Latinized parts of Masnavi translation

[Ibrahim]

Someone recently wrote:

As-Salamu `alaykum wa rahmatullah, Sidi Ibrahim

I had a question, if you don't mind:

How have the masha'ikh and `ulama responded to questions regarding
certain "vulgar" words or accounts in the Mathnawi? I couldn't find
anything discussing this on your website or discussion board.

Allah reward you. Was-Salam.

----------------------------

Dear Mujîb,
Wa `alaykuma 's-salâm,

The topic appeared on the discussion board twice:
http://groups.google.com/group/dar-al-masnavi/search?hl=en&group=dar-al-masnavi&q=Latin&qt_g=Search+this+group

I think that you are imagining some sort of condemnation of Mawlana
Rumi by such authorities. As the scholar Afzal Iqbal has written (The
Life and Work of Jalaluddin Rumi, Chapter 7, "Latin Translation of the
Mathnawi"--a chapter that may be absent in paperback editions of the
book):

"The Mathnawi has been read in the original by millions of people for
some seven centuries. We are not aware of an expurgated edition nor
are we aware of a demand for one. Nicholson, in assuming the role of a
censor, has sought merely to project his own inhibitions. He has
passed an unwarranted judgment on a man he recognises as the greatest
mystic poet of any age." "Rumi has been compared [[by Nicholson]] to
Apuleius and Petronius [[Roman authors of obscene stores]]. The
comparison is farfetched; it is an insult to the memory of a man who
is revered as the greatest mystic poet the Muslim world has ever
produced." "Rumi was conscious of the possibility of casual
superficial readers stopping short at his words without making an
effort to penetrate their meaning. A parable has a purpose."

"Jesting is teaching: listen to it in earnest, do not thou be in pawn
to (taken up with) its appearance of jest. To jesters every earnest
matter is a jest; to the wise (all) jests are earnest." (Mathnawi, IV:
3558-59, near the end of the "Pear Tree" ribald story, trans. by
Nicholson) [hazl ta`liim-ast aan-raa jidd shenaw/ tow ma-shaw bar
Zaahir-e hazl-ash geraw. har jidee hazl-ast peesh-e haazil-aan/ hazl-
haa jidd-ast peesh-e `aaqil-aan]
هزل تعلیمست آن را جِد شنو تو مشو بر ظاهرِ هزلش گرو
هر جِدی هزلست پیشِ هازلان هزلها جدّست پیشِ عاقلان

Mawlana's stories of extreme and shameful lust can easily be defended
as earnest teaching and warning about the temptations of sensual
desires by the "soul that commands (the doing of) evil" [an-nafs al-
ammaara bi 's-suu, Qur'an 12:53]; therefore, it is consistent with the
primary principle of Islamic preaching: commanding the doing of what
is right and forbidding the doing of what is wrong.

As mentioned before, I have translated all the "Latinized" words and
verses, with the help of scholars (including a Latin scholar), for a
friend who has permission from Nicholson's publisher to produce a DVD
of Nicholson's translation of the Mathnawi. However, progress has
been slow because of scanning errors (such as the letter "I" misread
by the scanning software as the number "1"), and the British scholar
affiliated with Nicholson's publisher, Prof. Morton, has been
proofreading the scanned text in his spare time (he is reportedly been
proofing Book VI during the past year). But I would never send anyone
a file of the Latinized translations all together, to prevent it from
falling into the hands of the enemies of Sufism. But I will be glad to
post on this discussion group when the DVD will be available and how
to order it.

Ibrahim