Rumi was born in Balkh (in modern-day Afghanistan) in the thirteenth century before eventually settling in Konya, in present-day Turkey. He came from a scholarly family and became a jurist in the Hanafi school, one of the four main Sunni legal traditions. He also became a prominent Sufi teacher, founding the Mevlevi Order (aka “Whirling Dirvishes”) that continues to this day.

Rumi is presented today as a universal mystic, but it is difficult to fully understand his work without learning about his Muslimness. Students are often surprised to discover that the same writer celebrated for ecstatic poetry about Divine love likely spent much of his daily life adjudicating legal disputes!

The Masnavi, Rumi’s sprawling six-volume masterpiece, remains one of the most beloved spiritual classics in the world. It is treasured not only within Sufi communities, but also by readers broadly interested in mysticism, poetry, ethics, storytelling, and the spiritual life.

One of the first stories we’ll read is “The Healing of the Sick Slave-Girl.” There is a king who falls in love with the maiden, but when she comes to the palace he discovers that she is in love with a goldsmith in her home town. He brings the goldsmith to her, and modern readers think he is being very selfless…until he orders the goldsmith killed!

By drawing on various commentaries, we’ll learn that each character symbolizes different aspects of love and attachment within spiritual life. Unpacking this story early on will train us to look for unexpected layers of meaning in subsequent stories. Like Sufi interpreters, we will approach the text on multiple levels at once.

My other favorite story is towards the end of the first book of the Masnavi (the volume that we’re reading). Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, has defeated an enemy in battle and is about to dispatch him, when the enemy spits in his face. Instead of killing him, Ali drops his sword because he realizes that he is angry and can’t continue the battle while his ego-self is so prominent. The story brings up so much about how Sufi texts teach us about letting go of our nafs, that lower ego-self.

We’ll learn more about the historical context of Rumi and his work, as well as his legacy. This includes learning about how Sufism (Islamic mysticism) developed from the early Muslim period through to Rumi’s time, through to today. We will compare and contrast different English translations to get a sense of how the Rumi we receive depends greatly on the filter imposed by each translator.

Students will be well-prepared to continue studying the remaining five volumes of the Masnavi, Rumi’s other poetry, or moving on to read other Sufi writers from the premodern period.

Each live session features lecture and discussion, and are recorded for participants who can’t make it to the live sessions. All participants can also post questions on the course website and I will respond before the following session. My approach to teaching is to prioritize students’ questions, and use them to get to the most important concepts and readings.