Tehran Times Culture Desk

@T= TEHRAN -- Malaysian professor has recently completed the translation of Rumi’s Masnavi into the Malay language.
The immortal masterpiece of world literature Masnavi by the Persian mystic and poet Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi (1207-1273) was translated by Prof. Mohamed Ajmal B. Abdul Razak Al-Aidrus, Deputy Dean of the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization in Malaysia.
“For years, I was thinking of translating Rumi’s Masnavi into the Malay language. My Ph.D. thesis was basically on world literature, so I had to study world classic literature and among them, Persian. It was then that I became interested in Molana’s poetry and found it to be rich in content,” he told the Persian service of IRNA.
“I began last year in the month of Ramadan and alloted a 10-month period for myself to accomplish the task. Fortunately, I finished the 6-volume collection within 9 months and 23 days,” he noted.
“I am currently working on the final editing and am planning to publish the books before year’s end (2009). The collection includes six volumes and will be published in both Persian and Malay,” he added.
“The major reference for the translation was its English translation by Reynold A. Nicholson. I also made use of the Persian original copy to find better synonyms for some words.
“As far as I know, there has not been a translation of Masnavi into Malay before,” he stated.
He continued that he also worked on a Malay translation of Khayyam’s Rubaiyyat with the help of its English translation by Edward Fitzgerald, “I admit it was really difficult and have edited the work over 18 times so far and hope to release it for publication this year.”
The professor further remarked that he has no future plans for the translation of a Persian classic text, though the divan of Hafez seems to him to be so tantalizing.
“I sincerely hope I can visit Iran and Konya after publication of this book and deeply experience for myself the land where these masterpieces of poetry are rooted,” he concluded..