Jalal al-Din Rumi’s Early Influences

Jalal al-Din Rumi’s Early Influences

Jalal al-Din Rumi, commonly referred to as Rumi, was a renowned Sufi poet who was born in 1207 in Balkh (currently Afghanistan), and died in 1273 in Konya, Turkey (Gretty, 2012). A visionary of his time, Rumi’s legacy has withstood the test of time, and remains the best selling poet in the English-speaking world (Robinson, 2016).

Jalal al-Din Rumi

Rumi’s father, Baha al-Din, was a well known mystic, scholar, and jurist from Khorasan (between Afghanistan and Iran), who travelled to Konya with his family and followers, establishing a religious school. After his death, Rumi became his father’s successor at twenty-five, establishing himself as a well respected scholar (Gretty, 2012). According to Robinson (2016), a common theme throughout Rumi’s early life was immigration, given his father’s traveling. This exposed him to new ways of life, as they left an “old” Islamic world and entered a “new” society where they learned Persian and experienced new people. 

Sama, the Whirling Dervishes dance.

Sufism, a form of mysticism within Islam, was a huge part of Rumi’s life, eventually prompting him to establish the Mevlevi order which became one of the most well-known of the Sufi orders Gretty, 2012). His teachings focussed on acceptance of both negative and positive experiences, and looking at the world with new eyes. He also advocated for meditation, music, and dance (Gretty, 2012). Sufis believe that the path to salvation is not through religious laws dictated by clergymen, but through the individual’s own use of the Islamic way to search for their truth. They also believe that their love and surrender for God will substitute all other needs they had once been accustomed to. Through his Sufi teachings, Rumi established a whirling dance known as Sama, that is meant to help them distance themselves from material objects (Mannani, 2010). 

Rumi thinking about Shamsaddin

Divan-i Shamsi Tabriz.

While in his thirties, Rumi met an older mystic wanderer by the name of Shamsaddin of Tabriz, who greatly influenced both Rumi’s professional and personal life. Shamsaddin helped Rumi move even farther away from the traditional Islamic way, and more towards mysticism (Mannani, 2010; Schimmel, 2017). According to Mannani (2010), Rumi was a serious and respected religious scholar until he met Shamsaddin, who altered his way of thinking.  It is accepted by multiple scholars (Mannani, 2010; Mirdal, 2012; Schimmel 2017) that Rumi was involved in a deep relationship (whether romantic or strictly platonic is truly unknown) with Shamsaddin, and when he disappeared due to the disapproval from Rumi’s family and followers, Rumi wrote collections of love poems dedicated to him, entitled Divan-i Shamsi Tabriz. During this time, he wrote ghazals, known as lyrical poetry, expressing love, longing, and suffering. According to (Schimmel 2017), Rumi wrote an estimated 36,000 ghazals, with nearly one-third mentioning Shamsaddin. With most of them, he even signed the poetry with his name as a sign of respect. It is evident that Shamsaddin of Tabriz had an incredible impact and influence on not only Rumi as an individual, but as a poet. An example of a poem influenced by Shamsaddin reads:

Not alone I keep on singing

Shamsaddin and Shamsaddin,

But the nightingale in gardens

sings, the partridge in the hills.

Day of splendor. Shamsaddin, and

turning heaven! Shamsaddin!

Mine of jewels: Shamsaddin, and

Shamsaddin is day and night […]     (Divan 1081, referenced in Schimmel, 2017, pp. 75).

Even in poems and verses that do not directly mention Shamsaddin’s name, Schimmel (2017) argues that the love and adoration Rumi felt for him was secretly expressed through hundreds of metaphors, symbols, and allusions throughout the 65,000 verses he wrote. She also argues that his initial intentions were not to express “unity of being”, but were meant to express the force of true love that alters ones life.

              

 

His poetry is heavily influenced by the Sufi tradition, specifically the topic of love, establishing him as “the founder and proponent of loving mysticism” (Mannani, 2010, pp. 164). Although his background was as an Islamic religious scholar, the Sufism he practiced influenced him to “believe in the unity and the universality of all religions”, (Mannani, 2010, pp. 165), and that God is seen everywhere. This openness is what scholars attribute to his global success, as readers from all religions, cultures, and nations can relate to it. According to Mannani (2010), “he believed in the freedom of thought and expression and in the need to be kind, generous, and forgiving to all who one comes in contact with” (pp. 165).  

Rabi'a al-Adawiya

Illustration from Divan-i Shamsi Tabriz.

