Masnavi

This article is about the Sufi poem by Rumi. For the type of poem, see Masnavi (poetic form).

Masnavi, a calligraphic specimen from 1490, Mevlana Museum, Konya, Turkey

The Masnavi, or Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi (Persian: مثنوی معنوی, DMG: Mas̲navī-e maʻnavī), also written Mathnawi, or Mathnavi, is an extensive poem written in Persian by Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi, also known as Rumi. It is a series of six books of poetry that together amount to around 25,000 verses or 50,000 lines.[1][2] The Masnavi is one of the most influential works of Sufism, ascribed to be like a "Quran in Persian".[3] Some Muslims regard the Masnavi as one of the most important works of Islamic literature, falling behind only the Quran.[4] It has been viewed by many commentators as the greatest mystical poem in world literature.[5] It is a spiritual text that teaches Sufis how to reach their goal of being truly in love with God.[6]

  1. ^ Allamah Mohamad Taghi Jafari, Tafsir Masnavi
  2. ^ Karim Zamani, Tafsir Masnavi Ma'navi
  3. ^ Jawid Mojaddedi (2004). "Introduction". Rumi, Jalal al-Din. The Masnavi, Book One. Oxford University Press (Kindle Edition). p. xix.
  4. ^ Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature. (2013). (n.p.): Taylor & Francis.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ Jalāl, Al-Dīn Rūmī, and Alan Williams. Spiritual Verses: the Book of the Masnavi-ye Manavi. London: Penguin, 2006. Print