Rumi is a world-famous Persian poet, philosopher and saint whose great work Masnawi is known among Muslims as ``the Quran in Pahlavi'' (i.e. Persian). He has also been studied by great European Philosophers, and the Masnawi has been translated into English by R. A. Nicholson, the eminent British orientalist of the turn of the century. Rumi is revered in particular by the Muslims of Turkey, Iran, India and Pakistan. He writes in poetic verse:

``The Whole [i.e. Spirit of God] forms a relation with the part [i.e. spirit of man], and from this, just as woman receives sperm from man, the sense of man receives a pearl. The soul of man then becomes pregnant, as did Mary, and from this pregnancy is born a Messiah. This Messiah is not the Messiah who lived in the past, but is a Messiah whose glory is not easy to comprehend. When the Spirit of God makes pregnant the spirit of man [i.e. man receives revelation from God], that spirit then makes a whole world pregnant [i.e. they receive spiritual benefit from it]. This produces a spiritual revolution and resurrection in the world, which is so grand as to defy description.''

``Whether the word of God is from behind the curtain or not, He bestows the very thing which He gave to Mary.''

(Miftah al-`ulum, vol. i, p. 11)

The reference in ``behind the curtain'' is to the verse of the Quran, discussed in Section 4, according to which this is one mode of Divine revelation to man.

``Souls themselves are the breath of Jesus. At times they wound and at other times they act as balm. If the veil be lifted from the souls, every one of them would say, I am the Messiah.''

(ibid., vol. ii, p. 247)

``I am Jesus, but whoever receives life from my breath lives forever. Those who were brought to life by Jesus died, but fortunate are they who entrusted their lives to this Jesus.''

(ibid., vol. vii, p. 45)

``The one lacking insight who opposes a Messiah [i.e. a Messiah-like saint], he shall go astray like the Jews.''

(ibid., vol. xvii, p. 141)

``God confines free spirits into bodies, and makes each body pregnant by the spirit. Each one of us [sages] is a Messiah for the world, the balm for every pain is in our hands.''

(ibid., Daftar no. 1, Part I, p. 55)

Shams-ud-Din of Tabriz (d. 1248 C.E.)

This saint, who was the chief influence upon Jalal-ud-Din Rumi, wrote the following verses:

``I am the spirit which was breathed into Mary,

``I am the soul which was the life of Jesus.''

(The Kulliyat of Shams-i Tabriz, p. 292)

``I was in the breath of Jesus, I am the lover of old.''

(ibid., p. 508)

``The ranks and stations which Jesus and Mary did not attain, I did attain them.''

(ibid., p. 212)

In a recent English book on Rumi, The Life and Work of Jalal-ud-Din Rumi by Afzal Iqbal (The Octagon Press, London, 1983), while commenting on this great saint's view of his teacher Shams-ud-Din as expressed in his odes, it is noted:

``Shams is identified with the primeval man; he is Adam, Jesus and Mary, all rolled into one.''

(p. 163)

And on page 164 are quoted some of Rumi's Persian verses referring to his master by these titles.

Khawaja Mu`in-ud-Din Chishti (d. 1236 C.E.)

He is the saint and missionary credited with laying the foundations of the propagation of Islam in India. His urs (annual festival) is celebrated by Muslims around the world, and thousands go to pay homage at his shrine in Ajmer. He wrote the following verses:

``If the Holy Spirit continues to give succour,

``Every day in the world the Mary of the time will give birth to a Jesus.''

``Every moment the Holy Spirit breathes into Mu`in,

``So it is not I who says this, but in fact I am the second Jesus.''

(Diwan of Mu`in-ud-Din Chishti, ode no. 70, p. 102)

In his Tazkira Pak in praise of Mu`in-ud-Din Chishti, Faqir Muhammad Chishti wrote:

``To speak while still in the womb,

``To show such a Messianic miracle,

``Is it the miracle of a saint or the marvel of a Messiah?

``I cannot comprehend what it is.

``Your soul is the soul of Jesus, O Khwaja!

``This is the prayer of your devotee.''

(pp. 27, 86 and 143)

Shaikh Sa`di (d. 1292 C.E.)

This world-renowned Persian poet, whose work Gulistan is well-known in the West, wrote:

``Your Jesus [i.e. your spirit] dies of loss of weight, while you are busy pampering your ass [i.e. your body].

``O wretch! buy not this world for faith,

``Buy not the ass for the Gospel of Jesus.''

(Bou-stan, ch. 6)

Sayyid Farid-ud-Din `Sipa Salar':

``I am that Jesus of the sky who went even beyond the moon,

``I am the Moses of Mount Sinai where God revealed himself.''

(Risala Sipa Salar, p. 16)

Abu Yazid Bustami (d. 874 C.E.)

It is recorded about him in the classical work Tazkirat al-Auliya, a compilation of the lives of early Muslim saints:

``It was said, God has servants like Abraham, Moses and Jesus. He said: I am all of them.''

(Tazkirat al-Auliya, ch. on Abu Yazid Bustami; see also its abridged English translation Muslim Saints and Mystics by A. J. Arberry, p. 123)

Sayyid Muhammad Ismail Shaheed (d. 1831 C.E.)

In a poem in praise of his master Sayyid Ahmad Barelvi, he writes:

``Joseph has now come to Egypt from Canaan, and a whole world has come for his purchase,

``To give life to the dead, the breath of Jesus has now come into the world,

``From Madina my Ahmad has come, from the cave of Saur, to teach the Ansar [name given to `helpers' of Holy Prophet Muhammad],

``Sayyid Ahmad came one day with his companions. You should say that the Last of the Prophets came again with his Companions.''

