The 13th-century Persian poet Rumi was a devout Muslim scholar whose poetry is filled with Qur'anic references and Islamic moral language. Since the Victorian era, Western translators have re-written Rumi as a mystic shorn of his Islamic identity. At best, this was a way of making his poetry palatable to non-Islamic audiences. At worst, this could be seen as a form of spiritual colonialism. For example, here is a well-known translation by Coleman Barks. > Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, > there is a field. I’ll meet you there. > When the soul lies down in that grass, > the world is too full to talk about. > Ideas, language, even the phrase “each other” > doesn’t make any sense. > — ​Jalāl ad-Dīn Rūmī (13th C.) interpreted by Coleman Barks (1997) In contrast, here is a literal translation: > Beyond Islam and unbelief > there is a ‘desert plain’. > For us, there is a ‘passion’ in the midst of that expanse. > The knower (of God) who reaches there will prostrate (in prayer), > For there is neither Islam nor unbelief, > nor any ‘where’ in that place.” ​ > — ​Jalāl ad-Dīn Rūmī (literal translation) Coleman Barks does not read Persian, and worked from older English translations. --- Sources: - [[Reference Notes/Books/Gather Together|Gather Together]] - https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-erasure-of-islam-from-the-poetry-of-rumi