The Spiritual Poems of Rumi

by Unknown

• ISBN13: 9781577151678
• ISBN10: 1577151674
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2018-02-13
• Publisher: Wellfleet Press

Summary

For more than eight centuries, Persian mystic poet and Sufi master Jalaloddin Mohammed Balkhi Rumi—commonly referred to simply as Rumi—has enchanted and enthralled readers from every faith and background with his universal themes of love, friendship, and spirituality, which he seamlessly wove into evanescent poetry.

Translated by renowned Rumi expert Nader Khalili, over 120 poems—including twenty-one previously unpublished—have been carefully collected and curated in this beautifully illustrated edition. The verses herein perfectly express the spiritual quest and desire for a deeper understanding of not only ourselves, but also of our collective oneness as humankind.

Author Biography

For 25 years, Nader Khalili's specialty as an architect was skyscrapers. Then at thirty-eight, his turning point in life, he "... bought a motorcycle and went to the desert for five years in Iran to see what the solution was for sheltering the poor in the world and to learn from what already existed. There [he] got to know five personalities: earth, water, air, fire and Rumi, the 800 year old Persian mystic poet..." Rumi taught him the unity of these universal elements, forming his "Archemy" -- architecture and alchemy. Water is fire, earth is water, and there is a unity in all elements.

His translations of Rumi are included in the Everyman's Library edition of Rumi Poems, published by Knopf, alongside Coleman Barks, who is the best known translator.

Translator Nader Khalili (1936­­–2008) was a world-renowned Iranian-American architect, author, humanitarian, and teacher. Khalili was also the founder and director of the California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture (Cal-Earth). Khalili was raised by the poetry of Rumi. As a child, his grandmother would recite Rumi’s poetry to lull him to sleep. He later developed a passion for studying and translating Rumi’s works. Rumi’s poetry also became an intrinsic part of Khalili’s architectural career. Inspired by the mystical poetry of Rumi, his architecture was distilled from the timeless principles of this universe and its timeless materials—the elements of earth, air, water, and fire.