Nasir Khusraw

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Abu Mo’in Hamid ad-Din Nasir ibn Khusraw al-Qubadiani or Nāsir Khusraw Qubādiyānī [also spelled as Nasir Khusrow and Naser Khosrow] (1004 – 1088 CE) (Persian: ناصر خسرو قبادیانی‎) was a Persian poet, philosopher, Isma'ili scholar, traveler and one of the greatest writers in Persian literature. He was born in Qubadyan, a village in middle-age Bactria in eastern Iranian province of Khorasan,[1][2] now present-day in modern Tajikistan[3] and died in Yamagan, Central Asia (now in Afghanistan). He is considered one of the great poets and writers in Persian literature. The Safarnama, an account of his travels, is his most famous work.

Life

Nasir Khusraw was born in 1004 AD, in Qubadiyan. He was well versed in the branches of the natural sciences, medicine, mathematics, astronomy and astrology, Greek philosophy, and the writings of al-Kindi, al-Farabi and Ibn Sina; and in the interpretation of the Qur'an. He also studied Arabic, Turkish, Greek, the vernacular languages of India and Sindh, and perhaps even Hebrew; and had visited Multan and Lahore, and the splendid Ghaznavid court under Sultan Mahmud, Firdousi's patron. He later chose Merv for his residence, and was the owner of a house and garden there.

Until A.H. 437 (1046 AD), he worked as a financial secretary and revenue collector for the Seljuk sultan Toghrul Beg, or rather for his brother Jaghir Beg, the emir of Khorasan, who had conquered Merv in 1037. At around this time, inspired by a heavenly voice in a dream, he abjured all the luxuries of his life, and resolved upon a pilgrimage to the holy shrines of Mecca and Medina, hoping to find there the solution to his spiritual crisis.

The graphic description of this journey is contained in the Safarnama, which still possesses special value among books of travel, as it contains the most authentic account of the state of the Muslim world in the middle of the 11th century[citation needed]. The minute sketches of Jerusalem and its environs are even today of practical value.

During the seven years of his 19,000-kilometre journey (1046–1052), Nasir visited Mecca four times, and performed all the rites and observances of a zealous pilgrim; but he was far more attracted by Cairo, the capital of Egypt, and the residence of the Fatimid caliph-imam Ma'ad al-Mustansir Billah, the Imam of the Ismaili Shi'a Muslims, which was just then waging a deadly war against the Abbasid caliph of Baghdad, and Toghrul Beg the Seljuk, the great defender of the Sunni creed. At the very time of Nasir's visit to Cairo, the power of the Egyptian Fatimids was in its zenith; Syria, the Hejaz, Africa, and Sicily obeyed al-Mustanir's sway, and the utmost order, security and prosperity reigned in Egypt.

At Cairo, he learned mainly under the Fatimid dā‘ī ("missionary") Mu'ayyad fid-Din al-Shirazi, and became thoroughly imbued with the Shi'a Isma'ili doctrines of the Fatimids, and their introduction into his native country was henceforth the sole object of his life. He was raised to the position of dā‘ī "missionary" and appointed as the Hujjat-i Khorasan, though the hostility he encountered in the propagation of these new religious ideas after his return to Greater Khorasan in 1052 A.D. and Sunnite fanaticism compelled him at last to flee. After wandering from place to place, he found refuge in Yamgan (about 1060 A.D.) in the mountains of Badakhshan, where he spent as a hermit the last decades of his life, gathering a considerable number of devoted adherents, who have handed down his doctrines to succeeding generations.

Works

  • Safarnama (Persian: سفرنامه‎)

Safarnama (The Book of Travels) is his most famous work. He visited dozens of cities in about seven years (1046, March 6 – 1052, October 23) and wrote comprehensively about them, including details about colleges, caravanserais, mosques, scientists, kings, the public, the population, the area of the cities, and, of course, his interesting memories. After 1000 years, his Safarnama is still readable for Persian-speaking people.

