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LINKS

ABOUT THE COMPLETE TRANSLATION OF RUMI'S QUATRAINS

Masnavi-Related Sites

The Mathnawi of Jalaluddin Rumi, Books I-VI, translated into English by R.A. Nicholson, 3 volumes, 1926-1934; reissued in three volumes of English translation plus three volumes of Persian text and two volumes of commentary, by Gibb Memorial Trust and published by Edinburgh University Press, 2025; Foreword by Alan Williams.

The Masnavi of Rumi, Book One, translated into English by Alan Williams into English meter; contains the Persian text, L.B. Taurus, 2020.

The Masnavi of Rumi, Book Two, translated into English by Alan Williams into English meter; contains the Persian text, L.B. Taurus, 2020.

The Masnavi of Rumi, Book Three, translated by Alan Williams; contains the Persian text, L.B. Taurus, forthcoming.

Rumi: Spiritual Verses, The First Book of the Masnavi-ye Ma'navi, translated by Alan Williams, Penguin, 2006 (subsequently revised as The Masnavi of Rumi Book One).

Masnavi.Net. This is Nicholson's Englsh translation of The Mathnawi of Jalaluddin Rumi, Books I-VI, translated by R.A. Nicholson, 1926-1934; formatted on a website with matching Persian text, audio recordings of every couplet, and matching Turkish translations; edited by Ibrahim Gamard who incorporated Nicholson's appendix of corrections to the translations, but not Nicholson's appendix of corrections to rhe Persian text (except for the first 35 verses of Book One which have been corrected to accord with the Konya Manuscript); Nicholson's Latinized translations have been translated from Persian; vowel markings have been added; it has an excellent search function for words in three languages; this website was published on the Internet in 2015 (the year Nicholson's copyright expired), and it is owned and managed by Ibrahim Gamard.

The Mathnawi of Jalaluddin Rumi, Books I-VI, translated by R.A. Nicholson, 1926-1934; edited by Michael Beilas; this is Nicholson's English translation with modernized English text, and all parentheses surrounding Nicholson's added explnatory words removed.

Mathnawi Books with Persian texts and updated Nicholson translation; this is Nicholson's translation edited by Kabir Helminski; with modernized wording and with all parenthesess and their explanatory contents removed; all translations have matching Persian texts.

A Full-Text Website of Mawlana Rumi's Masnavi with matching texts in Persian, English, and Turkish; with search capacity in all three languages; with matching Persian audio files.

Turkish translation of all six ookws of Mesnevi (by Veled Chelebi)

Whinfield's (abbreviated) translation of the Masnavi (1898) with word search capacity

Redhouse's translation of Book 1 the Masnavi (1881), not considered as very accurate by Nicholson

Order Mojaddedi's rhymed translation of Book 1 of Masnavi (2004)

Order Mojaddedi's rhymed translation of Book 2 of Masnavi (2007)

Order Mojaddedi's rhymed translation of Book 3 of Masnavi (2013)

Order Mojaddedi's rhymed translation of Book 4 of Masnavi (2017).

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Order Mojaddedi's rhymed translation of Book 5 of Masnavi (2022)

Order Mojaddedi's rhymed translation of Book 6 of Masnavi (2025

Order Victoria Holbrook's translation of a late Ottoman Turkish commentary on Book I of Masnavi--the first extensive commentary in English since Nicholson completed his commentaries in 1940; contains the complete translation (from Persian) of Book I embedded in the commentary; amazingly, the Masnavi translation replicates the eleven syllables of every half-couplet as in the original Persian; each couplet is translated into imperfect rhyme, with the assonant sound of the final vowel or consonants. Highly recommended.

