out of zeal for the Kaaba you walk in the desert and acacia thorns offer rebukes, don't grieve. Although the halting place is dangerous and the destination distant, there is no road that does not have an end–So don't grieve. God, the changer of conditions, knows my condition, all of it, if separated from the beloved and importuned by a rival, don't grieve. In isolated indigence and lonely dark nights, don't grieve, Hāfez, as long as your chant is prayer and the lesson of the Koran. Muhammad rededicates the black stone at the Kaaba in Mecca
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Thorns and Roses (1988) by Hossein Zenderoudi
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from “Water’s Footsteps” (1964) by Sohrāb Sepehri' (1928-1980) I come from Kashan. I lead a modest life. I earn a morsel of bread, … I have a mother, better than green leaves I have friends, better than running water… I’m a moslem. my mecca is a rose. my mosque is a spring, my prayer stone the light. fields make my prayer rug. I perform ablutions with the heartbeat of the windows. moonlight flows through my prayers, the spectrum too. rocks show through my prayers: every particle of my prayers is crystalline. I say my prayers when I hear the grass pronounce the call to prayer my kaaba lies by the water, my kaaba lies under the acacias. my kaaba travels like the breeze, from one garden to the next, from one town to another.
I come from Kashan, a painter by profession: sometimes I make a cage out of pigment, and sell it to you to delight your heart in its loneliness with the song of corn poppies imprisoned there. what a thought, oh what a thought… I know that my canvas is lifeless. I well know that the pond in my painting is home to no fish…. it's not our job to unravel the mystery of the rose…. perhaps our job is to swim in the magic of the rose …to be reborn each morning with the rising sun. to send our thrills up like a kite. to spray a fine mist over our perception of space, color, sound and windows. to seat the sky between the two syllables of Be-ing. to fill and refill our lungs with eternity. to unburden the swallow from its load of knowledge. to take back the names we have given to the cloud, to the plane tree, to the mosquito, to the summer. to climb to the heights of affection on the wet legs of the rain. to open the door to mankind, to light, to plants and to insects.
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Two paintings by Sohrâb Sepehri (1928–1980)
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The Fātiha [Opening Chapter] of the Koran (book page, 1817, Iran) In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful Praise be to God, Lord of the Universe, the Compassionate, the Merciful, Sovereign of the Day of Judgment! You alone we worship, to You alone we turn for help. Guide us to the straight path, the path of those whom You have favored, not of those who have incurred Your wrath, nor of those who have gone astray. • Muslims derive Islamic law [shari’a] from (1) the Koran [qur’ān = recitation]–as well as from (2) sayings of and reports about the prophet Mohammad (c. 570-632) called hadith, (3) qiyās [analogy], and (4) imjā’ [community consensus]. Islamic law includes the so-called five pillars of Islamic faith: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
the profession of faith, daily prayers, fasting during the Muslim lunar month of Ramadān, almsgiving, and the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.
• Five fundamental articles of Islamic faith are: (1) belief in God, (2) belief in angels, (3) belief in holy books, (4) belief in messengers, and (5) belief in the return to God.
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Rumi Text #2 I’m a servant of the Koran for as long as I live, and I’m dust on the path of Mohammad, the chosen one.
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A Chronology of Muhammad’s Life c. 570 Muhammad’s birth. 595 marriage to Khadija. c. 610 beginning of prophethood. 619 death of Khadija. 620 mi ‘rāj, night to journey to Jerusalem and heaven. 622 Hijra flight of emigration from Mecca to Medina beginning of the Muslim calendar era (= A.H.). 624 Muslim victory at the Battle of Badr. 625 Muslim defeat at the Battle of Uhud. 626 Muslim victory over and expulsion of the Jewish tribe al-Nadir. 627 Muslim attack on the Jewish tribe Qurayza and execution of its males. 628 Treaty of Hudaybiyya, truce with the Quraysh tribe who thereafter allowed Muhammad to proselytize. 629 Khaybar Jews killed. Letters sent to Iran, Ethiopia, and Yemen inviting them to join Islam. 630 Quraysh tribe breaks treaty with Islam; Muhammad takes Mecca, which converts to Islam. Muhammad establishes the Ka’ba as the center of Islam. 631 Muhammad’s last pilgrimage to Mecca. 632 Muhammad dies three months after returning to Medina. 633-733 Expansion of Islam. 650s Compilation of official Koran text.
