"Imagine that you could go somewhere each morning, say to a corner of the sugar merchants' caravanserai, and hear Shams Tabriz talk about the veiling of the heart, the nature of exertion, or how to move beyond the agitated state of question and answer.  This book gives entry into that astonishing presence. Go there for an hour a day, however long it takes. Then read Rumi's poetry and feel their opening Friendship in you. Bless William Chittick."    

- Coleman Barks

 The astounding autobiography of the man who transformed Rumi from a learned religious teacher into the world’s greatest poet of mystical love.

 "William Chittick’s masterful translation of the Maqalat of Shamsi Tabrizi moves Rumi’s beloved mentor from the shadows into the light, and restores Shams to the central position of prominence that he so richly deserves.  This work immediately joins the indispensable short list of scholarly works on Rumi and his community.  Highly recommended for all scholars and students of Sufism, Islamic Philosophy, Persian literature, and of course for all the legions of Rumi fans."  

–Annemarie Schimmel

Now that Rumi has become one of the best-selling poets in North America, interest in his life and times has increased dramatically.  Practically every collection of his poetry provides a thumbnail biography, highlighting his encounter with Shams-i Tabrizi, the wandering mystic who became Rumi’s beloved companion.  Rumi had been a sober scholar, teaching law and theology to a small circle of students, but the coming of Shams turned him into a devotee of music, dance, and poetry.  Three years after Shams’s appearance out of nowhere, he abruptly vanished, never to be seen again.  It was Rumi’s longing for the lost Shams that transformed him into one of the world’s greatest poets. Rumi immortalized Shams’s name by constantly celebrating him in his poetry as the embodiment of the divine beloved.

Very little is known about the historical Shams—indeed, some have even doubted that he was a real person.  Everyone interested in Rumi’s poetry has been curious about him, and beginning with Rumi’s own son and other hagiographers, a great deal of legend was built up.  Over the centuries Shams became a trope of Persian, Turkish, and Urdu literatures.  Modern scholarship has made little headway in explaining who Shams was or how he was able to play such a decisive role in Rumi’s life, though a good number of theories have been advanced.

            Me and Rumi represents a true milestone in the study of this enigmatic figure.  It makes available for the first time in any European language first-hand accounts of Shams that have never been studied by Western scholars.  When Rumi and Shams sat and talked, one or more members of the circle took notes.  These were never put into final form, but they were preserved and sometimes copied by later generations, ending up in various libraries scattered around Turkey.  Fifteen years ago an Iranian scholar completed the long process of collating and editing the manuscripts.  The book that he published, called Maqalat-i Shams-i Tabrizi, “The Discourses of Shams-i Tabrizi”, provides us with an extraordinary picture of an awe-inspiring personality. 

            In Me and Rumi William C. Chittick has translated about two-thirds of the Discourses into English and arranged them in a manner that clarifies their meaning and context.  He provides notes and a glossary, which will go a long way toward helping readers decipher the more obscure passages.  The net result is an exciting and readable book that brings Shams to life.  For the first time in Western sources we are given access to him without the intermediary of Rumi and the myth-makers.  Shams appears as raucous and sober, outspoken and subtle, harsh and gentle, learned and irreverent, and above all as an embodiment of the living presence of God.  The book destroys the stereotypes that have been set up by the secondary literature, and it gives access to a far more fascinating and vivid personality than we have any right to expect from what hagiographers and scholars have written. 

1 February 2005 News - Me & Rumi has recently received the World Prize for the Book of the Year in Iran and has been selected as the best work in the field of Iranian studies.

