Nozhat al-Majales
Encyclopedia
Noz'hat al-Majāles (Joy of the Gatherings/Assemblies) is an anthology which contains around 4,100 Persian
quatrains by some 300 poets of the 5th to 7th(Hejri)11th-13th centuries. The anthology was compiled around the middle of the 7th/13th century by the Persian poet Jamal al-Din Khalil Shirvani. Jamal al-Din Khalil Shirvani compiled his anthology in the name of 'Ala al-Din Shirvanshah
Fariborz III (r. 1225-51), son of Goshtasp. The book was dedicated to Fariboz III.
A significant importance of Nozhat al-Majales is that it contains quatrains from poet whose collected works are no longer extant. For example, it contains thirty-three quatrains by Omar Khayyam
and sixty quatrains by Mahsati Ganjavi. These are among the oldest and most reliable collections of their works. Nozhat al-Majales also contains quatrains from such scholars and mystics as Avicenna
, Attar
, Sanai
, Afdal al-Din Kashani
, Ahmad Ghazali
(the mystic brother of Abu Hamed Ghazzali
), Majd al-din Baghdadi (a major figure of traditional Sufism
born in Baghdadak in Great Khorasan) and Ahmad Jam
, who had never been recognized as major poets. It also contains quatrains from writers and poets who are not known for their quatrains such as Asadi Tusi
, Nizami Ganjavi, Fakhruddin As'ad Gurgani and 'Onsor al-Ma'ali Kaykavus
. Some quatrains are even narrated from statements and rulers such as Fariboz III Shirvanshah
, the Seljuq
Sultan Tugrul and Shams ad-Din Juvayni
.
, is that it embraces the works of some 115 poets from the northwestern Iran and Eastern Transcaucasia (Arran, Sharvan, Azerbaijan; including 24 poets from Ganja
alone), where, due to the change of language, the heritage of Persian literature in that region has almost entirely vanished. The fact that numerous quatrains of some poets from the region (e.g. Aziz Shirwani, Shams Sojasi, Amir Najib al-Din Omar of Ganjda, Kamal Maraghi, Borhan Ganjai, Eliyas Ganjai, Bakhtiar Shirwani) are mentioned in a series shows that the author possed their collected works.
Unlike other parts of Persia, were the poets were attached to courts, or belonged to higher ranks of society such as scholars, bureaucrats, and secretaries, a good number of poets from the Eastern Transcaucasian regions rose among working class people. They frequently use colloquial expression in their poetry. They are referred to as water carriers (Saqqa'), Sparrow dealers, bodyguard (jandar), saddlers, blanket makers (Lehafi), and etc. Some of these poets were also female such as Dokhatri-i Khatib Ganjeh, Dokhtar-i Salar, Dokhtar-i Sati, Mahsati Ganjavi, Dokhtar-i Hakim Kaw, Razziya Ganjai.. This fact that many famale poets and everyday people not connected to courts have composed quatrains illustrates the overall use of Persian
in that region before its gradual linguistic Turkification.
Professor. Mohammad-Amin Riahi
considers this book a total reflection of the Iranian culture of Arran, Sherwan and Azerbaijan at that time. In the extensive introduction to this book, he notes that the historian Tabari mentions the earliest known post-Islamic Persian
poet of the area (Maragha/Marand in Azerbaijan) as the Iranicised Mohammad ibn Ba'ith
whose ancestors had migrated from Arabia two generations before. This is evidence of the existence of the cultivation of poetry in Persian in northwestern Persia at the beginning of the 9th century and that Ibn Ba’ith must have been Iranicised to a consider extent. Professor Mohammad-Amin Riahi
believes that unlike the opinion of some Soviet era writers(and some who repeated them), Nozhat al-Majales decisively proves that it was the general Iranian culture of the area with both the Fahlavi language and Arranian Persian that was responsible for the Iranicization of Shirvanshahs (originally of Arabic descent) and other rulers of the area, and the spread of Iranian culture. According to him, it was the Iranian culture of the region (which according to him was in constant contact with other cultures of the Caucasus) that imposed itself on the courts (citing the extensive amount of poets, the use of Fahlavi vernacular, use of idiom in the language, majority of the poets not being associated with courts and having common jobs, as well as the number of women poets) and not due to the Iranian and Iraniczied rulers of the area.
To summarize:
(Persian: Chang) and details on how these instruments were held by the performers.