Mohammad leads Abraham, Moses, Jesus, et al.
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Mohammad’s Mi r‘āj [ascension (to heaven)]
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• The Muslim prophet Mohammad (c.570-632) reading Rumi’s Masnavi-ye Ma’navi [Spiritual Couplets]
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• Rumi’s family emigrated from the Balkh area, crossed today’s country of Iran, and settled in Konya in Anatolia, Turkey.
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Rumi’s Life: A Chronology Some dates are approximate.
1200 Rumi’s father Bahā’oddin Valad is teaching and preaching in Vakhsh (southern Tajikistan) and writing his spiritual diary. 1207 Birth of Jalāloddin. 1208 Bahā’oddin is in dispute with the Qāzi of Vakhsh. 1212 Bahā’oddin and his family are in Samarqand. 1216 Bahā’oddin and his family leave Khorāsān for Baghdad and Mecca. 1217 Bahā’oddin and his family stay briefly in Damascus and Malatya (Turkey) and, years later, settle in Konya.. 1226 Jalāloddin’s son Sultan Valad is born. 1229 Bahā’oddin and his family settle permanently in Konya. 1231 Jalāloddin’s father Bahā’oddin Valad dies. 1232 Borhānoddin Mohaqqeq arrives in Konya and becomes Jalāloddin’s mentor. 1232-7 Jalāloddin studies in Aleppo and Damascus. 1241 Death of Borhānoddin Mohaqqeq. 1244 Shams of Tabriz arrives in Konya. Jalāloddin Rumi takes up samā’ [ceremonial listening and dancing to music] and composes lyrical poems. 1246 Shams leaves Konya for Syria. Rumi stops composing poetry. Rumi hears from Shams and composes several poems 1247 Shams returns to Konya. Rumi composes poems. 1247 Shams marries Kimia (a girl raised in Jalâloddin’s household). 1248 Shams leaves Konya never to return. Rumi chooses Salāhoddin Zarkub as Shams’s successor. Rumi composers ghazals for Salāhoddin. 1258 Salāhoddin Zarkub dies. The Mongols end the Muslim Abbāsid caliphate in Baghdad. 1262 Rumi begins composing Masnavi-ye Ma’navi [Spiritual Couplets]. 1264 Rumi begins the second (of the six books) of Spiritual Couplets. 1260s Rumi enjoys good relations with Seljuq authorities. 1273 Rumi dies in December. 24
• A mystic ف [ ] عارis “a follower of a mystical way of life” or “an advocate of a theory of mysticism.” • Mysticism [ ] عرفانis “the experience of mystical union or direct communication with ultimate reality reported by mystics” or “the belief that direct knowledge of God, spiritual truth, or ultimate reality can be attained through subjective experience (e.g., intuition, inspiration, and insight).” • “Mystical” ی [ ] عرفانmeans “having a spiritual meaning or reality that is neither apparent to the senses nor obvious to the intelligence; or “involving/having the nature of an individual’s direct subjective communication with God/ultimate reality.” • A Sufi [ی ووووووف ] صis a Muslim mystic and Sufism [ ] ووتصووووفis Muslim or Islamic gnosticism or mysticism.
Rumi Text #2 it’s not chess where you think with trust in God cast the dice like in backgammon. from Ghazal #968, Rumi’s Divān
Jalāloddin Rumi (1207-1273) dancing in front of disciples
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Tomb of ‘Omar Khayyām (1048-1131) Nishāpur
Drink wine–the universe means your demise, intends the death of your pure life and mine. Let's sit in the grass and drink bright wine, for here will blooms bloom from your dust and mine.
There was a drop of water, it merged with the sea. There was a speck of dirt, it merged with the earth. Your coming into the world is what? A fly appearing and disappearing.
