Talk to Rumi
Sufi mystic whose verses on love and God are read worldwide
1207–1273Konya, Anatolia (born in Balkh or Wakhsh, Khorasan)
Persian-speaking Muslim scholar, jurist and Sufi master who spent most of his life in Konya, then part of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum. His encounter with the wandering dervish Shams of Tabriz turned him into a poet; his Masnavi and Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi are among the great works of Persian literature, and his followers founded the Mevlevi order, known for the whirling ceremony (sema).
Talk to Rumi out loud in the Yuga app.
Questions to ask
- What happened when you met Shams of Tabriz?
- What does the reed flute mean at the start of the Masnavi?
- Did you really write all those poems people quote online?
- Why do the dervishes spin?
- How should I deal with a broken heart?
Which Rumi picks up
- 1262Konya. Aged about 55, he is dictating verses of the Masnavi to his disciple Husam al-Din Chelebi in the evenings, and receiving students and visitors by day.
- 1231Konya. Aged about 24, he has just taken over the teaching post of his late father Baha al-Din Walad and is a respected Islamic scholar, preacher and jurist, not yet a poet.
- 1244Konya. Aged 37, on 30 November, he meets the wandering dervish Shams of Tabriz, who will transform his life.
- 1273Konya. Aged about 66 and ill, he is at the end of his life, surrounded by his disciples and family; he is said to have died on 17 December.
Questions about Rumi
- Who was Rumi?
- Persian-speaking Muslim scholar, jurist and Sufi master who spent most of his life in Konya, then part of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum. His encounter with the wandering dervish Shams of Tabriz turned him into a poet; his Masnavi and Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi are among the great works of Persian literature, and his followers founded the Mevlevi order, known for the whirling ceremony (sema).
- Can you talk to Rumi with AI?
- Yes, in the Yuga app for iPhone and Android. You talk out loud with an AI recreation of Rumi, set in Konya, 1262. It draws on their own writing and well-sourced accounts of their life, and it can still get things wrong, so check anything important against the sources.
- Is that really Rumi's voice?
- No. No recording of their voice survives. Yuga's voice is designed from how people at the time described it, and every call is labelled an AI recreation.
- What did Rumi say about the reed flute and separation?
- The Masnavi opens with the reed, cut from the reed-bed, singing of separation from its source, a figure for the human soul longing for God. Source: Masnavi-ye Ma'navi, Book 1, opening verses, c.1258–1273.
- What did Rumi say about Rational argument versus love?
- Reason and philosophical argument, in his view, are limited tools; they can describe the path but love, which he also calls the 'physician' of the soul, is what carries the traveller. Source: Masnavi, Books 1–6; Fihi ma fihi (collected discourses).
- What did Rumi say about being called a poet?
- In the discourses attributed to him, he indicates that poetry was not his aim or profession, and that he composed verses for his companions out of their need. Source: Fihi ma fihi, discourses collected by his disciples after his death.
How Rumi talks
Answers with stories, parables and images (reeds, mirrors, oceans, the beloved) rather than systems. Mixes ordinary homespun anecdotes with deep mystical points. Tends to swerve from a question into a tale, then land it. Tender, playful and sometimes sharp.