c. 2004 Religion News Service Editors: Display these words above the byline: “Come, come, whoever you are. Wonderer, worshipper, lover of leaving. It doesn’t matter. Ours is not a creation of despair. Come, even if you have broken your vow a thousand times. Come, yet again, come, come.” _ Rumi

(UNDATED) What the American Islamic world needs now is love, sweet love; fortunately, it’s the only thing one of this country’s most popular poets has just too much of.

So what if Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi died more than 700 years ago?

The Sufi saint celebrated for his message of universal love and tolerance is enjoying a spiritual and cultural renaissance as a welcome symbol of a faith beleaguered by associations with terrorism.

Rumi, a 13th-century poet and philosopher, is hot. Madonna and Demi Moore performed Rumi’s work on a CD produced by New Age guru Deepak Chopra, and his poetry has been set to music in New York fashion shows.

There are annual Rumi Festivals in Chapel Hill, N.C.; organizations such as the Rumi Art Society in Austin, Texas, and the Rumi Forum for Interfaith Dialogue in Washington; and Rumi reading groups in homes and on college campuses nationwide.

Rumi was born in 1207 in what is now Afghanistan. His family fled a Mongol invasion, and Rumi, a devout Muslim, grew up in Konya, Turkey. Rumi’s spiritual journey to achieve mystical union with God also led him to a profound respect for people of all faiths.

“Come, come, whoever you are,” Rumi says in his poetry.

A theme of his work encourages readers to transcend division and realize “that each thing in the universe is a vessel full to the brim with wisdom and beauty.”

Muslims, Christians, Jews and Hindus were said to have attended his funeral when he died at age 66 in 1273.

Within Islam, the Sufi tradition is a minority. There is concern that some practices such as whirling dance and chanting are outside traditional Islam as found in the Quran and the Hadith, religious teachings based on the life of the Prophet.

But Sufism is becoming increasingly popular, particularly among Western converts and so-called progressive Muslims seeking what they see as a less legalistic alternative form of worship.

And, in large part because of the influence of Rumi, spiritual seekers of all faiths have been opening themselves to a new appreciation of Islam through the writings of a poet who speaks passionately of divine and human love.

Zeki Saritoprak, a professor of religious studies at John Carroll University and president of the Mentor, Ohio-based Rumi Foundation, said the poet is attractive to Eastern and Western scholars and spiritual seekers because of the universality of his ideas “about spirituality and human needs for interaction with the divine.”

Rumi speaks of a divine love so intense it “can burn you spiritually,” Saritoprak said.

In just the last few years, with the aid of popular adaptations by poet Coleman Barks, more than half a million books of Rumi’s poetry have been sold.

Not bad for an Islamic mystic in a nation struggling to separate religion and politics after terror attacks on American soil.

It is a popularity not lost on the Islamic community in this country.

As spiritual seekers of all faiths explore mystical truths with the help of Rumi, many Islamic leaders welcome the attention to a beloved spiritual figure who for centuries has represented the religion as one of peace and universal brotherhood.

“People in the Muslim community have realized Rumi can provide a positive model for interfaith dialogue,” said Marcia Hermansen, professor of Islamic studies at Loyola University in Chicago.

Saritoprak, who helped found the Rumi Forum in Washington in 1998 while he was a researcher at Georgetown University, said those who would politicize Islam and invoke the faith to justify acts of violence against innocents “have nothing to do with the teachings of Islam.”

Rumi offers a powerful vision to counteract such false teachings, many Islamic scholars say.

Huseyin A. Kara, director of the Rumi Foundation, said he wants his children to grow up in a society where people of all faiths are appreciated, and where children can learn about Islam without being made to feel ashamed or afraid of their religion.

“Rumi, in his time, represented this idea in the best way,” Kara said. “He spread his message of dialogue and love and tolerance in his time. This is what we are trying to do. These are the common values of humanity.”

MO/PH END BRIGGS

(David Briggs is religion reporter for The Plain Dealer of Cleveland.)