Rumi and His Works

Mevlana was very sad about this separation, he cut off all his friends and retreated to a corner and sang many of the poems we read in Dîvân-ı Kebîr. Those who caused this situation expressed their regret. The convoy led by Rumi’s son, Sultan Veled, went to Damascus and brought Şems-i Tebrizi back.

Rumi was born on September 30, 1207, in the city of Belh in Khorasan, where Turkish tribes lived (Balkh is within the borders of Afghanistan today). His mother was Mümine Hatun, the daughter of the Emir of Belh, Rükneddin, and his father was Bahaeddin Veled, known as Sultanu’l-ulema (the sultan of scholars). Differences of opinion with Fahreddin-i Râzi, one of the philosophers of the period, and the approaching Mongol invasion caused the Bahaeddin Veled family to emigrate from Belh together with their relatives. After staying for a while in Baghdad, Mecca, Medina, Damascus, Malatya, Erzincan and Karaman, this migration ended in Konya on May 3, 1228, upon the invitation of the Seljuk Sultan Alaeddin Keykubad.

Mevlana, who was married to Gevher Banu

in Karaman, had two sons named Bahaeddin (Sultan Veled) and Alâeddin. Years later, Gevher Banu died while she was living in Konya. He got married to Kerra Hatun and from this marriage he had two more children named Muzaffereddin Emir Alim and Melike. Rumi started his father’s lessons at a very young age and tried to find the secrets of truth in the way of Allah. He learned Turkish, Arabic, Persian, Folk Greek and Ancient Greek languages. He studied other religions along with Islam and received lots of information from history to medical science, first from his father, then from Seyyid Burhaneddin Tirmidhi and the valuable scholars of the period. He started to transfer this information to hundreds of students in madrasahs.

Meanwhile, Shams-i Tabrizi was not satisfied with the spiritual rank he reached but was looking for a friend of God with whom he could get along spiritually, a conversation partner at his own level. He met Rumi first in Damascus and then in Konya in 1244. These two saints, who were lovers of God, engage in divine conversations and reach many lofty levels. His students became jealous of Rumi, who started to spend most of his time chatting with his spiritual friend, reading poems and performing semah, and they began to create disrespectful gossip about Şems-i Tabrizi. Shams was hurt by these words and went from Konya to Damascus. Mevlana was very sad about this separation, he cut off all his friends and retreated to a corner and sang many of the poems we read in Dîvân-ı Kebîr. Those who caused this situation expressed their regret. The convoy led by Rumi’s son, Sultan Veled, went to Damascus and brought Şems-i Tebrizi back. But jealousy began again, and Shams suddenly disappeared. Later, his tomb became a place of visit for his loved ones in Konya.

Mevlana entered a new era with the departure of this dear friend. He first appointed Sheikh Selâhaddin-i Zerkûb, and after his death, one of his students, Çelebi Hüsameddin, to teach on his behalf. He said that “As long as I live, I am the slave of the Quran. I am the soil of the path of the chosen Muhammad. “Whoever quotes anything other than this, I complain about him and I complain about that word as well.”

As can be understood from these words of Rumi,

he turned to God on the path shown by Muhammad, obeyed his commands, and enlightened humanity within the framework of Islamic principles. He lived in accordance with Islamic moral values (decency) throughout his life. He complained about bigoted ideas and fake sheikhs who came to religion later. Rumi summarizes his life with these words “The summary of my life is these three words: I was raw, I was cooked, I was burned.”. After being ill for a while, Rumi reunited with Allah and his beloved Prophet on December 17, 1273. Mevlevis call this night when the separation ends “Şeb-i Arûs” (Wedding Night).

Apart from Mesnevî, in which he wrote the first 18 couplets and later his student Çelebi Hüsameddin wrote them, he has works called Dîvân-ı Kebîr, Fîh-i Mâ-Fîh, Mecâlis-i Seb’a and Mektûbât.

Masnavi:

It is a six-volume work containing approximately 26 thousand couplets. There are stories, anecdotes, proverbs and lessons to be learned from them, told based on verses and hadiths, in which various subjects related to everything created are discussed.

Dîvân-ı Kebîr

In Dîvân-ı Kebîr, which started to be written before Mesnevi, there are twenty-one small divans containing approximately 40 thousand couplets and a divan of rubais, containing the ghazals, compositions and rubais that Rumi sang at various times, and arranged according to the meter in which his poems were recited.

Fîh-i Mâ- Fîh:

The literal meaning of the word is “In it what is in it

or It is what it is”. It contains Rumi’s conversations.

Mecâlis-i Seb’a:

This work, contains seven sermons of Rumi. It means “Seven Parliaments”.

Letters:

It contains 147 letters written by Mevlana to relatives, friends, emirs and viziers, including his son Sultan Veled.

Since the daily language of that period was Turkish, the language of literature was Persian, and the language of science was Arabic, Rumi’s works were

in Persian. Over time, all of his works have been translated into Turkish.

In all of these works, Rumi explains the ways to become a loving person, adhering to the verses of the Holy Quran and the Hadiths of our Prophet, is at peace with himself, aware of the material and spiritual beauties God has given him, grateful to Him, knowing how to think and act in the face of difficulties, and tolerant.