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Rumi: The Art of Loving
Cambridge University professor Reynold Nicholson once remarked that the 13th-century Persian poet Rumi is the “greatest mystical poet of any age.” In Rumi’s vision, love is the very matrix of existence; love is what moves life. His poetry expresses the deepest and the most inclusive layers of love, and thus connects us to an immense source of joy, compassion, creativity, and mystery.
This book is a new anthology and an original translation of Rumi’s poetry. It is divided into three parts.
Part I contains two essays, one on Rumi’s life ("A Messenger from the Sun") and the other on his poetic vision and thought ("The Path of Love in the Ocean of Life"), which together help the reader better situate his poetry.
Part II presents 144+1 quatrains (Rubaiyat) of Rumi categorized into 12 thematic chapters:
On the Pain and Joy of Longing; The Search; Who Am I?; The Beloved’s Face; Die to Yourself; The Art of Living; Night Secrets; Water of Life; Fire of Love; Unity and Union; Peaceful Mind; and Rumi on His Life, Poetry and Death.
These poems have been selected and translated from the authentic Persian editions of Rumi’s Divan-e Shams. For readers interested in the cadence and rhythm of the poems in the original language the Persian reading (in English script) is also given under each translated poem.
Part III is a selection of 12 wisdom stories from Rumi’s own life (taken from a 14th-century biographical work on Rumi).
A glossary of symbolic terms in Rumi’s poetry, and references to the original sources of the translated poems are also given at the end of the book.
This anthology brings fresh insight into the work and mind of a master poet who mapped the path of spiritual quest and union, and painted in words the art of loving.
This book is a new anthology and an original translation of Rumi’s poetry. It is divided into three parts.
Part I contains two essays, one on Rumi’s life ("A Messenger from the Sun") and the other on his poetic vision and thought ("The Path of Love in the Ocean of Life"), which together help the reader better situate his poetry.
Part II presents 144+1 quatrains (Rubaiyat) of Rumi categorized into 12 thematic chapters:
On the Pain and Joy of Longing; The Search; Who Am I?; The Beloved’s Face; Die to Yourself; The Art of Living; Night Secrets; Water of Life; Fire of Love; Unity and Union; Peaceful Mind; and Rumi on His Life, Poetry and Death.
These poems have been selected and translated from the authentic Persian editions of Rumi’s Divan-e Shams. For readers interested in the cadence and rhythm of the poems in the original language the Persian reading (in English script) is also given under each translated poem.
Part III is a selection of 12 wisdom stories from Rumi’s own life (taken from a 14th-century biographical work on Rumi).
A glossary of symbolic terms in Rumi’s poetry, and references to the original sources of the translated poems are also given at the end of the book.
This anthology brings fresh insight into the work and mind of a master poet who mapped the path of spiritual quest and union, and painted in words the art of loving.
- GenresPoetry
136 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 15, 2012
21 people are currently reading
114 people want to read
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 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 27, 2022
4.5 stars. This is exactly the kind of book I need when reading poetry. I enjoy reading poetry, but I struggle with understanding and dissecting the metaphor/symbolism/imagery unless I know every word is meant literally, which is not all that common in the genre based on my limited, beginner’s understanding.
This book was part history/biography and part poetry collection. The translator, Rasoul Shams, has taken the time to provide two essays prefacing the selected poems to lend cultural, linguistic, and historical context to many of the topics that Rumi likely wrote about or valued deeply during his life. I found myself learning about Sufism, Mysticism, the Persian Empire, and even the Whirling Dervishes. However, the thing I found most intriguing in Shams’s contribution to this collection was the background and history of other translations of Rumi’s work. Essentially, Shams details how some of the more popular collections in English started off as literal word-for-word translations from the original Persian, and then a second “translation” was performed by someone else (who usually did not speak Persian and therefore could not reference the originals) to “release the poems from their cages” and frame them in the popular western free-verse style á la Walt Whitman and his contemporaries. In my opinion, that’s not a faithful way of translating, and leads to much being lost in translation… literally. Shams on the other hand, produced his own original translations of these poems directly from the original Persian, taking artistic license to ensure the result was faithful to the original intent, yet comprehensible to the modern English-language reader. He provides context on aspects of Persian that help the reader to understand the quirks in his translation, such as the lack of gendered pronouns, or an explanation for a deviation from the original meaning when the result would be nonsensical to readers due to long-obsolete beliefs or region-specific terms/sayings.
One of the best parts of poetry in my opinion is the rhythm, rhyme, and cadence to poems when done well. In Shams’s original translations, he eschews maintaining the rhyme scheme and other meter characteristics in favor of maintaining the meaning and metaphor from the originals. But to compensate for this loss, he has included a transliteration of the originals under each poem so that the average non-Persian speaking reader can read out the words and hear these aspects first hand, while also being able to access the meaning.
Overall, this collection of poetry is one of my favorites that I’ve ever read, for both the collection itself but also for the thoughtful context provided. For anyone interested in learning more about one of the greatest poets of all time, this is an essential read.
