Masnavi

The Masnavi, or Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi (Persian: ‫)ﻣﺜﻨﻮی ﻣﻌﻨﻮی‬,

also written Mathnawi, or Mathnavi, is an extensive poem
written in Persian by Jalal al-Din Muhammad Balkhi, also
known as Rumi. The Masnavi is one of the most influential
works of Sufism, commonly called "the Quran in Persian".[1] It
has been viewed by many commentators as the greatest
mystical poem in world literature.[2] The Masnavi is a series of
six books of poetry that together amount to around 25,000
Masnavi, a calligraphic specimen from
verses or 50,000 lines.[3][4] It is a spiritual text that teaches 1490, Mevlana Museum, Konya, Turkey.
Sufis how to reach their goal of being truly in love with God.[5]

Contents
General description
Creation
Themes and narrative devices
English versions
Direct translations from Persian
Paraphrases of English translations
See also
References
Further reading
External links

General description
The title Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi (Persian: ‫ )ﻣﺜﻨﻮی ﻣﻌﻨﻮی‬means "The Spiritual Couplets". The Masnavi is a
poetic collection of anecdotes and stories derived from the Quran, hadith [6] sources, and everyday tales.
Stories are told to illustrate a point and each moral is discussed in detail. It incorporates a variety of Islamic
wisdom but primarily focuses on emphasizing inward personal Sufi interpretation. In contrast to Rumi's
Diwan, the Masnavi is a relatively "sober" text. It explains the various dimensions of spiritual life and
practice to Sufi disciples and anyone who wishes to ponder the meaning of life.[7]

Creation
The Masnavi was started by the Rumi during the final years of his life. He began dictating the first book
around the age of 54 around the year 1258 and continued composing verses until his death in 1273. The
sixth and final book would remain incomplete.[8]
It is documented that Rumi began dictating the verses of the
Masnavi at the request of his favourite disciple, Husam al-Din
Chalabi, who observed that many of Rumi's followers dutifully read
the works of Sana'i and 'Attar. Thus, Rumi began creating a work in
the didactic style of Sana'i and 'Attar to complement his other poetry.
These men are said to have met regularly in meetings where Rumi
would deliver the verses and Chalabi would write them down and
recite them back to him.[9]

Each book consists of about 4,000 verses and contains its own prose
introduction and prologue. The inconclusive ending of the sixth
volume has given rise to suggestions that the work was not complete
at the time of Rumi's death and claims about existence of another
volume.[10]

Themes and narrative devices

The six books of the Masnavi can be divided into three groups of
two because each pair is linked by a common theme:[11]

Books 1 and 2: They "are principally concerned with the

nafs, the lower carnal self, and its self-deception and evil A Persian miniature depicting Jalal
tendencies." al-Din Rumi showing love for his
Books 3 and 4: These books share the principal themes of disciple Hussam al-Din Chelebi (c.
Reason and Knowledge. These two themes are 1594)
personified by Rumi in the Biblical and Quranic figure of
the Prophet Moses.
Books 5 and 6: These last two books are joined by the universal ideal that man must deny his
physical earthly existence to understand God's existence.

In addition to the recurring themes presented in each book, Rumi includes multiple points of view or voices
inviting the reader to fall into "imaginative enchantment." There are seven principal voices that Rumi uses in
his writing:[12]

1. The Authorial Voice – Conveys the authority of a Sufi teacher and generally appears in verses
addressed to You, God, or you, of all humankind.
2. The Story-telling Voice – May be interrupted by side stories that help clarify a statement,
sometime taking hundreds of lines to make a point.
3. The Analogical Voice – Interruptions to the flow of narration in order to explain a statement by
use of analogy.
4. The Voice of Speech and Dialogue of Characters – Many of the stories are told through
dialogue between characters.
5. The Moral Reflection – Supported by quotations from the Quran and hadith
6. The Spiritual Discourse – Similar to analogical and model reflections.
7. Hiatus – Rumi occasionally questions his own verses and writes that he cannot say more
because the reader would not be capable of understanding.

