Edward Rehatsek, "Biography of Jellal-al-din Rumi"
The prince of Sufi poets, Mullana Jellal-al-din Muhammad ul-Balkhiur-Rumi, was born at Balkh on the 6th of the month Rabi I. A.H. 604 (1-st October A.D. 1207).
His principal work is the Mesnavi, which consists of six daftars or volumes, and treats on an extraordinary variety of subjects, stories, fables, parables, legends, and Koran-texts, all permeated by the spirit of the Sufi doctrines; and second to it is his Diwan, a collection of lyrical poems, - both known from the banks of the Ganges to the shores of the Bosporus.
This poet, the founder of the order of whirling dervishes, who have numerous convents and endowed establishments in Turkey, spent the greater portion of his life in that country, and is therefore called "Rumi", the Turk.
CHILDHOOD
According to the Nafhat-ul-uns of Jami, his visions began at a very early age in his own country. When he was five years old he had manifestations from the invisible world, such as sights of angels, of genii, and of men within the domes of glory. It is stated in a record in the handwriting of Mullana Beha-al-din Vulud, that when Jellal-al-din Muhammad, on a certain Friday when six years of age, was playing with some other little boys on the flat house-tops of Balkh, one of the little fellows suggested that they should jump over from one house-top to another; Jellal-al-din replied that as such movements are peculiar to dogs, cats, and other animals, it would be a pity that human beings should imitate them, but that, if they felt any power in their souls, they ought to fly heavenwards together with him. That moment he disappeared from the sight of his playmates, who became sorry and raised a shout of lamentation whereupon he returned after a short while, but with the hue of his countenance changed and his eyes altered, and said:
"Whilst conversing with you, I saw a company of persons dressed in green raiment, who took me up and showed me the miracles of the upper world; but when your cries and wailings ascended they again deposited me here."
It is said that at that age he partook of food only once in three or four days.
TEACHERS AND FRIENDS
It is said that when Jellal-al-din emigrated from Balkh he met Sheikh Farid-al-din Attar at Nishapur, who was at that time well stricken in years, and who presented him with his Esrar-namah, or "book of mysteries," which he ever afterwards carried about his person; he also imitated his doctrines, as it is said:
"Mullana on Attar attended,
From Shams' hands the drink was all nectar."
By Shams his spiritual teacher, Shams Tabrizi, is meant.
Elsewhere we read:
"Attar was soul, Sanai his two eyes;
We came after Sanai and Attar."
On being told that a certain man had said he was at his service
"with heart and life," he replied:
"Hush! Among men this lie finds credit," and asked:
"Whence have you obtained your heart and life, that you can place them at the service of men?".
He was nevertheless in the habit of saying:
"I am not that body which appears to the Asheks (lovers of God),
but the pleasure and gladness produced in the hearts of Murîds (disciples) by my words.
Allah! Allah! when you obtain that gladness, and taste that joy,
consider it happiness, and give thanks; that is me!"
Husam-al-din was merely his amanuensis, but from several flattering references to him in the Mesnavi he might be wrongly considered to have occupied a far higher position. To him he said:
"It is necessary to sit knee to knee with the Avlia (pl. of Veli, saint) of God, because such proximity bears momentous consequences."
Husam-al-din was no doubt a faithful amanuensis and disciple, but on some occasions a little admonition might have been judicious; on the death of his wife he could not be induced for a long time to attend to his duty, and the poet remonstrated:
"One moment to be absent from Him is not good,
For separation will increase mishaps.
No matter what your state; attend on Him,
Because proximity will love augment."
He said that although a bird flying up from the earth cannot reach heaven, it nevertheless gains the advantage of being further from the net; thus a man who becomes a dervish, though he cannot attain perfection, is distinguished above the common crowd of men, and is delivered from the troubles of the world.
A worldly fellow once excused himself to him for his remissness in visiting him, but Jellal-al-din replied:
"There is no need of any excuses, because I am as thankful for your not coming as others are for your coming."
Seeing one of his companions in a state of melancholy, he said:
"All sadness arises from too great attachment to this world; as soon as you are freed from it and consider yourself a stranger therein, you will perceive, from everything you behold or taste, that it cannot abide with you, and that you must go to another place: therefore you will no longer feel any anxiety."
TOLERANCE
He was also in the habit of saying that he is a superior man who does not grieve on being affronted, and he a generous man who gives no pain to one deserving to be affronted. Mullana Siraj-al-din Kunavi was a great man of the period, but not on good terms with Jellal-al-din, and when it was reported to him that the latter had on a certain occasion said:
"I agree with all the seventy-three sects of the Muhammadan religion," he determined to get the Mulla insulted. Accordingly he sent one of his followers, who was a learned man, to ask the Mulla in a large company whether he had really uttered the above sentiment, and in case of receiving an affirmative reply, to affront him with bad language; but to all his taunts the Mulla only smiled and replied:
"I agree also with all you have said," whereupon the man returned ashamed. Sheikh Rakn-al-din alla al-doulah stated that he had been much pleased with this meek answer.
