Rumi: In the Arms of the Beloved

by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi, Jonathan Star (Translator)

New translations of the works of the thirteenth-century Sufi poet are included in an inspirational collection of poetry that reveals classic Eastern thought combined with a warm wisdom that transcends the ages. Reprint.

Genres: Poetry, Spirituality, Philosophy, Classics, Mysticism, Islam, Religion

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Sufism inspired writings of Persian poet and mystic Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi; these writings express the longing of the soul for union with the divine.

Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī - also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī, Mevlânâ/Mawlānā (مولانا, "our master"), Mevlevî/Mawlawī (مولوی, "my master") and more popularly simply as Rumi - was a 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian and Sufi mystic who lived in Konya, a city of Ottoman Empire (Today's Turkey). His poems have been widely translated into many of the world's languages, and he has been described as the most popular poet and the best-selling poet in the United States.

His poetry has influenced Persian literature, but also Turkish, Ottoman Turkish, Azerbaijani, Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu, as well as the literature of some other Turkic, Iranian, and Indo-Aryan languages including Chagatai, Pashto, and Bengali.

Due to quarrels between different dynasties in Khorāṣān, opposition to the Khwarizmid Shahs who were considered devious by his father, Bahā ud-Dīn Wālad or fear of the impending Mongol cataclysm, his father decided to migrate westwards, eventually settling in the Anatolian city Konya, where he lived most of his life, composed one of the crowning glories of Persian literature, and profoundly affected the culture of the area.

When his father died, Rumi, aged 25, inherited his position as the head of an Islamic school. One of Baha' ud-Din's students, Sayyed Burhan ud-Din Muhaqqiq Termazi, continued to train Rumi in the Shariah as well as the Tariqa, especially that of Rumi's father. For nine years, Rumi practised Sufism as a disciple of Burhan ud-Din until the latter died in 1240 or 1241. Rumi's public life then began: he became an Islamic Jurist, issuing fatwas and giving sermons in the mosques of Konya. He also served as a Molvi (Islamic teacher) and taught his adherents in the madrassa. During this period, Rumi also travelled to Damascus and is said to have spent four years there.

It was his meeting with the dervish Shams-e Tabrizi on 15 November 1244 that completely changed his life. From an accomplished teacher and jurist, Rumi was transformed into an ascetic.

On the night of 5 December 1248, as Rumi and Shams were talking, Shams was called to the back door. He went out, never to be seen again. Rumi's love for, and his bereavement at the death of, Shams found their expression in an outpouring of lyric poems, Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi. He himself went out searching for Shams and journeyed again to Damascus.

Rumi found another companion in Salaḥ ud-Din-e Zarkub, a goldsmith. After Salah ud-Din's death, Rumi's scribe and favourite student, Hussam-e Chalabi, assumed the role of Rumi's companion. Hussam implored Rumi to write more. Rumi spent the next 12 years of his life in Anatolia dictating the six volumes of this masterwork, the Masnavi, to Hussam.

In December 1273, Rumi fell ill and died on the 17th of December in Konya.

Reviews

[Jarvis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every question I ask is about you
Every step I take is toward you.

I slept well last night
but I woke up drunk.
I must have dreamt about you.

[Edita · Rating 5 out of 5]

For ages you have come and gone
courting this delusion.
For ages you have run from the pain
and forfeited the ecstasy.
So come, return to the root of the root
of your own soul.
*
Remember what I said. . . .
I said, Don’t leave, for I am your Friend.
In the mirage of this world
I am the fountain of life.
Even if you leave in anger
and stay away for a thousand years
You will return to me,
for I am your goal.
*
You are the comfort of my soul
in the season of sorrow.
You are the wealth of my spirit
in the heartbreak of loss.
The unimaginable,
The unknowable—
That is what you give my soul
when it moves in your direction.

[~~Poulomi Sylphrena Tonk$~~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Now the words are over
and the pain they bring is gone.
Now you have gone to rest
in the arms of the Beloved."

[Diana Willemsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every moment I shape my destiny with a chisel-
I am the carpenter of own soul

[John Kulm · Rating 5 out of 5]

I treasure this book.

