This is a translation into English blank verse of the great Sufi poet Ibn al-Farid's "Wine Ode" or "Wine-Song" (al-Khamriyyah). Translator Martin Lings renders what is perhaps Ibn al-Farid's most famous poem into a highly poetic English, though without rhyme. Lings sparingly adds some notes, which are very useful, to help modern readers understand the allegory of wine and mystical attraction to God, and the symbols often used in Sufi poetry.

This review by Martin Lings of Frithjof Schuon's book Islam and the Perennial Philosophy identifies some of the highlights of the book's topics, such as the phenomenon of Shi‘ism within Islam, the question of how evil can exist in God's creation, a broad survey of many aspects of "Paradise", the limitations but also the adequateness of revealed religious form, and an examination of spiritual hyperbole versus 'logical' thinking.