Rumi

140 Pages·2014·4.709 MB·English

by  Schimmel, Annemarie (Trans. P. Bergne)

MAKERS OF ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION
RUMI
Annemarie Schimmel
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Rumi
MAKERS OF ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION
Series editor. Farhan A. Nizami
This series, conceived by the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, is
published and distributed by Oxford University Press (India). The
books in the series, written by leading scholars in the field, aim to
provide an introduction to outstanding figures in the history of Islamic
civilisation. They will serve as the essential first point of reference for
study of the persons, events and ideas that have shaped the Islamic world
and the cultural resources on which Muslims continue to draw.
Rumi
Annemarie Schimmel
translatedfrom the German by Paul Bergn
Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies
OXPORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
OXPORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trademark of
Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries
Published in India by
Oxford University Press
YMCA Library Building, 1, Jai Singh Road, New Delhi 110001, India
© Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies 2014
This book is an English translation of
Annemarie Schimmel, Rumi: Meister der Spiritualitdt, published by
Herder Spektrum © Verlag Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2001
The moral rights of Annemarie Schimmel as Author have been asserted
First edition published in 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted
by law, by licence, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics
rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the
above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the
address above
You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer
ISBN-13: 978-0-19-809981-9
ISBN-10: 0-19-809981-9
Cover design: Grace Fussell, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies
Cover photo: ‘Turkish tiles’ © Orhan Cam /www.dreamstime.com
Printed in India by G.H. Prints Pvt Ltd, New Delhi 110 020
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Contents
Editor’s note Vll
ix
Foreword
1
1 Life and work
15
2 Mevlana’s poetical work
28
3 The religious foundations
30
4 Thoughts about God
55
5 Mevlana Rumi as teacher
85
6 The mysterium of love
96
7 What does Rumi’s work mean to us?
8 Bibliographical information 103
Notes 108
Index 118

Editor’s note
In this book, there is a significant departure from the
conventions for this series that needs an explanation.
The late Professor Annemarie Schimmel visited and
presented a seminar at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies
in Trinity Term 1999. In it, as I recall, she emphasized the
Persian literary tradition and the Islamic framework that
inform Rumi’s writings. She was, in her typically gentle way,
sceptical of the popular cult which interprets and presents
Rumi’s poetry as if it ‘transcends’ (that is, does not need to
be understood in relation to) its religious and cultural inspi¬
ration. After this seminar I invited Professor Schimmel to
do an essay on Rumi for the ‘Makers of Islamic Civilization’
series. She was then finishing a short book on Rumi in
German which might be adapted for the purpose — it was
published by Herder Spektrum in 2001 as Rumi: Meister der
Spirituality.
Some years later, we approached Herder for consent
to translate the book for the ‘Makers’ series. Permission
was duly given, for which we are most grateful to Herder
and, in particular, Francesca Bressan. I commissioned the
vii
RUMI
translation from Paul Bergne, who was familiar with Rumi’s
work and the relevant languages. Paul toiled away at the task
through an illness that severely impaired his vision and which
was, sadly, to prove fatal. At this point we had only a draft
of his rendering of the Foreword and the first four chapters,
roughly half the work.
It was several years later that I was able to persuade my
colleague, Jamil Qureshi, to complete the translation. In view
of the circumstances, Herder graciously renewed our contract.
As Dr Qureshi pointed out to me, Schimmel quotes extensively
from Rumi without, as she has so meticulously done in her
other publications, providing references. Since our contract
with Herder expressly disallows additions or alterations to the
original, the only way to get around this difficulty7 was, after
locating the references from Schimmel’s own, other works on
Rumi, to present them separately from the main text. That is
the reason for the addition of the chapter ^Notes’, on pp. 1 OB-
17 of this work. Dr Qureshi informs me that only some half a
dozen citations could not be confidently traced in Schimmel’s
other writings; there are, in addition, about the same number
of references (not searched in those other works but needed
and useful here), which are shown within square brackets, the
normal convention to indicate interpolation.
As this book represents a distillation of the thoughts of
the last century’s leading Western expert on Rumi, I hope that
the unexpectedly long struggle to get it out in English will be
judged worthwhile. I am most grateful for the patience and
perseverance of all those who enabled it finally to happen.
Farhan Nizami
viii