Thread by @iamrana

The "Masnawi" is Rumi's greatest poetic work, composed during the last years of his life
Mathnawî-yé Ma`nawî," which means "Rhyming Couplets of Deep Spiritual Meaning."

Excerpt From: "Masnawi Sacred Texts of Islam: Book One" by Mevlana Rumi.

The name "Mathnawî" (pro-nounced "Masnavî" in Persian) means "couplets" in Arabic [because the second half of the verse (in Arabic, "thanî") rhymes with the first]
#Rumi

The Masnavi is divided into six books, and Rumi wrote prefaces for each book. The earliest complete manuscript (the "Konya manuscript") was completed in December, 1278 (five years after Rumi's death).

Excerpt From: "Masnawi Sacred Texts of Islam: Book One" by Mevlana Rumi.

R. A. Nicholson was the first to translate the entire Masnavi into English (1926-34). Unfortunately, he did not have access to this earliest manuscript until he had translated through Book III, line 2835.

Excerpt From: "Masnawi Sacred Texts of Islam: Book One" by Mevlana Rumi.

From line 2836, onwards, however, his printed edition is based on the Konya manuscript. As a result,the first 2 1/2 books of his translation are based on less earlier manuscripts which contain numerous "improvements.
Masnawi Sacred Texts of Islam: Book One" by Mevlana Rumi.

Over the centuries, many such "improvements" have been added to the Masnavi, with the result that many lovers of the Masnavi in Iran, India, and Pakistan have editions which contain more than two thousand extra verses

"Masnawi Sacred Texts of Islam: Book One" by Mevlana Rumi.

Themes in the Masnawi

The six books of the Masnavi can be divided into three groups of two because each pair is linked by a common theme:

Books 1 and 2: They “are principally concerned with the nafs, the lower carnal self, and its self-deception and evil tendencies.”

Books 3 and 4: These books share the prin-cipal themes of Reason and Knowledge. These two themes are personified by Rumi in the Biblical and Quranic figure of the Prophet Moses.

Books 5 and 6: These last two books are joined by the universal ideal that man must deny his physical earthly existence to understand God’s existence.

Excerpt From: "Masnawi Sacred Texts of Islam: Book One" by Mevlana Rumi.

Rumi includes multiple points of view or voices that continually invite his readers to fall into “imaginative enchantment.” There are seven principal voices that Rumi uses in his writing:

1.The Authorial Voice – Each passage reflects the authority of the majestic Sufi teacher narrating the story. This voice generally appears when it addresses You, God, and you, of all humankind.

All Excerpts From: "Masnawi Sacred Texts of Islam: Book One" by Mevlana Rumi.

2.The Story-telling Voice – The primary story is occasionally interrupted by side stories that help clarify a point being made in the original statement. Rumi sometimes takes hundreds of lines to make a point because he is constantly interrupting himself.

3.The Analogical Voice – This voice interrupts the flow of the narration because it entertains an analogy which is used to explain a statement made in the previous verse. Ru-mi’s Masnavi is filled with analogies.

"Masnawi Sacred Texts of Islam: Book One" by Mevlana Rumi.

4. The Voice of Speech and Dialogue of Characters – Rumi conveys many of his stories through dialogue and speeches presented by his characters.

Excerpt From: "Masnawi Sacred Texts of Islam: Book One" by Mevlana Rumi.

5.The Moral Reflection – Rumi supports his voice of morality by including quotations from the Quran and various hadith stories of events in the life of the Prophet Mohammed.

Excerpt From: "Masnawi Sacred Texts of Islam: Book One" by Mevlana Rumi.

6.The Spiritual Discourse – The Spiritual Discourse resembles the Analogical Voice where Rumi always includes a moral reflec-tion on the wisdom revealed.

7.Hiatus – Rumi occasionally questions the wisdom conveyed though the verses. “Sometimes Rumi says that he cannot say more because of the reader’s incapacity to understand.”

Excerpt From: "Masnawi Sacred Texts of Islam: Book One" by Mevlana Rumi.

Rumi, a word borrowed from Arabic literally meaning “Roman,” in which context Roman refers to subjects of the Byzantine Empire or simply to people living in or things associated with Anatolia.

In Muslim countries, therefore, Jalal al-Din is not generally known as "Rumi"." The terms “ولویم / Mawlavi” (Persian) and Mevlevi (Turkish) which mean "having to do with the master" are more often used for him.

"Masnawi Sacred Texts of Islam: Book One" by Mevlana Rumi.

Rumi's love for, and his bereavement at the death of, his master Shams Tabrezi found their expression in an outpouring lyric poems, Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi.

He himself went out searching for Shams and jour-neyed again to Damascus. There, he realized:

Why should I seek? I am the same as
He. His essence speaks through me.
I have been looking for myself!

Excerpt From: "Masnawi Sacred Texts of Islam: Book One"

Rumi died on 17 December 1273 in Konya;
His epitaph reads:

"When we are dead, seek not our tomb in the earth, but find it in the hearts of men."

Excerpt From: "Masnawi Sacred Texts of Islam: Book One" by Mevlana Rumi.

"The Masnavi weaves fables, scenes from everyday life, Qur'anic revelations and exegesis, and metaphysics into a vast and intricate tapestry. In the East, it is said of him that he was "not a prophet — but surely, he has brought a scrip-ture."

Excerpt

Excerpts from this book

"When pen hasted to write,
On reaching the subject of love it split in twain.
When the discourse touched on the matter of love,
Pen was broken and paper torn."

Excerpt From: "Masnawi Sacred Texts of Islam: Book One" by Mevlana Rumi.