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Mausoleum of the Poet Hāfez (c.1320-c.1390) Shirāz, completed in 1935
• In a famous ghazal (QG26/Kh22), ”Hāfez” says: Be gone, o ascetic, and do not scorn drinkers of the dregs; for no gift but that was given us at the day of the Covenant. What He poured into our cup we drank, be it heaven’s or intoxicating wine.
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Tomb of Khājeh ‘Abdollāh Ansāri (1006-1088) Herāt, Afghanistan
On the road of faith are two kaabas. One is the Kaaba, the other the kaaba of the heart. To the best of your ability, make pilgrimages to the heart insofar as one heart is worth more than a thousand Kaabas.
Muhammad praying at the Kaaba in Mecca
a quatrain by Khājeh 'Abdollāh Ansāri (1006-1088)
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Statue of Abu Sa’id Abolkhayr (967-1049) Nishāpur
Love came and became like blood under my skin and in my veins until it emptied me of all else and filled me with the friend. All of my limbs and parts the friend embraced; only my name remains and the rest is he/she. A quatrain by Abu Sa’id Abolkhayr
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Tehrān Wall Mural 21st century
Tomb of Faridoddin ‘Attār (c.1145-c.1221) Nishāpur, 16th century
• A painting inspired by ‘Attār’s Sufi allegory called Conference of the Birds. • Conference of the Birds tells the story of a group of birds who under-take an arduous voyage to find their eternal, phoenix-like bird king called Simorgh. At the end of the trip, they find themselves in a mirrored hall where the thirty remaining birds [= si morgh] discover they have Simorgh within themselves.
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Jalāloddin Rumi (1207-1273) • Rumi’s worldwide fame includes the notion that his beliefs, ideas, and behavior went beyond or were even contrary to the orthodox Islam of his day. Rozina Ali reviews this issue in “The Erasure of Islam from the Poetry of Rumi,” The New Yorker (5 January 2017). A PowerPoint presentation called “American Perceptions of Islam” available at www.Issuu.com/MichaelHillmann, treats stereotypical views about Islam and Iran. •The historical facts about Rumi are that: “Rumi performed the five obligatory [daily] prayers that constitute one of the central tenets and requirements of an observant Muslim...Rumi performed the pilgrimage to Mecca...and not only observed the obligatory period of fasting during the [Muslim lunar] month of Ramadān, but also pursued ascetic exercises and voluntary fasting at other times of the year, as well…he acted charitably with his disciples and their dependents, helping to distribute alms and needed assistance. Rumi thus conscientiously upheld the five principal ‘pillars’ of Islam…, both in word and deed.” Franklin Lewis, Rumi Past and Present East and West, p. 12. • At the same time time, Rumi was a Sufi or Muslim mystic.
• Rumi surrounding his mausoleum and whirling dervishes and musicians. • A scene from Rumi’s life in an Ottoman Turkish translation of an abridged biography of Rumi by Aflaki dating from the 1590s.
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Rumi Text #3
Hajj pilgrims at the Ka’ba
o people on the hajj, where are you, where are you the beloved is right here; come here, come here the beloved is your neighbor, right next-door so, wandering in the desert, what are you seeking if you see the faceless face of the beloved you yourselves are lord, house, and Ka‘ba you have gone ten times on that route to that house for once emerge onto the roof of this house that house is sweet and you’ve described it in detail now describe the features of its lord if you have seen that garden, where is a bouquet of flowers if you are from the sea of God, where is a soul-pearl despite all this, may your travails be your treasure alas that you yourselves are the veil over your treasure Muhammad praying at the Ka‘ba