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Table of Contents

 Translator’s Introduction

1.  My Years Without Mawlana

            Childhood

            My Teaching Career

            My Travels

            Teachers and Shaykhs I have Met

2.  My Path to God

            The Profit and Loss of Study

            Philosophy

            Following Muhammad

            The Religion of Old Women

            The Guidance of the Shaykh

            Avoiding Caprice

            The Companion of the Heart

            The Saints

            My Interpretations of Scripture

3.  My Time with Mawlana

            Our Encounter

            My Spiritual Mastery

            Mawlana’s Exalted Station

            Our Companionship

            My Instructions to the Circle

            My Critics

            My Harshness with Friends

            My Return from Aleppo

Notes to the Passages

Index of Passages

Index and Glossary of Proper Names

Index and Glossary of Terminology

            William C. Chittick was born in Milford, Connecticut.  He finished his B.A. in the United States and then went to Iran, where he completed a Ph.D. in Persian literature at Tehran University in 1974.  He taught comparative religion for five years at Aryamehr Technical University in Tehran, and left Iran just before the revolution.  For three years he was assistant editor of the Encyclopaedia Iranica at Columbia University, and from 1983 he has taught religious studies at Stony Brook University.  He is author and translator of twenty-five books and one hundred articles on Sufism, Shi’ism, and Islamic thought in general.  His more recent titles include The Self-Disclosure of God: Principles of Ibn al-`Arabî’s Cosmology (State University of New York Press, 1998) and The Heart of Islamic Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 2001).  

Relevant Previous Publications

The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi.  State University of New York Press.  0-87395-724-5, 1983. 

The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn al-'Arabî's Metaphysics of Imagination. State University of New York Press.  0-88706-884-7. 1989.  

Sufism: A Short Introduction. Oneworld.  1-85168-211-2.  2000.

Some words from Annemarie Schimmel: 

When you go to Konya to visit Maulana Rumi’s mausoleum, “the Green Dome” you must not forget to pay a visit to the memorial of Shams-i Tabrizi as well, for “otherwise, Shams will be angry with you!” as the pious people in the city will tell you. Shams, Rumi’s inspiring genius, representative of Divine Grandeur and the jalal-side of the Creator-who was he? Most readers of Maulana Rumi’s verse have asked this question, and different are the answers. We, who devoted a large part of our life to Maulana, the most wonderful mystical poet in the world (not only in the Islamic world) have sometimes tried to understand the difficult and at times apparently incomprehensible Maqalat-i Shams, a work that was edited critically only recently. But whenever we began to study it, we could barely find our way through the difficulties of the style, of the allusions to unknown facts and persons, and the strangely confused text and gave up. In the certain way similar in difficulty to the Maarif of Maulana’s father Baha-i Valad, the Maqalat-i Shams seemed to evade our grasp, and again comparable to the just mentioned work, it contains highly surprising statements, expressions that shock the uninitiated reader and also those who see in him only the representative of love and sweet though painful longing. Shams takes the listener or, now, the reader to another experience- and his words should be carefully studied by those who equate mystical love with softening. As Maulana says in the beginning chapter of the Mathnavi speaking of the Sun:          

The Sun who illuminates the entire world 

should it draw closer, everything will burn 

We are extremely grateful to William Chittick for placing before us his translation of the Maqalat, not in its original rather chaotic form but well arranged so that the reader enjoys the fascinating though sometimes shocking remarks of Shams that immediately go to heart. I think that Professor Chittick, with only his deep knowledge of Sufism and his long experience in relating complicated Sufi texts was able to undertake this work, and we are extremely grateful that he opened a door long closed so that we come somewhat closer to the mysteries of the relation between Shams and Rumi. The relation that gave the world the most wonderful poetry, poetry in honor of the Sun that nourishes and at the same time burns the heart. 

-Annemarie Schimmel

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Reader Reviews:

Long-awaited Autobiography - Shams, the strange Companion, November 10, 2004
Peacock Eye (Source: Amazon.com)
 

"When a sincere man begins to dance,
the seven heavens, the earth, and all creatures begin to dance." - Shams

Little did we know about Shams Tabrizi, except that he was the enigmatic master of Maulana Jalalludin Rumi. Now we may get an inside picture through this wonderful autobiography, translated by a thorough scholar (William Chittick). Moreover, it may correct certain childish misconceptions we may have had about both Rumi and Shams.

