The Heteroglossic Rumi on New Media vis-à-vis Sufism

Abstract

Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rumi, a thirteenth century Persian Sufi mystic and refugee poet, has become the internet’s ‘Wiseman’ after long 800 years since he had last trodden the earth in minstrel promenades. Many a time, Rumi’s quotes in its ambiguous translations inundate the algorithmic social media feeds as it has found global sensation and greater consumerist appeal. As the new media enable its netizens to put voices over voices by re/sharing or exploiting any form of codes (image, text, gif etc.) on social media platforms, constant shifts of purposes and meanings of the codes have become crucial to understand how the new media have been shaping this mode of communication which in this case are translated quotes of Rumi. This paper, thus, leverages netnographic observations and content analysis to shed light on the sum of possibly produced meanings and the essence of Rumi that is understood and consumed globally on social media today. The paper contends that on this modern digital public sphere, i.e., the social media, Rumi’s quotes delve into the Bakhtinian heteroglossic tension and Barthesian mythology that helps his poetry become liberated from the centripetal force for meaning (e.g. solitude, retreat, frugality, communion etc.) and provide with divergent netizens manifested voices and interpretations.