Returning to Konya after his pilgrimage to Mecca, Rumi experienced a fateful meeting in 642 AH with Shams Al-Din Tabrizi, a mystic whose influence would shape the poet’s spiritual journey.

Story of Rumi, his friendship with Shams Tabrizi, the love he had for him and the great influence of Shams over him in his life, his poetry and his love for God.

He seems to say that he had encountered Rumi in Damascus, after the death of his father Baha-al-din Valad and before Rumi succeeded him as the Mowlana, the professor-preacher of Konya. In an ...