THE MACROCOSMIC MAS̱NAVĪ

Abstract

This chapter offers a succinct close reading of the first story of Rumi’s Masnavi, which ushers its audience into the hermeneutics of the entire work. Notably, this story depicts a dialogue between Rumi and his foremost student, Husam al-Din Chalabi, a native of Anatolia who was likely of Kurdish descent. Rumi may have dictated the Masnavi, but it was Husam al-Din who copied it, recited it back to his master in a strong voice, and taught others to read his manuscript aloud. This chapter argues that the Masnavi is thus shaped by a form of dialogism, not only between Rumi and Husam al-Din, but also by the text and its audience, who performatively partake in the dynamics of its opening story: a strange encounter between a king, in need of spiritual instruction, and a visitor from another realm. When we read the Masnavi, we are also reading a miniature of Anatolia, the product of a literary field shaped by authors and audiences in different ways.