Shams Tabrizi

Shams-i-Tabrz (Persian: ) or Shams al-Din Mohammad (1185

Shams-e-Tabrz
1248) was a Persian[2] Muslim,[3] who is credited as the spiritual instructor of
Mewln Jall ad-Dn Muhammad Balkhi, also known as Rumi and is referenced
with great reverence in Rumis poetic collection, in particular Diwan-i Shams-i
Tabrz (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 Tabrz was recently nominated to be a UNESCO World Heritage
Site.

Contents
1 Life
1.1 Shams first encounter with Rumi
2 Death
3 Discourse of Shams Tabrz
Born 1185
4 See also
Tabriz, Iran
5 References
6 Further reading
Died 1248
Khoy, Iran
7 External links
Resting Khoy , Iran
place

Life Occupation Weaver, Poet,

Philosopher, Teacher,
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 Manqib al-arifn (Eulogies of the Gnostics), Aflaki names a certain
Ali as the father of Shams-i Tabrz and his grandfather as Malikdad.
Apparently basing his calculations on Haji Bektash Veli's Maqlt
(Conversations), Aflaki suggests that Shams arrived in Konya at the age of
sixty years. However, various scholars have questioned Aflakis reliability.[4]

Shams received his education inTabriz 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.[5] Despite his occupation as
a weaver, Shams received the epithet of the embroiderer (zarduz) in Bowl of Reflections, early 13th century.
various biographical accounts including that of the Persian historian Brooklyn Museum.
Dawlatshah. This however, is not the occupation listed by Haji Bektash Veli
in the Maqlat 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 Rumis mentor suggests that this Imams biography must have been known to Shams-i Tabrzs biographers. The
, are not yet known.[4]
specificities of how this transference occurred, however

Shams first encounter with Rumi

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 inKonya. 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
[6]
suddenly catch fire and Rumi asks Shams to explain what happened. His reply was, "Something you do not understand."

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 didnt
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. Muhammads 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 Shamss hand, and the two of them returned to Rumis 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.[7][8]

Death
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 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
Tomb of Shams Tabrizi
[9]
mysteriously disappeared from Konya with no more specific details.

Shams Tabrizi's tomb in Khoy, beside a tower monument in a memorial park, has
been nominated as a World Cultural Heritage Center byUNESCO.[10]

Discourse of Shams Tabrz

The Maqalat-e Shams-e Tabrizi (Discourse of Shams-i Tabrz) 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 theMaqalat 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
growSorrow is like a black flood; wherever it flows it wilts the
blossoms.
And the Persian language, how did it happen? W ith so much elegance
Tomb of Shams Tabrizi
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 Tabrz
across the Persian Islamic world. Scholars such as Gabrielle van den Berg have sometimes questioned whether these were really
authored by Shams-i Tabrz. 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" (Gulzr-i Shams), authored by Mulukshah, a descendent of the Ismaili Pir
Shams, as well as in other works.[13]

See also
List of Persian poets and authors
Persian literature
Rumi's Kimia (film)
The Twelve Imams
Sufism
Alevism
Haji Bektash Veli
Rumi

References
1. Ibrahim Gamard, Greatest Works Of Rumi(https://books.google.com/books?id=x2YMIQNHfO0C&pg=PT13)
, p. 13
2. Murtazav, pizhhish va nigrish-i Manchihr (2004).Zabn-i drn-i zarbyijn (Chp-i 2. ed.). Tihrn: Bunyd-
i Mawqft-i Duktur Mamd Afshr. p. 49. ISBN 964-6053-61-0.
Jones-Williams, transl. from the French by J. (1968).Pre-Ottoman Turkey : a general survey of thematerial 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 abrizi T 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 abrizi
T by Rumi. Rumi translates the word in
standard Persian as biy (the imperative come). This word is also a native word of theabrizi T Iranian dialect
which is mentioned by Persian Sufi, Hafez Karbalaie in his work Rawdat al-Jenn. In the poem of Babaaher, T
the word has come down as bura (come) and in the NW Iranian ati T dialects (also called Azari but should not be
confused with the Turkish language of the same name) of Azerbaijan, in Harzandi T ati it is biri and in Karingani
Tati it is bura (Kiya 1976). It should be notedthat Shams Tabrizi was an Iranian Shafiite Muslim like the bulk of
the Iranian population of Azerbaijan during the pre-Mongol and post-Mongol era. "
3. Ibrahim Gamard, Rumi and Islam: Selections from his stories and poems, Pg Introduction xix
 4. Virani, Shafique N. The Ismailis in the MiddleAges: A History of Survival, A Search for Salvation (New oYrk: Oxford
University Press), 2007, p. 51.
5. A History of Muslim Philosophy, Vol II; M.M. Sharif. Page 824
6. [1] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1851682147)Franklin Lewis, Rumi, Past and Present, East and West, pp. 154161.
7. http://www.spiritualfoundation.net/fatherofsufism.htm
8. "Hazrat Ali -The Father of Sufism"(http://khawajamoinuddin.wordpress.com/hazrat-ali-the-father-of-sufism/)
.
wordpress.com. 19 December 2009. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
9. "This page has moved"(http://jamilahammad.com/rumiandshams/thestory
.htm). jamilahammad.com. Retrieved
24 July 2017.
10. [2] (http://www.chnpress.com/news/?section=2&id=7344) 3 Timurid Skeletons Discovered near Minaret of Shams-e
Tabrizi
11. 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 (T ehran: 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 (T ehran: Sahami, Entesharat-e
Khwarazmi, 1990). Note: This is a two volume edition. Actual quote:

Also found in: William Chittick, "Me and Rumi: The Autobiography of Shams-i a
Tbrz", Annotated and Translated.
(Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae, 2004)
13. Virani, Shafique N. The Ismailis in the MiddleAges: A History of Survival, A Search for Salvation (New oYrk: 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 Tabrzi, 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.

External links
Poems written by Hazrat Shams Tabrezi

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