Shams Tabrizi
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- For the missionary, see Shams Tabraiz (missionary).
Shams-e-Tabrizi (Persian: شمس تبریزی , d. 1248) was an Iranian Sufi mystic born in the city of Tabriz in Iranian Azerbaijan. He is responsible for initiating Mawlānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī, usually known as Rumi in the West, into Islamic mysticism, and is immortalized by Rumi's poetry collection Diwan-e Shams-e Tabriz-i ("The Works of Shams of Tabriz"). Shams lived together with Rumi in Konya, in present-day Turkey, for several years, and is also known to have travelled to Damascus in present-day Syria.
After several years with Rumi, Shams vanished from the pages of history quite suddenly. It is not known what became of him after his departure from Rumi, and there are several locations that lay claim to his gravesite; one is in a remote region of the Karakorams in Northern Pakistan at a place called Ziarat not far from the village of Shimshall, and another is in the same town that Rumi is buried in: Konya, Turkey. Rumi's love for Shams, and his bereavement at his death, found expression in an outpouring of music, dance, and lyric poems. Rumi himself left Konya and went out searching for Shams, journeying as far as Damascus before realizing that Shams and himself were, in fact, "one and the same" [1]
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" is Arabic for "sun") shining the Light of God on Rumi.
[edit] See also
The image of Shams that is transmitted in the later Sufi tradition is that of an ecstatic wandering mystic who becomes the theophanic teacher for Rumi. While the relationship between Rumi and Shams is certainly among the most refined in the history of Islamic mysticism, the person of Shams differs from the image that is projected on him. In the Maqalat of Shams (oral discourses) which have now been transmitted, Shams comes acorss as a learned scholar who was particularly interested in demonstrating his devotion to the Prophet Muhammad (S). He repeatedly criticizes philosophers and other mystics who sought to elevate themselves over the Prophet of Islam.
In the comtemporary period of Shams Tabrezi, there is a confusion on the name "Shams" as there were three personalities existing at the same time. These was Shams Tabrezi, Ismaili Pir (Dai )Shams Sabzwari and Ismaili Imam Shamsuddin.
The tomb in Multan is of Pir Shams Sabzwari but it is renowned as Shams Tabrez. This can also be verified as the area on Shams Tabrezi on Wikipedia says some thing else regarding the end of his life.
[edit] References
- 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
- Jan Rypka, History of Iranian Literature. Reidel Publishing Company. ASIN B-000-6BXVT-K
