SAEDNEWS: In a rare public moment of artistic praise, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei personally commended a young poet’s verses for their evocative imagery and underlying moral defiance—especially a line likening submission to Zuleikha to surrendering to fate.
According to Saed News, at a gathering held to commemorate the birth anniversary of Imam Hassan al-Mujtaba, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei welcomed poets, literary figures, and cultural scholars to his residence in a yearly tradition that bridges politics with Persian literary heritage. Among the night’s highlights was a reading by Milad Habibi, a young poet from Khomeini Shahr in Isfahan, whose ghazal evoked an unexpectedly emotional response from the Supreme Leader.
Upon hearing the following poem, Khamenei offered repeated praise:
I gave my robe to candle flames and watched it burn away
To prove I live, moth-like, for fire, without delay.
If fate demands I bow to Zuleikha’s will and word,
I’d rather let the wolf tear my poor flesh, come what may.
At last, from lust and false desire, I found you, Love—
As one might find a needle in a field of hay.
If once again I face myself within the mirror’s gaze,
With one long sigh, I’ll blur and wipe my foe away.
O sky, whose shirt is torn by clouds of grief and fear,
Rip your shirt too—let your sorrowed soul display.
In hopes you’ll pass my alley once beneath the moon,
I hung my lantern by the door each night I’d pray.
Khamenei notably responded “Barakallah” ("Well done") upon hearing the line, “To prove I live, moth-like, for fire, without delay.” He also commented approvingly on the line rejecting submission to Zuleikha—a Quranic reference often interpreted as symbolizing worldly temptation or imposed fate.
At the poem’s conclusion, the Supreme Leader requested that the final couplet be repeated, visibly moved by the imagery of solitary devotion and quiet hope. Following this, he asked the poet about his background and offered further congratulations.
According to Amir Esfandiar, a senior literary figure in attendance, Habibi is a graduate of the Shahrestan Adab program and studied under the guidance of acclaimed literary mentor Mr. Modabb.
The event underscored the enduring prestige of Persian poetry within Iran’s sociopolitical landscape, as even the highest authorities continue to engage intimately with verse—where resistance, mysticism, and identity find voice beyond prose.
