The ccstatic love poems and insights of Rumi, a Persian poet and Sufi mystic born over eight centuries ago, are beloved by millions of readers around the world. He has been compared to Shakespeare for his outpouring of creativity and to Saint Francis of Assisi for his spiritual wisdom. Yet his life has long remained the stuff of legend rather than intimate knowledge.

In this breakthrough biography, Brad Gooch brilliantly brings to life the man and puts a face to the name Rumi, vividly coloring in his time and place—a world as rife with conflict as our own. The map of Rumi’s life stretched over 2,500 miles. Gooch traces this epic journey from Central Asia, where Rumi was born in 1207, traveling with his family—who were displaced by Mongol terror—to settle in Konya, Turkey. Pivotal was the disruptive appearance of irascible wandereer Shams of Tabriz, who taught him to whirl and transformed him from a respectable middle-aged Muslim preacher into a Whitmanesque poet of radical intimacy and ecstatic oneness. Their vital connection as teacher and pupil, friend and beloved, is one of the world’s greatest spiritual love stories. When Shams disappeared, Rumi coped with the pain of separation by composing joyous poems of reunion, both human and divine.

Ambitious, bold, and beautifully written, Rumi’s Secret reveals the unfolding of Rumi’s devotion to a “religion of love,” remarkable in his own time and made even more relevant for the twenty-first century by this compelling account.

“An excellent and accessible introduction to the profound and generous mystical vision of Rumi that will give Western readers a much-needed insight into the true spirituality of Islam.” —Karen Armstrong, author of A History of God

“Deftly situating Rumi in the crosscurrents of Persian, Arab, Turkic, and Mongol history, Gooch gives us an indelible portrait of this mystic so crucial to Christians, Muslims, Jews, and modern-day searchers after meaning.” —Fernanda Eberstadt