Jalal ad-Din Rumi (1207 – 1273) was a Sufi mystic and Persian poet. His Masnavi (Mathnawi), composed in Konya, is considered one of the greatest poems of the Persian language. His mystical poetry has a universal appeal, which has made him one of the most celebrated poets of the modern age.

Rumi was born in Wakhsh (present-day Tajikistan), in what is now Afghanistan. Rumi's father was Bahā ud-Dīn Walad, a theologian, jurist and a mystic from Balkh, who was also known by the followers of Rumi as Sultan al-Ulama or "Sultan of the Scholars". The profession of the family for several generations was that of Islamic preachers of the relatively liberal Hanafi Maturidi school.

Bahā ud-Dīn and his family frequently travelled due to the political turmoils of the era. After the Mongol invasion of Central Asia around 1215, they moved steadily westward, visiting Baghdad (in modern-day Iraq), Persia (modern-day Iran) and making a pilgrimage to Mecca. They finally settled in Karaman for seven years during which period Rumi's mother and brother passed away.

In 1225, Rumi married Gowhar Khatun in Karaman. They had two sons: Sultan Walad and Ala-eddin Chalabi. When his wife died, Rumi married again and had a son, Amir Alim Chalabi, and a daughter, Malakeh Khatun. On 1 May 1228, most likely as a result of the insistent invitation of 'Alā' ud-Dīn Key-Qobād, ruler of Anatolia, Bahā ud-Dīn came and finally settled in Konya in Anatolia within the westernmost territories of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm.

Baha' ud-Din became the head of a madrassa (religious school) there and when he died, Rumi, aged twenty-five, inherited his position as the Islamic molvi. One of Baha' ud-Din's students, Sayyed Burhan ud-Din Muhaqqiq Termazi, continued to train Rumi in the Shariah as well as the Tariqa, especially that of Rumi's father. For nine years, Rumi practised Sufism as a disciple of Burhan ud-Din until the latter died in 1240 or 1241. Rumi's public life then began: he became an Islamic Jurist, issuing fatwas and giving sermons in the mosques of Konya. He also served as a Molvi (Islamic teacher) and taught his adherents in the madrassa. During this period, Rumi also travelled to Damascus and is said to have spent four years there.

Rumi's life changed when he met the wandering Sufi mystic Shams al-Din Mohammed in 1244. Their meeting is considered a central event in Rumi's life, and Rumi believed his real poetry began when he met Shams. They were close friends for about four years. Over the course of that time, Shams was repeatedly driven away by Rumi's jealous disciples, including one of Rumi's sons, Ala al-Din. In December of 1248, Shams disappeared; it is believed that he was either driven away or killed. Rumi left the madrassa in search of his friend, traveling to Damascus and elsewhere. Eventually, Rumi made peace with his loss, returning home. Rumi's love for, and his bereavement at the death of, Shams found their expression in an outpouring of lyric poems, Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi. This work is considered one of Rumi's masterpieces and one of the greatest works of Persian literature.

For the last twelve years of his life, beginning in 1262, Rumi dictated a single, six-volume poem to his scribe, Husam Chelebi. The resulting masterwork, the Masnavi-ye Ma'navi (Spiritual Verses), consists of sixty-four thousand lines, and is considered Rumi's most personal work of spiritual teaching. Rumi described the Masnavi as "the roots of the roots of the roots of the (Islamic) Religion," and the text has come to be regarded by some Sufis as the Persian-language Quran.

Rumi died on 17 December 1273 in Konya. His death was mourned by the diverse community of Konya, with local Christians and Jews joining the crowd that converged to bid farewell as his body was carried through the city. Rumi's body was interred beside that of his father, and a splendid shrine, the Yeşil Türbe (Green Tomb, today the Mevlâna Museum), was erected over his place of burial. His epitaph reads:

When we are dead, seek not our tomb in the earth, but find it in the hearts of men.

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