A Critical Exploration into the Editing of Jâjarmi's Nazm-e Jawâher

Abstract

Iranians have long realized the influence and superiority of poetry over prose in teaching and learning; moreover, by using meter and rhyme, they have created many works in this field. Nazm-e Jawâher ("Order of Jems") is one of these prominent works that was created in order to facilitate the memorization of words’ meanings of the Holy Quran by the efforts of Molla Ali Jâjarmi, pen-named Zamiri, in the year 1205 AH. Zamiri teaches Quranic words in thirty odes corresponding to the thirty parts of the Quran. In composing this book of verse, Zamiri imitated Abu Nasr Farâhi's Nisâb al-Sibyân. There are three manuscripts of Nazm-e Jawâher; one of these is kept in the National Library and the others are kept in the Library of the Islamic Parliament. This work was published in 1401 AH based on the manuscript in the National Library; it has been corrected and printed by the publishing division of the National Halal Research Center. The current research is devoted to reviewing and assessing this edition with reference to the available manuscripts based on an analytical-descriptive method. Examining the printed and corrected version of Nazm-e Jawâher shows that there are errors and shortcomings in this book caused by the weakness of the main manuscript, the mistakes of the esteemed editors in interpreting the text, and the overlooking of the other manuscripts.

Keywords

• nazm-e jawâher
• zamiri jâjarmi
• editing