January 21st, 2026

Shams of Tabriz 

The 21st & 22nd Rule of Love 
Below

Shams means “the Sun” in Arabic. Readers of Rumi know how well he applied the sage’s name as a metaphor for light. His full name was Shamsuddin Mohamad Tabrizi. “Din” means “chosen path” or “religion.” Shamsuddin stands for “the light of the way.”

Shams’s main message is that Love is its own language, the finest one to understand and speak of God with— superior by far to the languages that the intellect can conjure, echoed by Rumi in his famous lines: “Trying to explain Love, the intellect fell down in the mud like an ass— Love and loverhood can only be explained by Love. The sun is the sun’s proof; If you must have proof, then turn not your face away from it.”

The 21st Rule of Love

By Shams of Tabriz 

We were all created in His image, and yet we were each created different and unique. No two people are alike. No two hearts beat to the same rhythm. If God had wanted everyone to be the same, He would have made it so. Therefore, disrespecting differences and imposing your thoughts on others is tantamount to disrespecting God’s holy scheme.

The 22nd Rule of Love 

By Shams of Tabriz

When a true lover of God goes into a tavern, the tavern becomes his chamber of prayer, but when a wine bibber goes into the same chamber, it becomes his tavern. In everything we do, it is our hearts that make the difference, not our outer appearances. Sufis do not judge other people on how they look or who they are. When a Sufi stares at someone, he keeps both eyes closed and instead opens a third eye—the eye that sees the inner realm.

Jalaluddin Rumi

The Diwan of Shams of Tabriz, 
by Jalaluddin Rumi

Those who don`t feel this Love
pulling them like a river,
those who don`t drink dawn
like a cup of springwater
or take in sunset like supper,
those who don`t want to change,

let them sleep


This Love is beyond the study of theology,
that old trickery and hypocrisy.
If you want to improve your mind that way,

sleep on


I`ve given up on my brain.
I`ve torn the cloth to shreds
and thrown it away.


If you`re not completely naked,
wrap your  beautiful robe of words
around you,

and sleep.