Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī - Collected Poetical Works of Rumi

Rumi

(1207-1273)

Contents

Delphi Classics 2015

Version 1

Rumi

By Delphi Classics, 2015

Rumi - Delphi Poets Series

First published in the United Kingdom in 2015 by Delphi Classics.

Delphi Classics, 2015.

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When reading poetry on an eReader, it is advisable to use a small font size and landscape mode, which will allow the lines of poetry to display correctly.

Vakhsh River, Tajikistan Rumi is believed to have been born in two locations. One location is in the city of Vakhsh.

Surrounding countryside of Balkh, an ancient city and centre of Buddhism, Sufism and Zoroastrianism, modern day northern Afghanistan. Today, Balkh is a small town 20 kilometres northwest of the provincial capital, Mazar-e Sharif. The second reputed location of Rumis birth is Balkh.

The Masnavi is a long poem written by Jalal al-Din Muhammad Balkhi Rumi, more commonly known in the English speaking world as Rumi, the celebrated Persian Sufi saint and poet. It is one of the best known and most influential works of both Sufism and Dari literature. Arranged as a series of six books of poetry amounting to approximately 50,000 lines, The Masnavi is a spiritual text, teaching Sufis how to reach their goal of being in true love with God. Each book consists of about 4,000 verses and contains its own prose introduction and prologue.

The Persian title of the poem (Masnavi-I Manavi) means Rhyming Couplets of Profound Spiritual Meaning. The collection is formed of various anecdotes and stories derived from the Quran, hadith sources and everyday tales. Stories are told to illustrate a point and each moral is discussed in detail. The poem incorporates a variety of Islamic wisdom, though it primarily focuses on emphasising inward personal Sufi interpretation. It reasonably presents the various dimensions of Sufi spiritual life and advises disciples on their spiritual paths.

The Masnavi was a Sufi masterpiece started during the final years of Rumis life. He began dictating the first book around the age of 54 in the year 1258 and continued composing verses until his death in 1273. The sixth and final book would remain incomplete. It is recorded that Rumi began dictating the verses of The Masnavi at the request of his beloved disciple, Husam al-Din Chalabi, who observed that many of Rumis followers dutifully read the works of Sanai and Attar. Accordingly, Rumi began creating a work in the didactic style of Sanai and Attar to complement his disciples other poetry books. They met regularly in meetings where Rumi would deliver the verses and Chalabi would record it and recite back to him.

The six books of The Masnavi can be divided into three groups of two, as each pair is linked by a common theme:

• Books 1 and 2 are chiefly concerned with the nafs , the lower carnal self and its self-deception and evil tendencies.
• Books 3 and 4 share the chief themes of Reason and Knowledge. These two themes are personified by Rumi in the Biblical and Quranic figure of the Prophet Moses.
• Books 5 and 6 share the universal ideal that man must deny his physical earthly existence to understand Gods existence.

In addition to the reoccurring themes presented in each book, Rumi includes multiple points of view or voices that continually invite his readers to fall into imaginative enchantment.

There are seven principal voices that Rumi uses in his poetry:

• The Authorial Voice Each passage reflects the authority of the majestic Sufi teacher narrating the story. This voice generally appears when it addresses You, God, and you, of all humankind.
• The Story-telling Voice The primary story is occasionally interrupted by side stories that help clarify a point being made in the original statement. Rumi sometimes takes hundreds of lines to make a point because he is constantly interrupting himself.
• The Analogical Voice This voice interrupts the flow of the narration because it entertains an analogy which is used to explain a statement made in the previous verse. Rumis Masnavi is filled with analogies.
• The Voice of Speech and Dialogue of Characters Rumi conveys many of his stories through dialogue and speeches presented by his characters.
• The Moral Reflection Rumi supports his voice of morality by including quotations from the Quran and various hadith stories of events in the life of the Prophet Mohammed.
• The Spiritual Discourse The Spiritual Discourse resembles the Analogical Voice where Rumi always includes a moral reflection on the wisdom revealed.
• Hiatus Rumi occasionally questions the wisdom conveyed though the verses.

The Masvani manuscript in Farsi Dari on paper, Shiraz, 1479

A manuscript in Persian on paper, Shiraz, 1479

Ancient depiction of Rumi gathering Sufi mystics, c. 1594

An Ottoman era manuscript depicting Rumi and Shams-e Tabrizi.

Please note: James Redhouse only translated Book One of The Masnavi.