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This Longing: Poetry, Teaching Stories, and Letters
This Rumi collection features selections from one of the world's great spiritual masterpieces, the Mathnawi . The Mathnawi consists of six volumes of poetry in rhyme—over fifty-one thousand verses—inspired by folklore, the Qur'an, stories of saints and teachers, and sayings of Muhammed. Rendered by Rumi's premier English translators, these excerpts from the Mathnawi are presented in American free-verse style.
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
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About the author
Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi
1,170 books15.7k followersSufism inspired writings of Persian poet and mystic Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi; these writings express the longing of the soul for union with the divine.
Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī - also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī, Mevlânâ/Mawlānā (مولانا, "our master"), Mevlevî/Mawlawī (مولوی, "my master") and more popularly simply as Rumi - was a 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian and Sufi mystic who lived in Konya, a city of Ottoman Empire (Today's Turkey). His poems have been widely translated into many of the world's languages, and he has been described as the most popular poet and the best-selling poet in the United States.
His poetry has influenced Persian literature, but also Turkish, Ottoman Turkish, Azerbaijani, Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu, as well as the literature of some other Turkic, Iranian, and Indo-Aryan languages including Chagatai, Pashto, and Bengali.
Due to quarrels between different dynasties in Khorāṣān, opposition to the Khwarizmid Shahs who were considered devious by his father, Bahā ud-Dīn Wālad or fear of the impending Mongol cataclysm, his father decided to migrate westwards, eventually settling in the Anatolian city Konya, where he lived most of his life, composed one of the crowning glories of Persian literature, and profoundly affected the culture of the area.
When his father died, Rumi, aged 25, inherited his position as the head of an Islamic school. One of Baha' ud-Din's students, Sayyed Burhan ud-Din Muhaqqiq Termazi, continued to train Rumi in the Shariah as well as the Tariqa, especially that of Rumi's father. For nine years, Rumi practised Sufism as a disciple of Burhan ud-Din until the latter died in 1240 or 1241. Rumi's public life then began: he became an Islamic Jurist, issuing fatwas and giving sermons in the mosques of Konya. He also served as a Molvi (Islamic teacher) and taught his adherents in the madrassa. During this period, Rumi also travelled to Damascus and is said to have spent four years there.
It was his meeting with the dervish Shams-e Tabrizi on 15 November 1244 that completely changed his life. From an accomplished teacher and jurist, Rumi was transformed into an ascetic.
On the night of 5 December 1248, as Rumi and Shams were talking, Shams was called to the back door. He went out, never to be seen again. Rumi's love for, and his bereavement at the death of, Shams found their expression in an outpouring of lyric poems, Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi. He himself went out searching for Shams and journeyed again to Damascus.
Rumi found another companion in Salaḥ ud-Din-e Zarkub, a goldsmith. After Salah ud-Din's death, Rumi's scribe and favourite student, Hussam-e Chalabi, assumed the role of Rumi's companion. Hussam implored Rumi to write more. Rumi spent the next 12 years of his life in Anatolia dictating the six volumes of this masterwork, the Masnavi, to Hussam.
In December 1273, Rumi fell ill and died on the 17th of December in Konya.
Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī - also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī, Mevlânâ/Mawlānā (مولانا, "our master"), Mevlevî/Mawlawī (مولوی, "my master") and more popularly simply as Rumi - was a 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian and Sufi mystic who lived in Konya, a city of Ottoman Empire (Today's Turkey). His poems have been widely translated into many of the world's languages, and he has been described as the most popular poet and the best-selling poet in the United States.
His poetry has influenced Persian literature, but also Turkish, Ottoman Turkish, Azerbaijani, Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu, as well as the literature of some other Turkic, Iranian, and Indo-Aryan languages including Chagatai, Pashto, and Bengali.
Due to quarrels between different dynasties in Khorāṣān, opposition to the Khwarizmid Shahs who were considered devious by his father, Bahā ud-Dīn Wālad or fear of the impending Mongol cataclysm, his father decided to migrate westwards, eventually settling in the Anatolian city Konya, where he lived most of his life, composed one of the crowning glories of Persian literature, and profoundly affected the culture of the area.
When his father died, Rumi, aged 25, inherited his position as the head of an Islamic school. One of Baha' ud-Din's students, Sayyed Burhan ud-Din Muhaqqiq Termazi, continued to train Rumi in the Shariah as well as the Tariqa, especially that of Rumi's father. For nine years, Rumi practised Sufism as a disciple of Burhan ud-Din until the latter died in 1240 or 1241. Rumi's public life then began: he became an Islamic Jurist, issuing fatwas and giving sermons in the mosques of Konya. He also served as a Molvi (Islamic teacher) and taught his adherents in the madrassa. During this period, Rumi also travelled to Damascus and is said to have spent four years there.
