Salaam and Greetings of Peace:
Throughout his long life – he lived to be about 80 years old – Baha al-Din Valad, the father of Jalal al-Din Rumi, was both a Sufi mystic, though he did not belong to any particular Order, and a Koran scholar and teacher. And for much of his lifelong spiritual quest, he kept a journal, the Ma’aref, in which he noted his spiritual progress and much more. Here is a small but poignant excerpt on what he had to say about the Holy Koran to which he devoted his life.
“Always busy yourself with the word of the Koran, and know that the meaning of the whole world is in that one word of the Koran.”
“I have followed the entire Koran and found that the gist of every verse and story is this:
O servant, cut yourself off from all but Me, for that which you attain through others, you will attain through me without obligation to anyone else. And that which you will attain through Me, you will attain through no one else. You who follow Me, follow Me more closely.”
“Prayer is joining with God and alms is joining with God and fasting is joining with God.” These are the means of joining with God, and every joining brings with it joy, just as sitting next to a beloved brings joy and resting your head on her shoulder brings joy. Whether you read from the beginning of the Koran or from the end of the Koran, the Koran says this:
O you who are sundered from Me, join Me, for He who is separated from the Living One is of the dead.”
- Baha al-Din Valad, the father of Rumi, in his spiritual journal, the Ma’aref (from Franklin D. Lewis’s magnificent scholarly study, Rumi: Past and Present, East and West – The Life, Teachings and Poetry of Jalal al-Din Rumi)
Ya Haqq!
Note: I have used the English spelling of Koran, instead of the perhaps more phonetically accurate Qu’ran, only because that is the way Professor Lewis spelled it in the book.
Posted by darvish 
Rumi Advises the Sultan
May 1, 2012Salaam and Greetings of Peace:
One day the Seljuq Sultan, ‘Ezz al-Din Kay Kaus, may God make him a shining proof, came to visit Mowlana. He did not pay befitting attention to him and did not engage in any discourse or sermon. The Sultan of Islam humbled himself like a servant and said, “May his holiness Mowlana advise me.”
Rumi replied, “What advice should I give? They have made you a shepherd and you act like a wolf. They have made you a watchman and you act like a thief. The Merciful made you a sultan, but you follow the teachings of Satan.”
Thereupon the Sultan came outside crying and with bared head stood at the door of the madrase repenting profusely. He said, “O God, though his holiness Mowlana has spoken to me harshly, he did so for Your sake. I, Your helpless servant, likewise humble myself and importune You by Your sovereignty. By virtue of these two purely sincere acts have mercy upon me.” And he recited these verses:
Have mercy on me for these moistened eyes,
and mercy for this burning sorrowed breast.
You whose mercy exceeds every excess
Have mercy on me, who am less than less.
Thereupon his holiness Mowlana came striding out and showed great concern for him, saying, “Go, for the Lord on high has shown you mercy and forgiven you.”
- Shams al-dîn Ahmad-e Aflâkî, related in his book, The Feats of the Knowers of God (Manâqeb al-`ârefîn), from Rumi: Past and Present, East and West – The Life, Teachings and Poetry of Jalal al-Din Rum by Franklin D. Lewis
Ya Haqq!