Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī (Persian: جلال‌الدین محمد رومی‎), also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī (جلال‌الدین محمد بلخى), Mawlānā (مولانا, "our master"), Mevlânâ, Mevlevî (مولوی Mawlawī, "my master"), and more popularly simply as Rūmī (1207 – 17 December 1273), was a 13th-century Persian[1][8] poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian, and Sufi mystic.[9] Rumi's influence transcends national borders and ethnic divisions: Iranians, Tajiks, Turkish, Greeks, Pashtuns, other Central Asian Muslims, and the Muslims of South Asia have greatly appreciated his spiritual legacy for the past seven centuries.[10] His poems have been widely translated into many of the world's languages and transposed into various formats. Rumi has been described as the "most popular poet"[11] and the "best selling poet" in the United States.[12][13]

Rumi's works are written mostly in Persian, but occasionally he also used Greek,[14][15][16] Arabic, and Turkish in his verse.[17][18] His Mathnawī, composed in Konya, remains one of the purest literary glories of the Persian language.[19][20] His works are widely read today in their original language across Greater Iran and the Persian-speaking world.[21] Translations of his works are very popular, most notably in Turkey, Azerbaijan, the United States, and South Asia.[22] His poetry has influenced Persian literature, but also Turkish, Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu, as well as the literature of some other Turkic, Iranian, and Indo-Aryan languages including Chagatai, Pashto, and Bengali.Rumi was born to native Persian-speaking parents,[18][17][25] originally from the Balkh city of Khorasan, in present-day Afghanistan. He was born either in Wakhsh,[3] a village located on the Vakhsh River in the greater Balkh region in present-day Tajikistan,[3] or in the city of Balkh, located in present-day Afghanistan.[4][5]

Greater Balkh was at that time a major centre of Persian culture[20][25][26] and Sufism had developed there for several centuries. Indeed, the most important influences upon Rumi, besides his father, are said to be the Persian poets Attar and Sanai.[27] Rumi in one poem express his appreciation: "Attar was the spirit, Sanai his eyes twain, And in time thereafter, Came we in their train"[28] and mentions in another poem: "Attar has traversed the seven cities of Love, We are still at the turn of one street".[29] His father was also connected to the spiritual lineage of Najm al-Din Kubra.[10]

He lived most of his life under the Persianate[30][31][32] Seljuq Sultanate of Rum, where he produced his works [33] and died in 1273 AD. He was buried in Konya and his shrine became a place of pilgrimage.[34] Following his death, his followers and his son Sultan Walad founded the Mevlevi Order, also known as the Order of the Whirling Dervishes, famous for its Sufi dance known as the Sama ceremony. He was laid to rest beside his father, and over his remains a splendid shrine was erected. A hagiographical account of him is described in Shams ud-Din Ahmad Aflāki's Manāqib ul-Ārifīn (written between 1318 and 1353). This hagiographical account of his biography needs to be treated with care as it contains both legends and facts about Rumi.[35] For example, Professor Franklin Lewis, University of Chicago, in the most complete biography on Rumi has a separate section for the hagiographical biography on Rumi and actual biography about him.[36]

Rumi's father was Bahā ud-Dīn Walad, a theologian, jurist and a mystic from Balkh, who was also known by the followers of Rumi as Sultan al-Ulama or "Sultan of the Scholars". The popular hagiographer assertions that have claimed the family's descent from the Caliph Abu Bakr does not hold on closer examination and is rejected by modern scholars.[36][37][38] The claim of maternal descent from the Khwarazmshah for Rumi or his father is also seen as a non-historical hagiographical tradition designed to connect the family with royalty, but this claim is rejected for chronological and historical reasons.[36][37][38] The most complete genealogy offered for the family stretches back to six or seven generations to famous Hanafi Jurists.[36][37][38]

We do not learn the name of Baha al-Din's mother in the sources, but only that he referred to her as "Māmi" (Colloquial Persian for Māma)[39] and that she was a simple woman and that she lived in the 13th century. The mother of Rumi was Mu'mina Khātūn. The profession of the family for several generations was that of Islamic preachers of the liberal Hanafi rite and this family tradition was continued by Rumi (see his Fihi Ma Fih and Seven Sermons) and Sultan Walad (see Ma'rif Waladi for examples of his everyday sermons and lectures).

When the Mongols invaded Central Asia sometime between 1215 and 1220, Baha ud-Din Walad, with his whole family and a group of disciples, set out westwards.