Sufi Way

Poem of the Sufi Way, or Nazm al-suluk, is an Arabic poem by the

practitioners. It is 760 verses long. It is often referred to as al-Ta'iyya al-kubra (the Greater Poem Rhyming in T) to differentiate it from a shorter ode that also rhymes in t. The title can also be translated to “the Poem of Progress”.

Origins

The origins of this work are shrouded in mythology. Most accounts of the poem's construction derive from

, “The Diaries of Hearts and the Gardens' Sweet Scents”.

Content

The poem itself is designed to demonstrate a pluralistic and mystical connection to God, or Allah. Initially, the poem likens the pursuit of God's love to the pursuit of a female, written from the man's perspective. The narrator becomes increasingly humbled throughout the poem, and, after much desperation and awe, the link to the narrator's lover, or God, becomes obscured to the point of total cohesion. This felt harmony and connection on an equal level with God is characteristically Sufi, yet it is also an area of critique from Muslim orthodoxies who label such possibility of equality with God as heresy.

Translation

The translation of the poem is known for its difficulty. There are many puns based on variations of the three-consonant radical of most Arabic words, as was custom to the mannerist (badi'a) poetry of the time.

Thematic material

As expected from a poem of such length, “the Poem of the Sufi Way” covers many different themes and draws on many different backgrounds. As Michael Sells writes in the Preface to Umar Ibn al-Farid: Sufi Verse, Saintly Life:

“The poem of the Sufi Way” is a microcosm of Islamic tradition at the time of

Commentaries

Its importance has merited many commentaries, including ones by including

asked how long the commentary would be. When the scholar replied that it would fill two volumes, Ibn al-Farid replied that he “could compose a two-volume commentary on each verse.”

Notes