Jalal al-Din Rumi, Maulana, 1207-1273; Mevleviyeh; Sufi literature
After the usual forty days of mourning, a letter was sent to Jelāl, who
at once journeyed from Qonya to Qaysariyya, and prayed at the tomb of
his deceased teacher, returning home again afterwards.
CHAPTER III.
_Mevlānā Jelālu-’d-Dīn Muhammed, the Revered Mystery of God upon
Earth._[10]
1.
Jelālu-’d-Dīn is related to have been born at Balkh on the 6th of
Rebī’u-’l-evvel, A.H. 604 (29th September 1207).
When five years old, he used at times to become extremely uneasy and
restless, so much so that his attendants used to take him into the
midst of themselves.
The cause of these perturbations was that spiritual forms and shapes
of the absent (invisible world) would arise before his sight, that is,
angelic messengers, righteous genii, and saintly men--the concealed
ones of the bowers of the True One (spiritual spouses of God), used to
appear to him in bodily shape, exactly as the cherubim and seraphim
used to show themselves to the holy apostle of God, Muhammed, in the
earlier days, before his call to the prophetic office; as Gabriel
appeared to Mary, and as the four angels were seen by Abraham and Lot;
as well as others to other prophets.
His father, Bahā’u-’d-Dīn Veled, the Sultānu-’l-‘Ulemā, used on these
occasions to coax and soothe him by saying: “These are the Occult
Existences. They come to present themselves before you, to offer unto
you gifts and presents from the invisible world.”
These ecstasies and transports of his began to be publicly known and
talked about; and the affectionately honorific title of Khudāvendgār,
by which he is so often mentioned, was conferred upon him at this time
by his father, who used to address him and speak of him by this title,
as “My Lord.”
2.
His son, Sultan Veled, related that there was a paper in the
handwriting of his father, Bahā Veled, which set forth that at Balkh,
when Jelāl was six years old, he was taking the air one Friday, on the
terraced roof of the house, and reciting the Qur’ān, when some other
children of good families came in and joined him there.
After a time, one of these children proposed that they should try and
jump from thence on to a neighbouring terrace, and should lay wagers on
the result.
Jelāl smiled at this childish proposal, and remarked: “My brethren, to
jump from terrace to terrace is an act well adapted for cats, dogs, and
the like, to perform; but is it not degrading to man, whose station is
so superior? Come now, if you feel disposed, let us spring up to the
firmament, and visit the regions of God’s realm.” As he yet spake, he
vanished from their sight.
Frightened at Jelāl’s sudden disappearance, the other children raised
a shout of dismay, that some one should come to their assistance;
when lo, in an instant, there he was again in their midst; but with
an altered expression of countenance and blanched cheeks. They all
uncovered before him, fell to the earth in humility, and all declared
themselves his disciples.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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