The Masnavi has no framed plot and includes a variety of scenes, from popular stories and scenes of the
local bazaar to fables and tales from Rumi's time. It also includes quotations from the Qur'an and from
hadith, accounts from the time of Mohammed.
Although there is no constant frame, style, or plot, Rumi generally follows a certain writing pattern that
flows in the following order:[13]

English versions

Direct translations from Persian

Mathnawi Rumi, translation with commentary by M. G. Gupta with Rajeev, in six volumes
Hardbound edition, M.G. Publishers, Agra, Paperback edition, Huma Books, 34 Hirabagh
Colony, Agra 282005, India. Source material is the Farsi Dari text circulated by the Department
of Culture, Government of India, New Delhi.
The Mesnevi of Mevlānā Jelālu'd-dīn er-Rūmī. Book first, together with some account of the
life and acts of the Author, of his ancestors, and of his descendants, illustrated by a selection
of characteristic anedocts, as collected by their historian, Mevlānā Shemsu'd-dīn Ahmed el-
Eflākī el-'Arifī, translated and the poetry versified by James W. Redhouse, London: 1881.
Contains the translation of the first book only.
Masnaví-i Ma'naví, the Spiritual Couplets of Mauláná Jalálu'd-din Muhammad balkhi,
translated and abridged by E. H. Whinfield, London: 1887; 1989. Abridged version from the
complete poem. On-line editions at Sacred Texts (http://www.sacred-texts.com/isl/masnavi/ind
ex.htm) and on wikisource.
The Masnavī by Jalālu'd-din balkhi or Rūmī. Book II, translated for the first time from the
Persian into prose, with a Commentary, by C.E. Wilson, London: 1910.
The Mathnawí of Jalálu'ddín balkhi (https://archive.org/search.php?query=rumi%20nicholson),
edited from the oldest manuscripts available, with critical notes, translation and commentary by
Reynold A. Nicholson, in 8 volumes, London: Messrs Luzac & Co., 1925-1940. Contains the
text in Persian. First complete English translation of the Mathnawí.
The Masnavi: Book One, translated by Jawid Mojaddedi, Oxford World's Classics Series,
Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-19-280438-3. Translated for the first time from the
Persian edition prepared by Mohammad Estelami, with an introduction and explanatory notes.
Awarded the 2004 Lois Roth Prize for excellence in translation of Persian literature by the
American Institute of Iranian Studies.
balkhi, Spiritual Verses, The First Book of the Masnavi-ye Ma'navi, newly translated from the
latest Persian edition of M. Este'lami, with an Introduction on a reader's approach to balkhi's
writing, and with explanatory Notes, by Alan Williams, London and New York, Penguin
Classics, Penguin, xxxv + 422 pp. 2006 ISBN 0-14-044791-1.
The Masnavi: Book Two, translated by Jawid Mojaddedi, Oxford World's Classics Series,
Oxford University Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-19-921259-0. The first ever verse translation of the
unabridged text of Book Two, with an introduction and explanatory notes.
The Masnavi: Book Three, translated by Jawid Mojaddedi, Oxford World's Classics Series,
Oxford University Press, 2013. ISBN 978-0-19-965203-7. The first ever verse translation of the
unabridged text of Book Three, with an introduction and explanatory notes.

Paraphrases of English translations

The Essential balkhi, translated by Coleman Barks with John Moyne, A. J. Arberry, Reynold
Nicholson, San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1996 ISBN 0-06-250959-4; Edison (NJ) and New
York: Castle Books, 1997 ISBN 0-7858-0871-X. Selections.
 The Illuminated balkhi, translated by Coleman Barks, Michael Green contributor, New York:
Broadway Books, 1997 ISBN 0-7679-0002-2.

