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Rumi had the capacity to go beyond cultural and national boundaries. This helps to explain his universal appeal.
The mystic literature of Islam is a source of inspiration, and foll-owing its universal values of love, peace, harmony and tolerance, can bridge the gap between the East and West. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organi-sation (UNESCO) has designated the year 2007 as the ‘Year of Rumi’, to develop inter-faith dialogue and spread Rumi’s message of humanism through-out the world.
Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi was the greatest Turkish Sufi inspirer and had championed the cause of peaceful co-existence and mutual respect. If there is any general idea underlying Rumi’s poetry, it is the absolute love of Allah and his influence on the thought, literature and forms of aesthetic expression in the world of Islam. Rumi had the capacity to go beyond cultural and national boundaries. This helps to explain his universal appeal, both during his life and in the modern world, 800 years after his birth. For Rumi, spirituality involved a profound change of consciousness, a transformation so marked it was like the proverbial rebirth of a seeker.
2007 marks the 800th birth anniversary of Rumi. Born in Balkh, Afghanistan, in 1207, Rumi was a conservative cleric in his youth, but upon his meeting with wandering dervish, Shams Tabriz in 1247, he metamorphosed into an entirely different personality and from then on preached the message of Islam. His six-volume, Masnawi and Diwan Shams Tabriz were best sellers in the US and Europe.
It is perhaps ironic that a Muslim mystic from Persia has become America’s best selling poet in the past years. The Essential Rumi translated by Coleman Barks has sold 2,50,000 copies. “The Soul of Rumi” was published in September 2001 and has gone on to be a very popular seller.
During the year, there will be special programmes held all over the world in honour of this great Persian poet. In particular, celebrations will focus on Rumi’s place of birth, and also Turkey where he lived for many years. He was buried in the town of Konya after his death.
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