In Section 13 of the Hadiqat al-Haqiqah, Sanai presents the allegory of a young man who follows a beautiful woman on the road and passionately claims to have fallen in love with her. To test his sincerity, the woman tells him that her even more beautiful sister is walking just behind them. When the young man eagerly turns around to look, the woman strikes him, exposing his claim as false. She rebukes him, declaring that a true lover would never turn their gaze away from their beloved. Through this narrative, Sanai illustrates the fundamental Sufi principle that true spiritual love (Ishq) demands absolute, undivided devotion to the Divine. Any distraction or wandering desire reveals the seeker's love to be superficial and lacking the true 'burning' of spiritual devotion.

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## Original content
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رفت وقتی زنی نکو در راه 
شده از کارهای مرد آگاه
دید مردی جوان مر آن زن را 
کرد پیدا در آن زمان فن را
بر پی زن برفت مرد به راه 
زن ز پس کرد با کرشمه نگاه
کای جوانمرد بر پی ام به چه کار 
آمده ستی به خیره رو بگذار
مرد گفتا که عاشق تو شدم 
ای چو عذرا ! چو وامق تو شدم
بیم آنست کز غم تو کنون 
بدوم در جهان شوم مجنون
شد وجودم بر آن جمال ز دست 
شیشهٔ جان به سنگ غم بشکست
با من اکنون نه حال ماند و نه هوش 
شد زیادت مرا جهان فرموش
ظاهر و باطنم به تو مشغول 
گشت و شد از جهانیان معزول
کرد حیلت بر او زن دانا 
زانکه آن مرد بود بس کانا
گفت گر شد دلت به من مشغول 
شد وجودم دل ترا مبذول
گفت زن گر جمال خواهر من 
بنگری ساعتی شوی الکن
همچو ماه است در شب ده و چار 
بنگر آنک چو صدهزار نگار
مرد کرد التفات زی پس و زن 
گفت کای سر به سر تو حیلت و فن
عشق و پس التفات زی دگران ؟ 
سوی غیری به غافلی نگران ؟
زد ورا یک طپانچه بر رخسار 
تا شد از درد چشم او خونبار
گفت کای فن فروش دستان خر 
گر بدی از جهان به منت نظر
ور وجودت به من بدی مشغول 
نبدی غیر من برت مقبول
کل تو سوی کل من ناظر 
گر بدی کی شدی ز من صابر ؟
جز به من التفات کی کردی ؟ 
غم زشت و نکو کجا خوردی ؟
ور نهادت مرا بدی مطلق 
به دگر کس کجا شدی ملحق ؟
سوی جز من چو التفات آری 
از جمال رخم برات آری
مرد لافی نه مرد آلافی 
ناف رنگی نه رنگ را نافی
سست بازار و سخت آزاری 
خربزه خور نه خربزه کاری
سوخته مغز و خام گفتاری 
سوده سودا و ساده بازاری
هرکه او مدعی بود در عشق 
هست بیداد کرده او بر عشق
عشق را راه بر سلامت نیست 
در ره عشق استقامت نیست

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## English translation
Once a beautiful woman was walking on the road,
Fully aware of the ways of men.
A young man saw that woman,
And at that time displayed his artifice.
The man went following the woman on the path;
The woman looked back with coquetry,
Saying, 'O young man, for what purpose are you following me?
You have come in vain, go away and leave me.'
The man said, 'I have fallen in love with you;
O you who are like Azra! I have become your Wamiq.
There is a fear that now from sorrow for you,
I will run out into the world and become a madman.
My existence is lost to that beauty;
The glass of my soul is broken by the stone of sorrow.
Now neither my state nor my senses remain;
The world is largely forgotten by me.
My outer and inner self are occupied with you;
And have become isolated from the people of the world.'
The wise woman played a trick on him,
Because that man was quite foolish.
She said, 'If your heart has become occupied with me,
And my existence has captured your heart,
If you were to look at the beauty of my sister,
For a moment you would be left speechless.
She is like the moon on the fourteenth night;
Look there, she is like a hundred thousand beauties.'
The man turned his attention behind him, and the woman
Said, 'O you who are from head to toe trickery and artifice!
Love, and then turning your attention to others?
Looking heedlessly toward another?'
She struck him a slap on the cheek,
So hard that from the pain his eyes rained blood.
She said, 'O seller of tricks, buyer of deceit!
If out of the world your gaze was upon me,
And if your existence was occupied with me,
Other than me, no one would be acceptable to you.
If your whole being were observing my whole being,
When could you bear to be apart from me?
When would you pay attention to anyone but me?
Why would you care for the ugly or the beautiful?
And if your nature were absolutely mine,
How could you be attached to another person?
When you bring your attention toward someone other than me,
You bring a release from the beauty of my face.
You are a man of boasts, not a man of true worth;
You are the center of pretense, not the negator of pretense.
Your market is weak, your harming is strong;
You are an eater of melons, not a grower of melons.
You are burnt in mind and raw in speech;
You are worn-out in passion and simple in trade.
Whoever is a claimant in love,
He has committed an injustice against love.
There is no path to safety in love;
There is no steadfastness in the path of love.'