(Najm al-Saqib, vol. ii)

Shah Niyaz Ahmad of Delhi (d. 1834 C.E.):

``Sometimes I am Idris, sometimes Seth, sometimes Noah, sometimes Jonah, sometimes Joseph, sometimes Jacob, and sometimes Hud. Sometimes I am Salih, sometimes Abraham, sometimes Isaac, sometimes Yahya, sometimes Moses, sometimes Jesus and sometimes David. I am Ahmad Hashmi and Jesus of Mary.''

(Diwan-e Niyaz, p. 42, 44)

Khawaja Mir Dard of Delhi (d. 1785 C.E.)

This famous saint, regarding whom there is a section in the English book Mystical Dimensions of Islam by the eminent scholar Annemarie Schimmel, wrote as follows:

``Every perfect man, by the all-encompassing power of God, is the Jesus of his time. And every moment he faces for his being the affair of the soul of Jesus.''

(Risala Dard, p. 211)

Muhiy-ud-Din Ibn Arabi (d. 1240 C.E.)

Ibn Arabi, known as the ``Great Master'' of Sufi-ism, whose works have been much studied by Western scholars, wrote in his famous book Futuhat Makkiyya:

``And as it happened with our spiritual guide, when it was said to him: `You are Jesus, son of Mary, so heal him'.''

(vol. i, p. 199)

Abu Tamam

This famous Arab poet was addressed as:

``O Jesus, son of Mary!''

(Da'irat al-Mu`arif, Part II, p. 58)

He was given this title because his poetry was life-reviving, even though he used to stammer.

Shah Wali-ullah of Delhi (d. 1763 C.E.)

The great philosopher, writer and scholar of Islam, considered as the mujaddid of his time, wrote in his acclaimed work the Tafhimat Ilahiyya:

``The miracle of raising the dead to life, which was granted to Jesus --- that was myself.''

Khawaja Shah Sulaiman Tonsovi (d. 1852 C.E.)

A verse in praise of the Khawaja reads:

```Arise by the command of God' was a miracle at the hand of Jesus, but you [O Khawaja] made thousands into Messiahs with a single breath.''

(Manaqib al-Mahbubin, p. 249)

Shaikh Mahmud-ul-Hasan of Deoband (d. 1920)

Writing in praise of Rashid Ahmad Gangohi, a prominent Deoband leader in the nineteenth century, the Shaikh says in a poem:

``He raised the dead to life, and let not the living die. Just look at this Messianic work, O son of Mary.''

And in praise of both Rashid Ahmad and Muhammad Qasim Nanotavi, the founder of the Deoband religious school, he wrote:

``Qasim the good and Rashid Ahmad, both men of glory, the two of them were the Messiah of the age and Joseph of Canaan.''

Muhammad Nasir Muhammadi (d. 1758 C.E.)

He was the father of Mir Dard of Delhi and author of the work Nala-yi-Andalib (Lamentation of the Nightingale). He wrote in this book:

``There have been perfect, and still more perfect, saints among the Muslims. In terms of their spiritual progress and path of development, some had the temperament of Adam, some of Noah, some of Abraham, some of David, some of Jacob, some of Moses, some of Jesus, and some had the temperament of Muhammad.''

(vol. i, p. 243)

Al-Tabaqat al-Kubra

In his Urdu translation of this work, Sayyid Abdul Ghani Warisi writes:

``The man who is [spiritually] established in the form of Muhammad, is called `O Muhammad!' He who is in the form of Moses is called `O Moses!', and he who is in the form of Jesus is called `O Jesus!'''

(p. 486)

Mirza Ghalib (d. 1869 C.E.)

He is one of the greatest and most famous poets of the Urdu language. One of his best-known and most-quoted verses is the following:

``Let someone be the son of Mary, and let him heal my pain.''

Commenting on this verse, Professor Yusuf Salim Chishti writes in his Sharh Diwan Ghalib:

``Meaning --- If my beloved can heal my pain, I accept him as Messiah.''

(p. 826)

Dr Sir Muhammad Iqbal (d. 1938 C.E.)

In praise of the perfect believer, Iqbal says in Persian verse:

``He is Kalim [Moses], he is Masih [Messiah], he is Khalil [Abraham],

``He is Muhammad, he is the Book [Quran], he is Gabriel.''

Sayyid Abdul Qadir Jilani (d. 1166 C.E.)

The much revered saint of Iraq wrote:

``I was with Jesus when he spoke from the cradle.''

(Qasida Ruhi)

Muhammad Ibn Yahya Ibn Ali Jilani:

``I am Joseph and Ali,

``I am Moses and Jesus --- and many of the persons before them.''

(Gulshan-i-Raz)

Anne Marie Schimmel

She is a renowned European orientalist and scholar who has been honoured by the authorities in Pakistan for her research on Islam. In her English book Mystical Dimensions of Islam (University of North Carolina Press, U.S.A., 1975), she writes:

``According to some sufi orders, on the higher levels of his path the mystic ascends through the stations of the Islamic prophets, from Adam to Jesus; many Sufis remain in one of these stages, but the perfect shaikh is he who has become annihilated in the Prophet Muhammad. United with the haqiqa Muhammadiyya, he becomes the Perfect Man and thus leads his disciples with a guidance granted directly by God.''

(p. 237)

``The Sufis particularly loved Mary…She is often taken as the symbol of the spirit that receives divine inspiration and thus becomes pregnant with the divine light.''

(p. 429)