Islamic Mystical Poetry

Written from the ninth to the twentieth century, these poems represent the peak of islamic mystical writing, from Rabia Basri to Mian Muhammad Baksh. Reflecting both private devotional love and the attempt to attain union with god and become absorbed into the divine, many poems in this edition are imbued with the symbols and metaphors that develop the central ideas of sufism: the lover, the beloved the wine and the tavern; while others are more personal and echo the poet's battle to leave earthly love behind.