An Introduction to the Ontology of Jalal al-Din Muhammad Balkhi

The beauty of his state cannot be expressed      What are both worlds? The reflection of his mole    (M. D. II/191⁾¹

Prologue

Despite the growing fame of Mawlana Jalal al-Din Muhammad Balkhi, the true personality and thought of this great mystic have often been hidden in a haze of fancy and sanctimony. This deficiency has become markedly accelerated, especially today with the expansion of the virtual space in which all manner of stories, teachings, and poems are republished under the name of Mawlana. A fundamental problem, particularly in the public understanding of Mawlana's persona, is that often, intentionally or inadvertently, the mystical and amorous dimensions of his personality are magnified, while the intellectual, philosophical, and rational aspects of his thought are neglected. The sense of a need to address such a void motivated the presentation of a scholarly inquiry to introduce the worldview of this important thinker of the seventh century (AH). From the perspective of this author, such research is a necessary step toward providing a more or less realistic picture of Mawlavi's thought and message, especially for the general audience. This discourse endeavors to present a concise outline of Mawlana's ontological model and its most important constituent elements, in order to demystify the personality and thoughts of this great thinker and provide a basis for a recognition of his message that is as documented and reliable as possible. Undoubtedly, delineating even a condensed framework of the ontology of a sage like Mawlavi in such a small piece of writing is to fit the sea into a jug, and naturally, the present inquiry must be read with indulgence for this unavoidable constraint. The method of this article is an examination of existing documents, as well as a philosophical and linguistic analysis of excerpts from the Masnavi-ye Ma'navi, Mawlana's most important didactic and philosophical work.

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1. The source for all couplets in this inquiry is the seven-volume Masnavi-ye Ma'navi edited by Dr. Mohammad Estelami. In the citation of couplets, the letter D refers to the book number (from one to six), and the number is the number of the quoted couplet.

A. The Peak of Brilliance

Jalal al-Din Muhammad Balkhi (604-672 AH), the renowned Sufi, philosopher, theologian, and Persian poet, is often considered the greatest figure in the history of Islamic mysticism, a sage in whose works and thoughts Islamic mysticism reaches its peak of maturity and brilliance. Mawlana, having composed over 66,000 lines of poetry, is also often regarded as the most prolific poet in Persian literature. For nearly eight centuries, commentators have studied and expounded upon his poetic and prose creations, and his works have been translated and published in numerous languages. It is not surprising that Mawlavi's intellectual and mystical legacy has had a profound and growing influence on Iranian and non-Iranian poets, philosophers, and mystics. Today, Mawlana Jalal al-Din, often known in the West as "Rumi," is a world-renowned figure whose pure spring of love and spirituality quenches the thirsty lips of eager readers and seekers of spirituality in all corners of the globe.

B. A Distorted Image

In recent years, public interest in the works and poems of Rumi, especially in the West, has been such that book sales figures in America have declared Jalal al-Din Balkhi one of the best-selling authors of recent decades in the United States. Nevertheless, a comparison of the text of Rumi's works with the translations and interpretations published from these works unfortunately testifies that what the general enthusiasts of mysticism and spirituality around the world receive under the name of Rumi is sometimes strikingly distant from the actual content of his words and teachings. In Iran and Persian-speaking countries, this predicament stems mostly from the ever-expanding virtual space and the enormous volume of correct and incorrect information fed to the audience in various fields, and it is no wonder that Rumi's poems have not been spared from slipping into the embrace of this devastating flood. In the West, the cause of this is the second-hand translations whose authors blend selections of Rumi's poems with their own taste and sensibility, and in a manner palatable to the de-religionized and modern taste of Westerners today, they subject it to the blade of interpretation and distortion and send it off to the market (in the case of someone like Mr. Coleman Barks, the American translator who does not know Persian himself and yet has been engaged for decades in so-called "translating" and publishing Rumi's poems and holding dance and music ceremonies based on his ghazals, the matter is somewhat more interesting). Today, most of the works produced and published based on Rumi's works still present an image of him as a mere "guru" or a purely spiritual master whose speech is devoid of any religious color or scent and whose message is nothing but unconditional love for all and living in joy and tranquility—a tranquility that often stems neither from religious faith nor from rationality and wisdom, but merely from factors such as "connection to cosmic forces," taming the mind's mischief, or living in the present moment. This is while, as we shall see, the slightest familiarity with Rumi's life and works testifies that he was strongly committed to the creed and law of Islam, both outwardly and inwardly (Mohammad-Taqi Jafari provides a statistic according to which Rumi used a total of 2,200 Quranic verses and 500 different hadiths in his works).

