Rumi often is described as the most popular poet in America—perhaps even the most popular poet in the English-speaking world. Here’s a 3-part series ReadTheSpirit published in 2010 about Rumi on the occasion of HarperOne’s publication of his masterwork, “The Big Red Book,” adapted for modern readers by the poet Coleman Barks. The series includes one of Rumi’s poems and an in-depth interview with Barks about the poet’s enduring global appeal.

Here is the chapter in “Interfaith Heroes, Volume 1” celebrating Rumi’s encouragement of diversity …

Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi

Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi was a Persian Muslim poet and mystic theologian who lived in the 13th Century. He was born in Balkh, a region now in the area where Afghanistan and Tajikistan meet. As a child, this region came under the threat of Mongol invaders. So, his family began a long trek that eventually ended with them settling in Konya in Asiatic Anatolia, now part of Turkey.

Throughout Rumi’s life, there was a great deal of political and social conflict. Rumi’s family was caught in a vise-like collision of forces, threatened by Mongol invaders from the East and Crusaders from the West.

Early in his adult life, Rumi was a prestigious Islamic lawyer and scholar, but he developed a friendship with an eccentric mystic dervish named Shams-e-Tabriz, which means Shams of Tabriz, a city in what is today Iran.

Shams introduced Rumi to the wondrous depths of mysticism and the two men became great friends, learning a great deal from each other. However, one night, Shams was murdered, allegedly by jealous followers of Rumi. (You can read more about Shams via the link, above, to the 3-part series with Coleman Barks.)

In his grief and his thankfulness for Shams’ friendship, Rumi’s creativity exploded in poetry that was stunning in its scope and creativity. Much of his poetry is famous for its ecstatic delight in ordinary encounters with nature and everyday activities. Rumi’s poems in Persian are still widely read in Central Asia and the Middle East, and through translations, his work is very popular in the United States today. He also wrote poetry in Arabic, Greek and Oghuz Turkish.

Rumi explored themes and concepts that were central to Sufi thought, such as unity and turning toward the truth. He believed that music, poetry and dancing were pathways reaching toward God. After his death, Rumi’s teachings led to the formation of the Mevlevi Order of “whirling dervishes,” who created a sacred dance that represents a mystical journey through the mind and love to the “Perfect.” Rumi taught that when one returns from this mystical journey, one will be able to love and serve the whole creation without prejudices that discriminate against a person’s belief, race, class or nationality.

Early in his life, Rumi lived in a religiously diverse region. Balkh was rich with Buddhists, Muslims, Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians all living together. Rumi had friendly relationships with all the people he met in these various faith traditions. He was a devout Musim, completing the hajj to Mecca early in his life. In a quote traditionally attributed to Rumi, the poet said, “I am not a Christian, a Jew, a Zoroastrian, or a Muslim.” This quote was not an expression of unbelief. Instead, it reveals that Rumi believed deeply in humanity and in the oneness of God, which transcends human differences and touches all people.

In his personal life as well as his poetry, Rumi crossed lines of religious difference. His first wife was Muslim. After her death, Rumi married a woman believed to be a Christian, even though, at the time, Christian and Muslim warriors were entangled in bloody battles of the Crusades. When he died, his funeral lasted 40 days, attended by grieving Muslims, Christians and Jews as well as by people from Greek, Arab and Persian cultures.

Rumi truly was a man whose heart and poetry embraced all humanity. Here are a few lines from his lengthy poem, “Masnavi,” a cycle of verse that eventually stretched to more than 50,000 lines:

“Love’s nationality is separate from all other religions,

The lover’s religion and nationality is the Beloved (God).

The lovers’ cause is separate from all other causes

Love is the astrolabe of God’s mysteries.”

Questions for Reflection:

• Have you ever felt a passionate connection with people from another faith or culture?
• Have you ever mourned the loss of a person from a different background? Why did the death touch you so deeply?
• What spiritual poetry do you enjoy? Re-read or recite a passage that inspires you.

You can purchase, “Interfaith Heroes, Volume 1,” from Amazon and enjoy all 31 profiles by Daniel Buttry.

Tagore and his friend Gandhi posing for journalists in 1940.THIS IS ONE OF THE INSPIRATIONAL PROFILES in the first volume of “Interfaith Heroes” by Daniel Buttry in 2008. Order a copy of “Interfaith Heroes, 1” from Amazon to enjoy all the stories.