Wanting to record quotes here, just lines from various favorite poems. But I know these various lines can't record how they moved me in that moment when I read them in their context. Nevertheless... some quotes:

With each passing moment a soul sets off to find itself.

O seeker,
These thoughts have such power over you.
From nothing you become sad.
From nothing you become happy.

Last night I learned how to be a lover of God,
To live in this world and call nothing my own.
I looked inward
And the beauty of my own emptiness filled me till dawn.

The surface of the earth says, “The treasure is within.”

Your heart is the size of an ocean –
Go find the gem hidden in your depths!

But you have no need to go anywhere – journey within yourself.
Enter a mine of rubies and bathe in the splendor of your own light.

One who can’t open the door of his own heart
is like a lover without a tear.

You ask, “Who is the King?” - Tell the world that you are the King!

[Maya · Rating 3 out of 5]

not how it took me a year to finish this. but i literally stopped reading it for months so its okay i guess. I'm not really a fan of poetry plus this is translated so its not the same :/

here's the titles of some of my favorite poems from this collection:
"Soft Petals"
"Like This"
"A Sacred Blasphemy"
"Willing Slaves"
"The Black Cloud"
"I Am A Painter"
"Your Triumphant Song"

some of the poems are just one or two stanzas that are untitled so i couldn't include the ones i liked in this.

[Mary K · Rating 3 out of 5]

My second reading and I’ve been reading off and on for the past few months. I believe I’ve read that Rumi didn’t write poetry but rather his “poetry” was converted into verse from his deeper works. Honestly, I think it would be far greater reading as prose

[RR · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I'll leave you with that.
I could go on,
I could fill pages with these elegant verses
But this is a tale for the heart and soul,
not the lips"

Rumi's poems aren't fit for skimming. His words echo loud, long after putting the book down. I'd say I'm pretty new to poetry. I often found myself grappling with his words, trying to decipher the meanings. But the verse above made me realize that these poems are not just for a superficial read, but require deep reflection. I hope to re-read this once again.

[Dima · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rumi is a classic! Love his quotes so I thought I'd take a look at his overall poetry. Very hard to dissect but really leaves you thinking! Definitely for more advanced readers.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard to read at times, but mostly filled with amazing quotes.

My twitter thread of favorite quotes.

[Hani Maldini · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I am not this hair, I am not this skin,
I am the soul that lives within”

Ahh where do I even begin - Rumi’s words have probably graced every Tumblr post and Pinterest board with a dreamy sunset background at some point (you know the ones lul) But reading Rumi’s Rubaiyat: In the Arms of the Beloved as a full collection? That hits different.

There’s something quietly powerful about flipping through these short quatrains and suddenly feeling like someone from the 13th century just gets your innermost thoughts on love, faith and the divine.

For me, it felt like sitting with someone who isn’t telling you what to believe, but instead is whispering “yes, you already know” There’s a kind of magic in that, especially when you’ve made peace with your own version of God or whatever the word means to you. Rumi doesn’t preach, he embraces.

And oh, to be drunk in both love and divinity…he writes it in a way that makes you want to dissolve into it all - into spirit, into longing, into light ✨

[Ilmaa]

I'm not sure what motivates non-muslims to read Rumi lol. You need a very in-depth understanding and connection to Quranic stories, motifs, Islamic dogmas, and perspectives. It is inspiring how consumed and set Rumi was with his beliefs. His work shows his resilience and his profound acceptance and understanding of himself and his purpose.

[Mark David Vinzens · Rating 5 out of 5]

„There is a voice in us all that is ever-present, a voice that always sings its melody to the world. This is the voice of truth and certainty, the voice that lays bare the hidden mysteries of the soul. In a burst of inspiration, the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke heard this voice and wrote for three days “in a single breathless obedience . . . without one word being in doubt or having to be changed.” This inspired state that opens up the vistas of the universe—one we glimpse only at peak moments in our life—is the same state that poet-saints live in all the time. That is why their every word is charged with purity and divine refulgence; their poetry is a reflection of their own perfect state. Jalaluddin Rumi was such a poet-saint. For thirty years poetry issued from his lips, infused with such genius and perfection as to belie human origin. He was a pure instrument of the Divine, a flute upon which God played an exquisite song. In one of his quatrains, Rumi writes:

Do you think I know what I’m doing,
That for a moment, or even half a moment,
I know what verses will come from my mouth?
I am no more than a pen in a writer’s hand,
No more than a ball smacked around by a polo stick!

