News at Eleven: Rumi, known as Mawlana Jalal-ud-Din Balkhi in Afghanistan

and Mevlevi in Iran, was born in the 13th century in Balkh which was at the time an eastern part of the Persian empire of Khorasan but is now a province in northern Afghanistan.

His family moved and they eventually settled in present-day Turkey where he wrote some of the greatest mystic Sufi poetry in Persian.

Today, all three countries regard him as their national poet even though his poetry itself transcends borders, religion and ethnic divides.

from Reuters: Afghanistan wants its cultural heroes back

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