[[Image:Princely Youth and Dervish.jpg|right|thumb|250px|'''Princely Youth and Dervish'''<br>Reza Abbasi, ca. 1625; Isfahan, Iran;<br>[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], [[New York]].]]
As a [[Sufi]] practice of spiritual realization and union with the godhead, theThe meditation known in Arabic as '''Naẓar ila'l-murd''' ({{lang-ar|النظر إلى المرد}}), "contemplation of the beardless," or ''Shahed-bāzī,'' ([[persian language|Persian]] : شاهدبازی) "witness play" in [[Persian language|Persian]] is a [[Sufi]] practice of spiritual realization that has been practiced from the earliest years of [[Islam]]. It is seen as an act of worship, held to realise the absolute beauty that is God through the relative beauty of the human form that is the divine image.
ItPeter isLamborn seenWilson asexplains anthis act of worship intended to help one ascend toas the absoluteuse beauty that is God through the relative beauty that is a boy. Modern Sufi thought asserts that this contemplation usesof "imaginal [[yoga]]" to transmute erotic desire into spiritual consciousness.<ref>Peter Lamborn Wilson, "CONTEMPLATION OF THE UNBEARDED: The Rubaiyyat of Awhadoddin Kermani" in ''Paidika'' V.3-4 p.13 (1995): "Love imagery in Persian Sufi poetry usually flows from this mystical, symbolic appreciation of love's spiritual power. In some works, however, the imagery refers also to specific practices, code named 'naẓar ila'l-murd' or 'contemplation of the unbearded,' namely, the unbearded boy."</ref> Its exponents quote the saying of the prophet [[Mohammed]]; "God is beautiful and loves beauty", as well as the [[Platonic love]] of the [[Symposium]].
