Sultan Walad - Life and Impact

Life and Impact

He was given the name of his grandfather Sultan al-Ulama Baha al-Din Walad. Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi sent Sultan Walad and his brother Ala al-Din Muhammad to Aleppo and Damascus for the study of religious sciences. Sultan Walad was deeply trusted by Rumi, and it was him that Rumi sent to seek Shams Tabrizi after the disappearance of Shams.

Sultan Walad married the daughter of Salah al-Din Zarkub, Fatima Khatun. He had two daughters by her and one son (Jalal Ali-Din Arif). Sultan Walad at the insistence of his entourage, took up the succession which, at his father's death, he had declined in favour of Husam Al-Din.

With Sultan Walad, the Mawlawiya order starts in the true sense of the word, since he gathered the followers (Murids) of his father around himself and organized the order. He also erected a mausoleum for his Rumi, which also became the center of his order.

He died at the advanced age of nearly ninety years on 10 Radjab 712/12 November 1312 in Konya and was buried next to his father. For nearly fifty years he had lived in the shadow of his famous father, whose personality had determined the life and work of his son even beyond his death.