THE LIBRARY OF GREAT SUFI POETS Book Eight Majnun, Rab'ia al-Adawiyya, Mahsati Ganjavi, Hasan Dehlavi & Aatish Translation & Introduction Paul Smith MAJNUN was a youth, a famous Bedouin poet (immortalised by Nizami) in the seventh century of the Bani Amir tribe in the Najd desert in Arabia. He fell in love with Layla from the same tribe whom he was denied. Most of his recorded poetry was composed before his descent into love-madness (mast) then through a Perfect Master... his spiritual unification with his beloved. RABI'A (717-801). Throughout her life, her Love of God, poverty and self-denial did not waver. More interesting than her absolute asceticism is the actual concept of Divine Love that Rabi'a introduced. She was the first to introduce the idea that God should be loved for God's own sake. She is widely considered to be the most important of the early Sufi poets. MAHSATI (1098-1185) lived in Ganjeh and was a court, dervish (Sufi) and ribald poet. She knew Nizami and Khayyam and composed mainly in the ruba'i form and helped to revolutionize it. HASAN DEHLAVI (1253-1328) was a close friend of the great Amir Khusrau and also achieved greatness as a poet and Sufi. He composed over 800 ghazals; influenced by Sadi he was called the 'Sadi of Hindustan'. AATISH (1777-1847). Khwaja Haidar Ali... pen-name Aatish ('fire') was born in Faizabad. His ancestors had been dervishes and religious men. His words are simple and carefully chosen. His ghazals are on the traditional themes of human and divine love. Correct rhymes are kept in all poems. Biographies & Bibliographies. Introduction on Sufi Poetry and its Forms. 6" x 9" 462 pages. Paul Smith (b. 1945) is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets of the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish and other languages... including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Rab'ia, Mahsati, Sana'i, Obeyd Zakani, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Yunus Emre, Baba Farid, Mu'in, Lalla Ded, Mahsati, Iqbal, Rahman Baba and many others and his own poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, children's books, 12 screenplays. www.newhumanitybooks.com