Reynold A. Nicholson

Reynold Alleyne Nicholson (or R.A. Nicholson; born in Keighley, Yorkshire, England on 18 August,1868; died on Chester, Cheshire, England in 27 August, 1945) was an eminent orientalist widely regarded as the greatest Rumi scholar in the English language.

Nicholson was a lecturer in Persian language and Sir Thomas Adams's Professor of Arabic at Cambridge University and a leading scholar in Islamic literature and Islamic mysticism who exercised a lasting influence on Islamic studies. [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9055742 Entry] with britannica.com] He was able to study and translate major Sufi texts in Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Turkish to English.

Works on Rumi

Nicholson's magnum opus was his work on Rumi's Masnavi, published in eight volumes between 1925 and 1940. He produced the first critical Persian edition of the Masnavi, the first full translation of it into English, and the first commentary on the entire work in English. This work has been highly influential in the field of Rumi studies worldwide.

Works on Iqbal

Being a teacher of the Pakistani scholar and poet Muhammad Iqbal, Nicholson translated Iqbal's first philosophical Persian poetry book "Asrar-i-Khudi" into English as "The Secrets of the Self".

Other significant translations

*The Sufi treatise of Hujviri
*Rumi's Mathnawi and Divan e Shams
*Ibn Arabi's "Tarjuman al-Aswaq"

Nicholson also authored "Literary History of The Arabs" and translated poetry by the Sindi poet Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai.

ee also

*Persian literature
*Sufi poetry
*Iranology
*Rumi
*Iqbal
*"The Secrets of the Self"

References

External links

* [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9055742 Encyclopedia Britannica's entry for Reynold Nicholson]
* [http://www.dar-al-masnavi.org/about-nicholson.html Bio from Dar-al-Mathnawi]
* [http://www.answers.com/topic/reynold-nicholson Bio from Answers.com]
* [http://www.globalwebpost.com/farooqm/study_res/rumi/intro_nicholson.html Rumi] , from Dr. Farooq's Study Resource Page
* [http://www.allamaiqbal.com/works/poetry/persian/asrar/translation/index.htm The Secrets of the Self] , from Iqbal Academy