Matn/Pizhūhī-i Adabī (Sep 2023)
Three Different Approaches (Hostile, Mythical, and Admiring) to Nasir Khusraw in the History of Persian Literature
Abstract
Nasir Khusraw is one of the great and influential figures in the history, culture, and literature of Iran. But because of his political and ideological activity in the dominant religion, some have sometimes deliberately ignored him, and beyond that, some have sometimes insulted him the worst. Nevertheless, the Iranian literary friend taste has always praised the eloquence of his poems, regardless of the religion of the poet, and some of those poems have been remembered and preserved over the centuries. This article intends to examine and analyze the extent and manner of his presence in the long-term written memory of Iranians by collecting any mention of Nasir Khusraw's name from the time after his death until the year 1000 AH. This research has been done using a descriptive-analytical method. According to the findings of this study, there are three different approaches to Nasir Khusraw in the texts. He is often referred to as ugly in the Islamic sectology texts. In some texts, regardless of ideological point of view, his poems are praised and his life is discussed, and the approach of some texts to his character is more mythical than real. The hostile mention of Nasir Khusrow's name has diminished since the military and propaganda activities of the Ismaili sect declined, and Nasir Khusrow's image has changed from a religious preacher to a Sufi who has miracles.Keywords: Ismaili, History of Literature, Tazkereh, Nasir Khusraw. IntroductionNasir Khusraw is one of the most unique poets in Persian literature. He is not a king praise poet, a mystic poet, a lyric literature composer, or an epic or fictional poet. He is a rare character; no one has ever been similar to him before, and no one has ever thought of imitating him. He himself had a challenging life full of ups and downs; the mention of him in classical texts is also paradoxical. Although Nasir Khusraw's level of poetry is worthy of being among the top six poets of Persian literature, the difference between his religion and Iranians' dominant religion has caused him not to be noticed as much as he deserves, and Persian's official literature has ignored him. (Ripka, 2002: 273) Some European scholars have even claimed that Nasir Khusraw was unknown in Iran, and Iranians recognized him after Western research! Even though these claims may be correct in a general sense, they deserve to be doubted and revised with a scrutinizing eye. The taste of Iranian poetry lovers focuses on eloquence and good locution, even when the composer is unknown or has subjects in poems that don't agree with his beliefs. In other words, because of Iranian's spirit of tolerance and pluralism, even though they knew that these poems were composed by a heretic, they did not put them aside. Now, we are going to examine how Nasir Khusraw has been mentioned in the literary history of Iran. Following his death, the sources that he was referenced in are revealed in this paper. With this detail, this article seeks to answer these questions (Research Questions):Are the ways that Nasir Khusraw has been mentioned in classic texts (after his death until the end of 10th century AH) the same or are they different? Are they positive or negative?How many of the ways that Nasir Khusraw has been mentioned in these texts are real or legendary?Why do the remembrances of Nasir Khusraw have legendary aspects? Literature reviewWe did not find any research on this content anywhere. Of course, Alice Hunsberger (2001) has discussed some of the books that mention Nasir Khusraw in a part of her book, and Mr. Dehghani (2018) mentioned some other texts. Earlier, in the book of Nasser Khusrow's image (Dashti, 1983: 14-16), there are several pages about the contradictory mention of Nasir Khusraw in the past. However, there are also some cases in literary history books, especially Zabihullah Safa's literary history (1990: Vol. 2, p. 444). DiscussionUnlike some who believe that Nasir Khusraw was not a well-known person in Iran, we believe he was a famous person. This claim can be proved for several reasons: 1. A large number of manuscripts of Nasir Khusraw's Diwan have been left. 2. A large number of stories about Nasir Khusraw have remained in Iranian written sources, and the people of Badakhshan still talk about them, which sometimes give him the vision of a saint or a demon. These legends have made their way into the old Iranian literary, historical, and geographical books. This also proves their antiquity and extent. Anyway, what we found in our research is that Nasir Khusraw was mentioned in nine sources in the sixth century, in four sources in the seventh century, in seven sources in the eighth century, in nine sources in the ninth century, and two sources in the tenth century. That proves Nasir Khusraw was never forgotten. After the 11th century, Nasir Khusraw's name appears in so many sources that an analysis of all of them is beyond the scope of one article. The mention of Nasir Khusraw in Persian sources is never similar and has at least three forms:3-1. Hostile mention of Nasir Khusraw's nameNasir Khusraw was an ideological and political activist and a controversial poet. It is normal for those who are against his religion to insult and curse him. During the studied period, Nasir Khusraw wasnot always remembered with admiration. The authors of the books MELAL WA NEHAL (Knowledge of Nations and Religions) and people who look at the ideological and political role of Nasir Khusraw in Badakhshan mention him with cursing and insulting. Nasir Khusraw's contemporary jurist, Hosseini Alavi (1997: 81), is the first author who mentions him badly in the book Bayan al-Adayan and calls him misguided and damned (MAL'OON), which has caused many people to go astray. Imam Fakhr Razi (1992: 89) has continued this behavior in the Eteghadato Feragh ol-Moslemin va Almoshrekin and Seyyed Morteza Hassani Razi (2004: 187) in the book Tabserat