One even finds in this anthology details of people's everyday living practices such as using a pumice (Persian sang-e pā) to scrub the sole of their feet and gel-e saršur (Persian for head-cleaning material) to wash their hair.
, Pesar-i Khatib Ganjei,Pesar-i Seleh Ganjei,Burhan Ganjei,Jamal Ganjei,Shams Eliyas Ganjei,Dokhtar-i Khatib Ganjei,Dokhtar-i Hakim Gav,Dokhtar Sati,Najm al-din Hamid ibn Simgar,Husseyn Hezarmard,Mokhtasar Ganjei,Raziyya Ganjei,Abul 'Ala Shapur, Bakhtiyar Shirvani,Jahan Gashteh,Taj Zangani, Khaqani Shirvani,Sa'ad Shirvani, Seyf Teflisi,Shirvanshah Fariboz,Aziz Shirvani,Ayyani Ganjei,Falaki Shirvani,Nafis Shirvani, Ali Shirvani..etc.). Most of these poets were unknown before the discovery of this anthology.
. Similarly, some of the quatrains from other poets have been translated into the English language separately by Prof. Dick Davis and R. Saberi.
The following is a selection of quatrains found in the Nozhat al-Majales.
1)
The first quatrain as the anthology is from Abul Majd ad-Din Baghdadi (originally from the town of Baghdadak in Chorasmia/Greater Khorasan and who probably perished during the Mongol invasion)
Persian
original:
ای نسخه نامه الهی که تویی
وی آینه جمال شاهی که تویی
بیرون ز تو نیست هرچه در عالم هست
در خود بطلب هرآنچه خواهی تویی
Translation by R. Saberi:
O you who are the transcription of God's scripture
And the mirror of his majestic beauty,
Whatever exists in the world is not outside of you
Seek in yourself anything you want, for you are that
2)
From Sanai
Persian
original:
آنها که اسیر عشق دلدارند
از دیده، سرشک خون دل بارانند
هرگز، نشود بخت بد از عشق جدا
بخت بد و عاشقی بهم یارانند
Translation:
Those that are prisoners in the love of the heart-holder
From their eyes, the blood of their heart flows
Misfortune is never separated from love
Bad fate and love are each others lovers
3)
From Shams Ganjei (one of the poets from Ganja
whose only works seem to have survived in this anthology):
Persian
original:
از روی تو، سرو بوستان هست خجل
وز زلف تو مشک تا به جان هست خجل
خورشید، که عرصۀ زمین روشن ازوست
از روی تو به آسمان، هست خجل
From the splendour of your face, the cypress of the garden is ashamed
And from the aroma of the ringlet of your hair, the musk is completely ashamed
The sun, which covers all of the earth with its brightness
In the heavens, from the beauty of your face, is ashamed
4)
From a female poet by the name Dukhtar-i Saalaar
Original Persian:
بر دیدۀ من چون اشک گلگو بچکد
هر لحظه هزار قطرۀ خون بچکد
بر آتش عشق تو کباب است دلم
چون گرم شود کباب از خون بچکد
Translated by R. Saberi:
As the rose-colored tears drip from my eyes
A thousand drops of blood fall down every moment
My heart is like kebab in the fire of your love
When the kebab is heated, it drips blood
5)
From Omar Khayyam
Original Persian:
آن را که به صحرای علل تاختهاند
بی او همه کارها بپرداختهاند
امروز بهانهای در انداختهاند
فردا همان بود، کهدی ساختهاند
Translation by R. Saberi:
Before a person is forced into this plain of pains,
Everything about him has been decided without his consent,
Today they have offered an excuse for what
They have already determined for tomorrow.
6)
From Mahasti Ganjei
Original Persian:
جان در ره غمهاش خطر باید کرد
آسوده دلی زیر و زبر باید کرد
وآنگه ز رضای یار نادیده اثر
با درد دل از جهان گذر باید کرد
Translation by R. Saberi:
In the way of love, one must risk one's life
And turn the peace of the heart upside down
And then, having seen no sign of the beloved's satisfaction
One must pass this world with a suffering heart
7)
From Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi
Original Persian:
اصل گهر عشق ز کانی دگر است
منزلگه عاشقان جهانی دگر است
وان مرغ که دانه غم عشق خورد
بیرون ز دو کوُنش آشیانی دگر است
The origin of the gem of love is a different mine
The lovers' home is a different world
The bird that feeds on the seed of longing for love,
Outside of this world and next, has a different nest.
