The Masnavi: Book One, a spiritual tale 800 years old by Rumi, translated by Jawid Mojaddedi:
The Masnavi has been hailed by scholars as “the greatest ever mystical poem”. Rumi threads together here entertaining stories with his mystical Sufi teachings, and passionate lyrical flights. His aim is to guide the listener along his detailed map of the mystic heart and its return journey to its divine origins. Book One provides the overall picture of the map, beginning with the reed torn from its reed-bed, and concluding with Ali’s return above. Incredibly, Rumi achieves all of this using the simplest Persian language, everyday imagery and well-established stories, albeit with his own startling twists and innovations. No wonder he has even become the best-selling poet in the English language in the last decade.
Rumi’s poetry is celebrated for its musicality. This translation, the Oxford World’s Classics edition of which was awarded the 2004 Lois Roth Prize, follows the Persian original by using rhyming couplets. Toure Moumouni and Alain Kersanty perform Rumi’s favourite musical instruments, the ney, the robab, the tar, and the daf, to give you a complete and authentic listening experience.
Donations received by the author will be given appropriately to a Persian Sufi charity, to help it maintain its clinics for the most needy citizens of several
West African nations.
The Masnavi: Book One promo [1:54m]:
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This entry was posted by Evo
on Friday, September 28th, 2007 at 7:11 am and is filed under New Books.
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October 4th, 2007 at 7:11 am
Wonderful
October 4th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Oh, I loved this. Such clarity and beauty, and the music is lovely also. Thank you!
October 8th, 2007 at 8:23 am
Wonderful!… It would be much better if you give a little echo to the sound.
October 8th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Brilliant!! The voice is perfect, and the music sublime
Ya Haqq!
October 13th, 2007 at 8:44 am
Hu!
Good for you. Nice gift to the English speaking world in this year of Rumi. Insha’allah you will live to complete your task Alhamdulillah!
Ashk
Majid
October 14th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Wonderful work !
God Bless you all brothers and sisters.
Ya Haqq !
Siddiq
October 15th, 2007 at 11:46 pm
Hu!
Amirable endeavor!
… and a great gift to the lovers of Rumi in his 800th birth anniversary, indeed. Much power and blessing to your heart and erudite penmanship dear Mr. Mojaddedi!!
Just a humble suggestion, though: I thought it might be more interesting and beneficial to the Persian learning Rumi students to hear the Persian and English recited in parallel lines.
Haqq!
April 15th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
The undertaking of the translation of the entire Masnavi is truly a Herculean task, and Jawid Mojaddedi is up to it, by some amazing miracle I still wonder at. He manages to give the Masnavi meaning AND put it into superb English couplets… something In never thought I’d live to see… and love all the more for having no Farsi… so the authenticity of a translation direct from the Farsi, and a 20th century one, without Victorian fussiness (Nicholson) is truly remarkable. This reading also is so sweet, clear, and passionate.