Rasoul Rahbari-Ghazani

In this volume, I bring together a selection of Fayz Kashani’s poems on love, presenting love as the central force in his mystical and philosophical vision. Given the absence of a sustained English translation of Fayz’s poetry, my first aim is to respond to this press-ing gap. Accordingly, the focus here is on translation accompanied by restrained annotation; a fuller, more academically oriented com-mentary will be developed in subsequent work. Adopting a herme-neutic approach, the annotations offered here provide interpretive guidance where necessary while keeping the poems at the center of the reader’s experience. Fayz was primarily a philosopher, theologian, and mystic; he turns to poetry where prose reaches its limits, where argument can persuade but cannot transform. In his own practice, poetry is a “spiritual exercise,” a way to awaken the heart, to intensify longing for the divine Beloved, God, and to clothe wisdom in verse, thus facilitating its reception. Fayz’s poetry is approached in that same spirit, not merely as literature to be admired, but as language meant to work upon the reader. I do not intend to provide a comprehensive anthology of his poetry, nor do I arrange the selection chronologically. The poems selected here revolve around two closely related forms of love. The first is love for God (Chapter 6). The second is love for the Perfect Man (insān kāmil), the Twelfth Imam of Shiʿi Islam: al-Mahdi, who, for Fayz, mirrors the unknowable divine Essence most comprehen-sively at this age (Chapter 7). These two dimensions are not sepa-rate paths but one continuous movement: love for God unfolds through love for the one who most fully manifests Him. Each poem is preceded by a brief discussion of its central themes, then present-ed in Persian and English, with annotations that clarify difficult ex-pressions, symbolic references, and doctrinal allusions. The poems show how metaphysical doctrine, theology, and spiritual experience converge in the language of love. The preliminary Chapters 1–5 provide the conceptual framework for reading Fayz’s poetry: his intellectual environment, his understanding of longing, his graded psychology of love, his use of mystical symbols, and his metaphys-ics of the Perfect Man. Fayz’s poems are deceptively simple, but conceptually dense. In translations, I remain close to the sense of the original while producing English that reads as living language rather than a technical gloss. To accomplish this task, I have consistently priori-tized meaning over form in my translations. Also, where necessary, I have slightly adjusted the wording to maintain coherence and in-telligibility without altering the underlying concepts or imagery. This volume is addressed to two types of readers simulta-neously. For those already familiar with Persian mystical literature, it offers a focused engagement with one of its most intellectually rich yet relatively neglected figures. For readers approaching this tradition for the first time, it offers an entry point into a world where poetry, philosophy, and spirituality are inseparable. In both cases, hope is the same: that Fayz’s words may not only be studied but lived with.

This book offers a sustained philosophical study of sarayān—the “permeation” of the Real (al-Haqq) throughout existence—in Ibn ʿArabi’s metaphysics. While the doctrine of waḥdat al-wujūd (the unity of being) has long stood at the center of Islamic metaphysical thought, the dynamic principle that makes this unity experientially and cosmologically intelligible has rarely been examined in its own right. Here, permeation emerges as the living grammar of divine presence. Through a close reading of Fusus al-Hikam, the book reconstructs Ibn ʿArabi’s ontology of continuous theophany, fixed entities, imagination, and the Perfect Human. Select insights from Plotinus’ doctrine of emanation serve not to reduce Ibn ʿArabi to Neoplatonism, but to clarify the philosophical structure of procession, mediation, and return. The comparison operates at the level of conceptual analogy rather than historical influence. Beyond ontology, this study explores the ethical and existential implications of a world understood as continuously permeated by the Real. If existence itself is theophany, then nature, human relations, and ordinary life become sites of divine disclosure. Permeation thus appears not only as a metaphysical principle, but as a transformative vision capable of reshaping perception, responsibility, and lived experience.

This study employs a hermeneutic and textual analysis approach to examine and categorize the mystical experience—“unveiling” (kashf)—illustrated in Rūmī’s works using Sayyid Ḥaydar Āmulī’s Sufi framework, distinguishing “revelation” (vaḥy) and “inspiration” (ilhām), and “imaginal unveiling” (al-kashf al-khayālī) and “spiritual unveiling” (al-kashf al-maʿnawī). The primary question this study addresses is this: “What forms the foundation of Rumi’s epistemology?” And the guiding questions are as follows. How does Āmulī’s classification of unveiling contribute to the distinction between “revelation” and “inspiration” on the one hand and “imaginal unveiling” and “spiritual unveiling” on the other, as illustrated in Rūmī’s works? In what ways do Rūmī’s teachings align with and diverge from Āmulī’s framework of unveilings, and how do they complement each other? Existing studies on Rūmī’s epistemology, while abundant, often focus on specific aspects and present the authors’ findings but lack a comprehensive classification. Combining the two thinkers’ insights, this paper offers contemporary readers and scholars a theoretical lens—a direct access to the relevant texts in Rūmī’s works for independent future research—and a poetic, motivational, and transformative voice, encouraging them to embark on their own personal journeys. According to this paper’s thesis, Rūmī builds his epistemology on love as the transformative force guiding the seeker, the heart as the locus of divine manifestation and spiritual connection, and the sacred intellect as the faculty linking human understanding to the Universal Intellect and thus the divine Wisdom beyond rationality, while acknowledging rationality’s limited but valuable role.

