Description
Book SynopsisAfter his overwhelming and life-altering encounters with Shams of Tabriz, Rumi, the great thirteenth-century mystic, poet, and originator of the whirling dervishes, let go of many of the precepts of formal religion, insisting that only a complete personal dissolving into the larger energies of God could provide the satisfaction that the heart so desperately seeks. He began to speak spontaneously in the language of poetry, and his followers compiled his 44,000 verses into 23 volumes, collectively called the Divan. When Nevit Ergin decided to translate the Divan of Rumi into English, he enlisted the help of the Turkish government, which was happy to participate. The first 22 volumes were published without difficulty, but the government withdrew its support and refused to participate in the publication of the final volume due to its openly heretical nature. Now, in The Forbidden Rumi, Will Johnson and Nevit Ergin present for the first time in English Rumi’s poems from this forbidden volume. The collection is grouped into three sections: songs to Shams and God, songs of heresy, and songs of advice and admonition. In them Rumi explains that in order to transform our consciousness, we must let go of ingrained habits and embrace new ones. In short, we must become heretics.
Trade Review“For the past fifty years Nevit Ergin has been working to bring into English the entirety of Rumi’s vast Divani Shamsi Tabriz. This last volume is the most incendiary and it clearly dissolves the boundaries of organized religion and national ego that keep us from the table of friendship that Rumi invites us to. . . . We are very grateful to Dr. Ergin for his life’s work.” * Coleman Barks, translator of The Essential Rumi *
"It takes a great deal of courage to read
The Forbidden Rumi as it may press a lot of buttons, not only about your own pathway to God, but your views and prejudices about love, religion, heresy and Islam.
"All of Rumi’s poems have enjoined us to release the rules and open our hearts to our inner treasure of love, but these most controversial poems cut to the bone.
"This final book of Rumi’s poems is a must-read for any serious student of spiritual ecstasy. They pose questions that make us wonder and re-evaluate our views about a religion that is portrayed as governed by extremists. They reveal a hidden face of Islam that may surprise even moderate Islamists.
"Most importantly, these poems reveal that Islam too has always had a mystical, transcendent element that is its purest gift." * Lesley Crossingham, New Dawn, Mar-Apr 2007 *
Table of ContentsIntroductionSongs to Shams, Songs to GodHe Took Me Under His Arm Split Wide Open
I Won’t Repent His Love
How Can I Fool Him?
Water
Stay with Me
Conversations with God
The Greatness of Absence
How Happy a Time
What a Bird!
Love Letter to Shams
Death Is Life for You
More Than These
What Can I Do?
Give Up Yourself
I Keep Smiling
Why Are You Deceiving Me?
He Embraced Me Like His Own Soul
The Placeless Place
Everyone Else Is a Stranger
Beautiful One
The Promise Is Sweet
Still Say Nothing
Flying High On Your Wine
Offer Your Wine
Please Don’t Go
It Wasn’t Like That
Shamseddin
The Road Is Narrow
Don’t Go Away
Lifting the Curtain
His Trace
Wherever You Are
Don’t Go Anywhere Without Me
Your Blessing Is Unconditional
Songs of Advice, Songs of Admonition
Search There
The Best Nourishment
Fasting
Divine Road
Choose Love
God’s Ocean
Watch How God Opens the Door
The Journey Starts Here
Ascend the Mountain of Love
Don’t You Recall?
These Two Worlds
Outside the Sack
A Rascal in the Bazaar
Just Do It
Your Overflowing Secrets
The Drunks of Union
Ahead of the Thought
The Land of Absence
Love Is Its Own Proof
Advice to the Drunk at Heart
Light and Shadow
Words into Dust
Time to Journey
Come as You Are
The Language of the Heart
Free Wine
The Perfect Host
A Helper of Hearts
A Life Without Art
God’s Artistry
All That Is Good
Open the Door
Donkey and Ox
Checkmate
The Caravan’s Bells
Steal Pearls
This Temporary World
Some Advice
Music at the Tavern of Eternity
The Eggshell of the Body
Open Your Door
Heaven’s Door
Reborn
Submerged in Absence
Life Is Coming to the Rose Garden
The Path in the Heart
The Rose’s Plea
Why Are You So Reasonable?
You Are in His Hand
Cries of Confirmation
Words of the Secrets
Hidden from the Eyes
You Snatched My Heart
The Moon’s Slave
Cut It ShortSongs of Heresy
You Can’t Get Away
I Came Back to You
Everyone Is Welcome to This School
A Stranger to Myself
I Am the One!
Wake Up from Your Sleep
He Is Beyond Praise
Translator’s Afterword
