Thread: Rumi Vodka, an offensive commercialization: 
Occasionally, I see Moulana Rumi's name plastered somewhere it doesn't belong, like this rosewater brand, or my local kebab place. I don't like it, but it also doesn't bug me as much as the many renderings masquerading as translations.
Then, once in a blue moon, I run into something so appalling, that it is worse than a new agey secularized translation of Rumi. I present to you: Rumi's Vodka.
The seller, a Dutch Afghan, claims that 'Rumi was convinced that liquor brings out our true nature,' a laughable claim to make by someone who is surely familiar with the context of Sufi poetry.
Rumi's own words:
"...I've lost the wine glass. I've drunk from the wine that isn't found in any wine glass." (Ghzl 1371)
"Seek drunkenness from the divine not from wine." (M 5,62)
"...it’s not grape wine we’ve consumed, we’re far from that and whatever you’ve assumed." (Q 1183)
"...I've lost the wine glass. I've drunk from the wine that isn't found in any wine glass." (Ghzl 1371)
"Seek drunkenness from the divine not from wine." (M 5,62)
"...it’s not grape wine we’ve consumed, we’re far from that and whatever you’ve assumed." (Q 1183)
In this case, we have a type of native betrayal going on, one is selling out their culture, and twisting Moulana's legacy for their worldly financial gain. It's so against the ethos of everything that Moulana had to say - I don't whether to laugh or cry.
The mayor of Konya wrote the local Dutch ambassador to no avail. Then, the leader of the Mevlevi Sufi order, the 22nd grandchild of Rumi himself, the custodian of Moulana's legacy, Faruk Hemdem Çelebi also wrote a letter.
Instead of reflecting and realizing that Moulana wouldn't approve of being a Vodka advertisement, he appealed to Islamophobic tropes, calling Rumi's Mevlevi order 'dogmatic' (I thought Sufis were 'hippy Muslims'?) and encouraging people to... buy more Rumi Vodka.
He also goes on to deny the Turkish people of their connection to Moulana, then repeats the false narrative that Rumi fled Islamic extremism, often parroted by islamophobes who can't reconcile their love for Rumi with their self-hate for Islam. (He fled the Mongol invasions).
#rumiwasmuslim Isn't just about bad translations - it's about a much bigger problem, one bigger than Rumi. It's a cultural theft that all minority groups experience, whether they're first nations, South Asian, or Sufi Muslims... and some of us are the accomplices/perpetrators.
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This Hafez couplet beautifully sums up this native betrayal:
من از بیگانگان دیگر ننالم
که با من هر چه کرد آن آشنا کرد
"I'll never complain of strangers again,
for whatever [bad] was done to me, that familiar one did."
من از بیگانگان دیگر ننالم
که با من هر چه کرد آن آشنا کرد
"I'll never complain of strangers again,
for whatever [bad] was done to me, that familiar one did."
Mirza Ghalib is not spared either!
Some have no shame.