Rumi’s “breathless obedience” to that inner voice is what made him a peerless master of ecstatic verse. The Islamic scholar A. J. Arberry writes, “In Rumi we encounter one of the world’s greatest poets. In profundity of thought, inventiveness of image, and triumphant mastery of language, he stands out as the supreme genius of Islamic mysticism.” And R. A. Nicholson, who dedicated his life to Islamic studies, called Rumi “the greatest mystical poet of any age.” The poetic and mystical achievement of Jalaluddin Rumi is a monument in the annals of spiritual literature. In his vast outpouring he not only captured the whole of Islamic mysticism but polished it, refined it, and transformed it into a thing of exquisite beauty. The most personal experiences are cast in the light of universal truths; the ordinary life of man—crowded, busy, and full of uncertainty—is shown to be a necessary step on one’s journey to the ineffable Absolute. Rumi has given every word life; and everyone who reads him beholds the naked words of the soul clothed in living form. In Rumi we hear the pure voice of love—we hear the intimate whispers of lover and beloved, we feel the joyous heart gliding upon the water of its own melting.

Symbols of Grace

Sufi poetry is filled with metaphors, the most striking of which revolve around wine, taverns, and drunkenness. In this symbolic language of love, “wine” represents the divine love that intoxicates the soul; “getting drunk” means losing oneself in that love; the “cup” refers to one’s body and mind; and the Saaqi (the Cupbearer, the Maiden who pours the wine) is the grace-bestowing aspect of God that fills the soul’s empty cup with the wine of love. The Sufis even have a word for “hangover” which suggests the lingering effects of love. These metaphors of drunkenness are, more than anything else, a call to experience; they reflect the Sufi sentiment that the immediate experience of God is far more crucial than any kind of objective or learned knowledge. In a verse from his famous Rubá’iyát, Omar Khayyám writes:

The cover on the wine-vat is happier
than the empire of King Jamshid,
The wine more fragrant than a great feast,
The first sigh of a drunk lover’s heart
more blessed than the song of the greatest poet.

Although Rumi employed the macabre and bacchanalian symbolism of his tradition, his more endearing themes were based on symbols related to nature. In his poetic verse, the nightingale represents the soul; the rose is the perfect beauty of God; the rosegarden is paradise; and the breeze is God’s life-giving breath. When we hear of Winter, it is a soul separated from God; when we hear of Spring, it is union, resurrection, and rebirth. All the elements of nature that come alive in Spring are the outward signs of the soul’s inner awakening: the rising Sun is the illumination of divine knowledge, the “festival of color” is the beauty of the soul’s awakening, and the warm rain is the pouring down of God’s grace.

The Sun had a special significance for Rumi because it alluded to his master, Shams—the one who awakened the truth within Rumi. Rumi’s use of the terms “Shams,” “Shams-e Tabriz” (Shams of Tabriz), and “Shamsuddin” refers not only to his master but also to the many aspects of the Beloved, embodied in Shams: “Shams” symbolizes the power of grace, the power that awakens the truth within us; “Shams” symbolizes the inner sunrise, the inner light of consciousness, one’s own soul and its awakening. Rumi writes:

O my soul, where can I find rest
but in the shimmering love of his heart?
Where can I see the pure light of the Sun
but in the eyes of my own Shams-e Tabriz?

The Meeting of Two Oceans

By all accounts, Rumi lived a grand and illustrious life—he was a respected teacher, a master of Sufi lore, the head of a university in the Anatolian capital city of Konya (in present-day Turkey). At the age of thirty-four he claimed hundreds of disciples, the king being one of them. And what is so remarkable and unforgettable about Rumi’s life is that in one moment all this changed—the moment he met a wandering darvish named Shams-e Tabriz. There are several accounts of this historic meeting. One version says that during a lecture of Rumi’s, Shams came in and dumped all of Rumi’s books—one handwritten by his own father—into a pool of water. Rumi thought the books were destroyed, but Shams retrieved them, volume by volume, intact.

