Poet of All Nations

Although some Western readers have noted certain superficial similarities between the writings of Rumi and those that other Persian poet familiar in the West, Omar Khayyam, the two poets are actually quite different in their core philosophies, particularly when read in the rather loose translation of Khayyam’s works by Edward Fitzgerald. From the 1870 through the Roaring Twenties Khayyam’s writings were wildly popular in England and America, so much so that many Christian ministers, aware of Rumi’s poetry, united in urging Western scholars to hurry our translations of Rumi to counteract Khayyam’s hedonistic and atheistic message with something more spiritual and uplifting.

Rumi’s impact on the art and philosophy of Central Asia, and most Islamic countries, is almost too great to measure. In the West, Rembrandt was inspired to draw him and Dante, Fredrick Hegel, Goethe and Gandhi have all paid tribute to his genius and his message. Pope John XXIII in a special tribute declared “In the name of the Catholic world, I bow with respect before the memory of Mevlana.”

Many today consider Rumi to be the “poet of all nations” and a search of the listings under his name on Amazon.com, will reveal more than fourteen pages of books either by or about the great Iranian mystic. In the modern world of cultural ignorance, violence and warmongering, Rumi's life work is a call to turn one’s back on hatred and revenge.

Some Poems by Rumi

Terrible destruction dances and the world’s days darken.

If you want Supreme Reality, hide form fame.

You’re looking for the Pearl? Plunge, now to the sea’s bottom.

What is on shore is only foam.

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Last night a friend asked me, “Where is your homeland?”

I said nothing, for what could I say?

My homeland is not Egypt, or Syria or Iraq.

My homeland’s a place that has never had a name.

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Love’s nationality is separate from all other religions,

The lover’s religion and nationality is the Beloved (God).

The lover’s cause is separate from all other causes

Love is the astrolabe of God’s mysteries.

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The children follow,
not knowing the taste of wine, or how
his drunkenness feels. All people on this planet
are children, except for a very few.
No one is grown up except those free of desire.

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Come, come, come again,

Whoever you may be,

Come again, even though

Yu may be a pagan or fire worshipper.

Our hearth is not the threshold of despair.

Come again, even if you may have

Violated your vows a hundred times,

Come again

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