Sir Romy

"Love trumps hate." This is a message we hear often today, and it's not just a linguistic play on words or a double entendre involving the word "trump," similar to our new president's name. So says American author Brad Gooch, author of "Rumi's Secret: The Life of the Sufi Poet of Love," a biography of the 13th-century Jalaluddin Muhammad Rumi. It seems that millions of us have suddenly woken up to the alarming danger of a country consumed by hatred, and we are rising to stem that hateful tide and affirm our shared humanity. It seems we need to do something if we are to get through these difficult times. The Muslim Sufi poet Jalaluddin Rumi (1207 – 1273) also lived in such times. Genghis Khan's Mongol armies brought complete devastation to Rumi's homeland in Central Asia. He was a refugee and an immigrant. But he didn't just cross geographical borders; he crossed the boundaries of traditional behavior. Living in a rigidly hierarchical society, he uplifted the poor and uneducated. He befriended Christians and Jews. He respected women for their own sake. Most famously, his unconventional love for another man (Shams Tabrizi, his spiritual mentor) became an inspiration for his poetry and his spiritual message of love. When Brad Gooch began researching Rumi's life, he never imagined how relevant his work would be to our current time. But once he immersed himself in this project – even learning enough Persian to use his own translations of Rumi's poetry in the book – it became clear that the life of this 13th-century poet held much to teach us about how to navigate turbulent times by following the path of love, not hate.

Published by Dar Ranees

Dar Al-Khayal Lebanon

Original and exclusive edition for Algeria