Shams Tabrizi

Shams-i-Tabrīzī or Shams al-Din Mohammad (born 1185, died ca.1248) was a Persian^[1][2][3] Muslim,^[4] who is credited as the spiritual instructor of Mewlānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhi, also known as Rumi and is referenced with great reverence in Rumi’s poetic collection, in particular Diwan-i Shams-i Tabrīzī (The Works of Shams of Tabriz). Tradition holds that Shams taught Rumi in seclusion in Konya for a period of forty days, before fleeing for Damascus. The tomb of Shams-i Tabrīzī has recently nominated to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Life of Shams-i Tabrīzī

According to Sipah Salar, a devotee and intimate friend of Rumi who spent forty years with him, Shams was the son of the Imam Ala al-Din. In a work entitled Manāqib al-‘arifīn (Eulogies of the Gnostics), Aflaki names a certain ‘Ali as the father of Shams-i Tabrīzī and his grandfather as Malikdad. Apparently basing his calculations on Haji Bektash Veli's Maqālāt (Conversations), Aflaki suggests that Shams arrived in Konya at the age of sixty years. However, various scholars have questioned Aflaki’s reliability.^[5]

Shams received his education in Tabriz and was a disciple of Baba Kamal al-Din Jumdi. Before meeting Rumi, he apparently traveled from place to place weaving baskets and selling girdles for a living.^[6] Despite his occupation as a weaver, Shams received the epithet of “the embroiderer” (zarduz) in various biographical accounts including that of the Persian historian Dawlatshah. This however, is not the occupation listed by Haji Bektash Veli in the ”Maqālat” and was rather the epithet given to the Ismaili Imam Shams al-din Muhammad, who worked as an embroider while living in anonymity in Tabriz. The transference of the epithet to the biography of Rumi’s mentor suggests that this Imam’s biography must have been known to Shams-i Tabrīzī’s biographers. The specificities of how this transference occurred, however, are not yet known.^[7]

Shams’ encounter with Rumi

In 1244, a man in black suit from head to toe, came to the famous inn of Sugar Merchants of Konya. His name was Shams Tabrizi. He was claiming to be a travelling merchant. As it was said in Haji Bektash Veli's book, "Makalat", he was looking for something. Which he was going to find in Konya. Eventually he found Rumi riding a horse.

One day 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 rescued 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. Rumi regards him as an uneducated stranger. Shams asks Rumi what he is doing, to which Rumi replies, "Something that you do not understand!" At that moment, the books suddenly catch fire and Rumi asks Shams to explain what happened. His reply was, "Something you do not understand."^[8]

After several years with Rumi in Konya , Shams left and settled in Khoy. 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. In Rumi's poetry Shams becomes a symbol of God's love for mankind; Shams was a sun ("Shams" means "Sun" in Arabic) shining the Light of God on Rumi.

Death

Shams Tabrizi died in Khoy and is buried there. His tomb has been nominated as a World Cultural Heritage Center by UNESCO.^[9]

List of genealogy of the Pir according to the Gulzar-e-Shams

1. Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq
2. Sayyid lsmail Arizi Akbar
3. Sayyid Muhammad Arizi
4. Sayyid Ismail Sani (Imamuddin)
5. Sayyid Muhammad Mansur Khakani
6. Sayyid Ghalibuddin.
7. Sayyid Abdul Majid.
8. Sayyid Mustansirbiiiah.
9. Sayyid Ahmed Hadi.
10. Sayyid Hashim
11. Sayyid Muhammad
12. Sayyid Muhammad Sabzawari.
13. Sayyid Muhammad Mohibdin
14. Sayyid Khaliqdin alias Sayyid Ali
15. Sayyid Abdui Momin Shah
16. Sayyid Noorbaksh lmamdin
17. Sayyid Salahuddin
18. Sayyid Shamsuddin Iraqi or Sabzawari
19. Sayyid Nasiruddin
20. Sayyid Pir Shihabuddin
21. Sayyid Pir Sadruddin.

