Azari Tusi

Azari-yi Tusi, Fakhr al-Din Hamza ibn 'Ali Malik Isfara'ini (1382-1459 or 1461), poet, mystic, and writer the name of whose father has been recorded as 'Ali ibn Malik and 'Abd al-Malik. His title is recorded in some biographical sources as Nur al-Din. His father was one of the Sarbidar rulers of Bayhaq who departed for Isfara'in, hence his title Bayhaqi. He embarked upon his poetical career in his early youth and since he was born in the solar month of Azar (November-December), he chose the nom de plume Azari. He first composed panegyrics for Shahrukh, Tiymur's son, and was patronized by this prince, though he later turned toward Sufism and became a disciple of Shaykh Muhy al-Din Tusi Ghazali whom he accompanied on his travels, including his pilgrimage to Mecca. After the demise of the Shaykh in Aleppo, he became a disciple of Shah Ni'matullah and obtained the Sufi robe and the permission to provide others with spiritual guidance. He went twice on pilgrimage to Mecca on foot. While residing in the vicinity of the Ka'ba in Mecca, he composed Sa'y al-Safa and then departed for India. There he went to the court of the Bahmanid Sultan Ahmad Shah and was well received and patronized by him and was appointed the poet laureate of his court. When Sultan Ahmad had the construction of the city of Ahmadabad completed in 1428, Azari composed a qasida eulogizing the Shah and the city and also composed two couplets which were engraved on the top of the gate of the seat of the government. He began composing the Bahman-namih on the history of the kings of the Bahmanid dynasty at the behest of Ahmad Shah. When he came to treat of the events of his reign, he presented it to the Shah, he asked for permission to return to his homeland. Being a sincere devotee of hus, Ahmad Shah tried to change his mind, but Prince 'Ala' al-Din interceded with the king on his behalf and obtained the permission upon his commitment to complete it. Azeri departed for Khurasan and spent the last 30 days of his life in his hometown and occupied himself with devotions, treading the Sufi path, and composition of books and poetry. Most of the rulers and notables joined his audience requesting spiritual guidance. He wrote an epistle to the Bahmanid 'Ala' al-Din in 1451 forbidding him from drinking wine. The latter replied to the Shaykh himself repenting his evil habit. He died at the age of 82 and was buried in Isfara'in. His works include: 1. a history of the Bahmanid sultans of Deccan in verse on the model of Firdawsi's Shah-namih and Nizami's Iskandar-namih in the same meter. He versified this history to the reign of Sultan Ahmad Shah when he was still in Deccan, but he promised to complete it after his return to Khurasan. He continued its composition to the reign of 'Ala' al-Din Humayun Shah 1457-1460 and would send the installments to Deccan; 2. Jawahir al-Asrar, in four chapters: Secrets of the Word of Allah treating of the detached letters opening some Qur'anic chapters, Secrets of Prophetic Traditions devoted to the mystical interpretation of some Prophetic traditions, Secrets of the Words of the Saints on the exposition of the words of some mystics, and Secrets of the Words of the Poets on the meaning of some of some difficult verses. The work includes chapters on acrostic poems, semantic riddles, and other literary categories. Selections of the work, entitled Muntakhab-i Jawahir al-Asrar were published together with Jami's Ashi''at al-Luma'at and some other mystical treatises in Tehran in 1924; 3. Mir'at including four chapters: 1. Al-Tammat al-Kubra on the hierarchies of the heavenly and material worlds and the views of scholars and monotheists on the actualization of the creation of the world, the hierarchies of beings, the philosophy of the existence of man, relations of the horizons with souls and further material of a similar nature; 2. Ghara'ib al-Dunya on the wonders of the world in the realms of inanimate beings, plants, and animals, and further material; 3. 'Aja'ib al-A'la on the wonders in the heavenly worlds and the firmament; 4. Sa'y al-Safa on the history of Mecca and the rituals of pilgrimage to Mecca; the title of this work is also recorded in some manuscripts as 'Aja'ib wa Ghara'ib and 'Aja'ib al-Ghara'ib. The main source of this collection is Zakariya Qazwini's 'Aja'ib al-Makhluqat wa Ghara'ib al-Mawjudat, of which the compiler makes mention as 'Aja'ib al-Dunya. The second chapter of the work incorporates the introduction and the second chapter of Zakariya Qazwini's work, entitled Fi 'l-Sufliyyat. Its first chapter is based on the first chapter of Qazwini entitled Fi 'l-'Ulwiyyat. No complete manuscript of the work is extant. Its title is mentioned in historical and biographical sources as Ghara'ib al-Dunya wa 'Aja'ib al-A'la (titles of the second and third chapters of the work); 'Aja'ib al-Ghara'ib; 'Aja'ib al-Dunya. 4. Divan, including his qasidas, ghazals, tarji'-bands, tarkib-bands, and mathnawis. His qasidas mainly consist of eulogies of the prophet and his family, and his ghazals are tinged by mystical themes. Besides Mathnawi-yi Azar which is composed on the model of Mirza Muhammad Sadiq Tafrishi's Mathnawi-yi Suz-u-gudaz, a Mughanni-namih and a Saqi-namih are also included in his Divan. Azari's style is simple and unadorned, free from the complexities of later poets. He follows Sa'di and particularly Amir Khusraw Dihlawi and his poetry is imbued with the themes, similes, and metaphors of the ghazals of these two poets.

Atashkadih-yi Azar (2, 443-445); Asar-afarinan (1, 21-22); Tarikh-i Adabiyyat dar Iran (4, 323-333); Da'irat al-Ma'arif-i Buzurg-i Islami (1, 266-268).