Ay chehra-e zeba-e tu - Amir Khusrao

The Face of the Beloved: How Sufi Teachers Reflect the Qur’an

At first glance, the poetry of Sufi masters like Amir Khusrau appears to hover dangerously close to heresy. They speak of beloveds with divine faces, of wine and intoxication, of oneness that blurs the boundary between self and God. Yet the more closely one listens—not with suspicion, but with the heart—the more clearly one hears the echoes of the Qur'an in every metaphor, sigh, and song.

This is not rebellion. It is return.

The Sufi tradition does not step outside of Islam. Rather, it steps inside—into its most intimate, trembling core. If the Qur'an is a vast ocean, then Sufism is the diver who descends beyond the surface, bringing up pearls shaped like longing, love, and disappearance.

Signs Upon Signs

In Surah Fussilat (41:53), God declares:

“We will show them Our signs upon the horizons and within themselves, until it becomes clear to them that He is the Truth.”

This verse becomes the cornerstone of Sufi perception. For Amir Khusrau, the face of the beloved is such a sign—a mirror reflecting not merely beauty, but the Source of all beauty. When he writes:

“O your beautiful face is the envy of Azar’s idols…”
“Even as I praise you, your beauty surpasses description…”

he is not worshipping the form. He is reading it—like a verse, a sign (āyah). Just as a reciter of the Qur'an chants the written revelation, the Sufi beholds the living revelation in creation: a flower, a gaze, a moment, a beloved.

Wherever You Turn

The Qur’an says:

“To God belong the East and the West—wherever you turn, there is the face of God.”
— Surah al-Baqarah (2:115)

Sufi poetry, with its obsession over the beloved’s eyes, lips, and form, is not idolatry but recognition—that the Divine face is everywhere. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is reported to have said, “God is beautiful and loves beauty.” Sufis do not turn away from the world to find God. They turn through it.

The face of the beloved—whether human or symbolic—is not an object of attachment but a threshold. It shatters the illusion of separation. It becomes, in the words of Rumi, “a candle in whose light the moth burns itself.”

Oneness and Annihilation

Perhaps the most controversial aspect of Sufi thought is the idea of oneness—fanā, or annihilation of the self in God. In Khusrau’s couplet:

“I became you, you became me; I became the body, you the soul...”
“So none can say thereafter: I am one thing, and you another.”

We hear the echo of Surah Hadid (57:3):

“He is the First and the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden.”

The Sufi does not claim to be God in essence. Rather, the Sufi claims that nothing remains of their ego—no “I” separate from the Divine. This is consistent with the Qur’anic idea that God is the only enduring reality:

“Everything will perish except His Face.”
— Surah al-Qasas (28:88)

This is not arrogance; it is disappearance.

Love in the Qur’an

A common critique is that the Qur’an does not emphasize love. But this is a misreading.

“He loves them, and they love Him.”
— Surah al-Ma’idah (5:54)

Sufis take this verse not metaphorically but as the deepest truth. God is not a distant lawgiver alone; He is a Beloved, yearning for His lovers. The Qur’an, after all, repeatedly uses the word “Wadūd”—the Most Loving.

The language of the lover and the beloved, found throughout Sufi poetry, is thus Qur’anic in spirit. It makes audible what the heart already knows.

Wine, Beauty, Music: Language of the Heart

When Sufis speak of wine, they refer to intoxication with remembrance, not literal drink. When they dance or sing, it is not hedonism but zikr—the sacred act of remembering God. The Qur’an does not condemn poetry or music outright; it condemns that which distracts from truth. Sufi practice uses poetry and melody to draw the soul toward the Real.

As Rumi says:

“Listen to the reed flute’s song, lamenting the pain of separation…”

It is not music that is the danger—it is forgetting.

The Qur'an as Ocean, Sufism as Love’s Dive

Sufi teachers like Amir Khusrau are not speaking outside Islam. They are whispering from within it—from its deepest chambers, where love and longing mingle with silence and flame. Their metaphors may unsettle those who cling only to surface meanings. And sometimes Sufi teachers have had to pay the ultimate price for doing so.  But for those willing to listen with the inner ear, the message is the same as the Qur’an’s:

That God is near.
That beauty is a sign.
That love is the path.
And that the seeker and the Sought are already bound
by something older than time.

