Mu'in al-Din Ali Husayni Sarabi Tabrizi, commonly known by his ''
laqab'' (honorific title) of Qasim-i Anvar (; 1356 – 1433) was a
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 ...
mystic, poet, and a leading ''
da'i'' (preacher) of the
Safavid order.
Biography
Mu'in al-Din Ali was born in 1356 in
Sarab in the
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...
region. According to the historians H. Javadi and K. Burrill / ''
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 ...
'', he was a native speaker of
Azeri Turkish, while the historians Siavash Lornejad and Ali Doostzadeh state that he was most likely a native speaker of
Fahlavi. Mu'in al-Din Ali preferred to use Persian, which he was fluent in. He grew up in the neighbouring city of
Tabriz, where he received his education. In his mid-teens, he became a disciple of
Sadr al-Din Musa (died 1391), who was the head of the
Safavid order.
Due to a vision seen by Mu'in al-Din Ali, he was given the ''
laqab'' (honorific title) Qasim-i Anvar ("Distributor of Lights") by Sadr al-Din Musa. Following his completion of his training at the city of
Ardabil, Qasim-i Anvar given the ''
khirqa'' by Sadr al-Din Musa. This cloak granted Qasim-i Anvar the right to convert others to his faith and offer spiritual teaching. Qasim-i Anvar later stayed in
Gilan for some time as a
missionary
A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...
, and then went to
Khurasan. He initially stayed at
Nishapur
Nishapur or Neyshabur (, also ) is a city in the Central District (Nishapur County), Central District of Nishapur County, Razavi Khorasan province, Razavi Khorasan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district.
Ni ...
, but was forced to move to
Herat due to facing hostility from the ''
ulama
In Islam, the ''ulama'' ( ; also spelled ''ulema''; ; singular ; feminine singular , plural ) are scholars of Islamic doctrine and law. They are considered the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious knowledge in Islam.
"Ulama ...
'' (clergy). According to his own writings, Qasim-i Anvar had established himself at Herat by 1377/78, and would stay there until his banishment in 1426/27.
Following his banishment from Herat, Qasim-i Anvar went to the city of
Samarkand
Samarkand ( ; Uzbek language, Uzbek and Tajik language, Tajik: Самарқанд / Samarqand, ) is a city in southeastern Uzbekistan and among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central As ...
, where he stayed at the court of Shahrukh's son,
Ulugh Beg (died 1449). A few years later, Qasim-i Anvar went back to Khurasan, where he died at
Kharjird in October/November 1433.
Works
Qasim-i Anvar composed several mystical treatises, ''
ghazals'', ''
ruba'is'', and ''
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 ...
s''. The vast majority of his poems were in Persian. Some of them were in Azeri Turkish and
Gilaki. His poems in Azeri Turkish may have only been written during his stay in Khurasan, in order to promote the Safavid order, and due to both Turkic and Persian experiencing a "literary renaissance." However, it may also indicate the rise of bilingualism in Qasim-i Anvar's birth region, where Fahlavi and Turkic speakers started to get in touch with each other.
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Qasim-i Anvar
Azerbaijani-language poets
14th-century Persian-language poets
1433 deaths
1356 births
People from Sarab, East Azerbaijan
Poets from the Timurid Empire
15th-century Persian-language poets