Publisher's Synopsis
DIVAN OF KHUSHAL Translation & Introduction by Paul Smith. Khushal Khan Khattak (1613-1689) was a Pashtun poet, warrior, Sufi and chief of the Khattak tribe. He wrote in Pashtu during the reign of the Mughals and fought the fanatic Aurangzeb and admonished Afghans to forsake their divisive tendencies and unite. He was the father of fifty-seven sons, some of them fine poets and thirty daughters. He is the author of over 200 works in Pashtu and Persian, consisting of Poetry, Sufism, Medicine, Ethics, Religious Jurisprudence, Philosophy, Falconry, etc., together with an account of the events of his own life. His poetry is said to consist of more than 45,000 poems! There is no other poet in the Afghan language who created so many poems on such a wide range of subjects. He wrote many ghazals, ruba'is, qasidas, qi'tas and masnavis. Introduction on his Life, Times & Poetry; Various Forms of Poetry Used by Khushal; Selected Bibliography. Correct rhyme-structure has been kept and the meaning of these beautiful, powerful, and often Sufi spiritual poems. Large Format (7"x10") & Large Print (14pt). Pages 386 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 and knower of Hafiz's Divan off by heart. "Smith has probably put together the greatest collection of literary facts and history concerning Hafiz." Daniel Ladinsky (Penguin Books author). Paul Smith (b. 1945) is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets from the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu and other languages including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Obeyd Zakani, Mu'in, Amir Khusrau, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Seemab, Jigar, Hali, Makhfi, Abu Nuwas and others, and his own poetry, fiction, plays, biographies and screenplays. amazon.com/author/smithpa
