Mahmud Shabestari

Born circa 1287 in the village of Shabestar, near Tabriz; died there circa 1320. Azerbaijani poet and philosopher who wrote in Farsi.

Shabestari, a follower and teacher of Sufism, exerted an appreciable influence on the development of social thought in Azerbaijan and in the countries of the Middle East. He wrote The Book of Happiness, Treasury of Truths, The Truth-seekers’ Looking Glass, Book of an Eyewitness, and other literary and philosophical works in verse.

Shabestari achieved fame for his narrative poem Golshan-e raz (The Mystic Rose Garden), one of the oldest sources setting forth the principles of Sufi symbolism. In 1835, J. von Hammer-Purg-stall made a complete translation of the poem into German. The poem has been published in many countries.