Rumi 1207 – 1273
Rumi (1207 – 1273) was a Persian philosopher of the Medieval era, associated with Islamic Philosophy and Medieval Philosophy.
Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi was a thirteenth-century Persian poet, jurist, and Sufi mystic, born in what is now Afghanistan and settling at Konya in Anatolia. After his transformative encounter with the wandering dervish Shams of Tabriz, his teaching turned from formal scholarship to ecstatic poetry as the proper vehicle for the soul's love for the divine. His Masnavi-i Manavi, a six-volume didactic poem, has been called the Quran in Persian, and his lyrical Divan-i Shams-i Tabrizi remains one of the masterworks of world poetry. He founded the Mevlevi order, the whirling dervishes, who continue to practice his vision today.
Jalaluddin Muhammad Rumi (1207–1273) was a Persian Sufi philosopher, theologian, and poet whose work has shaped Islamic spiritual philosophy and global mystical literature for eight centuries. Born in Balkh in present-day Afghanistan, he migrated west with his family ahead of the Mongol invasion and eventually settled in Konya in present-day Turkey, where his father, Bahauddin Walad, was a prominent religious teacher.
Rumi succeeded his father as a religious-juridical teacher in Konya at twenty-four and conducted a conventional career as a respected Sunni jurist and theologian for the next two decades. His meeting with the wandering dervish Shams of Tabriz in 1244 transformed his life and work. Shams's mysterious disappearance four years later — Shams was probably murdered by jealous followers of Rumi — drove Rumi into the poetic outpouring that produced his major philosophical-mystical works.
The Masnavi (six books of about 25,000 couplets) and the Divan-i Shams-i Tabrizi (a much larger collection of lyric ghazals dedicated to Shams) are among the most-read works of Persian and Islamic literature. The philosophical-religious vision combines orthodox Sunni Islam with the Sufi metaphysics of fana (annihilation in God), the analysis of the heart's longing for the beloved as the philosophical-religious core of human existence, and the practice of dhikr and the sama (whirling dance) as paths to the realization of this longing. The Mevlevi order founded by his son Sultan Walad continues to the present.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Persian
- Era
- Medieval
- Movements
- Islamic Philosophy, Medieval Philosophy
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Rumi:
“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I will meet you there.”
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Attributed to Rumi:
“What you seek is seeking you.”
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Attributed to Rumi:
“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”
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Attributed to Rumi:
“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”
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Attributed to Rumi:
“Don't grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.”
Rumi by topic
Frequently asked about Rumi
- When did Rumi live?
- Rumi was born in 1207 and died in 1273.
- Where was Rumi from?
- Rumi was a Persian philosopher of the Medieval era.
- What philosophical movements is Rumi associated with?
- Rumi was associated with Islamic Philosophy and Medieval Philosophy.
- What was Rumi known for?
- Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi was a thirteenth-century Persian poet, jurist, and Sufi mystic, born in what is now Afghanistan and settling at Konya in Anatolia.
- How many quotes are attributed to Rumi?
- There are 47 attributed quotations from Rumi in the 1001Philosophers collection, organized by topic.
Quotes that are not actually from Rumi
These lines are widely circulated as Rumi, but they do not appear in Rumi's works. Each entry below identifies the actual source.
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“Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving — it doesn't matter, Ours is not a caravan of despair. Come, even if you have broken your vow a hundred times, Come, come again, come.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Sy Safransky (ed.) Sunbeams: A Book of Quotations (1990) p. 67 | Often attributed to Rumi, but apparently by Abu Sa'id Abu'l-Khayr . The original poem in Farsi is: باز آ باز آ هر آنچه هستی باز آ گر کافر و گبر و بتپرستی باز آ این درگه ما درگه نومیدی نیست صد بار اگر توبه شکستی باز Variations: Come, c
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“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but the actual source is Helen Schucman A Course. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Helen Schucman A Course in Miracles (1976) Ch. 16: The Forgiveness of Illusions, p. 338, #6
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“Whenever we manage to love without expectations, calculations, negotiations, we are indeed in heaven.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Elif Şafak, The Forty Rules of Love (2010) — The book is about Rumi, but the quote is the author's own words. [ citation needed ]
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“We carry inside us the wonders we seek outside us.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: The Tao of Dad: The Wisdom of Fathers Near and Far (2006) p. 62. Compare: Thomas Browne , Religio Medici (1643) pt. 1, sect. 15: "We carry within us the wonders we seek without us: there is all Africa and her prodigies in us.
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“I once saw in an office a plaque that suggested that before we open our mouths to speak, we should make our words pass through three gates: Is it true, is it kind, and is it necessary?”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Donald Ernest and Vesta West Mansell, Sure As the Dawn (1993) p. 194 — Various sources attribute this saying to Rumi, although never to a specific work or correspondence. It may be a misquote of Sathya Sai . [ citation needed ]
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“Often attributed to Rumi, but apparently by Abu Sa'id Abu'l-Khayr . The original poem in Farsi is: باز آ باز آ هر آنچه هستی باز آ گر کافر و گبر و بتپرستی باز آ این درگه ما درگه نومیدی نیست صد بار اگر توبه [3] شکستی باز”
Variations: Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, idolator, worshipper of fire, come even though you have broken your vows a thousand times, Come, and come yet again. Ours is not a caravan of despair. Amin Malak, Muslim Narratives and the Discourse of English (2004) p. 151 Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, worshipper, lover of living, it doesn't matter Ours is not a caravan of despair. Come even if you have broken your vow a thousand times, Come, yet again, come, come. M. Fatih Citlak and Huseyin Bingul, Rumi and His Sufi Path of Love (2007) p. 81 Come, come again, whoever you are, come! Heathen, fire worshipper or idolatrous, come! Come even if you broke your penitence a hundred…
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“Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, idolator, worshipper of fire, come even though you have broken your vows a thousand times, Come, and come yet again. Ours is not a caravan of despair.”
Amin Malak, Muslim Narratives and the Discourse of English (2004) p. 151
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“Come, come again, whoever you are, come! Heathen, fire worshipper or idolatrous, come! Come even if you broke your penitence a hundred times, Ours is the portal of hope, come as you are.”
Martha Kneib, Turkey: A Primary Source Cultural Guide (2004)