Iran to hold congress on Rumi’s Masnavi and Husam al-Din Chalabi

TEHRAN, Feb.8(MNA) -- Iran will hold an international congress on Rumi(the Persian Sufi saint and poet )’s Masnavi-ye Manavi and Husam al-Din Chalabi in May 2011 in Urmia, Iran.

The two-day congress will be held at the Urmia University to boost cultural ties between Iran and Turkey, Western Azarbaijan’s Deputy Governor for Political and Social Affairs mentioned during a meeting with Turkish officials in Urmia.

Ebrahim Fatollahi recently paid a visit to Turkey’s Consulate-General in Urmia Erdogan Odabas and some of the officials and scholars from universities located in Van province, Turkey.

The congress will introduce literati belonging to this region and it will also manifest the cultural and social affinities between the people of the two countries, Fatollahi added.

Fatollahi pointed to Rumi, Shams and Chalabi who wrote their works in Persian and asked Turkish universities to establish Arabic departments to make it possible for Turkish scholars to read their works.

At the ceremony, Odabas mentioned using the International Congress of Shams-i Tabrizi by Iran as an example of a successful program and he asked for expansion of cultural affinities between two countries.

It is documented that the Persian mystic and poet Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi (1207-1273) dictated the verses of the Masnavi-ye Manavi (Rhyming Couplets of Profound Spiritual Meaning) at the request of his disciple Husam al-Din Chalabi.

Chalabi also recorded verses by Rumi in meetings he had with his disciples and recited them back to him. Chalabi’s mausoleum is located near the Soltanieh Dome in Zanjan, Iran.