8)
From Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi
Original Persian:
در کوی خرابات بسی مردانند
کز لوح وجود درسها میخوانند
بیرون ز شتر گربه اسرار فلک
دانند شگفتیها و خر می رانند
Translation:
In the street of the tavern of mystics, there are many men
Who learn lessons from the tablet of existence
Beyond the odds and ends of the secret of heaven
They know many marvels, but do not show them.
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
quatrains by some 300 poets of the 5th to 7th(Hejri)11th-13th centuries. The anthology was compiled around the middle of the 7th/13th century by the Persian poet Jamal al-Din Khalil Shirvani. Jamal al-Din Khalil Shirvani compiled his anthology in the name of 'Ala al-Din Shirvanshah
Shirvanshah
Shirvanshah also spelled as Shīrwān Shāh or Sharwān Shāh, was the title in mediaeval Islamic times of an Arab in Ethnos but speedily Persianized dynasty within their culturally Persian environment. The Shirvanshah established a native state in Shirvan...
Fariborz III (r. 1225-51), son of Goshtasp. The book was dedicated to Fariboz III.
Book
The book is arranged by subject in 17 chapters divided into 96 different sections. The anthology also includes 179 quatrains and an ode (qasida) of 50 distiches written by Jamal Khalil Shirvani himself. The book is preserved in a unique manuscript copied by Esmail b. Esfandiyar b. Mohammad b. Esfandiar Abhari on July 31, 1331.A significant importance of Nozhat al-Majales is that it contains quatrains from poet whose collected works are no longer extant. For example, it contains thirty-three quatrains by Omar Khayyam
Omar Khayyám
Omar Khayyám was aPersian polymath: philosopher, mathematician, astronomer and poet. He also wrote treatises on mechanics, geography, mineralogy, music, climatology and theology....
and sixty quatrains by Mahsati Ganjavi. These are among the oldest and most reliable collections of their works. Nozhat al-Majales also contains quatrains from such scholars and mystics as Avicenna
Avicenna
Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā , commonly known as Ibn Sīnā or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persian polymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived...
, Attar
Attar
Abū Hamīd bin Abū Bakr Ibrāhīm , better known by his pen-names Farīd ud-Dīn and ‘Attār , was a Persian Muslim poet, theoretician of Sufism, and hagiographer from Nīshāpūr who had an abiding influence on Persian poetry and Sufism.-Biography:Information about Attar's life is rare...
, Sanai
Sanai
Hakim Abul-Majd Majdūd ibn Ādam Sanā'ī Ghaznavi was a Afghan Sufi poet who lived in Ghazna, in what is now Afghanistan between the 11th century and the 12th century. Some people spell his name as Sanayee. He died around 1131.-Life:...
, Afdal al-Din Kashani
Afdal al-Din Kashani
Afdal al-Din Kashani also known as Baba Afzal al-Din was a Persian poet and philosopher. Several dates have been suggested for his death, with the best estimate being around 1213-1214.-Life:The information on his life is scanty and few...
, Ahmad Ghazali
Ahmad Ghazali
Ahmad Ghazali was a Persian mystic, writer, and eloquent preacher .-Life:The younger brother of the celebrated theologian, jurist, and Sufi, Abū Ḥāmed Moḥammad Ḡazālī, Aḥmad Ghazali was born in a village near Tous, in Khorasan....
(the mystic brother of Abu Hamed Ghazzali
Al-Ghazali
Abu Hāmed Mohammad ibn Mohammad al-Ghazzālī , known as Algazel to the western medieval world, born and died in Tus, in the Khorasan province of Persia was a Persian Muslim theologian, jurist, philosopher, and mystic....
), Majd al-din Baghdadi (a major figure of traditional Sufism
Sufism
Sufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...
born in Baghdadak in Great Khorasan) and Ahmad Jam
Sheikh Ahmad-e Jami
Ahmad Ibn Abolhasan Jāmi-e Nāmaghi-e Torshizi better known as Sheikh Ahhmad-e Jami or Sheikh Ahmad-i Jami or Sheikh Ahmad-e jam or Sheikh-e Jam or simply Ahmad-e Jam was a Persian Sufi, Sufi writer, Mystic and poet . His Mazar is located in Torbat-e Jam...