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• musicality in Rumi Text #3
o people on the hajj, where are you, where are you the beloved is right here; come here, come here the beloved is your neighbor, right next door so, wandering in the desert, what are you seeking if you see the faceless face of the beloved you yourselves are lord, house, and Ka’aba you have gone ten times on that route to that house for once emerge onto the roof of this house that house is sweet and you’ve described it in detail now describe the features of its lord if you’ve seen that garden, where’s a bouquet of flowers if you’re from the sea of God, where’s a soul-pearl despite all this, may your travails be your treasure alas that you yourselves are the veil over your treasure
– – u u – – u u – – u – – 1 ay qowm-e be haj rafte kojāyid kojāyid a – – u u – – u u – – u u – – ma‘shuq . haminjāst . biyāyid . biyāyid a – – u u – – u u – – u u – – 2 ma‘shuq-e to hamsāye-vo divār . be divār b – – u u – – u u – – u u – – dar bādiye sargashte shomā dar che havāyid a – – u u – – u u – – u u – – 3 gar surat-e bi surat-e ma‘shuq . bebinid c – – u u – – u u – – u u – – ham khāje-vo ham khāne-vo ham ka‘be shomāyid a – – u u – – u u – – u u u – – 4 dah bār . az ān rāh . be-dān khāne beraftid d – – u u – – u u – – u u – – yak bār . ’az in khāne bar in bām . bar ’āyid a – – u u – – u u – – u u – – 5 ān khāne latif ast . neshānhāsh . begoftid e – –u u – – u u – – u u – – az khāje-ye ān khāne neshāni benemāyid a – – u u – – u u – – u u u – – 6 yak daste-ye gol ku agar ān bāgh . Bedidit f – – u u – – u u – – u u – – yak gowhar-e jān ku agar az bahr-e khodāyid a – – u u – – u u – – u – – 7 bā in hame ranj-e shomā ganj-e shomā bād g – – u u – – u u – – u u u – – afsus . ke bar ganj-e shomā parde shomāyid a
•regular quantitative metrical pattern (long and short vowel signs shift when the file is posted on Issuu.com). • monorhyme • instances of parallel structure • alliteration • assonance • repetition
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Rumi Text #4 o friend, in whom i’ve disappeared i saw wondrously beautiful you in a dream. like the women of Egypt out of love for Joseph smitten i cut a citron and my hand where is that moon and where are those eyes of last night where are those ears that heard me you’re not visible, nor I nor that moment nor those teeth that bit my lip I’m a granary full of love-sorrow from which harvest I’ve culled only love-sorrow you’re a soother of love-saddened hearts you’re my Zunnun and Jonayd and Bāyazid
تو را ترنج و دست كجا آن نه آن
ایا یاری كه در تو ناپدیدم ل عجب در خواب دیدم شك ل چو خاتونان مصر از عشق یوسف بیخود می بریدم كجا آن مه كجا آن چشم دوشین گوش كانها می شنیدم نه تو پیدا نه من پیدا نه آن دم دندان كه لب را می گزیدم
Joseph serving Zolaykhā at a gathering of Egyptian women Tilework, Kermānshāh
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Rumi Texts #5 and 6 ever since your face became my qibla, o life/soul and world of mine I’ve no news of the Kaaba and no sign of the qibla without your face, I can’t face the qibla for this qibla is for the body and that for the soul. Rumi, The Quatrains of Rumi, no. 871
O face of yours, the heart’s Kaaba and the soul’s qibla like a moth, I’ve burned up with longing, o soul flame Remove the hijab and show your face to the lover So he can rip open with his own hands the cloak over his soul
qibla = Musim prayer direction = Mecca
Rumi, The Quatrains of Rumi, no. …….
