Eva Vitray-Meyerovitch

Eva Vitray-Meyerovitch (1909-1999) was a doctor of Islamic studies , researcher at CNRS she
headed the department Humanities, translator and writer, and published a total of forty books and
numerous articles.
Biography
Born November 5, 1909 in Boulogne-Billancourt , in a cozy environment of the Paris agglomeration,
Eva Lamacque Vitray comes from an aristocratic environment . She was educated in Catholic schools
and opted for a law degree , before embarking on a doctorate in philosophy with the subject in the
symbolic Plato .
At the age of 22, she married Lazare Meyerovitch, original Jewish Latvian . She became director of
the laboratory Frdric Joliot-Curie , with whom she escapes to Paris in 1940 during the German
occupation . It remains withdrawn Corrze during the war while her husband is part of the Free
French Forces .
After the Liberation , she joined the CNRS , where she quickly became service manager "Humanities
"and earns his living through translations . She met Louis Massignon , with whom she remains
closely linked and the support when the sudden death of her husband in the early 1950s .
She discovered Islam through the book of thinker and poet Muhammad Iqbal : Reconstruction of
religious thought in Islam . After three years of Christian exegesis at the Sorbonne , she decided to
become a Muslim . She is very interested in the work of Persian poet Jalal ud Din Rumi (1207-1273)
which will raise awareness of the mystical dimension of Islam , the Sufism . Subsequently, she began
learning in Persian , and published shortly after his first translations of Muhammad Iqbal and Jalal ud
Din Rumi .
In 1968 she defended her doctoral thesis at the University of Paris with the subject: Themes in the
mystic Jalal ud work Din Rumi . From 1969 to 1973 she was seconded to Cairo as a teacher at the
prestigious University "Al Azhar" . In 1971, she performed the pilgrimage to Mecca and also visit
Medina .
Since 1972 and until her death, she regularly publishes translations of Rumi commented and works as
a writer on Islam , the Sufism and whirling dervishes . In 1990, she published the translation of
Rumi's Mathnawi, a colossal 50 000 to 1 700 pages and is translated for the first time in French .
Alongside his career as an intellectual, it pursues a personal quest that leads her to meet many people
involved in Sufism as Hampate Ba , Najm Oud Bammate Din , Khaled Bentouns or Faouzi Skali .
It is through him that she met in 1985 in Morocco, a Sufi spiritual life, Sidi Hamza al Qadiri al
Boutchichi , it will follow the teaching until his death . She is also very active as a speaker to present
his knowledge in France and abroad on Rumi , the Islam and Sufism . She recorded several programs
for France Culture and television . In 1998, during his last conference in Turkey , she expressed the
wish to be buried in Konya .
She died July 24, 1999 , in his apartment on rue Claude Bernard in Paris . She is buried in the
strictest intimacy Thiais , near Paris. From 2003, steps are taken to transfer his remains to Konya and
end in 2008.
December 17, 2008, an official ceremony accompanied the burial of the coffin Eva Vitray-
Meyerovitch Konya , opposite the mausoleum of Rumi .
Quotations
"I tried to express what I believe to be the true face of Islam. Principles of Islam call for love,
tenderness and universalism. Being Muslim or being a Muslim is relying in peace to an Absolute,
while rejecting the independence of which is relative to the Absolute. "(Assouline, P., The new
converts, Folio, 1992)
"I have devoted my life to great Sufi poet Rumi because I found his message was very timely: it is a
message of love with a powerful dimension and ecumenical fellowship. "(De Vitray-Meyerovitch E.,
Islam, the other face, Albin Michel, 1995)
References
Books as author
Anthology of Sufism, ed. Sindbad, 1978., Reprinted in 1986 and 1995, Albin Michel, et al.
Spirituality alive, 132. Book translated into Italian.
Song of Rumi, ed. The Round Table, 1997 (coll. Small wisdom books).
Song of the Sun, ed. The Round Table, 1993. Book translated into Spanish and Turkish.
Paths of Light: Sufi Tales 75, ed. Retz, 1982. Book translated into Spanish.
The Image of Man in Christianity and Islam, with Jean-Yves Leloup and Andr Borrely, ed.
the Open, 1984.
Islam, the other Face, ed. Albin Michel, 1995. Book translated into Spanish, French and
Turkish.
Jesus in the Sufi Tradition, co-written with Faouzi Skali , ed. Open from 1985, reprinted and
