Hazrat Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi R.A

BRIEF FACTS:
Birth Name: Jalaluddin Mohammad Rumi – or Jalaluddin Mohammad Balkhi
Born in: Balkh, Afghanistan on 30th September 1207
Childhood
Hazrat Mawlana Jalaluddin Mohammad Rumi (30 September 1207 – 17 December 1273) is a 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, theologian and Sufi mystic. He is one of the greatest saints in Islamic history and is well-known in the West for his Sufi poetry, especially his treasury of couplets entitled Masnavi Sharif.
Mawlana Rumi [, may Allah be pleased with him] was born on the 6th of Rabiul Awwal in the Islamic Hijri year 604 in Balkh, present-day Afghanistan. His father, Hazrat Bahauddin Walad [, may Allah be pleased with him], was a great Muslim scholar and also a Sufi saint who descends from the lineage of Sayyidina Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq [, may Allah be pleased with him], the first Caliph of Islam.
Mawlana Rumi [, may Allah be pleased with him] grew up in this learned household in Afghanistan and became a fully accomplished scholar himself. Eventually, between the years 1215 and 1220, Hazrat Bahauddin Walad, with his whole family and a group of disciples, set out westwards. They peformed Hajj and then proceeded on their journey.
Life in Turkey
They finally settled in Karaman, Turkey for seven years, where Mawlana Rumi's mother and brother both passed away. In 1225, Mawlana Rumi married Gowhar Khatun in Karaman and had two sons: Sultan Walad and Ala-uddin Chalabi. When his wife passed away, Mawlana Rumi married again and had a son, Amir Alim Chalabi, and a daughter, Malakeh Khatun.
On 1 May 1228, most likely as a result of the insistent invitation of Alauddin Keyqobad, ruler of Anatolia, Hazrat Bahauddin Walad finally settled in Konya in Anatolia within the westernmost territories of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum.
On the road to Anatolia, Mawlana Rumi encountered one of the most famous mystic Persian poets, by the name of Fariduddin Attar, in the Iranian city of Nishapur, located in the province of Khorasan. Attar immediately recognized Rumi's spiritual eminence. He saw the father walking ahead of the son and said, "Here comes a sea followed by an ocean." He then gave Mawlana Rumi his ‘Asrarnama’, a book about the entanglement of the soul in the material world. This meeting had a deep impact on the eighteen-year-old Mawlana Rumi, and later on became the inspiration for his works.
Eventually, Hazrat Bahauddin Walad became the head of a seminary school (Madrasa) in Konya, Turkey. When he passed away, Mawlana Rumi was only 25 years old and took his father’s place at the head of the school.
One of Hazrat Bahauddin Walad's students, Hazrat Sayyed Burhanuddin Muhaqqiq Termazi, continued to train Mawlana Rumi in the religious and mystical doctrines of Hazrat Rumi's father. For nine years, Rumi practiced Sufism as a disciple of Hazrat Sayyed Burhanuddin until the latter died in 1240 or 1241. Hazrat Rumi's public life then began: he became a teacher who preached in the mosques of Konya and taught his adherents in the Madrasa.
During this period, Mawlana Rumi also travelled to Damascus and is said to have spent four years there.
Meeting with Hazrat Shams Tabrez
However, it was his meeting with the dervish Hazrat Shams Tabrez on 15 November 1244 that completely changed Rumi's life. Hazrat Shams had travelled throughout the Middle East searching and praying for someone who could "endure my company". A voice said to him, "What will you give in return?" and Hazrat Shams replied, "My head!". The voice then said, "The one you seek is Jalaluddin of Konya."
One version of the famous meeting that Mawlana Rumi had with Hazrat Shams Tabrez [, may Allah be pleased with him], was that once Mawlana Rumi was teaching a group of his students and referring to his handwritten books & notes while Hazrat Shams Tabrez happened to come along and asked him about those notes.
Mawlana Rumi [, may Allah be pleased with him] replied that the books and notes were beyond the understanding of Hazrat Shams Tabrez. Then Mawlana Rumi [, may Allah be pleased with him] continued his class, meanwhile Hazrat Shams Tabrez [, may Allah be pleased with him] threw all the books into a nearby pond of water. The students noticed this and started beating him. This caught the attention of Mawlana Rumi who complained about losing his knowledge. Hazrat Shams Tabrez [, may Allah be pleased with him] replied that he could return the books, so he recited ‘Bismillah’ and retrieved the books from the water, which to everyone’s surprise, were still intact. Seeing this, Mawlana Rumi [, may Allah be pleased with him] was amazed and asked how this was possible – to which Hazrat Shams Tabrez replied that such knowledge was beyond that of an external scholar.
Thus began the relationship between Mawlana Rumi [, may Allah be pleased with him] and Hazrat Shams Tabrez [, may Allah be pleased with him]. At this stage, Mawlana Rumi is reported to have mostly retired from his public life and spent a lot of time with Hazrat Shams Tabrez [, may Allah be pleased with him]. They would spend days discussing divine issues and Sufi thoughts, to the extent that Mawlana Rumi would not teach his classes or visit his family for long periods of time.
On the night of 5 December 1248, as Hazrat Rumi and Hazrat Shams were talking, Hazrat Shams Tabrez was called to the back door. He went out, never to be seen again. It is rumored that Hazrat Shams Tabrez was murdered; if so, Hazrat Shams indeed gave his head for his mystical friendship with Mawlana Rumi.
Mawlana Rumi's love for, and his bereavement at the death of, Hazrat Shams found their expression in an outpouring of music & poetry, thus he compiled a collection entitled Divan-e-Shams-e-Tabrez. He himself went out searching for Hazrat Shams and journeyed again to Damascus. There, he realized:

"Why should I seek? I am the same as He.

His essence speaks through me.

I have been looking for myself!"

Departure of Mawlana Rumi; Reunion with his Beloved
In December 1273, Mawlana Rumi fell ill; he predicted his own death and composed the well-known ghazal, which begins with the verse:

"How doest thou know what sort of King I have within me as a Companion?

Do not cast thy glance upon my golden face, for I have iron legs."

Mawlana Rumi [, may Allah be pleased with him] passed away & reunited with his Beloved Lord on 5th Jamadiul Aakhir 672 Hijri in Konya Sharif, Turkey. His tomb is near to that of his friend & guide, Hazrat Shams Tabrez [, may Allah be pleased with him] and his body was laid to rest beside his father under a beautiful tomb named Yesil Turbe or ‘the Green Tomb’.
His epitaph written on his tomb reads:

"When we are dead, seek not our tomb in the earth, but find it in the hearts of men."

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