The Walled Garden of the Truth

THE WALLED GARDEN OF THE TRUTHSanaiTranslation and Introduction Paul SmithHakim Sanai (10501131) is best known for his classic mystical poetry in the forms of ghazals, rubais and masnavis. He is considered one of the finest and first poets in the Sufi tradition. Sanai means insight. The epithet hakim (wise one) was typically reserved for people of great learning. Sanai was born in the city of Ghazna. Sanai appears to have suddenly abandoned his career as a professional poet after making the acquaintance of a drinker of dregs a God-intoxicated soul named Lai Khur, in about 1114. Later, mystical writing was popular among the ruling classes and the poet soon attracted the attention of the sultan, Bahramshah. Now old, Sanai wrote the first major Sufi masnavi in the Persian language. Titled The Walled Garden of the Truth, the poem of 10,000 couplets contains mystical teachings intermingled with proverbs, fables, anecdotes and even obscene stories, in six volumes. This is the first volume. The uncommon manner in which Sanai introduced and explained the esoteric teachings of Sufism through the medium of poetry was the key to its popularity and lasting value. It is still widely considered by scholars to be the first great mystical poem in Persian and the work had wide-reaching influence on Persian poetry influencing Nizami to compose Treasury of the Mysteries, Attar to compose his Book of God and Rumi to compose his 6 volume Masnavi and Sadi his Bustan. Rumi said, Attar is the soul and Sanai the eyes and I came after them. Introduction: Life & Times & Poetry of Sanai; Sufis & Dervishes: Their Art & Use of Poetry; Forms in Persian Poetry Used by Sanai; The Persian Masnavi before Sanai; Four Great Masnavi Sufi Poets & their Poems that were influenced by Sanais Poem; Selected Bibliography. Large Format Paperback. 7x 10 400 pages.COMMENTS ON PAUL SMITHS TRANSLATION OF HAFIZS DIVAN.It is not a joke... English version of ALL ghazals of Hafiz is a great feat and of paramount importance. I am astonished. Dr. Mir Mohammad Taghavi (Dr. of Literature) Tehran.Superb translations. 99% Hafiz 1% Paul Smith. Ali Akbar Shapurzman, translator of many mystical works in English into Persian and knower of Hafizs Divan off by heart.Paul Smith (b. 1945) is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets of the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu and other languages… including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, Attar, Sanai, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Yunus Emre, Lalla Ded, Mahasti, Iqbal, Ghalib, Rahman Baba, Ibn al-Farid, Iraqi, Aatish, Seemab, and many others, as well as his own poetry, fiction, plays, childrens books, biographies and a dozen screenplays.www.newhumanitybooks.com Read more