The Masnavi is a six-volume poem in rhyming couplets by the 13th-century Persian Sufi poet Rumi, composed over the last twelve years of his life. It interweaves stories, parables, and Quranic exegesis into a single sustained meditation on divine love and the path of return to God. Often called "the Persian Quran" by the Mevlevi tradition, it is the most influential single text in Persian Sufi literature.
Book One opens with eighteen verses — the reed-flute prologue — in which a reed cut from its reed bed cries for its place of origin. This image of separation and longing serves as the organising metaphor for the entire work: the soul separated from its divine source, seeking return. The structure is associative rather than linear, with stories interrupted for theological digressions that open into other stories. Jawid Mojaddedi's Oxford World's Classics translation (2004) renders Book One in rhyming couplets, the first complete unabridged verse translation into English in more than a century.
Contents
The Song of the Reed (Prologue)
The Healing of the Sick Slave-Girl
The Jewish King and the Persecution of Christians
The Vizier Who Feigned Madness
The Description of the Prophet in the Gospels
How a Hare Killed the Lion
The Man Who Saw the Angel of Death
Reception
The Masnavi has been continuously read, taught, and commented on across the Persian-speaking world for seven centuries; it is the foundational text of the Mevlevi ("whirling dervishes") order Rumi's son founded after his death. In the West it became widely known through Reynold A. Nicholson's complete edition and translation (1925–40), which remains the scholarly standard. Modern English readers are more likely to encounter Coleman Barks's loose verse renderings, which scholars have criticized as more Barks than Rumi; Jawid Mojaddedi's Penguin Classics translation (Books 1–6, 2004–2020) is the most cited contemporary scholarly English version.
Frequently asked
What is The Masnavi, Book One about?
It is the first of six books of rhyming Persian verse composed by the Sufi poet Rumi from around 1258. It opens with the reed-flute prologue — a meditation on the soul's longing for divine union — and proceeds through interwoven stories, parables, and Quranic commentary, all organised around the theme of divine love and the path of return to God.
How is the Masnavi structured?
The Masnavi does not follow a linear argument. Stories are interrupted mid-narrative for theological digressions that open into further stories — a deliberate method rather than a formal flaw. Book One alone contains dozens of interwoven tales, including "The Healing of the Sick Slave-Girl" and "How a Hare Killed a Lion." The structure enacts the teaching: the reader learns to hold multiple threads and relinquish expectation of a conclusion.
How do English translations of the Masnavi differ?
Jawid Mojaddedi's Oxford World's Classics translation (Books 1–6, 2004–2020) renders the text in rhyming couplets and is the most widely cited contemporary scholarly English version. Coleman Barks's widely read versions have been criticised by scholars as loose renderings of John Moyne's literal translations rather than direct translations from the Persian. Reynold A. Nicholson's complete edition (1925–40) remains the philological standard.