Mahmoud Shabestari or Mahmūd Shabestarī (‎; 1288–1340) is one of the most celebrated

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

Sufi 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 ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

s of the 14th century.

Life and work

Shabistari was born in the town of

Shabestar Shabestar () is a city in the Central District of Shabestar County, East Azerbaijan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. Shabestar, with an altitude of 1,400 meters, is located in the southern foothills ...

near

Tabriz Tabriz (; ) is a city in the Central District (Tabriz County), Central District of Tabriz County, in the East Azerbaijan province, East Azerbaijan province of northwestern Iran. It serves as capital of the province, the county, and the distric ...

in 1288 (687 AH), where he received his education. He became deeply versed in the symbolic terminology of

Ibn Arabi Ibn Arabi (July 1165–November 1240) was an Andalusian Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest com ...

. He wrote during a period of

Mongol Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China (Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family of M ...

invasions. His most famous work is a mystic text called '' The Secret Rose Garden'' (''Gulshan-i Rāz'') written about 1311 in rhyming couplets (

Mathnawi Mathnawi ( ), also spelled masnavi, mesnevi or masnawi, is a kind of poem written in rhyming couplets, or more specifically "a poem based on independent, internally rhyming lines". Most mathnawi poems follow a Meter (poetry), meter of eleven, or o ...

). This poem was written in response to fifteen queries concerning Sufi

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...

posed to "the Sufi literati of Tabriz" by Rukh Al Din Amir Husayn Harawi (d. 1318). It was also the main reference used by

François Bernier François Bernier (25 September 162022 September 1688) was a French physician and traveller. He was born in Joué-Etiau in Anjou. He stayed (14 October 165820 February 1670) for around 12 years in India. His 1684 publication "Nouv ...

when explaining Sufism to his European friends (in: ''Lettre sur le Quietisme des Indes''; 1688) Other works include ''The Book of Felicity'' (Sa'adat-nāma) and ''The Truth of Certainty about the Knowledge of the Lord of the Worlds'' (Ḥaqq al-yaqīn fi ma'rifat rabb al-'alamīn. The former is regarded as a relatively unknown poetic masterpiece written in ''khafif'' meter, while the latter is his lone work of prose.Lewisohn (1995) p. 24/39

Notes

References

*Leonard Lewisohn, ''Beyond Faith and Infidelity''. Cruzon Press. 1995 *E.G. Browne, ''Literary History of Persia''. (Four volumes, 2,256 pages, and twenty-five years in the writing). 1998. *Jan Rypka, ''History of Iranian Literature''. Reidel Publishing Company. 1968 . *François Bernier, ''Lettre sur le Quiétisme des Indes'' in: '' Histoire des Ouvrages des Savans'',

Henri Basnage de Beauval Henri Basnage de Beauval (7 August 1656 – April 1710) was a French Huguenot lawyer, controversist and lexicographer, known also as a journal editor. Life He was born at Rouen, son of the advocate Henri Basnage de Franquesnay and brother of Jacqu ...

(ed.), September 1688. * *

External links

www.poetry-chaikhana.comwww.poetseers.org
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shabistari, Mahmud 1288 births 1320s deaths Iranian Sufis Sufi poets 13th-century Iranian people 14th-century Iranian writers 13th-century Persian-language poets 14th-century Persian-language poets People from Shabestar Poets from the Ilkhanate Ancient Persian mystical literature Ibn Arabi

Life and work

See also

Notes

References

External links