Jalaluddin Rumi's burial complex in Konya, Turkey.

East and West: Parables of the Soul

“. . . here in the final resting place of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, and the 800th anniversary of his birth, I must confess I am rather fascinated by the fact that there are so many people in the West who are drawn to his work.

I cannot help but ask myself what it is that they find in his poetic inspiration which is somehow absent in their lives? Is it, perhaps, that yearning of the heart which we all feel, but which he understood and described so well? Or, in a world so obsessed ans captivated by the outward expression of things, is it that his poetry shines a bright light on the inner realm to illuminate the inner path, which in some paradoxical way, we still all sense to be important? Or perhaps it is simply the universality of his vision – the sense of the sacred – that attracts both the mind and the heart, for as he reminds us:

‘ The lamps are different, but the light is the same. Focus on the light and you will see beyond the dualism inherent in the finite body.”

 

From a speech by HRH King Charles III at the 800th anniversary of the birth of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, in Konya, Turkey.

To read more:- https://sunnah.org/2024/11/03/east-west-parables-of-the-soul/