The Night of Reunion: Mevlana Rumi’s last verses

When Maulana Rumi’ final hours arrived, his family and friends gathered at his deathbed. Rumi asked for basin of water which he rubbed on his forehead and chest as his fever increased.

Some minstrels also arrived and sang below verses from Rumi’s Masnavi (Quatrain No. 1533) , which tells about the bitterness of separation from loved one.

 

My heart holds suspicion toward you, when far away from you,
It is because of its weakness, when it is far away from you.
There is bitterness in the mouth of every bitter-hearted person;
Even sweetness resents against you, when far away from you.

 

When Rumi’s son Sultan Walad and other relatives heard this and thought of Mevlana leaving then, they begin to weep.

Rumi replied, “My friends are drawing me to this side, but Hazrat Mawlana Shamsudin [Sham Tabrez] is calling me to the other side.”.

Rumi wanted to tell that his seperation from them is actually union with his Creator and also beloved Shams Tabrez.

Then he recited the verse from Quran: “Respond to Allah’s summoner and believe in Him” (Quran 46:31).

 

His son Sultan Walad stood at his death bed all the time and Rumi knew his about fatigue. Rumi asked him to take some rest since he knew that his union with his creator has arrived. Then he said below beautiful verses, which were his last:

 

I am on the Deathbed; Go, rest your head on a pillow, leave me alone;
leave me ruined, exhausted from the journey of this night,
writhing in a wave of passion till the dawn.
Either stay and be forgiving,
or, if you like, be cruel and leave.
Flee from me, away from trouble;
take the path of safety, far from this danger.
We have crept into this corner of grief,
turning the water wheel with a flow of tears.
While a tyrant with a heart of flint slays,
and no one says, “Prepare to pay the blood money.”
Faith in the king comes easily in lovely times,
but be faithful now and endure, pale lover.
No cure exists for this pain but to die,
So why should I say, “Cure this pain”?
In a dream last night I saw
an ancient one in the garden of love,
beckoning with his hand, saying, “Come here.”
On this path, Love is the emerald,
the beautiful green that wards off dragons
Enough, I am losing myself.
If you are a man of learning,
read something classic
a history of the human struggle
and don’t settle for mediocre verse.

Kulliyat-i-Shams 2039

 

* a classic book by well known person remains unclear. Per Dar ul Masnavi website, possibly Mevlana means that for scholars, talking is thing to do. But for Sufis seeking union with their Creator, the journey is into great silence that is symbolised by death.

 

Mevlana Rumi then breathed his last, which was on night of December 17, 1273, or the 5th of the Islamic lunar month, Jumad al-Aakhirah جُمادى الآخرة

 

His death anniversary is celebrated as Shab Al Uroos, the Night of Reunion with his Creator. It is not a celebration of sorrow, but a day of blessings.

Read pilgrimage to Rumi’s Mausoleum in Konya where Rumi’s Urs is celebrated every year with whirling dervishes ceremony.

 

 

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