Rumi’s philosophy of love discussed at Lok Virsa

Islamabad : The Lok Virsa held literary session, ‘Muzakra’, on Rumi's philosophy of love, wisdom and mysticism here on Friday.

Former federal secretary Muhammad Saleem Sethi and Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Dr Muhammad Najeeb Khan were the keynote speakers at the literary session.

Muhammad Saleem Sethi who himself has done the versified translation of masnavis of Rumi into Urdu said that Primarily the focus of studies and teachings of Maulana Jalal ud Din Rumi was a beautiful combination of sharp logic and deep philosophy.

After his encounter with Shah Shams Tabraiz, love and mysticism (sufism) replaced the logic and philosophy as his subjects of interest.

“Indeed, it goes without saying that religion is a major determinant of folk and traditional heritage of any community and nation,” Sethi believed. He said that, sufis and sufism enjoy the deeply ingrained reverence and high level esteem among masses for encoding the message of religion in local languages using the indigenous similes and local popular proverbs and idioms.