A Drop from the Ocean: Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi and Sufi Path

By Juliet Gentile-Koren

How many words the world contains! But all have one meaning. When you smash the bottles, the water is one.
--Divan- i Shams-i Tabriz

Many have come to know Sufism through the poems of the Twelfth century poet Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi, who was born in Balkh in present day Afghanistan in the year A.H. 604/ 1207 C.E. His poems exemplify an understanding of the Sufi path towards God as well as the body of esoteric knowledge and practices associated with this path. The best image to describe Sufism is that of a river, snaking its way through history, touching along its way different cultures and societies, accepting and rejecting attributes and practices as it flows. As such an ambiguous category of religious experience, there is much debate about its origins, practices and prescriptions, amongst both its practitioners and those attempting to define it.

Accordingly, the word ‘Sufi’ has many etymologies. It is maintained by some that it is derives from the Arabic word for Wool, suf. Others maintain that it relates to the word saf or purity, intuiting the quest for the purification of the self known as tasawwuf, which has as its goal the attainment of the state of the insan kamil or perfected being. The former etymology points directly to the understanding that the Sufi is one who has given up the material gains of this world in favor of a life lived in poverty and simplicity. A popular Sufi aphorism states that the Sufi is one who is in the world, though not of it. Though Islam prohibits monasticism, this concept of the woolen cloak of the Sufi signifies a predilection towards outward asceticism. The later definition points to the prescriptive nature of Sufism, that of the practice of tasawwuf, through which the Sufi adept progresses through a hierarchy of stages of self (nafs) – purification towards a realization of oneness with Divine Reality or a state of perfection. According to the process of individuation laid out by the Sufi mystic Adbul Qadr al-Jilani, each consonant of tasawwuf – t, s, w and f- describes a different point on this pathway. The “t” represents tawba, which means to turn or repent and relates to the Shariah level of Islam in the system of tasawwuf. The “s” refers to safa, which means purity. Purity in this sense refers to a state of complete awe or fear of displeasing God as well as a longing for proximity to God, known as ashk or intense divine love. This second level corresponds to the Tariqah level of Islam and encompasses the entry into the mystic path. The “w” refers to wilaya or friendship with God. The Arabic word wali means friend, master and protector and in this particular context refers to someone who has attained friendship or intimacy with God. This level refers specifically to a station of sainthood or wilaya. This level corresponds to the Marifah levels of Islam. The final stage of self-purification in the path of tasawwuf is that of fana or annihilation, represented by the “f,” in this symbolic system. This level is characterized by a complete submission of willfulness and self-identification in the seeker. The ego or self becomes subsumed with the Absolute Other, namely God. This level is called Haqiqah, or oneness with Absolute Truth. The latter two stages of this system, Marifah and Haqiqah, are sometimes flipped in some Sufi interpretations. It must be noted here that the Sufi seeker or murid usually progresses through the system of tasawwuf under the guidance of a sheikh or murshid, who is one who has traversed the suluk of the Tariqah and is therefore qualified to guide others in this way.

Dear MWU Reader:
We at MWU value your comments and feedback. However, our comment section is not functioning at this time. We hope to correct this problem soon. We thank you for your patience.

For Rumi, this spiritual guide came in the form of Shams i Tabriz, who arrived in Konya, where Rumi then lived, around the year, 644/1244. According to various biographers, the spiritual and poetic career of Jelaluddin Rumi did not formally commence until he met his spiritual guide, although evidence suggests that he would have had a good deal of exposure to the mystic path in his young adulthood. Nevertheless, prior to this moment of meeting Shams, Rumi lived the comfortable life of an Islamic scholar and jurisprudent caring more for the life of propriety afforded by his profession than the austerities of the path of self-purification. As a young man he was educated in the elite class of Balkh, and followed the example of his father, Baha Walad, a respected Islamic scholar and jurist as well as a spiritual teacher in the lineage of Ahmad Ghazzali. William Chittick, in his book, The Sufi Path of Love, suggests that Baha Walad was both an authority of the exoteric studies of the Shariah of Islam, as well as a teacher in the esoteric path of Tariqah, providing evidence that Rumi had been exposed to Sufism from a very early age and may have already completed the suluk of the Tariqah and tasted states of Divine union by the time he met Shams. Despite this fact, it seems that his early life was colored by the sobriety expected of a doctor of Islamic law rather than the ecstatic states that he later proclaimed through his poetry.