Another version says that at a wave of Shams’ hand, Rumi’s books were engulfed in flames and burned to ashes. Shams then put his hand in the ashes and pulled out the books. (A story much like the first.) A third account says that Rumi was riding on a mule through a square in the center of Konya. A crowd of eager students walked by his feet. Suddenly a strange figure dressed in black fur approached Rumi, grabbed hold of his mule’s bridle, and said: “O scholar of infinite knowledge, who was greater, Muhammad or Bayazid of Bestam?” This seemed like an absurd question since, in all of Islam, Muhammad was held supreme among all the prophets. Rumi replied, “How can you ask such a question?—No one can compare with Muhammad.” “O then,” Shams asked, “why did Muhammad say, ‘We have not known Thee, O God, as thou should be known,’ whereas Bayazid said, ‘Glory unto me! I know the full glory of God?’” With this one simple question—and with the piercing gaze of Shams’ eyes—Rumi’s entire view of reality changed. The question was merely an excuse. Shams’ imparting of an inner awakening is what shattered Rumi’s world. The truths and assumptions upon which Rumi based his whole life crumbled. This same story is told symbolically in the first two accounts, whereby Rumi’s books—representing all his acquired intellectual knowledge, including the knowledge given to him by his father—are destroyed, and then miraculously retrieved or “resurrected” by Shams.

The books coming from the ashes, created anew by Shams, represent the replacing of Rumi’s book-learned knowledge (and his lofty regard for such knowledge) with divine knowledge and the direct experience of God. According to an embellished version of this third account, after Shams’ question, Rumi entered a mystical state of ego annihilation that the Sufis call fana. When he regained consciousness, he looked at Shams with utter amazement, realizing that this was no ordinary darvish, but the Beloved himself in human form. From that moment on, Rumi’s life was never again the same. He took Shams to live in his home and the two men were inseparable; they spent hours a day together, sometimes isolating themselves for long periods to pray and fast in divine communion with God. About this meeting, Rumi’s son Sultan Walad wrote:

“After meeting Shams, my father danced all day and sang all night. He had been a scholar—he became a poet. He had been an ascetic—he became drunk with love.”

Rumi was totally lost in this newfound love that his master revealed, and all his great attainments were blossoming through that love. Every day was a miracle, a new birth for Rumi’s soul. He had found the Beloved, he had finally been shown the glory of his own soul. Then, suddenly, eighteen months after Shams entered Rumi’s life, he was gone. He returned some time later, for a brief period, and then he was gone again forever. Some accounts say that Shams left in the middle of the night and that Rumi wandered in search of him for two years. (Perhaps a symbolic and romantic portrayal of the lover in search of his missing Beloved.) Other accounts report that Shams was murdered by Rumi’s jealous disciples (symbolizing how one’s desires and lower tendencies can destroy the thing held most dear). Without Shams, Rumi found himself in a state of utter and incurable despair; and his whole life thereafter became one of longing and divine remembrance. Rumi’s emptiness was that of a person who has just lost a husband or a wife, or a dear friend. Rumi’s story shows us that the longing and emptiness we feel for a lost loved one is only a reflection, a hologram, of the longing we feel for God; it is the longing we feel to become whole again, the longing to return to the root from which we were cut. (Rumi uses the metaphor of a reed cut from a reed bed and then made into a flute— which becomes a symbol of a human separated from its source, the Beloved.

And as the reed flute wails all day, telling about its separation from the reed bed, so Rumi wails all day telling about being separated from his Beloved.) It was Shams’ disappearance, however, that ignited the fire of longing within Rumi; and it was this very longing that brought him the glorious union with the Beloved. Years later Rumi wrote: “It is the burn of the heart that I want. It is this burning which is everything—more precious than a worldly empire—because it calls God secretly in the night.”

