DUSHANBE, September 6, Asia-Plus — A meeting of Tajik poets and writers with foreign researchers and public figures that have arrived in Tajikistan to attend an international conference dedicated to the 800th anniversary of great Persian-Tajik poet jurist and theologian Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi will be held in the building of Tajik Writers’ Union in Dushanbe today evening.

A two-day conference formally entitled “Jalal ad-Din Rumi and Dialogue of Civilization” will open in the Tajik capital tomorrow.  It is expected to bring together more than 90 researchers and statesmen from 28 countries, including Tajikistan, India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Bangladesh, the United States, Afghanistan, France, the United Kingdom, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and other countries. 

The conference participants, in particular, include internationally known Kyrgyz writer and public figure Chingiz Aitmatov, Kyrgyzstan’s Education and Science Minister Kanibek Osmanaliyev, Bangladesh’s Academy of Sciences President Professor Shamshir Ali, Russia’s Institute for Oriental Studies Director Rostislav Rybakov, Professor Aliasgar Sherdoust from Iran, etc.          

Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, also known as Mawlana Jalal-ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi, but known to the English-speaking world simply as Rumi, (September 30, 1207 – December 17,1273), was a 13th century Persian-Tajik Muslim poet, jurist and theologian.  

Rumi was born in Balkh (in present-day Afghanistan), then a city of Greater Khorasan in Persia and died in Konya (in present-day Turkey).  His birthplace and native language/local dialogue indicates a Persian-Tajik heritage.  His poetry is in Persian and his works are widely read in Tajikistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and in translation especially in Turkey, Azerbaijan, the United States, and South Asia. 

Rumi''s importance is considered to transcend national and ethnic borders.  Throughout the centuries he has had a significant influence on Persian as well as Urdu and Turkish literature.  His poems have been widely translated into many of the world''s languages in various formats.