Teachings of Rumi

Description

“Neither Christian, Jew, Zoroastrian or Moslem am I; I am not an Easterner or a Westerner, or of land or sea…” – Rumi.

In this classic work, the Persian scholar Edward Henry Whinfield translates and comments upon the Masnavi – Rumi’s greatest work and one of the most important texts in the study of Sufusm.

Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-1273) led the quiet life of an Islamic teacher in central Anatolia (modern Turkey) until the age of 37, 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 – Sufism – that would eventually stretch from Africa to China, enduring to our present day.

More About Mawlana Jalal al-Din al-Rumi (d. 672)

He was the son, father, and grandfather of great Sunni Hanafi Jurists, teachers, and qadis, originating from Balkh or Kabul and settled in and around Istanbul. Ibn Hajar al-`Asqalani in al-Durar al-Kamina (1:352) cites him as “Mawlana” in the vibrant notice on his son Baha’ al-Din Ahmad, known as Sultan ibn Mawlana, “one of the Imams of the Hanafi Masters, the brilliant, ascetic, pious Faqih, Usuli, and grammarian who trod the path of his father in leaving the world behind.”

Mawlana’s full name is Muhammad ibn Muhammad (ibn Muhammad) ibn al-Hasan ibn Ahmad ibn Qasim ibn Habib ibn `Abd Allah ibn `Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr al-Siddiq al-Hashimi. Hajji Khalifa said in Kashf al-Zunun (1:367): “He was a thoroughly knowledgeable Imam in Fiqh according to the School of Abu Hanifa – Allah be well-pleased with him – and he was knowledgeable in the science of juridical differences, then he devoted himself to worship exclusively. Miraculous gifts (karaamaat) are mass-transmitted from him. Allah have mercy on him.”

He is known in the West as a “mystical” poet, mostly because of the translation of his large Persian book of poetry of singular beauty, the Masnavi.

As for the claim that “He invited people to the Aqeedah of Wahdat-ul-Wujoud and to the Aqeedah of the oneness/unity of all religions”, then Allah Most High said, {Say: Bring your proof if you are truthful} and He said, {O you who believe! If an evil liver bring you tidings, verify it, lest you smite some folk in ignorance and afterward repent of what you did}.

Author Biography

Edward Henry Whinfield (1836-1922) was a translator of Persian literature.