Abu Nuwas and Obeyd Zakani - 'Controversial' Dervish/Sufi Poets

ABU NUWAS & OBEYD ZAKANI'CONTROVERSIAL' DERVISH/SUFI POETSSelected Poems & ProseTranslation & Introduction Paul SmithAbu Nuwas (757-814) was the most famous and infamous poet who composed in Arabic of the Abbasid era. His style was extravagant and his compositions reflected the licentious manners of the upper classes of his day. As a youth he was sold into slavery; a wealthy benefactor later set him free. As a man he finally settled in Baghdad and was composing poetry. Because of his...
More Description

ABU NUWAS & OBEYD ZAKANI'CONTROVERSIAL' DERVISH/SUFI POETSSelected Poems & ProseTranslation & Introduction Paul SmithAbu Nuwas (757-814) was the most famous and infamous poet who composed in Arabic of the Abbasid era. His style was extravagant and his compositions reflected the licentious manners of the upper classes of his day. As a youth he was sold into slavery; a wealthy benefactor later set him free. As a man he finally settled in Baghdad and was composing poetry. Because of his long hair, he acquired the name Abu Nuwas (Father of Ringlets). Gradually he attracted the attention of Harun al-Rashid and was given quarters at court. His ability as a poet no doubt was one reason for Abu Nuwas' success with the caliph, but after a while he became known as a reprobate and participated in less reputable pastimes with the ruler. He spent time in Egypt but soon returned to Baghdad to live out his remaining years. He is popular today, perhaps more so than he ever was, as a kind of comic anti-hero. His poems consist of qit'as (of which he was the first master) ghazals and qasidas. His poems could be classified into: praises, mockeries, jokes, complaints, love of men and women, wine, hunting, laments, asceticism. All forms are here in the true meaning & rhyme structure. Introduction: Life, Times & Poetry and forms both composed in and two appendixes of some stories about him in the Arabian Nights and elsewhere. Obeyd Zakani (1300-1371) is an important a figure in Persian and Sufi literature and poetry. His satire, humorous stories, ribald and obscene poems, social commentary, mystical ghazals, prose, ruba'is, qit'as and his famous epic qasida 'Cat & Mouse' are popular today and are more relevant than ever. He is considered to be one of the world's greatest satirist and social-commentator whose life and mystical poems had a great influence on his student and friend Hafiz and many others and he (like his predecessor Abu Nuwas is as controversial today as they ever were.This is the largest selection of his works available in English. The rhyme-structure has been kept as well as the beauty and meaning of these sometimes rude, funny and mystical poems and prose. Introduction on his Life & Times & Writing. Appendix, Selected Bibliography, Many illustrations. Large Format Paperback 7" x 10" 571 pages.Paul Smith (b. 1945) is a poet, author and translator of many 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, Mu'in, Amir Khusrau, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Omar Khayyam, Rudaki, Yunus Emre, Mahsati, Lalla Ded, Bulleh Shah, Shah Latif, Makhfi, Iqbal, Dara Shikoh, Ghalib and many others, as well as his own poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, children's books and a dozen screenplays. www.newhumanitybooks.com