نه از کعبه خبر دارم و نه کاین قبله قالبست و ان قبله ،چون شمع ز غم سوختم تا چاک کند به دست خود
تا روی توم قبله شد ای جان و جهان از قبله نشان بی روی تو رو به قبله کردن نتوان جان کعبه ی دل و قبله ی جان،ای روی تو ای شعله ی جان بردار حجاب و به عاشق رخ بنما خرقه ی جان
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Rumi Text #7
from the “Exordium” to Rumi’s Spiritual Couplets listen to the reed, how it tells its tale ،شنو از لنى چون حكایت مى كند لب ش and complains of separation: .از جداییها شكایت مى كند “ever since I was torn ،كز نیستان تا مرا ببریده اند from the reed bed men and women have moaned .ووز نفیرم مرد و زن نالیده اند at the sound of my reed voice سینه خواهم شرحه شرحه از فراق I need a breast to talk to .ح درلد اشتیاق تا بگویم شر ل cut by separation هر كسى كاو دور ماند از اص ل ل so that I can speak about my painful love desire خویش everyone remaining apart from their origin .باز جوید روزگالر وصللخویش wishes for bygone days of union with it ،من به هر جمعیتى نالن شدم in every gathering I have wailed and have joined with the sad and the happyت بدحالن و خوش حالن شدم جف ل everyone has become my friend ن خود شد یالر من هر كسى از ظ ن in their own minds ن من نجست اسرالر من از درو ل but have not searched out my secrets س ن my secret is not far from my plaintive notes ،ر من از ناله ی من دور نیست but eyes and ears don’t have the light .لیك چشم و گوش را آن نور نیست (to understand it) تن ز جان و جان ز تن مستور the body is not hidden from the soul, ،نیست nor the soul from the body, but people cannot see the soul” .لیك كس را دیلد جان دستور نیست this reed’s wail is fire, not wind… گ ناى و نیست آتش است این بان ل it is the fire of love ...باد that has engulfed the reed 35 ،آتش عشق است كاندر نى فتاد it is the fervor of love that imbues wine…
Rumi Text #9 how could I know that love-sadness could drive me mad/majnun this way
سودا مرا زین سان كند چه دانستم كه این س مجنون how could I know that a flood would suddenly snatch me away دلم را دوزخى سازد دو چشمم را كند toss me like a boat in the middle of a sea full of blood جیحون send a wave over that boat that would crack open its planks چه دانستم كه سىلبى مرا ناگاه لبسرباوید that every plank would unfasten from the various shifts چو كشتى ام دراندازد میان سقلسزم پر خون زند موجى بر آن كشتى كه تخته تخته that a leviathan would would rear its head, drink that sea water بشكافد so that such an endless sea would become waterless as a desert كه هر تخته فرو ریزد ز گردشهاى گوناگون and suddenly pull me, like Qārun, with a wrathful/qahr hand into a pit/qa’r خورد آن آب دریا را،نهنگى هم برآرد سر when these transformations came about, neither desert nor sea remained چنان دریاى بى پاىان شود بى آب چون هامون شكافد نىز آن هامون نهنگ بحر what do I know anymore about how/chun it happened فرسا را because how/chun is drowned in howlessness/bichun كشد در قعر ناگاهان به دست قهر چون many are the what-I-could-knows, but I don’t know قارون because I swallowed opium froth in that sea… چو این تبدىلها آمد نه هامون ماند و نه درىا چه دانم من دگر چون شد كه چون غرق 37 است در بىچون چه دانمهاى بسىارد است لیكن من نمى turn my heart into a hell and my two eyes into the Oxus River
Rumi Text #10
What a flag and banner– There is no god but God– was raised on the primordial summit! There is no god but God! How my king, Moses-like, raises dust from the sea of being and non-being! There is no god but God! They showed qualities of his purity and humble reticence to Him at the very beginning! There is no god but God! One act of cruelty from him is better than a hundred thousand just deeds to Him. What pleasant tyranny! There is no god but God! Wherever he casts a glance a thousand Eram gardens appear. There is no god but God! ! One wondrous day, I’ll reach the shore of the sea of sorrows, by means of waves of grace and generosity. There is no god but God!
زهی لواء و علم ل اله ال ا که زد بر اوج قدم ل اله ال ا چگونه گرد برآورد شاه موسی وار ز بحر هست و عدم ل اله ال ا ستاده اند صفات صفا ز خجلت او به پیش او به قدم ل اله ال ا یکی ستم ز وی از صد هزار عدل به است زهی خوشی ستم ل اله ال ا ز هر طرف که نظر کرد می بروایند هزار باغ ارم ل اله ال ا ز بحر غم به کاری رسم عجب روزی ز موج لطف و کرم ل اله ال ا ندارد از شه من هیچ بوی جان آن کس که بینیش تو به غم ل اله ال ا چو دیده کحل نپذیرفت از شه تبریز زهی دریغ و ندم ل اله ال ا شنود،بر آید از دل و از جان الست شه هزار بانگ نعم ل اله ال ا بهشت لطف و بلندی خدیو شمس الدین زهی شفای سقم ل اله ال ا دلم طواف به تبریز مب کنز سمحلرم در آن حریم حرم ل اله ال ا زهی خوشی که بگویم که کیست هان
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Rumi’s Ideas and Teachings • Creation is the explosion of primal colorlessness into form and aspect, thereby producing the illusion of individuation, separation, distinction, and opposition. Beyond these illusions is singleness, in which Rumi sees the meaning of the Islamic doctrine of towhíd [divine unity].
