'IRAQI

born c. 1211, , Hamadan, Iran died November 1289, Damascus, Syria in full Fakhr Ad-din Ibrahim 'iraqi Hamadani one of the most outstanding poets of 13th-century Persia. Very little is known about 'Iraqi's early life. There is evidence that he abandoned a teaching career to follow a group of wandering Sufis, or mystics, as far as India in search of higher mystical knowledge. After studying for 25 years with his master, Baha' ad-Din Zakariyya, in Multan, he journeyed to the Hejaz and to the city of Konya in Anatolia. At Konya he wrote what is considered to be his greatest work, Kitab al-lama'at (The Book of Light Beams), a profound work in both poetry and prose inspired by the mystical philosopher Ibn al-'Arabi (d. 1240). 'Iraqi later went to Egypt and finally to Syria. A great poet of mystical love, he also is famous for his Divan (Collected Poems) and his 'Ushshaq-nameh (Eng. trans., The Song of The Lovers: 'Ushshaqnama, edited and translated by A.J. Arberry), a mystical work written in masnavi (rhymed couplets) interspersed with ghazels (lyrics).