“This foot of mine no more the stirrup suits;
For me no more are spurs and riding-boots.
Oppressed by aches and age, there now remains
No foot for stirrup and no hand for reins.”

Here is another very insulting quatrain, but again no record remains of the person to whom it was addressed:

<text in Arabic script omitted>

“Compared to thee a pig's a pretty sight:
Beside thy face an ape's the heart's delight.
Thy temper's uglier than e'en thy face,
Compared to it thy face is fair and bright.”

Some of the quatrains are acrostics on names, as, for example, the following:

“The [sum of the] numbers of the letters in that graceful charmer's
name
Is exactly three hundred and sixty, like the divisions of the heavens.
The third letter is one-ninth of the fourth letter,
While the first letter is one-sixth of the second letter.”

The name appears to be Nasháṭ (<text in Arabic script omitted>), for <text in Arabic script omitted> = 50, <text in Arabic script omitted> = 300, <text in Arabic script omitted> = 1, and <text in Arabic script omitted> = 9, which yields a total of 360 and fulfils the two other conditions.

The following is addressed to his sweetheart:

<text in Arabic script omitted>

“No means have I by thee to pitch my tent,
Nor money in thy street a house to rent:
My ears and eyes serve only to this end,
To hear thy voice and on thee gaze intent.”

That Majdu'd-Dín Hamgar reached an advanced age is suggested by some of the quatrains just cited, while in another he describes himself as over eighty, but I have not been able to ascertain the precise dates of his birth and death.

Mention must now be made of a poet of far greater talent and originality than those of whom we have spoken 'Iráqí above, namely Fakhru'd-Dín Ibráhím of Hama-dán, better known by his poetical nom de guerre, or takhalluṣ, of 'Iráqí. Notices of his life are found in most of the later biographies of mystics and poets, notably in the Nafaḥátu'l-Uns of Jámí * and in the Majálisu'l-'Ushsháq of Ḥusayn Mírzá Bayqará; but in the absence of contemporary testimony the particulars there given must be received with a certain reserve, while from his writings, almost entirely of a mystical and erotic character, little or nothing is to be gleaned as to his personal adventures. He is the typical qalandar, heedless of his reputation, and seeing in every beautiful face or object a reflection, as in a mirror, of the Eternal Beauty. “Love,” as one of his biographers says, “was predominant in his nature,” and hence his ghazals have an erotic character which has exposed him to very harsh strictures on the part of some European critics, notably Sprenger, * who find scandalous in a Persian sentiments which in Plato they either admire or ignore.

According to Jámí, 'Iráqí was born at Hamadán, and in childhood learned the Qur'án by heart and could recite it melodiously and accurately. When he was about seventeen years of age, a party of qalandars, amongst whom was a very beautiful youth, came to Hamadán, and, when they left, 'Iráqí, attracted by the beauty of the young dervish, followed them to India. At Multán he became the disciple of Shaykh Bahá'u'd-Dín Zakariyyá, of whom he says in one of his poems:

<text in Arabic script omitted>

“If thou shouldst ask of the world ‘Who is the guide of men?’
Thou wilt hear from heaven no other answer than ‘Zakariyyá.’”

Soon after his arrival there the discipline of a chilla, or forty days' retirement and meditation, was imposed upon him, but on the tenth day the other dervishes came to the Shaykh and complained that instead of meditating in silence he was singing a ghazal or ode which he had composed, and which in the course of a few days was in the mouths of all the revellers in the city, who were singing it in the taverns to the accompaniment of the harp and zither. This ghazal, which is one of 'Iráqí's best-known poems, is as follows:

<text in Arabic script omitted> <text in Arabic script omitted>

“The wine wherewith the cup they first filled high
Was borrowed from the Sáqí's languorous eye.
Since self-possessed the revellers they found
The draught of selflessness they handed round.
The loved one's wine-red lips supplied the cup:
They named it ‘Lover's wine,’ and drank it up.
No rest the hair of those fair idols knows,
So many a heart it robs of its repose.
For good and bad a place within our hall
They found, and with one cup confounded all.
They cast the ball of Beauty on the field,
And at one charge compelled both worlds to yield.
The drunken revellers from eye and lip
The almond gather, and the sugar sip.
But that sweet lip, desired of all, most fair,
Maketh harsh words the helpless lover's share.

