Ramadan 1441/2020: Week 2: Fasting is…

Week 2: Fasting is…

Meeting of Jalal ud-Din Rumi and Shams-e Tabriz. | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meeting_of_Jalal_al-Din_Rumi_and_Molla_Shams_al-Din.jpg

One of the best selling poets in the US, for many years now, is the 13th century Persian-language poet Jalaluddin Rumi. Rozina Ali, in a wonderful piece, traces how Rumi is decoupled from Islam, his religion. Not only was he Muslim, but he was a legal scholar. He was both ritually observant and railed against ritual. That richness of what it means to be Muslim is…