From Rumi's perspective, human salvation will not be attained except by joining Noah's Ark, whose helmsmen are the Prophet and his companions, and this is a meaning he repeatedly emphasizes:

For this the Prophet said, "I am like a ship in the storm of time"

We and our companions are like Noah's Ark; whoever grasps it finds victory. ( D. IV/539-40)

Since prophethood is the guide to freedom, for believers, freedom comes from the prophets. ( D. VI/4555)

Furthermore, although Rumi's tolerant disposition towards other peoples and faiths is not hidden from any Rumi scholar, such broad-mindedness should never be taken to mean that he lacked a clear doctrinal and ethical system, or even that believer and unbeliever are equal in his view.

Unbelievers are of the same kind as Satan; their souls have become pupils of the satans. ( D. IV/2675)

Unbelievers are ape-natured in their bile; a pestilence has come within the breast's nature. ( D. I/ 282)

And even:

Therefore the blood of infidels became lawful to shed, like wild beasts before arrows and lances.

Their wives and children are all captives, for they are without reason, rejected and abject. ( D. I/3331-2)

The truth is that (whether we like it or not) Rumi was, until the end of his life, a believing, faithful Muslim, observant of the rulings of the religion, who throughout his works emphatically stressed the necessity of having faith, observing acts of worship, and obeying God and the Messenger. He explicitly states that on the path of truth, loving and being in love alone is not enough, and performing fasting and prayer and adhering to religious rites is essential:

If spiritual exposition were sufficient, the world's people would be idle and vain.

 If love were thought and meaning, your form would not be the fast and the prayer.   (D. I|7-2634) 

The wind of anger, the wind of lust, the wind of greed carried him off, for he was not a man of prayer. (D. I/3811)

The Friday prayer is a condition, and the congregation in prayer, commanding the good and shunning the forbidden. (D. VI/485)

Another shortcoming evident in the reflection of Rumi's message is the commentaries and interpretations written on his works. Unfortunately, most commentators, instead of trying to understand and compile Rumi's Islamic-mystical ontology based on the text of his own works, have attempted to make their own specific philosophical outlook, or that of their favorite philosopher, the basis for understanding Rumi's message or the criterion for interpreting his words. Consequently, the image these individuals have presented under the title of

In the thought of Rumi, God, prior to the creation of the world, was a “hidden treasure” that desired to be discovered and known. He therefore created the world so that, like a vast mirror, it might reflect His attributes. In Rumi’s view, all the parts and elements of the world that lie before humankind, including humankind itself, reflect the qualities and characteristics of their Creator. In his ontology, the totality of the world comprises two realms that stand face to face: the “Microcosm,” which encompasses the entire created world, and the “Macrocosm,” which is none other than the human being. Just as a fruit, outwardly, appears to come into being from the branch of a tree, while inwardly, both the branch and the tree came into existence for the fruit to appear, so too is the entire created world dependent upon the existence of the human being:

So He made a vicegerent, one with a heart, to be a mirror for His sovereignty (Book VI/2160)

Thus in form, you are the microcosm, so in meaning, you are the macrocosm

Outwardly, the branch is the origin of the fruit; inwardly, the branch came into being for the sake of the fruit. (Book IV/522-3)

Man is the substance, and the celestial sphere his accident; all are branches and foundations, and he is the goal. (Book V/3577)

Nevertheless, the reflection of the image of the Divine in the miniature of human existence will not reach its perfection unless the individual ascends to the station of the “Perfect Human”—a concept we will explain further on.

