How a Thirteenth-Century Islamic Poet Conquered America, Islamic Culture, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic Culture

How a Thirteenth-Century Islamic Poet Conquered America

Found in Translation: How a Thirteenth-Century Islamic Poet Conquered America

Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī

By Ryan Croken

January 28, 2009

This is, in my opinion, quite harsh treatment of Mr. Barks, who has made tremendous progress in highlighting the shared values of cultures that have forgotten their shared history and humanity. In his defence, Barks has amassed a dedicated following in the Middle East, and despite accusations of cultural insensitivity, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Tehran for his success in making Rumi a hit in places across the United States where many feared that Barack Obama might be a secret Arab-Muslim. What strikes me most about the criticisms against Barks is that they generally accuse him of giving Rumi too friendly of a face—making him too universal, too endearing, too accessible to Americans. It is here that my praise for Barks flows in exactly the opposite direction of the criticism he has attracted. Although Barks may have had to escort Rumi through Ellis Island to import him to the United States, he has shown that one can Americanize an "other" without bastardizing him. The task of a translator working across vast expanses of time and space is not easy, and what Barks has done is beautifully—indeed, wondrously—rendered Rumi into an English that pierces through the souls of millions of Westerners, yet still remains reverently (if only relatively) faithful to the original Persian.

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