Podcast Ep 025 Which Rumi are you Reading?

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Zara and Zirrar talk to poet Baraka Blue about the life, work and legacy of Jalal al-Din Rumi. Baraka tells us about the era in which he lived and how he came to be the great poet we know him as. We discuss his most famous work, the Masnavi, which is often referred to as the ‘Persian Quran.’

Zirrar and Baraka share their somewhat differing views on the controversy surrounding English translations of his work, and the claim that Islam has deliberately been ‘erased’ from his poetry. We consider how Rumi was received in the West and the East, and how his poetry, or perceptions of his poetry differ accordingly.

What We Talk About In This Episode

• Rumi’s background, the stages of his life, and the time in which he lived
• Educational, scholarly background
• Meeting Shams, and how this impacted Rumi
• Rumi the poet
• ‘Self annihilation’
• The Masnavi – the ‘Persian Quran’
• Controversy surrounding translations of Rumi’s poetry
• Coleman Barks: translation or interpretation?
• Which Rumi are we reading?
• Nicholson‘s translations
• How Omar Khayyam was translated in Victorian Britain
• The popularity/influence (or lack thereof) of Rumi in Persia, the Arab and Turkic worlds
• Have Muslims rejected Rumi?
• How do perceptions of Rumi differ in the East and West?
• How should Western Muslim audiences approach Rumi’s work? Which translations should be used?
• Baraka’s course on Rumi
• What is Rumi’s legacy? Where has he had the most impact?

Things / People Mentioned in this Episode

• The Erasure of Islam from the Poetry of Rumi by Rozina Ali
• Zirrar’s Story on Rumi
• Baraka’s FB post: ‘the erasure of Rumi from Islam‘
• Twitter thread:

Thread: The Orientalizing of Moulana Rumi

Many of you may be familiar with the ‘Rumi quotes’ that circulate the internet. What if I told you the vast majority of them are fake and they are part of a project to secularize Rumi? This isn’t a whatsapp conspiracy. pic.twitter.com/qQFQBq9RTl

— Persian Poetics (@PersianPoetics) May 16, 2020

• Dick Davis – translation of Hafez and Firdowsi
• Elif Shafak, 40 Rules of Love
• Zirrar’s Story on the 40 Rules of Love
• Baraka’s recommendations:
  • The Sufi Path of Love by William Chittick
  • Leonard Lewisohn
  • Franklin Lewis
  • The Mathnawi of Jalalu’din Rumi by Reynolds A. Nicholson
  • Spiritual Verses: The First Book of the Masnavi-ye Ma’navi by Alan Williams
• Zirrar’s recommandations:
  • The Masnavi, Book One by Jawid Mojaddedi
• Baraka’s course: The Ocean in a Drop | The Poetry and Philosophy of Rumi

Further reading

• Reading Rumi in the West: The burden of Coleman Barks by Zirrar

Baraka Blue is a poet, musician, author, and lyricist from Seattle, Washington. He is highly decorated within the global artist community for his original synthesis of hip hop and spoken word poetry with the tradition of mystical poets such as Rumi and Hafiz. In addition to releasing multiple studio albums, authoring books of poetry, and performing internationally, Baraka Blue is a prolific educator with a master’s degree in Islamic Studies from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.  Connect with him on Instagram and find out more about his courses at Rumi Center Workshops.

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