At the dawn of creation, God taught the “names” to humanity and “breathed into him of His spirit.” With this event, humanity in truth received the “trust” of its Creator, namely the “Divine Spirit,” from Him and undertook its guardianship and preservation, so that on the “Day of Judgment,” it might return the trust, sound and pure, to its rightful Owner. Due to the exalted station of the human being in the order of creation, the angels were commanded to prostrate before him, and all did so, except for Satan, who acted with arrogance and envied Adam, and consequently was expelled from the Divine Court. Seeking revenge for that bitter event, Satan resolved to divert humanity from the straight path of worshipping the Lord, and unfortunately, he succeeded in his aim. The human being disobeyed the command of his Benefactor, incurred His wrath, and as a result of this rebellion, was expelled from the highest paradise and descended to the earth—an event whose consequence is humanity’s present existence on the terrestrial globe. Today, the earthly human can only return to the original paradise if they polish the mirror of their existence free from rust, so that it may reflect the countenance of the Creator. Removing these impurities will ultimately elevate the individual to the station of “Annihilation,” a stage that consists of the effacement of their “individual self” (or its attributes) and their transformation into a perfect mirror that bears no image of its own, its entire being nothing but the image of the God who gazes into it. Upon reaching this stage, the wayfarer has traversed the entire path of perfection and attained the exalted station of the “Perfect Human.”

So, like iron, though you are of dark form, burnish, burnish, burnish,

That your heart may become a mirror full of images, in it, on every side, a beautiful one with a silvery bosom (Book IV/2470-71)

If the iron were a mirror of the unseen realm, all forms would be imprinted within it (Book IV/2479)

He who, without image, has become of simple breast, became a mirror for the images of the unseen. (Book I/3159)

2- The Unity of Being

Our Masnavi is the shop of Unity; whatever you see other than the One, that is an idol. (Book VI|1534)

The universe of being is a radiant and all-encompassing ray that has emanated from the source of Divine Grace. But this single, colorless light appears to us, as partial-seeing humans, in a hundred colors and a hundred manifestations. Each one of us wears a colored glass over our eyes through which we see the world, and it is often the case that this multiplicity of colors leads us into error. The cause of discord and strife among human beings is precisely this remaining in apparent multiplicity and dispersion. Only the elect and the friends of God are capable of observing that single, colorless light beyond this apparent plurality. Despite the dualities of faith and unbelief, good and evil, and obedience and rebellion, nothing but a single essence named God holds sway in the universe. To remain in forms and be beguiled by appearances is idolatry, and if we could see that total unity beyond apparent differences, all religions and strata of humanity would live in peace and reconciliation, and war, division, and hatred would depart from the world.

3- The Station and Attributes of the Human Being

In Rumi's view, the human being is a theomorphic or God-like creature, a being molded in the image of its Creator.

Adam is the astrolabe of the attributes of Exaltation; the description of Adam is the locus of manifestation for His signs

Whatever appears in him is His reflection, like the reflection of the moon in the water of a stream. (Mathnawi, Book VI/3147-8)

The existence of the human being, in sum, possesses five major ontological dimensions, which are: "the body" (or physical form), "the spirit" (or soul), "the heart" (or qalb), "the self" (or nafs), and "the intellect" (or 'aql).

