Compare the following poems by Rumi (left) and Hafez (right)—

Dear Class,

For today, you should have read the following poems:

Nov. 8                                                   Various Writers, Islamic Mystical Poetry: Sufi Verse from the

Early Mystics to Rumi (9^th c. CE – 14^th c. CE)

• Introduction, pp. xviii-xxxiii
• Glossary, pp. 333-334 (Read the Glossary before you read the following poets)

Mansur Hallaj (9^th c. – 10^th c. CE)

• Introduction (p. 13)
• “I am at Your Service” (p. 14)
• “O You Who are the Object” (p. 16)
• “Kill Me, O My Trusted Friends” (p. 19)
• “I Guide My Sight with the Eye of Knowledge” (p. 20)
• “Which Place on Earth?” (p. 22)
• “O Moon, O Sun, O Day” (p. 29)
• “I Swear by Allah” (p. 31)
• “I Swim in the Sea of Love” (p. 33)
• “Truth” (p. 34)

Sheikh Abdullah Ansari of Herat (11^th c. CE)

• Introduction (p. 38)
• “I Have No Key” (p. 42)
• “I Come as a Slave” (p. 43)
• “O Lord Give Me Wisdom” (p. 44)
• “We Have No Excuse” (p. 45)
• “Desperate Lovers” (p. 46)
• “The Limit of Speech” (p. 48)

Sanai Ghaznavi (11^th c. – 12^th c. CE)

• Introduction (p. 55)
• “In the Name of God the Beneficent, the Merciful” (p. 56)
• “Love’s Command” (p. 60)
• “The Night of Union” (p. 62)

Nizami Ganjavi (12^th c. – 13^th c.)

• Introduction (p. 63)
• “I have Made a Shrine” (p. 64)

Fariduddin Attar (12^th c. – 13^th c. CE)

• Introduction (p. 66)
• “The Fire of Your Love” (p. 67)
• “The Pain of Your Love” (p. 68)
• “Your Beauty” (p. 69)
• “Mosque or Tavern?” (p. 70)
• “O You Who Have Revealed” (p. 71)
• “Drunken Reason” (p. 74)
• “I Shall Be Drunk Tonight” (p. 76)
• “The Path of Love” (p. 77)
• “In Love” (p. 81)
• “How Can Sober Reason Understand” (pp. 82-83)

Jalaluddin Rumi (13^th c. CE)

• Introduction (p. 126)
• “If You Seek Love” (pp. 127-128)
• “The Voice of Love” (pp. 133-135)
• “Who am I?” (pp. 140-141)
• “The Song of the Flute” (pp. 142-143)
• “Through Love” (p. 148)

Iraqi (13^th c.)

• Introduction (p. 157)
• “Make Me Happy” (p. 159)
• “When I Kissed the Earth” (p. 160)

Sa’di Shirazi (12^th c. – 13^th c.)

• “The Throne of the Heart” (p. 163)
• “In Love” (p. 164)
• “In the Company of the Wine-maker” (p. 165)

Hafez, Drunk On the Wine of the Beloved: 100 Poems of Hafez (14^th c. CE)

• “Look At This Beauty” (p. 1)
• “A Bucket of Wine” (p. 4)
• “The Gambler” (p. 7)
• “Let Me Tell You the Truth” (p. 14)
• “Learning How to Fly” (p. 15)
• “In the School of Truth” (p. 18)
• “Plant the Tree of Friendship” (p. 22)
• “The Only Dervish in the World Who Can’t Dance” (p. 23)
• “The Rose” (p. 28)

Please make sure to read the terms in the “Glossary” in Islamic Mystical Poetry: Sufi Verse from the Early Mystics to Rumiin order to better understand the poems you’ve read.

Please also be sure to watch the critic William Dalrymple’s documentary “Sufi Soul: The Mystic Music of Islam” (2005), which is available for free online at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiwRGkQQm9I

(This video may help you write your papers.)

(There will be no required poetry-composition assignment this week. However, if you email me a poem that you’ve written inspired by one of the Persian poems that you’ve read this week, you will receive extra credit equal to one Weekly Writing Assignment. Please email me your poems by the end of this week.)

Below is your prompt for Paper 3, which should be a minimum if three (3) pages, double-spaced, and using a standard citation system. (Remember: Cite all secondary sources that you use; anything else is plagiarism.) Paper 3 is due to the appropriate forum in the Discussion section of BB by midnight on Saturday, November 14^th.

Paper 3 Prompt: Compare the following poems by Rumi (left) and Hafez (right)—focusing on each poet’s depiction of divine love.