This book was part history/biography and part poetry collection. The translator, Rasoul Shams, has taken the time to provide two essays prefacing the selected poems to lend cultural, linguistic, and historical context to many of the topics that Rumi likely wrote about or valued deeply during his life. I found myself learning about Sufism, Mysticism, the Persian Empire, and even the Whirling Dervishes. However, the thing I found most intriguing in Shams’s contribution to this collection was the background and history of other translations of Rumi’s work. Essentially, Shams details how some of the more popular collections in English started off as literal word-for-word translations from the original Persian, and then a second “translation” was performed by someone else (who usually did not speak Persian and therefore could not reference the originals) to “release the poems from their cages” and frame them in the popular western free-verse style á la Walt Whitman and his contemporaries. In my opinion, that’s not a faithful way of translating, and leads to much being lost in translation… literally. Shams on the other hand, produced his own original translations of these poems directly from the original Persian, taking artistic license to ensure the result was faithful to the original intent, yet comprehensible to the modern English-language reader. He provides context on aspects of Persian that help the reader to understand the quirks in his translation, such as the lack of gendered pronouns, or an explanation for a deviation from the original meaning when the result would be nonsensical to readers due to long-obsolete beliefs or region-specific terms/sayings.
One of the best parts of poetry in my opinion is the rhythm, rhyme, and cadence to poems when done well. In Shams’s original translations, he eschews maintaining the rhyme scheme and other meter characteristics in favor of maintaining the meaning and metaphor from the originals. But to compensate for this loss, he has included a transliteration of the originals under each poem so that the average non-Persian speaking reader can read out the words and hear these aspects first hand, while also being able to access the meaning.
Overall, this collection of poetry is one of my favorites that I’ve ever read, for both the collection itself but also for the thoughtful context provided. For anyone interested in learning more about one of the greatest poets of all time, this is an essential read.
December 13, 2012
Rumi has been one of my greatest teachers during the last 18 months, and continues to inspire and teach by example.
"If you are looking for it, don't seek it outside; it is to be found within you."
#Rumi
"If you are looking for it, don't seek it outside; it is to be found within you."
#Rumi
November 25, 2018
This is the first book of poetry I have ever read. Since I have a longstanding interest in Persian/Iranian history, I thought that a book about Rumi, a thirteenth century Persian poet, scholar and preacher, was a good place to start!
The book is divided into three parts. In the first part, the author and translator, Rasoul Shams, discusses Rumi’s life and thought in order to give the reader an understanding of the context in which Rumi’s poetry was written. This section was interesting and well written, but I felt that there was much that I was missing out on when I read the translations of the poems themselves in section two. As the author himself admits, translation is a tricky task, and this is especially true of poetry. My impression from reading the translated poems was that, one would have to read these poems in the original Persian to truly appreciate them. In the third section of the book, Shams presents a selection of short stories about Rumi. These stories included themes of kindness, forgiveness, and diffusing conflict, and I found them timeless and inspirational.
I would like to gain a better appreciation of Rumi’s poetry, and to learn more about how his work is viewed in Iran today. Any recommendations would be appreciated!
The book is divided into three parts. In the first part, the author and translator, Rasoul Shams, discusses Rumi’s life and thought in order to give the reader an understanding of the context in which Rumi’s poetry was written. This section was interesting and well written, but I felt that there was much that I was missing out on when I read the translations of the poems themselves in section two. As the author himself admits, translation is a tricky task, and this is especially true of poetry. My impression from reading the translated poems was that, one would have to read these poems in the original Persian to truly appreciate them. In the third section of the book, Shams presents a selection of short stories about Rumi. These stories included themes of kindness, forgiveness, and diffusing conflict, and I found them timeless and inspirational.
I would like to gain a better appreciation of Rumi’s poetry, and to learn more about how his work is viewed in Iran today. Any recommendations would be appreciated!
June 2, 2025
Suddenly my drunken sweetheart appeared through the door;
drinking from a glass of red wine, she sat by my side.
Watching and holding the charming curls of her long hair,
my whole face became an eye, and my two eyes became hands.
an all-encompassing look at Rumi's poetry that goes into the history and linguistics of it quite well. i wasn't tooooo familiar with Rumi but he's definitely a favourite after this
drinking from a glass of red wine, she sat by my side.
Watching and holding the charming curls of her long hair,
my whole face became an eye, and my two eyes became hands.
an all-encompassing look at Rumi's poetry that goes into the history and linguistics of it quite well. i wasn't tooooo familiar with Rumi but he's definitely a favourite after this
December 19, 2023
Without love, there is no real joy and delight.
Without love, life lacks beauty and harmony.
Hundreds of raindrops fall from the cloud into the sea.
But only the stirring power of love grows pearls in sea shells.*
Without love, life lacks beauty and harmony.
Hundreds of raindrops fall from the cloud into the sea.
But only the stirring power of love grows pearls in sea shells.*
November 8, 2024
"You search for one who can untie your knots.
Yet, you die in that illusion."
"The tree’s branch draws water
from the lowermost point upward.
In the same way, love uplifts our soul
without any need for a ladder."
Yet, you die in that illusion."
"The tree’s branch draws water
from the lowermost point upward.
In the same way, love uplifts our soul
without any need for a ladder."
Read
June 26, 2020Rumi changed my life 180 degree,so spiritual ,this book talking about Quatrains of Rumi ,144 and 1 poems on the art loving.
June 9, 2021
Loved it
A great book indeed. Gives a glimpse on the great Rumi: his life, poetry and philosophy. Wish there were more poems. But the author has done a fantastic job.
A great book indeed. Gives a glimpse on the great Rumi: his life, poetry and philosophy. Wish there were more poems. But the author has done a fantastic job.
April 18, 2022
Magic use of words. Some of them deeply impacted and were so beautiful.
September 26, 2022
'Rumi's poetry is a deep and vast ocean'.
Magical.
Magical.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews