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Year 2023, Issue: 2, 83 - 96, 23.01.2023

Abstract

References

  • Ali, Rozina. "The Erasure of Islam from the Poetry of Rumi." New Yorker, January 5, 2017. https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-erasure-of-islam-from-the-poetry-of- rumi
  • Amaral, Leila. “New Age Spirituality.” In The Encyclopedia of Latin American Religions, edited by Henri Gooren, Springer, 2015. https://doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-08956-0_51-1.
  • Cihan-Artun, Fatma B. "Rumi, the Poet of Universal Love: The Politics of Rumi's Appropriation in the West." PhD diss., University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2014. http://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/555.
  • El-Zein, Amira. “Spiritual Consumption in the United States: the Rumi phenomenon.” Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, vol.11, no. 1, 2000, pp.71-85, https://doi:10.1080/095964100111526.
  • Furlanetto, Elena. "The ‘Rumi Phenomenon’ Between Orientalism and Cosmopolitanism The Case of Elif Shafak's The Forty Rules of Love." European Journal of English Studies vol.17, no. 2, 2013, pp. 201-213, https://doi: 10.1080/13825577.2013.797210.
  • Geaves, Ron. "Universal Sufism." In the Sufism: Critical Concepts in Islamic Studies 3, edited by Lloyd Ridgeon, 81. New York: Routledge, 2008.
  • Hozhabrossadat, Sepideh. "Sacrificing the bull: Conceptualisations of fanā (spiritual death) in Rumi's Mathnavi." International Journal of English and Literature, vol.9, no.2, 2018, pp.10-17, https://doi: 10.5897/IJEL2018.1152.
  • Iqbal, Afzal. The Life and Work of Jalal-ud-din Rumi. Islamabad: Pakistan National Council of Arts, 1991.
  • Kafka, Alexander C. “Rumi: America’s Favorite Poet, from Persia, With Love.” 18 January 2017. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/rumi-americas-favortie-poet-from-persia-with-love/2017/01/17/240ccc82-d77f-11e6-9f9f-5cdb4b7f8dd7_story.html (accessed October 6, 2019).
  • Khan, Amina Kausar. "On Becoming Naught: Reading the Doctrine of Fana and Baqa in the Mathnawi of Jalal al-Din Rumi." MTh(R) Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2017, http://theses.gla.ac.uk/8222/.
  • Kökcü, Melih. “Elif Shafak’s The Forty Rules of Love between constructive and disruptive cosmopolitanisms. Eurasian Journal of English Language and Literature vol.2, no.2, 2020, pp.138-151, https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/jell
  • Mojaddedi, Jawid, trans. The Masnavi: Book One. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
  • ———. The Masnavi: Book Two. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
  • Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. The Garden of Truth: The Vision and Promise of Sufism, Islam's Mystic Tradition. New York: Harper Collins, 2007.
  • Nicholson, Reynold A., trans. The Mathnawi' of Jalālu’d-dīn Rūmī. vols. 3, 4. London: Messrs. Luzac & Co., 1930.
  • ———. The Mathnawi' of Jalālu’d-dīn Rūmī. vols. 5, 6. London: Messrs. Luzac & Co., 1933.
  • Palmer, Lindsey. "Reading Rumi: The Collapse of the Real, the Imaginal, and the Literacy in Jalal al-Din Rumi's Masnavi i-Ma'navi." Senior Thesis, Haverford College, 2015.
  • Papan-Matin, Firoozeh. "The Crisis of Identity in Rumi's Tale of the Reed." Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, vol. 23, no.1-2, 2003, pp. 246-253, https://muse.jhu.edu/article/191285.
  • Pogge, Thomas. "Cosmopolitanism." In Vol. 1 of A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy, edited by Robert E Goodin, Philip Pettit and Thomas Pogge, 2 vols. West Sussex: Blackwell Publishing, 2007, pp. 312-332.
  • Safavi, Seyed Ghahreman and Simon Weightman. Rumi's Mystical Design: Reading the Mathnawi Book One. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2009.
  • Schimmel, Annemarie. As Through a Veil: Mystical Poetry in Islam. New York: Colombia University Press, 1983.
  • Shafak, Elif. The Forty Rules of Love. London: Penguin Books, 2015.
  • ———. "The Urgency of a Cosmopolitan Ideal as Nationalism Surges." New Perspectives Quarterly, vol.31, no. 2, 2014, pp.17-21, https://doi.org/10.1111/npqu.11441.

Love and Longing for the Reed-bed: A Comparative Study of Sufi Themes in The Forty Rules of Love and the Mathnawi

Year 2023, Issue: 2, 83 - 96, 23.01.2023

Abstract

This article explores the recurrence of Sufi themes in Elif Shafak’s novel, The Forty Rules of Love, and draws comparisons to similar selections from Jalaluddin Rumi’s Mathnawi. This paper will examine claims that Shafak employs concepts more connected to New Age Spirituality than Sufism in her novel, and has oversimplified Islamic Sufi concepts to appeal to an international readership. Through the comparative study of the fictional narrative with the poetry, I will examine whether or not Shafak’s characters in The Forty Rules of Love undergo a spiritual journey, or are Sufi seekers towards the Ultimate Truth. By using the Mathnawi as a form of reference for the Sufi journey, I will conduct a thematic comparative analysis of selected passages from the Mathnawi and Shafak’s narrative to investigate the Sufi dimension of this book. By comparing close readings of selections from the novel with the Mathnawi, Sufi themes such as that of restlessness, searching for enlightenment, fanā’, and the infinite power of Divine Love are presented. This article argues, through the thematic comparisons, that Sufi themes are predominant in the historical narrative of the novel, while the contemporary narrative lacks the Islamic basis of the Sufi path.

