rumi roaming

Guernica World Editions (93)

9781771839709

200 pages, 28 colour pages pages | October 15, 2024

An encounter with Rumi is akin to chasing an elusive melody; one is perpetually left yearning for more. Yet, within the pages of rumi roaming, we are graced with a masterful intervention that confronts the crises of our modern age—a crisis rooted in language and its intricate dance of translation. Seamlessly weaving modern renditions of Rumi's ghazals with a tapestry of contemporary creative nonfiction, melodious poetry, scholarly musings, immersive photo essays, and haunting videos, this collection addresses a void I've perennially sensed in my engagements with Rumi's diverse oeuvre, from poetic verses to visual tapestries. The Algorithmic encounter that concludes this journey offers a wry nod, a poignant irony, underscoring the pressing relevance and urgency of such a groundbreaking endeavor.

Zainub Verjee, artist, critic and scholar, Governor General's Award recipient and Member of the Order of Canada

rumi roaming is the long-awaited work that finally addresses some of the most questionable aspects of the popular Rumi. That the popularity of Rumi’s bestselling translations in English remains unaffected by a rise in racism towards people who share his region and culture is a clear indication that the best-selling translations are failing profoundly, a failure felt most acutely by people of Persian and Central Asian origin. Sensitive to post-colonial problematics of translation and without avoiding the most challenging and potentially offensive aspects of Rumi’s oeuvre, in rumi roaming a diversity of creative thinkers bare their souls in the spirit of the poet himself to connect directly and transparently with their audience about how his poetry resonates with them in the present moment. This multi-media volume is far more sophisticated and nuanced in its vision of Rumi than criticisms that have focused simply on the stripping of Islamic references in popular translations. Rumi roaming provides a much richer and more creative re-reading of Rumi than has been previously available.

Jawid Mojaddedi, professor of religion at Rutgers University and translator of The Masnavi for Oxford World's Classics

rumi roaming masterfully shines a light on the complex and contradictory legacies of Rumi both past and present, and inevitably, the future. Artists, scholars, and activists bring themselves to the figure of Rumi and grapple with the various dimensions of Rumi's life, social context, and literary outputs, especially as it has interjected their lives, such as his poetry that evoked love and longing, sexist, and patriarchal stories, and calls for revolution. The essays, poems, and art in these pages are multi-dimensional, multi-linguistic, and global. They challenge easy ideas of translation and transmission. Though Rumi remains a popular spiritual icon today, this volume and its contributors showcase that this popularity should not be taken at face value but needs to be interrogated and disentangled. The contributors to the volume and Hashemi have done a great service in taking this important and difficult first step for us the readers, but as with any mystical path, including that of Rumi's, the rest depends on what we the readers do with this knowledge.

M. Shobhana Xavier, professor of religion and diaspora at Queen's University and author of The Dervishes of the North: Rumi, Whirling, and the Making of Sufism in Canada

Contents

oneness of being, 1: dawn of existence

gita hashemi

to begin

notes on translation, transliteration, and pronunciation

sounding guide

rumi

masnavi, book one, section

raúl moarquech ferrera-balanquet

sama’ zikr recuerdos remembrances (español)

raúl moarquech ferrera-balanquet

translated by ml papusa molina

sama’ zikr recuerdos remembrances (english)

rumi

ghazal 1759

masoud eskandari

the self

gita hashemi

being the astrolabe: with fatemeh keshavarz, part

rumi

ghazal 1393

charles c. smith, meryem alaoui

between shadow and light

oneness of being, 2: come come

elena basile

the afterlife of rumi: with fatemeh keshavarz, part 2

rumi

ghazal 37

trish salah

after 37

gita hashemi

angel meets rumi in bulgaria

rumi

ghazal 1855

öykü tekten

two poems and two pages with marginalia 94

hajar hussaini

look at the moon

mahdi tourage

rumi is irrelevant

jayce salloum

indefinite allusions in a limitless sky

gita hashemi

roaming with rumi

oneness of being, 3: dust in the sunlight

rumi

ghazal 2131

nika khanjani

broken hands and feet

elena basile

making room for rumi

rumi

ghazal 294

hjalmer wenstob, tim masso, annika benoit-jansson

hišukʔiš c̓ awaak: exploring rumi through nuučaan̓uł

carly butler

mamaałni

zainab amadahy

anti-oppression is not a healing modality

rumi

ghazal 1789

radha d’souza

what can activist scholars learn from rumi?

ehab lotayef

i created you

rumi

ghazal 648

oneness of being, 4: open fields

credits and acknowledgements

colophon

ONELINE MEDIA

oneness of being, 1 | video by gita hashemi

masnavi 1, 1 | read by hajar hussaini (Persian), zainab amadahy (English)

ghazal 1759 | read by gita hashemi (Persian)

ghazal 1393 | read by charles c. smith (english), gita hashemi (Persian)

between shadow and light | performance by charles c. smith, meryem alaoui

oneness of being, 2 | video by gita hashemi

ghazal 37 | read by trish salah (english), gita hashemi (Persian)

after 37 | read by trish salah (English)

translating ghazal 1855 | elena basile and gita hashemi at work

ghazal 1855 | read by hajar hussaini (Persian)

alan kurdî | read by öykü tekten (English)

the tale of mistress and her donkey | read by mahdi tourage (Persian)

oneness of being, 3 | video by gita hashemi

ghazal 2131 | read by elena basile (English)

broken hands and feet | video by nika khanjani

ghazal 294 | read by jayce salloum (English)

ghazal 1789 | read by radha d’souza (English)

i created you | read by ehab lotayef (Arabic)

ghazal 648 | read by charles c. smith (English)

oneness of being, 4 | video by gita hashemi