19.
Project Gutenberg EPUB edition
Jalal al-Din Rumi, Maulana and Redhouse, James W. (James William), Sir
Forty days after the disappearance of Shemsu-’d-Dīn, Jelāl, wishing to appease his own sorrow, and quell the mutinous spirit that had broken out among the disciples, appointed Husāmu-’d-Dīn his local deputy, and set out to seek Shems at Damascus for the third time. All the learned men of Syria became his disciples, and he was absent about a year, more or less.
The Sultan and the nobles grew impatient at this long absence, and wrote him an urgent petition, begging him to return to Qonya. With this request he complied.
Naturally, he had failed to find Shemsu-’d-Dīn in the flesh at Damascus; but he had found within himself what was still greater. He went to the lodging of Shems, and wrote on the door, with red ink: “This is the station of the beloved one of Elias, on whom be peace!”
It is said that the body of Shemsu-’d-Dīn disappeared, and that he was buried by the side of Jelāl’s father, Sultan Bahā Veled the Elder.