POVERTY
He daily asked his servant, "Is there anything in the house to-day?" and on receiving a negative reply he became exhilarated and thankful, saying:
"Praise be to God, this day our house is like that of the prophet!"
If the servant said, "Whatever we require is at hand in the kitchen," he was displeased and said, "The smell of Pharaoh is rising from this house."
He seldom or never used wax-lights in his house, and was contented with oil-lamps, saying, "Those are for kings, and these for devotees (saluk)."
PIETY
On a certain occasion a company, in which also Sheikh Sadr-al-din Kunavi was present, requested the Mulla to officiate as imam (leader of the prayers), but he replied, "We are Abdals, we sit down or get up wherever we happen to be; those endowed with Sufism and dignity are worthy to be imams," and pointing to Sheikh Sadr-al-din as one of these, he coutinued:
"Whoever prays after a pious imam is just as if he played after the prophet."
One day the Mulla being present at a devotional exercise, it occurred to a dervish to ask him what Fakr* is, whereupon the Mulla recited the following quatrain:
"Fakr is essence, all else accident;
Fakr is health, all else disease.
This world is all deceit and fraud,
Fakr is of the next a mystery."
It has been mentioned above that the Mulla was a disciple of Farid-al-din Attar; him he recollected even during his last illness, when he said to his companions:
"Be not afflicted at my going, because the victorious light will fifty years hence radiate from the spirit of Sheikh Farid-al-din Attar.
Remember me in whatever state you are, that I may aid you, in whatever garment I am."
He also said:
"Do not associate with any persons except such as are of your own kind;
because on this subject my lord Shams-al-din Tabrizi (may God sanctify his secret!)
has said to me that the sign of a disciple (murid) who has found acceptance
is that he never associates with strangers, and that when he suddenly falls into their company
he feels ill at ease, like a hypocrite in a mosque, or a little child in a school."
DYING
On his death-bed he also said to his companions:
"In this world I have but two connections - the one with my body,
and the other with you; this latter connection will not be severed
even after I shall, by the favour of God, become separated and isolated from this world."
On the same occasion Sheikh Sadr-al-din also paid him a visit and said:
"May God restore you to health quickly!"
But the Mulla replied:
"Let my restoration to health consist in the removal of the only remaining garment which yet separates the lover from his beloved. Are you not willing that light should be joined to light?
"Denuded of body am I, and He of unreality.
I roam and verge to bounds of union."
The last injunction of the Mulla to his companions was:
"I recommend you to fear God secretly and openly,
to be frugal in your eating, to sleep little, and to speak little.
To abandon everything sinful, to fast and to pray much.
To renounce every kind of last for ever, and to bear insults from everybody.
Do not keep up any intercourse with fools and vulgar persons,
but cultivate this society of men who are pious and noble.
The best men are those who are useful to the human race,
and the best words are those which are the fewest and the most instructive."
On being asked to appoint a worthy successor, he uttered the name of Hisam-al-din Chelebi; the question being thrice repeated, he gave the fourth time the same reply.
Being questioned concerning his son Sultan Vulud, he replied:
"He is a hero, there is no necessity for any injunction about him."
Then Hisam-al-din Chelebi asked the Mulla whom he wished to pray over his corpse at the burial, and he said, "Sheikh Sadr-al-din."
He expired at sunset on the 5th of the month Jomadi II A.H. 672 (18th December A.D. 1273), at the age of 68 years according to the Muhammadan, or 66 according to the Christian reckoning, at Koniah, i.e. Iconium, in Asia Minor, where he had spent the greater portion of his life, and from its being in the Turkish dominions he obtained the surname of Rumi.
FATHER
The above Sultan Vulud was also a poet, and died at Koniah, A.H. 712 (1312). He is called Beha-al-din, of the same name with Jellal-al-din's father, who, when our poet was yet a boy, being displeased with the government of Khowarizmshah, determined to emigrate for ever from the district of Balkh, under the pretence of going on a pilgrimage to Mekkah. Accordingly he departed with this son and went first to Nishapur, where they made the acquaintance of Sheikh Farid-al-din Attar, who had gathered around him many disciples, and who discovered the precocious talents of the boy, presenting him with the Esrar-namah and uttering the prediction:
"How quick, he said, will this unruly lad
Throw burning fire on anxious souls!"
Both father and son continued their travels in the company of a valuable guide and spiritual teacher, Sayyid Tarmad, whose sobriquet was Burhan; with him they visited the holy shrines of Mekkah and Jerusalem. They had not completed one half of their intended tour, however, when he took leave and advised them to settle in Turkey. Accordingly Beha-al-din took his son Jellal-al-din to Koniah, where they established themselves and ceased their wanderings. At that time Alla-al-din, the Seljukid, governed the country; he was so pleased with the company of Beha-al-din that he became his disciple; when his father died Jellal-al-din took his place, but he soon got tired of worldly honours, and, abandoning his position, dedicated himself wholly to spiritual life:
"But schools and honours pleased him not;
His nature's aspirations were more high,
His pomp and glory seemed but folly to himself,-
Attraction of the spirit-world held his heart."
