NAZIR AKBARABADI 'FATHER OF THE NAZM' Selected Poems Translation & Introduction Paul Smith Nazir Akbarabadi (1735-1830) is an Indian poet known as the 'Father of the Nazm', who wrote mainly Urdu nazms. The canvas of Nazir's nazms is so vast that it encompasses all aspects of human behavior and every person can find nazms that can suit his taste. Many of his poems are about daily life and observations of things and are humourous. His poems are loved by ordinary folk today. Titles: On Being Patient, On Your Beauty, On Death, On Money, Story of Man, The Quest for Love, The Sick World's Party,...

DIVAN OF SARMAD Translation & Introduction Paul Smith Sarmad (d. 1659) or Hazrat Sarmad Shaheed, whose name 'Sarmad' derives from the Persian word for eternal or everlasting, was a famous and infamous Persian dervish poet of Jewish and Armenian origin. As a merchant he gathered his wares and travelled to India to sell them. In India he renounced Judaism and adopted Islam: he later renounced it in favour of Hinduism that he finally renounced for Sufism. He was known for exposing and ridiculing the major religions and hypocrisy of his day, but he also wrote beautiful mystical poetry in the form...

THE COMPLETE MAJNUN POEMS OF QAYS IBN AL-MULAWWAH AND NIZAMI'S LAYLA & MAJNUN Translation & Introduction Paul Smith Majnun was a real person Qays (Majnun='madman') was a youth, a Bedouin poet in the seventh century of the Bani Amir tribe in the Najd desert in Arabia. He fell in love with Layla from the same tribe whom he was denied. (It is said that Shakespeare was inspired by their tale for Romeo & Juliet from their tragic love story). His rpoetry was composed before and some after his descent into love-madness (mast). Here, in the form of the qit'as in which they were composed, is the...

RABI'A AL-ADAWIYYA: LIFE & POEMS Translation & Introduction Paul Smith RABI'A OF BASRA (717-801). Her Spiritual Master was Hazrat Hassan Basri. Throughout her life, her Love of God, poverty and self-denial did not waver. As her fame grew she had many disciples. She also had discussions with many of the renowned religious people of her time. More interesting than her absolute asceticism, however, is the actual concept of Divine Love that Rabi'a introduced. She was the first to introduce the idea that God should be loved for God's own sake. She is widely considered to be the most important of...

MAHSATI GANJAVI: LIFE & POEMS Translation & Introduction Paul Smith We know little of Mahsati Ganjavi's life (1098-1185) except that she lived in Ganjeh when Sultan Sanjar reigned and as she was a poet at his court she would have known Anvari. She was a court, dervish (Sufi) and ribald poet. She knew Nizami (she is said to have been buried in his mausoleum) and Omar Khayyam... and like Omar composed only in the ruba'i form and must be considered not only a master of that form but also to have helped to revolutionize it. She was an influence on perhaps Iran's greatest female poet Jahan Khatun...

HUMA: LIFE & POEMS Translation & Introduction Paul Smith Merwan S. Irani, known world-wide as Meher Baba, took Huma (Phoenix) as his takhallus or pen-name when he composed enlightened ghazals in a mixture of Persian, Urdu, Hindi & Gujarati in his twenties as a realized disciple of the Qutub or Perfect Master Upasni Maharaj, and also later on. He knew the ghazals of Hafiz by heart as did his father the dervish Sheriar Irani, who had originally walked to Pune in India from Khooramshah in Iran. Merwan went on to reveal himself as Perfect Master (Qutub) and later also declared himself as the...

SIX GREAT FEMALE MYSTICAL POETS OF INDIA Translation & Introduction Paul Smith This is a collection of six great women mystical poets of India in the correct form of the poetry and the meaning ever. It covers the years from the 8th to the 17th century. Here are poems full of longing, loving, faith and despair, pain and bliss, realization and depression... always honest, always real and at times... inspiring and helpful on the spiritual path. Here are poets who are always, lovers of the One Who unites us all. These poems were composed in Persian and the various Indian lamguages. THE POETS:...

LESSER-KNOWN SUFI POETS OF SHIRAZ Life & Poems Translation & Introduction Paul Smith Shiraz in south-west Iran is well-known for its great Sufi poets such as Sadi, Hafiz, Jahan Khatun and Obeyd Zakani but many of its other wonderful Sufi poets are not so famous... deep and powerful poets of that fabled city such as Baba Kuhi, Ruzbihan, Hamgar, Nasir, Khaju, Emad, Ruh Attar, Haydar, Yazdi, Azad, Junaid, Shah Da'i, Ahli, Fighani, and Urfi. The correct rhyme-structure and meaning of the ruba'i, ghazal. qasida, masnavi and qit'a have been kept as well as the beauty and meaning of these spiritual,...