The Masnavi of Rumi, Book Three
A New English Translation with Explanatory Notes
Will be published approx. on 29. October 2026
616 pages
978-1-83860-129-4 (ISBN)
Description
Jalaloddin Rumi's Masnavi-ye Ma'navi, or 'Spiritual Couplets', composed in the 13th Century, is a monumental work of poetry in the Sufi tradition of Islamic mysticism. For centuries before his love poetry became a literary phenomenon in the West, Rumi's Masnavi had been revered in the Islamic world as its greatest mystical text. Drawing upon a vast array of characters, stories and fables, and deeply versed in spiritual teaching, it takes us on a profound and playful journey of discovery along the path of divine love, toward its ultimate goal of union with the source of all Truth.
The main theme of Book Three of the Masnavi is the strengthening of the spirit through purification of human knowledge in the acquisition of mystical wisdom. Rumi teaches that this mystical understanding is superior to the rational knowledge of the human intellect. By the end of this long book, the half-way point is reached in this mystical treatise of oceanic proportions. It may be said to be the most profound of the six books, in pursuing rational thinking to its very depths.
Translated with an introduction, notes and analysis by Alan Williams and including the Persian text edited by Mohammad Este'lami.
The main theme of Book Three of the Masnavi is the strengthening of the spirit through purification of human knowledge in the acquisition of mystical wisdom. Rumi teaches that this mystical understanding is superior to the rational knowledge of the human intellect. By the end of this long book, the half-way point is reached in this mystical treatise of oceanic proportions. It may be said to be the most profound of the six books, in pursuing rational thinking to its very depths.
Translated with an introduction, notes and analysis by Alan Williams and including the Persian text edited by Mohammad Este'lami.
Reviews / Votes
Alan Williams' musical translation of Rumi's masterpiece is a majestic monument, expressing the spirit of the Persian poetry and its spiritual aspirations to the English reader. This new translation is a must for anyone interested in poetry, aesthetic experience, Islamic mysticism, and powerful stories that change lives. This third volume (out of six) is commonly seen as the heart of Rumi's Spiritual Couplets: quantitatively, it is longer, but qualitatively it may perhaps be regarded as the most artistic, giving imagination a central place to envision the role of human beings in the world, emphasising why passionate love is the only vehicle to bring back the exiled soul to the spiritual Abode. One can only be grateful to Professor Williams for this translation, which is pellucid, melodic, and above all, precise. * Ali-Asghar Seyed-Gohrab, Professor of Persian and Iranian Studies, Utrecht University, the Netherlands *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
File size
41,75 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-83860-129-4 (9781838601294)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
approx. 10/2026
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
€50.00
Not yet published
Person
Mowlana Jalaloddin Balkhi (1207-1273), known to the West as Rumi is a Persian poet comparable to the greatest poets of Europe. In 1244, Rumi began the composition of a body (divan) of lyric poems (ghazals) totalling 35,000 verses. In the early 1260s he turned to the composition of his most mature and final work, the mystical masterpiece in six volumes of Persian verses known as the Masnavi-ye Ma'navi 'The Spiritual Couplets'.
Alan Williams was born 1953, Windsor, England. He studied Classics, Persian and Arabic at The Queen's College Oxford, then a PhD in Old and Middle Iranian Studies at SOAS, London, and taught at SOAS, then the Universities of Sussex and Manchester, where he is now Emeritus Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Religion.
Alan Williams was born 1953, Windsor, England. He studied Classics, Persian and Arabic at The Queen's College Oxford, then a PhD in Old and Middle Iranian Studies at SOAS, London, and taught at SOAS, then the Universities of Sussex and Manchester, where he is now Emeritus Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Religion.
Content
Preface
Chronology
Introduction
Further Reading
Notes on the Translation
English Translation of the Masnavi Book Three'The Strengthening of the Spirit'
Rumi's Preface
The Poem
The beginning of the poem
The men who ate the baby elephant
The suppliant's calling to God is the essence of God's saying 'Here I am'
How a peasant deceived a townsman
The Sabaeans and the rebellion brought about by their favour
How Jesus healed the sick
The falcon and the ducks
The people of Zarwan
Majnun and Leyla's dog
How a jackal fell into a dyeing vat
How a show-off greased his lips and moustaches every morning
Bal'am son if Ba'ur
Comparing Pharaoh and his pretence of divinity with that jackal
Explanation of 'And you shall certainly know them...'
