Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī , also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī , Mevlânâ/Mawlānā , Mevlevî/Mawlawī , and more popularly simply as Rumi , was a 13th-century Persian poet, faqih, Islamic scholar, theologian, and Sufi mystic originally from Greater Khorasan. Rumi's influence transcends national borders and ethnic divisions: Iranians, Tajiks, Turks, Greeks, Pashtuns, other Central Asian Muslims, and the Muslims of South Asia have greatly appreciated his spiritual legacy for the past seven centuries. His poems have been widely translated into many of the world's languages and transposed into various formats. Rumi has been described as the "most popular poet" and the "best selling poet" in the United States.Rumi's works are written mostly in Persian, but occasionally he also used Turkish, Arabic, and Greek in his verse. His Masnavi , composed in Konya, is considered one of the greatest poems of the Persian language. His works are widely read today in their original language across Greater Iran and the Persian-speaking world. Translations of his works are very popular, most notably in Turkey, Azerbaijan, the United States, and South Asia. His poetry has influenced not only Persian literature, but also the literary traditions of the Ottoman Turkish, Chagatai, Urdu and Pashto languages. Wikipedia
“Love rests on no foundation.
It is an endless ocean,
with no beginning or end.”
Hush Don't Say Anything to God (1999)
Disputed, The Essential Rumi (1995)
As quoted in The Rumi Collection : An Anthology of Translations of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi (2000) by Kabir Helminski
As quoted in Sunbeams : A Book of Quotations (1990) by Sy Safransky, p. 67
Variant translations:
Come, come, whoever you are.
Wanderer, idolator, worshipper of fire, come even though you have broken your vows a thousand times,
Come, and come yet again. Ours is not a caravan of despair.
As quoted in Muslim Narratives and the Discourse of English (2004) by Amin Malak, p. 151
Come, come, whoever you are.
Wanderer, worshipper, lover of living, it doesn't matter
Ours is not a caravan of despair.
Come even if you have broken your vow a thousand times,
Come, yet again, come, come.
As quoted in Rumi and His Sufi Path of Love (2007) by M Fatih Citlak and Huseyin Bingul, p. 81
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.
As quoted in Turkey: A Primary Source Cultural Guide (2004) by Martha Kneib
This poem is wrongly considered to be Rumi's work, where it is actually from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ab%C5%AB-Sa%27%C4%ABd_Abul-KhayrAbū-Sa'īd Abul-Khayr. The original poem in Farsi is
باز آ باز آ هر آنچه هستی باز آ گر کافر و گبر و بتپرستی باز آ این درگه ما درگه نومیدی نیست صد بار اگر توبه شکستی باز آ http://ganjoor.net/abusaeed/robaee-aa/sh1/
“You were born with wings. Why prefer to crawl through life?”
As quoted in Wisdom for the Soul : Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing (2006) by Larry Chang, p. 26
IV, 771-4
Jewels of Remembrance (1996)
"A Community of the Spirit" in Ch. 1 : The Tavern, p. 2
Disputed, The Essential Rumi (1995)
“Raise your words, not voice.
It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.”
https://twitter.com/wise_chimp/status/1488946174321205253?s=21
“Listen with ears of tolerance!
See through the eyes of compassion!
Speak with the language of love.”
https://twitter.com/wise_chimp/status/1488946174321205253?s=21
“The art of knowing is knowing what to ignore.”
https://twitter.com/wise_chimp/status/1488946174321205253?s=21
“It's your road & yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you.”
https://twitter.com/wise_chimp/status/1488946174321205253?s=21
"I Died as a Mineral", as translated in The Mystics of Islam (1914) edited by Reynold Alleyne Nicholson, p. 125
Variant translation: Originally, you were clay. From being mineral, you became vegetable. From vegetable, you became animal, and from animal, man. During these periods man did not know where he was going, but he was being taken on a long journey nonetheless. And you have to go through a hundred different worlds yet.
As quoted in Multimind (1986) by Robert Ornstein
Context: I died as a mineral and became a plant,
I died as plant and rose to animal,
I died as animal and I was Man.
Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?
Yet once more I shall die as Man, to soar
With angels blest; but even from angelhood
I must pass on: all except God doth perish.
When I have sacrificed my angel-soul,
I shall become what no mind e'er conceived.
Oh, let me not exist! for Non-existence
Proclaims in organ tones, To Him we shall return.
“Every cell,
taking wings,
flies about the world.
All seek separately
the many faces of my Beloved.”
