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- The full poem in original Persian (Farsi) — with script, romanisation, and line-by-line translation
- Word-by-word vocabulary breakdown: what does “field” mean in the original Persian?
- What Rumi actually means — beyond the translation
- The Sufi philosophical context: why this poem is about inner transformation, not just tolerance
- How to study this poem in the original Farsi with a native Persian tutor
“Out Beyond Ideas” — Rumi Poem Meaning, Original Farsi & Analysis
Rumi’s most compressed poem — four lines that have been shared millions of times in English — carries a meaning in the original Persian that most readers have never encountered. This guide goes beyond the translation to the source: the Farsi text Rumi actually wrote, the specific words he chose, and the Sufi teaching embedded in them.
If you want to experience this poem the way Rumi intended it — in the language he wrote it, with a native Persian tutor who can explain every word and metaphor — see our online Farsi learning programme at Danaa School.
The Poem in English — The Translation You Know
The most widely circulated English version of this poem reads:
there is a field.
I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
doesn’t make any sense.”
This is Coleman Barks’ version — the translation that made Rumi the best-selling poet in the United States. But Barks was not a Persian scholar. His translations are poetic retellings based on earlier academic translations, and they diverge substantially from the original in word choice, tone, and meaning. To understand what Rumi actually wrote, we need the Farsi.
The Poem in Original Persian (Farsi)
The original text is from Rumi’s Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi (دیوان شمس تبریزی) — his collection of lyric poetry dedicated to his spiritual teacher Shams of Tabriz. The poem is a ghazal, written in classical Persian metre.
ما را به آن زمین عجب سودایی است
عارف چو بدان رسید سر را بنهاد
نه کفر و نه اسلام و نه استغنایی است
Mā rā be ān zamin ajab sowdāyi ast
Āref cho bedān resid sar rā benhād
Na kofr o na eslām o na estegnāyi ast
We have a wondrous longing for that field.
When the mystic arrives there, he lays his head down.
There is neither disbelief nor Islam nor independence.”
Why the translation differs so much: Coleman Barks translated “کفر” (kofr — disbelief/infidelity) and “اسلام” (eslām — Islam/submission) as “wrongdoing” and “rightdoing.” These are not equivalent. Rumi’s original poem specifically names two religious positions — the believer and the unbeliever — and places a mystical field beyond both. The universalised English version loses this specific Sufi argument: that the mystic transcends religious identity altogether.
Word-by-Word Vocabulary
These are the key words from Rumi’s original Persian — essential vocabulary for anyone learning Farsi through classical poetry.
| Persian | Romanisation | Literal Meaning | Deeper Meaning in Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| زمین | zamin | Earth / ground / field | The “field” of the translation — not a pastoral meadow but the ground of being itself |
| کفر | kofr | Disbelief / infidelity / rejection of God | One of the two poles of religious identity that Rumi places the field beyond |
| اسلام | eslām | Islam / submission / belief | The other religious pole — Rumi says the mystic transcends both |
| عارف | āref | The knower / the mystic / the gnostic | The Sufi who has reached direct experiential knowledge of God — beyond concepts |
| سودا | sowdā | Longing / passion / mad desire | The mystic’s aching longing for this field — not intellectual interest but burning desire |
| سر بنهاد | sar benhād | Laid his head down | An act of surrender — the mystic does not arrive and stand upright; he rests, surrenders |
| استغنا | estegnā | Independence / self-sufficiency / freedom from need | Even spiritual pride or the feeling of “I don’t need anything” is left behind in this field |
| عجب | ajab | Wonderful / astonishing / strange | The longing for the field is described as “wondrous” — beyond ordinary desire |
What Rumi Actually Means
The poem describes a state that Sufi philosophy calls fanā (فنا) — the annihilation of the ego-self in the divine. The “field” is not a physical place or even a metaphor for tolerance (as many English-language discussions suggest). It is the state of consciousness that exists when the self has dissolved entirely — when there is no “I” left to hold opinions about right and wrong.
Three movements happen in the poem:
- The declaration: Beyond all conceptual categories — including the most fundamental (believer/unbeliever) — there is a ground of being
- The longing: The mystic does not coolly observe this; he has a burning, wondrous desire (sowdā) to reach it
- The arrival: When he gets there, he lays his head down — not triumphantly but in surrender. And even his spiritual independence (estegnā) disappears
This is not a poem about religious tolerance or coexistence (though that reading is valid). It is a map of the mystical journey’s endpoint — the place where the traveller himself ceases to exist as a separate entity.
The Sufi Context — Fanā and the Mystic’s Journey
To read this poem in full depth, you need three Sufi concepts:
فنا (Fanā) — Annihilation
The dissolution of the ego-self in the divine — the endpoint of the Sufi path. Rumi’s “field” is this state: where the mystic’s individual identity vanishes and only God remains. “I’ll meet you there” means: when both of us have left our selves behind.
عارف (Āref) — The Knower
The Sufi who has achieved direct experiential knowledge of God — not theological knowledge, but lived encounter. The āref is beyond concepts because concepts are things the mind makes, and the mind has been left behind. This is the figure who arrives at the field and lays his head down.
سودا (Sowdā) — Burning Longing
In classical Persian poetry, sowdā is not mild interest — it is an obsessive, consuming desire that borders on madness. The mystic’s longing for the field is described as ajab sowdāyi — a “wondrous longing.” The intensity of the seeking is itself part of the spiritual path.
