Studies in Islamic Poetry

Robarts - University of Toronto

Contributed

Description

WRITTEN during the war, these Studies grew out of the wish to impart some things I have enjoyed in Arabic and Persian not only to fellow-students, who can correct me if I misinterpret, but also to others who without being specialists are interested in the literature, philosophy and religion of the East. Since the five essays fall into two distinct groups, it has been decided to publish them in two volumes bearing different titles, namely, Studies in Islamic Poetry and Studies in Islamic Mysticism. The latter comprise (1) an account of the famous Persian Sufi, Abu Sa‘id ibn Abi ’l-Khayr—-dervish, abbot, saint, and reputed poet——drawn from documents singularly rich in detail which shed a rather disillusioning light upon his character; (2) a study of ‘Abdu ’l-Karim al- jili's treatise entitled al-Insein at-Kdmil or “The Perfect Man,” a very curious exposition of the Mohammedan Logos doctrine by a Muhyawi, i.e. one whose modes of thought are derived from Muhyi’ddin Ibnu ’l-‘Arabi; (3) an essay on the Odes of Ibnu ’l-Farid, which unite mysticism with poetry of the rarest kind, but are so veiled in allegory that a glimpse of the meaning underneath is sometimes as much as we can obtain.