Order Arberry's "Tales From the Mathnawi" (1961)

Order Williams' translation of Book 1 of Masnavi (2006, in iammbic pentameters)

Order a 4 CD audiobook of selections from Williams' translation of Book 1 of Masnavi (2006), read by Anton Lesser (from Amazon.com)

Read an excellent article, "The Operation of Divine Love," an interview with Professor Alan Williams about his newly published translation of Books One and Two of the Masnavi

Watch and listen to a talk by Alan Williams: "New Light on Reading Rumi," 10/20

Audio talks about various themes in Rumi's works by Professor Fatemeh Keshavarz, University of Maryland.

Order Prof. Erkan Turkmen's book, "The Essence of Rumi's Masnevi" (published in Turkey, contains good commentary)

Order audio CDs of Nicholson's translations of Books I - V of the Mathnawi, read beautifully by Jamiluddin Morris of Southampton, UK.

"Rumi's Masnavi", an excellent series of eight short articles on Masnavi written by Prof. Franklin Lewis for the Guardian, London (11/09 - 1/10)

Alternative page for Prof. Lewis' eight articles on "Rumi's Masnavi", with reader comments

Articles about Masnavi translated from Turkish

Online Persian text of the entire Masnavi, based on the DVD edition of A. Soroosh, based on the oldest manuscript of Masnavi (the "Konya manuscript").

Same as above, standard font: Online Persian text of the entire Masnavi, based on the DVD edition of A. Soroosh, based on the oldest manuscript of Masnavi (the "Konya manuscript").

Order a DVD of A. Soroosh's edition of the complete Persian text of Masnavi based on the oldest manuscript, with excellent search capacity

Order a DVD, "Mathnavi-ye Ma'navi" based on the edition of Mahdî âzâr Yazdî (similar to the editions of Soroosh and of Sobhânî), with narration linked to every line of the texts of all 6 books (narration of Books 1 and 6 by Hosayn âhî and of Books 3-5 by Amîr Nûrî), with search capacity, with 5 commentaries, with complete Arabic text of Qur'an with Persian translation (there is also an MP3 version available of the entire narration on 2 CD's called "Sawt-e kâmel-e shesh daftar-e mathnavî-ye ma'navî"

Online Persian MP3 narration from the DVD above with download links for the entire Masnavi in seven sections, based on the edition of Mahdî âzâr Yazdî (similar to the editions of Soroosh and of Sobhânî), with narration of Books 1 and 6 by Hosayn âhî and of Books 3-5 by Amîr Nûrî.

"Modernized" version of Nicholson's translation, done by native English-speaking students (who do not know Persian) of Dr. Parviz Sahabi in Vancouver, Canada (with the help of his native Persian-speaking students who added matching Persian text). Older wording (such as "thou art") has been modernized. Words that Nicholson put in parentheses (to clarify, explain, and to smoothe phrasing) have been eliminated.

"A corrected text of the mystical couplets of Jalalu'din [sic] Rumi offered in the present day English of America." Rendered by Michael Beilas (editor). Words that Nicholson put in parentheses (to clarify, explain, and to smoothe phrasing) have been retained with the parentheses eliminated. "Occasional changes made to the original translation are based on the insight [sic] provided by a life-long student of the Mathnawi, a native speaker of the original Persian language" (= Dr. Parviz Sahabi). Quotation marks and italics indicate words quoted from the Qur'an (per Nicholson's method). This version of Nicholson's translation must be ordered in book form and is not available online (except via the "search inside this book" feature on amazon.com).

Hossein Kord's Persian website: complete text of the Masnavi (not Nich.'s edition--contains many verses added over the centuries, many of which are asterisked), with search capacity; complete text based on Foruzanfar's edition of the ghazaliy yat from Divan-e Kabir(Javed Hussen's upload divided into seven sections), with search capacity; text based on the "pseudo-Foruzanfar" edition of the ruba'iyat from Divan-e Kabir (1995 ruba'iyat--the authentic edition has 1983 and is differenly ordered), with search capacity

Translation of an Urdu commentary of Masnavi by a Cheshtî shaykh (Hakîm M. Akhtar Sâheb)

Order a CD of short Masnavi selections, translated and narrated by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Masnavi translations by Shahriar Shahriari

Order a selection of Masnavi stories written for children (11-14), 32 pages.

