Rūmī , in full Jalāl al-Dīn al-Rūmī byname Mawlānā (Arabic: “Our Master”), (born c. Sept. 30, 1207, Balkh, Ghūrid empire—died Dec. 17, 1273, Konya, Anatolia), The greatest Sufi mystic and among the most renowned Persian poets. He was a teacher at a madrasah in Anatolia when he met Shams al-Dīn (“Sun of Religion”), a wandering dervish who revealed to him the inner mysteries of divine majesty; their intimate relationship scandalized Rūmī’s followers, who likely had Shams al-Dīn murdered. The disappearance of his companion turned Rūmī to poetry, and his Dīvān-e Shams (“Collected Poetry of the Sun”) contains verses on his love and longing for Shams al-Dīn. His main work, the didactic epic Mas̄navī-ye Maʿnavī (“Spiritual Couplets”), widely influenced Muslim mystical thought and literature. He is believed to have composed poetry while in a state of ecstasy and often accompanied his verses by a whirling dance. After his death, his disciples were organized as the Mawlawiyyah (Mevlevī), a Sufi order called in the West the “whirling dervishes,” and his influence on Turkish culture is inestimable. His poems, originally in Persian, have been translated into a number of languages, including English, and have enjoyed a worldwide following into the modern period.
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