Who Was Rumi And Why Do We Love Him So Much?
Jalal Ad-Din Muhammad Rumi lived between 1207 and 1273. He was also known as ‘Mawlana’, meaning our guide, or just Rumi. The mystical elements of Rumi’s ideas were inspirational within Sufism, Turkey and the Middle East. However, it seems that the West discovered his magic so much later. Today, Rumi’s works continue to be translated into a plethora of languages across the globe. So, what is it about Rumi, Sufism and love that we adore so much?
Rumi’s Background
Rumi was born in Balkh, in Persia. When the threat of invasion by Mongols appeared, his family relocated to Anatolia in Turkey. There he met the Persian poets Attar and Shams al-Din Tabrizi, who had a strong infuence on him. So much so that he, subsequently, wrote thousands of verses of Persian and Arabic poetry, after dedicating himself to Sufism. The Sufi idea of uniting with the Divine through love captured his imagination. From then on, his life was shaped by his desire to explain the relationship between humans and God. He believed in spiritual growth and an insight into the human-divine relationship derived through emotion. Moreover, he believed you could access this emotion through music, song and dance.
Some of his key works include “Rhyming Couplets of Profound Spiritual Meaning”, “What Is Within Is Within” and “The Works of Shams of Tabriz”.
Rumi, Sufism And Love
Rumi became a teacher in a Sufi order, thinking of himself as a medium or communicator between man and God. He wrote down his experience in the form of poetry as he felt is was important to communicate his visions. In contrast to mainstream Islamic practice, he set aside the vehicle of rational analysis of the Holy Qu’ran for divine guidance. Instead, he preferred rituals and invocation. Hence, he became renowned for his ‘ecstatic revelations’. In 1244 he became the Master of a Sufi order. There he taught his emotional interpretation of the Holy Qu’ran and the fundamental importance of music, dance and song in religious rituals and ceremonies.
The Constant Flow of Life
Central to Rumi’s teaching is the idea of the endless flow of life. Specifically, that the universe and everything in it operates in an endless cycle or motion. Moreover, God or Divine Love is omnipresent. He suggested that man was part of this flow and it was our personal journey to discover our role within it.
For example, Rumi suggested that life is a progression from one form to another. Additionally, he said that death and decay are an inevitable part of this cycle of life, death and rebirth. Hence he also believe we should release all fear of loss. He explained this by saying that anything lost comes back to us in another form.
The Whirling Dervishes
The Mawlawi Order of Sufism was founded after Rumi’s death in 1273. Otherwise known as the ‘Whirling Dervishes’ this order was famous for using dance as part of the Sema ceremony. Specifically, this dance represents the journey of spirituality through love, from ignorance to perfection.
As an aside, the Mawlawi Order was banned in Turkey in 1925, and remained illegal until 1954 when it received the right to perform on specific occasions.
The popularity of Rumi, Sufism and love didn’t rise in the West until the 20th century. In fact, it’s easy to peceive the obvious resonance between Rumi’s message of love and the New Age values of the 1960s.
What Is Sufism?
Sufism is the mystical and aesthetic interpretation of the Holy Qur’an. It is a belief and practice in which Muslims seek to find the truth of divine love and knowledge through direct personal experience of the Divine.
Some people believe that Sufism relates back to the practice of Zoroastrianism, founded by the Iranian prophet and reformer Zoroaster in 6 BCE.
Sufism consists of a variety of mystical paths that are designed to understand the nature of humanity and of the Divine and to manifest and facilitate the experience of the divine love presence and wisdom in the world. In fact, Sufism has existed as a part of Islam since a few decades after its foundation in 610 AD. The first stage of Sufism appeared in pious circles as a reaction against the worldliness of the early Umayyad period (661–749). However, it has not always been accepted by mainstream Islamic scholars.
The introduction of the element of love, which changed asceticism into mysticism, is attributed to a lady called Rābiʿah al-ʿAdawīyah from Basra. She suggested the idea of a love of God that had no hope of paradise nor a fear of hell, merely an absolute love.
The Path of Sufism
The path or tariqah of the Sufi is an interesting one. It begins with repentance. The teacher or guide, often called a ‘shaykh’ accepts the seeker or knowledge as a disciple. The seeker must then follow certain practices including meditation.
The disciple must follow the teacher by literally putting himself or herself in the teachers hands. Even more interesting is the struggle against the lower soul or ‘jihad’ where the lower soul must be tamed to work towards and with God, rather than away from or against the Divine. This ‘struggle’ taught of the polarity of emotion that increases as the disciple nears enlightenment or oneness with Divine love.
The disciple follows a number of spiritual stations after repentance. These are referred to as abstinence, renunciation and poverty. Interestingly, the purpose of this process allows the disciple to reach a state of unity with everything, a oneness where there is no separate self. In fact, it seems no different to the teachings of Carl Jung and other schools of mysticism, where we’re taught we have to let go of our ‘self’ in order to reach enlightenment.
Is There A Connection Between Sufism And The Knights Templar?
The 13th century, was the golden age of Sufism. During that time, the Spanish-born Ibn alʿArabī created a comprehensive theosophical system. Actually, this system concerned the relationship between God and the world. Moreover, it became the foundation for a theory of “Unity of Being.”
At that time, the basic ideals of Sufism permeated the whole world of Islam, all the way to India.
I couldn’t help but wonder if there is a connection between the Knights Templar and the Sufis during the 12th and 13th century.
Portugal, which we might refer to as Knights Templar country, was founded in 1143 and the geographical proximity of the Moors in Spain, and the rise of fraternal orders in Sufism around the same time struck a chord for me. With a spot of synchronicity, I stumbled upon this text, suggesting that my gut feeling might be ‘on point’.
It says “Some scholars theorise that many of the esoteric impulses of Europe, from the Middles Ages on, point to Sufi influence. The Templar Knights may very well have patterned their function after the Islamic spiritual military forces known as The Assassins. The Assassins were first known as the Nizari Isma’ilis. They were most known for their religious tolerance, devotion to the shiite principle of direct communion with God, and the strategic use of selective political murder to eliminate military threats to their community, while maintaining the existence of the futuwwat. In Islamic civilisation, the futuwwat: ‘spiritual chivalry’ (were military and economic orders similar to the knightly fraternities and guilds of medieval Europe.”
Are You Interested To Find Out More?
I have always found something reassuring and beautiful about the writings of Rumi. My passion for his work led me on an exploration into Sufism and beyond.
Personally, I have found the exploration into Sufism absolutely fascinating. If you’d like to go deeper into this subject, I would highly recommend reading the works of Idries Shah. Shah was a teacher of the Sufi tradition who wrote over 30 books about Sufism, spirituality, psychology and culture prior to his death in 1996.
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