Adopting a hermeneutic approach and horizontal and vertical interpretation methods, this study primarily explores the metaphysical concept of love-induced mystic intoxication in the Iranian polymath Mullā Muḥsin Fayḍ Kāshānī’s mystic poetry. Secondarily, it discusses the implications of mystic intoxication in the meaning of life. Furthermore, the paper briefly positions Fayḍ Kāshānī’s account in the contemporary categories of the meaning of life: supernaturalism, naturalism, and nihilism. Additionally, elucidating the perspectives of the contemporary philosopher John Cottingham, the paper examines Kāshānī’s view through Cottingham’s philosophy. Central to Kāshānī’s poetry, ignited by divine love, the spiritual seeker transcendends their self, getting absorbed into the Divine to the point where they become unaware of their self. This epistemic unawareness is mastī (intoxication) or bīkhudī (selflessness)—which, for Kāshānī, has profound implications on life’s meaning. Unlike the “extreme God-centric” view—which situates the purpose of life solely in fulfilling God’s purpose—Kāshānī’s “moderate God-soul-centric supernaturalist” view recognizes that while divine love, intoxication, and knowledge infuse more profound depth to the meaning of life, other aspects also add to the meaning in life—like the simpler forms of piety and everyday existence. A framework in which morality is instrumental. Similarly, for Cottingham, life has value and meaning beyond solely fulfilling God’s purpose. Nevertheless, while basic pleasures and desires might independently exist and have meaning, higher elements like moral virtue, crucial to life’s meaning, are contingent on God’s purpose.

This study explores the distinguished Persian Sufi mystic Shaykh Maḥmūd Shabestarī’s Golshan-e Rāz, or The Rose Garden of Mystery. Adopting a hermeneutic approach, it scrutinizes the intricate spiritual journey towards divine realization delineated in Shabestarī’s poetry, utilizing qualitative content analysis of original texts and interpretations by scholars such as Lāhījī and Ibn Turka Iṣfahānī. The main question the paper addresses is this: “How can the spiritual journeyer overcome obstacles—particularly ‘otherness’—and achieve unity with the divine Essence within the framework of Islamic mysticism, as interpreted through Shabestarī’s teachings in Golshan-e Rāz?” To answer this inquiry, the paper addresses pivotal questions concerning Shabestarī’s depiction of the spiritual journeyer’s path, its stages and challenges, and the critical role of the human form in divine manifestation. The study underscores the necessity of overcoming duality and distinction, alluding to the transformative nature of the journey that necessitates self-purification and the cessation of otherness. Findings from this study provide an enriched understanding of Shabestarī’s thought, contributing to the discourse on Islamic metaphysics. It presents valuable insights into the spiritual journeyer’s path, offering a comprehensive interpretation of the challenges, practices, and transformative experiences leading to divine realization and unity.

Who or what is “I”? Does “I” refer to the soul, body, or something else? This paper aims to clarify the Iranian Sufi Maḥmūd Shabistarī’s metaphysical account of the self in The Rose Garden of Mystery (Gulshan-i Rāz). Some of Shabistarī’s commentators-for example, Lāhījī-argue that the “self is the determined Real” without offering a full account. This paper presents Shabistarī’s self by examining Gulshan in the context of commentaries, secondary sources, and Islamic thought and by presenting opposing interpretations and reasons for the most prominent interpretations. In Gulshan, the self is neither the soul nor the body. It is the Real’s determination, a face among the eternally manifesting, unrepeated faces of the Real. This paper argues that the self is the human’s fixed entity (quiddity, ʿayn-i thābitah), whose aptitudes are perpetually unfolding; it is an eternal becoming of the Perfect Man. The self is not reified (i.e., it is of no definite content or form) or fully known; it changes every moment; it is the ever-changing “I” of the moment. Shabistarī’s metaphysics helps the modern person realize that her self is divine; it teaches her that because the world-including humans, animals, and the environment-is God’s manifestation, it deserves care.