completed in 2004, Albin Michel. Book translated into Italian, Spanish and Catalan.
Konya or Cosmic Dance, ed. Renard, 1990. Book translated into Turkish.
Mecca holy city of Islam, ed. Laffont, 1987. Book translated into Italian, German and
Turkish.
Poetry and Mysticism in Islam, ed. Descle de Brouwer, c1972, 1982.
Prayer in Islam, ed. Albin Michel, c1998, reprinted in 2003, Albin Michel, et al. Spirituality
alive. Book translated into Italian and Turkish.
Rumi and Sufism, ed. du Seuil, c1977, reprinted in 2005, Wisdom collection points. Book
translated into English, Romanian, Portuguese, Czech and Bosnian.
Mystical themes in the work of Jalal ud-Din Rumi, thesis Letters Paris, 1968.
Translations from Persian
Letters, Jalal ad-Din Rumi , ed. Jacqueline Fox, 1990.
The Book of Eternity, of Muhammad Iqbal , with the collaboration of Mohammed Mokri, ed.
Albin Michel, 1962.
The Book of Inside of Jalal ad-Din Rumi , ed. Sindbad, 1975, reprinted in 1982 and 1997,
Albin Michel, et al. Spirituality alive. Book translated into Italian and Spanish.
Master and Disciple, Sultan Valad, eds. Sindbad, 1982.
Mathnawi of Jalal ad-Din Rumi , with the collaboration of Jamshid Murtazavi, ed. du
Rocher, 1990.
Message from the East, Muhammad Iqbal , with the collaboration of Mohammed Achena, ed.
Belles Lettres, 1956.
Mystical Odes of Jalal ad-Din Rumi , ed. Klincksieck, 1973, reprinted in 2003, Wisdom
points.
The Secret Word, Sultan Valad, with the collaboration of Jamshid Murtazavi, ed. du Rocher,
c1988.
The Quatrains of Rumi, of Jalal ad-Din Rumi , with the collaboration of Jamshid Murtazavi,
Albin Michel, 2000.
The Rose Garden Mystery of Mahmud Shabestari , with the collaboration of Jamshid
Murtazavi, ed. Sindbad, 1991.
Rubaiy'at of Jalal ad-Din Rumi , with the collaboration of Jamshid Murtazavi, ed. Albin
Michel, c1993, reprinted in 2003, Albin Michel, et al. Spirituality alive.
Secrets of the Self, Muhammad Iqbal , ed. Albin Michel, et al. Spiritualities living 2000.
English translations
Hinduism, R. Zaehner, ed. Descle de Brouwer, 1974.
India Islam, Israel, R. Zaehner, ed. Descle de Brouwer, 1965.
Metaphysics in Persia, Muhammad Iqbal , ed. Sindbad, 1980.
Sacred and Profane Mystique Mystique, R. Zaehner, ed. du Rocher, 1983.
Rebuilding Religious Thought in Islam, Muhammad Iqbal , ed. Adrien-Maisonneuve, 1955,
republished in 1996, ed. the Rock / UNESCO.
Simone Weil : sketch a portrait of R. Rees, ed. Buchet-Chastel, 1968.
External links
http://eva-de-vitray.blogspot.com/ (Blog of the Association of Friends of Eva Vitray Meyerovitch)
http://www.webislam.com/?idl=197 (full text in Spanish of "Islam, the other face")
Notes
1. http://www.tariqa.org/rp/eva_de_vitray.php [archive]
2. http://www.lemonde.fr/web/recherche_resultats/1 ,13-0 ,1-0, 0.html [archive]
3.
a and b
Islam, the other face, p. 17, Albin Michel.
4. Islam, the other face, p. 18, Albin Michel.
5. Islam, the other face, p. 21, Albin Michel.
6. http://www.francaislibres.net/liste/fiche.php?index=85304 [archive]
7. Islam, the other face, p. 25, Albin Michel.
8. Islam, the other face, p. 27, Albin Michel.
9. Islam, the other face, p. 158, Albin Michel.
10. http://www.soufisme.org/site/article.php3?id_article=18 [archive]
11. Islam, the other face, p. 39, Albin Michel.
12. http://www.hommes-et-faits.com/Dial/spip.php?article36 [archive]
13. Islam, the other face, p. 53, Albin Michel.
14. http://www.ibnarabisociety.org/articles/ottomanera.html [archive]
15. Islam, the other face, p. 26, Albin Michel.
16. Islam, the other face, p. 166, Albin Michel
17. Introduction to the editor of the book.
18. Islam, the other face, p. 116, Albin Michel
19.
a , b and c
http://www.soufisme.org/site/article.php3?id_article=23 [archive]
20. http://www.eric-geoffroy.net/article.php3?id_article=35 [archive]
21. http://www.soufisme.org/site/article.php3?id_article=10 [archive]
22. Skali F. this is certainly its meeting in Algiers and Tlemcen with al arif al fard al sahibou
ismou SHEIKH Mohammed al aadhame BELKAID which marked most especially when he
learned that Sheikh al ism should not be taught to women regardless of the degree of
"holiness" and those below that Islam should erase all traces of other beliefs and does not
HOULLOUL (the annes80), Jesus in the Sufi tradition, p. 15, Albin Michel.
23. http://www.soufisme.org/site/article.php3?id_article=282 [archive]
24. http://www.histoires-litteraires.org/desfins1999.htm [archive]
Izvor : http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_de_Vitray-Meyerovitch