SHAMS
He sought consolation in the society of kindred spirits, the chief of whom were Shams-al-din Tabrizi-whose name appears at the end of almost every ode of his Diwan in token of affection, because Jallal-al-din himself acknowledged him as his spiritual guide - before Hisam-al-din.
Shams-al-din Tabrizi, whose full name is Mullanâ Shams-al-din Ali Ben Malak Dad Tabrizi, appears to have been a restless character and an innovator. He travelled about much and made many enemies. When Shams-al-din arrived at Koniah for the first time, he paid a visit to Jallâl-al-din, who happened to be sitting near a tank with several books near him; he asked what they were, and on being told that they were called Kyl wa Kâl, he said, "What have you to do with them?" and threw them all into the water. The Mulla exclaimed with a sigh, "O Dervish, what have you done? Some of these were my father's compositions, which cannot be replaced!"
Hereupon Shams-al-din put his hand into the water and pulled out all the books, one after the other; and lo, not one of them was wet. Jellal-al-din was much astonished, but Shams-al-din rejoined: "This is joy and ecstasy: what do you know of these spiritual matters?"
And their intimacy began from that day.
Shams-al-din was constantly roaming about. He wore a robe of coarse black cloth, and took lodgings in the caravanseraî at whatever place he happened to arrive. He came to Koniah A.H. 642 (A.D. 1244), but could not remain there on that occasion longer than one year, as an attempt was made on his life. At that time Jellal-al-din Rumi saw his friend for the last time, and was so grieved at the separation that he withdrew himself entirely from the world, became a dervish, and founded the order of dervishes called after his name, and at present still well known in the Turkish empire.
When Shams-al-din arrived in his travels at Ḳoniah, in A.H. 642, he took lodgings in the quarter of the confectioners. One day Jellâl-al-din, who was engaged in teaching various sciences, happened to pass, with a company of learned men from the college, through the quarter of the confectioners. On that occasion Mullâna Shams-al-din sallied out from his lodgings, and taking hold of the bridle of Jellâl-al-din's mule asked him whether Baiazid (a celebrated saint) or Muhammad was the greater? Jellâl-al-din said, "It seemed that on account of that terrible question the seven heavens had fallen asunder and had been precipitated upon the earth; a large fire appeared to issue from my bowels and to envelop my brains, the smoke whereof ascended to the throne of God, and I replied, 'As Muhammad is the greatest of men, what can Bâizid be?' He rejoined, 'What do Muhammad's words, "We have not known thee as we ought," imply? whilst Bâizid says, "O God, how high is my position! I am the king of kings!"' I replied:
"Bâizid's thirst was quenched by one drop, and he boasted of satisfaction, because the vessel of his intellect was filled thereby. That light was as much as the little window of his house could admit, whilst Muhammad was subject to a great dropsy and thirst, - he was daily praying for closer intimacy.'"
At these words Mullânâ Shams-al-din gave a shout and fell down senseless. Jellâl-al-din alighted from his mule, and ordered his disciples to carry him to the college. He placed the head of Shams-al-din on his own knees, took him by the hand, and they departed together. During three months they lived in retirement, engaged in fasting and prayer; they did not come out once, and no one ventured to disturb their privacy.
According to the Nafhât-ul-uns, in which the flight of Shams-al-din from Koniah is represented in a somewhat supernatural way, the year in which it took place is given as A.H. 645, and not A.H. 643 as stated above. In the Nafhât-ul-uns it is related that one night when Jellâl-al-din and Shams-al-din were sitting together in retirement, a man from without arrived and beckoned to the latter. The Sheikh got up immediately and said to Jellâl-al-din, "They are calling me in order to kill me." Jellâl-al-din waited long in vain for his return; seven men had lain in ambush expecting him with drawn swords, with which they attacked him, but he uttered such a shout that all of them fainted away and fell to the ground. One of these men was Beha-al-din, or as in the lithographed copy, Allâ-al-din Muhammad, the son of Jellâl-al-din. When these seven men recovered their senses, they perceived nothing but one drop of blood, and from that day to this nothing more transpired concerning that prince of the invisible world.
The real cause of the attempt to assassinate Shams-al-din, and of his flight in consequence thereof, must probably be sought in his open disbelief in Islam, which Jellâl-al-din was always cunning enough to disguise tolerably well in his own utterances and writings. He, moreover, so monopolized the society of Jellâl-al-din that the disciples of the latter, together with his son, were determined to murder Shams-al-din. It is plain enough, from the last page of the Mesnavi, that the above conjecture is true, as will appear from the following:
"Some time he with his friend retired sat,
All alien spirits quite shut out,
Enjoying the pure draught of union.
He was the confidant of his good friend;
His pupils did lament and grumble,
'Whence came this ragged mendicant?
Whence brought he all this fraud and roguery,
To isolate so quickly our great Chief?
O God! Now Islâm is despised, destroyed,
The dome of Islâm is now led astray!
This robber is none but a heretic,
By God! his blood is free and free!'"
It may be seen that in these verses the 'great Chief' and the 'dome of Islam' is Jellal-al-din Rumi, whilst the ragged mendicant and heretic robber is Shams-al-din.
HUSAM
Jellal-al-din Rumi's successor Husam-al-din Chelebi, whose full name is Sheikh Husam-al-din Hasan Ben Muhammad Ben Alhasan Ben Akhi Turk Chelebi. Becoming the successor of a Pir or Sheikh, i.e. spiritual guide, implies also the acceptance of all his duties and the allegiance of his pupils; and if the Pir was a man of great authority, learning. His successor is also expected to be one.
MESNAVI
It appears that Husam-al-din got tired of the many Ghazals composed by his teacher Jellal-al-din, and requested him to write a connected and large poem; hereupon the latter pulled out a piece of paper from his turban containing the first twenty-eight distichs of his Mesnavi, beginning with the words:
"Hear how yon reed in sadly pleasing tales
Departed bliss and present woe bewails!"
and ending with the words:
"Here pause my song; and thou vain world, farewell."**
Jellal-al-din said:
"Before you ever thought of it, the idea of composing a work of this kind had been instilled into my heart from on high."
The last piece in the Mesnâvi itself contains an account of the manner in which this celebrated work was commenced, and brought to an end by Husam-al-din, who wrote down every word of it as it fell from the lips of his master. Sometimes Jellâl-al-din was so full of his subject that from the beginning of the night till the next morning dawned he dictated to Hisâm-al-din, who was in the habit of again reading in a loud voice to the Mulla all he had written. When the first volume was completed the wife of Chelebi Hisâm-al-din died, and the work was interrupted, as alluded to in the first distich of the second volume:
"Delayed was this Mesnavi for a time.
Respite was needed blood to milk to change."
After that no interruption of any length appears to have taken place, till the whole work was brought to a termination. That Husam-al-din must have been an enthusiastic admirer of this book appears from the following words he uttered:
"When the Mesnavi is being read aloud, all who are present get drowned in its light, and I behold a company of spirits from the invisible world who cut off with their swords the roots and branches of the faith of all those who do not listen with complete sincerity, and gradually drag them into hell-fire."
But Jellal-al-din replied:
"Of verses mine the foes you see
Headlong dragged to flames of fire.
Hisâm-al-din, saw you their state?
Their acts has God revealed to you?"
The above words of Hisam-al-din imply that as apparently many sentiments contrary to the strict laws of Islam are uttered, - unless listened to with great and sincere attention, the hearing of the Mesnâvi will lead to infidelity, and consequently to eternal perdition; whilst the answer of his master is conceived in that tolerant spirit which permeates the whole Mesnâvi, and which ventures to condemn no one rashly.
No doubt the Mesnâvi contains also many strictly orthodox and even bigoted pieces; it must, however, be allowed that there are many which can never meet with the approval of strict Musalmans of any sect. Such a piece is "Moses and the Herdsman" (Ind. Ant. vol. III. p. 90, March 1874), at the end of which the author even disclaims to be a religious guide, and openly avows that the religion of love is the only true one:
"You must not guidance seek from the inebriate;
Who rend their clothes, can they be asked to mend?
From all religions differs love is belief;
The lovers' sects and rites are God alone."†
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Footnotes
* Poverty in a religious sense, and he who makes a profession of it is a Faḳîr
** This piece was translated by Sir W. Jones, but since his time nothing further has been attempted.
† Though fully aware of my numerous imperfections both as an English and a Persian scholar, I have during the last two years given selections from this great poet, who has not yet met among Europeans with the attention and study p. 299 he deserves. In the text I have not ventured to alter a single word or to touch the metre, whether faulty or not; and in my translations I have aimed chiefly at fidelity. However imperfectly I may have accomplished my task, I venture to hope that I shall not be charged with rashness, since my acquaintance with Jellâl-al-din Rûmi is of more than twenty years' standing, and I flatter myself that I have, during that time, learnt to understand him a little. Nothing would please me more than to see better justice done to this poet than I can do.
_______________________________________________
BY E. REHATSEK, M.C.E., Hon. Mem. B. Br. R. As. Soc.
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY, A JOURNAL OF ORIENTAL RESEARCH
IN ARCHÆOLOGY, HISTORY, LITERATURE, LANGUAGES, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, FOLKLORE,
&c., &c., &c.
EDITED BY JAS. BURGESS, M.R.A.S., F.R.G.S.
