Amazon.com description: Product Description: This is the first complete Italian translation of the famous Mathnawi. The Mathnawi is one of the best known and most influential works of Sufi mysticism. Begun in 1258 AD at the suggestion of a disciple, it was completed in 1273. The six books of the poem in 3 volumes amount to more than 25,000 verses. Loosely structured and colloquial in style, the work pursues its way through hundreds of stories drawn from many literary and other sources and used to illustrate the main theme, the human being's predicament in his search for God.