Book Review

Sheikh Fakhreddin Eraqi (Selected Works):
The Face in Every Rose
Edited By Vraje Abramian
Publisher: Punjab, India: Radha Soami Satsang Beas 2023.
ISBN: 978-93-88733-66-6

During his lifetime Sheikh Fakhreddin Eraqi (1231–1308 CE) became one of the best known and most popular of the Persian Sufi mystical poets, and today his writings continue to be highly revered among Sufis from every part of the Muslim world. He was the head of the Sohravardi Sufi Order in Multan (in present-day Pakistan). Yet he also had close associations with the wildly ecstatic Qalandars, with Rumi, and with the nephew and successor of Ibn Arabi. Thus, within Sufi literature Eraqi occupies a unique position, bridging several distinct Sufi traditions.

This small book presents poems translated from an edition of Eraqi’s complete works in Persian edited by Dr. Mohtasham Khazai. (At the end of the book references are given by line number showing where each poem appears in this vast corpus.) Vraje Abramian selected verses which “could be rendered into concise, flowing English,” avoiding those where the original Persian was complex or layered with obscure references which would only confuse English- speaking readers. As he explains, the poems presented here are renditions, not translations. “The word rendition, rather than translation, underlines the focus on the message, rather than an English reproduction of the Persian meter, rhyme, alliteration, or tone – if such an idea be deemed possible at all.”

He notes that the overriding theme throughout Eraqi’s poetry is “message of the Sacred Oneness of Being, a doctrine that esoteric Islam, or Sufism, has promoted throughout its history.” Eraqi expresses this truth:

In all creation there is no being
  other than his Being
All else great or small
  borrow their being from his

All that seems to be something other than that One is only a reflection of that One. In Eraqi’s poetry, the One is addressed as the divine Beloved:

This world is your mirror –
  in it your face is reflecting everywhere
Beloved, it is your beauty
  that has turned this world into a garden
Joyous is the heart of the one
  who, knowing this, beholds this world
One who can truly see
  beholds none other than your face
  on every rose petal in every rose

Eraqi tells his reader repeatedly that the only obstacle between Eraqi and that beloved One is
  Eraqi, his ego or identity.

I would gaze at Your adorable Face
  if Eraqi were not blocking my inner light

We will one day realize that this oneness is and has always been ours whether we knew it or not:

All day I praised You
  and knew it not
All night I rested in Your arms
  and knew it not
I had thought that I was me
I was nothing but You
  and knew it not.

When this world
  had not yet a name
  in that state where
  the Singer and the song were on
I was drunk on that Wine
  Whose cup is this world

Most of the poems in this book are ghazals, a form of Persian verse frequently used in Sufi poetry. Abramian has divided these ghazals thematically into three sections under the titles “The Beloved,” “The Master,” and “The Human.”

In “The Beloved” we read:

To the sorrow stricken
  He is release
To the forlorn and lonely
  He brings peace
In both worlds
  whatever you think other than him
  know it to be none other than him

Eraqi often depicts the divine Beloved behind the “curtain” or “veil” of the visible world:

Behind the curtain I have a Friend
  the light of Whose face
  upholds this domain of veils and curtains…
Whatever in both worlds seems pleasing to you
  know it to be Me veiled by this curtain

In “The Master” we read how the Master rends veils:

From behind the veil
  the Cup Bearer appeared in our midst
  and rending all veils
  and throwing to the wind all caution
  swept away all vows and pretensions
When the Beauteous Face revealed Itself
  all restraint vanished and I drowned in Love

The poet speaks of the very human need to take refuge with someone:

Other than You
  where is there someone
  whom I can trust?
Who can hear my cries?
  Good or bad, we are all yours
Pray, do not send us anywhere else
  I am here to find shelter at your feet
  and for a breath escape Eraqi’s company

In “The Human” Eraqi reveals his flaws and struggles:

My complaints are many
  but they are not of the Friend
  but of me
  this trickster of an enemy full of treachery
With the Friend
  I am ever in harmony
It is with me
  that I cannot get along
All my complaints are of Eraqi
  who has not learned to rule his senses

Yet, as a human, he can “polish” his heart till it reflects “the glories of the inner world”:

Your heart is the mirror of the Unseen –
  polish it so in it you may understand
  the secrets of this world of matter
  and behold the glories of the inner world
Like a pool of water which at night
  reflects the moon and the stars
  but when the day arrives and the sun rises
  it witnesses all else vanish in its light

The final section of the book is devoted to selections from Eraqi’s Divine Flashes (Lama‘at). In this work Eraqi mixes prose and poetry. For example:

Often the Beloved grants separation and distances the lover so he may take refuge in Love. It is for the lover to prefer what the Friend prefers, be it the agony of separation.

Whether You grant union or separation
  it is your wish
  for your Love suffices for me
  and releases me from both