Yusuf and Zulaikha

A Poem by Jami

Ralph T.H. Griffith

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780415245364
• eBook ISBN: 9781136394560
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Ethnic Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

First Published in 2000. This is Volume II of thirteen the Oriental series looking at Persia. Written around 1882, this book includes a translation from Persian to English of the love poem by Jami of 'Yusuf and Zulaikha initially created in the fifteenth century.

APPENDIX.

PRAISE OF THE PROPHET.

IN my translation I have omitted the two preceding cantos, one in praise of Muhammad, and the other containing an account of the Prophet’s miraculous journey to heaven. In the former, the poet begins by assigning a mystic meaning to each letter of Muhammad’s name. The mím, a circular letter, is a collar and a belt, a sign of servitude:

“A ring

Meet to be worn by Angel and by King.

Can mortal wisdom learn the meaning hid

Deep in the mystic Há? No, Heaven forbid!”

The letter dál is the Prophet’s anklet. The poet then passes from the name to the Prophet himself:

“His sun-bright face that glorifies the day

Lent breath to Adam newly-formed of clay.

Ne’er had the Ark without his high behest

Borne Noah safely to Mount Júdi’s crest.

A gentle breath to aid the Friend he sped,

And threatening flames became a rose-strewn bed:

Glad news of his approach Messiah brought,

And Músá from his touch a radiance caught.

His grace a home in foreign Egypt gave

To Hebrew Yúsuf bought with gold, a slave.”

He is a fair cypress grown in the garden of truth, a bright pheasant from the meadow of purity. High as the heaven he rears his form:

“His breath

Stirs with new life the mouldering bones of death.

Thick clouds about him their pavilion fold,

And the sun decks it with a ball of gold.”

The canto contains much more praise of a somewhat similar character, and mention is made of some historical or miraculous events and acts in the Prophet’s life.

In the following canto the poet describes the visionary journey of Muhammad to heaven. “The Angel Gabriel (to quote S. It’s analysis) awakes him as he is slumbering on his bed, and informs him that he has brought him the wonderful horse Borak, a kind of mysterious animal like some of those described in Ezekiel, to convey him to Paradise. Mounting this, he first visits Jerusalem, as the Hebrew Prophets had done, and then wings his flight through the eight inferior heavens to the ninth and highest.”

The poet plays somewhat feebly on the names of the planets and constellations which the Prophet passes in his ascent, and the whole account of the journey is, I think, deficient in originality and vigour. The Persian name of Jupiter is Mushtarí, or the Buyer, and musht means the fist or closed hand. Accordingly,

“From ruby lips on Mushtari were shed

Rich pearls that filled his hand and decked his head.”

Puns, indeed (if they can be called puns), are too frequently the rudders of the verses—

“By which, like ships, they steer their courses.”

At last he came to the highest heaven and near to Allah’s throne:

“He saw what mortal ne’er before might see:

Ask not the tale—’tis vain to ask—from me.

That realm, unmeasured, search can ne’er explore;

Refrain thy lips, nor ask of less and more.

Naught of that place may eloquence declare;

No tongue or lip may tell the glories there.

He heard what mortal ne’er before might hear,

Mysterious secrets, shut from every ear.

Unfathomable secrets: as the wind

Eludes the grasp, they mock both ear and mind.

Too deep for ear to hear, for eye to see,

The tongue that names them still for life must be.

Thy foot, O Jámí, in due bounds restrain:

Fly yet in time this soul-destroying main.

No longer dare to touch so high a theme:

Hush! Still omniscient is the Lord Supreme.”

I omit two cantos, one a prayer for the blessing of the Prophet, and the other a hyperbolical eulogy of Sultan Husen, the poet’s protector and patron. I find nothing worth extracting from my translation of the former: as specimens of the latter the following rather commonplace verses will suffice:

“He holds the sea of bounty in his band,

And from his fingers streams of wealth expand,

Till each blest land its happy increase yields

Of sweet hope ripening in a thousand fields.

The cloud in thunder, and in foam the main

Of the free bounty of his hand complain.

When his drawn sabre flashes gold, the sun

Sheathes in a cloud his dimmer sword outdone.

. . . . . .

E’en through the night his justice loves to keep

Strict watch and ward and wake when others sleep.

Hence the shy roebuck, fearless of attack,

Slumbers securely on the leopard’s back;

And, worn with prowling through the night, in peace

The wolf lies pillowed on the wether’s fleece.

. . . . . .

Before his goodness, bright as perfect day,

Oppression flies like shades of night away.

But where the lightning of his wrath is hurled,

A single flash consumes a guilty world.”

I have omitted eight cantos which in the original complete the poem. The intere...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Preface
• Contents
• Prologue
• Invocation
• The Creator
• Praise Of God
• Prayer For Aid
• Praise Of The Prophet
• Beauty
• Love
• Speech
• The Vision Of Adam
• Yúsuf
• Zulaikha
• The First Vision
• Love’s Longing
• Suspicions
• The Second Vision
• The Third Vision
• The Suitors
• The Ambassador
• The Departure
• The Welcome
• Despair
• The Reception
• Pining
• Envy
• Yúsuf’s Dream
• The Plot
• Deceit
• The Well
• The Caravan
• The King
• The Bath
• Recognition
• The Slave-Market
• BáZigha
• Love’s Service
• Sympathy
• The Shepherd
• Love Repelled
• Questionings
• The Messengee
• Excuses
• The Garden
• The Slave-Girls
• Fresh Counsel
• The Palace
• In The Palace
• Flight
• The False Charge
• The Infant Witness
• The Women Of Memphis
• Threats
• Imprisonment
• Repentance
• The Visit To The Prison
• The Palace-Roof
• Fellow-Prisoners
• The King’s Vision
• Release
• The Blind Widow
• The Cottage Of Reeds
• The Convert
• Youth Restored
• Appendix