Sheikh Mahmud ShabistariSheik Sa'd ud Din Mahmud Shabistari was born in Shabistar, near Tabriz modern day Iran, about 1250. Author of two books of mystical poetry and a single theosophical treatise, Shabistari is famed mainly for this book, which he composed in 1317 in rhymng couplets amounting to about one thousand lines. This poem was written in response to seventeen queries concerning various intricacies of Sufi metaphysics posed to the Sufi masters of Adharbayjan by another great Sufi of his day, Rukn al-Din Husayni Harawi. Composed in a highly symbolic language, the poem covers a variety of themes on the Sufi path and the evolution of the soul. The poem was first brought to Western attention by French travellers and later translated into German and English entering itself into the lexicon of Sufi literature. Read More Read Less