Book excerpt: DIWAN of HALI The Great Urdu Sufi Poet Translation & Introduction Paul Smith Khwaja Altaf Hussain Hali (1837-1914) has a special place in Urdu literature. He was poet, critic, teacher, reformer and prose-writer. He had no formal education yet he acquired through his own efforts Urdu, Persian and Arabic and a good knowledge of English. As a poet he did not confine himself to the ghazal, but successfully composed in the form of the nazm, ruba'i and marsie or elegy. His poetic abilities were used to high aims of social and moral education. His wrote a pioneering work of literary criticism that dwells on the limitations of the traditional ghazal. He also wrote biographies of Ghalib and Sadi of Shiraz and others. In his poetry and prose he preferred a simple, natural style, that made him accessible to all at the time and now. This is the largest collection of his ruba'is and ghazals in the correct form in English. Introduction on Hali's Life & Poetry & Times and the Form, Function & History of the Ruba'i. Sufism in Poetry.' The Ghazal, Selected Bibliography. Large Format Paperback 7" x 10" Pages 224 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 from English into Persian, knower of Hafiz's Divan off by heart. 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, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Bulleh Shah, Shah Latif, Mansur Hallaj, Yunus Emre, Mu'in, Ibn Farid, Lalla Ded, Mahsati, Abu Said, Ghalib, Nazir, Iqbal, Inayat Khan, Abu Nuwas, Jigar, Seemab, Dard, Urfi, and many others, as well as poetry, fiction, plays, children's books, biographies and screenplays. www.newhumanitybooks.com