Thread: The Orientalizing of Moulana Rumi
Many of you may be familiar with the 'Rumi quotes' that circulate the internet. What if I told you the vast majority of them are fake and they are part of a project to secularize Rumi? This isn't a whatsapp conspiracy. https://t.co/qQFQBq9RTl
Take this quote, commonly attributed to Moulana Rumi: https://t.co/99WNIJR1r0
Brad Pitt even got it tattooed, right by his pit: https://t.co/CKRGAofh8Y
Ivanka Trump, the daughter of the most Islamophobic president in US history, tweeted it out after her dad failed to make peace in Afghanistan. If Rumi were alive today, her dad wouldn't even allow him in the country. The irony. https://t.co/KltD1JKura
Where is this quote from? It's from 'The Essential Rumi' probably the best selling poetry book in America, written by Coleman Barks who has made his career peddling Rumi 'translations.' https://t.co/2ehebEydav
Meet Coleman Barks, the man responsible for nearly every 'Rumi quote' you've seen. Coleman hasn't studied Islam, Sufism, or Persian in academia or traditional settings, he doesn't even know Persian! But that didn't stop him from writing over a dozen translation books! https://t.co/lAtO6VlXZT
In a country where poetry books struggle to sell even a few thousand copies, Barks has sold over five hundred thousand, literally making millions from Moulana Rumi's writings. https://t.co/uLgR8FDi54
After three decades of 'translating' Moulana Rumi, Barks managed to establish himself as a scholar. Here he is giving a Ted talk about his 'translations.' https://t.co/WpIrAOAdS3
Remember when I said he has no formal qualification? Scratch that, he was actually given an honorary doctorate by the University of Tehran (Iran's premier university) for all of his... scholarship... right. With friends like this, who needs enemies! https://t.co/Rz7Vdqu0ty
Here's what @ostadjaan had to say via @rozina_ali for @NewYorker https://t.co/APY60pvAZD
“I see a type of ‘spiritual colonialism’ at work here: bypassing, erasing, and occupying a spiritual landscape that has been lived...by Muslims from Bosnia and Istanbul to Konya and Iran to Central and South Asia.” a gem from an actual real Rumi scholar, @ostadjaan https://t.co/CjTcgFVtGP
Persians call Rumi's Masnavi, "The Qu'ran in Persian." It's a storybook that embodies the spirit of the Qu'ran in simple, rhyming Persian for the non-Arabic speaking masses. One cannot understand the Masnavi w/o the Qu'ran, but alas “The Koran is hard to read.” remarks Barks. https://t.co/A5jPaoArON
But let's go back to the quote I mentioned earlier. I've found the original Persian text (that Coleman can't even read) and translated it into English. Notice anything? https://t.co/jcY6GZqpJm
Compare my mostly literal translation with Coleman's 'translation.' My heart aches for those who only know Moulana Rumi via this orientalist garbage masquerading as a translation. https://t.co/EXgRlZOlFU
Take this second poem. All of the Islam is removed to the point where the poem is almost meaningless. 'Home' (dargah) in Persian is unnecessarily translated as 'caravan'. This divergence from the original exposes the orientalist mindset of these 'translators.' https://t.co/zoKKuI4buV
To help us de-construct orientalist narratives and accurately translate Persian poetry, please support us at https://t.co/WJBzECiIUh and find us on insta https://t.co/wCkW4BEzWB
For those who would like another way to support this project, we also have clothing for sale:
https://t.co/VYDCm1OSyj