Jalal Ad Din Muhammad Rumi

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.

"Don’t cry or shed tears on my death", he was beyond happy and well ready to leave the world behind knowing all the secrets of it.

" The grave is the curtain of paradise behind"

Some basic background on the great Rumi above.

I been reading all this years but nothing of his .

Years of my life wasted not knowing about him and his wisdoms but stayed till very late at night memorising junks instead.

He taught us about god, love, and reminded us our forgotten nature.

He laid out the secrets of life guiding us home.

I first heard about Rumi in the summer year ago.

I started knowing his poetry on Tiktoks but must say they initially didn't resonate with me as i never into poetry to start with.

I didnt enjoy it back then when we had to do English and Malay literatures in high school. Very heavy and we did them purely for the sake of exam.

A decent time and thought are needed to decipher the meaning behind those words.

When i got the nudge to revisit his works, then i bought myself the hardcopy version translated by Nader Al Khalili on Amazon.

Its pretty 128 pages book divided into 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 audiology version, or the one in the original language Farsi and to take time understanding the context and the background story behind them.

So i gave another go and just read a page slowly . Still didnt 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 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 special worthy of your attention and time.

I simply put them on while doing something else at home.

Listening the poetry being read out loud or in the original Farsi was like listening those beautiful words from Rumi himself.

i quoted Rumi many times.

Hes like a wise brother i never knew I had.

It’s impossible not to dedicate everything in his honour .

He is awakened soul who found God ages ago in the 13th century and have kindly laid out the secrets of the world in his poetry.

His beautiful works echo the same wisdoms am learning through spirituality myself.

If theres only one thing the world must know then its his poetry.

His works should really be studied inside out and be made mainstream.

He guided us to ultimate freedom.

There’s zero need to be afraid of somebody who has different outlook/ opinions on life.

It's odd that Rumi is stranger to many of us despite our years and years of formal education.

He wrote roughly 30000 poems in his life.

In this age of technology , hidden knowledge is now widely available for all.

This is the promised enlightenment era.

The public is well educated and better informed to draw their own conclusion instead of accepting everything blindly.

AI reported Rumi sold millions copies of Masnavi but the exact numbers unknown and enlisted the following as why he was suprisingly unknown to masses.

• Cultural and language barriers as Rumi' works are in Persion

• 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.

Who hidden Rumi from us?

Is that you?

You can make up your mind yourself.

Lets spread Rumi's legacy to help others coming home.