The Quatrains of Rumi: Ruba 'Iyat- Jalaluddin Muhammad Balkhi-Rumi

Ibrâhîm Gamard has given us a rare gift in these times of rampant translators who claim to have done authentic translations of Rumi's work, he has produced along with A. G. Rawân Farhâdî a masterful and faithful rendering of the Quatrains of Mawlana. Accurate translations of a large body of Rumi's work to English are rare as we have been fed revisions mostly of Nicholson's work by those who have no knowledge of Persian or other language translations of this great poet. Gamard and Farhâdî have done justice to the field of Persian to English translation of this part of Rumi's cannon of work. Some may find the Quatrains in this volume too literal, but isn't turning lines that are close to what Rumi said into our own heart's poetry part of Mawlana's original intent in offering them? This reader of "The friend of our Friend" has experienced the truth of this, as in No. 565 from this book: "If a thorn bush appears on top of my grave, The thorn bush will still be desirous of you." As I read this I hear: Even though I will be dead, and my soul sent Home, my body will still try to reach You, my Love. This book is both a scholarly effort as well as a labor of love on the part of the authors as they worked to bring Rumi alive for us. If the translations are to be placed in doubt, the Persian from early texts is given in a parallel format for those who know the language. Footnotes abound and an extensive appendix make this a necessary volume to sit next to the efforts of Annemarie Schimmel and William Chittick's endeavors. If you add Nicholson, Arberry and Gamard's translations from his website Dar Al Masnavi, very little else will be needed to feed your heart and soul with the words of the poet whom God took into God's very presence, and never let go. I cannot recommend this book too highly. "Take care, O thirsty heart! Be always seeking the running stream." No. 1176, Gamard and Farhâdî

I am a professional artist and calligrapher specializing in various scripts and languages. I first learned Persian (Farsi) calligraphy in grade school in Iran--along with having to memorize works by Iran's great poets. I cannot claim any greatness in my prowess in either skill at that time, but persistence and practice pay off in the long run. I love Rumi's poetry. Wonderfully, much of the English-speaking world now also loves Rumi, thanks to the translations by Coleman Barks and others. The problem: it is very difficult to match up the English translations with the original Persian poetry. This is complicated by the fact that Barks and others do not always offer actual translations. Often the poetry in English--beautiful and powerful as it is--is made up of selected lines from various places in Rumi's original, or is inspired by Rumi's poetry. Many times the language is changed so that the meaning is translated to a different time and place. This book is just what I have been looking for: each poetry selection is given in the original Farsi (Persian) language. There follows a translation as literal as possible. Each word that has been added in English to clarify the sentence structure or meaning is put in italics. Notes follow to explicate context, explain specific words, give alternate translations, etc. This book is scholarly yet eminently usable. Now, if only we had this for the entirety of Rumi's works! Stewart J. Thomas, calligrapher <[...]>

I love the book. I have several works on or about Hazrat Rumi. This is by far one of the best. There has been a 'Rumi craze' in the West for quite some time. I find that many of his admirerers do not associate him with his Islamic faith, but that is the essence of his work. This work has notes throughout the book with the quatrains so that the reader can get a clearer understanding of the work. Unfortunately, too many have translated his works without an understanding of Persian and without an understanding of his background and the purposes for which he wrote. This is clearly evidenced in the foreword, written by the 22nd generation direct descendent of Hazrat Rumi. who writes: "...And they interpret [his] thoughts and ideas by using their own points of view, which then creates a different Mevlana than the one who actually lived....This saddens me greatly....In spite of this...I thank them---while requesting that they exercise more care in the future."

I find this collection and translation to be an extremely valuable and reliable resource at a time when so many of Rumi's mistranslations are being shared. I use this book and highly recommend it to everyone including my students in the In The Footprints of Rumi [...] course that I teach both live and online. This work is a labor of LOVE!

Amazing, readable, and accurate interpretation of Maulana's lyrics--a must for lovers of Sufism and heart rendering poetry

Very recently translated. (2008) It does not draw from the Masnavi, and is much more readable, and searchable. Indexed by subject matter.

I have been studying Persian (mainly self-taught) for about two years now. One of my goals is to be able to read the poetry of Rumi, Hafiz and other classical Sufi authors in the original. I spent a frustrating year struggling though the quatrains and ghazals of Rumi with only the help of a dictionary and my grammar textbook, fervently wishing for study version with a parallel, literal translation in English. Thorny grammatical constructions and archaic vocabulary frequently defeated my best attempts, while popular Rumi "translations" such as Coleman Barks' renderings - which take immense liberties and often little resemble the original - proved utterly unhelpful. Then I found this edition - precisely what I needed. The quatrains are logically arranged by subject (e.g. "Love of the human beloved") rather than rhyming syllable as in the traditional ordering. Each quatrain is given in the original Persian, with all vowels and the ezafe clearly marked to reduce confusion, with a clear literal English translation underneath. Words implied but not stated in the Persian are indicated by italics in the English translation. Footnotes beneath the poem explain obscure vocabulary, "puns" and/or Persian idioms, while the reader is referred to endnotes for in-depth discussion of common symbolic and cultural themes. I have two very slight suggestions for any later edition. Firstly, this edition has eliminated much of the frustration from my study of Rumi's quatrains but I still find many of his grammatical constructions confusing; he frequently uses verb tenses (particularly the subjunctive) in an unfamiliar manner. Not knowing enough about how Persian has changed as a language, I am unsure whether this is a feature of Rumi's poetry or of classical Persian poetry in general, but a discussion in the Introduction or in the footnotes would help. Secondly, there is a cross-referenced index of the quatrains so that the reader can locate any given quatrain from other editions (e.g. the standard Foruzanfar edition) but it is buried in the appendices and took me weeks to find. This needs to be more clearly indicated and perhaps also the entire first line of each quatrain given (as not all readers may have access to the Foruzanfar edition). In conclusion, this is a wonderful edition and a gift to all students of Persian poetry. Given the immense riches of Persian literature, it is a shame that barely any bilingual, literal study translations of these great works exist. Ibrahim Gamard and Rawan Farhadi's translation goes far to rectify this and I hold out hope that someday a translation of the ghazals may be released as well. (Not to mention other works...the Shahnameh, the Conference of the Birds or the Hafiz Divan? One can only hope!)