Shams Tabrizi

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Shams-e-Tabrīzī

1185
Born
Tabriz, Iran
1248
Died
Khoy, Iran
Resting place Khoy , Iran
Occupation Weaver, Poet, Philosopher, Teacher,

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or Shams al-Din Mohammad (1185–1248) was (‫ شمس تبریزی‬:Persian) Shams-i-Tabrīzī
a Persian[1] Muslim,[2] 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 was recently nominated to be
.a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Contents

• 1Life
• 1.1Shams’ first encounter with Rumi
• 2Death
• 3Discourse of Shams Tabrīzī
• 4See also
• 5References
• 6Further reading
• 7External links

Life[edit]

Bowl of Reflections, early 13th century. Brooklyn Museum.

According to Sipah Salar, a devotee and intimate friend of Rumi who spent forty days 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.[3]
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.[4] 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
embroiderer 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.[3]
Shams’ first encounter with Rumi[edit]
On 15 November 1244, a man in a 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."
(This is knowledge that cannot be understood by the unlearned.) 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." (This is knowledge that cannot be
understood by the learned.)

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."[5]
Another version of the first encounter is this: In the marketplace of Konya, amid the cotton
stalls, sugar vendors, and vegetable stands, Rumi rode through the street, surrounded by his
students. Shams caught hold of the reins of his donkey and rudely challenged the master with
two questions. “Who was the greater mystic, Bayazid [a Sufi saint] or Muhammad?” Shams
demanded. "What a strange question! Muhammad is greater than all the saints," Rumi
replied. "So, why is it then that Muhammad said to God, ‘I didn’t know you as I should have,’
while Bayazid proclaimed, ‘Glory be to me! How exalted is my Glory! [that is, he claimed the
station of God himself]?" Rumi explained that Muhammad was the greater of the two,
because Bayazid could be filled to capacity by a single experience of divine blessings. He lost
himself completely and was filled with God. Muhammad’s capacity was unlimited and could
never be filled. His desire was endless, and he was always thirsty. With every moment he
came closer to God, and then regretted his former distant state. For that reason he said, “I
have never known you as I should have.” It is recorded that after this exchange of words,
Rumi felt a window open at the top of his head and saw smoke rise to heaven. He cried out,
fell to the ground, and lost consciousness for one hour. Shams, upon hearing these answers,
realized that he was face to face with the object of his longing, the one he had prayed God to
send him. When Rumi awoke, he took Shams’s hand, and the two of them returned to Rumi’s
school together on foot.

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 guide of Allah's (Creator) love for
mankind; Shams was a sun ("Shams" means "Sun" in Arabic) shining the Light of Sun as
guide for the right path dispelling darkness in Rumi's heart, mind, and body on earth. The
source of Shams' teachings was the knowledge of Ali ibn Abu Talib, who is also called the
father of sufism.[6][7]

Tomb of Shams Tabrizi

Tomb of Shams Tabrizi

Death[edit]
According to contemporary Sufi tradition, Shams Tabrizi mysteriously disappeared: some say
he was killed by close disciples of Mowlana Jalaluddin Rumi who were jealous of the close
relationship between Rumi and Shams, but according to many certain evidences [citation
needed]he left Konya and died in Khoy where he was buried. Sultan Walad, Rumi's son, in
his Walad-Nama mathnawi just mentions that Shams mysteriously disappeared from Konya
with no more specific details.[8][9]
Shams Tabrizi's tomb in Khoy, beside a tower monument in a memorial park, has been
nominated as a World Cultural Heritage Center by UNESCO.[10]
 Discourse of Shams Tabrīzī[edit]
The Maqalat-e Shams-e Tabrizi (Discourse of Shams-i Tabrīzī) is a Persian prose book written
by Shams.[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]
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
whether the name Shams-i Tabriz has been used for more than one person. 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.[13]

See also[edit]

• Poetry portal
• List of Persian poets and authors
• Persian literature
• Rumi's Kimia (film)
• The Twelve Imams
• Sufism
• Alevism
• Haji Bektash Veli
• Rumi
 References[edit]
1. Jump up^

• Murtazz̤avī, pizhūhish va nigārish-i Manūchihr (2004). Zabān-i dīrīn-i Āzz̲ arbāyijān (Chāp-i 2. ed.). Tihrān: Bunyād-i Mawqūfāt-i

Duktur Maḥmūd Afshār. p. 49. ISBN 964-6053-61-0.

