Sufism

The Quatrains of Rumi (2nd Revised Edition: 2023) – Fons Vitae Rumi Series

Ibrahim Gamard, Rawan Farhadi

$39.95

NOW AVAILABLE. JUST PUBLISHED. 2nd Revised & Updated Edition: 2023. Fons Vitae Rumi Series. The new revised 2023 edition of The Quatrains of Rumi is much more than a “reissue”. For the 2023 edition the translator spent a couple of years revising and improving the text.

This is the first complete translation into English of the nearly 2000 quatrains attributed to Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, the famous 13th century Persian Sufi master and mystical poet. A monumental and historic effort.

William C. Chittick, the American Rumi scholar (and author of The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teaching of Rumi), wrote:

“This most welcome addition to the literature on Rumi is the fruit of many years of collaborative effort by two dedicated scholars, both of whom are thoroughly familiar with Rumi’s historical, cultural, and religious context. Until now, Rumi’s quatrains have received little attention from scholars, yet they sum up his teachings in pithy and moving form.”

Much less attention has been given by scholars to his quatrains than to the rhymed couplets in his Masnavī (and the odes in his Dīvān). Up to now, what has been available are sometimes popularized versions of the quatrains that are often not linguistically and culturally accurate. The present book addresses this deficit by providing accurate translations and plentiful explanations made through the collaboration of two Rumi scholars: Rawān Farhādī (an Afghan) and Ibrahim Gamard (an American). The quatrains are ordered into numerous stages and themes of the mystical path of the “lover” and the “beloved” (the spiritual disciple and Sufi master).

  • Paperback
  • 9781941610671
  • 816

Product Description

2nd Revised Edition: 2023. Bi-lingual edition; 816 pp; ISBN 9781941610671; Translated by Ibrahim Gamard and Rawan Farhadi

A note on the 2023 updated edition of The Quatrains of Rumi (2nd Revised Edition: 2023) – Fons Vitae Rumi Series

The new revised 2023 edition of The Quatrains of Rumi is much more than a “reissue”. For the 2023 edition the translator spent a couple of years revising and improving the text. Appendix IV (Concordance of Previously Published Translations and Versions of the Quatrains) has been supplemented by the addition of data from four major works published since the 2008 edition. Appendix I (Quatrains Incorrectly Attributed to Mawlana) has been moved to Appendix IV, because readers have tended to view it as a continuation of correct’y attributed quatrains. The indexes of terms have been improved. A new index has been added of Paired Terms (associated terms, such as “moth” and “candle”) and contrary terms (such as “drunk” and “sober”). Errors in the Persian text have been corrected. Finally, the surprising and unexpected influence of The Quatrains of Rumi upon Coleman Barks, that changed his approach to making versions of Rumi’s quatrains, has been described.

Reviews

… after taking into account all the requisites of literary appreciation and criticism, we may reckon in the neighborhood of 500 of these rubā‘iyāt as among the finest masterpieces of Persian literature.
A. J. Arberry, renowned British Rumi scholar; Author, Mystical Poems of Rumi --writing about Rumi’s quatrains.
Ibrahim and Rawan, are scholars of the purest ray, thorough and impeccable, precise, and generous. This book that they have put together, The Quatrains of Rumi, should be on the shelves of anyone who loves Rumi and what Rumi loves. Their scholarly apparatus is masterful and complete. Their notes are layered and mystical. They understand from the inside out Rumi’s central ecstatic insight: that just to be in a body and conscious is cause for rapture. Their understanding of Rumi’s poetry is experiential. The authority they bring to this text is whole and gorgeous. They feel the music of the language and they communicate that subtlety with consummate skill.
Coleman Barks, American poet and well-known Rumi popularizer; Author, The Essential Rumi.