, who had never been recognized as major poets. It also contains quatrains from writers and poets who are not known for their quatrains such as Asadi Tusi
Asadi Tusi
Abu Mansur Ali ibn Ahmad Asadi Tusi is arguably the second most important Persian poet of the Iranian national epics, after Ferdowsi who also happens to come from the same town of Tus. He was a poet, a linguist and copyist of ancient manuscripts.- Life :The information on Asadi's lifetime is scant...
, Nizami Ganjavi, Fakhruddin As'ad Gurgani and 'Onsor al-Ma'ali Kaykavus
Shams al-Mo'ali Abol-hasan Ghaboos ibn Wushmgir
Qabus ibn Wushmagir Qabus ibn Wushmagir Qabus ibn Wushmagir (full name and honorific abol-ḥasan qābūs ben wušmagīr ibn ziyar šams al-maʿālī, ; (r. 977–981; 997–1012, d. 1012) was the Ziyarid ruler of Gurgan and Tabaristan in medieval Iran...
. Some quatrains are even narrated from statements and rulers such as Fariboz III Shirvanshah
Shirvanshah
Shirvanshah also spelled as Shīrwān Shāh or Sharwān Shāh, was the title in mediaeval Islamic times of an Arab in Ethnos but speedily Persianized dynasty within their culturally Persian environment. The Shirvanshah established a native state in Shirvan...
, the Seljuq
Seljuq dynasty
The Seljuq ; were a Turco-Persian Sunni Muslim dynasty that ruled parts of Central Asia and the Middle East from the 11th to 14th centuries...
Sultan Tugrul and Shams ad-Din Juvayni
Shams ad-Din Juvayni
Shams al-Din Juvayni or Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Juwayni was a vizier and sahib-divan or Minister of Finance under three Mongol Ilkhans - Hulagu, Abaqa and Tekuder - from 1263 until his execution by Arghun Khan in 1285...
.
Persian language and culture in the Caucasus regions
The most significant merit of Nozhat al-Majales, as regards to the history of Persian literaturePersian literature
Persian literature spans two-and-a-half millennia, though much of the pre-Islamic material has been lost. Its sources have been within historical Persia including present-day Iran as well as regions of Central Asia where the Persian language has historically been the national language...
, is that it embraces the works of some 115 poets from the northwestern Iran and Eastern Transcaucasia (Arran, Sharvan, Azerbaijan; including 24 poets from Ganja
Ganja, Azerbaijan
Ganja is Azerbaijan's second-largest city with a population of around 313,300. It was named Yelizavetpol in the Russian Empire period. The city regained its original name—Ganja—from 1920–1935 during the first part of its incorporation into the Soviet Union. However, its name was changed again and...
alone), where, due to the change of language, the heritage of Persian literature in that region has almost entirely vanished. The fact that numerous quatrains of some poets from the region (e.g. Aziz Shirwani, Shams Sojasi, Amir Najib al-Din Omar of Ganjda, Kamal Maraghi, Borhan Ganjai, Eliyas Ganjai, Bakhtiar Shirwani) are mentioned in a series shows that the author possed their collected works.
Unlike other parts of Persia, were the poets were attached to courts, or belonged to higher ranks of society such as scholars, bureaucrats, and secretaries, a good number of poets from the Eastern Transcaucasian regions rose among working class people. They frequently use colloquial expression in their poetry. They are referred to as water carriers (Saqqa'), Sparrow dealers, bodyguard (jandar), saddlers, blanket makers (Lehafi), and etc. Some of these poets were also female such as Dokhatri-i Khatib Ganjeh, Dokhtar-i Salar, Dokhtar-i Sati, Mahsati Ganjavi, Dokhtar-i Hakim Kaw, Razziya Ganjai.. This fact that many famale poets and everyday people not connected to courts have composed quatrains illustrates the overall use of Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
in that region before its gradual linguistic Turkification.
