Welcome to Rumi Returning

Dear Educators,

See our Lesson Plans for High School Teachers, which accompany "Rumi Returning," as well as Group Discussion Guidelines for Intercultural and Interfaith Dialogues. College Teachers: Contact Co-Producer Cynthia Lukas, a former college English teacher, for free College Study Guides.

A SHORT LIST OF BOOKS
ABOUT RUMI AND SUFISM

POETRY OF RUMI

The Essential Rumi. Trans. Coleman Barks with
John Moyne.
Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1997.

The Forbidden Rumi: The Suppressed Poems of Rumi
          on Love, Heresy, and Intoxication.
          Trans. Nevit O. Ergin and Will Johnson.
          Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions, 2006.

Helminski, Kabir, ed. The Rumi Collection.
Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1998.

Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices
          from the East and West.
          Trans. Daniel Ladinsky.
          New York: Penguin Compass, 2002.

Love's Ripening: Rumi on the Heart's Journey.
Trans. Kabir Helminski and Ahmad Rezwani.
Shambhala Publications, Inc.: Boston, 2008.

Dervishes

"Rumi Returning is a remarkable collage of music, visual artistry, and informative dialogue. It situates Rumi in his Afghan-Persian-Turkish milieu, giving the viewer a clear geographical, historical, and religious sense of Rumi in the thirteenth century. The film incorporates actual footage from Rumi's tomb in Konya, Turkey, and records the "whirling dervishes" in action. Throughout there is a creative use of Persian miniatures and a nuanced contextualization of sufism and Islam. Of all the films made about Rumi to date this is the only one I would show to my university students without any reservations."

Art Buehler
Senior Lecturer, Religious Studies
Victoria University Wellington, New Zealand"

The Masnavi: Book One. Oxford World's Classics
Series. Trans. Jawid Mojaddedi.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.

The Masnavi: Book Two. Oxford World's Classics
Series. Trans. Jawid Mojaddedi.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.

Perfume of the Desert: Inspirations from Sufi Wisdom. Trans. Andrew Harvey.
Lanham, MD: Quest Books, 1999.

The Pilgrimage of Life and the Wisdom of Rumi: Poems and Translations. Trans. Seyyed Hossein Nasr.
New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2007

The Rubais of Rumi: Insane with Love. Trans. Nevit O. Ergin and Will Johnson.
Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions, 2007.

Rumi, Dancing the Flame. Trans. Nader Khalili.
White River Jct., VT: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2002.

Rumi, Fountain of Fire. Trans. Nader Khalili.
White River Jct., VT: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2002.

Say I Am You. Trans. Coleman Barks and John Moyne.
Athens, Georgia: Maypop, 1994.

The Soul of Rumi. Trans. Coleman Barks with John Moyne, Nevit Ergin, A. J. Arberry, Reynold Nicholson,
and M. G. Gupta.
New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 2001.

Teachings of Rumi. Trans. Andrew Harvey.
Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1999.

ABOUT RUMI AND SUFISM

Ahmed, Akbar. Journey into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization.
Washington, D. C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2007.

Angha, Nahid. Ecstasy: The World of Sufi Poetry and Prayer.
San Rafael, CA: International Association of Sufism, 1998.

Armstrong, Karen. Islam: A Short History.
New York: The Modern Library, 2000.

---------. Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet.
New York: HarperCollins, 1993.

Attar, Farid-Ud-Din. Conference of the Birds:
          A Seeker's Journey to God. trans. by R. P. Masani.
          Introduction by Andrew Harvey.
          Boston: Weiser Books, 2001.

Barks, Coleman, and John Moyne. The Drowned Book:
Ecstatic and Earthy Reflections of Bahauddin, the Father of Rumi.
San Francisco: HarperCollins, 2004

Buehler, Arthur F. Masters of the Heart: Naqshbandi Sufism and the Mediating Shaykh.
Charleston: University of South Carolina Press, 1997.

Can, Sefik. Rumi's Thought: A Mevlevi Sufi Perspective. ed. and trans. by Zeki Saritoprak.
Somerset, New Jersey: The Light, Inc., 2005.

Chittick, William C. The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi.
Albany: State University of New York Press, 1983.

----------. Me and Rumi: The Autobiography of Shams-i Tabrizi.
Louisville: Fons Vitae, 2004.

de Vitray-Meyerovich. Rumi and Sufism. trans. by Simone Fattal.
Sausalito: Apollo Press, 1987.

Ernst, Carl W. Sufism.
Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1997.

--------. Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World.
Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2003.

Fadiman, James and Robert Frager. Essential Sufism.
New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1997.

Friedlander, Shems. Rumi and the Whirling Dervishes.
New York: Parabola Books, 2003.

Harvey, Andrew. Light Upon Light: Inspirations from Rumi.
Berkeley: North Atlantic Books. 1996.

--------. The Way of Passion: In Celebration of Rumi.
          New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam Edition, 2001.

Helminski, Camille Adams. Women of Sufism: A Hidden Treasure.
          Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 2003.

Helminski, Kabir. The Knowing Heart: A Sufi Path of Transformation.
Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1999.

---------. Living Presence: A Sufi Way to Mindfulness & the Essential Self.
New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam Edition, 1992.

Lewis, Franklin D. Rumi: Past and Present, East and West.
Oneworld Publications: Oxford, 2000.

Lings, Martin. Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources.
Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions, 2006.

---------. What is Sufism?
Cambridge, UK: Islamic Texts Society, 1993.

Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. The Garden of Truth: The Vision and Promise of Sufism, Islam's Mystical Tradition.
New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2007.

---------. The Heart of Islam.
New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers, Inc., 2002.

Schimmel, Annemarie. Rumi’s World: The Life and Work of the Great Sufi Poet.
Originally published as I Am Wind, You Are Fire.
Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1992.

----------. The Triumphal Sun: A Study of the Works of Jalaloddin Rumi.
State University of New York Press: Albany, 1993.

------------. Women of Sufism: The Feminine in Islam. trans. by Susan H. Ray.
New York: Continuum, 1997.

Sedgwick, Mark J. Sufism: The Essentials.
Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press, 2003.

Shah, Idries. The Sufis.
New York: Anchor Books, 1971.

Türkmen, Erkan. Teachings of Shams-I Tabrezi (Rumi's Master).
Konya, Turkey: Altunan Ofset Ltd., 2004.

------------. Teachings of Shams-I Tabrezi (Rumi's Master).

Upton, Charles. Doorkeeper of the Heart: Versions of Rabi'a.
New York: Pir Press, 2003.

Vaughan-Lee, Llewellyn. The Bond with the Beloved: The Mystical Relationship
of the Lover and the Beloved. Inverness: The Golden Sufi Center, 1993.

**Valuable Websites on Rumi and Sufism -
Rumi Mevlevi Site, an excellent Turkish site with information about Rumi, Sufism, Turkish and Sufi music, and the Whirling Dervishes. It includes outstanding articles by Rumi scholars such as William C. Chittick and Seyyed Hossein Nasr.

Sufi News and Sufism World Report (updated daily), Dr. Alan Godlas, Editor. We had the good fortune to hear Dr. Godlas (and Dr. Coleman Barks) speak at a screening of "RUMI RETURNING" sponsored by the American Islamic Fellowship in Atlanta in October, 2008. His websites are widely considered to be the best on Sufism in the world.

Sufism: An Inquiry, a publication of the International Association of Sufism, www.sufismjournal.org. Previous editor was Dr. Nahid Angha, whom we interviewed in Novato, California while researching “RUMI RETURNING.”

Social justice Sufi blogsite: http://rose-sufi-crescent.blogspot.com