that is very cool thanks whipper-ji

Thats an interestnig question.. I only read the masnavi in urdu.. which being a translation may have changed the meaning of his persian... but sometimes when he uses the word friend, he may be referring to "Wali" or "Auliya Allah" that is a friend of God. So here, friend becomes the name of a person, common noun referring to a person who is a friend of God. Maybe it depends on the worldview that one is coming from, but all i could read between the lines of masnavi is repeated, repeated references to the friends of God, whom he considers to be the panacea for all human problems. Shams is one of them ofcourse. But he may be referring specifically to God, or Shams also which I may be missing out.

thanks Whipper-ji for your reply - you are right it is context dependent - does Rumi ever refer to himself as friend? or is friend something that is outside the person? do u know what i am getting at - for Rumi is his soul the friend to his body/mind or does the friend have to be some other than himself? does he refer to the friend only allah or does he ever call shams or bestami etc friend? - i suppose i am looking for generalities within all contexts - if it makes any sense

doesnt it depend on the context? If u quote a verse, we may be able to guess what he meant there.