Sufi Poetry
Major works of Sufi poetry with original texts, scholarly commentary, and analysis of their philosophical and theological content.
Sufi poetry is the poetry of the Islamic spiritual tradition: Rumi, Yunus Emre, Hafiz, Ibn Arabi, Attar, Niyazi-i Misri and others. Each article below gives the poem or its key lines in English, says who wrote it and when, and explains what its images (the reed, wine, the moth, the beloved) meant in the poet's own world. The readings stay close to the sources and to the tradition's own understanding of the poems.
12 articles
My Pain Was My Cure: Niyazi-i Misri on the Nearness of the Friend
Niyazi-i Misri's beloved poem 'I sought a cure for my pain, my pain was my cure': the inward turn and the nearness of God in Anatolian Sufism.
Beautiful His Name, Beautiful Himself: Yunus Emre on Loving the Prophet
Yunus Emre's beloved na't, adi guzel kendi guzel Muhammed: the Anatolian song of love for the Prophet, his beauty, and his intercession.
Whatever He Does, He Does Beautifully: Ibrahim Hakki's Tefvizname
Erzurumlu Ibrahim Hakki's Tefvizname, 'whatever the Lord does, He does beautifully': trust, patience, and contentment with the divine decree.
Is There Anywhere a Stranger Like Me: Yunus Emre on Ghurbat
FeaturedYunus Emre's Anatolian ilahi of ghurbat. Echoes 'Islam began as a stranger,' the rights of the dead stranger, and the heart's first home.
If You Have Broken a Heart: Yunus Emre on the Sacredness of the Heart
FeaturedYunus Emre's plain Turkish ilahi on heart-breaking. The prayer that breaks a heart is not a prayer; the seventy-two nations cannot wash that hand.
Ana'l-Haqq: Hallaj and the Utterance That Shook Islam
FeaturedHallaj's declaration 'I am the Truth' led to his execution in 922 CE. What did he mean, and why do Sufis still debate it today?
Come, Come, Whoever You Are: What Rumi Actually Meant
Rumi's most quoted poem in its original context: not abandoning commitment, but a call to return after failure, rooted in tawba.
I Died as Mineral: Rumi on Spiritual Evolution
Rumi's celebrated poem on the soul's ascent through mineral, plant, animal, and human forms. An analysis of spiritual evolution in Sufi philosophy.
Love Took Me From Myself: Yunus Emre's Song of Surrender
Yunus Emre's beloved poem on fana and divine love: how the fire of longing empties the ego and leaves only the Beloved.
My Heart Has Become Capable of Every Form
FeaturedIbn Arabi's poem from the Tarjuman al-Ashwaq on the heart's capacity to receive all divine self-disclosures, with its true meaning.
The Moth and the Flame: Attar's Teaching on Fana
The Sufi allegory of the moth and flame from Attar's Mantiq ut-Tayr: only the moth that burns knows fire. A teaching on fana and ego.
The Song of the Reed: Opening of the Masnavi
FeaturedThe opening of Rumi's Masnavi: the most celebrated passage in Sufi literature on separation, longing, and the soul's return to its origin.