Some 25,000 couplets. Rumi called it “the roots of the roots of the roots of the religion” and “the shop of unity.” The Masnavi unfolds through stories — folktales, prophetic narratives, erotic episodes, arguments between a sheikh and a student — each opening into mystical teaching.
It has been read continuously for eight centuries, in Persian and in translations that never quite capture it. What Rumi does cannot be done in English, but even the echo carries.