- Set againstIbn ʿArabīAttested
Ibn ʿArabī's foremost pupil Ṣadr al-Dīn Qūnawī lived in Konya and kept company with Rumi — Mevlevi tradition has him appointed to lead the funeral prayer in 1273 and overcome before he could, Ḥusām al-Dīn Chalabī taking his place — but the systematic metaphysics and the teaching in story and verse are different instruments, and popular writing merges them.
- Set againstThe DaodejingA modern connection
The best-selling English Daodejing is Stephen Mitchell's version of 1988, subtitled 'A New English Version' and made, by his own account, without Classical Chinese; Rumi reached English by the same route, through Barks, and both are shelved and read as translations.
- Set againstThe Gurū Granth SāhibAttested
Gurū Arjan bound Shaikh Farīd's Sufi saloks into the volume in 1604 as scripture on the same footing as the Gurus' own; Rūmī's Masnavī, left unfinished at his death in 1273, is revered within Islam but never canonised.
- Credited withFīhi Mā FīhiAttested
The words are his; the book is not. Franklin Lewis writes that Rumi did not author it and probably did not intend it to be widely distributed, and compares its genesis to that of Saussure's Course in General Linguistics — a master's lectures, published by the people who took notes.
- Credited withOut Beyond Ideas of Wrongdoing and RightdoingAttested
Every printing credits the lines to Rumi and the quatrain behind them is his, but the wording is Coleman Barks's of 1984 — so what a reader meets under Rumi's name stands at two removes from the Persian.
- Received fromSultan WaladAttested
Almost every narrative detail of Rumi's life reaches a reader through his son: the Ibtidā-nāma of 1291 is the first account of it, and Sipahsālār and Aflākī, who wrote the other two, had both read him.
- Credited withThe Dīvān-e Shams-e TabrīzīAttested
The poems are Rumi's, not Shams's. The book carries Shams-i Tabrīzī's name because Rumi put it in the closing couplet where a Persian poet puts his own, and because his students collected the poems under it after he died in 1273.
- Credited withSamāʿDisputed
Popular accounts make the whirling ceremony Rūmī's own invention; Walter Feldman finds his samāʿ was spontaneous and ecstatic, and the fixed rite the work of later generations.
- Credited withThe Mevlevi SemâDisputed
Tourist billing makes the turning Rumi's own rite; Walter Feldman finds his samāʿ spontaneous and ecstatic, and the ordered ceremony the work of later generations.
- Credited withThe King and the HandmaidenAttested
Book I of the Masnavi, dictated by Rūmī; the tale opens at I.35 with his own call to "hearken to this tale".
- Credited withThe Greengrocer and the ParrotAttested
Book I of the Masnavi, dictated by Rūmī, who draws the moral in his own voice at I.263.
- Gave rise toThe Mevlevi SemâTraditional
Instituted by Rumi family and disciples to preserve his spontaneous ecstatic devotional practices.
- Credited withThe Moaning PillarAttested
Book I of the Masnavi, dictated by Rūmī, who tells it "in explanation of what I have said" at I.2112.
- Credited withThe MasnaviAttested
Its Arabic preface speaks in Rūmī's own name, "Muḥammad son of Muḥammad son of al-Ḥusayn of (the city of) Balkh", who dictated the six books to Ḥusām al-Dīn.
- Credited withThe Grammarian and the BoatmanAttested
Rūmī's own voice closes the tale at I.2846 — “We have stitched in (inserted) the (story of the) grammarian” — naming himself the one who placed it.
- Credited withWho Is at the Door?Attested
Told in Rūmī's Masnavi in his own narrating voice, which breaks off at I.3076 — “This discourse hath no end. Come, hasten (back) to those two sincere and devoted friends.”
- Credited withThe Chinese and the Greek PaintersAttested
Rūmī introduces the story himself at I.3466 — “if you desire a parable of the hidden knowledge, relate the story of the Greeks and the Chinese” — and glosses it after.
- Credited withʿAlī and the KnightAttested
Told by Rūmī as the closing story of Masnavi Book I, with his own interjections breaking into ʿAlī's speech.