3- A. "The Soul" and "The Body"

In Rumi's discourse, the two elements of "body" and "soul" are repeatedly placed in opposition to one another. This opposition, of course, does not signify contradiction. The "body," or physical form, is like a husk that constitutes the outer shape of human existence, and the spirit or soul is the substance of his being. The human "body" is a vehicle for his "soul" and owes its value to it. The body is dependent on the soul and without it is nothing but a carcass, but the soul is independent of the body. Since the "soul" has a sublime and heavenly origin, it is constantly yearning for elevation, to take flight and ascend, while the "body," by the requirement of its earthly nature, has a propensity to remain and sink down. The soul desires lofty pleasures, and the body pursues material gratifications. Nevertheless, the "body" or "physical form" is not a detested or abandonable realm in human existence; rather, it has its own worth and function.

The body's inclination is toward greenery and running water, because its origin came from that.

The soul's inclination is toward Life and the Living, for the placeless soul's origin is He. (Mathnawi, Book III/4439-40)

The soul is free from the body's beard and mustache, yet the body without the soul is a vile carcass. (Mathnawi, Book IV/1886)

Just as the body's worth derives from the soul, the soul's worth derives from the radiance of the Beloved. (Mathnawi, Book III/2536)

This body is the spirit's tent, or like the ark for Noah. (Mathnawi, Book II/458)

3- B. "The Heart"

The "heart" is, in effect, the "gem" of human existence and is considered the center of his consciousness. The heart is a mirror that is the locus for reflecting the image of the Creator, provided that the ardent wayfarer diligently strives to polish it and cleanse it of the rust of arrogance and ignorance.

O brother, how will you see His palace when hair has grown in the eye of your heart?

Cleanse the eye of the heart of hair and defect, and then set your sights on beholding His palace. (Mathnawi, Book I/1404-5)

That purity of the mirror is the attribute of the heart; it is capable of receiving the form without limit.

The formless, limitless form of the Unseen shone upon Moses from the mirror of the heart, from his bosom. ( Mathnawi, Book I/3499-500)

The breast has been polished through thought and remembrance, so that the heart's mirror may receive the virgin image. (Mathnawi, Book I/3167)

For the heart is substance, speech an accident,     So the accident is secondary, the substance the goal.   (D. II/1756)

3- c. "The Self" (Nafs)

The whole Qur'an is an exposition of the wickedness of selves;     Look into the Book—where is your eye? (D. VI/4876)

Mawlana's view of the phenomenon of the self is aligned with the general Qur'anic and mystical perspective. From Rumi's viewpoint, the "self" (nafs) is a phenomenon possessing three existential levels, which are, in order: the Commanding Self (al-nafs al-ammāra—the self that commands to evil), the Blaming Self (al-nafs al-lawwāma—the self-reproaching self), and the Tranquil Self (al-nafs al-muṭmaʾinna—the serene self). Among these three, the "Commanding Self," to which the word "nafs" in Rumi's speech most often refers, is the level of the self that commands a person to commit evil and wickedness. The "Blaming Self" is a self that reproaches itself for committing errors and sins, desiring to purify itself of defilements and rise to a higher level. The "Tranquil Self" is the final and highest stage of human moral and spiritual development, a self that is in complete submission to God's will and lives in peace and companionship with its Lord¹.

3- d. "Intellect" (ʿAql)

In Rumi's philosophy, "intellect" has two levels or degrees: "Partial Intellect" (ʿaql-i juzʾī) and "Universal Intellect" (ʿaql-i kullī). "Partial Intellect" is the low and superficial level of human insight, and Universal Intellect is the high and penetrating level of his wisdom. "Universal Intellect" possesses a holistic and truth-seeing vision. It is independent of and without need of "Partial Intellect" and is capable of seeing things as they are. In contrast, "Partial Intellect" has a superficial and inadequate understanding of the truths and phenomena of the world. It is dependent on "Universal Intellect" and needs to be nourished by it. Partial Intellect is in the service of satisfying a person's material and bodily needs.

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"Universal Intellect," which possesses a deeper and more complete vision, always stands against this lowly level of intellect and its insatiable desires.