Link to purchase European languages translations of the Mathnawi (based on Nicholson's complete English translation) done by a Swedish scholar, Christer Oxenstierna (Spanish, German, French, Italian, and Swedish)

Order complete translations of Masnavi in sixteen languages (Albanian, Arabic, Dutch [Abdulwahid Van Bommel], English [Nicholson], French [de Vitray-Meyerovitch/Mortazavi], German [Kaveh Dilir Azar], Greek, Italian [Gabriele Mandel Khan], Japanese, Kazakh, Spanish [Oxenstierna], Swiss-German [Oxenstierna], Tajik, Turkish, Turkmen, Urdu, and Uzbek) through the Culture Bureau of the Konya Metropolitan Municipality

Masnavi manuscript (17 page sample)

Masnavi illustrations (India, 17th century)

Masnavi illustration (17th century)

Masnavi illustrations (Iran, 15th century14 page sample)

Masnavi selections of Dr. Zahra Moussavi, U. of Manitoba (Persian texts, requires downloaded Persian font to view)

Dars-e-Masnavi Online (Urdu commentary on Masnavi by Huzoor Qibla Alam Pir Alauddin Siddiqui, with video and MP3 download links)

"The Operation of Love in Rumi's Masnavi" (A talk in 2007 by Alan Williams, with excerpts from his translation of Book 1 together with transliterations of the Persian text)

"The Ocean of Nonexistence" (An excellent article about some important terms and themes in the Masnavi written by Mohammed Rustom, from the "Mawlana Rumi Review," 2013)

"Shara e Masnavi" (commentary on Masnavi, in Urduj) by Dr. Qazi Burhanuddin Ahmed Saeedi

Online Mesnevi (complete Turkish translation)

Masnavi in Tajik (Cyrillic) script

"The Heart of Hearts of Rumi's Mathnawi or Lubb-e Lubab-e Mathnawi-ye Ma'nawi", by Mawlana Mulla Husayn Wa'iz-e Kashifi (ca. 1436-1505) translated from Persian to English by Wazir Dayers ("an aid and benefit for Sufi adepts who studied Sufism using Hazrat Mawlana Jalalu'ddin Rumi's Mathnawi", in PDF format, made freely available to all who are interesed by Wazir Dayers in April 2014)

Listen to Nicholson's English translation of the Masnavi, all six books (four uploaded so far [10/15], with matching translation, verse by verse), beautifully recited by Jamil Morris, a Sufi shaykh from England, via a link on his website (zahuri.org)

A Masnavi blog by Abdur Rahman, an English Mevlevi

Divan-Related Sites

Complete text of the ghazaliyyat and tarji`at from Divan-e Kabir based on Foruzanfar's 10 volume edition, with search capacity; text of ruba`iyyat based on the "pseudo-Foruzanfar" edition in the one-volume edition of Divan-e Kabir (1995 ruba'iyat--the authentic edition has 1983 and is differenly ordered), with search capacity

Ehsan Ashrafi's Persian website (with diacritics and commentary):
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Complete Persian text of the Masnavi;
Persian text of the ghazaliyyat
Persian text of the Roba'iyyat, up to Quatrain 1937 so far;
Complete Persian text of the Discourses
Complete Persian text of the Seven Sermons (Majalis-e Sab'a);
Complete Persian text of the Discourses of Shams (Maqalat-e Shams-e Tabrizi - Khoshnevis edition);
English text of Nicholson's translation of the Masnavi, up to Book 1: 853 so far

Complete text of the ghazaliyyat based on Foruzanfar's edition, uploaded by Javed Hussen

Order a new translation into English drectly from Persian of the entire Divan-i Kabir, by Jeffrey R. Osborne, self-published in 10 volumes so far: Volume I and II (The Quatrains), 2017; Volume III (The First Meter), 2018; Volume IV (The Second Meter), 2018; Volume V (The Third Meter), 2018; Volume VI (The Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Meters), 2018; Volume VII (The Seventh Meter), 2018; Volume VIII (The Eighth Meter), 2018; Volume IX (The Ninth Meter), 2018; Volume X (The Tenth Meter), 2018;

Other Rumi Sites

The "Mawlana Rumi Review," a publication of the Rumi Institute (Cyprus) and the Rumi Studies Group (UK), an annual journal (the first issue was published in 5/10), with articles, reports, and book reviews in English by leading Rumi scholars. This is the first academic journal devoted to the works of Mawlana Rumi.

