Five Persian couplets on longing for the Prophet ﷺ
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
Bismi llāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīm.
In the name of God, the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful.
The poem begins with a plea for a merciful glance. The speaker calls himself a stranger, without means, and as low as dust. At his last breath, he hopes to see the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
This naat is traditionally attributed to Nūr al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Jāmī. The five-couplet text below follows Sufinama and KalamDB. I have regularized the Persian spelling, marked vowels that help with pronunciation, and translated the verses afresh. I have not found a manuscript or identified critical edition that confirms the attribution to Jāmī. [1]
A plea for mercy
زِ رَحمَت کُن نَظَر بَر حالِ زارَم، یا رسولالله
غَریبَم، بینَوایَم، خاکسارَم، یا رسولالله
Gharīb can mean poor or far from home; bī-navā describes someone without resources; khāk-sār means humble, as low as dust. The three words move from estrangement to poverty to humility.
His request is for naẓar, a look, given with raḥmat, mercy. The Qur’an calls the Prophet ﷺ “a mercy to the worlds” (21:107) and speaks of his concern for the suffering of his people (9:128). These are useful parallels for the poem’s language, though it does not quote either verse. [2]
The scar and the gardens
زِ داغِ هِجرِ تو که دِلفِگارَم، یا رسولالله
بَهارِ صَد چَمَن دَر سینه دارَم، یا رسولالله
Dāgh is a burn mark. The speaker’s breast bears it and holds the springtime of “a hundred gardens.” His sense of loss and his love grow from the same attachment.
The restless heart
تویی تَسکینِ دِل، آرامِ جان، صَبر و قَرارِ مَن
رُخِ پُرنور بِنَما، بیقَرارَم، یا رسولالله
In the first line, qarār is the repose the Prophet ﷺ gives him. In the second, he is bī-qarār: he cannot settle until he sees the face he loves.
“You know”
تویی مولایِ مَن، آقایِ مَن، والِی و جانِ مَن
تویی دانی که جُز تو کَس نَدارَم، یا رسولالله
The repeated tuyī, “you are,” lists the Prophet’s names and stations. Tuyī dānī, “you know,” then drops the formality. The speaker does not argue his case. He trusts that his isolation is already known.
At the last breath
دَمِ آخِر نَمایی جَلوهٔ دیدار جامی را
زِ لُطفِ تو هَمین اُمیدوارَم، یا رسولالله
Jāmī’s name appears as a poetic signature. The first couplet asks for the Prophet’s glance; the last asks to behold him at the moment of death. The appeal ends on omīdvāram, “I hope,” before the refrain returns.
Text and sources
[1] Sufinama and KalamDB print five couplets under Jāmī’s name. Neither page names a manuscript or a critical edition for this poem. The Persian above follows their shared sequence and lightly regularizes its spelling. The marks guide pronunciation and show grammatical links; they do not establish a manuscript reading.
Textual note. A six-couplet version adds a couplet beginning “You are the sovereign of the world” before the signature verse. It also changes some wording. The added couplet is absent from the two five-couplet versions used here; its date and authorship remain uncertain.
[2] Qur’an 21:107 describes the Messenger as mercy to the worlds; 9:128 describes his concern for the suffering of his people. These are contextual parallels, not direct quotations within the Persian poem.
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