- Credited withMoses and the ShepherdAttested
Told in Rūmī's Masnavi, where the narrator steps out at II.1775–1776 to say that to unfold Moses' inward state further would “root up (men's) minds”.
- Credited withThe Man Who Planted ThornsAttested
Told in Rūmī's Masnavi, where he breaks from the tale straight into address — “You who say ‘To-morrow,’ be aware of this” (II.1235).
- Credited withThe Bear and the FoolAttested
Told in Rūmī's Masnavi, where he interrupts it repeatedly with his own teaching before the millstone falls at II.2128.
- Credited withMuʿāwiya and IblīsAttested
Dictated by Rūmī to Ḥusām al-Dīn Chelebi as part of the Masnavi; this tale is in Book II, whose proem dates its beginning to A.H. 662.
- Credited withI Died as a MineralAttested
Dictated by Rūmī to Ḥusām al-Dīn Chelebi as part of the Masnavi; this passage is in Book III, which follows Book II's resumption in A.H. 662.
- Credited withThe Journey Through the KingdomsAttested
Rūmī's Mathnawī, Book IV, lines 3637–3649, under his heading on the stages of the nature of Man.
- Credited withThe Sufi's DonkeyAttested
Dictated by Rūmī to Ḥusām al-Dīn Chelebi as part of the Masnavi; this tale is in Book II, whose proem dates its beginning to A.H. 662.
- Credited withThe Snake-Catcher and the Frozen SnakeAttested
Dictated by Rūmī to Ḥusām al-Dīn Chelebi as part of the Masnavi; this tale is in Book III, which follows Book II's resumption in A.H. 662.
- Credited withThe Bird's Three CounselsAttested
Told in Rūmī's Mathnawī, Book IV, lines 2245–2265, as the story of the captive bird which gave injunctions.
- Credited withThe Four Men and the GrapesAttested
Dictated by Rūmī to Ḥusām al-Dīn Chelebi as part of the Masnavi; this tale is in Book II, whose proem dates its beginning to A.H. 662.
- Credited withThe Mouse and the CamelAttested
Dictated by Rūmī to Ḥusām al-Dīn Chelebi as part of the Masnavi; this tale is in Book II, whose proem dates its beginning to A.H. 662.
- Credited with‘Allah’ and ‘Here Am I’Attested
Dictated by Rūmī to Ḥusām al-Dīn Chelebi as part of the Masnavi; this passage is in Book III, which follows Book II's resumption in A.H. 662.
- Credited withThe Lover and the Night PatrolAttested
Rūmī's Mathnawī tells the tale across two books, from III.4749 to IV.65.
- Credited withThe Three FishAttested
Told in Rūmī's Mathnawī, Book IV, from line 2202, as the story of the lake, the fishermen and the three fishes.
- Credited withThe Embryo in the WombAttested
Dictated by Rūmī to Ḥusām al-Dīn Chelebi as part of the Masnavi; this passage is in Book III, which follows Book II's resumption in A.H. 662.
- Credited withDaqūqī and the Seven CandlesAttested
Told in Rūmī's Mathnawī, Book III, from verse 1924, as the story of Daqūqī and his miraculous gifts.
- Credited withThe Tanner in the Perfume MarketAttested
Told in Rūmī's Mathnawī, Book IV, lines 257–293, as the story of the tanner who fainted in the bazaar of the perfumers.
- Credited withThe Garden WithinAttested
Told in Rūmī's Mathnawī, Book IV, lines 1358–1372, as the story of the Sufi meditating in the garden.
- Credited withAyāz and His SheepskinAttested
Rūmī dictated the Masnavi; this address is his, from Book V, in Whinfield's abridged English of 1887.
- Credited withThe Sage and the PeacockAttested
Rūmī dictated the Masnavi; the sage's plea is from Book V, in Whinfield's abridged English of 1887.
- Credited withThe Ruby and the SunAttested
Rūmī dictated the Masnavi; the lover's answer and the lines on Pharaoh and Ḥallāj are his, from Book V, in Whinfield's English of 1887.
