Mawlana Rumi

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.