Among his other works, most of the lyrical poems in his Diwan were composed in his retirement, and their chief topics are an enthusiastic praise of Ali, his descendants, and al-Mustansir in particular, along with passionate outcries against Khorasan and its rulers, who had driven him from his home. It also explores his immense satisfaction with the quiet solitude of Yumgan, and his utter despondency again in seeing himself despised by his former associates and excluded from participation in the glorious contest of life. Scattered through all these alternating outbursts of hope and despair, there are lessons of morality, and solemn warnings against the tricks and perfidy of the world, the vanity of all earthly splendour and greatness, the folly and injustice of men, and the hypocrisy, frivolity and viciousness of fashionable society and princely courts in particular[citation needed].

  • Gushayish wa Rahayish (Persian: گشایش و رهایش‎)

Another work of Nasir Khusraw is the Persian philosophical work "Gushayis wa Rahayish" which has been translated into English by F.M. Hunzai under the title: "Knowledge and Liberation". The work discusses creation, questions related to the soul, epistemology, creation, and Ismaili Islamic doctorines. From a linguistic point of view, the work is an example of early philosophical writing in new Persian.

It is the same strain which runs, although in a somewhat lower key, through his two larger mathnavis, the Rawshana-i-nama (Persian: روشنایی نامه‎) (or Book of Enlightenment, also known as Shish Fasl), and the Sa'datnama (Book of Felicity). The former is divided into two sections: the first, of a metaphysical character, contains a sort of practical cosmography, chiefly based on Avicenna's theories, but frequently intermixed both with the freer speculations of the well-known philosophical brotherhood of Basra, the Ikhwan al-Safa, and purely Shi'ite or Isma'ili ideas; the second, or ethical section of the poem, abounds in moral maxims and ingenious thoughts on man's good and bad qualities, on the necessity of shunning the company of fools and double-faced friends, on the deceptive allurements of the world and the secret snares of ambitious men craving for rank and wealth. It concludes with an imaginary vision of a beautiful work of spirits who have stripped off the fetters of earthly cares and sorrows and revel in the pure light of divine wisdom and love.

If we compare this with a similar allegory in Nasir's Diwan, which culminates in the praise of Mustansir, we are fairly entitled to look upon it as a covert allusion to the eminent men who revealed to the poet in Cairo the secrets of the Isma'ili faith, and showed him what he considered the heavenly ladder to superior knowledge and spiritual bliss.

A similar series of excellent teachings on practical wisdom and the blessings of a virtuous life, only of a more severe and uncompromising character, is contained in the Sa'datnama; and, judging from the extreme bitterness of tone manifested in the reproaches of kings and emirs, we should be inclined to consider it a protest against the vile aspersions poured out upon Nasir's moral and religious attitude during those persecutions which drove him at last to Yumgan.

Of all other works of the author, the Zaad al-Musafirin (or Travelling Provisions of Pilgrims) and the Wajh-i-Din (or The Face of Religion) are theoretical descriptions of his religious and philosophical principles; the rest of them can be dismissed as being probably just as apocryphal as Nasir's famous autobiography (found in several Persian tadhkiras or biographies of poets), a mere forgery of the most extravagant description, which is mainly responsible for the confusion in names and dates in older accounts of our author.

  • Book on Mathematics (Arabic: عجایب الحساب و عرایب الحساب‎)

Nasir Khusraw wrote a book on mathematics which has now been lost. He states in his other work that he could: not find one single scholar throughout all of Khorasan and eastern lands like myself [who] could grapple with the solutions to these problems. But he felt it his responsibility to take the task for readers he would never see, 'those yet to come, in a time yet to come'

Poetry

Nasir Khusraw loved the Persian language and hated poets like 'Unsuri who, rather than give a realistic portrayal of Mahmud of Ghazna, found ways to extol his deeds. The following poem speaks to this aspect of Khusraw's poetry.