ol-Awam, which is again in Islamic MELAL WA NEHAL. Interestingly, the same tone of cursing was continued by Sheikh Mahmoud Shabastri (1991: 186), a famous mystic of the 8th century, in Saadat Nameh, whocalled him one of the heretics.3-2. Admirable mention of the name of Nasir KhusrawThe public taste of Iranians did not pay much attention to Nasir Khusra's ideological aspect but looked at his poems from the perspective of art. In this approach, if the view of Nasir's personality is not positive, there is no sign of the aggressive tone of the previous group. Here, rather than focusing on Nasser's opinion, attention is paid to the rhetoric of his poetry. In the Hada'egh ol-Sehr of Rashid Watwat (1969: 689), the poems of Suzani Samarkandi (Awfi, 1903: 202), Zaheer Faryabi (2002: 89), and Shah Nematullah Vali (2001: 859) are mentioned with respect. The other group of books that mention him is the historical books of the 8th and 9th centuries of Hijri, in which writers such as Fazlullah Hamdani (2008: 76) Hafez Abrou (1985: 83) talk about Nasir Khusraw and his travelogue, in the section mentioning the Fatimid caliphs and Ismaili activities in Khorasan. There is no cursing in these texts. One of the reasons for this tone change is the decline of the sectarian and preaching activities of Ismailiya and their overall security-political and ideological danger for the post-Mongol Islamic society. After this period, there was not much news about Alamuti's guerilla activities and the atmosphere of real or fake terror among the Ismaili activists, which provoked a sharp reaction in the opposition. Another reason for lowering this tone of stubbornness is that Nasir Khusraw's character entered a legendary and mystic atmosphere. As in most sources of the next group, he becomes a miraculous Sufi. This category, of course, can be related to the change in the activity style of the Ismaili sect after the Mongol period, which continued in the guise of a Sufi sect until the middle of the Qajar reign.3-3. A legendary approach to Nasir Khusraw The legendary approach to Nasir is the most dominant in dealing with his personality and life. The content of these legends, in most of which Nasir has superhuman strength and magical power, according to his followers, indicates the extraordinary power of their mentor, the same thing that in the mystical discourse, becomes "the miracles of saints" (Keramat e Oliya). Perhaps, the first book in which such stories are narrated is Asar al-Bilad and Akhbar al-Abad Qazvini. According to Qazvini's report, Nasir Khusraw was the King of Balkh and fled to Yumgan due to the rebellion of his people, where he built mysterious buildings with strange moving paintings on the walls and hidden doors that were opened by pulling a rope! (Ref: Qazvini, 1994: Vol. 1, p. 566) Another legendary approach that we know about Nasir Khusraw is to associate him with some intellectual and literary celebrities. In this approach, the writer, who is a fan of a literary or mystical personality, intends to raise his status by attributing the friendship and discipleship of one or more great personals to the person or sheikh in question; for example, in Rashidi's Tarbkhaneh (1985: 157) written in 867 AH, Nasir Khusraw's connection and devotion to the famous Khayyam is mentioned, and in Labab al-Bab of Dawlatshah Samarqandi (2003: 61), Nasir's devotion to the famous Abul Hasan Kharqani is mentioned. The most important legend that exists about Nasir is the same story that is known as a "fake autobiography" or "personal biography" in the research about Nasir Khusraw. This legend has attracted so much attention that, until the beginning of the last century, it was also printed in some prefaces of the Diwan. This autobiography is taken from an Arabic source called "Rasalah al-Nadamah Ela Zad al-Qiyamah" and it was translated for the first time by Taqiuddin Kashi (died 1016 AH) in the biography (TAZKAREH) of Kholasat al-Ashar and Zabdah al-Afkar (see Dehghani, 2018: 24). This is the same detailed story, part of which is related to Nasser's secret and anonymous presence in the market of Neishabur city and seeing how in the market someone who recited Nasir Khusraw's poem was hanged and his flesh was cut into pieces! The origin of this legend, or at least a part of it, has a very long history, as stated in the introduction to Nasir Khusraw's manuscript, "Selections of Davin Shoara Seth" (written in 714 Hijri). According to this long legend, Nasser becomes the vizier of the caliph of Baghdad, then, due to an accident, he is taken to Egypt, where he becomes a vizier and writes books conforming to their wishes, etc. ConclusionIn this article, we tried to analyze the long-term and dominant view of Iranians about Nasir Khusraw by collecting sources that have mentioned Nasir Khusraw. Repeating Nasir Khusraw 's name and poems several times in various Iranian texts proves that he has always been present in the memory of Iranians. The result of the research is as follows: Although Nasir Khusraw's religion was different from the religion of most Iranians, and some of his poems explain and propagate this distinctive religion, the history of Iranian culture and literature often mentions him and his poetic power with honor. In the meantime, Nasir Khusraw is mentioned with curses and insults only in the books of MELAL WA NEHAL or the works that were influenced by them. Of course, the hateful mention of Sheikh Mahmoud Shabestari is surprising in this regard. Gradually, this strict approach against Nasir Khusraw is reduced because he has found a Sufi character. Adopting a Sufi character is parallel to the change inthe Ismaili fighting method in the periods after the Mongol invasion. Another approach in looking at Nasir Khusraw is the legendary approach. In many sources, magical legends are attributed to Nasir Khusraw. This approach has been around since Nasir Khusraw's time and has gradually increased. Sometimes, this myth-making approach is combined with Sufi personification for him.
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