Open AccessA story about the Daughter of Ka‘b from the Masnavi Ilahi-nameh by the Sufi Persian poet Farid ad-Din ‘Attar
Author(s) -
Leyli G. Lahuti
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
orientalistica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2687-0738
pISSN - 2618-7043
DOI - 10.31696/2618-7043-2020-3-1-207-246
Subject(s) - beauty , persian , contemplation , poetry , daughter , literature , philology , subject (documents) , philosophy , art , history , theology , law , sociology , feminism , gender studies , aesthetics , library science , political science , computer science
Ka‘b’s daughter Rābi‘a is briefly mentioned in the poetical anthology Lubāb al-awbāb by ‘Aufi as a brilliant poet. A subject of the majority of her poems was love and šāhid-bāzī, i.e. gazing at the beauty of youths, which brings the spectator to internal contemplation of the beauty of the Creator. ‘Attar, a Persian Sufi poet (12–13 cent.), dedicated to the love and death of Rābi‘a the longest story in his Masnavis. So far it has not been ascertained whether it was based upon a certain source, which has not survived until the present day, or whether it was a development of the account by ‘Aufi. The first part of the article contains an analysis of the story about daughter of Ka‘b in the Ilahi-nameh, its place within the structure of the poem as well as discusses its possible historical background. Then a line-by-line translation in Russian is provided, together with an extensive historical and philological commentary. The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.