Ashk Peter Dahlén (born 3 June 1972 in Tafresh,

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

) is a Swedish

scholar A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

, Iranologist,

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

, and

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...

( docent) in

Persian language Persian ( ), also known by its endonym and exonym, endonym Farsi (, Fārsī ), is a Western Iranian languages, Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian subdivision ...

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

. He is quadrilingual in Swedish, Persian,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

, and

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

. He has published extensively in journals, and has written several books.

Background

Ashk Dahlén was

adopted Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...

at 7 months of age by a Swedish couple after having been living at an

orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or abusi ...

Narmak Narmak () is a neighbourhood in north-east Tehran, the capital of Iran. Located in the 4th and 8th regions, it has 100 little squares named by numbers like "Meidan 68" (68th Square) which some of them are big squares like HaftHoz, Haft Hoz and R ...

, north-east

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

, Iran. His life story provided inspiration, though fictional, for the IRIB3

Television drama series In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular su ...

The Green Journey ''The Green Journey'' (Persian :سفر سبز ''Safar-e Sabz'') is a 2001 Iranian drama TV series directed by Mohammad Hossein Latifi. The cast includes Parsa Pirouzfar, Mohammad Reza Sharifinia, Amin Tarokh, Sara Khoeniha and Gohar Kheirandis ...

'' (, 2002) directed by Mohammad Hossein Latifi, in which the main character, a young adoptee played by

Parsa Pirouzfar Parsa Pirouzfar (; born 13 September 1972) is an Iranian actor, theatre director, painter, playwright and translator. He is best known for his role in '' In the Eyes of the Wind'' (2009–2010), and ''Mum's Guest'' (2004). He has received various ...

, travels to Iran in search for his birth parents.

Career

Ashk Dahlén currently acts as Associate Professor (''docent'') in

Iranian languages The Iranian languages, also called the Iranic languages, are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family that are spoken natively by the Iranian peoples, predominantly in the Iranian Plateau. The Iranian langu ...

. His thesis ''Islamic Law, Epistemology and Modernity'' has been published by Routledge/Taylor & Francis. In 2003 he was recognized with the Beskow Award by The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities for the best dissertation in humanities. Ashk Dahlén is the author of several academic studies on

Persian literature Persian literature comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources have been within Greater Iran including present-day ...

, Iranian cultural history,

Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism ( ), also called Mazdayasnā () or Beh-dīn (), is an Iranian religions, Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zoroaster, Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, ...

, and

Sufism Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

. He is also translator of

classical Persian literature Persian literature comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources have been within Greater Iran including present-day ...

and of

Old Avestan Avestan ( ) is the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism. It belongs to the Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family and was originally spoken during the Old Iranian period ( – 400 BCE) by the Iranians living in the eastern po ...

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

. In 2001, he published his first work of translation in Swedish, ''Vassflöjtens sång'', consisting of a selection of poetry written by the Medieval Persian poet

Rumi Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (), or simply Rumi (30 September 1207 – 17 December 1273), was a 13th-century poet, Hanafi '' faqih'' (jurist), Maturidi theologian (''mutakallim''), and Sufi mystic born during the Khwarazmian Empire ...

. He has published literary translations of the '' Divān'' of

Hafez (), known by his pen name Hafez ( or 'the keeper'; 1325–1390) or Hafiz, “Ḥāfeẓ” designates someoone who has learned the Qurʾān by heart" also known by his nickname Lisan al-Ghaib ('the tongue of the unseen'), was a Persian lyri ...

, ''Chahār maqāla'' (Four Discourses) of

Nizami Aruzi Ahmad ibn Umar ibn Alī, known as Nizamī-i Arūzī-i Samarqandī () and also Arudi ("The Prosodist"), was a poet and prose writer who flourished between 1110 and 1161. He is particularly famous for his ''Chahar Maqala'' ("Four Discourses"), his ...

, and ''Lama'āt'' (Flashes) of Fakhr od-din Araqi. He has also made a Swedish translation of the ''

Gathas The Gathas () are 17 hymns in the Avestan language from the Zoroastrian oral tradition of the Avesta. The oldest surviving text fragment dates from 1323 CE, but they are believed by scholars to have been composed before 1000 BCE and passed dow ...

