THE LIFE AND WORK OF JALALUDDIN RUMI

Afzal Iqbal, Ph.D.
with a foreword by A.J. Arberry

Octagon Press, London, 1956, 1983

In the current wave of renewed interest in Rumi, this book offers the first comprehensive biography of this great historical figure written for the general public.

Beginning with an analysis of conditions in the thirteenth century of Christianity and seventh of Islam, the author pieces together a sensitive and scholarly chronicle of Rumi's life, taking great care to 'sift the grain from the chaff.' The book covers Rumi's formative years; the appearance and disappearance of the mysterious Shams-i-Tabriz who transformed Rumi's life; the sudden 'bursting forth' from a middle-age prose writer of the most exquisite and powerful poetry the world has ever known.

The sublime humanism of Rumi fired the imagination of mankind long before the West discovered the dignity of man...Hegel considered Rumi as one of the greatest poets and thinkers in world history. The twentieth century German poet Hans Meinke saw in Rumi 'the only hope for the dark times we are living in.'
--From The Life and Work of Jalaluddin Rumi © 1956, 1964, 1974, 1978, 1983 by Octagon Press.

A unique scholarly effort ... a milestone in the revival of the study of the great Masnavi and Maulana Rumi's thought.'
--Dawn

'The world of today needs a Rumi to create an attitude of hope, and to kindle the fire of enthusiasm for life.'
--Sir Muhammad Iqbal

'...a pleasure to read ... holds the key to further delight for those many who will be encouraged by it to study further the immortal poetry of Rumi.'
--A.J. Arberry