Professor. Mohammad-Amin Riahi
Mohammad-Amin Riahi
Mohammad-Amin Riahi was a prominent Iranian literary scholar of Persian literature, a historian, writer and statemens. Apart from being one of the authors of Dehkhoda Dictionary and Encyclopædia Iranica, he was the author and editor of several well-known scholarly books...
considers this book a total reflection of the Iranian culture of Arran, Sherwan and Azerbaijan at that time. In the extensive introduction to this book, he notes that the historian Tabari mentions the earliest known post-Islamic Persian
Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
poet of the area (Maragha/Marand in Azerbaijan) as the Iranicised Mohammad ibn Ba'ith
Mohammad ibn Ba'ith
Muhammad ibn Ba'ith ibn Halbas also known as Ibn Ba'ith was an Arab governor of Marand during the Abbassid caliphate. After the Arab conquest of Iran, Halbas , who was a mercenary took Marand...
whose ancestors had migrated from Arabia two generations before. This is evidence of the existence of the cultivation of poetry in Persian in northwestern Persia at the beginning of the 9th century and that Ibn Ba’ith must have been Iranicised to a consider extent. Professor Mohammad-Amin Riahi
Mohammad-Amin Riahi
Mohammad-Amin Riahi was a prominent Iranian literary scholar of Persian literature, a historian, writer and statemens. Apart from being one of the authors of Dehkhoda Dictionary and Encyclopædia Iranica, he was the author and editor of several well-known scholarly books...
believes that unlike the opinion of some Soviet era writers(and some who repeated them), Nozhat al-Majales decisively proves that it was the general Iranian culture of the area with both the Fahlavi language and Arranian Persian that was responsible for the Iranicization of Shirvanshahs (originally of Arabic descent) and other rulers of the area, and the spread of Iranian culture. According to him, it was the Iranian culture of the region (which according to him was in constant contact with other cultures of the Caucasus) that imposed itself on the courts (citing the extensive amount of poets, the use of Fahlavi vernacular, use of idiom in the language, majority of the poets not being associated with courts and having common jobs, as well as the number of women poets) and not due to the Iranian and Iraniczied rulers of the area.
To summarize:
Information on common culture
The Nozhat al-Majales not only has collected 4100 quatrains, but also provides information on everyday life the of the common people in the region. Chapter eleven of the anthology contains informative details about clothing, the cosmetics used by women, the games people played and their usual recreational practices such as pigeon fancying , even-or-odd game (Persian: tak yā joft bāzi), exercising with a sledgehammer (Persian: potk zadan), and archery (Persian:tir-andāzi). Descriptions of various musical instruments are also given such as the Tambourine (Persian:Daf), reed pipe (Persian: Ney), harpHarp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
(Persian: Chang) and details on how these instruments were held by the performers.
One even finds in this anthology details of people's everyday living practices such as using a pumice (Persian sang-e pā) to scrub the sole of their feet and gel-e saršur (Persian for head-cleaning material) to wash their hair.
Names of some of the poets from North-West Persia
A complete list of the poets from Arran, Sherwan and Azerbaijan are given in the book:(i.e., Jamal Khalil Shirvani, Nezami Ganjei, Sa'ad Ganjei, Shams Asad Ganjei, Mahasti GanjeiMahasti
Mahasti bornEftekhar Dadehbala was a legendary Persian Pop and classical singer and diva and the younger sister of singer Hayedeh.- Background :...
, Pesar-i Khatib Ganjei,Pesar-i Seleh Ganjei,Burhan Ganjei,Jamal Ganjei,Shams Eliyas Ganjei,Dokhtar-i Khatib Ganjei,Dokhtar-i Hakim Gav,Dokhtar Sati,Najm al-din Hamid ibn Simgar,Husseyn Hezarmard,Mokhtasar Ganjei,Raziyya Ganjei,Abul 'Ala Shapur, Bakhtiyar Shirvani,Jahan Gashteh,Taj Zangani, Khaqani Shirvani,Sa'ad Shirvani, Seyf Teflisi,Shirvanshah Fariboz,Aziz Shirvani,Ayyani Ganjei,Falaki Shirvani,Nafis Shirvani, Ali Shirvani..etc.). Most of these poets were unknown before the discovery of this anthology.
Translations
The anthology has never been fully translated to English although selected quatrains from famous poets (such as Khayyam) have been translated into the English languageEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. Similarly, some of the quatrains from other poets have been translated into the English language separately by Prof. Dick Davis and R. Saberi.
The following is a selection of quatrains found in the Nozhat al-Majales.