- Credited withThe Turkish Amir and the MinstrelAttested
Rūmī dictated the Masnavi; the minstrel's ode is his, from Book VI, in Whinfield's abridged English of 1887.
- Credited withThe Faqir and the Hidden TreasureAttested
Rūmī dictated the Masnavi; the voice's lesson to the faqir is his, from Book VI, in Whinfield's abridged English of 1887.
- Credited withThe Three TravellersAttested
Rūmī dictated the Masnavi; the Muslim traveller's answer is his, from Book VI, in Whinfield's abridged English of 1887.
- Credited withThe Lion and the HareAttested
Book I of the Masnavi, dictated by Rūmī, who names the tale's source himself at I.899.
- Credited withThe Merchant and the ParrotAttested
Book I of the Masnavi, dictated by Rūmī, who glosses the parrot's dying in his own voice at I.1909.
- Credited withThe Old HarperAttested
Book I of the Masnavi, dictated by Rūmī, who breaks off the tale to speak in his own voice more than once.
- Credited withEvery Form You SeeDisputed
Printed as Rūmī's by Nicholson from the Leyden manuscript of 851 A.H. and Rosenzweig's selection; Ibrahim Gamard lists it among seven of Nicholson's odes not in the earliest manuscripts.
- Credited withSeek Him in the PlacelessAttested
One of the odes of the Dīvān that Nicholson printed as Rūmī's from the oldest manuscript he used, the British Museum copy dated 774 A.H., and found in three other witnesses.
- Credited withUp, O Ye LoversAttested
An ode of the Dīvān that Nicholson printed as Rūmī's from Cowell's manuscript, found also in two British Museum copies (the older dated 824 A.H.) and the Tabriz edition; Ibrahim Gamard's concordance gives it a Furūzānfar number, 1789.
- Credited withWhy Does Not the Soul Take WingAttested
An ode of the Dīvān that Nicholson printed as Rūmī's from the Leyden manuscript, listing five other witnesses at its foot, the oldest dated 774 A.H.; Ibrahim Gamard's concordance gives it a Furūzānfar number, 1353.
- Credited withThe Man of GodDisputed
Nicholson printed it as Rūmī's from the Leyden manuscript, and it was already no. 22 in Rosenzweig's 1838 Auswahl; Ibrahim Gamard lists it among seven of Nicholson's odes that are no longer considered authentic Rumi poems and not in the earliest manuscripts.
- Credited withOn the Day of My DeathAttested
An ode of the Dīvān that Nicholson printed as Rūmī's from the oldest dated manuscript he lists, the British Museum copy of 774 A.H., and records in five other witnesses.
- Credited withEvery Moment the Voice of LoveAttested
An ode of the Dīvān that Nicholson printed as Rūmī's from the Vienna manuscript, listed in five other witnesses; Aflākī's anecdote has Saʿdī choose it as the best ode in Persian.
- Credited withWhen the Names Were NotDisputed
Nicholson printed it in his selection of Rūmī's odes, following the Vienna manuscript, the only one he found it in; Ibrahim Gamard lists it among seven of Nicholson's odes no longer considered authentic Rūmī poems and not in the earliest manuscripts.
- Credited withNeither Christian nor JewDisputed
Printed as Rūmī's by Nicholson from a single manuscript (V, Vienna, 845 A.H.); Ibrahim Gamard reports it absent from the earliest manuscripts and from Furūzānfar's critical edition, and not by Rūmī.
- Credited withShow Thy FaceAttested
An ode of the Dīvān that Nicholson printed as Rūmī's, following the Vienna manuscript; he lists Cowell's and the Leyden copies and the Tabriz and Lakhnau editions as further witnesses.
- Credited withThe Chickpea to the CookAttested
Rūmī dictated the Masnavi, in which this tale stands at Book III.
- Credited withThe Song of the ReedAttested
The prologue of Rūmī's Masnavi, dictated at Konya.
- Credited withThe Elephant in the DarkAttested
A tale of Rūmī's Masnavi, Book III, retold from Sanāʾī and al-Ghazālī.
- Credited withThe Dream of the Treasure in CairoAttested
A tale of Rūmī's Masnavi, Book VI.
