Who was the radical, wandering dervish who transformed the world's most beloved poet?

Shams-i-Tabrizi arrived in the scholarly world of Konya in 1244 and ignited a spiritual fire in the renowned theologian Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī, shattering his conventional life forever. A master of the Qalandar tradition and the quintessential outsider, Shams became Rumi's spiritual mirror, forcing him to abandon his pulpit for the ecstatic practice of Samāʿ and the boundless ocean of love.

Drawing on the raw, urgent critiques of the Maqālāt-i Shams-i Tabrīzī—Shams's own spontaneous discourses—and centuries of historical accounts, this comprehensive book reconstructs the life of this enigmatic catalyst. It explores their intense period of sohbet (spiritual conversation), the fierce jealousy it provoked among Rumi's disciples, and the enduring, tragic mystery of Shams's final disappearance, an absence that became the source of Rumi's immortal poetry. Approx.150 pages, 29500 word count