SUFI WISDOM
Whirling Dervishes Photograph: Hans Georg Roth/Corbis
Nick Pearson finds inspiration within Rumi's parables.
The Illustrated Rumi:
A treasury of wisdom from the poet of the soul
Translated by Peter Dunn,
Manuela Mascetti, R. A. Nicholson
Harper, SanFrancisco, 2000, $29.95
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WITHIN THE COVERS of this lovely book, the beautiful and clear voice of the Sufi poet and mystic, Ialalu'din Rumi, comes to us across nearly eight turbulent centuries. It speaks of the ancient language of love, of the complexities of human nature and the glory of life itself. Through the medium of his stories, parables and poetry Rumi tells us something of this Muslim tradition of divine inspiration and ecstatic worship and profound psychological insight. Numerous very beautiful colour plates help the reader to visualize the richness and beauty of this tradition.
Rumi's life was a passionate exploration of his own personal relationship with 'The Beloved' - exemplified by the Koranic dictum, "Wheresoe'er one turns, there is the face of Allah." The Sufi way is a way of self-realization through love and devotion to Truth and to God. Driven by an insatiable longing for the Eternal Presence, the disciple, through prayer, fasting and the sacred dance, which were central to the practice, achieved states of mind that led to torrents of ecstatic poetry, insight and song from "the immeasurable abundance of God".
Many in the West are now familiar with the poetry of this ecstatic mystic and lover. He was born in thirteenth-century Persia and founded the Mevlevi Order of Dervishes (The Whirling Dervishes) as part of his own spiritual journey towards gnosis. Less well-known are the countless stories and parables that Rumi also left as part of his unique spiritual legacy to the world in the Mathwani and the Divani Shamsi Tabriz, his two greatest collections of writing. It is on these that The Illustrated Rumi concentrates. Rumi himself describes, in his preface to the Mathwani, the essence of his work as "the roots, of the roots, of the roots of religion, unveiling the mysteries of attainment and certainty, which is the greatest science of God and the clearest way of God and the most manifest evidence of God …"
Maybe for our irreverent contemporary culture the nature of such claims is difficult to comprehend. We have sadly grown unused to such language, however much we may need it. Nonetheless, the sheer beauty of the language, the profound quality of its insight and the ecstatic nature of the poet's imagination make one realize that this was no ordinary man. In this translation the stories are taken from the six books of the Mathwani, and the poetry and prose are delightfully interwoven. In 'The Lion and the Beasts' you will find profound psychological insight as well as delicious humour:
"Many of the iniquities seen in the world,
Are the Truth of none else but yourself"!
In 'The Jackel Pretending to be a Peacock' the spiritual impostor draws attention to his ardour, uttering "external joys" while his heart cries with unhappiness. You may not find it hard to think of someone you know - maybe yourself - to whom this seems all too familiar. Rumi's voice brings a contemporary note and carries a dimension that is a deadly foil to our great reliance on reason alone as a tool to comprehend our world.
"Knowing too much hinders knowing at all
And thought brings no Comprehension."
Rumi's way was, of course, a path to love itself, and there is no more passionate advocate for this realization of our essential nature within the Muslim tradition. The Sufis were much persecuted over the centuries in ancient Persia by the Mullahs of Orthodox Islam, much as some gnostic Christian sects were persecuted in the West. Whatever the pressures, the Sufi Gnostics faithfully pursued love in all its forms as the inspiration for their creed, their way of life and their aspiration to 'gnosis' - the direct knowledge of God. The Christian tradition with its emphasis on love can find much to share with this glowing coal at the heart of the Muslim world and discover that in our great diversity and difference of culture lie profound similarities. Rumi has such a voice that we all need to hear, from whichever side of the divide we may come, and this beautiful book will serve that purpose.
Nick Pearson is Chair of the Council of The Temenos Academy.