Rumi
Sufism inspired writings of Persian poet and mystic Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi; these writings express the longing of the soul for union with the divine.
Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī - also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī, Mevlânâ/Mawlānā (مولانا, "our master"), Mevlevî/Mawlawī (مولوی, "my master") and more popularly simply as Rumi - was a 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian and Sufi mystic who lived in Konya, a city of Ottoman Empire (Today's Turkey). His poems have been widely translated into many of the world's languages, and he has been described as the most popular poet and the best-selling poet in the United States.
His poetry has influenced Persian literature, but also Turkish, Ottoman Turkish, Azerbaijani, Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu, as well as the literature of some other Turkic, Iranian, and Indo-Aryan languages including Chagatai, Pashto, and Bengali.
Due to quarrels between different dynasties in Khorāṣān, opposition to the Khwarizmid Shahs who were considered devious by his father, Bahā ud-Dīn Wālad or fear of the impending Mongol cataclysm, his father decided to migrate westwards, eventually settling in the Anatolian city Konya, where he lived most of his life, composed one of the crowning glories of Persian literature, and profoundly affected the culture of the area.
When his father died, Rumi, aged 25, inherited his position as the head of an Islamic school. One of Baha' ud-Din's students, Sayyed Burhan ud-Din Muhaqqiq Termazi, continued to train Rumi in the Shariah as well as the Tariqa, especially that of Rumi's father. For nine years, Rumi practised Sufism as a disciple of Burhan ud-Din until the latter died in 1240 or 1241. Rumi's public life then began: he became an Islamic Jurist, issuing fatwas and giving sermons in the mosques of Konya. He also served as a Molvi (Islamic teacher) and taught his adherents in the madrassa. During this period, Rumi also travelled to Damascus and is said to have spent four years there.
It was his meeting with the dervish Shams-e Tabrizi on 15 November 1244 that completely changed his life. From an accomplished teacher and jurist, Rumi was transformed into an ascetic.
On the night of 5 December 1248, as Rumi and Shams were talking, Shams was called to the back door. He went out, never to be seen again. Rumi's love for, and his bereavement at the death of, Shams found their expression in an outpouring of lyric poems, Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi. He himself went out searching for Shams and journeyed again to Damascus.
Rumi found another companion in Salaḥ ud-Din-e Zarkub, a goldsmith. After Salah ud-Din's death, Rumi's scribe and favourite student, Hussam-e Chalabi, assumed the role of Rumi's companion. Hussam implored Rumi to write more. Rumi spent the next 12 years of his life in Anatolia dictating the six volumes of this masterwork, the Masnavi, to Hussam.
In December 1273, Rumi fell ill and died on the 17th of December in Konya.
“There is some kiss we want with our whole lives, the touch of spirit on the body. Seawaterbegs the pearl to break its shell.and the lily, how passionatelyit needs some wild darling! Atnight, I open the window and askthe moon to come and press itsface against mine. Breathe intome. Close the language door andopen the lovers window. The moonwon’t use the door, only the window.”
“But can you think of anyone who's not hazy with smoke?”
“Whoever's calm and sensible is insane!”
“Know mankind well, don't degrade every man as evil, and don't exalt every man thinking he is good. He who cannot discover himself; cannot discover the world.”
“WHEN YOU ARE FREED FROM THIS BODYYOU WILL ENTER INTO A NEW WORLDWITHOUT ANY EFFORT.”
“YOU ARE SUCHTHAT BESIDES THIS (PHYSICAL) BODYYOU HAVE ANOTHER (ASTRAL) BODY.DO NOT THEREFORE BE AFRAIDOF GETTING OUTOF THE MORTAL FRAME.”
“The intelligent desire self-control; children want candy.”
“There is a basket of fresh bread on your head, yet you go door to door asking for crusts.”
“Your breath touched my soul and I saw beyond all limits.”
“With passion pray. With passion make love. With passion eat and drink and dance and play. Why look like a dead fish in this ocean of God?”
“This place is a dream. Only a sleeper considers it real. Then death comes like dawn, and you wake up laughing at what you thought was your grief.”