Harut and Marut
Pharaoh's dream of the coming of Moses and the conception of Moses
The snake-catcher and the frozen snake
Moses and Pharaoh in dispute
Moses gives Pharaoh respite
The two magicians call their father from the grave
The elephant in the dark house
Noah and his graceless son Canaan
The resolution of two traditions
How bewilderment impedes explanation and conceptualisation
A lover busy reading a love-letter
The man who prayed for a lawful livelihood
The poet excuses himself and asks for help
The teacher who imagined himself sick
The dervish who broke his vow
The far-sighted goldsmith
The reason Pharaoh's magicians were brave enough to suffer the amputation of their hands and feet
The complaint of the mule to the camel
He ass of 'Ozayr
The sheikh who did not grieve for the death of his sons
The story of the blind old man reading the Quran
The patience of Loqman
Buhlul questions a dervish
The miracles and visions of Daquqi
The mystery of Moses seeking Khezr
Jesusflees from some fools
The hares who sent a hare as an envoy to the elephant
Noah and the building of the Ark
The thief who said he was beating a drum
The meaning of prudence and the story of the prudent man
The vow made by dogs in winter
The wisdom of creating the hell of the next world and the prison of this world
The sufi's infatuation with a cloth food bag
How Jacob breathed in the fragrance of God
The prince and his servant who was diligent in ritual prayer
The faith of the novice is fear and hope
The Prophet's rescue of the caravan of stranded Arabs
God helps the needy
An eagle steals the boot of the Prophet
Moses is asked to teach the language of the animals
The woman whose children died
Hamze in battle without his mailcoat
How to avoid being cheated in trade
How Belal died in happiness
Comparing this world and the next
Comparing scripture and analogy
The rules for listeners and disciples
Conventional and intuitive knowledge
Knowing by comparion and knowing in essence
The fana and baqa of the dervish
The minister of Sadr-e Jahan of Bokhara
The appearance of the Holy Spirit to Maryam
The enchanted mosque of death
The boy who beat a tom-tom
The true believer compared to the chickpea boiling in the pot
The Masnavi and the Quran
The Prophet and the captives
How the beloved attracts the lover
A gnat's appeal for justice
The lover finding his beloved
Notes
Index of Proper Names, Terms and Selected Themes
Persian Text of Book Three,
Edited by Mohammad Este'lami
Chronology
Introduction
Further Reading
Notes on the Translation
English Translation of the Masnavi Book Three'The Strengthening of the Spirit'
Rumi's Preface
The Poem
The beginning of the poem
The men who ate the baby elephant
The suppliant's calling to God is the essence of God's saying 'Here I am'
How a peasant deceived a townsman
The Sabaeans and the rebellion brought about by their favour
How Jesus healed the sick
The falcon and the ducks
The people of Zarwan
Majnun and Leyla's dog
How a jackal fell into a dyeing vat
How a show-off greased his lips and moustaches every morning
Bal'am son if Ba'ur
Comparing Pharaoh and his pretence of divinity with that jackal
Explanation of 'And you shall certainly know them...'
Harut and Marut
Pharaoh's dream of the coming of Moses and the conception of Moses
The snake-catcher and the frozen snake
Moses and Pharaoh in dispute
Moses gives Pharaoh respite
The two magicians call their father from the grave
The elephant in the dark house
Noah and his graceless son Canaan
The resolution of two traditions
How bewilderment impedes explanation and conceptualisation
A lover busy reading a love-letter
The man who prayed for a lawful livelihood
The poet excuses himself and asks for help
The teacher who imagined himself sick
The dervish who broke his vow
The far-sighted goldsmith
The reason Pharaoh's magicians were brave enough to suffer the amputation of their hands and feet
The complaint of the mule to the camel
He ass of 'Ozayr
The sheikh who did not grieve for the death of his sons
The story of the blind old man reading the Quran
The patience of Loqman
Buhlul questions a dervish
The miracles and visions of Daquqi
The mystery of Moses seeking Khezr
Jesusflees from some fools
The hares who sent a hare as an envoy to the elephant
Noah and the building of the Ark
The thief who said he was beating a drum
The meaning of prudence and the story of the prudent man
The vow made by dogs in winter
The wisdom of creating the hell of the next world and the prison of this world
The sufi's infatuation with a cloth food bag
How Jacob breathed in the fragrance of God
The prince and his servant who was diligent in ritual prayer
The faith of the novice is fear and hope
The Prophet's rescue of the caravan of stranded Arabs
God helps the needy
An eagle steals the boot of the Prophet
Moses is asked to teach the language of the animals
The woman whose children died
Hamze in battle without his mailcoat
How to avoid being cheated in trade
How Belal died in happiness
Comparing this world and the next
Comparing scripture and analogy
The rules for listeners and disciples
Conventional and intuitive knowledge
Knowing by comparion and knowing in essence
The fana and baqa of the dervish
The minister of Sadr-e Jahan of Bokhara
The appearance of the Holy Spirit to Maryam
The enchanted mosque of death
The boy who beat a tom-tom
The true believer compared to the chickpea boiling in the pot
The Masnavi and the Quran
The Prophet and the captives
How the beloved attracts the lover
A gnat's appeal for justice
The lover finding his beloved
Notes
Index of Proper Names, Terms and Selected Themes
Persian Text of Book Three,
Edited by Mohammad Este'lami