Discourses of Shams-i Tabrīzī

The Maqalat-e Shams-e Tabrizi (Discourses of Shams-i Tabrīzī) is a Persian prose book written by Shams.^[10][11] The Maqalat seems to have been written during the later years of Shams, as he speaks of himself as an old man. Overall, it bears a mystical interpretation of Islam and contains spiritual advice. Some excerpts from the Maqalat provide insight into the thoughts of Shams:

• 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.

• A good man complains of no one; he does not look to faults.

• 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.

• 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.^[12][13]

An array of mystical poetry laden with devotional sentiments and strong ‘Alid inclinations has been attributed to Shams-i Tabrīzī across the Persian Islamic world. Scholars such as Gabrielle van den Berg have sometimes questioned whether these were really authored by Shams-i Tabrīzī however later scholars have pointed out that it may instead be a question of which Shams-i Tabriz. Van den Berg suggests that this identification is the pen name of Rumi however she acknowledges that despite the large number of poems attributed to Shams that comprise the devotional repertoire of the Ismailis of Badakhshan, an overwhelming majority of these cannot be located in any of the existing works of Rumi. Rather, as Virani observes, some of these are located in the “Rose Garden of Shams” (Gulzār-i Shams), authored by Mulukshah, a descendent of the Ismaili Pir Shams, as well as in other works.^[14]

See also

• Mawlānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī
• List of Persian poets and authors
• Persian literature
• Rumi's Kimia (film)

References

1. ^ 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
2. ^ Claude Cahen, "Pre-Ottoman Turkey: a general survey of the material and spiritual culture and history, c. 1071-1330", Sidgwick & Jackson, 1968. pg 258: "He may also have met the great Persian mysitic Shams al-Din Tabrizi there, but it was only later that the full influence of this latter was to be exerted on him."
3. ^ Everett Jenkins, "Volume 1 of The Muslim Diaspora The Muslim Diaspora: A Comprehensive Reference to the Spread of Islam in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas, Everett Jenkins", McFarland, 1999. pg 212: "The Persian mystic Shams al-Din Tabrizi arrived in Konya (Asia Minor)". ISBN 0786404310, 9780786404315
4. ^ Ibrahim Gamard, Rumi and Islam: Selections from his stories and poems, Pg Introduction xix
5. ^ Virani, Shafique N. The Ismailis in the Middle Ages: A History of Survival, A Search for Salvation (New York: Oxford University Press), 2007, p. 51.
6. ^ A History of Muslim Philosophy, Vol II; M.M. Sharif. Page 824
7. ^ Virani, Shafique N. The Ismailis in the Middle Ages: A History of Survival, A Search for Salvation (New York: Oxford University Press), 2007, p. 51.
8. ^ [1] Franklin Lewis, Rumi, Past and Present, East and West, pp. 154-161.
9. ^ [2] 3 Timurid Skeletons Discovered near Minaret of Shams-e Tabrizi
10. ^ Franklin Lewis, Rumi Past and Present, East and West, Oneworld Publications, 2000
11. ^ 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
12. ^ 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. 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»
13. ^ Also found in: William Chittick, "Me and Rumi: The Autobiography of Shams-i Tabrīzī", Annotated and Translated. (Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae, 2004)
14. ^ Virani, Shafique N. The Ismailis in the Middle Ages: A History of Survival, A Search for Salvation (New York: Oxford University Press), 2007, p. 52.

Further reading

• Browne, E.G. A Literary History of Persia. Cambridge: University Press, 1929.
• Tabrizi, Shams-i. Me & Rumi : The Autobiography of Shams-i Tabrīzīi, edited by William C. Chittick. Louisville: Fons Vitae, 2004.Shams-i Tabrīzī
• Rypka, Jan. History of Iranian Literature, edited by Karl Jahn. (Dordrecht, Reidel), 1968.
• Virani, Shafique N., The Ismailis in the Middle Ages: A History of Survival, A Search for Salvation¸(New York: Oxford University Press), 2007.

External links

• The Autobiography of Shems-i Tabrizi
• Poems written by Hazrat Shams Tabrezi