1)
The first quatrain as the anthology is from Abul Majd ad-Din Baghdadi (originally from the town of Baghdadak in Chorasmia/Greater Khorasan and who probably perished during the Mongol invasion)
Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
original:
ای نسخه نامه الهی که تویی
وی آینه جمال شاهی که تویی
بیرون ز تو نیست هرچه در عالم هست
در خود بطلب هرآنچه خواهی تویی
Translation by R. Saberi:
O you who are the transcription of God's scripture
And the mirror of his majestic beauty,
Whatever exists in the world is not outside of you
Seek in yourself anything you want, for you are that
2)
From Sanai
Sanai
Hakim Abul-Majd Majdūd ibn Ādam Sanā'ī Ghaznavi was a Afghan Sufi poet who lived in Ghazna, in what is now Afghanistan between the 11th century and the 12th century. Some people spell his name as Sanayee. He died around 1131.-Life:...
Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
original:
آنها که اسیر عشق دلدارند
از دیده، سرشک خون دل بارانند
هرگز، نشود بخت بد از عشق جدا
بخت بد و عاشقی بهم یارانند
Translation:
Those that are prisoners in the love of the heart-holder
From their eyes, the blood of their heart flows
Misfortune is never separated from love
Bad fate and love are each others lovers
3)
From Shams Ganjei (one of the poets from Ganja
Ganja
Ganja is Azerbaijan's second-largest city with a population of around 313,300. It was named Yelizavetpol in the Russian Empire period. The city regained its original name—Ganja—from 1920–1935 during the first part of its incorporation into the Soviet Union. However, its name was changed again and...
whose only works seem to have survived in this anthology):
Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
original:
از روی تو، سرو بوستان هست خجل
وز زلف تو مشک تا به جان هست خجل
خورشید، که عرصۀ زمین روشن ازوست
از روی تو به آسمان، هست خجل
From the splendour of your face, the cypress of the garden is ashamed
And from the aroma of the ringlet of your hair, the musk is completely ashamed
The sun, which covers all of the earth with its brightness
In the heavens, from the beauty of your face, is ashamed
4)
From a female poet by the name Dukhtar-i Saalaar
Original Persian:
بر دیدۀ من چون اشک گلگو بچکد
هر لحظه هزار قطرۀ خون بچکد
بر آتش عشق تو کباب است دلم
چون گرم شود کباب از خون بچکد
Translated by R. Saberi:
As the rose-colored tears drip from my eyes
A thousand drops of blood fall down every moment
My heart is like kebab in the fire of your love
When the kebab is heated, it drips blood
5)
From Omar Khayyam
Omar Khayyám
Omar Khayyám was aPersian polymath: philosopher, mathematician, astronomer and poet. He also wrote treatises on mechanics, geography, mineralogy, music, climatology and theology....
Original Persian:
آن را که به صحرای علل تاختهاند
بی او همه کارها بپرداختهاند
امروز بهانهای در انداختهاند
فردا همان بود، کهدی ساختهاند
Translation by R. Saberi:
Before a person is forced into this plain of pains,
Everything about him has been decided without his consent,
Today they have offered an excuse for what
They have already determined for tomorrow.
6)
From Mahasti Ganjei
Mahsati
Mahsati Ganjavi , was a 12th century Persian poet. Mahsati is a compound of two Persian words "Maah" and "Sati" . The title appears in the works of Saadi, Nizami, Sanai, Rumi and Attar....
Original Persian:
جان در ره غمهاش خطر باید کرد
آسوده دلی زیر و زبر باید کرد
وآنگه ز رضای یار نادیده اثر
با درد دل از جهان گذر باید کرد
Translation by R. Saberi:
In the way of love, one must risk one's life
And turn the peace of the heart upside down
And then, having seen no sign of the beloved's satisfaction
One must pass this world with a suffering heart
7)
From Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi
Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi
Other important Muslim mystics carry the name Suhrawardi, particularly Abu 'l-Najib al-Suhrawardi and his paternal nephew Abu Hafs Umar al-Suhrawardi."Shahāb ad-Dīn" Yahya ibn Habash as-Suhrawardī was a Persian...
Original Persian:
اصل گهر عشق ز کانی دگر است
منزلگه عاشقان جهانی دگر است
وان مرغ که دانه غم عشق خورد
بیرون ز دو کوُنش آشیانی دگر است
The origin of the gem of love is a different mine
The lovers' home is a different world
The bird that feeds on the seed of longing for love,
Outside of this world and next, has a different nest.