They loosen and set free their locks of jet
That they therewith for hearts a snare may set.
A hundred messages their glances dart;
Their eyebrows signal secrets to the heart.
They speak in confidence and silence claim,
And then their secrets to the world proclaim.
Where'er in all the world is grief and gall
They mix them up, the mixture ‘Love’ they call.
Why should they seek to hurt 'Iráqí's fame,
Since they themselves their secrets thus proclaim?”

When Shaykh Bahá'u'd-Dín heard the last couplet, he said, “This finishes his business!” He then called to 'Iráqí in his cell, “Do you make your supplications in wine-taverns? Come forth!” So 'Iráqí came forth, and the Shaykh clothed him in his own khirqa or dervish-cloak, raised him from the ground to which he had cast himself, and subsequently gave him in marriage his daughter, who afterwards bore him a son named Kabíru'd-Dín.

Twenty-five years passed, and Shaykh Bahá'u'd-Dín died, naming 'Iráqí as his successor. The other dervishes, however, disapproved of this nomination, and complained to the King of 'Iráqí's antinomianism. He thereupon left India and visited Mecca and al-Madína, whence he proceeded to Asia Minor. At Qonya (Iconium) he attended the lectures of the celebrated Shaykh Ṣadru'd-Din of that city on the Fuṣúṣ of Shaykh Muḥiyyu'd-Dín ibnu'l-'Arabí, * and composed his most celebrated prose work, the Lama'át (“Flashes” or “Effulgences”), which was submitted to the Shaykh and won his approval. The powerful nobleman Mu'ínu'd-Dín the Parwána was 'Iráqí's admirer and disciple, and built for him, it is said, a khánqáh or monastery at Túqát, besides showing him other favours. On his death, 'Iráqí left Asia Minor for Egypt, where also he is said to have been well received by the reigning Sultan, whose favour he retained, notwithstanding the efforts of his enemies to traduce him. In Syria, whither he subsequently proceeded, he met with an equally good reception, and there, after six months' sojourn, he was joined by his son Kabíru'd-Dín from India. There also he died, on the 8th of Dhu'l-Qa'da, 688 (Nov. 23, 1289) and was buried in the Ṣáliḥiyya Cemetery at Damascus, beside the great mystic Shaykh Muḥiyyu'd-Dín ibnu'l-'Arabí, who had predeceased him by 50 years, and whose influence in Persia, still prevalent even in our days, was largely due to 'Iráqí, Awḥadu'd-Dín of Marágha, and others of the same school.

The following poems from 'Iráqí's Díwán may serve besides that already given, as typical of his style:

“From head to feet thou art gracious, pleasant and sweet, O Love!
Thee to prefer to life 'twere right and meet, O Love!
To thee doth aspire the heart's desire of all, O Love!
A hunter of hearts art thou to hold us in thrall, O Love!
To mine eyes appear thy features fair and dear, O Love!
Awake or asleep like a crystal stream so clear, O Love!
Though Beauty's wine doth incarnadine thy cheek, O Love!
Bear with thy comrades, nor causeless quarrels seek, O Love!
They melt in air, hope's promises false and fair, O Love!
Excuses, I ween, you'll find enough and to spare, O Love!
Kisses sip from thine own fair lip, and behold, O Love!
The Water of Life with its savour so sweet and so cold, O Love!
In the dust hard by thy path I die at thy door, O Love!
That a draught of wine on this dust of mine thou mayst pour, O Love!
Jewels of speech on all and each thou dost hurl, O Love!
So that every soul in its ear may wear a pearl, O Love!
None do I see in grace like thee, and I'm sure, O Love!
Thou art soul incarnate and spirit essential and pure, O Love!
In mine eyes and heart thou hast thy part and share, O Love!
Thou dost hide or appear, now dark and dim, now clear, O Love!
Never a moment on earth from North to South, O Love!
May 'Iráqí aspire to have his desire of thy mouth, O Love!”