Rumi and the Divan-i Shams

This monograph responds to all the publications about Rumi’s poetry that have appeared in recent years. Many of those are non-academic, devotional works that present Rumi’s wisdom as an answer to a modern society’s contemporary malaise. However, this decontextualizes Rumi and presents him as an ahistorical figure who transcended Islam and Sufism. The aim of this book, Rumi and the Dīvān-i Shams, is to present Rumi as a thirteenth century Sufi who engaged with his traditions and the worldviews, prejudices and suppositions of his time. Of necessity, the views of Sufis from a similar period are considered to determine to what extent, if any, Rumi may be considered an innovative and original Sufi. All this is carried out by examining Rumi’s love odes (ghazals) as collected in the Dīvān-i kabīr (also known popularly as the Dīvān-i Shams), rather than the Mathnawī. The Dīvān-i kabīr is regarded as Rumi’s personal statement, and reflects a perspective from the heart. The book contains chapters on his Sufi influences, the nature of his Sufism (whether it was antinomian or not), and on Sufi ritual performance and theology.