Persian Mystical poet

Name: Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
Title: Mawlana
Birth: 1207
Death: 17 December 1273
Ethnicity: Persian (Tajik)[1]
Region: R�m, Persia
School tradition: Sufism; his followers formed the Mawlawi Order
Main interests: Sufi poetry, Sufi whirling, Muraqaba, Dhikr
Notable ideas: Persian poetry, Ney and Sufi dance
Works: Masnavi, Diwan-e Shams-e Tabrizi, Fihi Ma Fihi
Influences: Baha-ud-din Zakariya, Attar, Sana'i, Abu Sa'id Abul?ayr, ?araqani, Bayazid Bistami, �amse Tabrizi
Influenced: Sir Mohammad Iqbal, Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, Tahir ul-Qadri, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Abdolkarim Soroush
Jalal ad-Din Mu?ammad Balkhi (Persian: ????????? ???? ????), also known as Jalal ad-Din Mu?ammad Rumi (Persian: ????????? ???? ????), and popularly known as Mowlana (Persian: ??????) but known to the English-speaking world simply as Rumi[2] (30 September 1207 � 17 December 1273), was a 13th-century Persian (Tajik)[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Muslim poet, jurist, theologian, and Sufi mystic.[11] Rumi is a descriptive name meaning "the Roman" since he lived most of his life in an area called Rum because it was once ruled by the Eastern Roman Empire.[12]
It is likely that he was born in the village of Wakhsh,[13] a small town located at the river Wakhsh in what is now Tajikistan. Wakhsh belonged to the larger province of Balkh, and in the year Rumi was born, his father was an appointed scholar there.[13] Both these cities were at the time included in the greater Persian cultural sphere of Khorasan, the easternmost province of Persia,[3] and were part of the Khwarezmian Empire.

Image of the Rumi on an old book in the Mevl�na museum; Konya, Turkey
His birthplace[3] and native language[14] both indicate a Persian heritage. His father decided to migrate westwards due to quarrels between different dynasties in Khorasan, opposition to the Khwarizmid Shahs who were considered devious by Baha ud-Din Walad (Rumi's father),[15] or fear of the impending Mongol cataclysm.[16] Rumi's family traveled west, first performing the Hajj and eventually settling in the Anatolian city Konya (capital of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, in present-day Turkey). This was where he lived most of his life, and here he composed one of the crowning glories of Persian literature which profoundly affected the culture of the area.[17]
He lived most of his life under the Sultanate of Rum, where he produced his works[18] and died in 1273 AD. He was buried in Konya and his shrine became a place of pilgrimage.[19] Following his death, his followers and his son Sultan Walad founded the Mawlawiyah Sufi Order, also known as the Order of the Whirling Dervishes, famous for its Sufi dance known as the sama? ceremony.
Rumi's works are written in the New Persian language. A Persian literary renaissance (in the 8th/9th century) started in regions of Sistan, Khorasan and Transoxiana[20] and by the 10th/11th century, it reinforced the Persian language as the preferred literary and cultural language in the Persian Islamic world. Rumi's importance is considered to transcend national and ethnic borders. His original works are widely read in their original language across the Persian-speaking world. Translations of his works are very popular in other countries. His poetry has influenced Persian literature as well as Urdu, Punjabi and other Pakistani languages written in Perso/Arabic script e.g. Pashto and Sindhi. His poems have been widely translated into many of the world's languages and transposed into various formats. In 2007, he was described as the "most popular poet in America."[21]

Source Wikipedia.