“THE ERASURE OF ISLAM FROM THE POETRY OF RUMI” By Rozina Ali

This article was shared by Nasik Elahi. A worth reading article about how systematically references to Isalm were excluded from the translations of Rumi’s poetry by Western scholars.f.sheikh

A couple of years ago, when Coldplay’s Chris Martin was going through a divorce from the actress Gwyneth Paltrow and feeling down, a friend gave him a book to lift his spirits. It was a collection of poetry by Jalaluddin Rumi, the thirteenth-century Persian poet, translated by Coleman Barks. “It kind of changed my life,” Martin said later, in an interview. A track from Coldplay’s most recent album features Barks reciting one of the poems: “This being human is a guest house / Every morning a new arrival / A joy, a depression, a meanness, / some momentary awareness comes / as an unexpected visitor.”

Rumi has helped the spiritual journeys of other celebrities—Madonna, Tilda Swinton—some of whom similarly incorporated his work into theirs. Aphorisms attributed to Rumi circulate daily on social media, offering motivation. “If you are irritated by every rub, how will you ever get polished,” one of them goes. Or, “Every moment I shape my destiny with a chisel. I am a carpenter of my own soul.” Barks’s translations, in particular, are shared widely on the Internet; they are also the ones that line American bookstore shelves and are recited at weddings. Rumi is often described as the best-selling poet in the United States. He is typically referred to as a mystic, a saint, a Sufi, an enlightened man. Curiously, however, although he was a lifelong scholar of the Koran and Islam, he is less frequently described as a Muslim.

The words that Martin featured on his album come from Rumi’s “Masnavi,” a six-book epic poem that he wrote toward the end of his life. Its fifty thousand lines are mostly in Persian, but they are riddled with Arabic excerpts from Muslim scripture; the book frequently alludes to Koranic anecdotes that offer moral lessons. (The work, which some scholars consider unfinished, has been nicknamed the Persian Koran.) Fatemeh Keshavarz, a professor of Persian studies at the University of Maryland, told me that Rumi probably had the Koran memorized, given how often he drew from it in his poetry. Rumi himself described the “Masnavi” as “the roots of the roots of the roots of religion”—meaning Islam—“and the explainer of the Koran.” And yet little trace of the religion exists in the translations that sell so well in the United States. “The Rumi that people love is very beautiful in English, and the price you pay is to cut the culture and religion,” Jawid Mojaddedi, a scholar of early Sufism at Rutgers, told me recently.

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6 thoughts on ““THE ERASURE OF ISLAM FROM THE POETRY OF RUMI” By Rozina Ali

  1. I am just a layman but I would say this, for us it is a matter of immense pride that the West adores Rumi, Hafiz, Khayyam and others. Nobody can deny their Muslim upbringing and Islamic roots or the poet’s references to Quran and the Prophet but in reality these people are not religious preachers but mystics, philosophers and preachers of love and humanity. So I don’t blame Western writers if they don’t like “houris, Iman, Kufar, etc” If Muslims are so sensitive let them write in Urdu, Persian, Arabic etc. I don’t think their religiously painted version will be so popular in the West.

  2. 01/15/2017
    Earlier on January 9, 2017, Dr. Nasik Sahib sent me the article “The Erasure of Islam from the Poetry of Rumi” which he also forwarded to the editors at Thinkers Forum. The author of this article has mostly gone through the translations by Coleman Barks. It is true that Barks has avoided the Qur’anic verses and the Precepts of the Prophet, maybe for two reasons: Firstly he is not an Orientalist and does not know Arabic and Farsi. Secondly, as a poet he has remained focused on the universal mystical message of Rumi’s poetry. He translated Rumi for the market where the religion of Islam and Islamic literature, before 9/11 was not a subject of interest. Thus presenting Rumi’s thought on Love, Mysticism, Moral Virtue, and reflecting his Wisdom helped him sell his books in millions. Many other translators of Rumi’s poetry, E.G. Brown, Hadland Davis, W.H. Whinfield, Reynold Nicholson, A. J. Arberry, and more were familiar with Arabic and Farsi. Recent authors, who have benefitted from the authentic translations of Rumi by Nicholson and Arberry, have openly presented Rumi as a practicing Hanfi Muslim. Abdurrehman Jami (d. 1492) has famously said about Rumi’s Masnavi which Annmarrie Schimmel has mentioned in her book on Rumi, “I Am Wind You are Fire”:
    Masnavi-e-Maulvi-e ma’navi
    hast Qur’an der zaban-e-Pehlvi ~ ( Jami)
    (The Masnavi of Maulvi in its meaning, is Qur’an in Persian tongue)

    However, translators of Rumi before and after Barks’ translations, like William Chittick, Kabir Helminski, Annemarie Schimmel, Andrew Harvey, Franklin D. Lewsi, Jonathan Star, and many more, have presented Rumi as a Muslim. They have also translated the sayings of the Prophet as well as Qur’anic injunctions wherever they find them important. Here is an example of translation by Kabir Helminski which starts with Prophet’s Hadith, followed by Rumi’s interpretation:

