Ta'ālīm-i Mawlavī: Persian 1403

Edward Henry Whinfield (1836-1922) was a translator of Persian literature and this book was first published in 1887 and is here in faithful facsimile paperback reprint. In this classic work he translates comments upon 'The Masnavi', Rumi's greatest work and one of the most important texts in the study of Sufism. 'Neither Christian, Jew, Zoroastrian or Muslim am I; I am not an Easterner or a Westerner, or of land or sea…' Jelalludin Rumi (1207-1273) led a quiet life of an Islamic teacher in Anatolia (modern Turkey) until the age of 37 when he met a wandering dervish named Shams Tabriz through whom he encountered the Divine Presence in a way that utterly transformed him. The result of this epiphany was the greatest body of mystical poetry the world has ever seen, and the establishment of a spiritual movement (Sufism) that would eventually stretch from Africa to China, enduring to our day.