About Elymaid

We exist here to narrate lots of great stories for you.

Here, our first short story is about the name of our site. The name of this site goes back to "Elymaid (Elamite)", one of the world's oldest civilizations that they governed in the mid-second century BC in the southwest of Iran. Iran is a country in Western Asia that a part of its civilization began with the formation of the Elymaid (Elamite) kingdoms in the fourth millennium BC which its background had formed in Paleolithic era.

We chose a special Poetic story book (the Mathnawí) written by Mevlana Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī who comes from Iran and the language of his books is in Persian. We are going to narrate the translated stories of him for you. The most popular translation of his books is done by Coleman Barks. Here we chose the translation of Reynold Alleyne Nicholson.

Currently Rumi's buried in Qooniye (in Turkey) because he passed most of his lifetime and his late life in there and he is known as Rumi for that reason.

As you know

Great stories can solve big problems and overcome the hardest obstacles.

Great stories can give you an experience of putting yourself in the others’ shoes.

Great stories can solve the bewilderment of human existence.

Great stories can make excitement and can defeat the despairs and increase true enthusiasm in life. Normally, inside us there is an inner reluctance against changes in order to protect our margin of security, the great stories can convert that reluctance into a special magnet of excitement, this magnet made by stories helps us to pay attention more and more to many unbelievable changes and they lead us to be greater, more ample and deeper by experience the others' life and they give us the opportunity to make acquaintance with other cultures of the world, In particular one of the most disputable cultures in the world; such as Islamic culture. The stories of the book (Mathnawí) that we chose can give you a new view and different glance of Islamic culture and Islam.

About Mathnawí (The chosen book to listen)

In Mathnawí, Mevlana (Rūmī) talks about how to be a wholesome human being: one who has inner peace and harmony, one who is both aware of and appreciates God’s blessings, one who takes a stand in the face of life’s hardships, one who is tolerant and loving. This masterpiece of Mevlana was written in the form of poetry which included philosophical, mystical, and spiritual messages and could in a sense be considered allegories which carry deep spiritual and religious meanings.

This masterpiece of Islam's mystic literature contains 26 thousand couplets in six volumes, consisting of stories inspired by the Quran’s teachings about all that is created, as well as Mohammad’s words and their morals. Mathnawí is regarded as the most outstanding work of Persian - Islamic mysticism.  These epic poems have been translated into more than 25 languages.

About Mevlana’s glance

Mevlana (Rūmī) was not only a great poet and philosopher but first and foremost he was a mystic, a spiritually touched man. His mind and heart had reached for heights and depths of the spiritual world. In his vision there were two universes which coincided in Man. The inner world was like an endless infinite ocean, which could only be felt and seen with the eyes of the heart, while the outer world was but like the passing foam which appears on the surface of the waves emanating from that ocean.

Mevlana also integrated a dualist approach in his mind: In approaching issues pertaining to daily life, he is a rationalist, but in approaching spiritual and mystical matters he recognizes only the mastery of the heart and emotions. According to him, the only way to approach absolute being is through love; and God's love is everywhere, permeating everything. If one were to love another being in the name of God, one would find a pathway leading to the absolute. According to him everything in the universe, every being, even matter itself - all are but manifestations of God and exist in God and are united in the Absolute Being.

Thus, Mevlana views all existence as a united whole. In a sense, one could call his vision that of Unity Consciousness. This vision impelled Mevlana to transcend all differences and prejudices, and formed the basis of his immense tolerance and of his real and deep humanism. With these characteristics, Mevlana and his thought transcended the boundaries of his time and thus he and his writings are still relevant and fresh in this day and age, some 750 years after. The universality of his thought finds its reflection in, for example, the famous verses where he says:

the mastery of the heart and emotions. According to him, the only way to approach absolute being is through love; and God's love is everywhere, permeating everything. If one were to love another being in the name of God, one would find a pathway leading to the absolute. According to him everything in the universe, every being, even matter itself - all are but manifestations of God and exist in God and are united in the Absolute Being.

Come!
Come whoever you are.
Doesn't matter if you are an unbeliever.
Doesn't matter if you have fallen a thousand times.
Come!
Come whoever you are. For this is not the door of hopelessness.
Come,
Just as you are!

To Mevlana, all religions were more or less truth. Mevlana looked with the same eye on Muslim, Jew and Christian alike. His peaceful and tolerant teachings have appealed to men of all sects and creeds.   Mevlana’s doctrine advocates unlimited tolerance, positive reasoning, goodness, charity and awareness through love. He accessed to knowledge through Love. His mystical relationship with Islam produced masterpieces that have marked Islamic culture and religious beliefs beyond the borders. His work and thought remain universally relevant today in our world.

The UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) marked 2007 as the "Mevlana Year" to celebrate 800th anniversary of the birth of Mevlana Celaleddin-i Belhi-Rumi.

About Mevlana’s Life and Family

The great mystic and poet Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi was born in Belh (Balkh), in present day Afghanistan but in Greater Khorasan region back in Persian times, on 30th of September 1207 AD. His mother Mümine was the daughter of Rükneddin, the “emir” (sovereign ruler) of Belh. His father Bahaeddin Veled, who was known as Sultan-ul Ulema (the king of the learned men), was a renowned scholar who, however, raised the ire of the established academia of his times by criticizing the tenets of Greek philosophy. This and the start of the Mongol invasions made him decide to leave Belh. This was when Mevlana was only five years old. The family, which reached Anatolia after stopping in Yemen and Damascus, lived in Larende (Karaman) for seven years; and then, upon the invitation of the Seljuk Sultan Alaeddin Keykubad I, Bahaeddin Veled settled in Konya in Central Anatolia in 1220. Mevlana married Gevher Hatun in Karaman and their son, Sultan Veled, was born in 1226 in the same town. Bahaeddin Veled, Mevlana's father, was a cultured scholar and mystic.

As Mevlana begins attending his father’s lessons at a very early age, he pursues the divine truth and secrets.

He acquires Turkish, Arabic, Persian, and common Greek as well as Classical Greek. He studies the other religions along with Islam. From history to medicine, he receives his initial education from his father.

About Mevlana’s works

In addition to his best-known book of verse, Masnawi, the first eighteen lines of which were written down personally and the rest dictated to his student, Chalabi Husameddin, he also wrote Divan-i Kebir; Fih-i Ma-Fi, Mecalis- i Seb’a and Mektubat.

About Mevlana’s education

The knowledge of Mevlana’s father, his discourses and his environment played a significant role in shaping and educating Mevlana, who advanced so rapidly that when his father died in 1230, he had already become a scholar and a teacher at the tender age of 23. Thus, it would not been exaggeration to say that Mevlana had learned the fundamentals of philosophy and mysticism from his father. Mevlana also was educated in the two major university centers of the time, Aleppo and Damascus; he was a well-rounded scholar who had accumulated much theological and scientific knowledge. He had such command of Turkish, Persian, Arabic, Greek that he could write poetry in all four languages but he wrote his works in Persian language.