Mawlana Jalal al-Din al-Rumi

The Sufi and poet regarded as the pîr of the Mevlevî order; the author of the Mesnevî.

He was born on 6 Rabî' I 604 (30 September 1207) at Balkh. His father was the renowned scholar Bahâeddin Veled, known by the title Sultânülulemâ.

According to the sources the family set out westward when the cities of Khorasan were invaded by the Mongols in 1220. They passed through such great cities as Samarkand, Nishapur and Baghdad; it is related that Ferîdüddin Attâr met the young Mevlânâ at Nishapur. The family settled at Konya around 1221. Bahâeddin Veled taught at the Altınapa Medrese until his death in 1231; after his father's death the twenty-four-year-old Mevlânâ took over his teaching chair.

After his father he attached himself to Seyyid Burhâneddin Muhakkık-ı Tirmizî and received spiritual training in his care for nine years. This was followed by his encounter with Şems-i Tebrîzî, which changed his life and his output at the root: Şems came to Konya on 26 Jumada II 642 (29 November 1244). Mevlânâ abandoned his teaching duties and passed his time in his company; upon the complaints of the disciples and the rumours that spread, Şems suddenly left the city. Mevlânâ wrote letters after him asking him to return. After his second disappearance around 645 (1247), conflicting reports were transmitted that he had been killed or that he had vanished mysteriously, and the place of his grave has remained disputed.

After the death of Seyyid Burhâneddin the closenesses he formed were, in order, with the goldsmith Selâhaddîn-i Zerkûb and with Hüsâmeddin Çelebi. The Mesnevî began to be written in the period of calm that followed the deep grief over the loss of Şems, at the encouragement of Hüsâmeddin Çelebi.

He died on 5 Jumada II 672 (17 December 1273). He had asked that there be no mourning at his funeral and had called the day of death şeb-i arûs (the wedding night); death, for him, is union with the Divine. It is related that people of every religion attended his funeral.

His Circle of Influence — The founding of the Mevlevî order is attributed to him; the one who arranged its institutional structure as an etiquette and an organisation was, after his death, his son Sultan Veled. Sultan Veled succeeded Hüsâmeddin Çelebi as khalîfa after the latter's ten years as postnishin.

His Poetry and Sufi Line — At the centre of his line stands divine love: for him the intellect alone does not suffice for the transformation of the human being; divine love is necessary. He advocates tolerance; he sees the apparent duality as in essence a unity. The phrase "I am of this quarter" in a famous quatrain of his gives voice to a human brotherhood that transcends ethnic boundaries.

His Works — 1. Dîvân-ı Kebîr. It consists of ghazals and quatrains; it is also known as the Dîvân-ı Şems-i Tebrîzî and amounts to over forty thousand verses. 2. Mesnevî. His most important work; in six books, about twenty-five thousand couplets, encompassing the Sufi teaching in its whole breadth. 3. Fîhi mâ fîh. A compilation of his discourses. 4. Mecâlis-i Seb'a. The sermons and guidance he gave in seven sessions, later made into a book. 5. Mektûbât. The letters he wrote to various people on various occasions.

His Tomb and Complex — His tomb at Konya is known by the turquoise dome above it and has become a great place of visitation.