In an exclusive interview with Duke University Professor of Islamic Studies Omid Safi, he answered questions about Mevlana Jalaladdin Rumi's works and how they are perceived today.
The Masnavi was historically called "The Quran in
Persian," as a sign of how thoroughly filled with references to the Quran
it is, Safi said speaking on the essence of Rumi's works.
"It is one of the great masterpieces of Islamic
literature, written by Mevlana Jalaladdin Rumi, who was called the
"offspring of the soul of the Prophet." Its main message is one of
bringing humanity from the state of forgetfulness and brokenness to healing,
wholeness and becoming that "Insan-e Kamil," complete human
being," Safi added.
The Masnavi, a poem boasting more than 50,000 lines, is
considered one of the most influential works of Sufism and Persian literature.
Safi argues that there is a different perception of Rumi and
his work when it comes to reading him in the West or the East.
“There are, of course, many perceptions of Rumi in the West
and many in the East. As a whole, Western perceptions of Rumi place him in the
tradition of individualized spirituality and the search for
"happiness." Eastern approaches sometimes reach him through other
Sufi approaches and wider Islamic teachings,” he says.
Commenting on Rumi’s popularity in many realms of the life
in the West, Safi argues: “Modernity has promised much and delivered little in
terms of actual joy, wholeness and harmony in the world. People know somewhere
in their own hearts that the way they live is out of touch, out of harmony, and
they turn to Rumi for answers.”
He adds, however, that despite Rumi’s Muslim identity, his
work has been secularized, detached from his deep linkage to Islam as a Muslim
philosopher.
“Many of the Western translators of Rumi downplay his
Muslimness, his deep connection to Islam, sometimes out of a blatant
Islamophobia and sometimes through a mistaken impression that to make Rumi more
universal, they have to take him out of the particular of his context.
Interestingly enough, they don't make the same claim for Shakespeare, the Tao
Te Ching or Da Vinci.”
Safi also commented on the concepts of “self-love,"
"mysticism" as well as the meditation apps, for instance, people have
been using in recent days, and how they encounter Rumi’s work.
“The ones that are about self-love that do not say anything
about God are not likely to be beneficial. Remember that for Rumi, the self is
ultimately something to be transformed and not the ultimate channel of love.
For real love, radical love, as I prefer to call Eshq (Turkish: Aşk), we have
to look to God.”