Shams-i-Tabrīzī (Persian: شمس تبریزی‎) or 'Shams al-Din Mohammad' (1185–1248) was an Iranian[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.
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.[5]