Rumi’s epic poem Masnavi available in 22 languages

KONYA - Anatolia News Agency

Masnavi has been translated into 22 languages by the Konya Municipality.

Jalaladdin Rumi’s famous epic poem, the “Masnavi,” has been translated into 22 languages and is currently being translated into Russian and Malaysian, Konya’s mayor has said ahead of celebrations for the 739th anniversary of the poet’s passing.

The work has been translated into French, Spanish, English, Chinese and Greek and more translation projects are ongoing, Konya Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Tahir Akyürek told Anatolia news agency, adding that half of the world’s population can now read the poem thanks to the translations.

“Everyone in the world has been affected by the words of [Rumi],” Akyürek said, adding that the book had been published in six different volumes and that the Turkish version of the volumes had thus far been well-received by the public.

“We have also pre-sent the work to state presidents and officials,” he said. The “Masnavi” is an epic poem written in Persian by Rumi, the celebrated Sufi saint and poet who was born in what is now Tajikistan but died in the Central Anatolian province of Konya. The work has become one of the best-known and most influential works of both Sufism and Persian literature and consists of a series of six books of poetry that each amount to about 25,000 verses or 50,000 lines. It is a spiritual writing that teaches Sufis how to reach their goal of being in true love with God.

Akyürek said each year in December several government representatives visit Konya and receive the books as a present.

 “It is possible to read the ‘Masnavi’ in Persian, Turkish, Urdu, French, Turkish, Spanish, English, Arabic, German, Italian,” he said.