VOL. IV.-1875 [Bombay, Education Society's Press]
http://www.sacred-texts.com/journals/ia/bjadr.htm
His principal work is the Mesnavi, which consists of six daftars or volumes, and treats on an extraordinary variety of subjects, stories, fables, parables, legends, and Koran-texts, all permeated by the spirit of the Sufi doctrines; and second to it is his Diwan, a collection of lyrical poems, - both known from the banks of the Ganges to the shores of the Bosporus.
This poet, the founder of the order of whirling dervishes, who have numerous convents and endowed establishments in Turkey, spent the greater portion of his life in that country, and is therefore called "Rumi", the Turk.
CHILDHOOD
According to the Nafhat-ul-uns of Jami, his visions began at a very early age in his own country. When he was five years old he had manifestations from the invisible world, such as sights of angels, of genii, and of men within the domes of glory. It is stated in a record in the handwriting of Mullana Beha-al-din Vulud, that when Jellal-al-din Muhammad, on a certain Friday when six years of age, was playing with some other little boys on the flat house-tops of Balkh, one of the little fellows suggested that they should jump over from one house-top to another; Jellal-al-din replied that as such movements are peculiar to dogs, cats, and other animals, it would be a pity that human beings should imitate them, but that, if they felt any power in their souls, they ought to fly heavenwards together with him. That moment he disappeared from the sight of his playmates, who became sorry and raised a shout of lamentation whereupon he returned after a short while, but with the hue of his countenance changed and his eyes altered, and said:
"Whilst conversing with you, I saw a company of persons dressed in green raiment, who took me up and showed me the miracles of the upper world; but when your cries and wailings ascended they again deposited me here."
It is said that at that age he partook of food only once in three or four days.
TEACHERS AND FRIENDS
It is said that when Jellal-al-din emigrated from Balkh he met Sheikh Farid-al-din Attar at Nishapur, who was at that time well stricken in years, and who presented him with his Esrar-namah, or "book of mysteries," which he ever afterwards carried about his person; he also imitated his doctrines, as it is said:
"Mullana on Attar attended,
From Shams' hands the drink was all nectar."
By Shams his spiritual teacher, Shams Tabrizi, is meant.
Elsewhere we read:
"Attar was soul, Sanai his two eyes;
We came after Sanai and Attar."
On being told that a certain man had said he was at his service
"with heart and life," he replied:
"Hush! Among men this lie finds credit," and asked:
"Whence have you obtained your heart and life, that you can place them at the service of men?".
He was nevertheless in the habit of saying:
"I am not that body which appears to the Asheks (lovers of God),
but the pleasure and gladness produced in the hearts of Murîds (disciples) by my words.
Allah! Allah! when you obtain that gladness, and taste that joy,
consider it happiness, and give thanks; that is me!"
Husam-al-din was merely his amanuensis, but from several flattering references to him in the Mesnavi he might be wrongly considered to have occupied a far higher position. To him he said:
"It is necessary to sit knee to knee with the Avlia (pl. of Veli, saint) of God, because such proximity bears momentous consequences."
Husam-al-din was no doubt a faithful amanuensis and disciple, but on some occasions a little admonition might have been judicious; on the death of his wife he could not be induced for a long time to attend to his duty, and the poet remonstrated:
"One moment to be absent from Him is not good,
For separation will increase mishaps.
No matter what your state; attend on Him,
Because proximity will love augment."
He said that although a bird flying up from the earth cannot reach heaven, it nevertheless gains the advantage of being further from the net; thus a man who becomes a dervish, though he cannot attain perfection, is distinguished above the common crowd of men, and is delivered from the troubles of the world.
A worldly fellow once excused himself to him for his remissness in visiting him, but Jellal-al-din replied:
"There is no need of any excuses, because I am as thankful for your not coming as others are for your coming."
Seeing one of his companions in a state of melancholy, he said:
"All sadness arises from too great attachment to this world; as soon as you are freed from it and consider yourself a stranger therein, you will perceive, from everything you behold or taste, that it cannot abide with you, and that you must go to another place: therefore you will no longer feel any anxiety."
TOLERANCE
He was also in the habit of saying that he is a superior man who does not grieve on being affronted, and he a generous man who gives no pain to one deserving to be affronted. Mullana Siraj-al-din Kunavi was a great man of the period, but not on good terms with Jellal-al-din, and when it was reported to him that the latter had on a certain occasion said:
"I agree with all the seventy-three sects of the Muhammadan religion," he determined to get the Mulla insulted. Accordingly he sent one of his followers, who was a learned man, to ask the Mulla in a large company whether he had really uttered the above sentiment, and in case of receiving an affirmative reply, to affront him with bad language; but to all his taunts the Mulla only smiled and replied:
"I agree also with all you have said," whereupon the man returned ashamed. Sheikh Rakn-al-din alla al-doulah stated that he had been much pleased with this meek answer.
