Does a 13th century Islamic mystic hold a key to peace on earth?

“Rumi combines the philosophical greatness of Plato, with the soul force and realization of a Jesus or Buddha, with the literary gifts of a Shakespeare.”  This opening statement by mystical scholar Andrew Harvey only begins to say who Rumi was and has become. 

We begin our epic biography of the most popular poet of our times in both the Middle East and the West with beautiful HD images of his shrine in all of its exotic, Islamic beauty in Konya, Turkey.  Here thousands from around the world throng to celebrate the night he died (Dec. 17), what this 13th century Muslim mystic considered his “wedding night” with his Beloved.  In 2007 there will be added excitement since UNESCO has proclaimed his 800th birthday year the International Year of Rumi.  

Through sublime pictures of Islamic architecture, artistic masterpieces from his environs, and dramatic tableaus of Rumi and dervishes in traditional dress shot at historically accurate locations, we bring the Islamic world of the Middle Ages to life—all accompanied by calls to worship, classic Sufi music, and current interpretations. 

From the exquisite Green Dome of his mausoleum, we flash back to show Mevlâna Jalâluddin Rumi as a child in Balkh (now in Afghanistan).  The Mongol hordes are besieging, and his father, known as The Sultan of Scholars, flees with Rumi and his family.  Rumi’s pervasive sense of “cosmic homelessness yearning to find its way back to its loving Source would occupy his mind and poetry for his entire life, as it does all who follow the path of Muhammad.”  Through such narration as well as commentary by Dr. Akbar Ahmed, Chair of Islamic Studies, American University, we make the mystical stream of Islam (Sufism) accessible to the West and explore the “paradox” of Rumi’s popularity here since 9/11.  Ahmed emphasizes Rumi’s connection to the Prophet, to early Sufis, such as the female Sufi saint Rabia, and to Sufi poets.   

In Balkh renowned translator of Rumi from Persian into English idiom, Coleman Barks, states he is “the only planetary poet we have.”  RUMI RETURNING provides this highlight:  Barks and others reading Rumi’s illuminating lines married to evocative, textured images of Turkey in spring—magnificent mosques, Bosphorus ships, castle walls, bathing birds, luminous tulips, Muslims at work, play, and prayer.  
 
We present the key events in Rumi’s life, such as his family’s decade-long trek before settling in Konya and his father’s death that propelled the young student of 24 into becoming a teacher himself, leading up to the momentous meeting at 37 with the teacher who transfigured him.  The climax of the film is the unfolding of this multi-layered relationship with his heart companion, Shams.  After his loss of Shams, Rumi begins to turn or whirl in ecstatic union with the Divine and spontaneously recite a torrent of poems that still resonate about separation and longing.  At this moment we unleash the full visual power of the Whirling Dervishes on HD as they perform their mesmerizing dance of prayer Rumi inspired.  A dervish living the Sufi way of Rumi in Konya, Üzeyir Özyurt, explains this highly symbolic, holy ritual and how Shams taught Rumi the “secret of love” that informs it.         

With touching stories about his last years in which Rumi lived life to the fullest based upon the wisdom he had gained from Shams, we come full circle with his leaving his body on Dec. 17, 1273, what he would have seen as “returning home”.   Members of five faiths flock to mourn him and celebrate his loving, peaceful presence based upon the continual pursuit of knowledge, compassion, and justice.  For the first time on film RUMI RETURNING places this beloved sage’s story in all of its rich historical and theological context, at the same time showing it as a triumph of the universal spirit of love and tolerance that returns to us now at a time when we need it the most.

Dr. Ahmed tells us:  “If there’s one motto that the post 9/11 world needs to adopt, I would say it should be a line from Rumi, in which he says, ‘I go to the synagogue, I go to the church, I go to the mosque, and I see the same altar, and I feel the same spirit.’  It is the embodiment of the universal spirit without which I’m afraid in the 21st century—and I can say this with great confidence—we as a world civilization are lost.  We do not have a choice.  We must rediscover the spirit of the universal mystics.”

THE END

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