Persian Sufi poet Jalaladdin Rumi: biography, creativity

Jalaladdin Rumi is a Persian Sufi poet who lived in the 13th century. To many it is known as Mevlana. This is a wise man and mentor, whose teaching has become an example of moral growth. About the biography and works of this great thinker, we'll talk about this article.

What is Sufism?

First, let's briefly explain why Rumi is considered a Sufi poet. The fact is that the Sufis were called followers of Sufism, the Islamic esoteric current, which was characterized by high spirituality and asceticism. Originated in the VII century.

Jalaladdin Rumi: biography

A great poet was born in 1207 in the town of Balkh, which was located in the north of present-day Afghanistan. Bach ad-Din Valad, his father, was at that time a famous theologian. He considered himself a spiritual and ideological follower of the famous mystic and Sufi al-Ghazali.

In 1215 the Valad family is forced to flee from their native city under the pretext of a pilgrimage to Mecca. The thing was that Rumi was afraid of possible reprisals from Khorezmshah, against which the preacher often spoke.

On the way to Rum, the travelers had to make a stop in Nashapur. Here the whole family got acquainted with the lyrics of Firuddin Attar, the famous Sufi preacher and teacher. Attar immediately saw in the son of Valad the gift of the word and foretold to him a great future, not only as a poet, but also as a spiritual guide. At parting Firuddin gave young Rumi a very valuable gift - "The Book of Mystery." With her, Jalaladdin has not parted for a lifetime, storing as the most expensive.

Resettlement in the Room

There is a story that happened in Damascus. Ibn al-Arabi, the famous Sufi and teacher, saw Rumi following behind his father and said: "Look at the ocean that follows the lake."

Jalaladdin Rumi and his family have long been wandering after they left Balkh. Eventually, Valad decided to stay in the city of Konya, the capital of Rum. In those years, this city became a refuge for all who fled Mongolian raids that devastated Islamic territory. Therefore, there were a lot of poets, scientists, mystics and theologians.

For a long time Rumi lived here. And he soon became acquainted with an elderly Sufi named Shams al-Din, whose views greatly influenced the formation of the young man. It was Shams who could kindle the most total and all-encompassing mystic love in Jalaladin's heart, which later became the basis of the poet's work.

Rumi's view of faith in God

Jalaladdin Rumi spent a lot of time in conversations with Shams al-Din, which was very disliked by the followers of the first. This resulted in the fact that Shams was sentenced to death and brutally murdered.

Incredible grief befell Rumi, who lost the closest man for himself. This led to the poet becoming even more sensitive to reality. Left alone with pain and death, the poet felt what injustice and cruelty. He is tormented by questions about how fair, loving and kind God could allow such evil to happen on earth, because everything is subject to him, and nothing happens other than his will.

From these thoughts gradually begins to form the basis of Rumi's philosophy. The poet understands that God is nothing but a love of God, which by its nature is boundless and all-consuming. Like other Sufi adherents, Rumi was extremely negative about intellectual reasoning. Therefore, he was more eager for imagery, and made comparisons between the love of God and the state of intoxication, which leads to ecstasy and insanity. Rumi believed that only true recklessness and a way out of habitual boundaries could lead a person to true sobering and the ability to free themselves from the shackles of rationality and intelligence.

Only boundless trust Existence (the process of life) can allow a person to feel the ease and freedom of being and understand that life and everything that happens in it exists by its own incomprehensible laws, in which there is logic, but it is beyond the human mind. The main thing that you need to master is trust and acceptance as what it is, because the inquisitive mind, trying to find a regularity, will find only meaninglessness, is the deepest sacred value.

The question of freedom of will

Jalaladdin Rumi, the books of the poet confirm this, seriously thought about the problem of freedom of will - whether each of us has his own destiny, which determines our whole life, or human life - a blank page on which one can write his own history, guided only by desires. However, Rumi knew that no one would ever be able to resolve the disputes of the adherents of these points of view, because by logical reasoning it is impossible to find the true answer. Therefore, the poet believed that this issue must be transferred from the field of the mind to where "the heart rules."

A person full of love for God merges with the universal life ocean. After that, whatever action he does, it will not belong to him, it will come from the ocean. Despite the fact that a person considers himself to be something separate, he remains another wave on the water surface. However, if he looks deep into himself, turns away from the outside, begins to focus on the center, and not on the periphery, he will understand that everything that exists is an indivisible and one whole. Comprehensive and all-encompassing love can transform a person so much that questions that previously so tormented him will disappear by themselves. He begins to feel a union with the Being itself, which gives him a feeling that can be described as "I am God."

The Sufi Brotherhood

After the death of Shams, Rumi becomes a teacher at a Muslim school. Here he applies a new method for teaching - he introduces the students to the Quran using Sufi traditions.

Great importance was given to the chants, dances and music of Jalaladdin Rumi. Poetry poetry reflect his view of these arts: earth music seemed to him a reflection of the melodies of the heavenly spheres, which signify the great mystery of creation; Dervish dance was the personification of the dance of the planets, filling the universe with glee and joy.

During these same years Rumi created the Sufi brotherhood of Maulavia, where the teachings of the founder attached great importance. The organization continued its existence after the poet's death and gradually spread throughout the Ottoman Empire. In some Muslim countries, it exists to this day. In the brotherhood are accepted young men who after the dedication must live in the monastery for 3 years.

Death

In recent years, Rumi has devoted his life to law and literary creativity. The poet died in 1273 at the age of 66 in Konya.

Today Jalaladdin Rumi is recognized as the greatest mystic of all times and peoples. His philosophical views and the foundations of the teaching were reflected in poetry, which he considered the best means to express his gratitude and love to the divine.

Features of creativity

Anyway, but first of all Rumi was therefore. The lyrical "Divan" includes a variety of poetic genres: rubai, gazelles, Qasids. He preached in them the idea of the value of human life and denied the formalism, ritualism and scholasticism of Rumi Jalaladdin. "The poem about the hidden meaning", included in the collection of "Masnavi", most vividly reflected these ideas.

Despite the fact that the poems were written in the framework of religious idealism, they often provoked revolutionary moods and even the speeches of the masses.

Masnavi

Not so long ago, the book appeared on the shelves "The road of transformation. Sufi parables »(Jalaladdin Rumi). But very few people know that this is not an integral work, but only a part of a large epic-didactic poem numbering approximately 50,000 verses, which is called "Masnavi." In translation means "Couplet".

In this work, in the form of instructive stories with lyrical and moral retreats, Rumi preaches his ideas. "Masnavi" in general can be called an encyclopedia of Sufism.

There is no single story in the poem. But all stories are united by a single mood, which is expressed in rhymed couplets, sustained in a single rhythm.

"Masnavi" is one of the most read and respected works of the Muslim world. As for world literature, the poem brought Rumi the title of the greatest poet-pantheist.

Jalaladdin Rumi: quotes

Here are a few quotes from the poet:

• "You are born winged. Why crawl on life? ".
• "Do not be sad. All that is lost will return to you in a different guise. "
• "Repeating other people's words does not mean understanding their meaning."

Despite the past centuries, poetry and philosophy of Rumi continues to enjoy great popularity not only among Muslim peoples, but also European.