Rumi
Masnavi, Divan-e Shams — Sufi mystic poet
The best-selling poet in America — eight centuries after his death. The Masnavi is called the Quran in Persian; the Divan-e Shams is an explosion of ecstatic love poetry. His poetry and the whirling dance of the Mevlevi order are the most widely known expressions of Sufi mysticism.
Key works
- Masnavi-ye Ma'navi~1258-1273— Six books of spiritual verse — 'the Quran in Persian'
- Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi~1240s-1260s— ~40,000 verses of ecstatic love poetry