Jahan Malek Khatun

Her birthdate is not known, but her parents were married in 1324, so she must have been born after that date. Her father was Jalāl al-Dīn Masūʿdshāh and mother was a daughter of Ghiyas al-Din Hamadani. Her step-mother was a Chupanid princess, Sultānbakht - daughter of Dimashq Khwaja, who married Masūʿdshāh in Baghdad in 1342.[1] After her father's marriage she too was married to Amin al-Din Jahrumi between 1343 and 1347,[2] who was a companion of the Injuid ruler, and nephew of Shaikh Jamāl al-Dīn Abu Ishāq. Masūʿdshāh was deposed in 1339 by allies of Shams al-Dīn Muhammad and Chupanid Pir Hosayn. Masūʿdshāh fled to Luristan where he was finally killed while bathing by Yagi Basti's men in 1342.[3] Jahan Malek was brought up and guarded by his uncle Abu Ishāq. Abu Ishāq too finally fell from power in 1353 when Mubariz al-Din Muhammad captured Shiraz and executed Ishaq in 1357.

Jahan Malek Khatun primarily composed ghazals. She mentioned several rulers in her poems, like Mubariz al-Din Muhammad, Shah Shoja Mozaffari, Ahmad Jalayir, Shah Mansur and Miran Shah, giving a clue about her lifespan.[1] She was a contemporary of Ubayd Zakani, Khwaju Kermani and Hafez. She was at odds with Ubayd Zakani who mocked her poetry[1] alongside Kamal Khujandi. Her divan is the largest known divan from any woman poet of pre-modern times. It contains 4 qasidas, one strophe-poem, a lengthy elegy, 12 fragments, 357 rubai and 1413 ghazals.[2] Only 4 known manuscripts are located at British Library, National Library of France, Topkapi Palace and Cambridge University Library. She was influenced by Saadi and other women poetesses of her time including Padshah Khatun[4] and Qutluqshah Khatun[2] (wife of Öljaitü and daughter of Irinjin[5]).

Like many 13th century ghazal writers, Jahān was overshadowed by her more famous contemporary Hafez. She remained an obscure poet until her work was published in Iran for the first time in 1995.[6] Jahān made her entrance into the Western world when Dick Davis translated a sizable portion of her poetry into English in 2012[7] and again in 2019.