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Shams-e-Tabrīzī or Shams al-Din Mohammad (died 1248) was an Iranian[1] Sufi mystic born in the city of Tabriz in Iranian Azerbaijan. He introduced Mawlānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhi, usually known as Rumi in the West, to mysticism, for which he was immortalized in Rumi's poetry collection Diwan-e Shams-e Tabriz-i (The Works of Shams of Tabriz). Shams lived with Rumi in Konya, in present-day Turkey, for several years, and is known to have traveled to Damascus in present-day Syria.
According to Sipah Salar, a devotee and intimate friend of Rumi who spent forty years with him, Shams was the son of Imam Ala al-Din. Shams received his education in Tabriz and was a disciple of Baba Kamal al-Din Jumdi. Before meeting Rumi, he used to travel from place to place weaving and selling girdles for a living.[2]
According to a verbal tradition, once while Rumi was reading next to a large stack of books, Shams Tabriz, passing by, asked him, "What are you doing?" Rumi scoffingly replied, "Something you cannot understand." On hearing this, Shams threw the stack of books into a nearby pool of water. Rumi hastily rescused the books and to his surprise they were all dry. Rumi then asked Shams, "What is this?" To which Shams replied, "Mowlana, this is what you cannot understand."
A second version of the tale has Shams passing by Rumi who again is reading a book. Shams, who we understand Rumi regards as an uneducated stranger, asks Rumi what he is doing, to which Rumi replies, "Something that you do not understand!" At that moment, the books suddenly caught fire and Rumi asked Shams to explain what had happened. His reply was, "Something you do not understand."[3]
After several years with Rumi, Shams left him suddenly and traveled to Khoy and settled there. Shams Tabrizi died in Khoy and is buried there. His tomb has been nominated as a World Cultural Heritage Center by UNESCO.[4] This account is disputed by the Wikipedia entry for Rumi: "It is believed that Shams was murdered with the connivance of Rumi's son..." A saint by the name of Shams Tabrizi is buried at Multan, Pakistan. The tomb stone clearly relates him as the same Shams Tabrizi, who was the spiritual mentor of Rumi. A tomb and mosque marked with Tabrezi's name is also found in Konya, Turkey, a short distance from the burial site of Rumi and his family members.
As the years passed, Rumi attributed more and more of his own poetry to Shams as a sign of love for his departed friend and master. Indeed, it quickly becomes clear in reading Rumi that Shams was elevated to a symbol of God's love for mankind, and that Shams was a sun ("Shams" means "Sun" in Arabic) shining the Light of God on Rumi.
Contents |
Book
The Maqalat-e Shams-e Tabrizi (Discourses of Shams Tabrizi) is a Persian prose book written by Shams.[5][6] The Maqalat seems to have been written during the later years of Shams, as he speaks of himself as an old man. Overall, it is a Sufic interpretation of Islam and contains spiritual advice.
Some random excerpts from the Maqalat provides some insight into the thoughts of Shams:
1) Blessing is excess, so to speak, an excess of everything. Don't be content with being a faqih (religious scholar), say I want more - more than being a Sufi (a mystic), more than being a mystic - more than each thing that comes before you.
2) All the corruption in the world arises from this - someone believed in someone out of imitation or disbelieved in someone out of imitation.
3) A good man complains of no one; he does not look to faults.
4) Joy is like pure clear water; wherever it flows, wondrous blossoms grow...Sorrow is like a black flood; wherever it flows it wilts the blossoms.
5) And the Persian language, how did it happen? With so much elegance and goodness such that the meanings and elegance that is found in the Persian language is not found in Arabic.[7][8].
See also
References
- ^ Manouchehr Mortazavi. Zaban-e-Dirin Azerbaijan (On the Old language of Azerbaijan). Bonyat Moqoofaat Dr. Afshar. 2005(1384). منوچهر مرتضوی، زبان دیرین آذربایجان، بنیاد موقوفات دکتر افشار، 138۴. pg 49, see comments on the old language of Tabriz as well as Old Azari language]
- ^ A History of Muslim Philosophy, Vol II; M.M. Sharif. Page 824
- ^ [1] Franklin Lewis, Rumi, Past and Present, East and West, pp. 154-161.
- ^ [2] 3 Timurid Skeletons Discovered near Minaret of Shams-e Tabrizi
- ^ Franklin Lewis, Rumi Past and Present, East and West, Oneworld Publications, 2000
- ^ Shams al-Din Tabrizi, Maqalat-e Shams-e Tabrizi, ed. Mohammad-Ali Movahhed (Tehran: Sahami, Entesharat-e Khwarazmi, 1990) Note: This is a two-volume edition
- ^ Shams al-Din Tabrizi, Maqalat-e Shams-e Tabrizi, ed. Mohammad-Ali Movahhed (ehran: Sahami, Entesharat-e Khwarazmi, 1990). Note: This is a two volume edition. Actual quote: زبان پارسی را چه شده است؟ بدین لطیفی و خوبی، که آن معانی و لطافت که در زبان پارسی آمده است و در تازی نیامده است»
- ^ Also found in: William Chittick, "Me and Rumi: : The Autobiography of Shams-I Tabrizi", Annotated and Translated. (Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae, 2004)
- E.G. Browne. Literary History of Persia. (Four volumes, 2,256 pages, and twenty-five years in the writing). 1998. ISBN 0-7007-0406-X
- William Chittick, Me and Rumi: The Autobiography of Shams-I Tabrizi, Annotated and Translated. (Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae, 2004)
- Jan Rypka, History of Iranian Literature. Reidel Publishing Company. ASIN B-000-6BXVT-K
External links
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