Review, in Persian, of the first issue (2010) of the "Mawlana Rumi Review"

Online copy of A.J. Arberry's "Mystical Poems of Rumi" (400 translations of ghazals), combining both books, with typoggraphical errors (mainly in the second volume) corrected by Franklin Lewis

Mevlana Studies website: "This site is intended for English-speaking Muslims eager to understand the works of Mevlânâ Jalâl ad-Dîn Rûmî within the Islamic tradition".

Persian text of Mawlana Rumi's Discourses [Fîhi Mâ Fîhi], edited by A. Golpinarli

Revision (1999) by Doug Marman of Arberry's translation of "Rumi's Discourses" (not strongly recommended, per numerous omissions and alterations).

Revision (2010) by Doug Marman of Arberry's translation of "Rumi's Discourses" (an improvement of the 1999 version, compared with the Persian text to improve acuracy).

A translation of Rumi's Discourse no. 2 by a native Persian speaker who is a professional translator.

Turkish website's scans (Marman's revision of Arberry's trans. of "Discourses of Rumi" [Fîhi Mâ Fîhi] and Nevit Ergin's translations of ghazals from Divan-i Kebir [based on Golpinarli's Turkish trans.])

Sixty three of Arberry's (1949) rhymed translations of Rumi's quatrains (with transliterations and key word translations by Eliza Tashibi)

Translations of some of Rumi's quatrains (from Dîvân-e Kabîr) by Zara Houshmand (self-taught in Persian)

Rhymed translations from Rumi's Divan by Shahriar Shahriari (with Persian text)

"Fundamentals of Rumi's Thought: A Mevlevi Sufi Perspective" online version (excerpts, 318 pages, from the Turkish book, "Mevlâna: hayati, shahsiyeti, fikirleri" of 566 pages by Shefik Can, venerable Mevlevi shaykh, Rumi scholar and translator, and Masnavi teacher, who died in 2005)

Dr. Abdolkarim Soroush's lectures in English, at Harvard University

Society for Understanding Mevlana (website of Nevit Ergin, who has translated the entire Divan into English from a Turkish translation; 22 volumes have been published, with the last volumes [about three] still unpublished)

Order the complete and authentic (10-volume) Persian edition of the Divan by Badi`ozzaman Foruzanfar, "Kolliyat-e Shams ya Divan-e Kabir," with text-search capacity, via Google EBooks

Online Persian text of the entire Divan-e Kabir, based on the first seven volumes of Foruzanfar's edition, based on the oldest manuscripts (Unfortunately, the Ruba`iyyat are not based on his authentic eighth volume but on the inferior Isfahan edition of the quatrains added to a one-volume or two-volume edition of Foruzanfar's edition).

Iranian "Jalal al-Din Rumi" website with an English page (with some audio tracks of poems translatedinto English) and a Persian page (with numerous audio tracks in Persian); also a downloadable Persian font is available if needed (http://www.farhangsara.com/font.htm)

Encyclopedia Britannica article on Rumi

Wikipedia article on Rumi

The roots of Rumi and the Mathnawi in Islam

Paintings inspired by Rumi translations by Dr. Rasoul Sorkhabi

A well-researched treatise in English about the Persian/Iranian backgrounds of Mawlana Rumi and Shams-i Tabrizi and a refutation of claims that they were Turkish, by Rahgozari Minutalab

New Yorker article (1/17): "The Erasure of Islam From the Poetry of Rumi"