Hush Don't Say Anything to God (1999)
Context: My head is bursting
with the joy of the unknown.
My heart is expanding a thousand fold.
Every cell,
taking wings,
flies about the world.
All seek separately
the many faces of my Beloved.
“Spring is Christ,
Raising martyred plants from their shrouds.”
"Spring is Christ" in Ch. 4 : Spring Giddiness, p. 37
The Essential Rumi (1995)
Context: Spring is Christ,
Raising martyred plants from their shrouds.
Their mouths open in gratitude, wanting to be kissed.
The glow of the rose and the tulip means a lamp is inside.
A leaf trembles. I tremble in the wind-beauty like silk from Turkestan.
The censer fans into flame. This wind is the Holy Spirit.
The trees are Mary.
"Ali in Battle" in Ch. 20 : In Baghdad dreaming of Cairo
The Essential Rumi (1995)
Context: I am God's Lion, not the lion of passion....
I have no longing
except for the One.
When a wind of personal reaction comes,
I do not go along with it.
There are many winds full of anger,
and lust and greed. They move the rubbish around,
but the solid mountain of our true nature stays where it's always been.
“There is no worse sickness for the soul,
O you who are proud, than this pretense of perfection.”
Rumi Daylight (1990)
Context: There is no worse sickness for the soul,
O you who are proud, than this pretense of perfection.
The heart and eyes must bleed a lot
before self-complacency falls away.
“Little by little, wean yourself. This is the gist of what I have to say.”
As quoted in The Enlightened Mind (1991), edited by Stephen Mitchell
Context: Little by little, wean yourself. This is the gist of what I have to say. From an embryo, whose nourishment comes in the blood, move to an infant drinking milk, to a child on solid food, to a searcher after wisdom, to a hunter of more invisible game.
Think how it is to have a conversation with an embryo. You might say, "The world outside is vast and intricate. There are wheatfields and mountain passes, and orchards in bloom. At night there are millions of galaxies, and in sunlight the beauty of friends dancing at a wedding."
You ask the embryo why he, or she, stays cooped up in the dark with eyes closed. Listen to the answer.
There is no "other world." I only know what I've experienced. You must be hallucinating.
“Why use bitter soup for healing
when sweet water is everywhere?”
Source: The Essential Rumi (1995), Ch. 19 : Jesus Poems, p. 204
Context: Christ is the population of the world,
and every object as well. There is no room
for hypocrisy. Why use bitter soup for healing
when sweet water is everywhere?
Jewels of Remembrance (1996)
Context: Are you fleeing from Love because of a single humiliation?
What do you know of Love except the name?
Love has a hundred forms of pride and disdain,
and is gained by a hundred means of persuasion.
Since Love is loyal, it purchases one who is loyal:
it has no interest in a disloyal companion.
The human being resembles a tree; its root is a covenant with God:
that root must be cherished with all one's might.
“The ruby and the sunrise are one.”
As quoted in Head and Heart : A Personal Exploration of Science and the Sacred (2002) by Victor Mansfield
Context: He says, "There’s nothing left of me.
I’m like a ruby held up to the sunrise.
Is it still a stone, or a world
made of redness? It has no resistance
to sunlight." This is how Hallaj said, I am God,
and told the truth!The ruby and the sunrise are one. Be courageous and discipline yourself.
Completely become hearing and ear, and wear this sun-ruby as an earring.
“Traditional words are just babbling
in that presence, and babbling is a substitute
for sight.”
"The Three Fish" Ch. 18 : The Three Fish, p. 196
Variant translations or adaptations:
Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation.
As quoted in Teachers of Wisdom (2010) by Igor Kononenko, p. 134
Silence is an ocean. Speech is a river. Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation.
As quoted in "Rumi’s wisdom" (2 October 2015) http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2015/10/02/character-of-the-week-rumi/, by Paulo Coelho
The Essential Rumi (1995)
Context: Silence
is an ocean. Speech is a river.When the ocean is searching for you, don't walk
into the language-river. Listen to the ocean,
and bring your talky business to an end Traditional words are just babbling
in that presence, and babbling is a substitute
for sight.
As translated in Masnavi I Ma'navi : The Spiritual Couplets of Maulána Jalálu-'d-Dín Muhammad Rúmí (1898) edited by Edward Henry Whinfield Book IV, Story IV : "Bayazid and his impious sayings when beside himself" <!-- also quoted in The Perennial Philosophy (1945) by Aldous Huxley -->
"Advice to the Disciple and Aspirant" p. 527
The Quatrains of Rumi (2008)
“Every moment and place says,
"Put this design in your carpet!"”
