The Persian Poet and the IRGC

To see how far Iran has fallen, it is worth examining the poetry of one of ancient Persia’s most enduring figures.

Jeffrey Folks | October 4, 2026

Jalāl al-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī is the full name of “Rumi,” the most important Persian poet, supreme in his time and still beloved by readers around the world. In Rumi’s lifetime, it was common for his verses to be set to music (just as those of Dante were set to popular melodies and sung by ordinary people in the region that would become Italy).  Although he was a devout Muslim and proclaimed the superiority of Mohammad among the prophets, Rumi believed that all humanity is one and that all religions worship a single God.  His followers in the city of Konya, where he lived much of his adult life, included Muslims, Jews, Christians, and those of other faiths.

It is revealing to reflect on the difference between Rumi and his Sufi followers and the hard-line leadership in Iran today.  To begin, Rumi is often called the “poet of love,” and indeed his writing is filled with teachings of the love of self and of others and a rejection of what we would call ideology.  He rejected the idea that one must look to a particular church or God “in the sky” to find the truth.  One of his key points is that one must look within, not to outward officials, schools, or even churches to find the truth one seeks.  Although Rumi revered the Quran and the example of Mohammad, like others of his day, he believed that the contemporary leadership of Islam had become corrupt and misguided, and that it must be reformed and purified by a spiritual order of belief centering on asceticism and........

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