A Kaleidoscope of Poetic Images: Bringing Together the Divine and the Human

Jalal-al-Din Rumi (1207-1273), the thirteenth century Persian poet, Islamic scholar and Sufi continues to speak to his readers and admirers across languages and regions. From a cerebral filmmaker like Muzaffar Ali who has popularized Rumi’s philosophy for an ordinary man on a New York street who buys a collection of Rumi’s poems, Rumi’s admirers come from all walks of life, from everywhere. Aspects of Rumi’s poetry and philosophy have been appropriated by pop culture with selective quotations from his work used in memes and posters turning him into something of a love guru or even a delinquent. From Madonna to Chris Martin, many pop icons have discovered their own Rumi. Deepak Chopra, a new age guru and an advocate of alternative medicine, also came out with a translation of Rumi’s love poems which Franklin D Lewis in his book Rumi: Past and Present, East and West describes as having more ‘to do with Chopra’s New Age garrulity (or guru-ality) than with Rumi’s Shams-fired Muslim mysticism’ (quoted in Dhondy). Concerns have also been expressed about the erasure of Islam, especially Sunni beliefs, from Rumi’s poetry and philosophy in emphasizing his universalism.