Rumi

Sufi poet, author of the Masnavi, and spiritual source of the whirling dervishes.

Life

Boy from Balkh

Rumi was born in Balkh, in present-day Afghanistan. Fleeing the Mongol western campaigns, he moved west with his father as a child, eventually settling in Konya in the Sultanate of Rum, where he succeeded his father as a religious scholar.

Meeting Shams

In 1244 he met the wandering Sufi dervish Shams and, deeply inspired, began writing a great body of mystical poetry. His six-volume masterpiece, the Masnavi, uses parables to expound Sufi thought and has been called "the Quran in Persian."

Masnavi

He died in Konya in 1273, and his disciples founded the Mevlevi Order, which practices whirling dance as devotion.

Legacy

Rumi is honored by Iran, Turkey and Afghanistan alike as a great cultural forebear, and his poetry is also enormously popular in the West.

Major works & achievements

• Masnavi
• Divan-e Shams

Did you know? On the day he died, Muslims, Christians and Jews in Konya all attended his funeral.

Key dates

• 1219Moves west with his father to escape the Mongols (approx.)
• 1228Settles in Konya (approx.)
• 1244Meets Shams
• 1258Begins writing the Masnavi (approx.)
• 1273Died