The Translator of Desires
by Ibn Arabi · ترجمان الأشواق
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- c. 1215
- Era
- Medieval
- Form
- Lyric poetry
- Language
- Arabic
- Length
- Short · 100 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Demanding3 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendThe Translator of Desires, translated by Michael SellsPrinceton University Press, 2021A complete modern verse translation with facing Arabic and notes on the imagery and the Sufi reading.
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A collection of sixty-one Arabic love poems by the Andalusian Sufi master Ibn Arabi, composed in Mecca around 1215. In the classical manner of the qasida they mourn the departed beloved, name the abandoned campsites, the caravan and the stations of the pilgrimage, and speak of a heart that has become capable of every form, a pasture for gazelles and a convent for monks. The poet later wrote a commentary explaining that the beloved, associated with a young woman named Nizam whom he met in Mecca, is a figure for the divine and the poems are mystical allegory.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns The Translator of Desires are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
