The Cat and the Mouse

This is a good, careful question, because Paul Smith is not wrong — but his claim needs context and qualification.

Let me lay this out in three layers:

1. Who Obeyd Zakani really was

2. Whether his mystical ghazals & rubaʿis exist — and in what sense they are “profound”

3. Where we actually find (capture) those poems today

1️⃣ Who was

Obeyd Zakani

(1300–1371)?

Obeyd Zakani is best known for:

• biting satire

• social criticism

• obscene parody

• intellectual irony

Especially:

• Mush‑o‑Gorbeh (The Cat and the Mouse) — his famous allegorical satire

He lived in the same Persianate world as:

• Rumi’s immediate successors

• Hafez (roughly contemporaneous)

• A culture saturated with Sufi language

Crucially:

Obeyd knew Sufi discourse intimately — and often mocked it — but could also write inside it with technical mastery.

2️⃣ Are his mystical ghazals & rubaʿis “among the most profound”?

Short answer:

✔ Yes, some are very strong

✖ No, he is not primarily a mystical poet like Rumi or Hafez

Paul Smith’s statement reflects a minority but defensible scholarly view:

Obeyd’s serious ghazals and rubaʿis — when stripped of satire — show compressed, bitter, existential mysticism, closer to skeptical Sufism.

What kind of mysticism?

Not ecstatic or luminous (Rumi)

Not lush or paradoxical (Hafez)

Instead:

• ironic

• disenchanted

• intellectually sharp

• post-illusion mysticism

Think:

“After belief, after hypocrisy, after institutions — what remains?”

That is very 14th-century.

3️⃣ What poems is Paul Smith likely referring to?

Important point:

There is no single canonical list labeled “Obeyd’s mystical ghazals.”

Rather, they are:

• scattered across manuscripts

• embedded in mixed collections

• often overshadowed by his satire

📜 Genres where they appear

✔ Ghazals (غزلیات)

Some ghazals attributed to Obeyd:

• use classical Sufi imagery (wine, beloved, annihilation)

• but twist it toward irony or despair

• sometimes sound closer to anti-mysticism that circles back into truth

Example themes (paraphrased, not literal):

• hypocrisy of ascetics

• emptiness of forms

• exhaustion of desire

• love without consolation

These are likely what Smith calls “profound.”

✔ Rubaʿis (رباعیات)

This is where Obeyd shines philosophically.

His quatrains often resemble:

• Omar Khayyam’s skepticism

• but with sharper social intelligence

• and a darker metaphysical edge

Many rubaʿis express:

• impermanence

• futility of dogma

• loneliness before God

• truth without ornament

These are the strongest candidates for Smith’s claim.

4️⃣ Where do we “capture” these poems today?

📚 Primary Persian Sources

There is no single universally accepted critical edition of Obeyd’s mystical poems.

They are found in:

• Collected works (Kulliyāt-e ʿObeyd-e Zākānī)

  
  

  • Persian editions published in Iran (20th century)

  • Often mix satire, ghazals, rubaʿis, prose

• 
  

• Manuscript anthologies

  
  

  • Persian poetic majmūʿas

  • Libraries in Iran, Turkey, Central Asia

  • Attribution sometimes uncertain

• 
  

📖 Modern Translations & Studies

Paul Smith himself:

• translates some ghazals and rubaʿis

• selects those with mystical or philosophical depth

• curates, rather than exhaustively edits

This is key:

Smith’s claim is partly evaluative, not purely textual.

5️⃣ Scholarly Caution (Important)

Most academic Persianists would say:

• Obeyd is not primarily a mystical poet

• His greatness lies in satire

• His mystical poems are:

  
  

  • fewer

  • uneven

  • sometimes deliberately ambiguous

• 
  

However:

• When serious, they are extremely compressed and sharp

• They reflect a late-medieval Persian spiritual crisis

• They resonate strongly with modern readers

That’s why Smith values them.

6️⃣ How to Read Obeyd Mystically (Correctly)

Do not read him expecting:

• Rumi’s ecstasy

• Hafez’s radiance

Read him as:

a poet who has seen through systems —

including mystical systems —

and still speaks truth.

That is his profundity.

🧭 Summary

• ✔ Obeyd Zakani did write serious ghazals and rubaʿis

• ✔ Some are philosophically and spiritually profound

• ✖ They are not central or abundant

• 📍 They are scattered across collections

• 📖 Paul Smith selects and elevates them interpretively

If you want, next we can:

• Look at one or two specific ghazals or rubaʿis attributed to Obeyd and analyze them line-by-line

• Compare Obeyd’s mystical skepticism with Omar Khayyam vs Hafez

• Examine whether Obeyd’s mysticism is genuine, ironic, or both

Just tell me which direction you want to go.