The Mathnawí of Jaláluʾddín Rúmí: Volume 1, Persian Text(Gibb Memorial Trust)

Volume 1 of Reynold A. Nicholson’s authoritative translation and edition of Rúmí’s magnum opus – reissued with a new foreword by Alan Williams – provides the Persian edition of books I and II of the Mathnawí. The Mathnawí of Jalálu’ddín Rúmí is his greatest work in every sense. As well as being his longest single composition, it is his most mature, as it was his last work, written from 1261 until his death in 1273 CE. It comprises six volumes, which amount to over 25,600 rhymed couplets in Nicholson’s edition, plus six brief prose prefaces, variously in Arabic and Persian. The Mathnawí relates a range of folk stories, from traditional Iranian and Muslim lore, as well as from pre-Islamic, Western Classical and Indian Sanskritic traditions. It also includes moral and mystically contemplative discourse, exegesis and meditation on the Qur’ān and Hadith, and stories not recorded before Rúmí’s writing, which may have been composed for the work. This volume is part of an eight-volume set by Nicholson. Three volumes present his edition of the Persian text, three volumes provide his English translations, and two volumes offer his commentary.

About the Author :
Reynold Alleyne Nicholson (1868–1945) was one of the foremost European scholars of Islamic mysticism. His pioneering translations and editions of major Sufi texts—including Dīvāni Shamsi Tabrīz (1898), The Mystics of Islam (1914), and the monumental eight-volume edition and translation of Rumi’s Mathnawí (1925–1940)—remain foundational works in the field. He also authored the influential Literary History of the Arabs (1907) and several studies on Islamic poetry and personality in Sufism. Nicholson's literary sensitivity and rigorous scholarship transformed Western understanding of Sufi thought and literature. Alan Williams is Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Religion at the University of Manchester. He is the author of several books on Zoroastrian and Islamic literature in Iranian languages and is one of the few scholars of ancient Iranian languages who also works on Classical Persian texts of the medieval period. He also translates modern Persian poetry.

Review :
Nicholson’s edition, translation, and commentary on the Mathnawi is a monument and milestone of Western scholarship on Islam. Its return to print will aid students and scholars alike. It is no exaggeration to say that without R.A. Nicholson’s translation, the worldwide popularity of Jalal al-Din Rumi over the past few decades would not have been possible. Nicholson’s translation stands as a model of exceptional accuracy, meticulous scholarship, learned commentaries and informative footnotes. Nicholson’s monumental translation is an epoch-making work, without which the rise of the Rumi cult would be inconceivable. This new publication of Rumi’s Spiritual Couplets, with a new preface by Professor Alan Williams, is a must for lovers of poetry, Sufism and spirituality. It is an absolute delight to see this masterpiece of medieval Sufi literature back in print. There is nothing in the genre of pedagogic Persian Sufi poetry that compares to Rūmī’s Mathnawī. It is engaging, funny, didactic, moralistic and antinomian. It has been described as the Qur’ān in Persian tongue, but it is also so much more. Nicholson’s English translation is also incomparable. The translation reflects the style of the times, but his care and attention to detail, and his consistency in translating technical terms serve as an exemplary model for current scholars. This collection will be highly valued by all serious researchers of religion, Islam and Sufism.