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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.

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