Dancing before God’s Beauty

This book presents fresh insights into the life, teachings, and enduring legacy of the Persian mystic poet Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī. Across thirteen chapters, scholars introduce innovative perspectives on under-explored and emerging themes, from the hagiography written by Rūmī’s son, Sulṭān Valad, and his journey towards accepting spiritual leadership, to Rūmī’s passionate relationship with his beloved friend, Shams-i Tabrīzī. The volume also provides new approaches to reading Rūmī’s monumental didactic narrative, the Mathnavī. Topics range from shāhid-bāzī – worshipping a beautiful face to commune with the divine – to supplication (munājāt), immolation, sensory perception, and the transformative role of music in reaching ecstatic states. Chapters deal with Rūmī’s reception history, examining the works of figures such as Anqaravī (d. 1041/1631) and Abdülbâki Gölpınarlı (1900-1982), as well as the Dutch-Iranian novelist Kader Abdolah. The book further explores Rūmī’s visual reception history and his impact on contemporary artists. Finally, it examines Rūmī’s popularity in the United States, analysing how his poetry continues to offer people from diverse backgrounds a Lacanian "imaginary": an internalized representation of the spiritual.