POVERTY
He daily asked his servant, "Is there anything in the house to-day?" and on receiving a negative reply he became exhilarated and thankful, saying:
"Praise be to God, this day our house is like that of the prophet!"
If the servant said, "Whatever we require is at hand in the kitchen," he was displeased and said, "The smell of Pharaoh is rising from this house."
He seldom or never used wax-lights in his house, and was contented with oil-lamps, saying, "Those are for kings, and these for devotees (saluk)."
PIETY
On a certain occasion a company, in which also Sheikh Sadr-al-din Kunavi was present, requested the Mulla to officiate as imam (leader of the prayers), but he replied, "We are Abdals, we sit down or get up wherever we happen to be; those endowed with Sufism and dignity are worthy to be imams," and pointing to Sheikh Sadr-al-din as one of these, he coutinued:
"Whoever prays after a pious imam is just as if he played after the prophet."
One day the Mulla being present at a devotional exercise, it occurred to a dervish to ask him what Fakr* is, whereupon the Mulla recited the following quatrain:
"Fakr is essence, all else accident;
Fakr is health, all else disease.
This world is all deceit and fraud,
Fakr is of the next a mystery."
It has been mentioned above that the Mulla was a disciple of Farid-al-din Attar; him he recollected even during his last illness, when he said to his companions:
"Be not afflicted at my going, because the victorious light will fifty years hence radiate from the spirit of Sheikh Farid-al-din Attar.
Remember me in whatever state you are, that I may aid you, in whatever garment I am."
He also said:
"Do not associate with any persons except such as are of your own kind;
because on this subject my lord Shams-al-din Tabrizi (may God sanctify his secret!)
has said to me that the sign of a disciple (murid) who has found acceptance
is that he never associates with strangers, and that when he suddenly falls into their company
he feels ill at ease, like a hypocrite in a mosque, or a little child in a school."
DYING
On his death-bed he also said to his companions:
"In this world I have but two connections - the one with my body,
and the other with you; this latter connection will not be severed
even after I shall, by the favour of God, become separated and isolated from this world."
On the same occasion Sheikh Sadr-al-din also paid him a visit and said:
"May God restore you to health quickly!"
But the Mulla replied:
"Let my restoration to health consist in the removal of the only remaining garment which yet separates the lover from his beloved. Are you not willing that light should be joined to light?
"Denuded of body am I, and He of unreality.
I roam and verge to bounds of union."
The last injunction of the Mulla to his companions was:
"I recommend you to fear God secretly and openly,
to be frugal in your eating, to sleep little, and to speak little.
To abandon everything sinful, to fast and to pray much.
To renounce every kind of last for ever, and to bear insults from everybody.
Do not keep up any intercourse with fools and vulgar persons,
but cultivate this society of men who are pious and noble.
The best men are those who are useful to the human race,
and the best words are those which are the fewest and the most instructive."
On being asked to appoint a worthy successor, he uttered the name of Hisam-al-din Chelebi; the question being thrice repeated, he gave the fourth time the same reply.
Being questioned concerning his son Sultan Vulud, he replied:
"He is a hero, there is no necessity for any injunction about him."
Then Hisam-al-din Chelebi asked the Mulla whom he wished to pray over his corpse at the burial, and he said, "Sheikh Sadr-al-din."
He expired at sunset on the 5th of the month Jomadi II A.H. 672 (18th December A.D. 1273), at the age of 68 years according to the Muhammadan, or 66 according to the Christian reckoning, at Koniah, i.e. Iconium, in Asia Minor, where he had spent the greater portion of his life, and from its being in the Turkish dominions he obtained the surname of Rumi.
FATHER
The above Sultan Vulud was also a poet, and died at Koniah, A.H. 712 (1312). He is called Beha-al-din, of the same name with Jellal-al-din's father, who, when our poet was yet a boy, being displeased with the government of Khowarizmshah, determined to emigrate for ever from the district of Balkh, under the pretence of going on a pilgrimage to Mekkah. Accordingly he departed with this son and went first to Nishapur, where they made the acquaintance of Sheikh Farid-al-din Attar, who had gathered around him many disciples, and who discovered the precocious talents of the boy, presenting him with the Esrar-namah and uttering the prediction:
"How quick, he said, will this unruly lad
Throw burning fire on anxious souls!"
Both father and son continued their travels in the company of a valuable guide and spiritual teacher, Sayyid Tarmad, whose sobriquet was Burhan; with him they visited the holy shrines of Mekkah and Jerusalem. They had not completed one half of their intended tour, however, when he took leave and advised them to settle in Turkey. Accordingly Beha-al-din took his son Jellal-al-din to Koniah, where they established themselves and ceased their wanderings. At that time Alla-al-din, the Seljukid, governed the country; he was so pleased with the company of Beha-al-din that he became his disciple; when his father died Jellal-al-din took his place, but he soon got tired of worldly honours, and, abandoning his position, dedicated himself wholly to spiritual life:
"But schools and honours pleased him not;
His nature's aspirations were more high,
His pomp and glory seemed but folly to himself,-
Attraction of the spirit-world held his heart."
