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The Mathnawi of Jalalud'din Rumi, Vol. VI
Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi's great poem, the Mathnawi is one of the best known and most influential works of Muslim mysticism. Nicholson's critical edition is based on the oldest known manuscripts, including the earliest, dated 1278 and preserved in the Mevlana Museum at Konya. It remains the standard text and is provided with diacritical marks to assist the student. The prose translation, similarly, is intended to be an exact and faithful guide to the Persian. The three volumes of English translation can either be bought as a set, or individually; together they comprise a complete translation. Volume 6 comprises a translation of Books V and VI.
529 pages, Hardcover
First published August 9, 2012
About the author
Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi
1,167 books15.9k 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 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 6, 2008
Rumi taught me more than I already knew about love.
May 19, 2013
The Greatest poem of any language, over 14,000 lines filled with the Sufi love of God, faith, beauty, teaching stories, and love and love and love. Called the Persian Koran, his only rivals for fame and complexity are Homer and Dante, with Shakespeare thrown in for the English language. I loved it, and have been re-reading it lately. The six volumes of the Mathnawi are Nicholson's greatest achievement in translation also, one for which he will be most remembered.
June 15, 2020
This ISBN (8174351582) goes with Reynold A. Nicholson's translation, 1925, published by Adam Publishers & Distributors, New Delhi. My copy of the 5 volume set is the 3rd edition, 2003 (first published by Adam Pub. in 1930). I've read the 5 books of the Mathnawi. The Nicholson translation in this edition is much more complete than the Winfield translations. Nicholson's commentary, with his introduction to it dated 1936, is also in the full collection. I highly value this work and find it a wonderful companion to the other writings on Jalalu'ddin Rumi, including the versions by Coleman Barks which I treasure.
October 13, 2017
گویا مولوی دفتر ششم را با این نیت آغازیده بود که آخرین دفتر مثنوی باشد:
پیشکش میآرمت ای معنوی
قسم سادس درتمام مثنوی
بو که فیمابعد دستوری رسد
رازهای گفتنی گفته شود
اما افسوس که این دفتر به پایان نرسیده و دو داستان آخر ناتمام مانده است؛ یکی داستان دژ هوشربا (یا قلعهٔ ذاتالصور) که داستان اصلی است و دیگری داستان فرعی پدری که گفته بود میراث مرا آن فرزندی ببرد که تنبلترین است۰
مثنوی همهاش بر من اثرگذار بود و این دفتر آخر بیشتر و صریحتر از بقیه۰
پیشکش میآرمت ای معنوی
قسم سادس درتمام مثنوی
بو که فیمابعد دستوری رسد
رازهای گفتنی گفته شود
اما افسوس که این دفتر به پایان نرسیده و دو داستان آخر ناتمام مانده است؛ یکی داستان دژ هوشربا (یا قلعهٔ ذاتالصور) که داستان اصلی است و دیگری داستان فرعی پدری که گفته بود میراث مرا آن فرزندی ببرد که تنبلترین است۰
مثنوی همهاش بر من اثرگذار بود و این دفتر آخر بیشتر و صریحتر از بقیه۰
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews