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Reading list

Four Weeks with Rūmī

A guided path through the opening of Rūmī’s Masnavī, in Redhouse’s 1881 translation: the Song of the Reed, the mirror of the heart, the prince and the handmaid, and ʿAṭṭār’s seven valleys of the way of love.

Beginning. 5 steps

Week 1: The song of the reed

  1. Text

    The Mesnevi

    Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, tr. James W. Redhouse, 1881. The Proem

    From reed-flute hear what tale it tells; / What plaint it makes of absence’ ills:

    The Mesnevi, Couplet 1. Read it in the Library

    The Masnavī opens with a reed flute that laments its separation from the reed-bed it was cut from. Every listener who has been parted from what they love hears their own story in it. Redhouse’s rhymed version of 1881 is old-fashioned, but it keeps the music of the original. A question for the week: what are you homesick for, that you have never seen?

Week 2: The mirror of the heart

  1. Text

    The Mesnevi

    Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, tr. James W. Redhouse, 1881. The Proem, couplets 32–36

    Can I be quiet, easy, glad, / When my delight’s away? No! Sad. / Love bids my plaint all bonds to burst. / My heart would break, with silence curst. / A mirror best portrays when bright; / Begrimed with …

    The Mesnevi, Couplet 32–35. Read it in the Library

    The Proem ends with an image Rūmī returns to throughout the poem: the heart is a mirror that reflects only when it is clean, so the rust must be wiped away. Love is both the longing and the polishing. A question for the week: what clouds your mirror most often?

  2. Concept

    ʿIshq

    10 minutes

    The Library’s entry on ʿishq, passionate love, in Sufi teaching.

Week 3: The prince and the handmaid

  1. Text

    The Mesnevi

    Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, tr. James W. Redhouse, 1881. The first tale

    A prince there was, long since in time it is. / Of Church and State the power and wealth were his. / The chase on horse one day to follow, bent; / With pompous courtier-train afield he went. / A …

    The Mesnevi, Couplet 1–5. Read it in the Library

    The first tale tells of a king whose beloved handmaid falls ill. The doctors fail because they trust their own skill and forget God; a divine physician sent in answer to prayer finds that her illness is a sickness of love. Rūmī tells the story and comments on it as he goes, and the tale becomes a parable of the soul. A question for the week: where are you relying on your own skill alone?

Week 4: The way of love

  1. Essay in Metanoia

    The Seven Valleys

    The Editors. 30 minutes

    To close the path, our essay on ʿAṭṭār’s Conference of the Birds, the poem Rūmī honoured as his forerunner, and its seven valleys of the way.

Cite this entry
Chicago (bibliography)

“Four Weeks with Rūmī.” Reading list. The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society. Last modified November 8, 2026. https://www.unitiveknowledge.org/reading-lists/four-weeks-with-rumi.

Chicago (note)

“Four Weeks with Rūmī,” reading list, The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society, last modified November 8, 2026, https://www.unitiveknowledge.org/reading-lists/four-weeks-with-rumi.

MLA

“Four Weeks with Rūmī.” The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society, 8 Nov. 2026, www.unitiveknowledge.org/reading-lists/four-weeks-with-rumi.

BibTeX
@misc{reading-lists-four-weeks-with-rumi,
  title = {{Four Weeks with Rūmī}},
  howpublished = {The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society},
  note = {Reading list. Last modified November 8, 2026},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://www.unitiveknowledge.org/reading-lists/four-weeks-with-rumi}
}

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