FOUR MORE GREAT LATER CLASSIC SUFI MASTER POETS Sarmad, Bedil, Rahman Baba, Bulleh Shah ***SELECTED POEMS*** Translation & Introduction Paul Smith The great Sufi Perfect Master Poets of the Later Classic Age (17th - 18th century) were straightforward and inspiring in the poetic forms of the ghazal, ruba'i, qasida and masnavi and other forms in expressing their love for the Divine Beloved and their contempt for this world and its illusions and explaining the spiritual path. Here are hundreds of beautiful poems by them in the correct form and meaning and biographies about them. Sarmad (d. 1659) was a famous and infamous Persian dervish poet. In India he wrote beautiful mystical poetry in the form of rubai's. He wandered the streets as a naked dervish and was beheaded by Emperor Aurangzeb. Bedil (1644-1721) was born and educated near Patna. His writings in Persian are extensive, being one of the creators of the 'Indian style'. Rahman Baba (1652 to 1711) is considered the greatest Sufi Pashtun poet to compose poems, mainly ghazals, and he was called 'The Nightingale of Peshawar'. Bulleh Shah (1680-1758) was a Sufi poet who composed in Punjabi. His Spiritual Master was Shah Inayat. The poetic form Bulleh Shah is called the Kafi, a style of Punjabi poetry. Included: Introduction: Sufis & Dervishes: Their Art & Use of Poetry & various poetic forms they used. Pages 526. 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. "Smith has probably put together the greatest collection of literary facts and history concerning Hafiz." Daniel Ladinsky (Penguin Books author). Paul Smith is a poet, author and translator of over 130 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, Khayyam, Lalla Ded, Iqbal and many others, as well as poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, children's books and over a dozen screenplays.