Notes on Contributors

Notes on Contributors Alberto Fabio Ambrosio read philosophy and theology at the Dominican College in Bologna and then undertook studies in Turkish language and civilization at Marc Bloch University in Strasbourg. In 2002 he completed an MA in Turkish, the subject of his thesis being the ritual of initiation into the Bektashi Order. In the same year he completed a second MA in theology with a paper on Hinduism and Sufism (the case of Bistami). In 2007 he finished his doctoral studies in modern history at the University of Paris (Sorbonne) on the subject of doctrines and practises of the Whirling Dervishes in the Ottoman Empire during the seventeenth century. His publications on Rumi and the Whirling Dervishes include: Les derviches tourneurs. Doctrine, histoire et pratiques (2006) with Eve Pierunek and Thierry Zarcone, some articles on Ismail Rusuhi Ankaravi, in Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée (2006), as well as contributions to the Journal of the History of Sufism. An ordained Catholic priest, he is currently pursuing his research on Sufi culture and Rumi’s Order of the Whirling Dervishes in Istanbul where he has been residing since 2003. Stéphane Barsacq is a writer and essayist, who is currently literary director at Éditions Albin Michel in Paris. After finishing his studies at the Institut d’études politiques of Paris, he has obtained his MA in Modern Literature in 2003. He has contributed as a reporter to numerous news - papers and magazines, including Le Figaro, Le Figaro Magazine, and Quinzaine Littéraire. He is the author of Cioran, Ejaculations mystiques (Le Seuil 2011), Simone Weil, Le ravissement de la raison (Le Seuil 2009), François d’Assise, La Joie parfaite (Le Seuil 2009) and Johannes Brahms (Actes Sud 2008). His main interest, both as a writer and a publisher, is spiritual literature in all its diverse forms of expression in various cul- tures. contributors 217 Muhammad Esteclami served for many years as Professor of Persian Language at the Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Upon his retirement, he worked over a decade to produce the finest critical edition of Rumi’s Mathnawi in seven volumes: Mathnawi: muqaddimah wa tahlil, tashih-i matn bar asas-i nuskhahha-yi muctabar-i Mathnawi, muqayasah ba chapha-yi macruf-i Mathnawi, tawdihat wa ta’liqat-i jami c wa fihristha (Tehran: Intisharat-i Sukhan 1384 A.Hsh./2005). Author of numerous critical studies, monographs and critical editions of Persian Sufis and poets, his many works include a critical edition of cAttar’s Tadhkirat al-cawliya, one of the best commentaries on the Divan- i Hafiz entitled Dars-i Hafiz: Naqd u sharh-i ghazalha-yi Khwaja Shams al-Din Muhammad Hafiz, (Tehran: Intisharat-i Sukhan 1382 A.Hsh./2003; 2 vols.) and an outstanding commentary on the poetry of Khaqani: Naqd u sharh-i qasa’id-i Khaqani (Tehran: Intisharat-i Sukhan 1387 A.Hsh./2008; 2 vols.). Badic al-Zaman Furuzanfar (1903–1970), a professor of Persian literature at the University of Tehran, was the most eminent scholar in the field of Rumi Studies during the last century in Iran. Trained in Persian and Arabic literature, he published twenty-one books and forty-nine articles in Persian, not to mention many poems. His contribution to Rumi Studies in Iran was simply phenomenal. Aside from producing the definitive critical edition of Rumi’s Divan-i Shams in ten volumes (Tehran 1957–68 with many printings), he also edited and published the first critical text in Persian of Rumi’s Discourses (Fihi ma fihi – Tehran 1951). He published critical editions of the Discourses of Baha al-Din Valad (Rumi’s father) in two volumes: Macarif-i Baha Valad (Tehran 1959), and the Discourses of Burhan al-Din Muhaqqiq Tirmidhi (Rumi’s first teacher), Macarif-i Burhan al-Din Muhaqqiq Tirmidhi (Tehran 1961) in Persian. Prof. Furuzanfar also wrote a book on the sources of the tales, parables, adages and maxims in Rumi’s Mathnawi (Ma’khadh-i qasas va tamthilat-i Mathnawi – Tehran 1954), an annotated bibliography of all the prophetic traditions mentioned in the Mathnawi (Ahadith-i Mathnawi, Tehran 1955), and the first modern, scholarly biography of Rumi (Risala dar tahqiq-i awhal va zindiqani-yi Mawlana Jalal al-Din Muhammad, Tehran 1936), which has served as the cornerstone for several other biographies both in Persian and English. He also composed a commentary on the Mathnawi, of which three volumes were completed (covering up to verse 3012 of daftar 1) before his death..

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