He answered, вЂњFor his poverty is of such a nature that it cannot be spoken about with that groupвЂ¦ he speaks beyond the boundaries ofВ knowledge and speaks of mysteries in a knowledgeable way in the cloak of knowledge.вЂќ (Maqalat 326)Гўв‚¬Вќ He asked, вЂњThen why do all speak of his fiqh?вЂќ Г‚в‚¬Е“ Someone asked my friend about me, вЂњIs he a faqih or a faqir?вЂќ He was thus very educated, although he hid this fact from religious scholars to an extent that his peers were confused about whether he considered himself to be a faqih (scholar of the law) or a faqir (Sufi ascetic). But where is the true dervish? (Maqalat 249) Гўв‚¬Вќ These others boast that we are dervishes. Now that I have realized what dervish-hood is and where they are, I find myself more eager for the company of jurists than dervishes, because the jurists have struggled to attain something. IвЂ™d say that the jurists are ignorant of dervish-hood. Г‚в‚¬Е“ At first I wouldnвЂ™t mix with jurists, only with the dervishes. He always supported the scholarly study of religion and he did not like the pretense of those who prided themselves solely on the spiritual path: 1083), one of the leading ShafiвЂ™i jurisprudents of the eleventh century and one of the first teachers of the famous Baghdad Nizamiya College. One of the five major ShafiвЂ™i legal texts he specifically mentions he studied was al-Tanbih fil fiqh al-ShafiвЂ™i, written by Hazrat Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi (d. Hazrat Shams was a ShafiвЂ™i and he studied fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) extensively. The specificities of how this transference occurred, however, are not yet known.

The transference of the epithet to the biography of RumiГўв‚¬в„ўs mentor suggests that this ImamГўв‚¬в„ўs biography must have been known to Shams-i TabrГ„В«zГ„В«Гўв‚¬в„ўs biographers. This however, is not the occupation listed by Haji Bektash Veli in the MaqГ„ВЃlat and was rather the epithet given to the Ismaili Imam Shams al-din Muhammad, who worked as an embroiderer while living in anonymity in Tabriz. Despite his occupation as a weaver, Shams received the epithet of Гўв‚¬Е“the embroidererГўв‚¬Вќ (zarduz) in various biographical accounts including that of the Persian historian Dawlatshah. Before meeting Rumi, he apparently traveled from place to place weaving baskets and selling girdles for a living. Shams received his education in Tabriz and was a disciple of Baba Kamal al-Din Jumdi. However, various scholars have questioned AflakiГўв‚¬в„ўs reliability.

Apparently basing his calculations on Haji Bektash VeliвЂ™s MaqГ„ВЃlГ„ВЃt (Conversations), Aflaki suggests that Shams arrived in Konya at the age of sixty years. In a work entitled ManГ„ВЃqib al-Гўв‚¬ЛњarifГ„В«n (Eulogies of the Gnostics), Aflaki names a certain Гўв‚¬ЛњAli as the father of Shams-i TabrГ„В«zГ„В« and his grandfather as Malikdad. LifeДЄccording to Sipah Salar, a devotee and intimate friend of Rumi who spent forty days with him, Shams was the son of the Imam Ala al-Din. The tomb of Shams-i TabrГ„В«zГ„В« was recently nominated to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

He was an engaging speaker whose words were both simple and profoundly moving.В Tradition holds that Shams taught Rumi in seclusion in Konya for a period of forty days, before fleeing for Damascus. Hazrat Shams left a single work in prose known as Maqalat (Discourses) which reveal him to be highly proficient in philosophy, theology and spirituality. He is credited for wholly transforming Mawlana RumiвЂ™s life and thought after arriving in Konya in 642/1244. Shams al-Din Mohammad bin Ali bin Malik-e Dad or Shams al-Din Tabrizi (meaning вЂњthe Sun of Faith from TabrizвЂќ) was a Persian Sufi saint who is best known for his intense spiritual relationship with Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi. Weaver, Poet, Philosopher | spiritual instructor of MewlГ„ВЃnГ„ВЃ JalГ„ВЃl ad-DГ„В«n Muhammad Balkhi, Shams al-Din Tabrizi (1185 - 1245)

Shams tabrizi and rumi