Jalal ad-Din Muammad Balkhi (Persian: ), also known as Jalal ad-Din Muammad Rumi (Persian: ) and popularly known as Mevlana in Turkey and Mawlana in Iran and Afghanistan but known to the English-speaking world simply as Rumi (30 September 1207 - 17 December 1273) was a 13th-century Persian Muslim poet, jurist, theologian, and Sufi mystic. He was born in Balkh Province in Afghanistan at a small town located by the river Wakhsh in what is now Tajikistan. Wakhsh belonged to the larger province of Balkh, and in the year Rumi was born, his father was an appointed scholar there. Both these cities were at the time included in the greater Persian cultural sphere of Khorasan, the easternmost province of Persia and was part of the Khwarezmian Empire. He lived most of his life under the Sultanate of Rum, where he produced his works and died in 1273 CE. He was buried in Konya and his shrine became a place of pilgrimage. Following his death, his followers a