'AISHAH AL-BA'UNIYAH: Life & Poems Translation & Introduction Paul Smith 'Aishah al-Ba'uniyah (1457 - 1517) came from the village of Ba'un in the south of Syria. Her family were well-known and respected religious scholars and poets. She surpassed her father and brothers in her poetry, scholarship and renown. As a young woman she went to Mecca where she had a vision of Prophet Mohammed. All her family were Sufis connected to the Qadir'iyah order. She had two spiritual masters Jamal al-Din Isma'il al-Hawwari and Muhyi al-Din Yayha al-Urnwari. The first she praised in her famous qasida. Her family moved early in her life to Damascus where she eventually married a devotee of her first spiritual master and they had a son and a daughter. She became highly regarded and later in her life was considered to be a great Sufi Master and poet. She wrote in many forms of poetry in a number of Divans and composed works on Sufism that are still highly regarded. Her great qasida (translated here) was composed in praise, influenced by Ibn al-Farid's famous 'Mystic's Way' qasida. Introduction to Sufi Poets Series 93 pages. COMMENTS ON PAUL SMITH'S TRANSLATION OF HAFIZ'S 'DIVAN'. "It is not a joke... the English version of ALL the 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 Hafiz's Divan off by heart. "I was very impressed with the beauty of these books." Dr. R.K. Barz. Faculty of Asian Studies, Australian National University. Paul Smith is a poet, author and translator of over 150 books of Sufi poets of the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu and other languages... including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Nesimi, Baba Farid, Lalla Ded, Khayyam, Rudaki, Yunus Emre, Bulleh Shah, Mahsati, Iqbal, Ghalib, Nazir, Mu'in, Huma, Jigar, Khalim, Majnun, Shah Latif and many others, as well as poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, children's books and a dozen screenplays. www.newhumanitybooksbookheaven.com