The poem immediately evokes the classical poetic tradition through its mention of the doves, the thornberry (arāk) and the moringa (bān). The relationship of Sufism to the nasīb is at the heart of this poem, and my introduction here will focus upon that important and often neglected relationship. Given the title of the collection, The Interpreter of Desires, it is not surprising to find that it is the erotic themes from the nasīb that begin and end the poem and serve as its primary motif. The poem is composed around four complex and intertwined thematic movements: 1) The remembrance of the beloved (nasīb) motifs of the classical Arabic Qasida, especially the theme of the Za’n, the journey of the beloved and her female companions away from the poet 2) The Sufi state of fana’ the passing away or annihilation of the self of the Sufi in union with the divine beloved 3) The pilgrimage of the hajj, the stations of the pilgrimage, and the circurnambulation of the Ka’ba and 4) The Sufi claim that the greatest Ka’ba is the heart of the divine lover at the moment of fana’. But the poem as a whole has not received as much attention. The last verses of “Gentle Now,” in which Ibn ‘Arabi speaks of the “Garden among the Flames”, are among the most famous verses in Sufi literature and have been quoted in a wide variety of discussions of Sufism and of the Shaykh al-Akbar. The poems were edited and translated by Reynold Nicholson, who included with them a translation of parts of the commentary, and it is largely through Nicholson that the English speaking world has come to know this remarkable work. After composing the Interpreter of Desires, Ibn ‘Arabi went on to write a commentary to the poems, tying them explicitly to his mystical philosophy. Ibn ‘Arabi’s poem, “Gentle Now, Doves of the Thornberry and Moringa Thicket”, is the eleventh poem in his volume The Interpreter of Desires (tarjumān al-ashwāq). Wherever its caravan turns along the way, The Young Woman at the Kaaba – Love and Infinityĭoves of the thornberry and moringa thicket, The Poetry of Ibn Arabi – Recitations from the Tarjuman al-ashwaq Ibn Arabi's Lyric Mysticism and the Persian-Arabic Love Affair Life in Ibn Arabi’s “Ringsetting of Prophecy in the Word of Jesus” Selected Readings from the Poetry of Ibn Arabi Selections from Ibn Arabi’s Tarjuman al-ashwaq (Translation of Desires)īewildered – A New Translation of Ibn Arabi’s Tarjuman Poems Ibn Arabi’s “Gentle Now, Doves of the Thornberry and Moringa Thicket” ( ala ya hamamati l-arakati wa l-bani), Poem 11 from the Translation of Desires Ibn Arabi’s Poem 18 ( Qif bi l-Manazil) from the Translation of Desires
ARABIAN LOVE POEMS FULL
His books include: Desert Tracings: Six Classic Arabian Odes (Wesleyan) Mystical Languages of Unsaying (Chicago) Early Islamic Mysticism (Paulist Press) The Bridge Betrayed: Religion and Genocide in Bosnia (California) Approaching the Quran (White Cloud) and The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature: Andalus (Cambridge) as two full translations of Ibn 'Arabi’s Tarjuman al-ashwaq, Stations of Desire (2000) and Bewildered (2018). He is an authority on Ibn al-'Arabi as well as one of the most distinguished contemporary translators of classical Arabic poetry. Michael Sells is a professor of Islamic Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Chicago.
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