Baha al-Din Walad's family leaves Balkh

رحيل بهاء الدين ولد وأهله عن بلخ

c. 1218 CE · 615 AH

Balkh

About 615/1218 the jurist and mystic Baha al-Din Walad left Balkh with his family — over a quarrel with the ruler or ahead of the approaching Mongols, as the accounts differ — taking his son Jalal al-Din. The family passed through Nishapur, where, in the well-known report, the mystic poet Farid al-Din Attar blessed the boy; they made the pilgrimage to Mecca and journeyed through Syria and Iraq before reaching Anatolia 1.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Mongol and Post-Mongol Era
Region
Persia & Central Asia

In time

121012201230 c.
The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks · The Mongol and Post-Mongol Era

Spirituality and Sufism

Summary

About 615/1218 the jurist and mystic Baha al-Din Walad left Balkh with his family, including his son Jalal al-Din; two reasons are given — a quarrel with the ruler, or fear of the approaching Mongols. 1

The road

The family passed through Nishapur, where the famous account has the Sufi poet Farid al-Din Attar meet the boy Jalal al-Din and bless him; they then made the pilgrimage to Mecca and travelled through Syria and Iraq until they reached Anatolia, the land of the Seljuqs of Rum, which enjoyed peace and prosperity. 1

Connections

Explore the connections

Had participant
Jalal al-Din Rumi· Baha al-Din Walad
Occurred at
Balkh

People and things also explored

Baha al-Din Walad dies; Rumi succeeds him· The family is called to Konya· Jalal al-Din Rumi· Balkh· Rumi dies at Konya, 672/1273· Rumi meets Shams al-Din of Tabriz· Shams al-Din disappears for ever· Balkh's Sulh and al-Ahnaf's Khwarizm March

Sources

  1. Rumi — Encyclopaedia Britannica
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Baha al-Din Walad's family leaves Balkh”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/departure-from-balkh-615/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-01.

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Related

Baha al-Din Walad dies; Rumi succeeds him

In 628/1231 Baha al-Din Walad died at Konya, and his son Jalal al-Din, then about twenty-four, succeeded him in the teaching post he had held.