Connection to Rumi’s other work: This poem describes the same endpoint as the opening lines of the Masnavi — the reed flute’s cry of separation. In Rumi’s wound and light teaching, the wound is where union enters. In this poem, the field is where the wound finally heals — because there is no longer anyone to be wounded.
Shams of Tabriz — Who Is This Poem For?
This poem comes from the Divan-e Shams — the collection Rumi dedicated to his friend and spiritual teacher Shams of Tabriz, the wandering mystic whose arrival transformed Rumi from a sober religious scholar into a poet of divine love.
When Rumi says “I’ll meet you there,” the “you” was originally Shams. The poem is an invitation to a spiritual meeting place that exists beyond all religious categories — an invitation from one mystic to another. Shams, who disrupted conventions and shocked religious authorities, was exactly the kind of figure who would appreciate a poem that places the mystic beyond both Islam and disbelief.
Understanding this dedicatory context is part of what studying Rumi’s poetry in the original Farsi offers — the poems become personal letters, not just universal wisdom.
Read “Out Beyond Ideas” in the Original Farsi With a Native Tutor
Translations give you Rumi’s ideas. The original Farsi gives you his voice — the specific words he chose, the metre he wrote in, and the Sufi concepts embedded in every line. At Danaa School, our native Persian tutors guide you through Rumi’s poetry word by word, in private online lessons designed around your level.
Why This Poem Resonates So Widely Today
The Coleman Barks translation — “out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field” — has become one of the most shared pieces of writing on the internet because it speaks to something specific in the modern moment: exhaustion with moral argument.
In an era of political polarisation and online debate, where every issue demands you declare which side you are on, Rumi’s invitation to a field beyond judgment feels like relief. It offers permission to stop arguing and start being.
But the English-language reading often stops there — at the comfortable idea of tolerance and openness. Rumi’s original poem is more demanding. He is not saying “stop judging people.” He is saying “dissolve yourself entirely.” The field is not a rest stop on the journey. It is where the traveller ceases to exist.
This is why learning Farsi changes how people experience Rumi — not because translations are wrong, but because the original is richer, stranger, and more challenging than any translation can convey.
How to Study This Poem With a Tutor
At Danaa School’s Rumi poetry programme, a typical lesson on this poem would move through four stages:
Read aloud in Farsi
Your tutor reads the poem aloud in the original Persian. You hear the metre (vazn), the rhyme scheme, and the sound of the words before any translation. Persian poetry is music before it is meaning.
Word-by-word breakdown
Each word is explained: kofr, eslām, zamin, āref, sowdā. You build Farsi vocabulary through the poem itself — every new word is anchored to a specific image and feeling, not a flashcard.
Sufi and cultural context
Your tutor explains the Sufi concepts (fanā, āref) and the historical context — why Rumi named kofr and eslām specifically, what the Divan-e Shams is, and who Shams of Tabriz was.
Discussion in Farsi
You discuss the poem’s meaning in Persian — starting in English if needed, gradually moving toward Farsi responses. This is where language learning and literary understanding merge.
Frequently Asked Questions
Rumi is describing a state of consciousness — called fanā in Sufi philosophy — where the ego-self has dissolved and all conceptual categories (including moral judgments about right and wrong) have fallen away. The “field” is not a place of moral relativism but of complete self-dissolution, where the mystic’s individual identity ceases to exist. The Coleman Barks English translation softens this by replacing “disbelief and Islam” (Rumi’s original words) with the more universal “wrongdoing and rightdoing.”
The original Persian text begins: بیرون از کفر و از اسلام زمینی است — “Birun az kofr o az eslām zamini ast” — “Beyond disbelief and Islam there is a field.” The poem is from Rumi’s Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi (دیوان شمس تبریزی), his collection of lyric poetry dedicated to his spiritual teacher Shams of Tabriz.
The Persian word is زمین (zamin), which means earth, ground, or field. In the context of Rumi’s Sufi teaching, this “field” (zamin) represents the state of fanā — the annihilation of the ego-self in the divine. It is not a pastoral meadow or a meeting place for opposing groups. It is the ground of being that exists when all individual identity has dissolved.
The most widely shared English version was translated by Coleman Barks, an American poet who worked from earlier academic translations rather than the original Persian. Barks’ versions are celebrated for their poetic power but diverge from the original in significant ways — notably replacing Rumi’s specific religious terms (kofr and eslām — disbelief and Islam) with the more universally palatable “wrongdoing and rightdoing.”
Yes — and it is one of the most rewarding things a Farsi learner can do. At Danaa School, we offer private online Farsi lessons that teach Persian poetry through the original text — including Rumi’s ghazals from the Divan-e Shams. No prior Farsi knowledge is needed to begin. See our learn Farsi online programme for details.
The Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi (دیوان شمس تبریزی) is Rumi’s collection of lyric poetry — thousands of ghazals and quatrains dedicated to his spiritual teacher Shams of Tabriz. Unlike the Masnavi (his long narrative poem), the Divan is intensely personal — poems of longing, ecstasy, grief, and divine union addressed to Shams. “Out Beyond Ideas” comes from this collection.
Continue Exploring Persian Poetry at Danaa School
Danaa School is an online Persian language and culture school — not just a poetry resource. Our native tutors teach Farsi for every purpose: conversation, heritage learning, GCSE and A-Level, and classical poetry. If this poem has made you want to experience more of Rumi in the original language, these are your next steps:
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