This paper explores the metaphysical concepts of divine “love” (ʿeshq), “attraction” (jadhbe), and “selflessness” (bīkhodī) in the seminal Iranian Shīʿī Muslim thinker Mullā Muḥsin Fayḍ Kāshānī’s poetry. This research emerges from the gap in existing literature, which mainly explores Fayḍ Kāshānī’s philosophical, theological, or ḥadīth works, while the scrutiny of his poetry largely stays within its literary attributes, overlooking the philosophical and mystical themes embedded within. The paper’s thesis posits that according to Fayḍ Kāshānī, the spiritual journey commences with reason, progressing to constant divine contemplation, a combination that nurtures muḥabbat—an initial stage of divine love—which, when discovered, evokes a more intense love: “divine attraction” in the seeker’s heart, leading to selflessness and divine unity. This paper employs the hermeneutic method and analytical examination to scrutinize Fayḍ Kāshānī’s poetry within the context of his treatises. It follows an “intracultural” interpretation to explore Fayḍ Kāshānī’s thought within Persian intellectual tradition and uses an “intercultural” interpretation to contextualize the findings within Islamic, Christian, and ancient Greek metaphysics. The methodology includes a “horizontal interpretation” of Quranic and ḥadīth references in Fayḍ Kāshānī’s works and a “vertical interpretation” of unveiling deeper meanings of Fayḍ Kāshānī’s thoughts within the broader mystical traditions.

This paper examines the nature of “asceticism” (rīyāḍat) in Sufism, revolving around the works of the 13th century Persian Sufi Mawlānā Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī Balkī and exploring two critical inquiries: Firstly, it seeks to determine whether Rūmī’s mystical perspective on asceticism is world-rejecting or world-affirming. Secondly, it investigates potential parallels and divergences between Rūmī and Meister Eckhart’s stances—specifically, through the Dominican’s Sermons and Treatises—and assesses the implications for the two figures. In examining Rūmī’s works, the current research primarily relies on secondary sources within the Persian intellectual tradition to provide an intracultural context. Utilizing horizontal and vertical interpretations, this study examines critical themes in Rūmī’s works, such as love, detachment (zuhd), the world’s deceptive nature, and seclusion. The findings reveal that Rūmī’s asceticism is not “monastic” (ruhbānī); instead, it balances moderate abstinence and worldly engagement, underpinned by the Quran and the ḥadīth teachings. Rūmī and Eckhart underscore asceticism as an inner transformation rather than mere physical austerity, emphasizing inner purification, self-transcendence, and spiritual detachment as routes to divine unity. The two thinkers’ teachings are catalysts for profound personal transformation and a more fulfilling life in today’s world.

This paper examines the following three questions: (1) In The Rose Garden of Mystery (Golshan-e Rāz), how does the prominent 7-8th-century Iranian Sufi, Maḥmūd Shabistarī, distinguish the mystical “contemplation” and “rational reflection” in pursuing divine knowledge? (2) Was Shabistarī an anti-rationalist (strict fideist)? (3) How does Shabistarī’s position fit into the ancient Greek, Neoplatonist, and medieval Islamic and Christian metaphysics? This paper examines Golshan-e Rāz in the context of Shabistarī’s other works, commentaries, secondary sources, and Islamic thought—Sufism and philosophy. Existing literature on Golshan-e Rāz primarily focuses on its literary aspects, neglecting its philosophical and mystical concepts. However, a thorough understanding requires examining these concepts in a broad context, which will inspire further research. The rationale behind this research is rooted in the religious obligation for believers to know God, with “thinking” as the means to acquire such knowledge. This is why the first question Herawī poses to Shabistarī pertains to the nature of thought—justifying this paper’s focus. Contemporary opposition to religion often stems from its perceived incongruity with the rational frameworks offered by positivism, materialism, or scientific inquiry. By differentiating between mystical and rational modes of thought that Shabistarī presents, this study shows the contemporary person that intellectual inquiry extends beyond rationalism and encompasses mysticism. Consequently, rational and mystical perspectives should be pursued in the quest for the divine. Furthermore, this study contends that Shabistarī should not be regarded as a strict fideist; instead, his criticism is directed toward the constraints inherent in rational thinking.

Who or what is “I”? Does “I” refer to the soul, body, or something else? This paper aims to clarify the Iranian Sufi Maḥmūd Shabistarī’s metaphysical account of the self in The Rose Garden of Mystery (Gulshan-i Rāz). Some of Shabistarī’s commentators-for example, Lāhījī-argue that the “self is the determined Real” without offering a full account. This paper presents Shabistarī’s self by examining Gulshan in the context of commentaries, secondary sources, and Islamic thought and by presenting opposing interpretations and reasons for the most prominent interpretations. In Gulshan, the self is neither the soul nor the body. It is the Real’s determination, a face among the eternally manifesting, unrepeated faces of the Real. This paper argues that the self is the human’s fixed entity (quiddity, ʿayn-i thābitah), whose aptitudes are perpetually unfolding; it is an eternal becoming of the Perfect Man. The self is not reified (i.e., it is of no definite content or form) or fully known; it changes every moment; it is the ever-changing “I” of the moment. Shabistarī’s metaphysics helps the modern person realize that her self is divine; it teaches her that because the world-including humans, animals, and the environment-is God’s manifestation, it deserves care