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This concludes the book on Rumi's life and personality that I prepared with the help of God using many different books. It took years to complete because I spent a lot of time on each section of the book, as if 1 were writing a small booklet. This is not meant as a boast. I do not have any claim. I am just a poor literature teacher. Being a human being, there might be places where I am wrong. But I love all the saints and my love for Rumi grew as I studied his works. This book has ended up being more than a book exclusively on Rumi's life and views. It also can be seen as a book on Sufism since it deals with many subjects of Sufism while at the same time explaining Rumi's views. Before concluding the epilogue of this book, I have to confess that even though I have been studying Rumi's works for decades I have not been able to understand this great saint properly. It is for this very reason that I am unable to explain him properly to my readers. However, we should not be pessimistic. Let us listen to what Rumi, this great person that we love, this great saint whose ideas we cannot quite understand, this sultan of lovers of God says about himself. Let us not say anything about this great saint. He will be kind enough to tell us his views and feelings through his poems from Divan-i Kabir. Therefore, I have selected some poems from Divan-i Kabir that best explain Rumi's views and feelings. Let us concentrate on these poems, let us carefully absorb the divine tunes and spiritual meanings echoing from a saint's heart. In his own words, these poems are the "holy light of the sea of Unity of God, springs of spiritual joy, light of hearts, and flowers of the garden of hearts.”Please read again and again the section on Divan-i Kabir. The selections are from a total of 43, 561 couplets that comprise Divan-i Kabir, which Rumi himself named "the divan of the lovers of God,” and are "true words accepted by the lovers of God and Gnostics.” Let us not give our minds but our hearts to these words because these poems are poems of the heart. Rumi did not compose these poems like other poets by taking a pen in his hand. He sang the divine tunes that arose in his heart. And people around him recorded his poems. We shall find Rumi with Rumi's love and feelings. Let us try to find in our hearts an echo of these tunes.
My dear readers, while selecting poems I neither have nor limited myself to my own preferences. I have looked at the selections of Nicholson, Schimmel, Golpinarli, and Midhat Bahari. I marked the most beloved poems. I took as a reference the edition of Divan-i Kabir published by Prof. Furuzanfar. I have included the number of every poem in Furuzanfar's edition. I have excluded poems not found in Furuzanfar's edition since these poems are unreliable and may nor be authentic. However, these selections are not from an independent Rumi anthology. It is only a section added to a book on Rumi's life and personality. They are diamonds beautifying a poorly written book. Each of these diamonds is worth thousands of books. If you happen to attain the bliss of feeling these poems in your heart, I plead that you remember well Sheik Can, this poor servant of God, who selected and translated these poems, overlook his mistakes, and recite the Fatiha for his soul.
My dear readers whom I know and do not know! Friends who love wisdom and truth. ‘Lovers of God! I leave you alone with the poems of Rumi and retreat. I greet all of you with respect and love and wish you ample health, peace, and spiritual joy.
Sefik Can The servant of Rumi's devotees.
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