“You are the Essence of the Essence,The intoxication of Love.I long to sing Your Praisesbut stand mutewith the agony of wishing in my heart !”
“As you live Deeper in the Heart, the Mirror gets clearer and cleaner.”
“When soul risesInto lipsYou feel the kiss You have wanted”
“Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.”
“let's get away fromall the clever humanswho put words in our mouthlet's only say what our hearts desire.”
“I see my beauty in you.”
“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”
“I'm in love!Your advice, what are they?Love has poisoned me!Your remedies, what are they?I hear them shout: "fast, Bind him feet!"But if my heart that has gone mad!Those strings on my feetWhat is the point?”
“Everyone sees the unseen in proportion to the clarity of his heart, and that depends upon how much he has polished it. Whoever has polished it more sees more - more unseen forms become manifest to him.”
“What can I do my friends, if I do not know?I am neither Christian nor Jew, nor Muslim nor Hindu. What can I do? What can I do?Not of the East, nor of the West, Nor of the land, nor of the sea,Not of nature's essence, nor of circling heavens. What could I be?”
“Be certain that in the religion of Love there are no believers and unbelievers. LOVE embraces all.”
“This mirror inside me shows.I can’t say what, but I can’t not know.I run from body. I run from spirit.I do not belong anywhere.”
“Speak a new languageso that the worldwill be a new world.”
“Moonlight floods the whole sky from horizon to horizon;How much it can fill your room depends on its windows.”
“There's a field somewhere beyond all doubt and wrong doing.I'll meet you there.”
“Respond to every call that excites your spirit.”
“Forget safety. Live where you fear to live.”
“Do you know what you are?You are a manuscript oƒ a divine letter.You are a mirror reflecting a noble face. This universe is not outside of you. Look inside yourself;everything that you want, you are already that.”
“You think of yourselfas a citizen of the universe.You think you belong to this world of dust and matter.Out of this dustyou have created a personal image,and have forgottenabout the essence of your true origin”
“It is certain that an atom of goodness on the path of faith is never lost.”
“Each has to enter the nest made by the other imperfect bird.”
“These pains you feel are messengers. Listen to them.”
“Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray.”
“You had better run from me. My words are fire.”
“Atom, you want to flee the sun? Madman, give up!You're a jar; fate's a stone- kick against it, and you''l waste your wine.”
“Do you pay regular visits to yourself? Don't argue or answer rationally. Let us die, and dying, reply.”
“The waterwheel accepts water and turns and gives it away, weeping.”
“The Ego is a veil between humans and God’.” “In prayer all are equal.”
“Nothing I say can explain to you Divine LoveYet all of creation cannot seem to stop talking about it.”
“This poetry. I never know what I'm going to say.I don't plan it.When I'm outside the saying of it,I get very quiet and rarely speak at all.”
“Lovers find secret placesinside this violent worldwhere they make transactions with beauty.”
“A wealth you cannot imagineflows through you.Do not consider what strangers say.Be secluded in your secret heart-house,that bowl of silence.”
“When you have indulged a lust, your wing drops off;you become lame, abandoned by a fantasy.…People fancy they are enjoying themselves,but they are really tearing out their wingsfor the sake of an illusion.”
“The angel is free because of his knowledge, the beast because of his ignorance. Between the two remains the son of man to struggle.”
“Your depression is connected to your insolenceand refusal to praise. Whoever feels himself walking on the path, and refuses to praise--that man or womansteals from others every day--is a shoplifter!The sun became full of light when it got hold of itself.Angels only began shining when they achieved discipline.The sun goes out whenever the cloud of not-praising comes.The moment the foolish angel felt insolent, he heard the door close.”
“The cure for pain is in the pain.”
“On the path of Love we are neither masters nor the owners of our lives. We are only a brush in the hand of the Master Painter.”
“Never lose hope, my heart, miracles dwell in the invisible. If the whole world turns against you keep your eyes on the Friend.”
“There is a loneliness more precious than life. There is a freedom more precious than the world. Infinitely more precious than life and the world is that moment when one is alone with God.”