LINKS (updated 8/09)
Masnavi-Related Sites
Turkish website's Masnavi scans (Whin. trans. & Nich. trans. [reformatted, no tables of contents])
Nich. trans. of Books I & II of Mathnawi (same as on semazen.net site; reformatted, no table of contents)
Nich. trans. of Books III & IV of Mathnawi (same as on semazen.net site; reformatted, no table of contents)
Nich. trans. of Books V & VI of Mathnawi (same as on semazen.net site; reformatted, no table of contents)
Nich. trans. of Books 3 & 4 of Mathnawi (has many misspelled words due to scanning errors)
Hard copy (CD no longer available) of the complete English translation of Mathnawi and commentary by Nich. with calligraphy text (apparently based on his Persian text) with several other works (in Persian and English) by Rumi and `Attar
Order the three volumes of Nicholson's complete translation of "The Mathnawi" (2 books per volume), the two volumes of Commentary, & the three volumes of the Persian text (1926-40)--separately or in sets, from the website of Nicholson's publisher
Order the three volumes of Nicholson's complete translation of "The Mathnawi" & the three volumes of the Persian text from Amazon.com
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 Whinfield's (abbreviated) translation of the Masnavi(1898)
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 Mojaddedi's rhymed translation of Book 1 of Masnavi (2004)
Order Mojaddedi's rhymed translation of Book 2 of Masnavi (2007)
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, read by Anton Lesser (from Amazon.com)
Order a 4 CD audiobook of selections from Williams' translation of Book 1 of Masnavi, read by Anton Lesser (from Amazon.co.uk, £8.99)
Order Prof. Erkan Türkmen's book, "The Essence of Rumi's Masnevi" (published in Turkey, contains good commentary)
"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 (an earlier version, "Mathnawi in the 2nd mirror" also contains Dr. Soroosh's narration of Book 2 linked to all verses of the text--Ver1.95)
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.
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
Complete text of the ghazaliyyat based on Foruzanfar's edition, uploaded by Javed Hussen
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
Nihat Tsolak's Masnavi page
Nihat Tsolak's Masnavi page
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)
Masnavi manuscript (17 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)
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"
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".
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).
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)
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 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
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
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)
Weblog link to Dar-Al-Masnavi.org discussion group
Other Things to Order
Order "The Quatrains of Rumi," translated by Ibrahim Gamard (Dar-al-Masnavi.org webmaster) and Ravan Farhadi (Afghan scholar), published 5/09
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, 2003, 2007
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)
Mevlevi Organizations
The Chelebi family website
The website of the International Mevlânâ Foundation, Istanbul, Turkey (Faruk Hemdem Çelebi, Chairman)
The Istanbul Mevlana Educational and Cultural Association (Mevlâna EGitim ve Kültür DerneGi) (KadIköy, Turkey), led by Shaykh Ahmet Kadri Yetish (followers of the current Chelebi Efendi, Mevlana's descendent)
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)
"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)
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
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
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)
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
