Book Description

Sanai's book The Enclosed Garden of the Truth, a treatise on God and the seekers journey to Him, forms one part of three highly influential early Sufi works. The others being Attar's Conference of the Birds and Rumi's Masnavi. Sanai's work is considered to be the first to use poetry to express religious, spiritual and mystical ideas. Rumi acknowledges both Sanai and Attar as having a major influence on his own poetry and stated 'Attar is the soul and Sanai the two eyes'. But for all its influence the book was largely unknown to the English speaking world until Stephenson researched and translated the work culminating in the edition of 1910. His translation, largely an academic work, printed in prosed paragraph form. The main objectives in the present copy has been firstly to return and clarify the text within its original poetic form; secondly to interpret Sanai's work within its original religious, mystical, spiritual and historical framework; and lastly to present a book that, hopefully, represents an accurate rendition of Sanai's work in such a way that present day readers will find it as inspiring as many have since it was first written down. The I.A.S. (International Association of Sufism) recently featured this book in their quarterly journal Sufism (volume 17 N.2) book review section and said this: - Kieron D. Moore has rendered a true service in resurrecting and editing the M j Stephenson translations of Hakim Sanai's The Enclosed Garden of the Truth. Moore attempts to reinterpret Stephensons translation, particularly restoring the poetic form of the original. In addition he adds and revises references and research notes making use of modern research tools not available to Stephenson. He also revises the placement of section and lines he believes better following the general feel and flow of Sanai's poetry. However the most important service Moore renders is by bringing this work back to the attention of Sufi scholars, practitioners, and the general public. Considered one of the masterpieces of Persian Sufi Literature, Sanai has been compared to and has influenced Jalalu'd Din Rumi ( in fact, Rumi describes himself as walking in the wake of Sanai and Attar. The breath of Sanai's spiritual commentary is remarkable and forms a teaching of Sufism by the poet-sage. While it is beyond the scope of this book review to delve deeply into the work itself, the following passage is representative of his thought: The temporal world He has given of His bounty to the body; the spiritual world as a glory to the soul; that both inner and outer man may receive food. This book is a kind of spiritual food to be savored by those who want to know more about the inner meaning of Sufism. Review by Salim Matchette IAS