The Masnavi, Book Three

Rumi is the greatest mystic poet to have written in Persian, and the Masnavi is his masterpiece. Divided into six books and consisting of some 26,000 verses, the poem was designed to convey a message of divine love and unity to the disciples of Rumi's Sufi order, known today as the Whirling Dervishes. Like the earlier books, Book Three interweaves amusing stories with homilies to instruct pupils in the understanding of God's meaning. It has a special focus on epistemology, illustrated with narratives that involve the consumption of food.

The first ever verse translation of Book Three of the Masnavi, It follows the original by presenting Rumi's most mature mystical teachings in simple and attractive rhyming couplets.

'Our soul each moment struggles hard with death -
Think of your faith as though it's your last breath.
Your life is like a purse, and night and day
Are counters of gold coins you've put away'

Jalal al-Din Rumi

Jawid Mojaddedi is a native of Afghanistan, and read Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Manchester. He has taught Arabic and Islamic Studies at the Universities of Manchester and Exeter, and served as an editor of Encyclopaedia Iranica at the Center for Iranian Studies, Columbia University. His most recent publication is Beyond Dogma: Rumi's Teachings on Friendship with God and Early Sufi Theories (OUP, 2012).