Coleman Barks and Omid Safi: Introducing Rumi to the West

Coleman Barks and Omid Safi are two giants in Sufi teaching, study and research. They promote the key tenets of Sufism, namely fully embracing God’s divine presence and perpetual introspection. A poet himself, Barks is considered to have successfully introduced Persian poet and Sufi prophet Rumi to Westerners. Safi is a professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Duke University, serving as its director of the Islamic Studies Center. He is an acclaimed author himself and enthusiastic teacher of Rumi and Sufism. Coleman and Safi tell Sara Jamshidi how Rumi has reshaped our understanding of Islam and Sufism in the West.