Rumi ghazal 163

The poem is said to have been written by Rumi about the year 1247 to persuade his friend Shams-e Tabriz to come back to Konya from Damascus.

The poem is popular in Persian-speaking countries and has been set to music by a number of musicians including the Afghan singers Hangama and Ahmad Zahir.

It is also famous for a miniature painting of 1503 containing three of the verses and illustrated with a picture of Shams-e Tabriz playing chess.

Around 1226 Jalal-ed-Din Rumi, aged 19, settled with his father at Konya (ancient Iconium), the capital of the Seljuq prince Ala-od-Din Keykobad.

In the central panel, Shams is seen playing chess with the Christian boy, watched by the young man in the red gown on the left and by Sultan Walad on the right.

In the lowest panel, which shows the scene at night, the men in red and blue gowns are seated next to Shams (the man in red now has a beard but is probably the same man), while Sultan Walad and his companion, dressed in clothes suitable for travel, are on the right.

It is probable, however, that Rumi's own pronunciation would have been closer to the Afghan one (see External links below), in which a distinction is made between ī and ē, ū and ō, and gh and q, and final -e is pronounced -a.