That seeing of error is from the weakness of his intellect;     Universal Intellect is the kernel, and partial intellect the husk. (D. I/3757)

Do not take partial intellect as your vizier;     Make Universal Intellect your vizier, O king.   (D. IV/1259)

Partial intellect is sometimes dominant, sometimes overturned;     Universal Intellect is secure from the vicissitudes of fate.   (D. III/1145)

With two intellects, you will be freed from many errors;    You will set your foot upon the zenith of the heavens.    (D. IV/1265)

 

Contrary to what many proponents of the conflict between reason and mysticism propagate, "intellect" and reason hold a very lofty and significant position in Rumi's view. Intellect is the guiding lamp of humanity and the source of his vision. It is intellect and reason that restrain a person from committing transgression and falling into the abyss of carnality. Of course, a person's intellect and heart must be supported by divine grace, otherwise they may often fall into error and misguidance.

But you are a man of intellect and spiritual insight;     Your intellect will not allow you to go astray.

Nature desires to exact revenge upon an enemy;     Intellect is an iron fetter upon the self.

It comes and forbids him, and makes him desist;     Intellect is like a magistrate over its good and evil.     (D. IV/1984-87)

Your part becomes universal through His universality;     Universal Intellect becomes like a shackle upon the self.     (D. I/2064)

He was unaware that that intellect and heart,    Without God's transformation, are inanimate.

If He withdraws His grace from it for a moment,     The clever intellect commits follies.     (D. IV/3729-30)

           

A point worth pondering is that Rumi, for all his firm faith in religion and the Sharia, places commitment to reason and wisdom in a position far more important than performing prayers and fasting. He considers reason to be substance, and fasting and prayer to be accident, and reminds us that, as the Prophet has well said, religious rites have come to serve the aid of human reasoning and intellection, and without it they are worthless:

How well said that Messenger of gracious ways: / A mote of your reason is better than fasting and prayers.

For your reason is substance, these two are accident; / these two became obligatory in the perfection of that. (Book V/455-6)

3-e. Felicity

Reynold Nicholson, the devoted and tireless translator whose name is pinned to Rumi’s in the minds of Rumi lovers, describes the ultimate aim of the Masnavi-ye Ma‘navi as “leading the audience to the station of felicity.” The truth is that in Rumi’s philosophy, the most painful misery is separation from God, and the highest felicity is returning to His proximity. Nevertheless, present-day humanity, this throne-dweller fallen onto the earthly realm, has been painfully severed from its origin and, like a sorrowful reed cut from the eternal reed-bed, laments in longing to return to its homeland.

Listen to this reed as it tells its complaint, / recounting tales of separations:

“Ever since they cut me from the reed-bed, / men and women have wailed at my cry.”

I want a breast torn, torn by parting, / so that I may explain the pain of longing. (Book I/1-4)

This painful separation is the result of the errancy of human thought and vision, a blight that is indeed the gift of the commanding self (nafs-e ammāra).

Adam took one step in the pleasure of the self: / separation from the high seat of Paradise became the collar of the self...

Though the sin he committed was but a single hair, / yet that hair had grown in both his eyes. (Book II/17 and 15)

Deliverance from the prison of this self requires realizing the emptiness and nothingness of this false “self.” On the path of perfection, when a person becomes aware of the truth of their own existence, they drink the wine of union and embrace the beloved of good fortune. It is at this stage that the human being has attained the station of oneness with their Creator.

4- Die before you die!

The prerequisite for union with the Truth is dying to oneself, and this means killing the rebellious, commanding self. If you desire union, you must extinguish the fire of animal lusts and polish away the rust of evils from the mirror of your soul, so that the veils of the self may be lifted and your existence become a mirror for the light of the Truth. The reason for this is clear. In the presence of the Beloved, two “I”s cannot fit: one you and the other He. So your self-regarding “I” must die before Him, and only one “I” remain—and that one “I” is He.

Kill your own self, bring the world to life; / it has killed the master, make it his servant. (Book III/2506)

So, like iron, though you are dark of form, / polish, polish, polish!

