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Rumi a overview&. Unless there... (325)..



Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi was born in Balkh, Afghanistan in 1207 and died in 1273 and is buried in Konya, Turkey.  Al Ghazali (1065-1111) had a great influence on Rumi. His father Burhan Uddin was also a known scholar. At the age of 34 Rumi had become a well  known scholar and a professor. After  meeting Shams, a Sufi ,he embarked on a spiritual search that lasted 13 years. From 1245 to1261, he wrote fifty thousand versess known as Diwan-Shams e Tabrazi. After 1261 in twelve years he wrote 25,700 verses known as Masnave.The best English translation of Masnavi is by Professor R A Nicholson of Cambridge University done during 1925 and 1940. It is in 6 volumes, called "Masnavi of Rum". Here are two short selections from Masnavi. Khaliq
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1. "The Prophet said "Trust in God, yet tie the camel's leg.'
'The worker is the friend of God';
Through trust in Providence neglect not to use means.
Go, O fatalists, practice trust with self-exertion,
Exert yourself to attain your objects, bit by bit.
In order to succeed, strive and exert yourselves;
If you strive not for your objects, ye are fools." 
 

2. Unless there be truth, how should there be falsehood?

That falsehood receives brilliance from the truth..

Without truth fantasy exists not in the world.
Truth is the Night of Power (Qudar) is hidden among 
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*For English readers books like "Life and times of Jalal Uddin Rumi"  by Dr. Afzal Iqbal and "The Triumphal Sun" by Annemarie Schimmel are a good read. Video lectures and articles by Professor Omid Safi of Duke University, Professor Timothy Winters of Cambridge University, Professor Sayed Husein Nasr of George Washington University are a must.  Khaliq M Khan (May 2014)

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