The Masnavi, Book One (Oxford World's Classics)

Note on the Translation
xxviii

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S E L E C T B I B L I O G R A P H Y
General Background
J. T. P. De Bruijn, 
Persian Su
fi Poetry: An Introduction to the Mystical Use
of Classical Poems (Richmond, 
1997).
C. W. Ernst, 
The Shambhala Guide to Su
fism (Boston, 1997).
C. W. Ernst, tr., 
Teachings of Su
fism (Boston, 1999).
L. Lewisohn, ed., 
Classical Persian Su
fism: From its Origins to Rumi
(London and New York, 
1993).
J. Nurbakhsh, 
The Path: Su
fi Practices (London and New York, 2002).
A. Rippin, 
Muslims: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices,
2nd edn.
(London and New York, 
2001).
M. Sells, ed. and tr., 
Early Islamic Mysticism (Mahwah, 
1996).
Reference
Encyclopaedia Iranica, ed. E. Yarshater (New York, 
1985– ; in progress;
also available online at www.iranica.com).
Encyclopaedia of Islam, ed. H. A. R. Gibb et al. (Leiden, 
1960–2003).
J. Nurbakhsh, 
Su
fi Symbolism, 16 vols. (London and New York, 1980–
2003).
On Rumi
W. C. Chittick, ed., 
The Su
fi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of
Rumi (Albany, NY, 
1983).
F. Keshavarz, 
Reading Mystical Lyric: The Case of Jalal al-Din Rumi
(Columbia, SC, 
1998).
F. D. Lewis, 
Rumi, Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teachings and
Poetry of Jalal al-Din Rumi (Oxford, 
2000).
Rumi, 
Mystical Poems of Rumi,
1 and 2, tr. A. J. Arberry (New York,
1979).
Rumi, 
Signs of the Unseen, tr. W. M. Thackston (Boston, 
1994).
A. Schimmel, 
The Triumphal Sun (London, 
1978).
Editions of the Masnavi
Masnavi, ed. M. Estelami, 
7 vols., 2nd edn. (Tehran, 1990). The seventh
volume is a volume of indices. Each of the six volumes of text contains
the editor’s commentary in the form of endnotes.
The Mathnawi of Jalalu

ddin Rumi, ed. and tr. R. A. Nicholson, E. J. W.

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Gibb Memorial, 
ns, 8 vols. (London, 1925–40). This set consists of the
Persian text (vols. 
1–3), a full translation in prose (vols. 4–6) and
commentary (vols. 
7–8).
Masnavi, ed. T. Sobhani (Tehran, 
1994).
Masnavi-ye ma
 navi, ed. A.-K. Sorush, 2 vols. (Tehran, 1996).
Interpretation of the Masnavi
W. C. Chittick, ‘Rumi and 
wahdat al-wujud,’ in A. Banani, R. Hovannisian,
and G. Sabagh, eds., 
Poetry and Mysticism in Islam: The Heritage of
Rumi (Cambridge, 
1994), 70–111.
H. Dabashi, ‘Rumi and the Problems of Theodicy: Moral Imagination
and Narrative Discourse in a Story of the 
Masnavi’, in A. Banani,
R. Hovannisian, and G. Sabagh, eds., 
Poetry and Mysticism in Islam:
The Heritage of Rumi (Cambridge, 
1994), 112–35.
R. Davis, ‘Narrative and Doctrine in the First Story of Rumi’s
Mathnawi’,
in G. R. Hawting, J. A. Mojaddedi, and A. Samely, eds., 
Studies in
Islamic and Middle Eastern Texts and Traditions in Memory of Norman
Calder (Oxford, 
2000), 93–104.
M. Mills, ‘Folk Tradition in the 
Masnavi and the Masnavi in Folk
Tradition’, in A. Banani, R. Hovannisian, and G. Sabagh, eds., 
Poetry
and Mysticism in Islam: The Heritage of Rumi (Cambridge, 
1994),
136–77.
P. Morewedge, ‘A Philosophical Interpretation of Rumi’s Mystical Poetry:
Light, the Mediator and the Way’, in P. J. Chelkowski, ed., 
The Scholar
and the Saint (New York, 
1975), 187–216.
J. Renard, 
All the King’s Falcons: Rumi on Prophets and Revelation (Albany,
NY, 
1994).
E. Turkmen, 
The Essence of the Masnevi (Konya, 
1992).
Further Reading in Oxford World’s Classics
The Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, ed. Robert Mack.
The Koran, translated and edited by Arthur J. Arberry.
The Qur

an, translated and edited by M. A. S. Abdel Haleem.
Select Bibliography
xxx

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A C H RO N O L O G Y O F RU M I
1207
Rumi is born in Balkh, north-eastern Persia
c.
1216
Rumi’s family emigrate from Persia
1219
Alaoddin Kay Qobad ascends Seljuk throne in Anatolia
1220
Death of Faridoddin Attar
1221
The Mongol army conquers Balkh
c.
1222
Rumi’s family settle temporarily in Karaman, Anatolia
1224
Rumi marries Gowhar Khatun
1226
Birth of Soltan Valad
c.
1229
Rumi’s family relocate to Konya
1231
Death of Baha Valad
1232
Borhanoddin Termezi arrives in Konya
c.
1233
Rumi begins his studies in Syria
1235
Death of Ebn al-Farez in Egypt
1237
Rumi returns to Konya as leader of Baha Valad’s school
Ghiyasoddin Kay Khosrow II ascends Seljuk throne in Anatolia
1240
Death of Ebn Arabi in Damascus
1243
The Mongols extend their empire to Anatolia
1244
Rumi meets Shams-e Tabriz in Konya for the 
first time
1246
Shams leaves Konya
1247
Shams returns to Konya
c.
1247–8 Shams disappears
Salahoddin the Goldsmith begins tenure as Rumi’s deputy
1258
Death of Salahoddin
Hosamoddin Chalabi begins tenure as Rumi’s deputy
The Mongols conquer Baghdad, the Abbasid capital
1260
The Mongols are defeated in Syria by the Mamluks
c.
1262
The Masnavi is started
c.
1264
The Masnavi is resumed after a pause on account of the death
of Hosamoddin’s wife
1273
(
17 December) Death of Rumi in Konya

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T H E M A S NAV I
book one

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