So that your heart may become a mirror full of images, / in it, on every side, a silver-bosomed beauty. (Book IV/2470-71)

He said: “Now, since you are I, O I, come in! / There is no room for two I’s in the house.” (Book I/2076)

5- The Outer and the Inner (Form and Meaning)

Among the key paired terms in Rumi’s discourse are “form” (sūrat) and “meaning” (ma‘nā). Rumi places great emphasis on the distinction between the “outer” and the “inner,” or “form” and “meaning,” in understanding the phenomena of the world. He sees the outer as like the husk and the inner as the kernel, and repeatedly advises us to leave the husk and take the kernel. In this sense, God is the principle of existence, and the forms of creation are secondary to His existence. The root and origin of things and phenomena is love, which is absent from the outer eye, while what is manifest to us is the outward form of things.

The outward form perishes, know this for sure; the world of meaning remains forevermore.

How long will love play with the form of the jug? Pass beyond the jug’s form, seek the water.

You have seen its form, heedless of the meaning; choose the pearl from the shell, if you are wise. (Bk. II | 1023-25)

Pass beyond names and look upon attributes, so that attributes may guide you to the Essence. (Bk. II | 3695)

Since the fools have seized upon outward forms, those subtleties have remained utterly hidden from them. (Bk. V | 1333)

If you regard its content, you are a king; but if you are in love with its vessel, you are astray. (Bk. VI | 655-57)

6. Evolution and Transcendence

In Rumi’s view, the world of creation is in a constant state of transformation and growth. In this evolutionary cycle, beings from the lowest to the highest become sustenance for one another and provide the ground for each other’s growth, until it reaches the human being, who grows and flourishes and ultimately returns to the dust. But those who have received eternal life through God’s grace do not die and attain subsistence in God. In its journey toward perfection, the human being passes from the mineral to the vegetative, then to the animal, and then to the human level. This is not the end of its path. A great transformation lies ahead, which occurs with the person’s death to their human dimension, through which the human reaches the station of the angel. But the wayfarer of truth ultimately passes beyond even the angelic station and arrives at “non-existence” in order to become worthy of returning to the Divine Presence. Yet what drives the movement and perfection-seeking of all the elements and particles of the universe is the wave of love and the yearning of all existents for perfection.

I died from mineral and became a plant; and from vegetation I died and sprouted as an animal.

I died from animality and became a human; so why should I fear? When did I ever diminish by dying?

Another assault: I shall die from the human realm, so that I may sprout wings and feathers from among the angels.

And from the angel, too, I must leap from the stream: “All things perish except His Face.”

Once again, I shall be sacrificed from the angel; I shall become that which cannot enter the imagination.

Then I shall become non-existence, as non-existence, like an organ, declares to me: “Verily, unto Him we are returning.” (Bk. III | 3903-8)

E. The Mystical Language

One of the substantial challenges in understanding and interpreting Rumi's words is the linguistic complexities of mystical discourse. In mystical speech, the poetic form is often used to convey spiritual themes and express amorous experiences. This preference is because the language of poetry, due to its verbal and semantic flexibility, provides the mystic with a broad space for expressing unconventional and novel mystical concepts, including the possibility of using a single "signifier" (or word) to refer to two or more "signifieds" (or meanings), and conversely, the possibility of employing several signifiers to refer to a single signified. On the whole, poetic language possesses several key characteristics that make it suitable for expressing mystical experiences. Some of these characteristics include: being melodious, interpretability, creating ambiguity, and diversity or even conflict among multiple layers of meaning. The blending of these characteristics transforms poetic speech into a delightful realm of ambiguity, music, imagination, and colorful imagery, allowing the audience to let the bird of imagination soar in the sky of the speaker's words and, depending on their own taste and thought, receive diverse and sometimes divergent meanings from the speech before them. These are some of the points and subtleties that must be considered in reading and understanding Rumi's words, for one of the essential principles in comprehending mystical discourse is sufficient familiarity with the specific language and terminology of this domain. Without such a background, there is a possibility of bewilderment or falling into error in understanding and interpreting Rumi's words. In fact, thanks to the special capabilities of the poetic form, the composer of the Masnavi finds his hand open in employing colorful expressions to refer to any meaning, and he makes the most of such a possibility.

