Mu'in al-Din Ali Husayni Sarabi Tabrizi, commonly known by his ''

laqab Arabic names have historically been based on a long naming system. Many people from Arabic-speaking and also non-Arab Muslim countries have not had given name, given, middle name, middle, and family names but rather a chain of names. This system ...

'' (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 A da'i (, ) is generally someone who engages in Dawah, the act of inviting people to Islam. See also * Dawah * Da'i al-Mutlaq, 'the absolute (unrestricted) missionary' * Hujja * List of converts to Islam The following is a list of notabl ...

'' (preacher) of the

Safavid order The Safavid order () also called the Safaviyya () was a Kurds, Kurdish Sufism, Sufi order () founded by theNewman, Andrew J., ''Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire'', (I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 2006), 152. ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' Mysticism, ...

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 Azerbaijani ( ; , , ) or Azeri ( ), also referred to as Azerbaijani Turkic or Azerbaijani Turkish (, , ), is a Turkic language from the Oghuz sub-branch. It is spoken primarily by the Azerbaijani people, who live mainly in the Republic of A ...

, 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 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 ...

, 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

. Due to a vision seen by Mu'in al-Din Ali, he was given the ''

'' (honorific title) Qasim-i Anvar ("Distributor of Lights") by Sadr al-Din Musa. Following his completion of his training at the city of

Ardabil Ardabil (, ) is a city in northwestern Iran. It is in the Central District (Ardabil County), Central District of Ardabil County, Ardabil province, Ardabil province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. The ...

, Qasim-i Anvar given the ''

khirqa The khirqa is the initiatory cloak of the Sufi chain of spirituality, with which esoteric knowledge and barakah is passed from the Murshid or the Sheikh, Shaikh to the aspirant murid. The khirqa initiates an aspirant into the silsilah, the chain or ...

'' 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 Gilan Province () is one of the 31 provinces of Iran, in the northwest of the country and southwest of the Caspian Sea. Its capital is the city of Rasht. The province lies along the Caspian Sea, in Iran's Region 3, west of the province of ...

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 KhorasanDabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 (; , ) is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plateau in West Asia, West and Central Asia that encompasses wes ...

. 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 Herāt (; Dari/Pashto: هرات) is an oasis city and the third-largest city in Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Se ...

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 Mīrzā Muhammad Tarāghāy bin Shāhrukh (; ), better known as Ulugh Beg (; 22 March 1394 – 27 October 1449), was a Timurid sultan, as well as an astronomer and mathematician. Ulugh Beg was notable for his work in astronomy-related ma ...

(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 ''Ghazal'' is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry that often deals with topics of spiritual and romantic love. It may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss, or separation from the beloved, and t ...

'', ''

ruba'i A ''rubāʿī'' (, from Arabic ; plural: ) or ''chahārgāna(e)'' () is a poem or a verse of a poem in Persian poetry (or its derivative in English and other languages) in the form of a quatrain, consisting of four lines (four hemistichs). ...

s'', 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

* * * * {{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