The prominent Persian language poet, thinker and spiritual master, Hazrat Mevlana Jalal al-Din Balkhi-Rumi 'alayhir rahman, was
born on the 30th of September 1207 [Common Era] (6th Rabi ul Awwal
604H) in Balkh, presently Afghanistan. He lived almost all of his life
in Konya, presently Turkey, and died there in 1273CE. Hazrat Mevlana 'alayhir rahman, remains one of the greatest poet, philosopher, thinker and scholar of Islamic civilisation.
The
most significant and turning point in Mevlana's life is his encounter
in 1244 with the wandering mystic dervish Shams a'l-Din of Tabriz, May Allah be pleased with him.
Thence forward, Mevlana was a changed man, his devotion to his
inspiring master Shams a'l-Din entirely cut him off from his disciples.
Because of abuse and threats from the jealous disciples Shams a'l-Din
took refuge twice in Damascus, and in 1247 Shams a'l-Din vanished, and
it is believed Mevlana's disciples had plotted to kill him.
Mevlana
declared that one of his greatest works, the Divan (di'wan), consisting
of approximately sixty thousand couplets and one million distiches,
was inspired by Shams a'l- Din since Mevlana identified himself with
his muse. His other great work, the Mathnawi (Mesnev-i Me'nevi),
divided into six books and containing a total of over twenty five
thousand couplets record several hundred stories, extracts from the
Noble Qur'an, stories about wandering dervishes, biblical stories, all
with allegorical and philosophical content.
Apart from this vast collection of poems, his prose work contains his sermons, his admonitions, pious anecdotes, his letters dealing with personal and spiritual matters, and his discourses on a wide variety of religious and mystical themes.