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"I am drunk with the wine of Thy love, so from such a drunkard
Don't ask for the sober counsel of a man of the world."
Want to know who wrote this bit of poetry? Was it Hafez? Saadi?
Don't ask for the sober counsel of a man of the world."
Want to know who wrote this bit of poetry? Was it Hafez? Saadi?
What if I told you it was this guy?
Trying to understand Persian poetry without understanding at least some basics of Islamic gnosticism (irfan) is impossible.
This language has even trickles down (reaganomics style lol) to the maddahis (lamentations) that are recited during mourning ceremonies:
منم یه روز عاقل بودم؛ عشق تو مجنونم کرد
ز شهر عقل و عاقلا یکباره بیرونم کرد
"I, to, was once rational, but your love made me crazy |
From the land of reason and the reasonable I was, at once, banished"
ز شهر عقل و عاقلا یکباره بیرونم کرد
"I, to, was once rational, but your love made me crazy |
From the land of reason and the reasonable I was, at once, banished"
دل من از روز ازل اسیر یک نگاهه
حسین رو دوست داره مگه خاطر خواهی گناهه
"My heart, from the day of creation, has been held hostage by your glance |
So he loves Hussein; is falling in love a sin?"
حسین رو دوست داره مگه خاطر خواهی گناهه
"My heart, from the day of creation, has been held hostage by your glance |
So he loves Hussein; is falling in love a sin?"
دیوونه حسینم و ویروونه حسینم
خراب و مست گوشه میخونه حسینم
"I am the crazed lover of Hussein; I am the destroyed ruins of Hussein |
Shattered and drunk, I am in the corner of Hussein's tavern"
خراب و مست گوشه میخونه حسینم
"I am the crazed lover of Hussein; I am the destroyed ruins of Hussein |
Shattered and drunk, I am in the corner of Hussein's tavern"
These are just a few examples. Obviously you can find them everywhere.
This is a very very deep subject and I myself am not learned in it. But I know enough to know that it is inextricably tied to irfan (gnosticism) and requires a good knowledge of irfan in order to opine.
This is a very very deep subject and I myself am not learned in it. But I know enough to know that it is inextricably tied to irfan (gnosticism) and requires a good knowledge of irfan in order to opine.
How many of those who talk incessantly about wine in Persian poetry, assuming that it is referring to getting wasted, know the name Allameh Tabatabaei?
Allameh Tabatabaei was a scholar and gnostic best known for his exegesis of Quran. But he also wrote a good deal of poetry.
Allameh Tabatabaei was a scholar and gnostic best known for his exegesis of Quran. But he also wrote a good deal of poetry.
We don't have much of his poetry because he did not publish them. What little we do have is from short recordings of him speaking, and what was imparted to his students.
One of such poems is:
پرستش به مستی است در کیش مهر
"Worship is drunkenness in the path of love."
One of such poems is:
پرستش به مستی است در کیش مهر
"Worship is drunkenness in the path of love."
Was Allameh advocating that we all go out and get crunk? No. We know from very reliable personal accounts that he was not a man of drink. There is a certain misguided notion that seeks to create a false dichotomy between jurisprudence and gnosticism.
Allameh and other examples show quite clearly: gnosticism is not the rejection of jurisprudence; rather, it is transcendence of it. This is an indication of what this type of language actually means.
FYI this poetry was put into song form by none other than Ostad Shahram Nazeri.
