Muslim Journeys: The Poetry of Rumi: An Appreciation by Dr. Mohammad Jafar Mahallati, Presidential Scholar in Islamic Studies at Oberlin College

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” The Sufi mystic and poet Jalalu'l-Din Rumi is beloved for his poems expressing the ecstasies and mysteries of love in all its forms. Born in what is present day Afghanistan in 1207, he is best known for the Masnawi, a masterpiece consisting of over sixty-thousand poems that drip of the divine and startle readers into a profound remembrance of the ineffable Essence that links all people. Our guest speaker, Dr. Mohammad Jafar Mahallati, began memorizing the poetry of Rumi in its original Persian when he was still a boy. Today, in his scholarship, he explores the relationships between Sufi literature and Islamic ethics, as well as the philosophy of friendship. Mahallati is currently Presidential Scholar in Islamic Studies at Oberlin College. He served as Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations from 1987 to 1989 and successfully negotiated a peace agreement to end the war between Iran and Iraq. But poetry lovers and spiritual seekers should not be intimidated by his resume. He enthusiastically invites all who would be friends to join him for an evening of warm reflection and simple enjoyment.

This fall, the Lakewood Public Library will be hosting a series of programs that will bring to light the cultural, historical and spiritual lives of Muslims in America and around the world. Topics range from Western perspectives on Muslim history to the loving and universal poetry of  Rumi to the rise of the Islam-inspired Hizmet social reform movement. There will be documentaries about the life of Muhammad, the majesty of Islamic art and a conservative Muslim woman’s struggle to educate young Pakistani women. A charming, fictional film will provide a glimpse of everyday life in Turkey and an animated film will illustrate the story of a headstrong young girl growing up in the middle of the Iranian revolution. Children’s programs will focus on arts and crafts of henna design, calligraphy, mosaics and ebru. An ensemble of Sufi musicians will present a glorious concert of openhearted music that welcomes all faiths. And a masterpiece of Persian poetry will be brought to life by actors and musicians reading selections from The Conference of the Birds. The series begins on Saturday, September 7 with a documentary film, Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet, introduced and moderated by Dr. Zeki Saritoprak of John Caroll University. A complete schedule with program descriptions and more can be found at www.lakewoodpubliclibrary.org/muslimjourneys. These programs are sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Turkish American Society of Ohio--Cleveland.