This is an authentic biography, however rather atypical. From the translator's introduction: "The first thing we need to remember about the Discourses is that it was not written by Shams. Rather, one or more individuals in Rumi's intimate circle took notes while Shams was speaking, often, but not always, when Rumi was present. (...) What is certain is that he never saw a final version - or if he did, it has not survived." Consequently, this autobiography does not read as a continuous story, but consists of random notes in the original manuscript, organized however into chapters in this English translation.

Who was Shams Tabrizi? You must read the book in order to answer this question for yourself. Shams recounts: "What then do you know of me? I went into that thicket where lions wouldn't dare to go (...) and awesomeness settled into me." Indeed, what did anyone know of him?

What is clear from this book is that Shams's heart-secret (sirr-e asrar) was no match for contemporary mystics, although he did respect just one or two or perhaps a few.
With every encounter he would reveal the other's state (hal) and spiritual standing (maqam) through gnostic insight, and invariably he would manifest as idol-breaker. Then they would flee his presence, being incapable to tolerate his face.
He is very critical even of the great ones in Sufism, particularly Bayazid Bistami and Mansur Hallaj, whom he frequently mentions in comparisons, or even Junayd. He says: "The station of `He is the Real' is far above that of `I am the Real'. And explains: "The difference between me and the great ones is just that - what I have inwardly is exactly what's outward."

He appears to have been vastly different from other Sufi masters. Whereas others would train recipients with "preparedness" to become saints (wali) and masters in their own right, Shams was made for a different task. He says: "I haven't come to do with the common people in this world - I haven't come for them. I've put my finger on the pulse of those who guide the world to the Real."
He explains, "If everyone in the inhabited quarter was on one side and I was on the other, I would answer every one of their difficulties. I would never flee from speaking (...) The inhabited quarter is where the people reside. The other three quarters burn from the shining of the sun, so people don't live there."

All his life he served the Companion. "My goal in the idol-temple is the image and beauty of Your face. If I want the idol of words for the sake of those meanings, it will not happen without the Companion. The Companion must be there."
And elsewhere: "When someone finds the way to be my companion, his mark is that companionship with others becomes cold and bitter for him." And: "I have a pearl within me. Whenever I show its face to anyone, he becomes estranged from all his companions and friends."

He would accept no disciple, but all his life he was waiting for the one, to become his sole companion; who was to be Jalalludin Rumi. Shams: "From the day I saw your beauty, inclination and love for you sat in my heart."
And he explains: "There are many great ones whom I love inwardly. There's affection, but I don't make it manifest. Once or twice when I made it manifest, I did something while keeping company with them, and they didn't know and recognize their duty in companionship. I took it upon myself not to let the affection become cold. When I made it manifest with Mawlana, it increased and did not lessen."

If you read carefully, you may discover from the text the universal rule of companionship and its graceful severity: "What is before your heart? Say whatever there is! If there is an obstacle, tell me about it. If you tell me about the obstacle, I will teach you the Path. It will become easy, because I know the Path better than you."
And elsewhere: "Whatever the state that comes, you should quickly tell the companion about it and be done with it. Don't think, "How can I talk like this to the companion?" The companion will see it, even if you don't talk about it." And: "As long as pride and existence are within you, you must say `God is greater', and you must intend the sacrifice."

"Without doubt, whenever you sit with someone and are with him, you will take on his disposition. On whom have you been gazing that tightness should have come into you? If you look at green herbs and flowers, freshness will come. The sitting companion pulls you into his own world. That is why reciting the Koran purifies the heart, for you remember the prophets and their states. The form of the prophets comes together in your spirit and becomes its sitting companion."

What they experienced in their mutual company transcended the secret-of-secrets of anyone but themselves. Rumi sung in verse: "The whole description of Godhead in Shams of Tabriz transcends any notions concerning free will and ordainment." While Shams: "This was a cask of Divine wine, its lid caked with grime. No one was aware of this. The cause of this cask being opened was Maulana. Whoever seeks to understand this must be aware that the cause has been Maulana."

