Everything you need to understand or teach
Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi-Rumi.
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In the following essay, originally published in 1933, Hakim compares Rumi's "philosophy of love" to the theories of Plato.
If there is anything in Rumi's mysticism that def...
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Here, Rehder asserts that Rumi must be understood as a poet rather than a philosopher, and claims that "the structures of his poems are the structures of his unconscious phantasies."
Any...
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In the following essay, Yousofi describes Rumi's storytelling—with its use of dialogue, anecdotes, short and expressive descriptions, creation of characters, and humor—as an art, ...
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In the essay below, King studies Rumi's narrative technique and asserts that "the 'meaning' of the Mathnawi cannot be separated from the narrative and the peculiar form int...
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In the following excerpt. Renard discusses the prophetic imagery found in Rumi's writings and examines the function of the prophets and Muhammad as models of the spiritual guide. Please note th...
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In the following essay, Fayez analyzes the concept of “the Divine” in Rumi and Whitman and also argues, through close readings of several of Rumi's ghazals, against Whitman'...
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In the following excerpt from a comparative essay, Meisami examines the significance of the image of the garden as Paradise in Rumi's ghazals and in medieval Persian literature.
A striking feat...
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In the following essay, Schimmel provides an introduction to the relationship between spiritual experience and poetic expression in Rumi's ghazals, Mathnawi and Divan.
Where am I, where is poet...
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In the following essay, Helminski, a translator of Rumi and practicing Sufi, explores the place of ecstasy in Rumi's ghazals, Sufi spirituality, and contemporary culture. Helminski argues that ...
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In the following essay, Keshavarz notes that Rumi produced “over 35,000 verses celebrating the absence of speech,” analyzes the varieties of silence in Rumi's Divan, and compares ...
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In the following essay, Hamid considers the narrative structure of and absence of telos in Rumi's Mathnawi to explore the nature of language in that work.
ba‘d az samā‘ g&#...
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In the following essay, Davis examines the first story of the Mathnawi and suggests that the interruptions and interpolations within the story undermine the entire structure of explication, leaving th...
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In the following essay, Wines examines the significance of Rumi's love poetry to a contemporary, Western audience while also providing a historical context for Rumi's ecumenical spirit a...
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In the following essay, Barber reviews several contemporary translations of Rumi's works, including Coleman Barks's The Glance: Songs of Soul-Meeting, Coleman Barks and John Moyne'...
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Rūmī, Jalāl Al-Dīn
Critical Essay by Khalifa 'Abdul Hakim