This fact was irrevocably changed when Shams al-Din of Tabriz arrived in Konya and made an enduring impression upon Rumi’s inner and outer life. Rumi writes of this transformation in his Divan I Shams I Tabriz:

I was the country’s sober ascetic, I used to teach from the pulpit- but destiny made me one of Thy hand-clapping lovers. (Divan, 22784)

It is suggested that upon this meeting with Shams of Tabriz the seed of mystical realization, which Rumi had held inside was actualized and exteriorized. Over a two year period Rumi was transformed by the friendship and guidance of Shams, from a sober doctor of Islamic law to an ecstatic totally merged in Divine Love. There are many misunderstandings about the nature of Rumi and Shams relationship and some biographical scholarship suggests that Shams may have been murdered by disgruntled disciples who were jealous of their relationship. The best way to characterize the relationship between Rumi and Shams is within the paradigm of the master-disciple relationship in classical Sufi Tariqah. The development of the Sufi “brotherhoods” began around the A.H. 7th Century /13th century C.E. and continued to develop into the tapestry of Sufi orders that we see today. Each of these Sufi orders formed around individual founding saints or pirs, who in turn trace their lineage back to the Prophet Muhammad as well as to earlier important saints. The founding saint of a Sufi order is followed by a succession of sheikhs or masters all of whom form what is known as the silsila of a Sufi order.

Although it is perhaps not correct to call Shams of Tabriz a Sufi sheikh in the classical sense, due to the fact that apart from Rumi, he accepted few disciples and often sent prospective students away. Nonetheless, he fulfilled this symbolic role of spiritual master for Rumi. This fact is clear through the intensity of Rumi’s identification with Shams. Here Rumi writes of this attachment:

Oh you who are thirsty and heedless, come! We are drinking the water of Khidr from the stream: the speech of the saints.

If you do not see the water, act like a blind man: Bring a jug to the stream and dip it in.

For you have heard that there is water in the stream- the blind man must act in imitation.

Dip the waterskin, which is dreaming of water, into the stream, so that you may feel it become heavy.

When it becomes heavy, you will have attained guidance: At that moment your heart will be delivered from dry imitation.

The attachment and “imitation” of the disciple towards the master is known as taqlid in Sufism. Taqlid is considered an important stage in the development of the seeker along the path of Tariqah. Within this stage the disciple attaches his or herself so totally to the master that his or her individual will or self is said to be obliterated in the master’s will. This state of total submission is inherent to the Islamic framework and is thought to lead to union with God. In the poem above, Rumi refers to the heart’s deliverance from ‘dry imitation,’ which can be said to represent the birth from illusion and negligence to Absolute Truth and submission thought to be achieved by the mystic path. The total identification and annihilation of the mystic in God, is thought to be made accessible through the example of the sheikh. Therefore, imitation of the sheikh leads to a state known as fana fil sheikh or annihilation in the sheikh. This stage of identification is considered to be the gateway for the disciple to reach higher states of union such as fana sil Rasul or annihilation in the example of Muhammad, pbuh, and fana fil Allah, or oneness with Absolute Reality.

Jelaluddin Rumi’s total identification with Shams is further reflected in the fact that within the 3,230 ghazals of his Diwan-I Shams-I Tabriz, he never signs his poems with his own name in the customary fashion of the ghazal writer, but rather signs the name of Shams al-Din of Tabriz instead. Adding to this is the fact that after the disappearance of Shams from Konya, Rumi composes love stricken verses extolling the virtues of Shams of Tabriz who had become, for Rumi, a mirror for the divine beloved. Although the relationship between Shams and Rumi may not have been as unusual as some have suggested in the history of Sufism, the fruit of this mystical relationship, namely the myriad of poetic verses on divine love, the longing of separation and the joy of union, as well as the lengthy exegesis on the Sufi path contained in Rumi’s long, didactic poem the Mathnawi, is the greatest testament to the special quality and importance of these two figures to the history of Sufism.

Juliet Gentile-Koren has an MA in Women's History from Sarah Lawrence College. She is currently writing a book-length work on the role of Gender in the historical development of the Halveti-Jerrahi Lineage of Sufism in the last fifty years. She is also an initiate of the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order She lives in New York City with her husband.

Dear MWU Reader:
We at MWU value your comments and feedback. However, our comment section is not functioning at this time. We hope to correct this problem soon. We thank you for your patience.