RUBA'IYAT OF 'ATTAR Translation, Introduction & Notes by Paul Smith Farid ad-din 'Attar (d. 1221) is the Perfect Master Poet who was the author of over forty books of poetry and prose including The Conference of the Birds, The Book of God (which he is said to have presented to Rumi when he met him) and The Lives of the Saints. Apart from his many books in masnavi form he also composed many hundreds of mystical ghazals and ruba'is. He also changed the evolution of the ruba'i form by composing a long Sufi epic, the Mukhtar-nama, where each of 2088 ruba'is is connected by subject matter that Fitzgerald attempted to do with those he attributed to Omar Khayyam. Included in Introduction is the life of 'Attar and a history of the ruba'i and examples by its greatest exponents. Selected Bibliography. The rhyme-structure has been kept as well as the beauty and meaning of these immortal four-line poems. 138 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. If he comes to Iran I will kiss the fingertips that wrote such a masterpiece inspired by the Creator of all." 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. "Smith has probably put together the greatest collection of literary facts and history concerning Hafiz." Daniel Ladinsky (Penguin Books author of poems inspired by Hafiz). Paul Smith is a poet, author and translator of over 80 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, Rudaki, Yunus Emre and many others, as well as poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, children's books and screenplays.