Some were chronicles of Sufi masters, for instance Ansari's Tabagat al-Suffiya ("Generations of Sufis") and some were anthologies of parables narrated in poetry, such as Attar's Asrar Nameh ("Book of Mysteries"). Some of these books were systematic theoretical treatises, for example, Hujwiri's Kashf al-Mahjub ("The Revelation of the Veiled"). The earliest didactic literature on Sufism was produced by Sufi masters from Khorasan. These are too enormous to be discussed in detail here, but in order to place Rumi in his proper context, I should mention the following points:ġ. Drawing on its rich mystical and literary heritage, Khorasanian Sufism has made great contributions to mystical thought. The Sufism that emerged in Khorasan should not be understood merely as the mystical dimension of the Arabic religion of Islam (although it reflected that as well), for this would be like regarding Zen Buddhism as Indian because the Buddha lived and taught in India. Among the earliest Sufi masters, for instance, was Ibrahim bin Adham, who was a prince in Balkh in the eighth century ad but left his palace (much like the Buddha) in search of a spiritual life.
It was also one of the two birthplaces of Sufism (the second being Mesopotamia). Its fertile intellectual soil has nurtured Zoroastrian, Buddhist, Greek, Manichaean, and Islamic traditions. Khorasan is one of the major centers of religious and mystical thought in history. After Afghanistan was separated from Persia under British influence in the nineteenth century, the Khorasan province shrank to its present extent within Iran, and its eastern sector, including Balkh, Marv, and Herat, became part of Afghanistan. Balkh, together with the historical cities of Neyshabur, Mash'had, Marv, and Herat, were parts of the province of Khorasan. Rumi did not appear in a vacuum he stood on the shoulders of giants spanning centuries before him.įrom the hagiographies that his son (Sultan Valad) and his disciples (Feridun Sepah-salar and Shamsuddin Ahmad Aflaki) have left, we know that Jalaluddin Mohammad, later to be known as Rumi, was born on September 30, 1207, and raised in the city of Balkh, which was then the capital of the Persian kingdom under Mohammad Kharazm-shah. I have sometimes noted that Rumi's popular image, and the translations of his work, tend to uproot him from his cultural soil and transplant him to today's world with its "politically correct" language and notions. But it is important to remember that this vision was rooted in his historical, geographical, cultural, literary, and spiritual background. The fact that Rumi's poems reach us across cultures, languages, and centuries is a testimony to his universal love and vision. Despite Rumi's popularity, several aspects about him and his poetry are less known or misinterpreted in anthologies and translations of his work.
I am delighted to see this phenomenon not only because Rumi, this thirteenth-century Persian poet, is part of my cultural roots but also because he represents one of the greatest mystical minds in human history, and his poetry and thought provide effective spiritual solutions to many of today's problems in our materialistic, divided, and violent world. This is largely thanks to the free-verse English translations of his poems, notably by Coleman Barks, whose 1995 book The Essential Rumi has sold hundred of thousands of copies'a rare achievement for a poetry book. Over the years, I have witnessed with delight the rising popularity of his poetry in the Western world. A major part of my life has been spent abroad'in India, Japan, and the United States'and in all these countries, Rumi has been a spiritual companion to me. Thirty years ago, when I left my homeland, I took a few Persian poetry books with me, and one of them was of course Rumi's. I first learned about Rumi's poetry in my Persian textbooks as a young boy growing up in Iran. "Garden of Secrets: The Real Rumi." Quest 98. 3 (Summer 2010): 106-109.Įach person, of his own imagination, made me his dear friendīut the eye and the ear have no such illumination. Originally printed in the Summer 2010 issue of Quest magazine.Ĭitation: Sorkhabi, Rasoul.
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