What are the best translations of Rumi and how do I choose between them?

Each translation is a love letter written in a different language. There's no single 'best'—there's the best one for where you are right now. Coleman Barks made Rumi accessible to English readers, and his versions sing. They're lyrical, immediate, sometimes looser with the original than scholars prefer, but they capture the felt experience. Read him first if you want permission to feel without apology. Nader Khalili is more formally rigorous while staying musical. His translations preserve more of the structural complexity. Choose him if you want to sense the architecture underneath the emotion. Shahram Shiva brings a contemplative, almost spare quality—perfect if you want the poem to breathe more space around itself. A.Z. Foreman is for readers who want scholarly precision without sacrificing beauty. Here's the practical approach: Start with Barks or Khalili. Read the same poem in both. Notice what each translation reveals—one might emphasize passion, another the beloved's mystery. After a few weeks, you'll naturally gravitate toward the voice that meets you where you are. Don't feel locked in. Readers often move between translators as they deepen. What matters isn't fidelity to the Persian—it's which version cracks your heart open. That's the translation doing its job. Trust your instinct about which one makes you return to the page.