SHAMS
He sought consolation in the society of kindred spirits, the chief of whom were Shams-al-din Tabrizi-whose name appears at the end of almost every ode of his Diwan in token of affection, because Jallal-al-din himself acknowledged him as his spiritual guide - before Hisam-al-din.
Shams-al-din Tabrizi, whose full name is Mullanâ Shams-al-din Ali Ben Malak Dad Tabrizi, appears to have been a restless character and an innovator. He travelled about much and made many enemies. When Shams-al-din arrived at Koniah for the first time, he paid a visit to Jallâl-al-din, who happened to be sitting near a tank with several books near him; he asked what they were, and on being told that they were called Kyl wa Kâl, he said, "What have you to do with them?" and threw them all into the water. The Mulla exclaimed with a sigh, "O Dervish, what have you done? Some of these were my father's compositions, which cannot be replaced!"
Hereupon Shams-al-din put his hand into the water and pulled out all the books, one after the other; and lo, not one of them was wet. Jellal-al-din was much astonished, but Shams-al-din rejoined: "This is joy and ecstasy: what do you know of these spiritual matters?"
And their intimacy began from that day.
Shams-al-din was constantly roaming about. He wore a robe of coarse black cloth, and took lodgings in the caravanseraî at whatever place he happened to arrive. He came to Koniah A.H. 642 (A.D. 1244), but could not remain there on that occasion longer than one year, as an attempt was made on his life. At that time Jellal-al-din Rumi saw his friend for the last time, and was so grieved at the separation that he withdrew himself entirely from the world, became a dervish, and founded the order of dervishes called after his name, and at present still well known in the Turkish empire.
When Shams-al-din arrived in his travels at Ḳoniah, in A.H. 642, he took lodgings in the quarter of the confectioners. One day Jellâl-al-din, who was engaged in teaching various sciences, happened to pass, with a company of learned men from the college, through the quarter of the confectioners. On that occasion Mullâna Shams-al-din sallied out from his lodgings, and taking hold of the bridle of Jellâl-al-din's mule asked him whether Baiazid (a celebrated saint) or Muhammad was the greater? Jellâl-al-din said, "It seemed that on account of that terrible question the seven heavens had fallen asunder and had been precipitated upon the earth; a large fire appeared to issue from my bowels and to envelop my brains, the smoke whereof ascended to the throne of God, and I replied, 'As Muhammad is the greatest of men, what can Bâizid be?' He rejoined, 'What do Muhammad's words, "We have not known thee as we ought," imply? whilst Bâizid says, "O God, how high is my position! I am the king of kings!"' I replied:
"Bâizid's thirst was quenched by one drop, and he boasted of satisfaction, because the vessel of his intellect was filled thereby. That light was as much as the little window of his house could admit, whilst Muhammad was subject to a great dropsy and thirst, - he was daily praying for closer intimacy.'"
At these words Mullânâ Shams-al-din gave a shout and fell down senseless. Jellâl-al-din alighted from his mule, and ordered his disciples to carry him to the college. He placed the head of Shams-al-din on his own knees, took him by the hand, and they departed together. During three months they lived in retirement, engaged in fasting and prayer; they did not come out once, and no one ventured to disturb their privacy.
According to the Nafhât-ul-uns, in which the flight of Shams-al-din from Koniah is represented in a somewhat supernatural way, the year in which it took place is given as A.H. 645, and not A.H. 643 as stated above. In the Nafhât-ul-uns it is related that one night when Jellâl-al-din and Shams-al-din were sitting together in retirement, a man from without arrived and beckoned to the latter. The Sheikh got up immediately and said to Jellâl-al-din, "They are calling me in order to kill me." Jellâl-al-din waited long in vain for his return; seven men had lain in ambush expecting him with drawn swords, with which they attacked him, but he uttered such a shout that all of them fainted away and fell to the ground. One of these men was Beha-al-din, or as in the lithographed copy, Allâ-al-din Muhammad, the son of Jellâl-al-din. When these seven men recovered their senses, they perceived nothing but one drop of blood, and from that day to this nothing more transpired concerning that prince of the invisible world.
The real cause of the attempt to assassinate Shams-al-din, and of his flight in consequence thereof, must probably be sought in his open disbelief in Islam, which Jellâl-al-din was always cunning enough to disguise tolerably well in his own utterances and writings. He, moreover, so monopolized the society of Jellâl-al-din that the disciples of the latter, together with his son, were determined to murder Shams-al-din. It is plain enough, from the last page of the Mesnavi, that the above conjecture is true, as will appear from the following:
"Some time he with his friend retired sat,
All alien spirits quite shut out,
Enjoying the pure draught of union.
