HAFIZ: THE ORACLE (For Lovers, Seekers, Pilgrims, and the God-Intoxicated) Translation, Introduction, Interpretations by Paul Smith. Hafiz's Divan of poems has been used as an Oracle successfully by millions of people from all walks of life for the past 600 years. The practice of interpreting his insightful poems has been a long tradition. Here are four hundred ghazals with insightful, clear interpretations by Paul Smith, an Introduction that includes his life, poetry, spirituality and the history of the use of his book as one of the world's great Oracles. The correct rhyme has been kept as...

AMIR KHUSRAU: SELECTED POEMS Translation & Introduction by Paul Smith Amir Khusrau (1253-1324), the 'Parrot of India' was born at Patigali near the Ganges in India. At the age of thirty-six he was poet-laureate, serving many sultans. He was not only fluent in Persian, in which he composed the majority of his 92 books, but also in Arabic, Hindi and Sanskrit. He composed ten long masnavis, five Divans of ghazals and other poems and many prose works. He was a Master musician and invented the sitar. The Perfect Master Nizam ud-din took him as his disciple and eventually he became God-realized. He...

***ANSARI*** SELECTED POEMS Translation & Introduction Paul Smith One of the greatest mystical poets and Perfect Masters of all time, Abdullah Ansari... who passed from this world 1089 in Heart 9f Afghanistan was most famous for his biographical dictionary on saints and Sufi masters and his much loved collection of inspiring prayers, the Munajat among many works in Persian and Arabic. His ruba'is appear throughout his works and he composed three Divans in which his ghazals are in the majority. Here is a fine selection of them and a qasida. The correct rhyme-structure has been kept and the...

ANVARI: SELECTED POEMS Translation & Introduction by Paul Smith Ahad-ud-din Anvari Abeverdi (1126-1189) was a court poet of the Seljuk sultans. Jami composed a ruba'i where he names him, along with Firdausi and Sadi as one of the 'three apostles' of Persian poetry. He was also a celebrated astronomer, mathematician and scientist who admitted he gave them up for the more lucrative occupation of ... a court poet, that he later rejected twenty years before his death for a life of seclusion and contemplation. He is renowned for his delightful wittiness that can be found in many of his ruba'is and...

>*RUMI: SELECTED POEMS*

*RUBA'IYAT OF KHAYYAM* Translation, Introduction & Notes by Paul Smith Reprint of 1909 Introduction by R.A. Nicholson Of the 900 to 200o or so ruba'is attributed to Omar Khayyam (died 1132) over 500 years, only ten to twenty percent are now considered to be his. More famous in Iran as an astronomer and mathematician... the nihilistic and hedonistic and occasionally Sufi philosophy in his ruba'is meant his poems were never really popular in his homeland, but after the work of FitzGerald the west fell in love with him. Included in the Introduction: The Life and Times of Omar Khayyam and his...

OBEYD ZAKANI: THE DERVISH JOKER. A Selection of his Poetry, Prose, Satire, Jokes and Ribaldry. Translation and Introduction by Paul Smith Obeyd Zakani is an important a figure in Persian and Sufi literature and poetry. His satire, humorous stories, ribald and obscene poems, social commentary, mystical ghazals, prose, ruba'is and his famous epic qasida 'Mouse & Cat' are popular today and are more relevant than ever. He is considered to be one of the world's greatest satirist and social-commentator whose life and mystical poems had a great influence on his student and friend Hafiz and many...

OBEYD ZAKANI'S >MOUSE & CAT DEGREES DEGREES (The Ultimate Edition) Translation & Introduction etc by Paul Smith Obeyd Zakani's Mouse & Cat is a satirical, epic fable in the poetic form of the qasida that was influential at the time it was composed (14th C.) and has remained so for the past 600 years. It is more than just a story for children (that some say brought about the cartoon of Tom & Jerry)... it is a story of the stupidity of the false power of those in power and a warning to all that such blind ambition always leads to destruction at the hands of one even more powerful. Here is a...

MU'IN UD-DIN CHISHTI: SELECTED POEMS Translation & Introduction Paul Smith Mu'in ud-din Chishti (1141-1230) also known as Gharib Nawaz or 'Benefactor of the Poor', is the most famous Sufi saint of the Chishti Order of the Indian Subcontinent. In his book Pre Mughal Persian in Hindustan, Muhammad 'Abdu'l Ghani states... "He was the greatest lyric poet of his age. His style is exuberant and precise at once. His poems are a storehouse of transcendental thoughts beautifully ordered and forcefully expressed. There is always a sense of pious serenity and joy in his verses that are teeming with...

JAMI: SELECTED POEMS Translation, Introduction by Paul Smith Jami (1414-1493), is still considered the last great poet of the Classical Period (10th-15th C.) of Persian Poetry is mostly known for his masterpiece seven masnavi epics... including his masterpieces Joseph and Zulaikh... also Layla and Majnun, Chain of Gold and Book of the Wisdom of Alexander. He also composed three Divans consisting of ghazals rubai's and other profound, mystical poems. Here is the largest number of his ghazals and ruba'is translated into English and a good selection from most of his masnavis. Included in the...