Rabindranath Tagore 

(1861-1941)

Tagore at the height of his creative energy in 1909.Rabindranath Tagore was a literary giant in India. Born into a Bengali Brahmin family in Calcutta, Tagore founded an ashram in West Bengal that included an experimental school. He believed that God was found through personal purity and service to others. Tagore was known primariy for his poetry which was deeply influenced by the mysticism of the Hindu Upanishads but at the same time was accessible to many Western readers. In 1913 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature becoming Asia’s first Nobel laureate.

However, Tagore was prolific in many other artistic fields. Besides his poetry, Tagore produced many novels, short stories and dramas. He wrote non-fiction works on diverse topics: Indian history, linguistics, travelogues and science. He composed more than 2,000 songs, including many devotional hymns and the national anthems for both India and Bangladesh. When he was 60, he began to draw and paint, and his art was exhibited in Paris and London.

Tagore was a controversial figure in Indian politics. He supported the Indian independence movement and was a firend of Ghandhi, but he also disagreed with Gandhi over many issues. He was especially virulent in his attacks on nationalism. He denounced fascists, Japanese and American nationalists, and even the nationalism in the Indian independence movement.

He spoke out against India’s “abnormal caste consciousness,” decrying the evils of social systems in India that left millions in poverty and labeled entire groups of people as “untouchable.” He raised feminist concerns in his writings, calling for liberation of women from mahy of the customs in marriage. In his stories, he attacked those who still glorified the custom of self-immolation by women after their husbands’ deaths.

Tagore’s writings were influenced by many religious streams. The Muslim mystical poet Hafez was an inspiration to him. He used a Buddhist story of Ananda, one of Gautama Buddha’s disciples, who asked an untouchable girl for water, as an exemplary tale for his Hindu culture. During Tagore’s travels, he engaged with many people in discussions of a transcendent humanism. He addressed the annual Quaker gatherings in London, and became a friend and associate of Charles Andrews, the Christian missionary who was Gandhi’s protege. Tagore was deeply disturbed by the tensions and violence between the Hindu and Muslim communities in India. He explored these issues in his writings, confronting the religious zeal that leads to bigotry and violence, especially when wedded to nationalism.

Tagore and India’s National Anthem, “Jana Gana Mana”

Today, Tagore’s poetry is heard whenever India’s National Anthem is sung. In English, its opening lines can be translated: “Thou art the ruler of the minds of all people—Dispenser of India’s destiny.”

Wikipedia offers an extensive article on this world-famous hymn to India’s enduring national spirit. The Wiki article includes a summary of confusion that arose over Tagore’s intent in composing these lines. British journalists, in particular, first assumed these lyrics referenced the British monarch—an easy mistake to make because of the song’s debut during a visit of King George V. At the time, George V was called “Emperor of India.” However, those who knew Tagore’s background were horrified by these press reports!

Tagore himself clarified that he intended to invoke “that Lord of Destiny, that Reader of the Collective Mind of India, that Perennial Guide … who has from age after age held steadfast the reins of India’s chariot through rise and fall, through the straight path and the curved.” Tagore wrote that anyone with “simple common sense” would know that he would never place such reverent faith in “George V, George VI, or any other George!” (This brief passage is quoted in the Wiki article, but the entire article about Tagore’s attitude toward the anthem is online as well.)

The government of India maintains a detailed Jana Gana Mana website explaining the anthem’s proper use. The Indian embassy in Washington D.C. offers sheet music for the anthem. Another Indian embassy offers a beautiful audio version of the anthem you can download and enjoy.

The Indian National Anthem continues to touch lives around the world. In June 2010, the www.FriendshipAndFaith.com website published a story about an American high school student’s first experience of this moving song by Tagore.

