Rumi as a Muslim

However, despite the aforementioned ecumenical attitude, and contrary to his contemporary portrayal in the West as a proponent of non-denominational spirituality, a select number of Rumi poems suggest the importance of outward religious observance, the primacy of the Qur"an and the superiority of Islam.

Flee to God"s Qur"an, take refuge in it

there with the spirits of the prophets merge.

The Book conveys the prophets" circumstances

those fish of the pure sea of Majesty.

Rumi"s approach to Islam is further clarified in this quatrain:

Man banda-ye qur"ānam, agar jān dāram

man khāk-e rah-e muhammad-e mukhtāram

gar naql konad joz īn kas az goftāram

bēzāram azō waz-īn sokhan bēzāram.

I am the servant of the Qur"an as long as I have life.

I am the dust on the path of Muhammad, the Chosen One.

If anyone quotes anything except this from my sayings,

I am quit of him and outraged by these words.

Seyyed Hossein Nasr states:

One of the greatest living authorities on Rûmî in Persia today, Hâdî Hâ"irî, has shown in an unpublished work that some 6,000 verses of the Dîwân and the Mathnawî are practically direct translations of Qur"ânic verses into Persian poetry.