Forbidden Rumi

After his overwhelming and life-altering encounters with Shams of Tabriz, Rumi, the great thirteenth-century mystic, poet, and originator of the whirling dervishes, let go of many of the precepts of formal religion, insisting that only a complete personal dissolving into the larger energies of God could provide the satisfaction that the heart so desperately seeks. He began to speak spontaneously in the language of poetry, and his followers compiled his 44,000 verses into 23 volumes, collectively called the Divan. When Nevit Ergin decided to translate the Divan of Rumi into English, he enlisted the help of the Turkish government, which was happy to participate. The first 22 volumes were published without difficulty, but the government withdrew its support and refused to participate in the publication of the final volume due to its openly heretical nature. Now, in The Forbidden Rumi, Will Johnson and Nevit Ergin present for the first time in English Rumi's poems from this forbidden volume. The collection is grouped into three sections: songs to Shams and God, songs of heresy, and songs of advice and admonition. In them Rumi explains that in order to transform our consciousness, we must let go of ingrained habits and embrace new ones. In short, we must become heretics.

Review: "For the past fifty years Nevit Ergin has been working to bring into English the entirety of Rumi's vast Divani Shamsi Tabriz. This last volume is the most incendiary and it clearly dissolves the boundaries of organized religion and national ego that keep us from the table of friendship that Rumi invites us to. . . . We are very grateful to Dr. Ergin for his life's work." * Coleman Barks, translator of The Essential Rumi *
"It takes a great deal of courage to read The Forbidden Rumi as it may press a lot of buttons, not only about your own pathway to God, but your views and prejudices about love, religion, heresy and Islam.

"All of Rumi's poems have enjoined us to release the rules and open our hearts to our inner treasure of love, but these most controversial poems cut to the bone.

"This final book of Rumi's poems is a must-read for any serious student of spiritual ecstasy. They pose questions that make us wonder and re-evaluate our views about a religion that is portrayed as governed by extremists. They reveal a hidden face of Islam that may surprise even moderate Islamists.

"Most importantly, these poems reveal that Islam too has always had a mystical, transcendent element that is its purest gift." * Lesley Crossingham, New Dawn, Mar-Apr 2007 *