The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations, Volume 1

Mevlânâ Celâleddîn Rumi is considered the foremost mystical Persian poet of Love and is the best-selling poet in the United States. Our four volumes share the 1,867 quatrains from Rumi's Divan-i Kebir, translated by Nevit O. Ergin, the first person ever to translate into English the over 44,000 verses in Rumi's Divan-i Kebir.

Although selections of Ergin's translations of Rumi's quatrains have been published before, this is the first time his translations of all 1,867 rubaiyat will have been published - in English only -in their entirety.

To quote Ergin, "Rumi is like an infinitely large umbrella covering all we have and beyond."

Rumi (1207-1273) His full name is Mevlânâ Celâleddîn Muhammed Rumi [Turkish], or Master Jalal of Rum. The Islamic world knows him as Mowlānā [Our Master]. The West knows him as Rumi. His poetry is beautiful and inspired, reaching the pinnacle of the rich Persian poetic tradition. But, to call him a great poet is an unfortunate understatement, Of far more import, perhaps no other human has ever lived who, through his own words, has given us such a clear view into the journey of a mystic on the road to Absence, to the Divinity, to Nothingness. Rumi was born in present-day Afghanistan in 1207 and lived most of his life in Konya, Turkey, where he died in1273. He was a Muslim scholar, well-respected in his community by those from all walks of life, including imams, priests and rabbis, beggars and Seljuk royalty. Now, 800 years later, mankind is still being blessed with the vastness of his wisdom.

Nevit O. Ergin (1928-2015) devoted himself to the same spiritual path as Rumi. He was born and raised in Turkey, but spent the majority of his life in the United States, first in Michigan, and then California. The last 25 years of his life were used to bring more of Rumi's poetry and more awareness of Rumi's message to the Western world. Ergin's English translations are from the Turkish translations of Turkish scholar Abdülbakî Gölpinarli and are inspired. He was able to capture the essence of every verse he translated... and he translated over 44,000 verses. As he liked to say, he spent 60 years of his life "trying to get rid of this earth before it gets rid of me."

Millicent Alexander (1947- ) was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She met Nevit Ergin at the home of Hasan Shushud in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1972. An account of her first meeting with these two remarkable men is included in The Sufi Path of Annihilation by Nevit O. Ergin (Inner Traditions). She stayed life-long friends with Nevit Ergin, working with him on bringing Rumi's poetry to the English-speak world from 1992 (with the publication of Crazy As We Are [Holm Press]) until his passing in 2015. Ms. Alexander is a retired educator and currently lives in Los Angeles, California.