Rumi’s Masnavi has been inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register lists.
Announcing the news, head of Golestan Palace Parvin Seghat ol-Eslam said, “Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi’s Masnavi, which has been submitted this year for inclusion in the Memory of the World Register lists, is half-cut in 32.5 by 22.4 dimensions on buff-colored paper and presently exists in Golestan Palace documents treasury.”
Iran has already registered six valuable documentary heritages on the UNESCO list, the most recent of which was a collection of selected maps of the Qajar Era recommended for inclusion in 2013. A collection of Nezami’s ‘Panj Ganj’ (Five Treasures) and ‘Bayasanghori Shahnameh’ (Prince Bayasanghor’s Epic of Kings) are also included in the UNESCO lists, MNA reported.
Masnavi, or Masnavi-I Ma’navi, is an extensive poem written in Persian by Rumi, also known as Mawlana, the celebrated Persian poet. It is one of the best known and most influential works of Persian literature.
Masnavi is a series of six books of poetry that together number around 25,000 verses or 50,000 lines. It is a spiritual work that teaches how to reach true love with God. Mawlana began dictating the first book around the age of 54 in the year 1258 and continued composing verses until his death in 1273.
