Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Frederick De Jong, Turuq and Turuq-

Linked Institutions in Nineteenth-Century Egypt (Leiden: 

E.J. Brill, 1978); John S. Trimingham, The Sufi Orders 

in Islam (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971); Peter 

Van Der Veer, “Playing or Praying: A Sufi Saints Day in 

Surat.” Journal of Asian Studies 51, no. 3 (August 1992): 

545–564.

rosary

  See 

prayer

 

beads

.

ruh

  See 

soul

 

and

 

spirit

.

Rumi, Jalal al-Din

 

(Mawlana, Arabic:  

Our Master)

 

(1207–1273)  Persian Sufi master 

and mystical poet who lived much of his life in Konya, 

Turkey

Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi is perhaps the most 

famous Sufi poet, and he is one of the most 

cherished poets in Persian literature, due to the 

beauty and exuberance of his voluminous poetry, 

which has inspired Muslims for centuries and, 

more recently, spiritual seekers in e

Urope

 and the 

Americas.

Jalal al-Din was born in Balkh (in modern-

day a

Fghanistan

) in 1207, but when still a child 

migrated with his father to Anatolia (known in 

Islamic history as Rum, hence the name Rumi), 

shortly before the Mongol invasions. They settled 

in Konya, which was then the capital of the s

elJUk

dynasty

 of Rum (1077–1307), and Rumi’s father 

secured a position as a teacher of Islamic sciences.

When his father died, Rumi took over the posi-

tion, and was widely respected. In 1244 his life 

changed when he met a wandering 

dervish

 named 

Shams al-Din Tabrizi (d. 1248), and the two 

became inseparable friends. Under the influence 

of Shams, Rumi was inspired to write exuberant 

mystical poetry and was introduced to the ecstatic 

whirling dance known as samaa (Arabic: audi-

tion). Many of his verses were in fact composed 

while Rumi was whirling in samaa. After Shams 

died, Rumi found similar spiritual friendships 

with a goldsmith named Salah al-Din Zarkub (d. 

1258), and later Husam al-Din (d. 1284–85), with 

whose inspiration Rumi began to compose the 

verses that would become his most famous work, 

the  Mathnawi. Rumi died in Konya in 1273. His 

life was described in hagiographical works not 

long after his death, such as Aflaki’s Manaqib al-

arifin (The virtues of the gnostics).

Rumi’s most important works include a large 

collection of short lyric poems called Divan-i 

Tomb of Jalal al-Din Rumi in Konya, Turkey

(Juan E. 

Campo)