By the 7th/13th century, the image of the Sufi aesthete had gained noticeable currency in Persian literature, often depicted as the earnest lover of God whose disdain for good repute took shape in his enjoyment of poetry, music, and the company of beardless youths. Not only did this image find poetic expression as the "qalandar," the antinomian vagabond-mystic, but also in hagiographic accounts reporting that some from among the greatest saints flouted decorum in their pursuits of divine beauty. Fakhr al-Din 'Iraqi (d. 688/1289), Persian mystical poet and initiate of the Indian Suhrawardi Order, stands as an exemplar of this qalandar/saint image. Not only does the poetry of 'Iraqi ponder the thematic framework for disregarding reputation, but the poet's biographical legacy serves later Sufi writers as a prime model for the ethical victory of love over propriety. While historical sources do indicate that 'Iraqi was at one time of "qalandar " or "jawaliqi" loyalty, historical realities are of less concern in a tradition that often emphasizes thematic truths in lieu of factual details. Rather, the super-historical figure of 'Iraqi, an embodiment of the qalandar persona, emerges from the poetry attributed to him and a number of legendary accounts, the most important of which - written anonymously less than a century after the poet's death - constructs its narrative by claiming contexts for 'Iraqi's verses. This paper considers erotic and antinomian themes in the poetry of 'Iraqi, and the manner in which those themes, when fused with hagiographical accounts, helped elevate the qalandar persona from mere image to inherited saintly patrimony. Later reception indicates that biographies of saints and their remembered verse both served a common and often complementary purpose: the consolidation of the "Sufi aesthete" identity, one that was associated with the antinomian poetic persona and found spiritual legitimacy in its self-perceived marginalization.