Ta?iyya-yi ?Abd al-Rahman-i Jami

Ibn al-Farid (d. 632/1235) is arguably the greatest mystical poet in the history of Arabic literature. Born in Cairo and a student of Shafi?i law and hadith in his younger years, he turned to mysticism, living a solitary existence on Cairo's Muqattam hills, in the desert, and in the Hijaz. After his return to Cairo, people worshipped him as a saint and even today, admirers still visit his tomb in that city. ?Abd al-Rahman Jami (d. 898/1492) is one of Persia's great medieval poets. As a young man, he joined the followers of Sa?d al-Din Kashghari (d. 860/1456), leader of the mystical Naqshbandiyya order in Herat. His combined output in poetry (39.000 lines of verse) and prose (over 30 works) is quite overwhelming. Besides a commentary on Ibn al-Farid's Khamriyya mimiyya, he also made the first and only Persian translation of his seminal al-Ta?iyya al-kubra, published here for the very first time.