Jalaluddin Rumi poetry quotations
quotes from the Masnavi poem
Jalaluddin Rumi was born in 1207 C.E. ( i.e. Common Era
aligned with A.D.) in Balkh. This city was then in the Persian
province of Khorasan but is now in Afghanistan.
Despite a background of established accomplishment in Balkh,
then a prominent city, the family moved away about 1218 C.E. due
to the threat posed by warlike Mongol Khans.
Following eventual settlement at Konya, then the capital of the
western Seljuk Turks, Rumi's father was busy as an Islamic
theologian, teacher and preacher. Rumi followed in this
tradition and, in 1231 C.E., succeeded to his fathers post as a
prominent religious teacher.
Several of Rumi's friendships inspired his
poetry, notably the epic poem Masnavi I Ma'navi (aka Spiritual
Couplets ), which has had an immense influence on Islamic
literature and thought.
The Masnavi I Ma'navi
The quotations from the Masnavi poem presented on our Islamic
mysticism page, our "Other" Spiritual Insights page and our
Spirituality and the wider world page all come from an abridged translation by E.H.
Whinfield of the Spiritual Couplets of
Jalaluddin Rumi. An early edition of Whinfield's translation of
this epic poem appeared as Masnavi I Ma'navi. A current edition
that seems to incorporate E.H. Whinfield's translation of this
impressive mystical poetry is usually in print as "Teachings of
Rumi - The Masnavi" from Octagon Books of London.
E.H. Whinfield prepared an abridged translation because the
entire mystical poem, as presented in six books, is rather vast.
A full translation - the Mathnawi - as prepared by Reynold
Nicholson is available through La Haule books of Jersey in the
Channel Islands. Otherwise Aris and Phillips of Warminster,
Wiltshire - the printers - have distribution arrangements through
agents in many parts of the globe.
To quote the Jalaluddin Rumi poem the Masnavi:-
The Beloved is all in all; the lover merely veils Him;
The lover is all that lives, the lover a dead thing.
![[Rumi, poetry]](prntmrk.gif)
When a mother cries to her sucking babe, "Come, O son,
I am thy mother!"
Does the child answer, "O mother, show a proof
That I shall find comfort in taking thy milk?
The Prophet said that God has declared,
"I am not contained in aught above or below,
I am not contained in earth or sky, or even
In highest heaven. Know this for a surety, O
beloved!
Yet am I contained in the believer's heart!
If ye seek me, search in such hearts.
More quotations are presented on our Islamic mysticism page
our "Other" spiritual insights page and on our Spirituality and
the wider world page.
|
|
![[Rumi poetry, quote, Rumi]](mysticism.gif)