It was his meeting with the dervish Shams-e Tabrizi on 15 November 1244 that completely changed his life. From an accomplished teacher and jurist, Rumi was transformed into an ascetic.
On the night of 5 December 1248, as Rumi and Shams were talking, Shams was called to the back door. He went out, never to be seen again. Rumi's love for, and his bereavement at the death of, Shams found their expression in an outpouring of lyric poems, Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi. He himself went out searching for Shams and journeyed again to Damascus.
Rumi found another companion in Salaḥ ud-Din-e Zarkub, a goldsmith. After Salah ud-Din's death, Rumi's scribe and favourite student, Hussam-e Chalabi, assumed the role of Rumi's companion. Hussam implored Rumi to write more. Rumi spent the next 12 years of his life in Anatolia dictating the six volumes of this masterwork, the Masnavi, to Hussam.
In December 1273, Rumi fell ill and died on the 17th of December in Konya.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 13, 2014
In retrospect, I suppose picking up a religious poet was probably not the best idea I ever had. I don't know what I was expecting, but it...wasn't this? I have one poem marked that I actually liked, one page marked for a couple of lines I liked, and I wrote down a line from the Letters section in the back. But mostly I'm feeling sort of "meh" about the collection. Hopefully the other book I picked up will have a more engaging collection. It's certainly longer, anyway!
The line from the letters is a doublet, by the way:
"The crime is that I met you, you
who kill the living and visit the dead."
I found the letters portion to be more engaging than the excerpts from the Mathnawi, actually. The poetry was all the expected religious moral-giving stuff (and to think he wrote six books of this), but the letters allowed you to see the personal side to a highly respected religious man. (Apparently he was Caliph which is, uh, let's just say "impressive".) It's way cooler to read about a religious man being a man than it is to read about him being religious. :)
The line from the letters is a doublet, by the way:
"The crime is that I met you, you
who kill the living and visit the dead."
I found the letters portion to be more engaging than the excerpts from the Mathnawi, actually. The poetry was all the expected religious moral-giving stuff (and to think he wrote six books of this), but the letters allowed you to see the personal side to a highly respected religious man. (Apparently he was Caliph which is, uh, let's just say "impressive".) It's way cooler to read about a religious man being a man than it is to read about him being religious. :)
March 18, 2009
While waiting for a phone call in my little library on Sunday, I picked up "This Longing", excerpts from the Masnavi, a 6-volume set of verses by a famous sufi poet, Maulana Rum, or Rumi. Maulana is teacher or professor, Rum means from the town of Rum, and the given name is Jalalladin. He lived from 1203 to 1263 in Turkey. His own Master or Spiritual Guide was Shams Tabriz. He was a mystic and so he would not accept donations from others, and had to make his own living. Very fortunately for us, he made his living by writing poetry, and "teaching stories." I was savoring a teaching story.
Before I go into that, I must say that although others don't like Coleman Barks, I think he's the best, based only on my enjoyment of the poems and stories he has translated.
So, Rumi was born in Konya, Turkey, but moved to Kabul, Afghanistan at a fairly young age. His stories and poetry paint a picture of a time of world trade moving through Afghanistan, tolerance for Christians and Jews in a Muslim country, and a high status for all women. At that time there were slaves, but even slaves were relatively free. It was an open-minded and interesting time in many ways.
He used the symbolism of birds often, birds as a soul, a caged soul, caged in the body, looking for liberation. That symbolism is still used today, for example this excerpt from a more recent publication:
"Grace and Effort are the two wings of the Bird of the Soul as it flies to the higher regions."
In the teaching story I read, a merchant is traveling to a distant country and asks his friends, relatives, and his parrot, what they would like. After getting lists of various material gifts from his friends and relatives, the parrot tells him that he wants him to ask any parrots he meets in this foreign country for advice. The merchant, after finishing his trading and preparing to return, buys the gifts requested, and then asks a group of parrots for advice for his parrot. Surprisingly, one of the parrots immediately falls dead to the ground. After the merchant returns home, his parrot asks what the other parrots had told him. He said he received no advice, but that one of the parrots had immediately fallen to its death. Upon hearing this, his parrot also suddenly died. Thinking it odd and feeling greatly concerned, the merchant opened the cage that held the parrot. The parrot immediately flew to its freedom, only returning to tell the merchant that it is only by dying to this world that one can become free.
