The lyric and wisdom poetry of Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi has been an inspiration throughout the Middle East and Asia for over seven hundred years. Recently it has also become popular in Western countries through translations and interpretive poetic versions in English. But while popular renderings have created the appreciation of Rumi the mystic, there is little understanding today of the religious and spiritual traditions from which the great mystic came. Rumi and Islam--Selections from His Stories, Poems, and Discourses examines not the popularized Rumi of universal love but the Sufi disciple whose works express deep reverence for the Prophet Muhammad. Ibrahim Gamard focuses on Rumis place within the Sufi tradition of Islam, as one of the greatest Muslim followers of the Prophet Muhammed, and on the Islamic foundations of his lover-Beloved mystical poetry. By probing verse by verse Rumis spiritual teachings, Gamard provides insight into the mystical side of the Quran and Islam, a religion that holds a deep love of God at its core. Now you can experience the profound and uplifting wisdom of Rumi even if you have no previous knowledge of Sufism or Islam. This SkyLight Illuminations edition presents the most important of Rumis writings, mainly from the Mathnawi, with insightful yet unobtrusive commentary that conveys how his teachings about the nature of love for God and Gods love for us can increase our understanding of Islamic wisdom in the West.