Dr Faquir M Hunzai
London: I. B. Tauris in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, 1996.
The literatures of the Islamic peoples are rarely known to Western readers, except for a few classics such as the poetry of Hafiz, the mystical verses of Mawlana Rumi and Omar Khayyam’s Ruba’iyyat. The paucity of reliable translations and of introductions into the complicated web of rhetorical devices, of allusions to the Qur’an and the Prophetic tradition, the rich colours of hyperbolic speech and the measureless feelings expressed by the poets make it difficult for a non-tutored reader to appreciate this poetry in all its dazzling beauty. And even less known than Islamic poetry in general is that of its Ismaili community.
Ismailimail 