I know, an obvious spiritual analogy, but Rumi knew that stories would stick in our minds much better than admonition and dogma.
Before I go into that, I must say that although others don't like Coleman Barks, I think he's the best, based only on my enjoyment of the poems and stories he has translated.
So, Rumi was born in Konya, Turkey, but moved to Kabul, Afghanistan at a fairly young age. His stories and poetry paint a picture of a time of world trade moving through Afghanistan, tolerance for Christians and Jews in a Muslim country, and a high status for all women. At that time there were slaves, but even slaves were relatively free. It was an open-minded and interesting time in many ways.
He used the symbolism of birds often, birds as a soul, a caged soul, caged in the body, looking for liberation. That symbolism is still used today, for example this excerpt from a more recent publication:
"Grace and Effort are the two wings of the Bird of the Soul as it flies to the higher regions."
In the teaching story I read, a merchant is traveling to a distant country and asks his friends, relatives, and his parrot, what they would like. After getting lists of various material gifts from his friends and relatives, the parrot tells him that he wants him to ask any parrots he meets in this foreign country for advice. The merchant, after finishing his trading and preparing to return, buys the gifts requested, and then asks a group of parrots for advice for his parrot. Surprisingly, one of the parrots immediately falls dead to the ground. After the merchant returns home, his parrot asks what the other parrots had told him. He said he received no advice, but that one of the parrots had immediately fallen to its death. Upon hearing this, his parrot also suddenly died. Thinking it odd and feeling greatly concerned, the merchant opened the cage that held the parrot. The parrot immediately flew to its freedom, only returning to tell the merchant that it is only by dying to this world that one can become free.
I know, an obvious spiritual analogy, but Rumi knew that stories would stick in our minds much better than admonition and dogma.
July 16, 2020
This was my first experience with Rumi aside from some random quotes I’ve seen here and there and... I don’t get it? Maybe this shouldn’t have been what I started with so I need a suggestion for what to read to get a better idea of THE Rumi that people speak so highly of.
December 30, 2024
God opens doors 😤
October 30, 2008
This Longing: Poetry, Teaching Stories, and Letters of Rumi by Jelaluddin Rumi (2000)
Read
July 29, 2011Rumi s poetries , as someone told me years back ," create waves .. not ripples ".
Read
September 26, 2011these letters are as stunning as the best poems, lovely and inspiring
April 13, 2019
"Some people speak before they're born. Still blind, they act as though they see. The yelp of a puppy in the womb is not to keep watch, or to start game, or for food. It is the speech of a man who wants spiritual eminence without the reality.
The barking is his nonsense. He points to what he doesn't see."
~
"Waiting and imitating someone else's wanting has blinded him. But as he follows along in the searching, calling out what the others call out, suddenly he sees his own camel browsing there, the one he didn't know he lost. Only then, does he become the seeker."
~
"Everyone is half honeybee, half snake.
Some eat herbs like a bee, and their spittle is medicine.
Others drink sherbet made from filthy water and form venom in their mouths."
~
"You came late and left early.
That's the way with wildflowers."
The barking is his nonsense. He points to what he doesn't see."
~
"Waiting and imitating someone else's wanting has blinded him. But as he follows along in the searching, calling out what the others call out, suddenly he sees his own camel browsing there, the one he didn't know he lost. Only then, does he become the seeker."
~
"Everyone is half honeybee, half snake.
Some eat herbs like a bee, and their spittle is medicine.
Others drink sherbet made from filthy water and form venom in their mouths."
~
"You came late and left early.
That's the way with wildflowers."
August 22, 2019
I don't know a lot about poetry, and some of this I can't say I understood. There were a few nuggets that even I couldn't miss....
April 15, 2020
A good book all around, but there are some parts that either drag or do not apply to the modern reader. It is a wonderful collection of texts to be respected, and thumbed through at leisure.
November 15, 2016
I love Coleman's translations of Rumi, and here is another generous sampling.
"You want a spirit-drenching?
Dig a hole in this book, the Mathnawi,
this island. Make holes,
so the ocean can flow up through."
I do find these translations speak to me. The poems, excerpts from the Mathnawi, and a selection of letters are extraordinary extracts from a deep well of spiritual concern.
Highly recommended.
"You want a spirit-drenching?
Dig a hole in this book, the Mathnawi,
this island. Make holes,
so the ocean can flow up through."
I do find these translations speak to me. The poems, excerpts from the Mathnawi, and a selection of letters are extraordinary extracts from a deep well of spiritual concern.
Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews