"We rarely hear the inward music..." - Source of Rumi quote?

[Sofia]

Good morning everyone,

I am a literary translator from Germany, currently translating a book from English into German. In the book, Rumi is cited with the following words:

"We rarely hear the inward music but we are dancing to it nevertheless."

Can anyone help me regarding the source of this quote? I do not want to simply translate it from the English version; a much better way would be to cite it from a German translation of Rumi's works. (And to be honest, I am not even sure whether it is an authentic Rumi quote...)

Many thanks for your help and best wishes,

Sofia

[Ibrahim]

This is a fake Rumi quote created by Coleman Barks, who does not know Persian but freely re-interprets the literal translations made by scholars. Below is the translation from Persian by the British scholar, A.J. Arberry, which Barks used to make his version--which is below that. You can see how Barks combined verses and that he made up his final verse, which has no relation to the original final verse (having to do with King Mahmud and his favorite slave, Ayaz--metaphor for the beloved and the lover). Barks typically removes Islamic references and mention of prayer, as he did here: qiblah  = "prayer-direction" (toward Mecca) and "prayer" [namāz).

Ibrahim

*******************************

The love of that cherisher of lovers has come to his own 

house; Love has in form-conceiving a form melting all forms. 

You have come to your own house; welcome, enter! Your 

coming is with joy; enter by the door of the heart, run to the vestibule of the soul. 

Every mote of my being is in love with your sun; take heed, 

for motes have long transaction with the sun. 

See how before the window the motes gracefully suspended 

beat; whoever has the sun for a qibla prays after this fashion. 

In the concert of the sun these motes are like Sufis; no one knows to what recitation, to what rhythm, to what harmony. 

In every heart there is a different note and rhythm, all stamping feet outwardly, and the minstrels hidden like a secret. 

Loftier than all is our inward concert, our particles dancing therein with a hundred kinds of glory and pride. 

Shams-i Tabriz!, you are the sultan of the sultans of the soul; no Mahmud like you ever came into being, nor like me any Ayaz. 

--translation by A.J. Arberry, Mystical Poems of Rumi, p. 168 (ghazal 1195)

*****************

You that love lovers,

this is your home. Welcome!

In the midst of making form

with love for the door,

soul the vestibule.

Watch the dust grains moving

in the light near the window.

Their dance is our dance.

We rarely hear the inward music,

but we're all dancing to it nevertheless,

directed by the one who teaches us,

the pure joy of the sun,

our music master.

--Version by Coleman Barks, The Essential Rumi, pp. 105-106

[David Perrault]

Without reference to translation and liberties too often taken... Since Sama outwardly harmonizes with music while worshipping. Me wonders about the inner harmonizing with unstruck melodies that uplift the soul, quiet the mind and pull awareness towards its source in the genuine writings of Mevlana? is there an inner Sama?

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[Ibrahim]

One verse in the ghazal hints at this: "In the concert {samā'] of the sun these motes are like Sufis; no one knows to what recitation, to what rhythm, to what harmony" [they hear].Then there is Rumi's famous verse: http://www.masnavi.net/1/50/eng/4/736/

Ibrahim

[Sofia (christianemorgenstern@online.de)]

Dear Ibrahim,

thank you so much for your insightful comments and the comparison of the scholarly translation with the "freely interpreted" version; that was most helpful!

Being a translator myself, I find it odd (to say the least) that someone like Coleman Barks feels entitled to publish a "translation" without even understanding the original language ... Weirdly enough, his version of Rumi's verses has even been translated into German by Christoph Erben (three volumes, Freiamt and Freiburg  2009-2015) ) - I suspect, the German version will have nothing to do with the original any more.

Does any of you know about a good German translation of the ghazal 1195? Unfortunately, there is no complete German translation of the Divan, as far as I know. Annemarie Schimmel, a highly respected scholar, translated some parts, but I do not have her book here, so I cannot tell whether it contains the passage in question.

Many thanks for any advice regarding a German translation and best wishes

Sofia