(Originally published in www.ReadTheSpirit.com)

MUHAMMED NURAYAN ASHAFA and JAMES MOVEL WUYE
(b. 1960)(b.1960)

“You cannot cross the ocean with hate in your heart.”
The city of Kaduna has been the epicenter of violence between Muslim and Christian communities in northern Nigeria. In 1992, religious riots erupted in which hundreds of people were killed and houses of worship on both sides were destroyed. Muhammed Nurayn Ashafa and James Movel Wuye were on opposite sides of the fighting, playing leading roles stirring up the violence. Both men were born in 1960 and took parallel paths to leadership among the youth in their respective communities. James Wuye became a mapmaker by profession and a lay evangelist by conviction. He was vice-president of the Youth Christian Association of Nigeria and regularly wrote articles in their newspaper The Whole Truth. Muhammed Ashafa became a Muslim preacher and was the Secretary-General of the Kaduna chapter of the National Council of Muslim Youth Organizations. Ashafa also wrote extensively in their news bulletin.
     Both leaders expressed radical, provocative ideas with uncompromising attitudes. Wuye wanted to totally evangelize Nigeria, and Ashafa worked for the total Islamization of Nigeria. When the violence exploded they were in the forefront of the fighting. Wuye lost an arm from wounds he received. Ashafa’s mentor and his brother were both killed. Ashafa’s mentor had been a Sufi hermit who once challenged him, “You cannot cross the ocean with hate in your heart.” When Christian militiamen murdered the Sufi mystic, Ashafa sought revenge.
     In 1995 Wuye and Ashafa encountered each other at a meeting sponsored by a women’s organization. As they talked they discovered in spite of their suspicions that they had more in common than they ever imagined. Their images of their “enemy” were shattered, and that day they began a quest to work together to solve the problems of religious conflict in their community. It wasn’t easy for them.
     During a Friday service at his mosque, Ashafa heard an imam talk about the story of Prophet Muhammad going to preach in Ta’if. Muhammad was rejected, stoned, and left bleeding. When an angel appeared and asked if Muhammad would like to destroy those who had rejected him, Muhammad replied, “No.” This story began to work in a healing way in Ashafa’s heart, and he wept during the service. To express his forgiveness to Wuye, he visited the ailing aunt of the Christian leader, as she was in the hospital.
     Meanwhile Wuye struggled with his own bitterness, having been left for dead by Muslim attackers who had hacked off his arm. Then, at a conference, ironically featuring a noted anti-Muslim speaker, a pastor challenged Wuye directly with words that echoed the Sufi mystic’s message to Ashafa: “You can’t preach Jesus with hate in your heart.” Wuye says those words “deprogrammed” him.
     As former hard-liners it was a difficult task to bring the leadership of their respective organizations into a process of mutual discovery and dialogue, but they began the process. Visits were made to the meetings of each organization. Wuye visited a mosque, and Ashafa visited a church. Symposia with Christian-Muslim dialogue were held and met with great success.

Eventually, they formed an organization for which they are co-coordinators, the Muslim/Christian Youth Dialogue Forum in Nigeria. This organization has held educational events and published books and pamphlets on interfaith mediation and peace-building. They co-authored The Pastor and the Imam: Responding to Conflict that tells their stories, explores the similarities and differences of Christianity and Islam, and calls for Christians and Muslims to work together for understanding and peace. “We planted the seed of genocide, and we used the scripture to do that,” Ashafa said, referring to their earlier involvement in the inter-religious violence. So, as part of their writing and teaching on reconciliation, they have highlighted the use of their respective scriptures. They use quotes from the Bible and the Quran to explore areas of common belief and areas of disagreement between Christians and Muslims. Then, again quoting extensively from the Quran and the Bible, they show why Muslims and Christians should engage with each other peacefully rather than violently. As they write in the introduction, “Our appeal is that the two religions acknowledge the existence of other faiths and that the adherents of Islam and Christianity live harmoniously with people of other faiths.”
     These two leaders renamed their organization the Interfaith Mediation Centre. They have conducted many educational events related to peace building and reconciliation across religious lines. They also are active in the streets seeking to quell violence. Once, Imam Ashafa provided shelter in his own home for a Christian woman fleeing violent Muslim youths. Pastor Wuye also saved a Muslim woman at risk from Christian youths who threatened her.
     Ashafa and Wuye have become key figures both in Nigeria and around the world in efforts to promote peace between Muslim and Christian communities. They both find some of their harshest critics within their own faiths as disagreements about how to interact with the other faith are very deep and intense. Both Ashafa and Wuye are committed to extending their faiths, even in the other communities. But they acknowledge that they have to find the space for coexistence, a commitment that they discovered was deeply rooted in their own religious traditions.

PLEASE, Tell us what you think by leaving a Comment.

    Not only do we welcome your notes, ideas, suggestions and personal reflections—but our readers enjoy them as well. Your short Comment may make someone else’s day.
    (Originally published at http://www.ReadTheSpirit.com/)

A.T. ARIYARATNE
(born 1931)  

“We build the road — and the road builds us.”

