Monday 14th of April 2014
The 4th Annual International Quranic
Conference 2014 (MUQADDAS IV)
The Representation of Qur'an in the Sufi Poetry
of Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī
Mathnawi and the Qur'an
Presented by:
Enas Fawzy Abdel Aziz
Enas Fawzy Abdel Aziz: Lecturer of English literature in Majmaah University, Kingdom of Saudia Arabia
1. Who Is Rumi ?2. The Sufi Poetry of Rumi 3. The Representation of Qur'an in Rumi's Mathnawi Ma'nawi 4. Rumi and Modern American Poetry
Plan of Presentation
1
2
The Sufi Poetry of Rumi
3
The Representation of Qur'an in Rumi's
Mathnawi Ma'nawi
4
14/4/2014
Who Is Rumi?
Rumi and Modern American Poetry
The Representation of Qur'an in the Sufi Poetry of Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī Mathnawi and the Qur'an 1
1. Who Is Rumi ?2. The Sufi Poetry of Rumi 3. The Representation of Qur'an in Rumi's Mathnawi Ma'nawi 4. Rumi and Modern American Poetry
 Introduction
•
Islam both as a religion and culture has always been the center of
Western interest.
• For Western scholars, Islam is the exotic, mystic and different culture
that should be revealed.
• But this culture is mostly misrepresented and misinterpreted.
• The misrepresentations and prejudiced conceptions became widely
adopted after the events of September 11th.
• But there are still some honest unprejudiced voices about Islam.
• The positive representations of Islam represent the literary tradition
set by the 13th century Persian poet Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī.
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The Representation of Qur'an in the Sufi Poetry of Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī Mathnawi and the Qur'an
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1. Who Is Rumi ? 2. The Sufi Poetry of Rumi 3. The Representation of Qur'an in Rumi's Mathnawi Ma'nawi 4. Rumi and Modern American Poetry
1. Who Is Rumi ?
 Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī or Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad
Rūmī or Mawlānā is a Persian poet from the 13th century.
 Rumi was born in September 1207 in the village of
Wakhsh in Persia or Tajikistan in present day Afghanistan.
 Rumi became one of the highest and outstanding
philosophers and scholars at the young age of twenty four.
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The Representation of Qur'an in the Sufi Poetry of Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī Mathnawi and the Qur'an
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1. Who Is Rumi ? 2. The Sufi Poetry of Rumi 3. The Representation of Qur'an in Rumi's Mathnawi Ma'nawi 4. Rumi and Modern American Poetry
1. Who Is Rumi ?
 In 1244, Rumi met the Sufi Shams Tabrizi who had the
greatest effect on his thought and poetry.
 In 1273 AD Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī died and was
buried in Konya, Turkey.
 Rumi is considered one of the greatest poets of Islamic
culture and history.
 Rumi's significance exceeds national and religious borders
to the extent of universality.
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The Representation of Qur'an in the Sufi Poetry of Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī Mathnawi and the Qur'an
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1. Who Is Rumi ?2. The Sufi Poetry of Rumi 3. The Representation of Qur'an in Rumi's Mathnawi Ma'nawi 4. Rumi and Modern American Poetry
2. The Sufi Poetry of Rumi
 Rumi was introduced to Sufism on the hands of Shams
Tabrizi.
 Sufism primarily means developing the spirituality between
God and man.
 Rumi's Sufi poetry mainly depends on quoting Qur'an.
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1. Who Is Rumi ?2. The Sufi Poetry of Rumi 3. The Representation of Qur'an in Rumi's Mathnawi Ma'nawi 4. Rumi and Modern American Poetry
2. The Sufi Poetry of Rumi
 For the Islamic world, the poetry of Rumi works as an
important commentary on Qur'an and a brilliant exposition
of Sufi philosophy. For the Western tradition, it is read in
order to examine love and participate in its mysterious
aspects.
 Rumi's Sufism is in the essence of his Mathnawi Ma'nawi,
Diwan-e Kabir or Diwan-e Shams-e Tabrizi and Fihi Ma Fihi.
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The Representation of Qur'an in the Sufi Poetry of Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī Mathnawi and the Qur'an
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1. Who Is Rumi ?2. The Sufi Poetry of Rumi 3. The Representation of Qur'an in Rumi's Mathnawi Ma'nawi 4. Rumi and Modern American Poetry
3. The Representation of Qur'an in Rumi's Mathnawi Ma'nawi
 Mathnawi Ma'nawi or the (Spiritual Couplets) is Rumi's
masterpiece.
 It is also called the Persian version of Qur'an.
 Mathnawi consists of 25,000 verses, in six books of
poetry.
 Mathnawi is an intensive explanation of some aspects
of Qur'an in a Sufi context.
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1. Who Is Rumi ?2. The Sufi Poetry of Rumi 3. The Representation of Qur'an in Rumi's Mathnawi Ma'nawi 4. Rumi and Modern American Poetry
3. The Representation of Qur'an in Rumi's Mathnawi Ma'nawi
 The poems of Rumi in his Mathnawi conjoin
between his own words and Qur'anic Verse.
 Rumi poems depend on either direct Qur'anic
quotations or stories based on verses of Qur'an.
 Rumi’s manner of incorporating Qur’anic verses
into his poetry is particularly striking in that he
rarely use them as “proof-texts”.
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The Representation of Qur'an in the Sufi Poetry of Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī Mathnawi and the Qur'an
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1. Who Is Rumi ?2. The Sufi Poetry of Rumi 3. The Representation of Qur'an in Rumi's Mathnawi Ma'nawi 4. Rumi and Modern American Poetry
4. Rumi and Modern American Poetry
 The relationship between Rumi and American
poetry is evident since his poetry is still read in
America after 800 years after his death.
 Rumi was referred to in the works of Ralph Waldo
Emerson and Friedrich Hegel and many others.
 They may be also a connection between Rumi and
Walt Whitman.
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The Representation of Qur'an in the Sufi Poetry of Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī Mathnawi and the Qur'an
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1. Who Is Rumi ?2. The Sufi Poetry of Rumi 3. The Representation of Qur'an in Rumi's Mathnawi Ma'nawi 4. Rumi and Modern American Poetry
4. Rumi and Modern American Poetry
 The
modern
American
poets
of
the
Beat
Generation can also be attached to the literary
tradition of Rumi too.
 The tradition of Rumi extends to the contemporary
time to the works of Daniel Abdel-Hayy Moore,
Michael Wolfe, Rafey Habib, Hesham A. Hassaballah
and many others in contemporary American poetry.
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The Representation of Qur'an in the Sufi Poetry of Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī Mathnawi and the Qur'an 10
Conclusion
The research examines how Qur'an affects and is represented
in the poetry of Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī
It examines Rumi's Sufi poems and how they succeed to give
a commentary on the deeper meaning of Qur'an.
It reveals Rumi's deep influence on modern American
poetry.
It credits Rumi's success in representing an honorable image
of Islamic culture.
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The Representation of Qur'an in the Sufi Poetry of Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī Mathnawi and the Qur'an 11
enasfawzy@gmail.com
Thank You
for Your Attention
Enas Fawzy Abdel Aziz
14/4/2014
The Representation of Qur'an in the Sufi Poetry of Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī Mathnawi and the Qur'an