Mohammad Ibrahim Zauq - The Mughal Sufi Poet-Laureate

MOHAMMAD IBRAHIM ZAUQ THE MUGHAL SUFI POET-LAUREATE Selected Poems Translation & Introduction Paul Smith(Mohammad Ibrahim took Zauq (meaning 'taste') as his takhallus or pen-name. He was born at Delhi in 1788. His father was a lowly paid soldier. Zauq, not having proper treatment on account of the poverty of his family survived attacks of small-pox nine times during his childhood. Shah Naseer was the most famous master poet of Delhi. Naseer recognised natural talent and made him his pupil. Gradually, Zauq began participating in readings. His natural way with poetry and his obsession to excel in it eventually brought fame and fortune. He was the Poet-laureate and Spiritual Master of the last Mughal Emperpr of India, the Sufi Poet Badhar Shah Zafar. He was a prominent contemporary of Ghalib and in the history of Urdu poetry the rivalry of the two is well known and during his lifetime Zauq was more popular than his now much more famous rival. He was a religious man and in his ghazals he often dealt with mystical (Sufi) themes. Most of his poems were lost during the mutiny of 1857. He had passed away two years earlier in 1855. His Urdu Divan is composed of ghazals and ruba'is, qasidas and sher (rhyming couplets). Here is the largest selection in the correct form and meaning of his poems. Introduction: The Life & Poetry & Times of Zauq, Sufism in Poetry, Some of the Poetic Forms Used by Zauq, Selected Bibliography. Large Format Paperback 7" x 10" 185 pages.COMMENTS ON PAUL SMITH'S TRANSLATION OF HAFIZ'S 'DIVAN'."It is not a joke... the English version of ALL the ghazals of Hafiz is a great feat and of paramount importance. I am astonished." Dr. Mir Mohammad Taghavi (Dr. of Literature) Tehran."Superb translations. 99% Hafiz 1% Paul Smith." Ali Akbar Shapurzman, translator and knower of Hafiz's Divan off by heart.Paul Smith (b.1945) is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets of Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish and other languages including Hafez, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Mu'in ud-din Chishti, Amir Khusrau, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Hallaj, Rudaki, Yunus Emre, Ghalib, 'Iraqi, Iqbal, Makhfi, Lalla Ded, Abu Nuwas, Ibn al-Farid, Rahman Baba, Nazir, and many others, as well as his own poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, childrens books, a dozen screenplays. amazon.com/author/smithpa