• Jones-Williams, transl. from the French by J. (1968). Pre-Ottoman Turkey : a general survey of the material and spiritual

culture and history c. 1071-1330 (1. publ. ed.). London: Sidgwick & Jackson. p. 258. ISBN 9780283352546. He may also have
met the great Persian mystic Shams al-Din Tabrizi there, but it was only later that the full influence of this latter was to be
exerted on him.

• Jenkins, Everett (1998). The Muslim diaspora : a comprehensive reference to the spread of Islam in Asia, Africa, Europe, and

the Americas, Vol 1. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. p. 212. ISBN 978-0-7864-0431-5. The Persian mystic Shams al-Din Tabrizi
arrived in Konya (Asia Minor)

• Arakelova, Victoria; A. Doostzadeh; S. Lornejad (2012). On the modern politicization of the Persian poet Nezami Ganjavi.

Yerevan: Caucasian Centre for Iranian Studies. p. 162. ISBN 978-99930-69-74-4. In a poem from Rumi, the word buri is
mentioned from the mouth of Shams Tabrizi by Rumi. Rumi translates the word in standard Persian as biyā (the imperative
“come”). This word is also a native word of the Tabrizi Iranian dialect which is mentioned by Persian Sufi, Hafez Karbalaie in
his work Rawdat al-Jenān. In the poem of Baba Taher, the word has come down as bura (come) and in the NW Iranian Tati
dialects (also called Azari but should not be confused with the Turkish language of the same name) of Azerbaijan, in Harzandi
Tati it is biri and in Karingani Tati it is bura (Kiya 1976). It should be noted that Shams Tabrizi was an Iranian Shafi’ite Muslim
like the bulk of the Iranian population of Azerbaijan during the pre-Mongol and post-Mongol era.

2. Jump up^ Ibrahim Gamard, Rumi and Islam: Selections from his stories and poems, Pg Introduction xix

3. ^ Jump up to:a b 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.
4. Jump up^ A History of Muslim Philosophy, Vol II; M.M. Sharif. Page 824

5. Jump up^ [1] Franklin Lewis, Rumi, Past and Present, East and West, pp. 154–161.

6. Jump up^ http://www.spiritualfoundation.net/fatherofsufism.htm[permanent dead link]

8. Jump up^ "Shams Tabrizi". Iran Territory. 2016-07-22. Retrieved 2018-08-24.

9. Jump up^ "Rumi: Mystical Friendship - Humanity Healing Network". Humanity Healing Network. 2016-07-22. Retrieved 2018-
08-24.

10.Jump up^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 4 November 2007. 3 Timurid
Skeletons Discovered near Minaret of Shams-e Tabrizi

11.Jump up^ Franklin Lewis, Rumi Past and Present, East and West, Oneworld Publications, 2000
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.Jump up^ 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: ‫ که آن معانی و‬،‫زبان پارسی را چه شده است؟ بدین لطیفی و خوبی‬
‫»لطافت که در زبان پارسی آمده است و در تازی نیامده است‬
Also found in: William Chittick, "Me and Rumi: The Autobiography of Shams-i Tabrīzī", Annotated and Translated. (Louisville,
KY: Fons Vitae, 2004)
13.Jump up^ 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[edit]
• 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.
• Maleki, Farida. Shams-e Tabrizi: Rumi's Perfect Teacher. New Delhi: Science of the Soul
Research Centre, 2011. ISBN 978-93-8007-717-8
• Rypka, Jan. History of Iranian Literature, edited by Karl Jahn. Dordrecht: Reidel, 1968.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tomb of Shams Tabrizi.

External links[edit]
• Poems written by Hazrat Shams Tabrezi

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