Iran’s Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance said that today’s message of Shams and Rumi to humanity is to reach compatibility and unity and avoid war and totalitarianism, as Islam is the messenger of love, mercy, enlightenment and fraternity.
The minister noted that Khoy is the city of knowledge, and the city of a mystic named Shams. A city that has seen prominent dignitaries from the past to the present and its intellectuals were the poles of Iranian and Islamic culture and civilization.
“If Shiraz is known for Hafez, Khoy is famed for Shams who brightened the world and deeply influenced Mowlana,” he added.
More than eight hundred years have passed since the death of Shams, while the world is more and more craving for his spiritual knowledge. Influenced by Shams, Rumi has been translated into several languages and published on a large scale in the West and East, Esmaeili noted.
“Thoughts of Shams and Rumi are the key to understanding and connecting nations to each other,” Esmaeili said.
Khoy, where Shams was laid to rest, has played a significant role in spreading the culture of peace, reconciliation and friendship, thus this city deserves to be introduced to the world as the identity of Islamic mysticism, the minister added.
The conference was held with the collaboration of Shams Tabrizi Custodian Mausoleum, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Iranian Research Institute of Philosophy, and Allameh Tabataba’i University.
Twelve Iranian professors and researchers as well as 11 foreign researchers from France, the US, Turkey, Lebanon, Spain, and Bangladesh participated in the event.
Persian poet, jurist, theologian and Sufi mystic, Jalaleddin Mohammad Balkhi, better known as Maulavi, Maulana, Mowlana or Rumi is one of the most famous Iranian poets.
Rumi was born to native Persian-speaking parents, on the shores of the then Persian Empire, on September 30, 1207 CE, in the city of Balkh, which is now part of Afghanistan and finally settled in the town of Konya, in what is now Turkey.
Rumi’s influence extends beyond national borders and ethnic divisions. Iranians, Tajiks, Turks, Greeks, Pashtuns, other Central Asian and Southeast Asian Muslims have been heavily influenced by the Persian poet’s spiritual heritage over the past centuries.
Rumi made one or two journeys to Syria, during one of which he met his mentor Shams.
However, he was more deeply influenced by Shams during their second visit in Konya, Turkey, in 1244 CE.
One night in 1247 CE, Shams disappeared forever. This experience turned Rumi into a poet.
Source: Iran Daily