Sufi poetry

Sufi poetry is a form of mystical Islamic devotional literature that expresses themes such as divine love and the mystical union between man and God, often through the metaphors of secular love poetry. Over the centuries, non-mystical poetry has in turn made significant use of the Sufi vocabulary, producing a mystical-secular ambiguity in Persian, Turkish, and Urdu-language literatures.[1]

Illuminated frontispiece of the poetry of Rumi, c. 1461
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Themes

The Sufi conception of love was introduced first by Rabia of Basra, a female mystic from the 8th century. Throughout Rumi's work the "death" and "love" appear as the dual aspects of Rumi's conception of self-knowledge. Love is understood to be "all-consuming" in the sense that it encompasses the whole personality of the lover. The influence of this tradition in Sufism was likely drawn from Persian or Hindu sources; no comparable idea is known from 9th century Christianity or Judaism. In a literary wordplay Fakhreddin Eraqi changed the words of the shahada (la ilaha illa'llah) to la ilaha illa'l-'ishq ("there is no deity save Love"). For his part, Rumi, in his writings, developed the concept of love as a direct manifestation of the will of God, in part as a calculated response to objections coming from the orthodox wing of Islam: "Not a single lover would seek union if the beloved were not seeking it".[2] The concepts of unity and oneness of mankind also appear in Rumi's works. For example, the poem "Who Am I?"[3]

Notable work

See also

References
  1. Sufi literature. Britannica. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  2. Milani, Milad. Sufism in the Secret History of Persia. Routledge (2013), 36.
  3. Aminrazavi, Mehdi (2015). Sufism and american literary masters. State Univ Of New York Pr. ISBN 1438453523. OCLC 908701099.

Further reading
  • Chopra, R. M. (1999). Great Sufi Poets of The Punjab. Iran Society, Calcutta.
  • Chopra, R. M. (2016). Sufism (Origin, growth, eclipse, resurgence). Anuradha Prakashan, New Delhi. ISBN 978-93-85083-52-5.
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