SHAHIN OF SHIRAZ The Jewish Sufi Poet of the Time of Hafiz SELECTED POEMS Translation & Introduction Paul Smith Maulana Shahin of Shiraz was a 14th century Jewish Persian Poet who composed only masnavis in the Persian language but written in the Hebrew script. He was alive in his birthplace of Shiraz during the reign of the Il-khanid sultan of Baghdad Abu Said (1316-1335) at whose court was Obeyd Zakani and Khaju Kermani. He is said to have greatly admired three great masnavi writers who came before him, Firdausi, Nizami and Rumi and to have been much influenced by Sufism. It is quite possible that although he would have lived in the large Jewish quarter of Shiraz at the time, with the liberality that existed in that city of about 100,000 (within the walls and another 100,000 outside) he would most likely have come into contact with other poets living there including Hafiz (see Appendix), Obeyd Zakani, Khaju Kermani and Ruh Attar and Jahan Khatun. His first epic masnavi Musa-Nama, ‘The Book of Moses’ (10,000 couplets) was composed in 1327 and he followed that with Ardashir-Nama, ‘The Book of Ardashir and Esther’ (9000 couplets) six years later. It would be another 25 years for his last masterpiece to appear in 1358, his Bereshit-Nama, ‘Book of Genesis’ (8,700 couplets). In his ‘Book of Moses’ (see cover illustration) he turns Moses into an epic hero like those in Firdausi’s Shah-Nama that seems to have been a great influence on him. He should be known as one of the great masnavi Sufi poets of Iran. The form of the masnavi has been kept. Introduction: The Life, Times & Works of Shahin of Shiraz, APPENDIX: Shahin of Shiraz in Paul Smith’s ‘Hafiz of Shiraz’, 3 vols. 2012. Large Format Paperback 7 x 10 Illustrated, 126 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 into Persian 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 the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu and other languages, including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, ‘Attar, Sana'i, Jahan, Obeyd Zakani, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Yunus Emre, Shah Latif, Mahsati, Bulleh Shah, Iqbal, Seemab, Jigar, Makhfi and others and his own poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, children’s books and a dozen screenplays. amazon.com/author/smithpa