Mevlânâ Arashtirmalari Derneghi (Turkish academic website about Mevlana Rumi's works, with some articles in English)

Selçuk University of Rumi Studies (Konya,Turkey)

"Rumi and His Message of Love," lectures (in Turkish, translated into English) at Yale, Columbia and Harvard universities, 2/13-3/13, by Shaykh Tughrul Inancer Efendi

Translation into German of "The Quatrains of Rumi" (translated by Gamard and Farhadi)

"YüzyIllar Boyu Mevlâna ve Mevlevîlik, Mevlana and Mevlevi Order Throughout Centuries" (published in Turkey, 2008, 436 pages, by the International Mevlana Foundation, Istanbul, and the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism; edited by Esin Çelebi Bayru and Bekir Reha Saghbash. In Turkish and (complete) English translation, with articles on Mevlana and the Mevlevi Order, Mevlevi Music, the Mevlevi Oder and its Social History, the International Mevlana Foundation Services Program, and Appendices (including Mevlevi Terms)

Rumi List Serves and Newsgroups

"Sunlight" (subscribe to receive daily Rumi poems; of special value are postings of comparisons of "poetic versions" with more accurate translations of the same poems)

"Ruminations" (a Rumi discussion group)

Other Things to Order

Order "Rumi and Islam," translated (mostly from the Masnavi) by Ibrahim Gamard (Dar-al-Masnavi.org webmaster), published 3/04

Order the new edition of Arberry's translations of 400 ghazals from Divan-e Kabir, "Mystical Poems of Rumi" and "Mystical Poems of Rumi: Second Selection" combined in one volume, with corrected text

Order Forûzânfar's complete edition of the Persian text of Dîvân-e Kabîr (or "Dîvân-e Shams-e Tabrîzî"), with searchable text, with 425 ghazals narrated by A. Soroosh linked to each verse

Order a facsimile of the beautiful manuscript of Divan-i Kebir (1368, two volumes) that is on display at the Mevlana Mausoleum in Konya Turkey

Order a highly recommended and encyclopedic book about Rumi, by Franklin Lewis, "Rumi: Past and Present, East and West," 2003, 2007

Download a searchable PDF of Lewis' book, "Rumi: Past and Present, East and West," 2000, 2001, 2003

Order a complete translation of stories about Rumi (by Aflaki, a disciple of his grandson)

Order accurately translated excerpts from the "Discourses of Shams-e Tabrizi" done (2004) by Prof. William Chittick)

Order "Fundamentals of Rumi's Thought: A Mevlevi Sufi Perspective" (excerpts, 318 pages, from the Turkish book, "Mevlâna: hayati, shahsiyeti, fikirleri" of 566 pages by Shefik Can, venerable Mevlevi shaykh, Rumi scholar and translator, and Masnavi teacher, who died in 2005)

Order "Clarifications: Mystical Poetry of Rumi," Translated From the Persian by Robert Darr, 2002, 59 pages, Real Impressions, P.O. Box 714 Sausalito, CA 94966 (translated selections using Nicholson's text of the Masnavi)

Order a book of Rumi's stories and Praises about the Prophet Muhammad (published 3/04)

Order a book in English that introduces the Mevlevi way for beginners, written by a Mevlevi shaykh who lives in Istanbul: "Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi and Sufism: A Dervish's Logbook," by Mim Kemal Öke (published in Konya, Turkey, 9/17)

Order a book about the popularization of Rumi in the U.S.: "Rumi Comes to America: How the Poet of Mystical Love Arrived on Our Shores," by Bruce Miller (published 11/17)

Book review by Iljas Baker of 'Rumi Comes to America: How the Poet of Mystical Love Came to Our Shores" by Bruce Miller

Complete trandlation into English of Golpinarli's Mevlevi Adab and Customs, translated from Turkish (2025).

