Nimah Ismail Nawwab : a contemporary mystic poetry

Abstract EN

The work of female Saudi Arabian poet Nimah Ismail Nawwab exemplifies traditional themes of Islamic mystical poetry, though she is a contemporary author.

Throughout her poetry, Nawwab draws on ideas prominent in Sufism to examine the spiritual in ordinary components of daily life.

Nature and features of the physical world are - in the Islamic mystic tradition and in Nawwab's work- proof of the existence of God and natural coexistence.

The poet, photographer, pair's lush nature imagery with Islamic belief to create work rooted in both the physical and the spiritual.

This article examines how themes central to the Sufi tradition, such as transcendence and transformation, are featured in Nawwab's work.

Through close reading of her poetry, it is seen that she both reaffirms the faith of readers and exhorts them to believing in God.

Nawwab then uses her work as a spiritual persuasive device providing a contemporary example of the rich legacy of Islamic mystical poetry.