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1- For a detailed discussion on the phenomenon of the "self" (nafs) in Rumi's thought, please refer to the article "The Enemy Within" by the same author, previously published on the Sedanet website.

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Sources and References:

Jalal al-Din Muhammad Balkhi, Masnavi-ye Ma'navi (7 volumes), edited by Mohammad Este'lami, 6th edition, Zavvar Publications, Tehran, 1376 [1997].

Mohammad Taghi Jafari, Rumi and Worldviews, 2nd edition, Allameh Jafari Works Publication Institute, Tehran, 1379 [2000].

Mohammad Taghi Jafari, Factors of Attraction in Rumi's Speech, 2nd edition, Allameh Jafari Works Publication Institute, Tehran, 1372 [1993].

Karim Zamani, Comprehensive Commentary on the Masnavi-ye Ma'navi (7 volumes), 2nd edition, Ettela'at Publications, Tehran, 1395 [2016].

Abdolhossein Zarrinkoub, Islamic Sufism in its Historical Perspective, Sokhan Publications, Tehran, 1383 [2004].

William Chittick, The Sufi Path of Love, translated by Mehdi Sarrreshtedari, 1st edition, Mehrandish Publications, Tehran, 1383 [2004].

Franklin Dean Lewis, Rumi, Yesterday to Today, East to West, translated by Hassan Lahouti, 4th edition, Namak Publications, Tehran, 1390 [2011].

Chittick, W. C. (2005). Rumi’s Sufi Doctrine. (2nd ed.). IN, US: World Wisdom Inc.

de Vitray-Meyerovitch, E. (1987). Rumi & Sufism. (2nd ed.). CA, US: Post-Apollo Press.

El-Zein, A. (2000). Spiritual consumption in the United States: The Rumi phenomenon, Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations, 11 (1), 71-85.

Este’lami, M. (2010). Rumi & the universality of his message. Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, 14 (4), 429 -524. doi: 10.1080/0959641032000127588

Gamard, I. (2005). Jalal al-Din Rumi & self-discovery. Islamica, 13 (1), 67-75.

Kaya, C. (2016). Rumi from the viewpoint of spiritual psychology and counselling. Spiritual Psychology and Counselling, 1, 9-25. doi: 10.12738/spc.2016.1.0001

Knysh, A. (2006). Islamic Mysticism: A short history. (1st ed.). (pp. 301- 325). Brill. Retrieved from: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uwsau/detail.action?docID=1092439

Lewis, F. D. (2001). Rumi: Past & present, east & west. (1st ed.). Oxford, England: Oneworld Publications.

Lewis, F., Keshavarz, F. & Brunner, E. (2001). Rumi at the top. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 47 (19), B4

Masroori, C. (2010). An Islamic language of toleration: Rumi’s criticism of religious persecution. Political Research Quarterly, 63 (2) 243-256. doi: 10.1177/1065912908330348.

Mojaddedi, J. (2014). The ebb and flow of “the ocean inside a jug”: The structure of Book One of Rumi’s Mathnawi reconsidered. Journal of Sufi Studies, 3, 105-131. doi: 10.1163/22105956-12341266Nicholson, R. A. (1995). Rumi: Poet & mystic. (1st ed.) Cornwall, GB: Oneworld Publication. Wehr, H. (1994). The Hans Wehr dictionary of modern written Arabic. Cowan, J. M. IL, US: Spoken Language Services Inc.

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From the Perspective of Rumi

An Introduction to the Ontology of Jalal al-Din Muhammad Balkhi

Author: Sasan Habibvand

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