See also
List of stories in the Masnavi
Masnavi (poetic form)

References
1. Jawid Mojaddedi (2004). "Introduction". Rumi, Jalal al-Din. The Masnavi, Book One. Oxford
University Press (Kindle Edition). p. xix.
2. Jawid Mojaddedi (2004). "Introduction". Rumi, Jalal al-Din. The Masnavi, Book One. Oxford
University Press (Kindle Edition). pp. xii–xiii. "Towards the end of his life he presented the fruit
of his experience of Sufism in the form of the Masnavi, which has been judged by many
commentators, both within the Sufi tradition and outside it, to be the greatest mystical poem
ever written."
3. Allamah Mohamad Taghi Jafari, Tafsir Masnavi
4. Karim Zamani, Tafsir Masnavi Ma'navi
5. Jalāl, Al-Dīn Rūmī, and Alan Williams. Spiritual Verses: the Book of the Masnavi-ye Manavi.
London: Penguin, 2006. Print
6. Badiozzaman Forouzanfar has published a compilation of the hadith quoted in the Masnavi,
under the title Ahadith-i Mathnawi (full title: Aḥadíth va qiṣaṣ-i-Mathnaví: talfiqí az dú kitáb
‘Aḥadíth-i- Mathnaví' va 'Má'khidh-i- qiṣaṣ va tamthílát-i- Mathnaví; 1955).
7. Jalāl, Al-Dīn Rūmī, and William C. Chittick. The Sufi Path of Love: the Spiritual Teachings of
Rumi. Albany: State University of New York, 1983. Print.Pg 6)
8. (Franklin Lewis, "Rumi, Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teachings and Poetry of
Jalâl al-Din Rumi," Oneworld Publications, England, 2000.)
9. Jalāl, Al-Dīn Rūmī, and William C. Chittick. The Sufi Path of Love: the Spiritual Teachings of
Rumi. Albany: State University of New York, 1983. Print. Pgs 5-6
10. Jawid Mojaddedi (2004). "Introduction". Rumi, Jalal al-Din. The Masnavi, Book One. Oxford
University Press (Kindle Edition). pp. xxi–xxii.
11. Jalāl, Al-Dīn Rūmī, and Alan Williams. Spiritual Verses: the First Book of the Masnavi-ye
Manavi. London: Penguin, 2006. Print. Pgs xx-xxvi
12. Collected Poetical Works of Rumi (https://books.google.com/books?id=zpdNCwAAQBAJ&pg=
PT15). Delphi Classics. 2015. p. 15.
13. Jalāl, Al-Dīn Rūmī, and Alan Williams. Spiritual Verses: the First Book of the Masnavi-ye
Manavi. London: Penguin, 2006. Print. Pgs xvii-xix

Further reading
RUMI, JALĀL-AL-DIN (http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/rumi-jalal-al-din-parent).
Encyclopædia Iranica, online edition, 2014.
Mahmoud Ordudari. Proverbs in the Masnavi: A collection of poems and proverbs from the
Masnavi, 2016.

External links
Farsi Dari version is available at www.RumiSite.com (http://www.rumisite.com)
 Guardian series of blogs on the Masnavi by Franklin Lewis, 2009 (https://www.theguardian.co
m/commentisfree/belief/2009/nov/30/rumi-masnavi-muslim-poetry)
An abridged version translated by E.H. Whinfield, (1898) (http://www.sacred-texts.com/isl/mas
navi/)
Dar al Masnavi (http://www.dar-al-masnavi.org)
Treasure of National Library of Turkey (https://web.archive.org/web/20070423174224/http://libr
aries.theeuropeanlibrary.org/Turkey/treasures_en.xml) 18th century Masnavi in Nesih
calligraphy, Herat
The Song of the Reed (part one) (http://www.dar-al-masnavi.org/n-I-0001.html)
Urdu poetic forms (http://www.urdupoetry.com/poetryforms.html)
Masnavi-e Ma'navi, recited in Persian by Mohammad Ghanbar (http://ganjoor.net/moulavi/mas
navi/daftar1/sh1/)

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