Baha ud-Din Walad; Baha Walad
Bahauddin was a Persian Sufi mystic and scholar — Rumi's father and first teacher, whose private spiritual writings shaped the tradition his son would carry forward.
Baha ud-Din Walad — known simply as Bahauddin — was a 12th–13th century Persian Islamic scholar and Sufi mystic, and the father of Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī. He was Rumi’s first and most formative teacher, and his private spiritual journal, the Ma’arif, records intimate reflections on longing, presence, and the divine — writings that shaped the mystical tradition his son would carry forward into some of the most beloved poetry in the world.
Only one rendering from Bahauddin’s writing appears in this library so far, offered here as a rare window into where Rumi’s own voice began.