Jalal Ad Din Muhammad Rumi
- theraccoonarmy
- Jun 25, 2025
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 27
Or affectionately known as Rumi.
A 13th century Persian poet, Islamic scholar and sufi mystic.
Born on 30/09/1207 in Balkh , Afghanistan.
He moved with his family at young age to Konya in Turkey.
Rumi early education was heavily influenced by Islamic teaching.
A very well versed in theology, law and poet.
His meeting with wandering dervish , Sham Al Tabrizi led to spiritual life change.
His most celebrated works include Masnavi and Diwan Al Sham Al Tabrizi.
His poetry explores the themes of love,spirituality and the quest for devine union.
His works transcended cultural and religious boundaries.
Rumi passed away on 17/12/1273.
" The grave is the curtain of paradise behind"
Some introductory info on the highly appraised world renowned Persian poet ,Rumi.
I been reading all this years but none of Rumi.
I had no idea who he was as I was distracted with 'life'.
I believe in Rumi because he found the way home, he found god.
He taught us about god, true love, and reminded us our forgotten nature.
He gave us the secrets of life leading us home.
I came across Rumi first in the summer a year ago.
His works showed up on my TikTok's but they initially didn't resonate with me because I was never into poetry.
Back in high school we were forced fed on the English and Malay literatures just for the sake of exam.
A decent time and thought are a must to grasp the true meaning of those words.
When I got the nudge to revisit his works, I gifted myself the hardcopy version of his poetry translated by Nader Al Khalili.
A diary sized 128 pages coloured book presented in 4 chapters, the intro, pearls of the deep, fountain of fire and dancing the flame.
I scanned through the pages quickly one night and I stopped almost halfway through.
It's heavy duty but scanning through poetry is a crime.
AI recommended the audio version, or the one in the original language Farsi and to take time understanding the verses and their meanings.
So I gave another go and just read a page slowly . Still didn't work.
Dry!
It all changed after listening to his poetry on Youtube for the first time.
They are beautifully presented and enhanced with lovely background music and graphics.
It hit differently compared to reading the poetry from a book in my mind alone.
I supposed its the lost in translation case, its hard to capture the essence of his poetry by just plain reading.
Like I was barely scratching even the surface .
They are many free videos available dedicated to Rumi, mostly in English but there are also some in the beautiful Farsi and other languages as well.
The audio versions are definitely worthy of your ears and time.
I simply play them on while doing something else at home.
Listening the poetry being read out loud or in the original Farsi is like listening those beautiful words from Rumi himself.
I quoted Rumi many times.
He's like the wise mentor I wished I had.
It’s impossible not to dedicate this writing in his honour .
The awakened soul who found God and beautifully laid out the wisdoms as the shining light guiding us since the ancient past.
His beautiful works echo the same wisdoms am only learning through my own journey.
If theres only one thing we all must know then let it be his wisdoms..
There’s zero need to be afraid or hostile to somebody with different outlook/ opinions on life.
It's interesting that Rumi is stranger to many of us despite years and years of our formal education.
He is clearly excluded from the mainstream.
He should be as celebrated as Jesus and Muhammad for all his life transforming wisdoms.
There are approximately 30000 spiritual poems written to his name.
In this age of technology the promised enlightenment era , hidden knowledge is no longer contained.
We are wiser and hopefully will be as critical to the flawed inherited generational beliefs and values.
AI reported Rumi sold millions copies of Masnavi but the exact numbers unknown and enlisted the following as why he is surprisingly unknown to many.
Cultural and language barriers as Rumi' works are in Persian
Historical context as his works are rooted int he historical and cultural contexts at that time
Islamic and Sufi association which might put off some people
competition with contemporary poets
Exclusion from the academic curriculum.
Did you hide Rumi from us?
Lets spread Rumi's words instead and help others coming home.
