Like other mystic and Sufi poets of Persian literature, Rumi's poetry speaks of love which infuses the world. Rumi's teachings also express the tenets summarized in the Quranic verse which Shams-e Tabrizi cited as the essence of prophetic guidance: "Know that ‘There is no god but He,’ and ask forgiveness for your sin" (Q. 47:19).
In the interpretation attributed to Shams, the first part of the verse commands the humanity to seek knowledge of tawhid (oneness of God), while the second instructs them to negate their own existence. In Rumi's terms, tawhid is lived most fully through love, with the connection being made explicit in his verse that describes love as "that flame which, when it blazes up, burns away everything except the Everlasting Beloved."[61]
Rumi's longing and desire to attain this ideal is evident in the following poem from his book the Masnavi:[62]
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از جمادی مُردم و نامی شدم وز نما مُردم به حیوان برزدم مُردم از حیوانی و آدم شدم پس چه ترسم کی ز مردن کم شدم؟ حملهٔ دیگر بمیرم از بشر تا برآرم از ملائک بال و پر وز ملک هم بایدم جستن ز جو کل شیء هالک الا وجهه بار دیگر از ملک پران شوم آنچ اندر وهم ناید آن شوم پس عدم گردم عدم چون ارغنون گویدم که انا الیه راجعون |
I died to the mineral state and became a plant, I died to the vegetal state and reached animality, I died to the animal state and became a man, Then what should I fear? I have never become less from dying. At the next charge (forward) I will die to human nature, So that I may lift up (my) head and wings (and soar) among the angels, And I must (also) jump from the river of (the state of) the angel, Everything perishes except His Face, Once again I will become sacrificed from (the state of) the angel, I will become that which cannot come into the imagination, Then I will become non-existent; non-existence says to me (in tones) like an organ, Truly, to Him is our return. |
The Masnavi weaves fables, scenes from everyday life, Qur'anic revelations and exegesis, and metaphysics into a vast and intricate tapestry.
Rumi believed passionately in the use of music, poetry and dance as a path for reaching God. For Rumi, music helped devotees to focus their whole being on the divine and to do this so intensely that the soul was both destroyed and resurrected. It was from these ideas that the practice of whirling Dervishes developed into a ritual form. His teachings became the base for the order of the Mevlevi, which his son Sultan Walad organised. Rumi encouraged Sama, listening to music and turning or doing the sacred dance. In the Mevlevi tradition, samāʿ represents a mystical journey of spiritual ascent through mind and love to the Perfect One. In this journey, the seeker symbolically turns towards the truth, grows through love, abandons the ego, finds the truth and arrives at the Perfect. The seeker then returns from this spiritual journey, with greater maturity, to love and to be of service to the whole of creation without discrimination with regard to beliefs, races, classes and nations.
In other verses in the Masnavi, Rumi describes in detail the universal message of love:
The lover's cause is separate from all other causes Love is the astrolabe of God's mysteries.[63]
Rumi's favourite musical instrument was the ney (reed flute).[24]
