Nasir Khusraw
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Nasir Khusraw (1004-1088), also written as Nasir Khusrao or Nasir-i-Khusraw, was a scholar, Persian poet and an Ismaili Pir or theologian, who was especially well-known in the northern areas of Pakistan, parts of China, Afghanistan and Central Asia. He was born in 1004, in Qubadiyan, Afghanistan/Tajikistan. He died in 1088 and was buried in Yumgan, Afghanistan. His nom de plume was Hujjat.
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[edit] Life
The first forty-two years of his life are obscure; we learn from incidental remarks of his that he was a Sunnite, probably according to the Hanifite rite, well versed in all the branches of natural science, in medicine, mathematics, astronomy and astrology, in Greek philosophy, and the interpretation of the Koran; that he was much addicted to worldly pleasures, especially to excessive wine drinking. He had studied Arabic, Turkish, Greek, the vernacular languages of India and Sind, and perhaps even Hebrew; he had visited Multn and Lahore, and the splendid Ghaznavid court under Sultan Mahmud, Firdousi's patron. Later on he chose Merv for his residence, and was the owner of a house and garden there.
In A.H. 437 (CE 1045) he appears as financial secretary and revenue collector of the Seljuk sultan Toghrul Beg, or rather of his brother Jaghir Beg, the emir of Khorasan, who had conquered Merv in 1037. About this time, inspired by a heavenly voice (which he pretends to have heard in a dream), he abjured all the luxuries of life, and resolved upon a pilgrimage to the holy shrines of Mecca and Medina, hoping to find there the solution of all his religious doubts. The graphic description of this journey is contained in the Safarnama, which possesses a special value among books of travel, since it contains the most authentic account of the state of the Muslim world in the middle of the 11th century.
The minute sketches of Jerusalem and its environs are even now of practical value. During the seven years of his journey (CE 1045-1052) 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 sultan Mostansir billah, the great champion of the Shi'a, and the spiritual as well as political head of the house of Ali, which was just then waging a deadly war against the Abbasid caliph of Baghdad, and the great defender of the Sunnite creed, Toghrul Beg the Seljuk. At the very time of Nasir's visit to Cairo, the power of the Egyptian Fatimites was in its zenith; Syria, the Hejaz, Africa, and Sicily obeyed Mostanir's sway, and the utmost order, security and prosperity reigned in Egypt. At Cairo he became thoroughly imbued with Shi'a doctrines, and their introduction into his native country was henceforth the sole object of his life. The hostility he encountered in the propagation of these new religious ideas after his return to Khorasan in 1052 and Sunnite fanaticism compelled him at last to flee, and after many wanderings he found a refuge in Yumgan (about 1060) in the mountains of Badakshan, where he spent as a hermit the last decades of his life, and gathered round him a considerable number of devoted adherents, who have handed down his doctrines to succeeding generations.
Most of Nasir's lyrical poems were composed in his retirement, and their chief topics are an enthusiastic praise of Ali, his descendants, and Mostansir in particular; passionate outcries against Khorasan and its rulers, who had driven him from house and home; the highest satisfaction with the quiet solitude of Yumgan; and utter despondency again in seeing himself despised by his former associates and for ever excluded from participation in the glorious contest of life. But scattered through all these alternate outbursts of hope and despair we find precious lessons of purest 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.
It is the same strain which runs, although in a somewhat lower key, through his two larger mathnawis or double-rhymed poems, the Rushaiiainama, or Book of enlightenment, and the Saadatnama, or Book of felicity. The former is divided into two sections: the first, of a metaphysical character, contains a sort of practical cosmography, chiell based on Avicenna's theories, but frequently intermixed both wit the freer speculations of the well-known philosophical brotherhood of Basra, the Ikhwan-es-safgi, and purely Shi'ite or Ismailite ideas; the second, or ethical section of the poem, abounds in moral maxims and ingenious thoughts on mans 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 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 Motansir, 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 Ismailitic faith, and showed him what he considered the heavenly ladder to superior knowledge and spiritual bliss.
The passage, thus interpreted, lends additional weight to the correctness of Dr. Ethb's reconstruction of the date of the Rushaninuma, viz. A.H. 440 (CE 1049), which, notwithstanding M. Schefer's objections, is warranted both by the astronomical details and by the metrical requirements of the respective verses. That of course does not exclude the possibility of the bulk of the poem having been composed at an earlier period; it only ascribes its completion or perhaps final revision to Nasir's sojourn in Egypt.
A similar series of excellent teachings on practical wisdom and the blessings of a virtuous life, only of a severer and more uncompromising character, is contained in the Saadatnama; 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 Yungan. Of all the other works of our author mentioned by Oriental writers there has as yet been found only one, the Zddelmusafirin or travelling provisions of pilgrims (in the private possession of M. Schefer, Paris), a theoretical description of his religious and philosophical principles; and we can very well dismiss the rest 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.
[edit] Alternative version
Naser Khosrow Qobadiani (1003 – 1088), the Persian traveller, theologian and philosopher, was born to a rich family in the town of Qobadian, near the present day city of Balkh.
He studied various sciences such as Koranic exegesis, mathematics, Greek philosophy, astronomy, geography and theology, and received a position in the “Justice Court” of the Seljuk Empire.
Until 1046, he was a senior secretary and a successful accountant, but a vision during the night changed his life. He sensed that he couldn’t stay home and decided to visit other lands and become acquainted with other peoples. Thus, Naser went to the capital city of Merv and resigned his job to pilgrimage to Mecca. He left Merv and started his 19000- kilometer journey through the Islamic World from Iran to Sudan.
In Egypt he met the Fatimid Caliph Al-Mustansir (ruled 1035 – 1085) and was respected for his science and intelligence. Al-Mustansir was an Ismaili and presented his sect to Naser Khosrow. Naser researched a lot about this Islamic denomination and finally converted to Ismailism.
He came back as a missionary to convert people of Greater Khorasan to Ismailism. Naser was an eloquent man, an expert writer and his mission was too successful in the eyes of some Sunni clerics and the king, who opposed him. Naser had to leave his birthplace again and emigrated to Yamgan Valley near Badakhshan Mountains (now in Afghanistan). He spent his last years there and wrote most of his books.
[edit] Books
Safarnameh (The Itinerary) is his most famous work. He visited tens of cities in about seven years (1046, March 6 – 1052, October 23) and wrote comprehensively about them: colleges, caravanserais, mosques, area, population, scientists, kings, usual people and his interesting memories. After 1000 years his “Safarnameh” is still readable for Persian-speaking people.
Among his other books are:
- Divan (the collection of odes and short poems)
- Sa’adat Nameh (The Book of Happiness)
- Zaad al-Mosaferin, written in 1061 about Ismailism beliefs
- Vajh-e Din (The face of religion)
[edit] References used
- E.G. Browne. Literary History of Persia. (Four volumes, 2,256 pages, and twenty-five years in the writing). 1998. ISBN 0-7007-0406-X
- Jan Rypka, History of Iranian Literature. Reidel Publishing Company. ASIN B-000-6BXVT-K
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Naser Khosrow in jazirehdanesh(persian)
- Millenary Celebrations of Nasir Khusraw
- Sayyidna Nasir Khusraw
- Nasir Khusraw: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
- Nasir Khusraw: The Ruby of Badakhshan
- Nasir Khusraw: Fatimid Intellectual
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.de:Nasser Chosrau fa:ناصرخسرو
