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BIOGRAPHY OF JELLAL-AL-DIN RUMI.
ÚCTOBER, 1875.]
last time, and was so grieved at the separation that he withdrew himself entirely from the world, became a dervish, and founded the order of dervishes called after his name, and at present still well known in the Turkish empire.
When Shams-al-din arrived in his travels at Koniah, in A.H. 642, he took lodgings in the quarter of the confectioners. One day Jellal-al-din, who was engaged in teaching various sciences, happened to pass, with a company of learned men from the college, through the quarter of the confectioners. On that occasion Mullâna Shamsal-din sallied out from his lodgings, and taking hold of the bridle of Jellal-al-din's mule asked him whether Bâizid (a celebrated saint) or Muhammad was the greater? Jellal-al-din said, "It seemed that on account of that terrible question the seven heavens had fallen asunder and had been precipitated upon the earth; a large fire appeared to issue from my bowels and to envelop my brains, the smoke whereof ascended to the throne of God, and I replied, 'As Muhammad is the greatest of men, what can Bâ izid be?' He rejoined, 'What do Muhammad's words, "We have not known thee as we ought," imply? whilst Bâizid says, "O God, how high is my position! I am the king of kings!"" I replied:-'Bâizid's thirst was quenched by one drop, and he boasted of satisfaction, because the vessel of his intellect was filled thereby. That light was as much as the little window of his house could admit, whilst Muhammad was subject to a great dropsy and thirst, he was daily praying for closer intimacy.'" At these words Mullânâ Shams-al-din gave a shout and fell down senseless. Jellal-al-din alighted from his mule, and ordered his disciples to carry him to the college. He placed the head of Shams-aldin on his own knees, took him by the hand, and they departed together. During three months they lived in retirement, engaged in fasting and prayer; they did not come out once, and no one ventured to disturb their privacy.
According to the Nafhát-ul-uns, in which the flight of Shams-al-din from Koniah is represented in a somewhat supernatural way, the year in which it took place is given as A.H. 645, and not A.H. 643 as stated above. In the Nafhátul-uns it is related that one night when Jellâlal-din and Shams-al-din were sitting together in retirement, a man from without arrived and beckoned to the latter. The Sheikh got up
immediately and said to Jellâl-al-din, "They are calling me in order to kill me." Jellâl-aldin waited long in vain for his return; seven men had lain in ambush expecting him with drawn swords, with which they attacked him, but he uttered such a shout that all of them fainted away and fell to the ground. One of these men was Behâ-al-din, or as in the lithographed copy 'Alla-al-din Muhammad, the son of Jellal-al-din. When these seven men recovered their senses, they perceived nothing but one drop of blood, and from that day to this nothing more transpired concerning that prince of the invisible world.
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The real cause of the attempt to assassinate Shams-al-din, and of his flight in consequence thereof, must probably be sought in his open disbelief in Islâm, which Jellal-al-din was always cunning enough to disguise tolerably well in his own utterances and writings. He, moreover, so monopolized the society of Jellal-al-din that the disciples of the latter, together with his son, were determined to murder Shams-al-din. It is plain enough, from the last page of the Mesnavi, that the above conjecture is true, as will appear from the following:
شد
مدتي با يار در خلوت نشست بر رخ اغيار كلي در به بست از شراب وصل "برخوردار شد خلو تسوای یار محرم نو مریدان در فغان و در خروش کہ کجا بود این گدائی ژنده پوش وز کجا آورد این مکر و دغل اجل کہ بزد ره بر چنین صدري ایخدا اسلام شد خوار و تباه که ره · زراه قبه الاسلام شد نیست این رهزن جزاز اهل ضلال
خون او بالله حلالست و حلال
"Some time he with his friend retired sat, All alien spirits quite shut out, Enjoying the pure draught of union. He was the confidant of his good friend; His pupils did lament and grumble, "Whence came this ragged mendicant? Whence brought he all this fraud and rognery, To isolate so quickly our great Chief? O God! Now Islâm is despised, destroyed, The dome of Islam is now led astray! This robber is none but a heretic, By God! his blood is free and free!""
