The Mathnawi (also known as the Masnavi) of Jalaluddin Rumi is one of the most revered works of Persian literature and Sufi mysticism. Composed of six books and approximately 25.000 verses, it is a spiritual guide that illuminates the path to divine love and the inner workings of the soul The Mathnawi blends stories. parables, and philosophical teachings, offering profound insights into the nature of human experience, suffering, and the search for God. Its central theme is the idea of love as a transformative force that connects the individual with the divine.
Reynold A. Nicholson, a distinguished British scholar and translator. is credited with one of the most influential English translations of the Mathnawi. Nicholson's translation, published in the early 20th century, made Rümi's teachings accessible to a Western audience. sparking renewed interest in Sufi thought and mysticism. His rendition captures not only the meaning but also the poetie elegance and spiritual depth of the original Persian text. Nicholson's scholarly approach ensures that the nuances of Rumi's philosophical and mystical ideas are faithfully conveyed, providing readers with a rich understanding of Rumi's worldview. His work remains a cornerstone in the academic study of Rumi and continues to inspire those seeking spiritual insight through the teachings of the great Sufi poet.
THERE are complete translations of the Mathnawi in Turkish¹, Arabic, and Hindustani³, but only the first two of the six Books of the poem have hitherto been made accessible in their entirety to European readers, though a number of extracts from Books III-VI are translated in E. H. Whinfield's useful abridgment. While it may seem surprising that a work so cele-brated, and one which reflects (however darkly at times) so much of the highest as well as the lowest in the life and thought of the Mohammedan world in the later Middle Ages, should still remain imperfectly known to Western students, I think that this gap in our knowledge can at least be excused. Judged by modern standards, the Mathnawi is a very long poem: it contains almost as many verses as the Iliad and Odyssey together and about twice as many as the Divina Commedia; and these comparisons make it appear shorter than it actually is, since every verse of the Mathnawi has twenty-two syllables, whereas the hexameter may vary from thirteen to seventeen, and the terza rima, like the Spenserian stanza, admits only ten or eleven in each verse, so that the Mathnawi with 25,700 verses is in reality a far more extensive work than the Faerie Queene with 33,500. On the other hand, it is easily surpassed in length by several Persian poems; and the fact that the Shahnáma has been translated from beginning to end into English, French, and Italian answers the question asked by Georg Rosen-""Who would care to devote a considerable part of his lifetime to translating thirty or forty thousand Persian distichs of unequal poetical worth?"" The size of the Mathnawi is not the chief or the worst obstacle by which its translator is confronted. He at once finds himself involved in the fundamental difficulty, from which there is no escape, that if his translation is faithful, it must be to a large extent unintelligible, and that if he tries to make it intelligible throughout he must often substitute for the exact rendering a free and copious paraphrase embodying matter which properly belongs to a commentary, though such a method cannot satisfy any one who wants to understand the text and know what sense or senses it is capable of bearing. Therefore a complete version of the Mathnawi means, for scientific purposes, a faithful translation supplemented by a full commentary; and considering the scarcity of competent Persian scholars in Europe, no one need wonder that the double task has not yet been accomplished. The most important European translations are enumerated in the following list, which shows incidentally that the greater part of the work already done stands to the credit of this country.
1. Mesnewi oder Doppelverse des Scheich Mewlânâ Dschelâl-ed-din Rumi, aus dem Persischen ubertragen von Georg Rosen. (Leipzig, 1849.)
Being written in rhymed verse, this excellent version of about a third of Book 1 (vv. 1-1371 in my edition) does not preserve the literal form of the original, but as a rule the meaning is given correctly even where misunderstanding would have been pardon-able, while the explanatory notes keep the reader in touch with the mystical background of the poem. The translator has left out a good deal and in verse-translations of Oriental poetry this is a merit rather than a fault. His book, which was reprinted in 1913 with an introduction by his son, Dr F. Rosen, should help to quicken the growing interest of Germany in Persian literature.
2. The Mesnevi of Mevlana Jelalu'd-din Muhammed er-Rümi. Book the First, together with some account of the life and acts of the Author, of his ancestors, and of his descendants, illustrated by a a selec selection of characteristic anecdotes, as collected by their historian, Mevlānā Shemsu'd-din Ahmed el-Eflakt el-Arifi. Translated and the poetry versified by James W. Red-house. (London, 1881.)
Sir James Redhouse's translation of Book 1 is much less accurate than Rosen's. Its peculiarities cause us to speculate why this eminent Turkish scholar, who was not quite at home in Persian mysticism, should have embarked upon a task so formidable; or how, with the sagacity to perceive and the candour to confess his lack of skill in versifying, he allowed himself to be misled by the idea that any kind of verse is superior to prose as a medium for the translation of poetry. The excerpts from Aflakí's Manáqibu 'l-Arifin, though legendary in character, supply valuable information concerning the poet and the circle of Şufís in which he lived.
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