Bibi Hayati

Bibi Hayati, poetess and mystic from Kerman (D. 1853)

In the early part of the nineteenth century, a certain noble woman by the name of Bibi Hayati was born into a family with a long tradition of Sufism, in the town of Bam, in the Kerman province of Persia. She was raised under the supervision of her brother, Rawnaq Ali Shah, a shaikh of Nur 'Ali Shah (one of the masters of the Nimatullahi Order), Perhaps it was due to his guidance that her contemplative life later acquired such brilliance.

In the early years of her maturity, she was taken by her brother to attend one of the Sufi gatherings of Nur 'Ali. The spiritual light of his presence apparently caused a change of state in her and awakened an intense ardor for spirituality within her. Shortly thereafter, she was initiated into the rites of Nimatullahi Sufism.

Progressing gradually but steadily in both the esoteric development (sayr) and exoteric ethics (suluk) of the Sufi path, Hayati succeeded in acquiring virtues of both a spiritual and secular nature.

Eventually, the relationship between master and disciple exerted a further attraction over Hayati. and she fell under the sway of the lightning flash of human love. Soon afterwards,

she married Nur  'Ali Shah, then master of the Nimatullahi Order. In her own eloquent words:

The arrow of my supplication reached the target of Nur 'Ali Shah's acceptance. An aurorial breeze wafted to my soul where the whiteness of the sun of the true dawn broke. The sun of his loveliness, in whose atmosphere the bird of my soul soared like a moth of dancing light, suddenly shone forth. My outcast eye opened to the light of his world-adorning countenance.

Jawad Nurbakhsh, Zanan-i Sufi (Sufi Wome​n), London 1984.

Hayati's Sufi life, in conjunction with the wife-husband relationship, only served to further perfect her spiritual nature. She became a rhapsodist in the orchard of love and affection. Knowing his wife's poetic inclination, Nur 'Ali Shah finally requested that she try her hand at verse. As Hayati writes in the introduction to her Divan, "One day that king in the climes of gnosticism, that guide in the lands of heart and soul, parted his pearl-strewing lips while in the midst of conversation and declared:

If you must adorn yourself, you should become a diver in the profound ocean of rhetoric, breaking open the pearl-laden oysters of verses, till you gird about yourself an ode of decorative jewels. "

In an attempt to excuse herself, Hayiiti insisted that she was neither a man of letters nor of the pen.

"But being a lover," replied Nur 'Ali Shah, "is the work of men, since the seeker of the Lord is male. In the realm of love, sincerity, and Sufism, you too are a man. True manhood is courage. The real man is one who never retreats, who holds firm once he has put down his feet in search of perfection. " Following her master's command, Hayiiti set her hand to compose a Divan of poems, which eventually came to constitute a remarkable collection of profound and beautiful verses. Reviewing her collected poems, it appears that Hayati was perfectly acquainted with both the exoteric and esoteric (or mystic) sciences. She adhered both to the external principles of her religion and to the fundamentals of Sufi gnosticism.

In addition, she possessed a highly practical nature and a talent for domestic organization She was accomplished not only in the ways of love, but often demonstrated her capacity as a warm-hearted caretaker and cook for her Sufi brothers and sisters.

To give her justice, it might be said that it is only a lady endowed with such noble character and qualities who would be suitable as the spouse for the Pole (Qotb) of his Age, Nur 'Ali Shah. 

Insofar as can be gathered from her poems (in particular her "Ode to the Cubearer" (Saqi Namah), Hayati was perfectly acquainted with the conduct of Sama' ,as well as the different varieties of Persian musical scales. 

Hayati bore Nur 'Ali Shah a daughter by the name of Tuti, and it is said that she, like her mother, possessed a command of literature and was given to the expression of mystical subtleties.

Tuti eventually married Sorkh 'Ali Shah, one of Nur 'Ali Shah's disciples from Hamadan. Tuti's youngest son was Sayyed Reza, one of the renowned Shaikhs of the Nimatullahi Order. At age sixty-five, God bestowed upon him a son by the name of Mohammad Sa'id Khoshchasm, also a renowned Shaikh of the Nimatullahi Order.