Dancing before Gods Beauty

Zusatztext

This book presents fresh insights into the life, teachings, and enduring legacy of the Persian mystic poet Jalal al-Din Rumi. Across thirteen chapters, scholars introduce innovative perspectives on under-explored and emerging themes, from the hagiography written by Rumis son, Sulan Valad, and his journey towards accepting spiritual leadership, to Rumis passionate relationship with his beloved friend, Shams-i Tabrizi. The volume also provides new approaches to reading Rumis monumental didactic narrative, the Mathnavi. Topics range from shahid-bazi - worshipping a beautiful face to commune with the divine - to supplication (munajat), immolation, sensory perception, and the transformative role of music in reaching ecstatic states. Chapters deal with Rumis reception history, examining the works of figures such as Anqaravi (d. 1041/1631) and Abdülbâki Gölpinarli (1900-1982), as well as the Dutch-Iranian novelist Kader Abdolah. The book further explores Rumis visual reception history and his impact on contemporary artists. Finally, it examines Rumis popularity in the United States, analysing how his poetry continues to offer people from diverse backgrounds a Lacanian "imaginary": an internalized representation of the spiritual.

Autorenportrait

Ali-Asghar Seyed-Gohrab, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

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