Rumi - Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teachings, and Poetry of Jalal al-Din Rumi

Rumi's works are valuable as social science in their reference to psychological development (the journey of soul). In order to understand Rumi, one must take a classical hermeneutical stance to uncover his intended meanings. This can only be done well if one understands Rumi himself. Franklin Lewis' text is now the greatest aid in so doing: there is no other extant text that gives such a thorough and accurate portrait of Rumi. It offers in-depth description and analysis of his antecedents, as well as the 13th century contemporary influences on his own psychological development. Other than Rumi's works themselves, no other book has been written that allows such insight into who he really was. Professor Lewis has written a work that is an invaluable aid in hermeneutically understanding Rumi, and in providing a richness of context through which one can better decode Rumi's own meaning-making.

A unique and most detailed biography of Rumi in English. A lot of material is repeated throughout the book and the text could be tightened for better reading. Something to consider for a 2nd edition.

If you're interested in learning about the historic Rumi, this is the best book I've found! It's a lengthy, well-written scholarly work by a multilingual author who seems to have read everything by, or written about, Rumi.

I find this book to be an extremely valuable and reliable resource. I use it and highly recommend it to everyone including my students in the In The Footprints of Rumi [...] course that I teach both live and online. This work is a labor of LOVE!

Before starting this book, I had never loved a book from the first sentence of the introduction. An extraordinary clear and important Rumi book.

Very detailed and easy to read and understand . This is a must have book!

Very informative, enlightening, engaging.

At the time of Rumi/Molana/Molavi/Jalaledin Mohammad Balkhi and many tens of centuries before it and centuries after, there was no country called Afghanistan (how could he be an Afghani when Afghanistan didn't exist). I fully understand this is besides the message he conveys in his books, however from a scholarly point of view it would be appropriate to identify his country appropriately. Dari and Persian are the same language (two names for the same language), my friend Dari is short for Darbari, the language of Iran (Persia).

Franklin, You have done a great job which nobody could do it. You must be reading thousands of pages before producing this scholarly, masterly and intellectual masterpiece. I am writing an article on RUMI for urdu speakers and your reference will be on the top.....Thank you again

Franklin Lewis's book is the definitive summation of scholarly work on Rumi- it is essential if you are studying the man.