The Path of Love

In Rumi’s poetry, love is the soul of the universe, and this soul knows no bounds—it embraces all people, all countries, and all religions. The goal of Sufism is to know love in all of its glorious forms; and every prophet, every practice, and every form of worship that leads toward love is, in essence, Sufism. The great Sufi philosopher Ibn Arabi writes:

My heart holds within it every form,
it contains a pasture for gazelles,
a monastery for Christian monks.
There is a temple for idol-worshippers,
a holy shrine for pilgrims;
There is the table of the Torah,
and the Book of the Koran.
I follow the religion of Love
and go whichever way His camel leads me.
This is the true faith;
This is the true religion.

Just as the Sufis honored all traditions, seeing each as a path leading to the highest truth, they also honored the prophets of these traditions. They looked upon each for guidance and inspiration. Many Sufis, including the great Mansur al-Hallaj, idealized Jesus as the embodiment of perfect love; they built their philosophy around him, rather than the Prophet. The renowned Sufi saint Junayd gives this prescription for Sufi practice based on the lives of the prophets:

Sufism is founded on the eight qualities exemplified by the eight prophets: The generosity of Abraham, who was willing to sacrifice his son. The surrender of Ishmael, who submitted to the command of God and gave up his dear life. The patience of Job, who endured the affliction of worms and the jealousy of the Merciful. The mystery of Zacharias, to whom God said, “Thou shalt not speak unto men for three days save by sign.” The solitude of John, who was a stranger in his own country and an alien to his own kind. The detachment of Jesus, who was so removed from worldly things that he kept only a cup and a comb—the cup he threw away when he saw a man drinking in the palms of his hand, and the comb likewise when he saw another man using his fingers instead of a comb. The wearing of wool by Moses, whose garment was woolen. And the poverty of Muhammad, to whom God sent the key of all treasures that are upon the face of the earth.

The supreme vision of Sufism is to see God everywhere, to view every part of creation as a reflection of God’s glory. The poet Jami writes: “Every branch and leaf and fruit reveals some aspect of God’s perfection: the cypress gives hint of His majesty; the rose gives tidings of His beauty.” Every atom was created by God so that man could know the highest truth and learn the secrets of love. Rumi’s poetry has the magical ability to show us this truth and to unlock love’s precious secrets. Within the folds of his words we gain entrance to a hidden chamber; we hear whispers that are ancient, yet intimate; we behold the endless love story between the individual soul and God. Like looking into a polished mirror, or like being in the presence of a holy being, reading Rumi’s poetry shows us ourselves and our state, but more than that, it shows us the boundless glory of what we can become.“

– Jonathan Star, Rumi: In the Arms of the Beloved

[sana · Rating 5 out of 5]

sufism is so beautiful

[Fatima Ar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really excited when I found this at a random bookshop in Lahore.. It's a good collection of poems, however I've read some of them exquisitely translated by others and enjoyed them far better..if you're very familiar with Rumi you may be able to enjoy it anyway.

The thing I do like ITAOTB is that there's a key for the symbolism of Sufi terms which is good for a first time reader of Sufi poetry.

Also, there are some anecdotes about Rumi at the end which I frankly enjoyed the most out of the entire book.

If you're really crazy about poetry and don't mind being unorthodox in the way it's interpreted, you'll like it just fine.

I did have my moments with this book. I mean we read poetry for those special moments where our core is touched and I had that with some of the poems in this though I'd like to read them all again from my copy of the Mathnawi

[Josh Issa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rumi’s poetry is awe inspiring. The way he write about God as the Beloved and weaves it together with love for (his likely lover imo) Shams is jaw dropping. There is so much beauty found in these pages. The artistry and depth in his theology is undeniable.

“Every question I ask is about you, Every step I take is toward you.
I slept well last night but I woke up drunk.
I must have dreamt about you.”

“In the heavens I see your eyes, In your eyes I see the heavens.
Why look for another Moon or another Sun?
What I see will always be enough for me.”

“Every drop of my blood calls out,
Dye me with the color of your love.
Make me the jewel of your affection.

In this house of water and clay my heart is in ruins.
O Beloved, don't leave this house else it will crumble to the ground.”

