Concept

Spiritual Negligence and the Preoccupation with Food in Jami's Baharestan (Section 14)

In Section 14 of the first garden (rowze) of Jami's Baharestan, the poet cites the Sufi master Sahl ibn Abdullah al-Tustari, who counsels the seeker to renounce anyone whose only aspiration (himmat) upon rising at dawn is what he shall eat. The passage frames preoccupation with bodily appetite as a mark of spiritual heedlessness, opposing base concern for food to the lofty aspiration that distinguishes a genuine wayfarer. The attached verse sharpens the lesson: one who wakes from sleep with nothing in his head but the thought of eating has no share in true wakefulness, so one should wash one's hands of him. The excerpt thus ties the imagery of dawn and rising to the broader mystical opposition between gluttony (shikam-parasti) and spiritual vigilance.

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Updated 2026-07-20

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Persian Literature Prerequisite Course