8)
From Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi
Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi
Other important Muslim mystics carry the name Suhrawardi, particularly Abu 'l-Najib al-Suhrawardi and his paternal nephew Abu Hafs Umar al-Suhrawardi."Shahāb ad-Dīn" Yahya ibn Habash as-Suhrawardī was a Persian...
Original Persian:
در کوی خرابات بسی مردانند
کز لوح وجود درسها میخوانند
بیرون ز شتر گربه اسرار فلک
دانند شگفتیها و خر می رانند
Translation:
In the street of the tavern of mystics, there are many men
Who learn lessons from the tablet of existence
Beyond the odds and ends of the secret of heaven
They know many marvels, but do not show them.
See also
- List of Persian poets and authors
- Persian literaturePersian literaturePersian literature spans two-and-a-half millennia, though much of the pre-Islamic material has been lost. Its sources have been within historical Persia including present-day Iran as well as regions of Central Asia where the Persian language has historically been the national language...
- Omar KhayyamOmar KhayyámOmar Khayyám was aPersian polymath: philosopher, mathematician, astronomer and poet. He also wrote treatises on mechanics, geography, mineralogy, music, climatology and theology....
- Afdal al-Din KashaniAfdal al-Din KashaniAfdal al-Din Kashani also known as Baba Afzal al-Din was a Persian poet and philosopher. Several dates have been suggested for his death, with the best estimate being around 1213-1214.-Life:The information on his life is scanty and few...
- Majd al-Din Baghdadi
- Ahmad GhazaliAhmad GhazaliAhmad Ghazali was a Persian mystic, writer, and eloquent preacher .-Life:The younger brother of the celebrated theologian, jurist, and Sufi, Abū Ḥāmed Moḥammad Ḡazālī, Aḥmad Ghazali was born in a village near Tous, in Khorasan....
- AttarAttarAbū Hamīd bin Abū Bakr Ibrāhīm , better known by his pen-names Farīd ud-Dīn and ‘Attār , was a Persian Muslim poet, theoretician of Sufism, and hagiographer from Nīshāpūr who had an abiding influence on Persian poetry and Sufism.-Biography:Information about Attar's life is rare...
- SanaiSanaiHakim Abul-Majd Majdūd ibn Ādam Sanā'ī Ghaznavi was a Afghan Sufi poet who lived in Ghazna, in what is now Afghanistan between the 11th century and the 12th century. Some people spell his name as Sanayee. He died around 1131.-Life:...
- Nizami Ganjavi
- Khaqani Shirvani
- Mahsati Ganjavi
- Fakhruddin As'ad Gurgani
- Ahmad GhazaliAhmad GhazaliAhmad Ghazali was a Persian mystic, writer, and eloquent preacher .-Life:The younger brother of the celebrated theologian, jurist, and Sufi, Abū Ḥāmed Moḥammad Ḡazālī, Aḥmad Ghazali was born in a village near Tous, in Khorasan....
- Asadi TusiAsadi TusiAbu Mansur Ali ibn Ahmad Asadi Tusi is arguably the second most important Persian poet of the Iranian national epics, after Ferdowsi who also happens to come from the same town of Tus. He was a poet, a linguist and copyist of ancient manuscripts.- Life :The information on Asadi's lifetime is scant...
- AvicennaAvicennaAbū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā , commonly known as Ibn Sīnā or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persian polymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived...
- Fakhruddin As'ad Gurgani
- Ahmad JamSheikh Ahmad-e JamiAhmad Ibn Abolhasan Jāmi-e Nāmaghi-e Torshizi better known as Sheikh Ahhmad-e Jami or Sheikh Ahmad-i Jami or Sheikh Ahmad-e jam or Sheikh-e Jam or simply Ahmad-e Jam was a Persian Sufi, Sufi writer, Mystic and poet . His Mazar is located in Torbat-e Jam...
- Falaki ShirvaniFalaki ShirvaniAbu Nizam Muhammad Falaki Shirvani was a Persian poet from Shirvan . His contemporary and rival was the famous Khaqani Shirvani.-References used:...
- UnsuriUnsuriAbul Qasim Hasan Unsuri Balkhi was a 10-11th century Persian poet.He is said to have been born in Balkh, today located in Afghanistan, and he eventually became a poet of the royal court, and was given the title Malik-us Shu'ara .His Divan is said to have contained 30,000 distichs, of which only...