The body of Professor Eva Vitray Meyerovitch now based in Konya
After experiencing Mevlana, Eva Vitray Meyerovitch philosophy professor, researcher for
many years at the CNRS, from a bourgeois family Christian married to a Jew, converted to
Islam and took the name of Havva.
In one of his last lectures, given on 26 May 1998 in the city of Konya, Central Anatolia, where
lies Celaleddin'i Rumi, founder of the brotherhood of the whirling dervishes (also called
Mevlana), she told the audience: "Bury me in Konya to stay until the end of time in the
shadow of Mevlana's spirituality." She died at the age of 90 years on 24 July 1999 and his
family buried in the cemetery Thiais, near Paris. That day, she is surrounded by five close ...
Konya Eva was the second holiest site in Islam and she kept a great nostalgia for his
mausoleum visited several times. While studying and translating a text from the thirteenth
century Rumi referring to the round of atoms, there are more than fifty years ago, she heard
a radio program about science evoking said. This meaningful coincidence in his eyes led
him to convert to Islam, at a time when becoming a Muslim for a Western woman shocked
even more than today.

As she made her way to Islam, one night she had a dream and sees himself buried in a
tomb as she had never seen and on which his name written in Arabic and Persian was
transformed into Hawa . She concluded that she would die really Muslim.
Fifteen years pass, she realizes for the first time in Istanbul and met a whirling dervish, an
architect by profession, who takes her by chance see a site in a former retirement home of
dervishes became a museum. She discovers with amazement a tomb identical to that of its
distant dream and learns that it is a tombstone of a woman disciple of Rumi.
Eva, who had all the honors, who met during his life many personalities, who was interested
in the man and made the news, lived a huge shock when a trip to Morocco so that it has
already advanced age. Received in private by a master of Sufism, the latter exclaimed on
seeing "Rumi is here!" showing the location of the center of Eva. The latter burst into tears!

This intellectual, writer and translator, she leaves behind a major work: the translation of 25
works of Rumi (or almost all), a fifteen books personal stories and memories of the love for
Islam. Through his writings and lectures, she presents to the world another face of Islam,
linking East to West by breaking many prejudices, opening the horizons of authentic Islamic
spirituality. Through his memories, his name will forever be associated with his spiritual
master, Rumi, inseparable character of his life.
Ay Yldz is from Konya and lives in France with his family. She was 16 when she met Eva
Vitray at home. It receives with his sister and she already knows her mother, although ill and
in bed with her usual gentleness and love.

This meeting will remain etched forever in the memory of the girl and a spiritual message,
understandable only between Eva and she will pass. Yldz will reconcile with his religion,
get acquainted with Mevlana and closer to him. At the death of Eva, Yldz will work to
achieve his greatest wish, to rest for eternity by Rumi, and carry the memory of this woman
who guided spiritually.
It is December 17, 2008, the anniversary of "Seb-i Arus" commemorative day of the death of
Mevlana, this woman extraordinary journey came back his master.
The mayor of Konya, Mevlana Cultural Center and the University Selcuk are associated to
organize commemorative ceremony in his honor. A conference was held yesterday in the
room Sultan Veled Mevlana Cultural Center has many stakeholders, including Yldz, to
evoke the memory of Eva Vitray. Among those present were Mr. Tahir Akyrek, Mayor of
Konya, Dr. Agah Oktay Gner, former Turkish Minister of Culture, prominent Turkish and
foreign teachers, alumni Eva's friends.
Mosques in the city announced Dec. 17 that his funeral takes place at 11 am. A prayer for
the Muslim funeral rites took place before the Selimiye Mosque situated inside the complex
Mevlana Museum.
A large audience attended the ceremony, although larger than it was at his funeral in France
nine years ago.
His coffin, covered with a green cloth, was carried on the shoulders of several men Ucler
cemetery located about fifty meters from Mevlana Museum. Eva joined her burial and
headstone which had appeared in his dream.
After reading the Koran and the usual prayers, Eva was entrusted to Mevlana in Konya and
... An old lady who never knew Eva, hugged her close friends from abroad to accompany
him to his final resting saying, with tears in his eyes: "Now, Eva is entrusted to us. It became
our sister It ... will always be with us in our prayers. "
I would like to thank a number of people for their help at different levels:

- Aytekin, Strasbourg Turkish friend and faithful reader, that the first, last November, gave
me a Turkish newspaper announcing the next event on the first page, thinking it might
interest me

- Glseren, Turkish speaking capita Konya, subscribed to the blog, which I have spoken of
the ceremony she attended Dec. 17

- Samil Kucur, Istanbul Turkish journalist, and now also sent me a number of documents and
all the photos that illustrate this article, I am infinitely grateful to him

- Brother Alberto friend and expert on Sufism put me in contact with Samil.

Without them, probably the only article in French so far concerning the transfer of the
remains of Eva Vitray in Konya, could not be done.
Izvor: http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&ei=_1-
9UKSDFYaltAbc3oHgDw&hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3Deva%2Bde%2Bvitray-
meyerovitch%26hl%3Den%26tbo%3Dd%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D653&rurl=translate
.google.ba&sl=fr&u=http://www.dubretzelausimit.com/article-
26410449.html&usg=ALkJrhjNhiCpKDfmTRfsESCeNG7l6LJxOg