Poetry Chaikhana Blog

Ivan M. Granger March 19th, 2008

These perfumes:
by Fakhruddin Iraqi

English version by William Chittick and Peter Lamborn Wilson

These perfumes:
      musk, clove…
all from the hyacinthine shadows
      of those tresses.
You think you hear
      a nightingale’s song…
No. It is the voice
      of the Rose.

— from Fakhruddin Iraqi: Divine Flashes (Classics of Western Spirituality) , by William Chittick / Nasr Seyyed Hossein

/ Photo by kalandrakas /

This brief poem has that delightfully ambiguous Sufi tendency — borrowed by the Troubadours — of using erotic language when describing the heart’s yearning for the Eternal.

Iraqi starts with several sensuous evocations of perfume: musk, clove, hyacinth. Can you smell them?

Many mystics experience a scent that can be rapturously overwhelming or tantalizingly subtle. This blissful scent can also be understood as the perfume worn by the Beloved (”of those tresses”) that awakens sacred ardor upon the spiritual journey.

And, of course, perfume is scented oil, oil being the substance used to anoint and initiate.

To suggest the almost erotic sense of divine union, sometimes the earthier scent of musk is described. Musk is the aphrodisiac oil of the musk deer. Deer, being creatures of profound silence and shyness, are themselves symbols of the elusive Beloved.

The scent of flowers is often evoked, as well. Blossoms and flowers are natural symbols of enlightenment, the unfolding of awareness and the opening of the heart.

And, of course, the flower precedes the fruit, whose juice ultimately yields wine…

Iraqi then shifts from perfume to song. He speaks of the nightingale and the rose.

The nightingale is said to sing such an enchanting, mournful song because it is hopelessly in love with the rose. The rose is the Beloved, the Heart of hearts, and the nightingale is the lover, the seeker, the Sufi. So the nightingale’s song is the crying out of creation for the Beloved.

But here Iraqi turns the imagery around and asserts that what is heard is not the nightingale, but the “voice of the Rose.” He seems to be saying that the very act of calling to God is, in truth, God calling to you. Said in an even more all-encompassing way, all of creation is a part of God, and its every song, when heard with an open ear, is really the song of God to God. Every song is the voice of the Rose. Your own song is the Rose’s song within in you.

Fakhruddin Ibrahim ‘Iraqi was a fascinating figure who bridged several Sufi traditions and traveled through much of the Muslim world.

Fakhruddin ‘Iraqi was born in Kamajan near Hamadan, in what is today Iran. (The name ‘Iraqi does not refer to the modern country of Iraq, but local region around Hamadan.)

Tradition says that a month before his birth, ‘Iraqi’s father had a dream vision in which the greatly revered Imam ‘Ali (son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad) handed him the child and said, “Take our ‘Iraqi and raise him well, for he will be a world conqueror!”

While still a young boy, ‘Iraqi gained local fame for having memorized the entire Koran and reciting it aloud. He went on to acquire an impressive education in his teens.

This properly devout young man surprised everyone when he abandoned his community and joined a group of traveling Kalandar dervishes. Kalandar Sufis had a bohemian, some would even say heretical, lifestyle and expression of the Muslim faith.

The young ‘Iraqi eventually ended up in Multan in what is modern day Pakistan. There he received formal initiation into the Sufi way under Shaykh Baha’uddin, the head of the Suhrawardiyya Sufi Order, one of the most influential Sufi groups in the Indian subcontinent. ‘Iraqi lived in Multan for 25 years as one of the Suhrawardis, composing poetry. As Shaykh Baha’uddin was dying, he named Fakhruddin ‘Iraqi to be his successor.

When it became known that ‘Iraqi had been named head of the Suhrawardi Order, some in the order became jealous and denounced him to the local sultan who sought to have ‘Iraqi arrested.

‘Iraqi fled the area with a few close companions, and they eventually made their way to Mecca and Medina. Later they moved north to Konya in Turkey. This was Konya at the time of Rumi. ‘Iraqi often listened to Rumi teach and recite poetry, and later attended Rumi’s funeral.

Although ‘Iraqi was nominally the head (in exile) of a large and respected Sufi order, he humbly became the disciple of another Sufi master — Sadruddin Qunawi, who also lived in Konya at the time. Qunawi was the son-in-law of the recently deceased Sufi philosoper Ibn ‘Arabi. Although less known in the West today, Qunawi was perhaps the pre-eminent Sufi teacher in Konya at the time, even better known than his neighbor Rumi.

‘Iraqi was deeply devoted to Qunawi and to the teachings of Ibn ‘Arabi. It was a series of speeches Qunawi delivered on the esoteric meaning of Ibn ‘Arabi’s great works that inspired ‘Iraqi to compose his own masterpiece of commentary and poetry named the Lama’at or Divine Flashes.

When Fakhruddin ‘Iraqi died he was buried near Ibn ‘Arabi’s tomb.

More poetry by Fakhruddin Iraqi

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