bluetree/humanities

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Sufi Poet and Mystic Rumi Remains Compelling to American Readers
UNESCO designates 2007 as International Year of Rumi

By Howard Cincotta
USINFO Special Correspondent
US Department of State
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Washington -- Ask Americans who is the most popular poet in the country today, and they might guess Walt Whitman or Robert Frost.

Many might be surprised to learn that the correct answer (measured either in public interest or total book sales) is the Sufi mystic and poet known as Rumi (Jalal ad-Din Mohammad Balkhi), born 800 years ago in Central Asia.

Rumi (1207-1273) continues to fascinate and engage -- regardless of culture, race or language -- and American scholars and readers are among the smitten.

The source of Rumi's sustained popularity in the United States also crosses barriers of time and global cultures. It is his powerful ability at "evoking ecstasy and the divine," says Islamic scholar Seyyed Hossain Nasr. "His poetry has the power of universality."
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