Rumi Without Borders

By Shakila Khalje - The Epoch Times - New York, NY, U.S.A.
Monday, September 24, 2007

Outside ideas of right doing and wrong doing there is a field. I'll meet you there. ~Rumi

The collection of Rumi's poems called Mathnawi-e-Ma'navi (Spiritual Couplets), had a great influence on Islamic literature and thought.

His mausoleum, the Green Dome in Konya, is today a place of pilgrimage for many thousands of people. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has declared 2007 the 800th anniversary of the mystic poet's birth, as the International year of Rumi.

Rumi is considered a Persian mystic and poet and is closely identified with Sufism and Sufi mysticism. Sufis and mystics are Muslim devotees who seek a mystical union with God. His works speak of the common origin of human beings made up of spirit, reason and love. He died in 1273 in Konya.

Three years ago, Professor Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak founded the Center for Persian Studies at the University of Maryland, with the goal to help people know more about Persian language and the literature expressed in it which is wonderful and obtains universal massages.

He is the main organizer of the upcoming International Rumi Conference and he gracefully acknowledges that his idea became a reality as a result of hard work and the collective endeavor of many other individuals as well as organizations.

In an interview Professor Hakkak spoke about few other important reasons for spending countless hours to make this conference possible. His father's love for Rumi's poetry is one reason which takes him back to his early childhood.

When he was thirteen or so, his father would trick him into reading Mathnawi because he claimed his eye sight was weak and he could not read. "It initiated this whole journey of understanding Rumi." he said.

Rumi's 800th birth anniversary this year, presented yet another wonderful opportunity for Professor Hakkak to create a platform for over twenty Rumi scholars and artists. They will gather and share their knowledge and understanding of the greatest mystic Sufi of all times in a thematic manner for three days, September 28-30, 2007.

This event will be held on the campus of the University of Maryland College Park, Maryland.

Below Hakkak also reveals more of his ideas about Rumi's universal language.

What else does this conference pay tribute to?
The world needs Rumi's message so desperately now. So, more than any calendar based consideration it was this which made it relevant. It really pays tribute to the man's vision.

Can you talk about the so called "Americanization of Rumi"?
Americanization? Sure! It is like the "Persianization" of Shakespeare. There is not such a thing as an intact message transmitted over time.

We always transform as we translate, and as such, in this case we are lucky to have scholarly as well as popular translations such as Dr. Coleman Barks who helps de-anchor Rumi's poetry, that means there is not much need of Rumi's cultural surroundings.

Any time we translate we transform. There is no such thing as the Rumi of the thirteenth century, both are gone but of course every text including Rumi's poetry has two forces in it: actual, instantaneous, contemporary immediate forces and the potential for the future.

It is this potential that is meeting Rumi's ideas; the need to cling to something that transcends our sectarian notions and the questions of boundaries. We need that message.

Rumi was the originator of that message, although he too, must have obtained it from somewhere else, nobody works in a vacuum. Of course, our world needs these ideas.

(...)

Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak is currently a Professor and Founding Director of the Center for Persian Studies in the School of languages, Literature and Cultures at the University of Maryland.

[Picture: Whirling dervishes perform The Sema (Whirling Ceremony) in Istanbul 25 July 2007. Photo: GALI TIBBON/AFP/Getty Images]

[About the event, read also: http://sufinews.blogspot.com/search?q=CPS (click on the link, then scroll down)].