Dancing before God's Beauty

This book presents fresh insights into the life, teachings, and enduring legacy of the Persian mystic poet Jalal al-Din Rumi. Across thirteen chapters, scholars introduce innovative perspectives on under-explored and emerging themes, from the hagiography written by Rumi’s son, Sultan Valad, and his journey towards accepting spiritual leadership, to Rumi’s passionate relationship with his beloved friend, Shams-i Tabrizi. The volume also provides new approaches to reading Rumi’s monumental didactic narrative, the Mathnavi. Topics range from shahid-bazi – worshipping a beautiful face to commune with the divine – to supplication (munajat), immolation, sensory perception, and the transformative role of music in reaching ecstatic states. Chapters deal with Rumi’s reception history, examining the works of figures such as Anqaravi (d. 1041/1631) and Abdülbâki Gölpinarli (1900-1982), as well as the Dutch-Iranian novelist Kader Abdolah. The book further explores Rumi’s visual reception history and his impact on contemporary artists. Finally, it examines Rumi’s popularity in the United States, analysing how his poetry continues to offer people from diverse backgrounds a Lacanian "imaginary": an internalized representation of the spiritual.