Forty Mystical Sufi Poems

Forty Mystical Sufi Poems is an elegant collaboration between Dr. Nahid Angha and Saleh Arthur Kane Scott describing the healing mystery and transformative energy of Sufi poetry. Dr. Angha, the founder of International Association of Sufism and noted poet/scholar, likewise, has brought the poetics and wisdom of her father, Moulana Shah Maghsoud, to the West. Professor Scott has been a practicing Sufi for two decades studying under the direction of Shah Nazar Ali Kianfar, co-founder of International Association of Sufism. Through the example of Dr. Angha, Professor Scott became enraptured by the Spiritual nuances of Sufi poetics. As he declares, Forty Mystical Sufi Poems “is itself a meditation which takes you deeper into yourself thereby releasing you from the busyness of time/space.” Forty Mystical Sufi Poems introduces the reader to the beauty, poetics, and metaphors of Forty Sufi poems from Bayazid Bastami to Hallaj, from Khayyam to Ahmad Ghazzali, and from Shah Maghsoud Sadiq Angha to Rumi along with their brief biographies. Forty was chosen as it’s a sacred number pointing to the inner transformation that the seeker must undergo to return to the heart, the Fountainhead of Divine Wisdom. What makes it so rich is that it explores the rich metaphors and vocabulary of the Sufis: Drunkenness is code for falling into a deep rapture, Garden points to the beauty of Paradise, Tulip points to the ascending heart. Dr. Angha says it best when she writes, every color holds a meaning, every song presents a divine melody, and every word is a key to open treasure box of the heart. These Sufi themes are beautifully expressed on the cover which portrays a mystical garden filled with exotic birds, trees, flowers pointing to the ethereal. In conclusion, Forty Mystical Sufi Poems, is a must read rich in insights about identity in a world on fire. It calls the world to surrender to the Divine, to the warm embrace of the Garden of love, to the realization that what we seek was always within as beautifully expressed by Bayazid Bastami in this line: Then I looked and saw that lover and beloved are one. What a gift! -Publisher Description-https://scholar.dominican.edu/books/1180/thumbnail.jp