Rumi Peace Foundation
Our Vision
To inspire a generation of global peace leaders who will use their education for the advancement of human rights, social justice, and environmental protection, all while cultivating a practice of personal kindness and communal generosity
Our Mission
To advance the cause of peace through the creative wisdom of Rumi, whose work was predicated on inspiring individuals to build bridges between societies, cultures, and nations.
We are co-creating a new series of artistic, scholarly books that highlight the contributions of Rumi to the understanding and teaching of Peace.
Rumi on Peace is quite an achievement: both a celebration of the poet’s limitless creative and imaginative capacities and an illustration of how Rumi’s poetic philosophy can be perfectly adapted to the contemporary Peace Studies movement. In short, this book is essential reading for Rumi novices and scholars alike, and serves as a reminder that he deserves to be considered alongside Shakespeare, Milton, and Chaucer as one of world history’s transcendent literary geniuses.
—Dr. Paul Kareem Tayyar,
Professor of English,
Golden West College
It started as an invitation.
In 2011, Touraj Hakimi was invited to be a participant in the artistic and musical aspects of the annual Peace Conference at Golden West College in Huntington Beach, California.
He heard the President of Golden West College, Wes Bryon, make a statement about the Peace Conference and why it was being held on campus. Education, he explained, was not just about learning skills or facts, but about learning the role we play in the world. Bryon spoke of being “part of the solution rather than continuing to be part of the problem.” Touraj was inspired to take action and become an instrument of peace by bringing the wisdom of the past and applying it to the challenges we face in modern society.
This vision inspired him to submit a proposal to create a non-profit foundation to help the cause of peace by studying and understanding the language and learning of diverse cultures, and in particular how the philosopher/poet Rumi became a solution-finder in the midst of the darkness of his time. In 2016, Touraj submitted his proposal and upon approval the Rumi Peace Foundation was established.