Persian with RUMI

Introduction

The transliteration and translation of Rumi’s quatrains offered in this site is an attempt in order to provide an opportunity for those who are interested in practicing Persian with Rumi. There is a transliteration of the original Ruba’iyat (quatrains) provided for each poem, in order to make the pronunciation easier for the unfamiliar western readers of Persian Classical poetry. It is also necessary to mention that due to the rough, classical English language used by Professor Arberry translating the quatrains, a detail translation for the key words, phrases and expressions is provided to facilitate the understanding of each Quatrain.

The original translation is by Professor A.J.Arberry (1905-1969), who selected 359 finest and the most individual of the quatrains attributed to Rumi. Arberry’s book was published first in 1949 as “The Ruba’iyat of Jalal al-Din Rumi – Select translation into English verse”, London, Emery Walker, LTD. Arberry’s selection relies upon the Isfahan edition of quatrains edited by Muhammad Baqir Ulfat, who comprises 1994 Ruba’iyat upon the Istanbul print with a manuscript of the Diwan preserved in the Nimatullahi monastery at Isfahan. It is necessary to mention that in Isfahan edition, the poems arranged in double alphabetical order, i.e. first by rhyme and then by the first word of each poem within the rhyme-group. Ulfat’s edition known also as Isfahan manuscript is an inferior work of the well-known Persian scholar “Badi’ al-Zaman Furozanfar” consists of 1983 Ruba’iyat, which currently considered as the most authentic and reliable edition of Rumi’s Diwan. However, both Ulfat and Furozanfar include all the quatrains, which were in the earlier manuscripts, and modern scholars believe some of them were falsely attributed to Rumi and composed by the earlier poets.

The readers should note that since the base of translation in this site is Arberry’s work, therefore the Persian transliteration and the numbers referred to the quatrains are from Isfahan edition, which in some part differ from Furozanfar edition.

Any comments or suggestions concerning the method using in this site are highly appreciated in order to develop a better way of learning Persian through Rumi’s poetry.