Rumi and Islam

Sheds new light on the religion of Rumi. Offers a satisfying taste of Islamic Sufi mysticism. The lyric and wisdom poetry of Jalaluddin Rumi has been an inspiration throughout the Middle East and Asia for over seven hundred years. Recently, it has also become popular in translations and interpretive poetic versions in English. Rumi is often considered a universal mystic who teaches ecstatic love outside any particular religion. Rumi and Islam: Selections from His Stories, Poems, and Discourses offers a new way of thinking about Rumi's poetry. Ibrahim Gamard focuses on Rumi's place within the Sufi tradition of Islam, providing readers with an image of the mystical side of the religion -- one that has love of God at its core and sublime wisdom teachings as its pathways. Ibrahim Gamard first translated Rumi's poetry from Persian in 1985, and started posting selected Rumi translations, commentary, and Persian transliterations on teh Internet in 1997. His website, www.dar-al-masnavi.org, is one of the best Web sources for in-depth information about the great Sufi mystic. Gamard is a member of the Mevlevi Order, a 730-year-old Sufi order which originated wtih Rumi himself. A licensed psychologist, he converted to Islam twenty years ago.