بخش ۱۳ - التمثّل فی احتراق العشق و اظهاره / Section 13 - An Allegory on the Burning of Love and Its Manifestation

In Section 8 of the Hadiqat al-Haqiqah, Sanai explores the paradoxical and transformative nature of divine love (Eshgh). He characterizes love as a force that unites opposites, describing it as 'water that kindles fire' and 'fire that consumes water.' Sanai emphasizes that true love liberates the soul from the constraints of the physical body, comparing the spiritual seeker to a wise bird that breaks its bodily cage (مرغ دانا قفس شکن باشد). This section establishes the fundamental Sufi view of love as an active, purifying power that demands the sacrifice of the ego and worldly attachments to achieve true spiritual flight.

Sanai's Characterization of Love (Eshgh) and the Lover in the Hadiqat

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The Allegory of the False Lover's Distraction in Sanai's Hadiqat

In the *Hadiqat al-Haqiqah*, Sanai characterizes longing (*shawq*) as a spiritual mount (*buraq*) that compels the soul to seek liberation when the material world becomes its prison. This longing ignites an inner fire that consumes the conventional intellect (*aql*), soul (*jan*), and body (*tan*), freeing the spiritual seeker from natural constraints. Sanai distinguishes between 'the longing of taste' (*shawq-i dhawq*), which can lead to spiritual trials, and 'the longing of longing' (*shawq-i shawq*), which offers divine intimacy and nourishment.

The Station of Longing (Shawq) in Sanai's Hadiqat al-Haqiqah

In Section 9 of the Hadiqat al-Haqiqah, Sanai uses the allegory of a dying lover who smiles in his final moments to illustrate the perfection of spiritual love (Eshgh). When questioned about his joy, the lover explains that when the Divine Beloved removes the veil, true lovers gladly surrender their physical existence. Through this narrative, Sanai emphasizes that divine love transcends human agency, physical dimensions, and rationality. He explicitly states that 'intellect on the path of love is mad' (عقل در راه عشق دیوانه است), reinforcing the Sufi doctrine that the rational mind and the ego must be joyfully annihilated to achieve true spiritual realization.

The Allegory of the Smiling Dying Lover in Sanai's Hadiqat

In Section 14 of the Hadiqat al-Haqiqah, Sanai contrasts the superficial claim (دعوی) of love with its true meaning (معنی), arguing that genuine spiritual love requires proof (برهان) through action rather than mere words. He declares that 'being a lover is the work of brave men; it is not by claim but by proof' (عاشقی کار شیرمردانست / نه به دعویست بل به برهانست). By emphasizing that love demands selflessness (بیخودی) and profound existential sacrifice—metaphorically described as the 'blood of the heart' (خون دل)—Sanai establishes the core Sufi principle that traversing the spiritual path requires rigorous action and the annihilation of the ego, transcending simple intellectual discourse.

Love as Action and Proof (Burhan) in Sanai's Hadiqat

In the Hadiqat al-Haqiqah, Sanai establishes the foundational Sufi concept that divine love (hubb) transcends both conventional intellect (aql) and formal religious boundaries (din and kufr). He describes spiritual lovers as those who put 'intellect in the sleeve and life in the hand' (عقل در آستین و جان بر دست), sacrificing worldly rationality, religion, and disbelief to approach the Divine. This conceptualization posits that the intellect is limited and must be bypassed or discarded in the pursuit of true spiritual union, serving as a primary prerequisite for later developments in Persian Sufi poetry.

The Transcendence of Love over Intellect and Orthodoxy in Sanai's Hadiqat

In Section 11 of the *Hadiqat al-Haqiqah*, Sanai characterizes love (*eshgh*) as a state of complete selflessness (*bikhodi*) and self-transcendence (*bikhwishi*). He asserts that true love bestows eternal spiritual life, declaring that anyone who is brought to life by love will never die ('هرکه از عشق زنده گشت نمرد'). Additionally, Sanai contrasts the mere verbal form (*surat*) of love and intellect with their true meaning (*ma'ni*), which acts as a spiritual touchstone, and emphasizes that those captive to their own ego cannot worship the 'idol of love' (*bot-i eshgh*).

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