'' of

Zarathustra Zarathushtra Spitama, more commonly known as Zoroaster or Zarathustra, was an Iranian religious reformer who challenged the tenets of the contemporary Ancient Iranian religion, becoming the spiritual founder of Zoroastrianism. Variously descr ...

and of ''

Yasna Haptanghaiti The ''Yasna Haptanghaiti'' () (YH), Avestan for "Worship in Seven Chapters," is a set of seven hymns within the greater '' Yasna'' collection, the primary liturgical texts of the Zoroastrian Avesta. It is generally believed that the YH spans ''Yas ...

'' from

, which was published in 2023. Ashk Dahlén is a member of the Advisory Board of the

Encyclopædia Iranica ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English-language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times. Scope The ''Encyc ...

, the Research Collegium of the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul, The Iranian Academy of Philosophy, and the Nathan Söderblom Society. He is the Founding President of the Scandinavian Society for Iranian Studies (2010–2016).

Selected work in English

* ''Islamic Law, Epistemology and Modernity: Legal Philosophy in Contemporary Iran'', New York, 2003. * Transcendent Hermeneutics of Supreme Love : Rumi's Concept of Mystical "Appropriation", ''Orientalia Suecana'', Uppsala, 2003. * The Holy Fool in Medieval Islam: The Qalandariyat of Fakhr al-din Arāqi, ''Orientalia Suecana'', Uppsala, 2004. * Sirat al-mustaqim: One or Many? Religious Pluralism Among Muslim Intellectuals in Iran, ''The Blackwell Companion to Contemporary Islamic Thought'', ed. I. Abu-Rabi, Oxford, 2006. * The Hermeneutics of Post-modern Islam: The Case of ‘Abdol-Karim Sorush, ''Religious Texts in Iranian Languages'', red. F. Vahman och C. V. Pedersen, The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, Copenhagen, 2007. * Female Sufi Saints and Disciples: Women in the life of Jalāl al-din Rumi, ''Orientalia Suecana'', vol. 57, Uppsala, 2008. * Sufi Islam, ''The World's Religions: Continuities and Transformations'', ed. P. B. Clarke & Peter Beyer, New York, 2009. * Kingship and Religion in a Mediaeval Fürstenspiegel: The Case of the Chahār Maqāla of Nizāmi Aruzi, ''Orientalia Suecana'', vol. 58, Uppsala, 2009. * He addressed the Kayānian king: "I am a prophet!": The Image of Zoroaster in the Dāstān-e Goshtāsp (Tale of Goshtāsp), ''Orientalia Suecana'', Uppsala, 2012. * Thematic Features in Iranian National History Writings: The Case of the Dāstān-e Goshtāsp (Tale of Goshtāsp),
International Shāhnāme Conference. The Second Milliennium: Conference Volume
', ed. F. Hashabeiky, Uppsala, 2014. * Literary Interest in Zoroastrianism in Tenth-Century Iran: The Case of Daqiqi's Account of Goshtāsp and Zarathustra in the Shāhnāmeh, ''The Zoroastrian Flame: Exploring Religion, History and Tradition'', ed. A. Williams, S. Stewart & A. Hintze, London, 2016. * Living the Iranian dolce vita: Herodotus on wine drinking and luxury among the Persians, ''Achaemenid Anatolia: Persian Presence and Impact in the Western Satrapies 546–330 BC'', ed. Ashk P. Dahlén, Uppsala, 2020.

Textbooks (in Swedish)

* ''Modern persisk grammatik'' (Modern Persian Grammar), Stockholm, 3rd edition 2017 (2010, 2014), 456 p. * ''Persiska för nybörjare'' (Persian for Beginners), Stockholm, 2nd edition 2016 (2012), 420 p.

References

External links

* (in English)
Ashk Dahlén - Uppsala University
(in English)
Interview with Ashk Dahlén - IntellectInterviews
(in English) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dahlen, Ashk 1972 births People from Tafresh People from Markazi province Living people Swedish Iranologists Zoroastrian studies scholars Linguists from Sweden Academic staff of Uppsala University Iranian emigrants to Sweden Swedish translators Textbook writers Scholars of Persian literature Translators from Persian

Background

Career

Selected work in English

Textbooks (in Swedish)

See also

References

External links