"Put This Design in Your Carpet" Ch. 11 : Union
The Essential Rumi (1995)
Context: I can't stop pointing
to the beauty.Every moment and place says,
"Put this design in your carpet!"
III, 1445-49
Jewels of Remembrance (1996)
Context: If an ant seeks the rank of Solomon,
don't smile contemptuously upon its quest.
Everything you possess of skill, and wealth and handicraft,
wasn't it first merely a thought and a quest?
“A prince is just
a conceit until he does something with generosity.”
"The Far Mosque" in Ch. 17 : Solomon Poems, p. 191
The Essential Rumi (1995)
Context: This heart sanctuary does
exist, but it can't be described. Why try! Solomon goes there every morning and gives guidance
with words, with musical harmonies, and in actions,
which are the deepest teaching. A prince is just
a conceit until he does something with generosity.
"The Gift of Water" Ch. 18 : The Three Fish, p. 200
The Essential Rumi (1995)
Context: Every object and being in the universe is
a jar overflowing with wisdom and beauty,
a drop of the Tigris that cannot be contained
by any skin. Every jarful spills and makes the earth
more shining, as though covered in satin.
As quoted in The Enlightened Mind (1991), edited by Stephen Mitchell
Context: Little by little, wean yourself. This is the gist of what I have to say. From an embryo, whose nourishment comes in the blood, move to an infant drinking milk, to a child on solid food, to a searcher after wisdom, to a hunter of more invisible game.
Think how it is to have a conversation with an embryo. You might say, "The world outside is vast and intricate. There are wheatfields and mountain passes, and orchards in bloom. At night there are millions of galaxies, and in sunlight the beauty of friends dancing at a wedding."
You ask the embryo why he, or she, stays cooped up in the dark with eyes closed. Listen to the answer.
There is no "other world." I only know what I've experienced. You must be hallucinating.
“I am the servant of the Qur'an as long as I have life.”
Context: I am the servant of the Qur'an as long as I have life.
I am the dust on the path of [Muhammad], the Chosen one.
If anyone quotes anything except this from my sayings,
I am quit of him and outraged by these words
"Ali in Battle" an account of Ali ibn Abi Talib's explanation as to why he declined to kill someone who had spit in his face as Ali was defeating him in battle, in Ch. 20 : In Baghdad dreaming of Cairo
Disputed, The Essential Rumi (1995)
“Quit acting like a wolf, and feel
the shepherd's love filling you.”
"A Community of the Spirit" in Ch. 1 : The Tavern, p. 2
Disputed, The Essential Rumi (1995)
As quoted in The Sufi Path of Love : The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi (1983) by William C. Chittick, p. 162
"The Forty Rules of Love" (2010) by Elif Şafak (The book is about Rumi, but the quote is the author's own words)
Misattributed
As quoted in "Mevlana Jalal al-Din Rumi" http://en.mfethullahgulen.com/content/view/1820/49/ by Fethullah Gülen in The Fountain #24 (July-September 2004)
Variant translation: I want a heart which is split, chamber by chamber, by the pain of separation from God, so that I might explain my longings and desires to it.
Mathnavi translated by William Chittick pp. 122-123 as quoted in Classical Islam and Naqshbandi Sufi Tradition by Muhammad Hisham Kabbani p. 153
“What is the body? That shadow of a shadow
of your love, that somehow contains
the entire universe.”
"Where are we?" in Ch. 2 : Bewilderment
Disputed, The Essential Rumi (1995)
Helen Schucman in A Course in Miracles (1976) by Helen Schucman and William Thetford, Ch. 16 The Forgiveness of Illusions, p. 338,#6.
Misattributed
“The Sufi is hanging on to Muhammad, like Abu Bakr.”
As quoted in Rumi and Islam: Selections from His Stories, Poems, and Discourses — Annotated and Explained (2004) by Ibrahim Gamard p. 171
"Who says words with my mouth?" in Ch. 1 : The Tavern, p. 2
Disputed, The Essential Rumi (1995)
“They will ask you
what you have produced.
Say to them,
except for Love,
what else can a Lover produce?”
Hush Don't Say Anything to God (1999)
“Even though you're not equipped,
keep searching:
equipment isn't necessary on the way to the Lord.”
III, 1445-49
Jewels of Remembrance (1996)