When researching whether or not Rabi’a al-Adawiya, one of the first Sufis from the 8th century and among the most influential Sufi women, was a key influence for Rumi’s poetry, little to no credible evidence was found. The Sufi teachings and beliefs of Rabi’a do resemble those of Rumi’s in regards to the idea of love (Ford, 1999), however it is unknown whether her specific Sufi ideology was influential to him. Although arguably similar, the research conducted for this paper did not find direct links between Rabia’s teachings and Rumi’s early influences for his poetry. According to Robinson (2016), “Rabi’a left behind no texts of her own; nor was she signifiant enough to in her tie to attract the attention of many ninth-century authors” (pp. 55). Because she did not leave behind written accounts of her teachings, this may be why scholars have not conducted much research as to whether or not her Sufi teachings influenced the work of Rumi.

Baha al-Din

Although the links between Rabi’a and Rumi could not be directly traced for this paper, Arberry (1962) argued that some of Rumi’s earliest influences were the writings and teachings of his father, specifically a book he wrote entitled Ma-arif (discovered by Prof. Ritter). Arberry (1962) discussed how one of Rumi’s early biographers (Faridun Sipahsalar) traced his studies to his father’s writings, establishing the influence it had on Rumi’s poetry. Arberry then credits Prof. Furuzanfar for researching the sources Rumi used to write Mathnawi, and for being able to prove the link to Ma-arif. According to Arberry (1962), many difficult passages and themes to understand in Rumi’s Mathnawi could be explained by Baha al-Din’s Ma-Arif. He also argues that the influential role of Shamsaddin of Tabriz has been overestimated, while the influence of Rumi’s father has been underestimated. The Ma-arif compiles meditations on Quranic passages and God, as well as mystical experiences that accompany those meditations. It is also much more poetic than prose, consisting of rhythmic verses and imagery that resemble those later composed by Rumi. Arberry (1962) attributes these similarities to Rumi’s intense studies of his father’s work at a younger age. Arberry also makes the connection between Rumi’s whirring dance, and his father’s mention of a similar ritual in the Ma-arif. Baha al-Din was an “intoxicated mystic” by every sense of the word according to Arberry (1962), and he argues that learning from his father made him more disciplined, human, and humorous with his writing. 

Mathnawi

Jalal al-Din Rumi’s poetic genius has continuously influenced both readers and writers for centuries after his death, demonstrating his incredible talent. Based off evidence presented by Sufi and Rumi scholars, it is clear that Rumi was exposed to numerous influential individuals throughout his lifetime. From Sufi teachings as a child, and his father Baha al-Din, to Shamsaddin of Tabriz, much has gone into shaping the renowned poet he became.

                                                    References

Artery, A. J. Jalal al-Din Rumi.  Islamic Studies, Vol 1, No. 1, pp. 89-105. Islamic Research Institute, International Islamic University, Islamabad. (Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20832622)

BBC News (September, 2009). The Life of Rumi: Jalaluddin Rumi. BBC Religions. (Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/art/rumi_1.shtml)

Chittick, William C. (March, 1993). The Spiritual Path of Love in Ibn al-Arabi and Rumi. Mystics Quarterly. Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 4-16. Pennsylvania State University Press. (Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20717149)

Ford, Heidi A. (Fall, 1999). The Miracles of Rabi’a al-Adawiya. Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion. Vol. 15, No. 2. Indiana University Press. (Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25002363) 

Mannani, Manijeh. (Autumn, 2010). Metaphysics od the Heart in the Sufi Poetry of Rumi. Religion & Literature, Vol. 42, No. 3, pp. 161-168. The University of Notre Dame. 

Mirdal, Gretty M. (Decemeber, 2012). Mevlana Jalal-ad-Din Rumi and Mindfulness. Journal of Religion and Health, Vol. 51, No. 4 (December 2012), pp. 1202-1215. Springer. (Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23352778)  

Robinson, Chase F. (2016). Islamic Civilization in Thirty Lives the First 1,000 Years. pp. 169-177. University of California Press. Oakland, CA.

Schimmel, Annemarie. (April, 2017). Rumi: Sufi Mystic and Poet. Encyclopedia Britannica. (Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rumi) 

Links to Photos

http://www.eloriente-express.com/2014/04/el-anhelo-de-rabia-al-adawiyya.html

http://www.hellotravel.com/events/whirling-dervishes-festival 

http://sologak1.blogspot.com/p/400-rumi-quotes.html

http://www.ideachampions.com/poetry/archives/2016/09/on_a_bone_cold.shtml

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahāʾ_al-dīn_al-ʿĀmilī

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/435934438911749471/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/435934438911749471/

https://quotefancy.com/rumi-quotes 

http://www.al-huda.com/Article_3of122.htm 

http://www.sangemeel.com/ProductCatalog.aspx?SpecialSeries=Books%20on%20Rumi&Page=1 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/463518986620359721/

http://www.rumionfire.com/shams/