As Khusrau ends his ghazal with a plea:

“Khusrau is a stranger, fallen in your city…
Perhaps, for God’s sake, you might glance upon the poor.”

This is no different from the prayer of every Prophet, every saint, every heart:

“Guide us to the straight path.”

1.

ai chehra-e-zebā-e-tū rashk-e-butān-e-āzarī
har-chand vasfat mī-kunam dar husn zaañ bālā-tarī
O your beautiful face is the envy of Azar’s idols
Though I praise you, your beauty surpasses even my description

Meaning: Your beauty is so divine that it outshines even the famed idols crafted by Azar (the father of Prophet Abraham, known for idol-making). Even as I try to praise your beauty, I fall short—your radiance is beyond praise.

2.

tū az parī chābuk-tarī vaz barg-e-gul nāzuk-tarī
vaz har-che goyam behtarī haqqā ajā.ib dilbarī
You are swifter than fairies, more delicate than a rose petal
And whatever I say, you are still better—you are truly a wondrous beloved

Meaning: You defy all comparisons—faster than angels, more tender than flowers. No matter how extravagant the metaphors, they don’t capture the marvel that you are. You are a miracle of love and beauty.

3.

tā-naqsh mī-bandad falak hargiz nadāda iiñ namak
huure na-dānam yā malak farzand-e-ādam yā parī
Since the heavens first drew figures, they never granted such grace
I don’t know—are you a houri, an angel, a child of Adam, or a fairy?

Meaning: Since creation began, nothing like you has appeared. You transcend the boundaries of category: neither purely divine nor entirely mortal—you are something inexplicably in between.

4.

a.alam hama yaġhmā-e-tū ḳhalqe hama shaidā-e-tū
aañ nargis-e-shahlā-e-tū āvurda rasm-e-kāfirī
The whole world is your plunder, and people are madly in love with you
Your intoxicating eyes have introduced the custom of infidelity

Meaning: Your charm has conquered all hearts, turning even the faithful into lovers of the mortal. The "nargis" (narcissus-like eyes) have such allure that they make people forsake reason and tradition.

5.

āfāq-hā gardīda-am mehr-e-butāñ varzīda-am
bisyār ḳhūbāñ dīda-am lekin tu chīze dīgarī
I have wandered the world, worshipped many idols
Seen countless beauties—but you are something entirely other

Meaning: This couplet emphasizes the uniqueness of the beloved. The poet has seen much, sought love everywhere, and yet finds in this one figure something unparalleled—a "chīze dīgarī" (something else altogether).

6.

ai rāhat-o-ārām-e-jāñ bā qadd chuuñ sarv-e-ravāñ
zīnsāñ marau dāman-kashāñ kārām-e-jānam mī-parī
O comfort and peace of my soul, with your cypress-like flowing form
Do not leave like this pulling your hem—I am the task of your soul, O angel

Meaning: Here, the speaker pleads with the beloved not to abandon him. The beloved’s graceful form is compared to a flowing cypress tree, and the poet begs: don’t walk away, for I belong to you, like soul to body.

7.

man tū shudam tū man shudī man tan shudam tū jaañ shudī
tā kas na-goyad ba.ad aziiñ man dīgaram tū dīgarī
I became you, you became me; I turned into the body, you the soul
So no one can say after this: I am one thing, and you another

Meaning: This is the spiritual climax. The merging of the lover and beloved—of self and Divine—so completely that all duality vanishes. It echoes the mystical theme of fanā (dissolution of the self in the Beloved).

8.

'ḳhusrau' ġharībast-o-gadā uftāda dar shahr-e-shumā
bāshad ki az bahr-e-ḳhudā sū-e-ġharībāñ bañgarī
Khusrau is a poor, fallen stranger in your city
Perhaps, for God’s sake, you might glance upon this poor one

Meaning: A humble ending, where the poet (Khusrau) pleads for grace. Having spoken of love and union, he still bows in surrender. This last verse returns to the classic ghazal tradition of ending with the poet's name and a final cry for mercy or attention.

Poem by Khusro

(trans. Dr. Hadi Hasan)