Shams Tabrizi

Shams-e-Tabrīzī (or Shams al-Din Mohammad, literally: Sun of Islam; 1185–1248) was a Nizari Ismaili Iranian Sufi mystic, born in the city of Tabriz in Iranian Azerbaijan, who is credited as the spiritual instructor of Mewlānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhi, also known as Rumi and is referenced with great reverence in Rumi's poetic collection, in particular Diwan-i Shams-i Tabrīzī (The Works of Shams of Tabriz). Tradition holds that Shams taught Rumi in seclusion in Konya for a period of forty days, before fleeing for Damascus. The tomb of Shams-i Tabrīzī was recently nominated to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Me & Rumi (2004)

 * Maqalat-i Shams-i Tabrizi [Discourse of Shams-i Tabrīzī] as translated and annotated by William C. Chittick (2004)


 * There may be one fault in a man that conceals a thousand qualities, or one excellence that conceals a thousand faults. The little indicates much.


 * Intellect takes you to the door, but it doesn't take you into the house.


 * The salat can be made up for, but there is no making up for false show or outward worship without presence.


 * Whoever lives as he sees fit will not die as he sees fit.


 * Nothing kills the soul that commands to evil (Nafs al Ammarra) like seeing the beauty of the heart.


 * Alms in secret extinguish the wrath of the Lord means you are so immersed in sincerity and in preserving that sincerity that you have no pleasure in giving alms.


 * You have to live with the people in hypocrisy for them to stay happy with you.


 * He said The Sufi is the son of the moment.


 * When you oppose the shaykh, it's like the slave who kills himself over a quarrel with his master. Hey, why are you killing yourself over a quarrel? He says, So my master will suffer loss.


 * Being the companion of the folk of this world is fire. There must be an Abraham if the fire is not going to burn [you].