Event to highlight Mevlana’s work

VAN - Hürriyet Daily News

Iran’s Urmia University and the eastern province of Van’s Yüzüncü Yıl University are slated to hold a joint symposium on famous poet Mevlana Celaddiin-i Rumi’s “Masnavi Ma’navi,” PressTV reported yesterday.

The literary event, which is the second symposium on the poet, is scheduled to discuss the influence of the 13th-century poet Mevlana’s works and thoughts on contemporary poets, said the executive secretary of the symposium, Mahboub Talei.

Papers will be selected from among over 300 submitted articles to be published for distribution at the symposium, he added.

Iran’s Urmia University also hosted the first symposium focused on the theme of “Husam al-Din Chelebi” and “Masnavi Ma’navi.”

Mevlana, who is also known as Rumi in Western countries, was born in Balkh, now part of Afghanistan, and passed away in Konya, Turkey, where he was laid to rest.

During his 66 years of life, he left a legacy of major poetic and prose works including “The Quatrains” or “Rubaiyat”; “Divane-Shams,” the great works of Shams; and “Fihe Ma Fi,” a collection of mystical sayings.

Mevlana is better known for his six-volume “Masnavi Ma’navi” (spiritual couplets), which is considered by many to be one of the greatest works of both Islamic mysticism and Persian literature.

The symposium will take place from May 22 to 24.