The first-ever English language version of a wonderful, but virtually unknown book by Rumi's father, Bahauddin, who himself was a great Persian Sufi teacher and a comparably insightful, daring, poetic spiritual genius.
Bahauddin, Rumi's father, was not only a major force in the development of Islamic spirituality and a great religious leader, but a major force in his son's life. This delightful and provocative collection of mystical poems and acute observations into nature, humans, and the mysteries of life, full of wit and insight, shows us that Rumi truly is in his father's heritage.
The writer Aflaki tells the story of the meeting of Rumi and Shams where Rumi is sitting by a fountain in Konya talking to his students and his father's spiritual notebook is open on the fountain's ledge. Shams interrupts and pushes the precious text into the water.
"Who are you and why are you doing this?" asks Rumi, protesting that this copy of his father's diary is the only one existing.
Shams replies, "It is time for you to live what you have been reading of and talking about. But if you want, we can retrieve the books. They will be perfectly dry. See?" And he lifts Bahauddin's text out, "Dry."
Most probably there were other copies of the text in the 13th century. There are incomplete renderings from the 14th century in libraries in Tehran and Istanbul. The earliest from 1324 is in the Konya Museum in Turkey. The drowned book has itself been lost.