       Reproach Not the Firmament!
           By Nasir-i Khusrau
         Translated by Iraj Bashiri
        Copyright, Iraj Bashiri, 2004
    Reproach not the Firmament deep and blue,
    Forget thy stubborn nature to reveal a clue.

    Neither expect from the Firmament any joy,
    When your own star you knowingly destroy.

    Fruitless trees are, at best, fuel for fire, 
    Fruitless men, alike, to oblivion retire.

    Forget about fragrant tresses and lips sweet,
    About hedges, and tulip cheeks to greet.

    Lavish not praise on a filthy creature,
    With dastardly deeds as its only feature.

    Adore not with verse the Lie or the Greed,
    Smite down the infidels’ most cherished creed.

    Be not Unsuri, who groveling worshiped Mahmud,
    Lavished on him all flattery and paean he could.

    I pledge never to sprinkle before the swine,
    These precious, peerless Dari pearls of mine.[4]

The poetry of Nasir Khusraw is replete with advice and wisdom. Being the representative of the Fatimid Imams in Khorasan, Nasir guided his followers through his poetry. His Persian poetry is enjoyed by the average Persian speaker of today and is taught in grade school.

Have you heard? A squash vine grew beneath a towering tree.
In only twenty days it grew and spread and put forth fruit.
Of the tree it asked: "How old are you? How many years?"
Replied the tree: "Two hundred it would be, and surely more."
The squash laughed and said: "Look, in twenty days, I've done
More than you; tell me, why are you so slow?"
The tree responded: "O little Squash, today is not the day
of reckoning between the two of us.
"Tomorrow, when winds of autumn howl down on you me,
then shall it be known for sure which one of us is the most resilient!"
نشنیده‌ای که زیر چناری کدو بنی بر رست و بردوید برو بر به روز بیست؟

پرسید از آن چنار که تو چند ساله‌ای؟ --- گفتا دویست باشد و اکنون زیادتی است

خندید ازو کدو که من از تو به بیست روز --- بر تر شدم بگو تو که این کاهلی ز چیست

او را چنار گفت که امروز ای کدو --- با تو مرا هنوز نه هنگام داوری است

فردا که بر من و تو وزد باد مهرگان --- آنگه شود پدید که از ما دو مرد کیست

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Nasir Khusraw. (2005). In Internet Encyclopædia of Philosophy. Retrieved from http://www.iep.utm.edu/khusraw/ In 1004, Abu Mo’in Hamid al-Din Nasir ibn Khusraw was born in Qobadiyan, the district of Marv, in the eastern Iranian province of Khurasan.
  2. ↑ Nāṣir-i Khusraw. (2011). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/403951/Nasir-i-Khusraw "(born 1004, Qubādiyān, Merv, Khorāsān [Iran]—died c. 1072, /77, Yumgān, Badakshān, Central Asia [now in Afghanistan]), poet, theologian, and religious propagandist, one of the greatest writers in Persian literature."
  3. ↑ http://www.geographic.org/geographic_names/name.php?uni=9144701&fid=6114&c=tajikistan
  4. ↑ A Brief Note on the Life of Nasir-i Khusrau http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/bashiri/Poets/Pilgrim.html

References

  • E. G. Browne (1998). Literary History of Persia. RoutledgeCurzon. ISBN 0-7007-0406-X. 
  • Jan Rypka (1899). History of Iranian Literature. Springer. ISBN 90-277-0143-1. 

Public Domain This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press 

Further reading

  • Alice C. Hunsberger (2003). Nasir Khusraw, the Ruby of Badakhshan: A Portrait of the Persian Poet, Traveller and Philosopher. I. B. Tauris. ISBN 1-85043-926-5. 
  • Annemarie Schimmel (2001). Make A Shield From Wisdom: Selected Verses from Nasir-i Khusraw's Divan. I. B. Tauris. ISBN 1-86064-725-1. 

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