Ahangamage Tudor Ariyaratne, better known as A.T. Ariyaratne, stands the trickle-down approach on its head. He advocates for and practices “development from the bottom up.” Ariyaratne has an academic background, but he has put his beliefs into practice to such an extent that he has created the largest non-governmental organization in Sri Lanka, a movement that has garnered worldwide attention and acclaim.
    Ariyarante is a deeply devout Buddhist who has fused the teachings of Buddha with the activist philosophy of Gandhi to develop a potent and broad approach to the complex problems experienced by the poor of his country.
    He built a foundation for his work from the “five precepts”: Non-killing, non-stealing, non-sexual indulgence, nonviolence and non-intoxication. Then he sought to inculcate the expressions of character in Buddha’s four characteristics: “To practice loving kindness toward all living beings, to engage yourself in compassionate action, to gain joy out of serving other people and to work in a spirit of equality.” Out of these Buddhist principles he set forth principles for their work in the community: sharing, pleasant language of compassion and respect, constructive activity, and equality of association.

    In the late 1950s, this college professor decided that students needed to move out of the classroom into the villages of Sri Lanka. He challenged students to give 10 days of labor a year to the poorest villages as an extension of their education. Th e experience was transformative for the students and the villagers as pressing needs were met by people working together. Th e project grew to 100 villages in 1967, and kept growing to 15,000 villages by 2001.
    The organization formed by Ariyarante to facilitate this work is Sarvodaya Shramadana, which means “the sharing of labor, thought and energy for the awakening of all.”
    The grassroots movement of Sarvodaya begins with community organizing, helping people to learn to work collaboratively to identify their needs and decide what is most important to address first. People in a village work together on the Gandhian principle of direct self-governance. Then people are mobilized from across Sri Lanka and even from around the world to labor on these projects.
    Together people have built thousands of schools, community health centers, libraries, cottage industries, wells and latrines. Three hundred small village banks have been established that together have as much in assets as any large commercial bank in Sri Lanka. Irrigation projects, solar energy projects and programs that promote biodiversity have been established. People come together to work from all religions, castes, ages and economic levels, and together they are transformed. As the Sarvodaya motto puts it: “We build the road, and the road builds us.”

    All this has been done through mobilizing ordinary people through their renewed spirituality. Ariyaratne speaks out of his own Buddhist tradition and has brought many local Buddhist monks into an active role in transforming village life. But he also has engaged Hindus, Christians and Muslims to work alongside Buddhists as part of living out the principle of equality of association. He calls people to “try to awaken themselves spiritually and thus transcend sectarian religious diff erence, to become one with all.”
    In a country that has been torn by a long, bloody civil war along ethnic and religious lines, Ariyaratne has been a tireless peacemaker. He took the Sarvodaya movement to the Jaffna Penisula, the Tamil-dominated area at the heart of the conflict. As a part of their development work, the members of Sarvodaya teach and model the principles of nonviolence, especially through the interpretations of Gandhi. Ariyaratne’s blend of the teachings of Buddha and Gandhi is a powerful antidote to the conflict that has pitted a Tamil Hindu minority against the Sinhalese Buddhist majority.
    Ariyaratne also has launched massive peace walks in which he asks people to come together to meditate on peace. Buddhist monks, Hindu swamis, Catholic nuns and lay people from all faiths have gathered in various locations around Sri Lanka to meditate. The movement has grown from a few thousand to more than 900,000 people meditating on peace together, crossing all the lines of division.
    Through the spiritually rooted work of Dr. Ariyaratne and Sarvodaya millions of people in thousands of villages have been transformed, uniting people with a common purpose from various religions, castes and ethnicities.
    As Ariyaratne likes to say, “We ordinary human beings can make a much greater difference than governments.”

CARE TO READ MORE?

    There is not much on his Wikipedia page, but it does contain some useful links.
    There’s a much longer story about him on the Sarvodaya Web site. If you prefer, you can start at Sarvodaya’s homepage.

PLEASE, Tell us what you think by leaving a Comment.

    Not only do we welcome your notes, ideas, suggestions and personal
reflections—but our readers enjoy them as well. Your short Comment may make someone else’s day.
    (Originally published at http://www.ReadTheSpirit.com/)