    WOMAN IS THE RAY OF GOD
    Muhammad said,
    “Woman prevails over the wise and intelligent;
    while the ignorant dominates over her.” (Hadith)
    They [ignorant] lack tenderness and affection
    because their animality prevails.
    Love and gentleness are human qualities;
    aggressiveness and lust are bestial.
    Woman is the ray of God.
    She is not that earthly beloved.
    You could say:
    she is creative, not created. (Masnavi Book I, 2433-37)

    In UK, Leonard Lewisohn a professor at the University of Exeter is regularly publishing yearly magazine “Mawlana Rumi Review.” In volume 7, 2016, there are articles on Rumi’s mystical and religious approach as: Spiritual Nourishment for the People of Certainty, Esoteric Qur’anic Commentary and Rumi’s Mathnawi, and A Philosophical Commentary on Rumi’s Mathnawi.

    Rumi’s impact has not only been on the believers in Islam, but many followers of other faiths and even the nonbelievers, have been impressed by the depth of Rumi’s thought. When Kamal Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey, (d. 1938) tried to secularize Turkey by force in the early twentieth century, the first sign that he was willing to relent his war on religion came when he visited Rumi’s tomb. He described the feeling he got from being close to Rumi’s mosque and tomb as a time of inner excitement. Ataturk did secularized his country. Yet in visiting Rumi’s grave, he could not hide what was reflected in the mirror of his heart, and softened his stand against religion. While leaving Rumi’s tomb he remarked to the 20th descendant of Rumi, to save his works as in the near future mankind will need him. It is true that Rumi’s mystical teaching was a balm for the bleeding souls during the aftermath of Mongol massacres. Today, who knows about the aftermath of present time’s anti-Muslim wave sweeping through the regions and countries wherever Muslims are today.

    Mirza Ashraf

  3. I find that a fundamental aspect of sufism has been left unmentioned by most non-Muslim authors who described and disserted over Islamic Sufism.
    Sufism is not for a regular person of the Muslim world. One who builds a family, supports it financially with his hard earned money, has the ambition of building a house, sending kids to college, owning a vacation home, watching a Broadway show, and other such worldly engagements, cannot and does not become a true Sufi.
    To be a Sufi one has to give up ALL worldly pursuits. Give up all desires of worldly perks and attractions. A sufi is required to empty out his heart of all desires. Heart has to be completely vacated to house Allah in it. That end is achieved by very few lucky ones. The methodology for achieving that goal is called the Tariqa, and there are several different systems of Tariqa, each is known as specific Tariqa of a specific Silsila. The Sheikh of any Tariqa has to agree to take on an apprentice who wishes to become a sufi and then make him follow the extreme hardships of the Tariqa of the particular Silsila that Sheikh belongs to.
    Common Muslim has to do the Ibada (Ibadat in Urdu) e.g. Salaat(Namaz) Saum (Roza), Hajj, Zaka (Zakaat), ‘Jihad fi sabil Allah’ (Waging a war against non-believers) and conduct his life in compliance with Sharia. The religion has laid out those detailed designs quite elaborately through Quran and Sunnah.
    A sufi has a different routine to follow. He too has to do Ibada, but that is not all. Sufi has to do ‘Ehsaan’ which is a method of thinking of Allah and praying to win the acceptance of Allah, to the complete exclusion of all other thoughts. Staying up almost whole night chanting ‘Allah hoo’, beating their chest and head by both hands, in unison, in a dark room, in a hypnotic rythm, in the hope that Allah will get housed in their heart. The end object is to lose one’s self (I, me and mine) completely, for getting merged in Allah’s own fountain of spirit.
    Therefore, a Sufi does not discuss the Ibada as a matter of routine. Ibada is Quran and Sunnah. Rumi having been an accredited theologian, keeps bringing excerpts from Quran and ideologies present in Quran, which is not because of Sufism, rather in spite of Sufism.

    • “The love of poverty”, declared John Adams, “is a fictitious virtue that never existed”.
      You have to be really rich to live as poorly as Sufi is supposed to live.

      Babar

  4. Great comments by Sabih Zaki, Mirza Ashraf and Wequar Azeem.
    I agree with Sabih Sahib’s comments, but author of translation should disclose in some format, footnote or preface, that he/she is omitting the references to Isalm/Quran for the specific reasons.. From the articles it seems that Coleman Bark and some other others did not do that? Mirza Sahib may know better in this regard. I am also curious to know whether translations that omitted references to Quran made any difference in conveying the essence/ spirit of poetry-and was one better than the other one. Mirza Sahib may shed better light on this.

    Wequar sahib summed up very well what involves to be sufi. Many non-Muslims has been attracted to Sufism. Does one has to be a Muslim to be a Sufi ?

  5. I appreciate you, Mirza sahib for this detailed, indepth and convincing comment. After all you are a poet and a professor yoursefl and have written on philosophy, history and mysticism. Thanks. Zaki

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