Rumi Without Islam & Ecstasy of the Birdman (video)

Fame is the sum of misunderstanding that gathers around a new name Austrian poet, Rilke, famously said. Persian poet, Rumi, of course, is no new name. Aside from being quoted at weddings and such, he appears to have become the patron saint of pop culture: singers Beyonce & Jay Z have named their child after him, Madonna has covered his work and Coldplay include a reading of his poetry in their latest concert.

Astonishingly, during a time of Islamophobic panic, this thirteenth-century Sufi mystic, Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī, is not only a best-selling poet, but the most popular poet in the US! This is doubly interesting, since Rumi was a Muslim and also a refugee who lived in a turbulent time, not too dissimilar from our own.

Paradoxically, the person behind his popularization, in America, is also at the heart of much controversy about the disservice he has done to his beloved Master. I refer to Coleman Barks, who was introduced to Rumi by American poet, Robert Bly, with the suggestion that previous translations needed to be “released from their cages”. Barks proceeded to render Rumi free in an accessible, colloquial verse over the span of a dozen books or so.

Yet, the Rumi that Barks has made popular is a figure uprooted from his natural soil, specifically his faith. Barks, who does not read Persian, refers to his translations as interpretations, and scrupulously leaves out the countless Quranic and Muslim references throughout Rumi's poetry. So, the theologian Rumi was raised to be is muted and references to Islam erased to make him more palatable.

Nonetheless, there is no doubt that Barks has a genuine affection for and connection with the great Persian poet and mystic, nor that he has brought him before a far wider audience than more strictly faithful translators before (or after) him. For this reason, I am not ungrateful for Barks (just as I do not take him as the last word on the subject, either).

For now, I wish to share with you a poetry reading, where Barks recites his version of Rumi and is accompanied by—how else to describe this?—an extraordinary bird cry of the spirit (past the 3 minute mark). Watch for yourself and marvel... I still do, years later, every time.

Image: Creative Commons