Mevlevi Organizations

The Chelebi family website

The website of the International Mevlânâ Foundation, Istanbul, Turkey (Faruk Hemdem Çelebi, Chairman)

Internationale Mevlana Stiftung Schweiz (Switzerland), led by Shaykh Hüseyin Peter Cunz (followers of the current Chelebi Efendi, Mevlana's descendent)

Internationale Hz. Mevlânâ Stiftung Mevlana e.V. Nürnberg (Germany), led by Shaykh Süleyman Bahn (followers of the current Chelebi Efendi, Mevlana's descendent)

The Mevlevi Order of Australia (Melbourne), led by Shaykh Abdul Aziz Dart since 1986 (now followers of the current Chelebi Efendi, Mevlana's descendent)

Mevlevi Nederland, led by Shaykh Yildirim Ekin.

Some Websites of Independent Groups

In Latvia (Riga). (Formerly affiliated with the late Kadri sheikh, Ali Baba of Konya)

Turkish Whirling Dervish Sema Group Websites

The Galata Mevlevi Music Ensemble of the Turkish Cultural Music Association (Türk Küktürü Müsikisi DerneGi, Galata Mevlevi Müsikisi ve Sema TopluluGu, Istanbul), led by Shaykh Nail Kesova (founded, 1978)--there is no Turkish website, but there is a webpage about the Galata Mevlevi Ensemble (in English) on a German international music website

The Galata Mevlevi Sema and Sufi Music Group of the Istanbul Mevlana Educational and Cultural Association (Mevlâna EGitim ve Kültür DerneGi, Galata Mevlevi Sema ve Tasavvuf Müzik TopluluGu), led by Shaykh Ahmet Kadri Yetish (formerly co-led by Shaykh Hüseyin Top, now retired) (founded, 1999)

The Istanbul Music and Sema Group (Istanbul Müzik ve Sema TopluluGu), Istanbul & Konya, led by Shaykh NadIr KarnIbüyükler (founded, 1998), the Sema group is in Konya

Video of Shaykh NadIr and his whirling dervish group in Konya

The Istanbul Historical Turkish Musical Group (Istanbul Tarihi Türk Müsikisi TopluluGu) of the Turkish Republic's Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Republic of Turkey, led by Shaykh Ömer TuGrul Inançer (founded, 1992)

The Konya Turkish Sufi Music Group (Konya Türk Tasavvuf MüziGi Toplulugu of the Turkish Republic's Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Konya, Turkey (founded, 1990)

Turkish website of a Mevlevi dervish, whirler (semazen), and reed-flute player (neyzen), Istanbul

Turkish Mevlevi Heritage Websites

A comprehensive website containing numerous texts, recordings, and videos of Mevlevi Sema musical compositions and ceremonies (by the owner of semazen.net)

Website of a cultural society in Eskishehir, where an historic Mevlevi center [tekke] has been preserved

Some International Rumi Sites

Afghan webpage

Swedish website

Order a book of selections from Masnavi and Divan-e Kabir in Swedish

Russian website

Polish Rumi website

Japanese Masnavi webpages (font needed for the Japanese characters)

Selections of Rumi's quatrains translated into Spanish by Clara Janés and Ahmad Taherí

"The Saints of the Whirling Dervishes", French translation (by Huart, 1922) from Persian of Aflaki's hagiography (Manaqib al-'Arifin)

Volume 2 of "The Saints of the Whirling Dervishes", French translation (by Huart, 1922) from Persian of Aflaki's hagiography (Manaqib al-'Arifin)

Some Rumi Videos

"Rumi and Shams: The Twined Flames (a video by Dr. Bahman Solati, 2025)"

Photographs of Konya, Türkiye

360 degree views of Mevlana Rumi's mausoleum in Konya

Photos of Konya, whirling dervishes, and Mevlevi-related art

Sacred Sites webpage about Konya

Some Reed Flute (Ney) Makers in Istanbul, Türkiye

hanefikirgiz@e-kolay.net (Hanefi KIrgIz's email address)

Rifat Varol's website

Ney Taksims

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