Daily Times

Since my childhood, not a day went by when I did not hear the mention of Moulana Jalaluddin Rumi’s name with a lot of love and respect from my parents, teachers and friends, and it was natural that for such a towering personality I drew close to him, and took a keen interest in his life and works. My smattering in Persian could not carry me deeper into the oceanic depth of his ideas and thoughts but through the classic rendition into English by Prof. R.A. Nicholson of Rumi’s Masnavi, his masterpiece, and from my affectionate relationship with one of the greatest scholars on Rumi, Dr. Afzal Iqbal, I learnt enough of Moulana Rumito say something about him in this piece. Being myself a devotee of Allama Iqbal, who in turn looked up to the Moulana for all his inspiration, it was just un-avoidable not to keep Rumi close to my bosom.

Jelalludin Rumi (1207-1273) led the quiet life of an Islamic teacher in the central Anatolia (modern Turkey) until the age of thirty-seven, when he met a wandering dervish named Shams Tabriz-through whom he encountered the Divine Presence in a way that utterly transformed him. The result of this epiphany was the greatest body of mystical poetry the world has ever seen, and the establishment of a spiritual movement that would eventually stretch from Africa to China, enduring to our own day. Prof. R.A Nicholson (1868-1945), was the greatest Rumi scholar in the English languagewhose magnum opus was his work and translation of Rumi’s Masnavi, published in eight volumes between 1925 and 1940. Through his translation of Rumi heintroduced Rumi to the entire world. Rumi is the greatest mystic poet to have written this masterpiece in Persian, having six Books and consisting of some 26,000 verses, the poem was designed to convey a message of divine love and unity to the disciples of Rumi’s Sufi order, known today as the Whirling Dervishes.

The Masnavi is a poetic collection of 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. It incorporates a variety of Islamic wisdom but primarily focuses on emphasizing inward personal Sufi interpretation. In contrast to Rumi’s Diwan, the Masnavi is a relatively “sober” text. It explains the various dimensions of spiritual life and practice to Sufi disciples and anyone who wishes to ponder the meaning of life.

A lot has been written about Jalaluddin Rumi and his thought by experts like Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Annemarie Schimmel, A.J.Arberry, R.A. Nicholson and Whinfield etc. Through these great writers the work of Rumi was read all over the world.

The Masnavi is neither a conventional biography, nor a critical analysis of the Sufi poetry but a complete monograph dealing with everything he came across during his extensive journey of life. It is stated thatRumi’s conversion as a poet was sudden at the age of 37years when he met another wandering saint Shams Tabrez.

Dr. Afzal Iqbal, an authority on Rumi,has tried to touch most of these philosophical observations with great depth and insight, relating them to the other poets, thinkers and philosophers of past and present. He has also given some valuable insights into the overall style and construct of Mathnavi. The reader is presented with paradoxical and sometimes completely stochastic nature (based on random probability) of anecdotes in Mathnavi, wherein ‘God is described as a Dyer, as a magician, as a hidden treasure, as a rider hidden behind the dust that he raises, as a painter or calligrapher, as a dice player, and as the ultimate source of all good and evil. However hard one may try to dissolve the differences, yet the poetic mysticism cannot be enclosed within two strains – since its genre is strictly for experience.This endeavour of Dr. Afzal Iqbal is perhaps unique in a sense that it covers not only the life and poetry of the great maestro but his philosophy, personality and peculiarity of communicative import as well.From a literary point of view, Dr. Afzal Iqbal’s study of Rumi is extremely useful for those readers who are neither proficient in Persian language nor have the energy to dig deep into the original Persian sources. It provides lot of answers to those who are unable to find it for themselves.While the origins of Rumi’s poetry are distinctly Muslim and Sufi in nature, this hasn’t stopped his poetry from being vastly widespread and influential. From German romanticism to American transcendentalism, Rumi’s influence has been broad and deep.The French writer, Maurice Barres had once confessed: “When I experienced Rumi’s poetry, which is vibrant with the tone of ecstasy and with melody, I realized the deficiencies of Shakespeare, Goethe and Victor Hugo.”

Another tribute to Rumi is paid by the eminent British translator, A. J. Arberryin these words: “In Rumi we encounter one of the world’s greatest poets. In profundity of thought, inventiveness of image, and triumphant mastery of language, Rumi stands out as the supreme genius of Islamic Mysticism.”

R.A. Nicholson, the first translator of the all the books of Masnavi into English said: “The Masnavi is a majestic river, calm and deep, meandering through many a rich and varied landscape to the immeasurable ocean; the Divan is a foaming torrent that leaps and plunges in the ethereal solitude of the hills. Rumi is the greatest mystic poet of any age.”

Sufi Dance of Whirling Dervishes symbolize the divine love and mystical ecstasy; they aim at union with the Divine

Sir William Jones, an 18th century British scholar of the Persian language, had proclaimed that: “I know of no writer to whom Rumi can justly be compared, except Chaucer or Shakespeare…so extraordinary a book as the Masnavi was never, perhaps, composed by Man. It abounds with beauties, and blemishes, equally great; with gross obscenity, and pure ethics; with exquisite strains of poetry, and flat puerility; with wit, and pleasantry, mixed jests; with ridicule on all established religions, and a vein of sublime piety…Rumi’s Masnavi reflects a much more ecumenical spirit and a far broader and deeper religious sensibility than Dante’s Divine Comedy.”

Rumi was introduced into the mystical path by a wandering dervish, Shams of Tabriz. His love and his bereavement for the death of Shams found their expression in a surge of music, dance and lyrical poems, `Divan-e Shams Tabrizi’.

Sufi Dance of Whirling Dervishes symbolize the divine love and mystical ecstasy; they aim at union with the Divine. The music and the dance are designed to induce a meditative state on the love of God. Mevlevi music contains some of the most core elements of Eastern classical music and it serves mainly as accompaniment for poems of Rumi and other Sufi poets. The dervishes turn timelessly and effortlessly. They whirl, turning round on their own axis and moving also in orbit. The right hand is turned up towards heaven to receive God’s overflowing mercy which passes through the heart and is transmitted to earth with the down-turned left hand. While one foot remains firmly on the ground, the other crosses it and propels the dancer round. The rising and falling of the right foot is kept constant by the inner rhythmic repetition of the name of “Allah-Al-lah, Al-lah…”

Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi died on December 17, 1273 A.D. Men of five faiths followed his bier. That night was named Shab-e Arus [literally Wedding Night or Rumi’s Night of Union with God). Ever since, the Mevlevi Sufi Dervishes have kept that date as a festival.

Annemarie Schimmel wrote an important book on the contents of Rumi’s poetry, with many examples of his metaphors and images There are numerous short passages (often single lines only) from the Masnavi (and Rumi’s other works) which illustrate references to nature, daily life, philosophy, religion, and mysticism. She repeats Rumi’s lines:

“How much I may explain and describe love,

When I reach love, I become ashamed.

Although the commentary by the tongue is illuminating,

Love without tongue is more radiant.”

Rumi expresses this love in Masnavi thus: “Love is an infinite ocean whose skies are a bubble of foam. Know that it is the waves of Love which make the wheel of the heavens turn; without Love the world would be inanimate. How is an inorganic thing transformed into a plant? How are the plants sacrificed to become gifted with spirit? How is the spirit sacrificed for the Breath, of which only a whiff was enough to impregnate Mary? Each atom is intoxicated with this Perfection and hastens toward it. . . their haste says implicitly: ‘Glory be to God.'”

The writer is a former member of the Provincial Civil Service, and an author of Moments in Silence