Garden of Mystery: The Gulshani-i Raz of Shabistari (Classics of Sufi Poetry Series)

This small paperback is to me a compact, succinct "primer of Mysticism." The translator has provided an excellent format for the book in which he comments and summarizes each section beforehand. The couplets are sparse, sparing and yet eloquently stunning in their naked "icepick in the forehead" descriptions of "The Real" or "The Necessary" or "The Truth." There is only One Sentient Being in the Universe.

Mr. Darr's sensitive, precise translation of the poem, informed by his decades of study of the tradition in which Mahmud Shabistari was rooted, including Ibn al Arabi, and informed by the classic Iranian commentaries on the poem, is a real gift.

My ancient musty translation is called "The Rose-Garden of Secrets": I despair of anyone who is not attracted by the promise of that title. Now after all these years there's a new, readable version. Have people begun to realise, because of Rûmî's popularity, that Islam has created the world's greatest spiritual literature?This is not a book of stories like Rûmî's "Masnavi" or `Attâr's "Conference of the Birds". It is a poetic exposition of some of the mysteries of Sufism, such as the special meanings given to words like "wine" and "tavern", or words related to human love. Central is the idea, taught by Plato in the West, that Beauty is the signature in this world of Unmanifest Reality, and that Beauty is our path of return.Of course Shabistarî assumes that his readers are practising Muslims and Sufis, so reading him is like listening to a song in an unknown language: you can appreciate the beauty of the voice and the music although you're unable to follow the words.Here's sample (from the old translation):"Pierce the heart of a raindrop and a hundred pure oceans will flow out,Examine one speck of dust and you'll see a thousand creatures.Within a single barleycorn are contained a hundred harvests,In the pith of a millet-seed an entire universe,In an insect's wing an ocean of wonder,In the pupil of an eye an endless heaven".

The Garden of Mystery (Gulshan-i raz) is considered to be one of the greatest classical Persian works of the Islamic mystical tradition known in the west as Sufism. Mahmud Shabistari, who was one of the most celebrated of the Persian Sufi poets, composed the Garden of Mystery early in the14th century.This new translation of the Garden of Mystery by Robert Abdul Hayy Darr is a wonderful addition to the field of classical Sufi texts available in English and a great guide to spiritual seekers of all traditions.

I have had the rather old fashioned, Johnson Pasha translation of this book for some years (published by Octagon Press). This is a very welcome, up to date, and much more accessible translation, with an interesting introduction, and informative notes. It is a wonderful text - Nobel Prize winning writer Doris Lessing regarded it, along with Idries Shah's 'Tales of the Dervishes' as her favourite book on Sufism. It deals very directly with key ideas within Sufism, and mysticism as a whole, in the form of question and answers. Robert manages to elucidate, and contextualise many of the more obscure and difficult references in a very clear, entertaining, and readable way. Shabistari's classic text rewards repeated readings, over many decades, and Robert Darr should be congratulated for his hard work.

Excellent book