Rumi's Secret: The Life of the Sufi Poet of Love

Summary (from the publisher): The acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of Smash Cut, Flannery, and City Poet delivers the first popular biography of Rumi, the thirteenth-century Persian poet revered by contemporary Western readers.

Ecstatic love poems of Rumi, a Persian poet and Sufi mystic born over eight centuries ago, are beloved by millions of readers in America as well as around the world. He has been compared to Shakespeare for his outpouring of creativity and to Saint Francis of Assisi for his spiritual wisdom. Yet his life has long remained the stuff of legend rather than intimate knowledge.

In this breakthrough biography, Brad Gooch brilliantly brings to life the man and puts a face to the name Rumi, vividly coloring in his time and place—a world as rife with conflict as our own. The map of Rumi’s life stretched over 2,500 miles. Gooch traces this epic journey from Central Asia, where Rumi was born in 1207, traveling with his family, displaced by Mongol terror, to settle in Konya, Turkey. Pivotal was the disruptive appearance of Shams of Tabriz, who taught him to whirl and transformed him from a respectable Muslim preacher into a poet and mystic. Their vital connection as teacher and pupil, friend and beloved, is one of the world’s greatest spiritual love stories. When Shams disappeared, Rumi coped with the pain of separation by composing joyous poems of reunion, both human and divine.

Ambitious, bold, and beautifully written, Rumi’s Secret reveals the unfolding of Rumi’s devotion to a "religion of love," remarkable in his own time and made even more relevant for the twenty-first century by this compelling account.

 

Review: I received an uncorrected proof copy of this book from HarperCollins.

 

In this biography, Brad Gooch covers the life of Rumi, Persian poet and Sufi mystic who lived from 1207 to 1273. Born in Central Asia, Rumi's family identified Balkh in modern-day Afghanistan as their place of origin. His father, Baha Valad, was an occasional preacher and Sunni jurist, and was extremely influential on his son's life both emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually. Rumi traveled with his family to Samarkand, in modern-day Uzbekistan, when he was around six years old. The camel caravan traveled again when Rumi was around ten years old, when the family set out for Mecca. The family would never return to the place of their birth and, displaced by Mongol terror, finally settled in Konya, Turkey.

 

Rumi entered a traditional arranged marriage at the age of seventeen in 1224, which produced two sons, Bahoddin Mohammad, later known as Sultan Vlad, and Alaoddin Mohammad. Later, at the age of twenty-five, Rumi traveled to Aleppo in Syria and later to Damascus to begin his studies, which lasted around five years. Finally returning home to his family in Konya, "in his midthirties Rumi, finally, if inevitably, ascended to the leadership of his community" (106). He wore the garb of a religious scholar and held academic appointments at four separate colleges. Around this time, his first wife died and Rumi married a widow, Kerra, with whom he had a son, Mozaffaroddin, and a daughter, Maleke. Unlike his father, Rumi never kept multiple wives.

 

In 1244, Shams of Tabriz appeared in Konya, and his relationship with Rumi would disrupt the community and be the source of gossip. The two developed an intense friendship and disappeared into seclusion together for months at a time. Rumi ceased teaching classes or delivering sermons. It was this connection with Shams that helped Rumi find his voice as a poet. His relationship with Shams eventually transformed Rumi into the writer and figure we remember today. Rumi would go on to have three total intense connections like this; after Shams he found it in Salah and after his death, with Hosam. His eventual elevation of Hosam into a position of esteem, "put a barrier between himself and his followers, allowing more space for mystical abstraction and his own rapt devotion to prayer and dance" (257). Rumi was regarded as eccentric during his lifetime, known for his ascetic lifestyle. He rarely slept and ate the bare minimum to survive. He abhorred the rich and elevated men of low station. Only in the eighteenth century did his poetry first register in the West, "when a young Austrian ambassador in Istanbul, Jacques de Wallenbourg, translated" his work into French.

 

Although Gooch does provide the reader with a background of the elusive figure, who lived so long ago that presumably scant concrete details are left, I found the narrative difficult to follow, particularly the description of his family's early travels. Admittedly, I know little about the time period and culture described, but it was difficult for me to understand how Rumi 'inevitably' became the leader of his community and how his poetry survived for centuries after his death. It was also hard for me to grasp how renowned he was in his own lifetime beyond his own community and in the wider country at large. I also found the intense spiritual 'friendships' Rumi had odd and difficult to understand, including whether or not this was a common practice at the time or whether this was regarded as yet another eccentric choice even at the time.

 

It was interesting to read more about a figure who has been read in dozens of countries around the globe even centuries after his death. It was particularly interesting to learn that he was rarely, if ever, called Rumi during his lifetime and his given name was actually Mohammad. The immense number of miles and the quantity of his writing was impressive, as was his commitment to his preferred lifestyle that encouraged deprivation and hardship. Although I wish the writing had featured greater explanation of the time period and established practices as well as a great understanding of Rumi's rise to such significance, it was still an insightful look at the man behind the poetry.

 

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