We do not know what befell Shams when he finally disappeared. After Rumi's death, Fakhruddin `Eraqi (his contemporary poet-mystic) would often speak of Rumi; he would sigh and say, "No one ever understood him as he should have been understood. He came into the world a stranger, and left it a stranger."

When one reads a translation cum introduction by a scholar, one doesn't want to "read" the ego of the scholar between the lines. One doesn't want to be put on sidetracks by speculative claims that serve nobody but vain academia. Far from such limitations, I think Chittick has done a thorough scholarly job. This book is a must-own for anyone seriously interested in Islamic Sufism (or any tradition for that matter) in general, and (auto)biographies of mystics in particular, even though this autobiography forever remains: advanced reading.

"I'll not put you in the heart or you'll be wounded,
I'll not keep you in the eye or you'll be lowly.
I'll give you a place in the spirit, not the eyes or the heart,
so you'll be my companion at the least breath."

"Even if it be after a thousand years, these words will reach those for whom they're intended."

"They're all seeking the benefit of knowledge. You should seek for good deeds, so that you may obtain good from the Companion. This is the kernel, that is the husk."

Brilliant and Necessary, September 26, 2007
Nicolas E. Leon Ruiz (Cleveland, Ohio) (Source: Amazon.com)

It's hard to overstate the importance of this beautiful book to anyone who has been touched by the Sufi path, and especially Rumi. Chittick has provided us with a portrait of Rumi's master, Shams of Tabriz--and he's not what one might expect.

Rumi has become famous in the contemporary West for his divine poetry--and rightly so: he is one of humanity's greatest lovers and poets, and this comes across in every line. But as others have asked: Do we honestly know what this "love" Rumi talks about really is?

Here we have Shams of Tabriz, master to Rumi, the man Rumi loved most in the world, in Rumi's eyes a spiritual being of the first order. And he can be cruel, insensitive, and harsh. Lots of people around him hate him. If I remember correctly, he even makes a fart joke at one point.

He's seen as almost an embarrassment in a company of dervishes and scholars. And yet one suspects that this has more than a little to do with his ruthless and relentless practice of exposing imposture and hypocrisy--reminiscent of the work of Jesus, with the same sad, predictable result.

The connection between Rumi's love and this wild man's character is the absolute, uncompromising love of God. For this, really, is the love of Rumi: it brooks no insincerity or reservation. It is the essence of Islam: utter submission to the divine. Shams reminds us, as he reminded those around him, that this has nothing at all to do with sweet words and noble sentiments, with putting on spiritual airs and gaining the admiration of the faithful.

This can be a painful reminder. It threatens what the ego craves. And the love of God threatens the self as well--as Rumi and Shams both show us, when we truly love God, there is only love and God: we disappear. Shams' job was to show Rumi what this really meant. Rumi's job was to show us--despite the fearful protestations of the ego--what it really is: beautiful and joyful.

God bless William Chittick for this wonderful gift.

Meeting Shams of Tabriz, February 12, 2005
Connie Zweig "author of A Moth to the Flame, ... (Los Angeles, California) (Source: Amazon.com)

Who was Rumi's beloved? Who was this dervish who overturned Rumi's world, leading him to leave the safe path of knowledge and enter the burning path of love? Who was he before he met Rumi and how was he changed by this encounter? If you, like me, wondered about this timeless story of lover and beloved, you can meet Shams in this book and read his own words in English for the first time. Although it lacks a narrative structure, it brings him alive in moments of vitality. The story of Rumi and Shams is the story of the meeting of two human beings that, like the conjunction of two planets, realigned the fates. My novel about them, like Siddhartha or Last Temptation of Christ, is the tale of the lover of God, the mythic story of the human soul. This book offers a description of the human beloved who stood, for Rumi, as the divine beloved.

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