Jalal al-Din Rumi and Sufism

Author: Eva de Vitray-Meyerovitch

The bottom line is that this book is one of the important books that the Arab reader needs, whether they are interested in spiritual knowledge in Islam, or aspire to Islamic literature in its finest forms; even those with an interest in psychology will find something that can enrich their experience in this field. This is because Rumi is a unique and multifaceted personality: a jurist, a gnostic, a shaykh of a Sufi order, an educator, and a community leader of a unique kind. This is in addition to his extensive culture, which encompassed the knowledge, both rational and transmitted, known in a region extending from northern India and Central Asia to the borders of present-day Greece. If we add to all of this his mastery of Islamic Persian poetry and his drawing in his abundant poetry from the wellspring of authentic Islamic culture, we realize what kind of man we are facing in this book. I can confidently say that reading Rumi, in his direct works and in what has been written about him, is a cause for us to increase our confidence in the power of the culture spread by great Islam, and the immensity of the creators who took shelter under its shade and drew from its source. It is superfluous to mention that Rumi's poems are being translated into English today and are among the most popular books in a country like the United States of America.