Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.

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

This is by far the best book on my favorite spiritual poet. The poetry of Rumi is truly awe inspiring and the examination of his teachings by William C. Chittick is first rate. I can't even begin to guess the amount of time I've walked around with this book in my hand. You will want to read this over and over. It's a true spiritual classic and contains some translations of Rumi's poetry you wont find elsewhere.

As a native Farsi speaker and life- long student of MAULANA, I must admit that professor William Chittick has out done himself in this work. As a native speaker of any language, you are familiar with the idioms and language usage so you can catch out easily mistakes in translation and misunderstandings of the translator. As far as the farsi language and even Sufi and Islamic nomenclature goes, Chittick knows his stuff! You can comfortably read his works without being afraid of simple blunders and misunderstanding of language.

In this amazing work, he has phenomenally compressed all the nomenclature, imagery, allusions, themes, and ideas contained in the works of RUMI in a concise compendium which works almost like a reference-book or supplementary reading for the student of RUMI. In my opinion, more than a supplementary, it should be considered an essential reading for anyone who wishes to correctly understand RUMI and his works.

I must also add that Chittick's perspective of Islam is not a medieval, bias view, like the many orientalists who studied and wrote on Islamic works. As a Muslim myself, I highly appreciate his depth and scholarly approach towards Islam which is clearly different than many other non-Muslim scholars, who approach Islam filled with hate and prejudice.

I greatly benefited from this work, which gave me an overview of the RUMI ideology and highly recommend it to others.

Excellent translation of and introduction to the works of Rumi regarding the end of false religion, the experience of the ocean of unity, the wholeness of God and His creation, the source of Life itself, the meaning beyond form.

Or to quote the words of Bohm a physicist:
One of the most impressive theories emerging out of scientific cosmology respecting the ancient truth was set forth by the late physicist, David Bohm in his book, Wholeness and the Implicate Order. Using the language of mathematics, Bohm set out to describe the transcendent reality and its graded energetic hierarchy in four basic states or orders of energy beginning with the physical world, which he called the Explicate Order. "The Explicate Order, weakest of all energy systems, resonates out of and is an expression of an infinitely more powerful order of energy called the Implicate order. It is the precursor of the Explicate, the dream-like vision or the ideal presentation of that which is to become manifest as a physical object. The Implicate order implies within it all physical universes. However, it resonates from an energy field which is yet greater, the realm of pure potential. It is pure potential because nothing is implied within it; implications form in the implicate order and then express themselves in the explicate order. Bohm goes on to postulate a final state of infinity [zero point] energy which he calls the realm of insight intelligence. The creative process springs from this realm. Energy is generated there, gathers its pure potential, and implies within its eventual expression as the explicate order." Will Keepin, Noetic Science Journal

"It is proposed that the widespread and pervasive distinctions between people (race, nation, family, profession, etc., etc.) which are now preventing mankind from working together for the common good, and indeed, even for survival, have one of the key factors of their origin in a kind of thought that treats things as inherently divided, disconnected, and "broken up" into yet smaller constituent parts. Each part is considered to be essentially independent and self-existent." - David Bohm, Wholeness and the Implicate Order


Also recommended for Christians who want to compare and understand the words of St. John of the Cross in the light of union of the Spirit, to love the creator more as the created.

Man created in the image of God, to mirror his light.

The reviewer below shows typical Western arrogance and ignorance. He/she obviously knows nothing about sufism and the political role it's played throughout history. It's always come in as a political tool to fight extremism as it is (slowly) doing today. I wish people who didn't know anything about a tradition that is not their own would refrain from speaking from a position of supposed knowledge. It's the problem with Western political arrogance and what causes bloodshed, both literal and metaphorical. And sufi poetry is not "romantic"; that is simply the interpretation of unrealized minds. Please learn about the things of which you speaking. Otherwise, silence is still a virtue. Om Shanti.

This is a good book on explaining some of the poems of the great mystic Rumi. I somewhat disagree with the authors choice of title. many great sufis refrained calling themselves sufi, after the movement became popularized and took a different color. Sufi orders sprung up like mushroom and every group claimed to follow a great mystic figure, like Rumi. one often wonders if Rumi and his like would have approved of notions like "Sufi order" which seems like "feudaliztion" of the movement. Many great mystics avoided " orderization" of their path. Their "order" was simply Islam and the path to realization was sharia itself. To many, becoming a sufi is nothing more than repeating certain names of God about a zillion times and whirling around till one gets dizzy or as one of my modern day sufi friend puts it " one becomes natural high". And that dizziness or " natural high" is interpreted as " self disclosure" of God. It doesn't take much to " unveil" God, does it?

Of all the scholars that I have read their book on Islam, there are only three that I have truly enjoyed their work and I think have a deep and profound understanding of Islam. These three great scholars are Professor Corbin, Dr. Nasr and ofcourse Dr. Chittic. The sufi path of love is indeed a great book giving a glimpse into Islamic spirituality and love. As great as this book is, there are a few weaknesses in the book which rather contradicts the theme and mood of the book. Dr. Chittic at times reports some of the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad which, though accepted by main stream Moslems, nevertheless they are others who have opposed the authenticity of it based on Koran, and history and plain basic human values. One of them mentioned in this book is the saying reported from Muhammad as having said" My companions are like stars, whichever one of them you follow you will be guided ." This hadith is one of most misleading and dangerous ones that I have come across. Anyone familiar with the early history of Islam immediately after the death of Muhammad, and indeed from his last few days, will notice a not so exemplary behavior by these companions. In a conversation with an Egyptian gentlemen who was well versed in Islamic religion, I showed my concern about the status of Moslems and how a man like Saddam has caused much killing among Moslems, and to my surprise he refereed to this hadith and said " Fighting and killing each other is not a sin, since the companions loved each other and yet they fought and killed each other and some even died in exile". This indeed is the logical conclusion of this hadith" loved each other and yet killed each other" and since they are like "stars", in following them we are on the right track. Is this the meaning of Moslem or sufi path of love? Is this the vision of Islam? Certainly Saddam of Iraq is,then, well withing his religion definition of "love" in killing and waging war and destruction upon others, since he is not doing anything that "stars" before him didn't do. This "stars" mentality with it's historic reality, may explain why Moslems condemn US in bombing Saddam's facilitties, and yet they were totally silent when he was invading his neighbors and dropping cheical weapons on Kurdish women and children. " Love each other and yet kill each other" for this was the example set forth by the companions whom Muhammad( so we are told) designated them as "stars" of humanity. I really don't think Muhammad would have said something of this nature and give an absolute immunity to his followers just because they had seen him physically. According to Koran, Prophet Abraham went through so many tests before he was declared as an " Imam"( leader) and no guarantee was given to him about his offspring, but here we have prophet unilaterally give the status of "star" to all of his followers and tell the rest of humanity that they all lead to guidance. Is there a surprise then that Moslems have come to the absurd conclusion of" love each other and yet kill each other" and all is well. Should we accept any saying reported to Prophet without common sense and referral to Koranic and human principles? I think it would have been better to also mention that there are others who don't accept the authenticity of these kind of sayings. Or else it would be honest to paint a whole picture based on historic reality for the readers so they would know what" love" means in the Moslem contest. To talk about love and to write beautiful poems about it is not enough, it is important to show people based on hard data, how this concept of "love" has been implemented by those whom we are to take as our "stars". Incidentally though, I don't think the analogy in this "hadith" is a correct one either. It is doubtful that a person can navigate through the seas or find his way in deserts by randomly picking any star in the sky and figuring out which is west or east.