The Poetry of Sultan Walad
Sultan Walad: Rumi's son, and eventual successor, died 1312. His full name was Bahâ'ud-dîn MuHammad SulTân Walad. He was named after his grandfather (Baha'uddin Muhammad), whom he knew as a child ("walad," or "veled" in Turkish pronunciation, means "son"). He also knew his father's first sufi master, Sayyid Burhânuddîn Termezî (the leading disciple of Rumi's father). He had an extraordinary chain of spiritual masters before he became the spiritual leader of his father's disciples: Shams-i Tabrîz, SalâHuddîn Zarkôb (his father's closest disciple after the disappearance of Shams, and a fellow disciple under Sayyid Burhanuddin), Husâmuddîn Chalabî (his father's closest disciple after the death of Salahuddin), and Karîmuddîn Baktamor (an advanced disciple of his father's).
Sultan Walad composed three narrative poems, or mathnawis: the "Ibtidâ-nâma" ("Beginning Book," also known as "Walad-nâma" and "Masnavi-yé Valadî), the "Rabâb-nâma" ("Reed-Flute Book"), and the "Intihâ-nâma" ("Ending Book"). In addition, there is the "Dîvân-é Sultan Walad" ("Collected Works of Poetry") as well as the "Ma`ârif," or collection of talks and sermons.
According to Professor Franklin Lewis ("Rumi-- Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teachings and Poetry of Jalâl al-Din Rumi" (p. 241), three other works attributed to Sultan Walad over the centuries (some of which also generated their own commentaries) are later forgeries: "`Ishq-nâma," "Tarâsh-nâma," "Risâla-yé I`tiqâd," and "SharH-é `Ishq-nâma-yé HaZrat-é Bahâ'ud-dîn Walad."