• Divinity resides or inheres in people. • Idolatry is the worshipful attitude toward outward forms. • Separation from one’s divine origin is the sense that leads one to a gnostic desire to return there. Transformation in/of one’s heart and soul take place on the Sufi path. • Sufi stages are the steps one takes, e.g., trust in God, in order to reach Sufi states. Sufi states describe the experiences of Sufis, e.g., sense of proximity to God and love, once they have completed Sufi stages. • Love is the supreme virtue, God having created out of it and human beings having the capacity for it, with love-longing for (re)union with their God-source their lifelong motivation. Love of God transcends religious creed, ritual, and dogma. Loverhood is the permanent state of the imperfect wayfarer longing to reach the perfect beloved.
• Koran. The words of the Koran have an outward meaning and an interior meaning beneath it that is awesome and overwhelming. Beneath that inner meaning lies a third layer of meaning, in which human reason becomes lost. Beyond that, the fourth layer of the Koran’s meaning remains impenetrable to all but God. • Prophets and saints are necessary to give people glimpses of true life. Rumi sees himself as belonging to the line of prophets and saints, whose divinely inspired role is to guide the human race. • Annihilation of self. The seeker of God must die to self before he or she can shine with divine light. Having laid the groundwork for self-transformation, one then must pray for the descent of God’s aid and blessing, that a new window onto the transcendent might open to his or her soul. • Obedience to a guide is part of the process of annihilation of one’s self. • Gnostic experience is impossible to communicate to others lacking such experience.
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Rumi Text #11 A moon appeared in the sky at dawn and came down from the sky and looked at me. Like the falcon that snatches a bird in hunting time, the moon snatched me and skyward flew. When I looked at myself, I did not see myself –in that moon my body became soul-like because of grace. When I travelled in soul, I saw nothing but the moon till the secret of eternal manifestation was all revealed. The nine spheres of the heavens all merged in that moon, and the vessel of my being was wholly hidden in that sea. The sea broke into waves and wisdom once again emerged and broadcast a voice, saying so it happened and became thus. The sea foamed and with every fleck of foam something took shape and something became bodied. Every foam-fleck of body that received a sign from that sea immediately melted and became spirit in this sea. Without the royal power of Shams [sun of] the truth of Tabriz one can neither see the moon nor become the sea. • Guides (sheikhs or pirs). Achieving a proper spiritual orientation can be done by guidance at the hand of a spiritual master, not through reason. Thus, one must follow the true spiritual guide. In rare cases, a traveler on the Sufi path, called ovaysi/uveisi,may reach his goal without any pir, or master, to guide him, but only because the hearts of the pirs aid and help him on the spiritual plane.
Rumi Meets Shams of Tabriz, Ottoman ms
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Rumi Text #12
(attributed to Rumi)
What should my plan be, O Muslims? For I don’t know myself. I’m not Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian, or Muslim. I’m not western or eastern or of the land or of the sea; I’m not of nature’s mold, I’m not of the circling heavens. I’m not of earth, air, fire, or water; I’m not of the highest heaven or the lowest earth. I’m not from India, China, Bulgaria, or the eastern Caspian; I’m not from Iraq [‘erāq] or the Iran plateau’s center [‘erāq] or Khorāsān. I’m not from this world or the next or from heaven or hell, I’m not of Adam or Eve or from a paradise garden or heaven. My place is the placeless, and my sign/trace is traceless; I’m neither body nor soul for I’m of the beloved’s soul. I’m intoxicated from the cup of love, the two worlds have gone away; except for libertinism and wine-drinking I have no order(liness)... If one day fate allows me a moment with you in this world, I’ll trample on both worlds and clap my hands. O Shams of Tabriz, I am so intoxicated in this world that, except for wine-drinking and intoxication, I have no story.
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Rumi’s Funeral
Rumi’s Mausoleum, Konya, Turkey
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