Spiritual Verses

The spiritual masterpiece of the Persian Sufi tradition in a brilliant new translation

The longest single-authored “mystical” poem ever written, the Masnavi-ye Ma’navi, or “spiritual couplets,” is the masterpiece of the Persian Sufi tradition. Its author, Jalaloddin Rumi, was a poet and mystic of the highest attainment, but he was first and foremost a spiritual teacher, and his Masnavi is a ladder to the spiritual world, leading the reader to the ultimate goal of the Sufi path-union with God. Alan Williams’s translation into blank verse beautifully conveys the poetry of the original Persian couplets, while his introduction discusses how the modern reader might approach Rumi’s writing.

JALALUDDIN RUMI was born in 1207 in Balkh and died in 1273 in Konya. The greatest mystic poet of Iran and Islam, seven centuries later, has become the most popular poet in America.