Jalaluddin Rumi

Rabia al Basri

Shams Tabrizi

Sufism had its origins in the early days of Islam and was defined by its mystical and philosophical absorption with the search for God and the love and grace of God. God cannot be seen but created humans and the natural world, the love of which remind us of God’s absolute beauty, goodness and truth. The striving for union with God was the ultimate Sufi goal but could not be achieved until death, so human life was to worship God, love mankind, respect nature and conquer the Self, severing the chains of our worldly life. Whilst there are numerous interpretations and permutations of Sufism, our simplified definition provides us with the essence, preoccupations and content for the poets in our volume. Many were Sufis first and poets after such as Rumi but this is not apparent from the undeniable beauty of their verse in its myriad of forms including the musical Ghazal, Masnavi and Rubai. 

Our volume is in chronological order which allows for some sense of the spiritual direction Sufism takes, starting with Rabia in the 8th century and ending with Khwaja Ghulam Farid in the 19th century. This is not necessarily where the journey begins or ends as many believe that the first Sufi poet was Adam and Sufism has always existed as the esoteric side of every faith and certainly not where the journey ends as there are many living Sufi poets. However, we feature seventeen poets whose poems we hope you will enjoy and prompt you explore further.

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