The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi (Suny Series in Islamic Spirituality) (Suny Series, Islamic Spirituality) [Paperback]

William C. Chittick (Author)

Book Description

Series: Suny Series, Islamic Spirituality | Publication Date: May 31, 1984

"This book is the most accessible work in English on the greatest mystiacl poet of Islam."

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Persian (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 444 pages
• Publisher: State University of New York Press (May 31, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0873957245
• ISBN-13: 978-0873957243
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #456,631 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very well written translation, October 2, 2007

By 

Gogol (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi (Suny Series in Islamic Spirituality) (Suny Series, Islamic Spirituality) (Paperback)

Apart from Nicholsons translation of the Mathnawi and the works of his students Iqbal (Life and works) and Arberry (who transltated the Fihi Ma Fihi as the 'Discorses of Rumi) All other so called 'translations' are pretty much worthless because 1. They are not translations at all but rather re-writes of Nicholson 2. They are just pandering to an ever growing market of supermarket spirituality. Chitticks translation however, is very different.

For a start, Chittick is a scholar in Persian and taught in Iran for several years and had first hand knowledge of not only the Persian Mathnawi but some of the major comentaries in Persian (which may explain why a previous reviewer found many parts of the book similar to Shia text he had read)

Chittick may be covering the same ground as Nicholson here but his translation is well put together not only applying modern English but also a knowledge of the original.

The book may not be of much use to everyone especially if you have already the Nicholson translation but if you are seeking a book that covers the fundamentals of the teachings of Rumi then there is no better place to start than this book.

25 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great and beautifully written book, December 14, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi (Suny Series in Islamic Spirituality) (Suny Series, Islamic Spirituality) (Paperback)

I truly enjoyed reading this book. Mr. Chittic does an excellent job in explaining Sufi way of understanding Koran and Islam. The author has another fine and very readable book on the great sufi master Ibne Arabi " Sufi path of knowledge". I highly recommend this book. While reading the sufi path to knowledge, I made some interesting observations. Almost for every page of the book I could come up with a corresponding saying( Hadith) from the Shiie Imams from Shia hadith sources. This was interesting to me, since in many books there are discussions as to the background and sources of great masters such as Rumi and Arabi. By the time I was done reading the great book" sufi path to knowledge, I had related almost every theme of Ibne Arabi's discussion back to a saying from these earlier sources. My take of these great masters are that they unfolded these compressed teachings of Koran and Hadith from Prophet and Imams. Just as in science F=ma, tells us all that there is to know about the motion of bodies under the influence of gravity, these sayings also contain all there is to know about the Islamic understanding of God-Man-Universe. And just as it takes a great and experienced scientist to unfold the detail of F=ma, and land a person on the moon, it also takes a great master like Rumi and Arabi to unfold the teaching of these sources. I think to map Rumi and Arabi's teaching to these earlier sources would be very useful and enlightening and may answer many questions as to the background of the sufism. I don't think this mapping of ideas to its origin is a difficult task. I came up with some interesting results and yet all I had was a few shia hadith books and the books wirtten by Mr. Chittic.

20 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Book of Intoxication and ecstacy, April 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi (Suny Series in Islamic Spirituality) (Suny Series, Islamic Spirituality) (Paperback)

To be very precise this book is full of intoxication and ecstacy of GOD