Shams-i Tabrizi شمس الدين محمد التبريزي

Shams al-Din Muhammad, universally known as Shams-i Tabrizi rahimahullah (c. 1185-1248 CE), was a Persian Muslim Sufi master from the city of Tabriz. He is revered above all as the transformative spiritual instructor of the poet and mystic Jalal al-Din Muhammad Balkhi (Rumi). Their meeting in Konya is one of the most celebrated encounters in the history of Islamic spirituality; tradition holds that Shams and Rumi withdrew in seclusion for a period of forty days, before Shams departed for Damascus. The profound influence of their relationship is immortalized in Rumi's Diwan, which Rumi dedicated to Shams and titled after him: Diwan-i Shams-i Tabrizi (The Works of Shams of Tabriz). Shams's own teachings survive in the Maqalat-i Shams-i Tabrizi, a compilation of his spoken discourses, which provides the source material for the autobiography published by Fons Vitae. The tomb of Shams-i Tabrizi has been nominated for UNESCO World Heritage recognition.