[Wafiqah · Rating 5 out of 5]

His words give me goosebumps. Truly inspiring. Every word gets me thinking.. and appreciate all the little things and make understand things better. This book totally changed my outlook towards life.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

WEll ... it's Rumi, so do you ever really actually READ it. You sort of eat it and chew it and then go back later to see what happened.

[lalo🌸 lover of books · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I once had a thousand desires, But in my one desire to know you all else melted away.”

[Harp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rumi is the Saaqi and I am merely drinking his words.

[Desca Ang · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Do you think I know what I am doing,
That for a moment, or even half a moment,
I know what verses will come from my mouth?"
.

Rumi's poems may be intepreted as a love poems. Yet those poems come out as his love celebration to His Divine. Loving the Divine for Rumi is almost the same as a lover who is crazy for his love one. Rumi sees himself aa a pure instrumentbof the Divine, a flute upon which God played His exquisite song. .
.
.
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[Vivek Raghuram · Rating 5 out of 5]

The distilled elixir of Rumi's poetry

Reading this compilation of Rumi's poems was like drinking with the poet himself, intoxicated with silent bliss. The great truth of one's Self as God is revealed in such soul-stirring imagery through the translation by Jonathan Star that I tremble to think what the original Persian version might invoke in me if I could read it. The great tragedy of Sufi poetry is that their symbols are used by modern songwriters to talk about carnal love. Jonathan Star has gracefully avoided such a slaughter of Rumi and presented a translation that directly conveys the highest truth in exquisite imagery. It is a must read for any spiritual seeker, no matter their faith or belief.

[Maggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the first time I read Sufi poet and for the first time I am in touch with Sufism. I must say I am pleasantly surprised. The Sufis are all about love and all religions are respected by them, which for religious people is something, almost impossible!

Rumi has a way with words and building a mysterious and enchanting world of the past.

I liked the book well enough, but it was not something I could appreciate very much for various reasons.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

This just wasn't jivving with me.

Poems I liked:
- No Place to Hide (pg 140) "When I set out, he is my goal...."
- Opening by Rumi's son "Day and night my father danced in ecstasy... he was never without a singing heart... he was never at rest..." sounds like my dad <3

[Jonny Mac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely heart-piercingly beautiful. One of the most poetic depictions of the Divine I've ever read, and way better than any other poetry about God I've read.

[Eggy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some beautiful poems but got repetitive very quickly

[Audrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite line "you are the fearless guardian of Divine light". I appreciated the intro as I've read or seen parts of Rumis work but didn't realize the origins of them. I enjoyed especially these works, "like this", "the black cloud" and "only through this" . I also realized many of Rumis thoughts that are shared are only pieces of the full work.

[Shazia Imran · Rating 5 out of 5]

“What else can I say?
You will only hear
what you are ready to hear.
Don’t nod your head,
Don’t try to fool me—
the truth of what you see
is written all over your face!”

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because my friend just added this book to her to-read list (probably because of my rating) I need to add a clear review about Rumi's poetry.

Rumi is an enigma to me, a paradoxical person. Most of his poetry praises and longs for "the Beloved." Some can be interpreted as longing for a loved one. Many of them read like scripture to me. They praised a being beyond him, and I loved it when I was a teenager and young adult. On the other hand, several of his poems are sensual and wasteful. I skipped over these few, but you should know they are there. His writings remind me that even an extremely enlightened, spiritual person (like his poems suggest Rumi to be) has a dual nature. The spirit tugging at the flesh. The flesh tugging at the spirit. Like the writings of the psalmist side by side with the Songs of Solomon, Rumi's writings are both uplifting, eluding to the love of a redeemer that cannot be praised enough, as well as sexually suggestive and not worth their distraction. I always skipped over ones I could tell where headed in a direction I didn't want to go...

Just felt the need to clarify for those who dare to venture into his uplifting and moving psalms. Happy reading.

[GeekChick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rumi is reknowned as a Muslim poet and the founder of the Whirling Dervishes. He is a master Sufi poet. Sufism is the mystic branch of Islam. So far, some of it is not as inspiring as I expected, but so much of poetry depends on your mood at the moment. I intend to read more!