He was the confidant of his good friend;
His pupils did lament and grumble,
'Whence came this ragged mendicant?
Whence brought he all this fraud and roguery,
To isolate so quickly our great Chief?
O God! Now Islâm is despised, destroyed,
The dome of Islâm is now led astray!
This robber is none but a heretic,
By God! his blood is free and free!'"
It may be seen that in these verses the 'great Chief' and the 'dome of Islam' is Jellal-al-din Rumi, whilst the ragged mendicant and heretic robber is Shams-al-din.
HUSAM
Jellal-al-din Rumi's successor Husam-al-din Chelebi, whose full name is Sheikh Husam-al-din Hasan Ben Muhammad Ben Alhasan Ben Akhi Turk Chelebi. Becoming the successor of a Pir or Sheikh, i.e. spiritual guide, implies also the acceptance of all his duties and the allegiance of his pupils; and if the Pir was a man of great authority, learning. His successor is also expected to be one.
MESNAVI
It appears that Husam-al-din got tired of the many Ghazals composed by his teacher Jellal-al-din, and requested him to write a connected and large poem; hereupon the latter pulled out a piece of paper from his turban containing the first twenty-eight distichs of his Mesnavi, beginning with the words:
"Hear how yon reed in sadly pleasing tales
Departed bliss and present woe bewails!"
and ending with the words:
"Here pause my song; and thou vain world, farewell."**
Jellal-al-din said:
"Before you ever thought of it, the idea of composing a work of this kind had been instilled into my heart from on high."
The last piece in the Mesnâvi itself contains an account of the manner in which this celebrated work was commenced, and brought to an end by Husam-al-din, who wrote down every word of it as it fell from the lips of his master. Sometimes Jellâl-al-din was so full of his subject that from the beginning of the night till the next morning dawned he dictated to Hisâm-al-din, who was in the habit of again reading in a loud voice to the Mulla all he had written. When the first volume was completed the wife of Chelebi Hisâm-al-din died, and the work was interrupted, as alluded to in the first distich of the second volume:
"Delayed was this Mesnavi for a time.
Respite was needed blood to milk to change."
After that no interruption of any length appears to have taken place, till the whole work was brought to a termination. That Husam-al-din must have been an enthusiastic admirer of this book appears from the following words he uttered:
"When the Mesnavi is being read aloud, all who are present get drowned in its light, and I behold a company of spirits from the invisible world who cut off with their swords the roots and branches of the faith of all those who do not listen with complete sincerity, and gradually drag them into hell-fire."
But Jellal-al-din replied:
"Of verses mine the foes you see
Headlong dragged to flames of fire.
Hisâm-al-din, saw you their state?
Their acts has God revealed to you?"
The above words of Hisam-al-din imply that as apparently many sentiments contrary to the strict laws of Islam are uttered, - unless listened to with great and sincere attention, the hearing of the Mesnâvi will lead to infidelity, and consequently to eternal perdition; whilst the answer of his master is conceived in that tolerant spirit which permeates the whole Mesnâvi, and which ventures to condemn no one rashly.
No doubt the Mesnâvi contains also many strictly orthodox and even bigoted pieces; it must, however, be allowed that there are many which can never meet with the approval of strict Musalmans of any sect. Such a piece is "Moses and the Herdsman" (Ind. Ant. vol. III. p. 90, March 1874), at the end of which the author even disclaims to be a religious guide, and openly avows that the religion of love is the only true one:
"You must not guidance seek from the inebriate;
Who rend their clothes, can they be asked to mend?
From all religions differs love is belief;
The lovers' sects and rites are God alone."†
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Footnotes
* Poverty in a religious sense, and he who makes a profession of it is a Faḳîr
** This piece was translated by Sir W. Jones, but since his time nothing further has been attempted.
† Though fully aware of my numerous imperfections both as an English and a Persian scholar, I have during the last two years given selections from this great poet, who has not yet met among Europeans with the attention and study p. 299 he deserves. In the text I have not ventured to alter a single word or to touch the metre, whether faulty or not; and in my translations I have aimed chiefly at fidelity. However imperfectly I may have accomplished my task, I venture to hope that I shall not be charged with rashness, since my acquaintance with Jellâl-al-din Rûmi is of more than twenty years' standing, and I flatter myself that I have, during that time, learnt to understand him a little. Nothing would please me more than to see better justice done to this poet than I can do.
_______________________________________________
BY E. REHATSEK, M.C.E., Hon. Mem. B. Br. R. As. Soc.
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY, A JOURNAL OF ORIENTAL RESEARCH
IN ARCHÆOLOGY, HISTORY, LITERATURE, LANGUAGES, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, FOLKLORE,
&c., &c., &c.
EDITED BY JAS. BURGESS, M.R.A.S., F.R.G.S.
VOL. IV.-1875 [Bombay, Education Society's Press]
http://www.sacred-texts.com/journals/ia/bjadr.htm