JALÁLU'D-DÍN RÚMÍ

Rūmī, in full Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, also called by the honorific Mawlānā, (born c. September 30, 1207, Balkh [now in Afghanistan]-died December 17, 1273, Konya [now in Turkey]) was the greatest Sufi mystic and poet in she Persian language, famous for his lyrics and for his didactic epic Mas̄navī-yi Maʿnavī ("Spiritual Couplets"), which widely influenced mystical thought and literature throughout the Muslim world, and, by now, the western world.