I Am Wind You Are Fire: The Life and Work of Rumi [Paperback]

Annemarie Schimmel (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 228 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala Pubns (December 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570626456
• ISBN-13: 978-1570626456
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,363,801 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, November 9, 2001

By 

Thomas F. Ogara (Jacksonville, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Am Wind You Are Fire: The Life and Work of Rumi (Paperback)

There are a number of writers on Islamic topics that are excellent from differing perspectives. There are only two Western authors, however, that I have any respect for when it comes to the subject of Islamic spirituality. One of them was Frithjof Schuon, and the other is Annemarie Schimmel.

With all of the fuss about Rumi and the whole New Age Sufi thing, it is all too easy to forget that Rumi was a Muslim (sometimes I suspect that too many people would like to forget it). Rumi was the sort of person that he was because he was a Muslim, and not in spite of that fact. Professor Schimmel places Rumi squarely in the Islamic perspective, which is where he belongs. This book provides the best short introduction to his life and thought within that context that I have run across, and I recommend it highly to anyone interested in his life and work.

31 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, poetic, biography of the great Mawlana Rumi., July 26, 2000

By 

Mr. A. Jehangir - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Am Wind You Are Fire: The Life and Work of Rumi (Paperback)

This book is the best biography of Mawlana Jalal uddin Rumi (may his secret be sanctified!) that I have read in the English language to date. The prose itself is absolutely wonderful and is almost poetry in itself! Added to this is Prof. Schimmel's intimate knowledge of the works and life of Mawlana Rumi which she does a wonderful job of presenting. Also, unlike other Orientalist interpreters of Sufism, she firmly places Rumi within the orthodox Islamic framework and ideology/world-view where he belongs. Her translations of his poems are also delightful. This book is highly recommended for all those Muslim and non-Muslim who are interested in the life and works of one of the greatest Saints to ever walk this earth.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very enlightening, April 26, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: I Am Wind You Are Fire: The Life and Work of Rumi (Paperback)

An excellent piece of writing on the life and poetry of Rumi. Gives a biographical sketch as well as outlines the technicalities of Rumi's prose, his beliefs and ideas as rendered in poetry. One of the most moving book's I've ever read.