Rumi and Islam: Selections from His Stories, Poems, and Discourses

Ibrahim Gamard

Paperback

9781594730023

The lyric and wisdom poetry of Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi has been an inspiration throughout the Middle East and Asia for over seven hundred years. Recently it has also become popular in Western countries through translations and interpretive poetic versions in English. But while popular renderings have created the appreciation of Rumi the mystic, there is little understanding today of the religious and spiritual traditions from which the great mystic came.

Rumi and Islam - Selections from His Stories, Poems and Discourses examines not the popularized Rumi of universal love but the Sufi disciple whose works express deep reverence for the Prophet Muhammad. Ibrahim Gamard focuses on Rumi's place within the Sufi tradition of Islam, as one of the greatest Muslim followers of the Prophet Muhammad, and on the Islamic foundations of his lover-Beloved mystical poetry. By probing verse by verse Rumi's spiritual teachings, Gamard provides insight into the mystical side of the Qur'an and Islam, a religion that holds a deep love of God at its core.

Contents

Stories of the Prophet

1. Warfare

2. The Captives

3. Hilal

4. The Sick One

5. Bilal

6. The Water Carrier

7. The Greedy Pagan

8. The Blind One

9. The Arrival of the Caravan

10. The Groaning Pillar

11. 'Ayisha

12. Zayd

Sayings of the Prophet

13. Prayer and Guidance

14. Self-Denial and Ego-Death

15. Divine Sayings

Praises of the Prophet

16. Affirmations and Blessings

17. Praises and Virtues

18. Love and Closeness with God

19. The Seal of the Prophets

20. The Night Journey, the Cave, and the Pillar

21. Prayer and Pilgrimage

22. The Light of Muhammad and Intercession

23. Death and Resurrection