Qasim-i Anvar

Mu'in al-Din Ali Husayni Sarabi Tabrizi, commonly known by his laqab (honorific title) of Qasim-i Anvar (Persian: قاسم انوار; 1356 – 1433) was a Sufi mystic, poet, and a leading da'i (preacher) of the Safavid order.[1]

1492 copy of Qasim-i Anvar's diwan. Persian manuscript, probably made in Shiraz

Biography

Born in 1356 in Sarab in the Azerbaijan region,[1] Mu'in al-Din Ali was a native speaker of Azeri Turkish, but was also bilingual in Persian, which he preferred.[2] Mu'in al-Din Ali grew up in the neighbouring city of Tabriz, where he received his education.[3] In his mid-teens,[3] he became a disciple of Sadr al-Din Musa (died 1391), who was the head of the Safavid order. Due to a vision seen by Mu'in al-Din Ali, he was given the laqab (honorific title) Qasim-i Anvar ("Distributor of Lights") by Sadr al-Din Musa. Following his completion of his training at the city of Ardabil, Qasim-i Anvar was granted the right to religious conversion and offer spiritual teaching.[1] Qasim-i Anvar composed several mystical treatises, ghazals, ruba'is, and mathnawis. Some of them were in Azeri Turkish and Gilaki.[1]

He was a Timurid propagandist.[4]

Qasim-i Anvar is the author of a popular Masnavi entitled Anis al-arifin (Mystics' Companion), an explanation of Sufi terminology, and also a divan of Sufi poetry.[5]

A well-known Sufi sheikh who had a large following in Herat, Qasim-i Anvar was suspected of collaboration with an assailant who stabbed Shahrukh and was banished from Herat.[6]

Qasim-i Anvar also spent many years in Gilan and learnt the vernacular of the region and has even a ghazal in Gilaki.

Poetry

از هر طرفی چهره گشایی که منم
در هر صفتی جلوه‌گر آیی که منم
با اینهمه گهگاه غلط می‌افتم
[7]نادان کس و بله روستایی که منم

You show me your face everywhere I see
and you try to get any good attribute
so I sometimes make a mistake that's why
I am an ignorant person or maybe I'm rural

References
  1. Savory 1978, p. 721.
  2. Javadi & Burrill 1988, pp. 251–255.
  3. Lewisohn 2019, p. 190.
  4. قاسم انوار و غزلی که بزبان گیلکی سروده ,مجله ارمغان , دوره بیست و ششم، تیر 1336 - شماره 4 , صفحه 179 , تصویر | پایگاه مجلات تخصصی نور
  5. Thackston, Wheeler McIntosh. 1994. A millennium of classical Persian poetry a guide to the reading & understanding of Persian poetry from the tenth to the twentieth century. Bethesda, Md: Ibex publishers. p. 69.
  6. Thackston, Wheeler McIntosh. 1994. p.69.
  7. http://www.mibosearch.com/word.aspx?wName=%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%85+%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B1

Sources
  • Javadi, H.; Burrill, K. (1988). "Azerbaijan x. Azeri Turkish Literature". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Volume III/3: Azerbaijan IV–Bačča(-ye) Saqqā. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 251–255. ISBN 978-0-71009-115-4.
  • Lewisohn, Leonard (2019). "Sufism in Late Mongol and Early Timurid Persia, from 'Ala' al-Dawla Simnānī (d. 736/1326) to Shāh Qāsim Anvār (d. 837/1434)". In Babaie, Sussan (ed.). Iran After the Mongols. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 177–211. ISBN 978-1788315289.
  • Savory, R.M. (1978). "Ḳāsim-i Anwār". In van Donzel, E.; Lewis, B.; Pellat, Ch. & Bosworth, C. E. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition, Volume IV: Iran–Kha. Leiden: E. J. Brill. OCLC 758278456.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.