every single day i think about how horribly rumi’s poems have been translated from persian into english & how they’ve been turned from gorgeous poems abt islamic spirituality into these… pithy vapid little quotes that white people post as instagram captions. white scholars & translators straight-up falsified and misrepresented the essential themes of and islamic mysticism inherent to his work in favor of turning it into easy-to-consume love poetry & it never fails to make me angry
here’s a good thread to read through abt this exact topic as a start !!
because i know most of you can’t be bothered to look at the thread:
take a time to read through the thread if you can!!
most of the ‘sufi poetry’ or works by rumi you’ll read in school or find at any book store or online is just a bunch of this orientalist garbage that not only mistranslates, but intentionally puts forward a colonialist, orientalist mindset that you consume without knowing it