30 Oct 03 Jelaluddin Rumi - the mystic poet
When we are dead, seek not our tomb in the earth, but find it in the hearts of men.
Jelaluddin Rumi was a persian poet who lived in the thirteenth century. I have often come across Rumi’s poems in books on Middle East. Rumi was raised in a deeply religious family. Later in his life he started drifting to mysticism. And with that came beautiful verses like these…
Come, come again, whoever you are, come!
Heathen, fire worshipper or idolatrous, come!
Come even if you broke your penitence a hundred times,
Ours is the portal of hope, come as you are .
I hold no religion or creed,
an neither Eastern nor Western,
Muslim or Infidel,
Zorastrian, Christian, Jew or Gentile.
I come from neither land nor sea,
am not related to those above or below,
was not born nearby or far away,
do not live either in Paradise or this Earth,
claim descent not from Adam and Eve or the Angels above.
I transcend body and soul,
My home is beyond place and name.
It is with the beloved, in a space beyond space.
I embrace all and am part of all.
ONCE a beloved asked her lover: “Friend,
You have seen many places in the world!
Now - which of all these cities was the best?
He said: “The city where my sweetheart lives!”
Seek knowledge which unravels mysteries
Before your life comes to close
Give up that non-existence which looks like existence,
Seek that Existence which looks like non-existence!
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I went through what you said about Rumi and it was very intresting.I am student of cultural studies at Tehran University trying to know Rumi in the mirror of non-Iranian view. Would u please tell by mial at meghdad.mehrabi@gmail.com wheather Rumi is associated with Iranian culture and civilization or not? Why?
Thanks a lot,
With best wishes,
meghdad.mehrabi