References

  • Ali, Rozina. "The Erasure of Islam from the Poetry of Rumi." New Yorker, January 5, 2017. https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-erasure-of-islam-from-the-poetry-of- rumi
  • Amaral, Leila. “New Age Spirituality.” In The Encyclopedia of Latin American Religions, edited by Henri Gooren, Springer, 2015. https://doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-08956-0_51-1.
  • Cihan-Artun, Fatma B. "Rumi, the Poet of Universal Love: The Politics of Rumi's Appropriation in the West." PhD diss., University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2014. http://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/555.
  • El-Zein, Amira. “Spiritual Consumption in the United States: the Rumi phenomenon.” Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, vol.11, no. 1, 2000, pp.71-85, https://doi:10.1080/095964100111526.
  • Furlanetto, Elena. "The ‘Rumi Phenomenon’ Between Orientalism and Cosmopolitanism The Case of Elif Shafak's The Forty Rules of Love." European Journal of English Studies vol.17, no. 2, 2013, pp. 201-213, https://doi: 10.1080/13825577.2013.797210.
  • Geaves, Ron. "Universal Sufism." In the Sufism: Critical Concepts in Islamic Studies 3, edited by Lloyd Ridgeon, 81. New York: Routledge, 2008.
  • Hozhabrossadat, Sepideh. "Sacrificing the bull: Conceptualisations of fanā (spiritual death) in Rumi's Mathnavi." International Journal of English and Literature, vol.9, no.2, 2018, pp.10-17, https://doi: 10.5897/IJEL2018.1152.
  • Iqbal, Afzal. The Life and Work of Jalal-ud-din Rumi. Islamabad: Pakistan National Council of Arts, 1991.
  • Kafka, Alexander C. “Rumi: America’s Favorite Poet, from Persia, With Love.” 18 January 2017. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/rumi-americas-favortie-poet-from-persia-with-love/2017/01/17/240ccc82-d77f-11e6-9f9f-5cdb4b7f8dd7_story.html (accessed October 6, 2019).
  • Khan, Amina Kausar. "On Becoming Naught: Reading the Doctrine of Fana and Baqa in the Mathnawi of Jalal al-Din Rumi." MTh(R) Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2017, http://theses.gla.ac.uk/8222/.
  • Kökcü, Melih. “Elif Shafak’s The Forty Rules of Love between constructive and disruptive cosmopolitanisms. Eurasian Journal of English Language and Literature vol.2, no.2, 2020, pp.138-151, https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/jell
  • Mojaddedi, Jawid, trans. The Masnavi: Book One. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
  • ———. The Masnavi: Book Two. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
  • Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. The Garden of Truth: The Vision and Promise of Sufism, Islam's Mystic Tradition. New York: Harper Collins, 2007.
  • Nicholson, Reynold A., trans. The Mathnawi' of Jalālu’d-dīn Rūmī. vols. 3, 4. London: Messrs. Luzac & Co., 1930.
  • ———. The Mathnawi' of Jalālu’d-dīn Rūmī. vols. 5, 6. London: Messrs. Luzac & Co., 1933.
  • Palmer, Lindsey. "Reading Rumi: The Collapse of the Real, the Imaginal, and the Literacy in Jalal al-Din Rumi's Masnavi i-Ma'navi." Senior Thesis, Haverford College, 2015.
  • Papan-Matin, Firoozeh. "The Crisis of Identity in Rumi's Tale of the Reed." Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, vol. 23, no.1-2, 2003, pp. 246-253, https://muse.jhu.edu/article/191285.
  • Pogge, Thomas. "Cosmopolitanism." In Vol. 1 of A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy, edited by Robert E Goodin, Philip Pettit and Thomas Pogge, 2 vols. West Sussex: Blackwell Publishing, 2007, pp. 312-332.
  • Safavi, Seyed Ghahreman and Simon Weightman. Rumi's Mystical Design: Reading the Mathnawi Book One. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2009.
  • Schimmel, Annemarie. As Through a Veil: Mystical Poetry in Islam. New York: Colombia University Press, 1983.
  • Shafak, Elif. The Forty Rules of Love. London: Penguin Books, 2015.
  • ———. "The Urgency of a Cosmopolitan Ideal as Nationalism Surges." New Perspectives Quarterly, vol.31, no. 2, 2014, pp.17-21, https://doi.org/10.1111/npqu.11441.
There are 23 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects North American Language, Literature and Culture
Journal Section Research Articles
Authors

Maha Zawil 0000-0002-2885-496X

Publication Date January 23, 2023
Submission Date September 22, 2022
Published in Issue Year 2023 Issue: 2

Cite

MLA Zawil, Maha. “Love and Longing for the Reed-Bed: A Comparative Study of Sufi Themes in The Forty Rules of Love and the Mathnawi”. Overtones Ege Journal of English Studies, no. 2, 2023, pp. 83-96.