HAFIZ AND THE BOOK OF THE WINEBRINGER (SAQI-NAMA) Anthology of this Genre in Sufi Poetry Translations & Introduction Paul Smith The Saqi-nama or 'Book of the Winebringer' (Cupbearer) is a genre of poetry where the poet or drinker or seeker or devotee calls upon the saqi (sometimes spelt saki) or winebringer or cupbearer or waiter or waitress or spiritual master to bring wine whether in the material sense of juice from the grape or in the spiritual sense of it symbolising Truth, Love, Grace, Knowledge. This genre was really begun in a completed form of the masnavi (rhyming couplets) by...

SAQI-NAMA (Book of the Winebringer) Allama Iqbal Translation & Introduction Paul Smith (Sir) Muhammad (often called Allama) Iqbal was born in 1877 Sialkot within the Punjab Province of British India (now in Pakistan). During his study in Europe, Iqbal began to write poetry. He prioritized it because he believed he had found an easy way to express his thoughts. The poetry and philosophy of Rumi bore the deepest influence on his mind. Iqbal's poetry has been translated into many languages, at the time when his work was famous during the early part of the 20th century. He died in 1937. Many of...