Disinterested Friendship in Jami's Baharestan

Citing the mystic Abu'l-Hasan Fushanji, this section teaches that the most unpleasant thing in the world is a friendship pursued for the sake of a purpose (gharaz) or a recompense (avaz). Genuine friendship and love must value the beloved for the beloved's own sake alone, never as a means to some external gain.

The accompanying quatrain sharpens the point: the lover who seeks requital for the beloved's absence, or who longs to stand at the door of union in order to obtain something, is named the basest of all people — because such a one wants from the friend anything other than the friend. To desire the friend purely for the friend, and nothing besides, is presented as the mark of sincere, selfless love.