Until 1244, Rumi led a typically normal life for a religious scholar of that era. It was in the late Fall of that year that he met the man who was to change his life forever. This was a wandering dervish named Shams of Tabriz. Shams had traveled throughout the Middle East looking for someone who could “endure his companyâ€.
In one version of the meeting, Rumi was riding his donkey through the marketplace, when a man stepped in front of him and shouted, “Who is greater – Muhammad or Bestami?†In the exchange that followed Rumi became so overwhelmed by the presence before him that he fainted.
More about Shems of Tabriz and Rumi can be found on the website which features the CD Secret Language: Rumi a Celebration in Song.
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