Dīvān-i Shams-i Tabrīz

One of the most celebrated poets of world literature and one of the foremost cantors of lslamic mysticism informs these lyrics with the inebriation of the pinnacle of knowledge and paradox. To read him is a profound and spiritual experience.

His father, Bahā ad-dīn Walad, prominent theologian of the time, had many students and followers. A few years after the birth of Jalāl ad-Dīn, he left his homeland to travel toward the West and settled in Konya. According to tradition, he was a friend of the well known mystic poet Farīd addīn 'Attār, who predicted a great spiritual future for the young Jalāl ad-Dīn.

Afier Bahā ad-dīn's death, Jalāl ad-Dīn continued to teach and preach in the manner of his father until the arrival in Konya of Shams-i Tabrīz, who would become his spiritual teacher. Shams caused a radical transformation in his life: he stopped preaching orthodox Islamic theology. That is when he became a poet and uttered thousands of ecstatic verses, making an enormous contribution to the already rich mystical literature of Persia.