Shams asks Rumi what he is doing, to which Rumi replies, "Something that you do not understand!" At that moment, the books suddenly catch fire and Rumi asks Shams to explain what happened. Rumi regards him as an uneducated stranger. Rumi then asked Shams, "What is this?" To which Shams replied, "Mowlana, this is what you cannot understand."Ī second version of the tale has Shams passing by Rumi who again is reading a book. Rumi hastily rescued the books and to his surprise they were all dry. Shams Tabriz, passing by, asked him, "What are you doing?" Rumi scoffingly replied, "Something you cannot understand." On hearing this, Shams threw the stack of books into a nearby pool of water. One day Rumi was reading next to a large stack of books. As it was said in Haji Bektash Veli’s book, "Makalat", he was looking for something.
He was claiming to be a travelling merchant.
On 15 November 1244, a man in black suit from head to toe, came to the famous inn of Sugar Merchants of Konya.