Shams-e Tabrz

Born 1185
Tabriz, Iran
Died 1248
Khoy, Iran
Occupation Weaver, poet, philosopher

Shams-i-Tabrz (Persian: ) or Shams al-Din Mohammad (11851248) 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.

Life
 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 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 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.[5] 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 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 specificities of how this transference occurred, however, are not yet known.[6]

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 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."[7]
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.[8][9]

Tomb of Shams Tabrizi

Tomb of Shams Tabrizi

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. There are several sites that claim to his grave, one in
Multan and another one in a remote region of the Karakoram in Northern Pakistan at a place
called Ziarat, near the village Shimshall. Sultan Walad, Rumi's son, in his Walad-Nama mathnawi
just mentions that Shams mysteriously disappeared from Konya with no more specific details.[10]

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.[11]

Discourse of Shams Tabrz

The Maqalat-e Shams-e Tabrizi (Discourse of Shams-i Tabrz) is a Persian prose book written by
Shams.[12] 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 growSorrow 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.[13]

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.[14]

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 , p.13

2. ^ Manouchehr Mortazavi. Zaban-e Dirin-e Azerbaijan (On the Old language of Azerbaijan).
Bonyad-e Moqoofaat-e Dr. Afshar. 2005 (1384).
1384 . pg 49, see comments on the old language of Tabriz as well as Old Azari language
Claude Cahen, "Pre-Ottoman Turkey: a general survey of the material and spiritual culture and
history, c. 10711330", Sidgwick & Jackson, 1968. p. 258: "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."
Everett Jenkins, "Volume 1 of 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 0-7864-0431-0,
ISBN 978-0-7864-0431-5
S. Lornejad and A. Doostzadeh, On the Modern Politicization of the Persian Poet Nezami Ganjavi,
Caucasian Centre for Iranian Studies, edited by Victoria Arakelova, Yerevan, 2012 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 biy (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-
Jenn. 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 Shafiite Muslim like the bulk of the Iranian
population of Azerbaijan during the preMongol 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 Middle Ages: A History of Survival, A Search for
Salvation (New York: Oxford University Press), 2007, p. 51.

5. ^ A History of Muslim Philosophy, Vol II; M.M. Sharif. Page 824

6. ^ 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.

7. ^ [1] Franklin Lewis, Rumi, Past and Present, East and West, pp. 154161.

8. ^ http://www.spiritualfoundation.net/fatherofsufism.htm

9. ^ http://khawajamoinuddin.wordpress.com/hazrat-ali-the-father-of-sufism/

10. ^ http://jamilahammad.com/rumiandshams/thestory.htm

11. ^ [2] 3 Timurid Skeletons Discovered near Minaret of Shams-e Tabrizi

12. ^ 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

13. ^ 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:

Also found in: William Chittick, "Me and Rumi: The Autobiography of Shams-i Tabrz", 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 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.

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External links

Poems written by Hazrat Shams Tabrezi

Last edited 19 days agoby Aleehazainab