Siahat-e Shargh (', ''The Journey to the East'') is a book in

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 ...

written by

Aqa Najafi Quchani Seyyed Mohammad Hassan Hosseini Quchani (), known as Aqa Najafi Quchani () was one of the Islamic scholars and jurists of the fourteenth century AH. He was one of the disciples of Muhammad Kadhim Khorasani and reached the degree of ijtihad at ...

(1878-1944). This book is the biography of the author, which was written in 1928. Expressing moral sermons, historical lessons and mentioning

Shiite Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

Islamic teachings and some critical socio-political issues in the form of memoirs, reporting on the situation of the people of

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 ...

and

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

and Islamic seminaries and some historical events are among the contents of this book. Popular and humorous literature, brevity, the use of local expressions, the use of proverbs, the extensive use of poetic evidence and fascinating illustrations are some of the most important written features of ''Siahat-e Shargh''.

Synopsis

The author ''Aqa Najafi Quchani'', in the book ''Siahat-e Shargh'', in a simple tone describes important historical events of his life and experiences such as Persian constitutionalism, petty tyranny in political history of Iran, the battle of

Iranian Iranian () may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Iran ** Iranian diaspora, Iranians living outside Iran ** Iranian architecture, architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia ** Iranian cuisine, cooking traditions and practic ...

freedom seekers and the First World War along with his memoirs. The book ''Siahat-e Shargh'' which is the autobiography of ''Aqa Najafi Quchani'', is a valuable source in clarifying the role of the clergies and the seminary of Najaf in the historical events of that period. It includes important material from the events of the contemporary history of Iran and Iraq, to more detailed issues like the behavior of the clergies with the people, the rules of the Islamic seminaries, and so on. During his studies, the author ''Aqa Najafi Quchani'' traveled from his native village Khosraviyeh to

Quchan Quchan (; ) is a city in the Central District of Quchan County, Razavi Khorasan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. It is approximately 97 km south of the border city of Ashgabat, capital city of ...

, then to

Mashhad Mashhad ( ; ), historically also known as Mashad, Meshhed, or Meshed in English, is the List of Iranian cities by population, second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about from Tehran. ...

, and in the following years to

Isfahan Isfahan or Esfahan ( ) is a city in the Central District (Isfahan County), Central District of Isfahan County, Isfahan province, Iran. It is the capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is located south of Tehran. The city ...

and

Najaf Najaf is the capital city of the Najaf Governorate in central Iraq, about 160 km (99 mi) south of Baghdad. Its estimated population in 2024 is about 1.41 million people. It is widely considered amongst the holiest cities of Shia Islam an ...

. The author, at the age of 16, comes to

from

for more education. There he learns the basics of Islamic sciences. During his stay in Mashhad, he encounters problems and finally decides to go to

with one of his friends. They went to

Yazd Yazd (; ) is a city in the Central District of Yazd County, Yazd province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. At the 2016 census, its population was 529,673. Since 2017, the historical city of Yazd is rec ...

on foot through

Tabas Tabas () is a city in the Central District of Tabas County, South Khorasan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. History Early history The history of Tabas dates back to pre-Islamic times. It was an im ...

and its vast deathly deserts, and from there they went to Isfahan with great difficulty, faced many dangers on the way, but finally reached their destination. Then, they settled in the ''Araban'' school and mosque in Isfahan, and started studying again. In the continuation of the story, it turns out that the life and education of the author ''Aqa Najafi Quchani'' in Isfahan is very difficult and sad due to the unhealthy government situation at the time that made life difficult for the people. ''Aqa Najafi Quchani'' then goes to

to change his living conditions and continue his education. In this episode, he describes the famine situation in Najaf due to the siege by the British army. In the meantime, the role of the clergy in fighting this widespread corruption and their support for the masses has been mentioned.

Author

The author of the book,

(1878-1944), is one of the

scholars of the late of

Qajar dynasty The Qajar family (; 1789–1925) was an Iranian royal family founded by Mohammad Khan (), a member of the Qoyunlu clan of the Turkoman-descended Qajar tribe. The dynasty's effective rule in Iran ended in 1925 when Iran's '' Majlis'', conven ...

and the early of

Pahlavi dynasty The Pahlavi dynasty () is an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian royal dynasty that was the Pahlavi Iran, last to rule Iran before the country's monarchy was abolished by the Iranian Revolution in 1979. It was founded in 1925 by Reza Shah, Reza S ...

era. He is buried in

. In addition to the book ''Siahat-e Shargh'', he has several books, such as '' Siahat-e Gharb'', which is about the

afterlife The afterlife or life after death is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's Stream of consciousness (psychology), stream of consciousness or Personal identity, identity continues to exist after the death of their ...

and the purgatory world based on

Islamic Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

perspective of the death.

Motivation and purpose of writing

The author seems to have had three goals and motivations for writing the book:

Writing style

The general style of the book is memoir. In many cases, ''Aqa Najafi Quchani'', in addition to his memoirs, has mentioned the sermon and expression of Islamic teachings and religious rules, and has mentioned many

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

verses,

Hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...

narrations and moral poems in this regard. By adopting this method, ''Aqa Najafi Quchani'' has clearly returned to the old method of traditional Islamic biography writing: he, like other Islamic famous scholars such as

Harith al-Muhasibi Al-Muḥāsibī () (781–857 CE) was a Muslim Arabs, Arab, Mutakallim, theologian, philosopher and Asceticism, ascetic. He is considered to be the founder of the Baghdad School of Islamic philosophy which combined Kalam and Sufism, and a teach ...

and

Al-Ghazali Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111), archaically Latinized as Algazelus, was a Shafi'i Sunni Muslim scholar and polymath. He is known as one of the most prominent and influential jurisconsults, legal theoreticians, muftis, philosophers, the ...

, attached great importance to the instructive and moral content of his memoirs. In some parts, while keeping the memoir format of the text, he mentions and discusses the issues of

Islamic jurisprudence ''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.Fiqh
Encyclopædia Britannica ''Fiqh'' is of ...

. In some cases, the author also mentions non-religious sciences such as philosophy, medicine, and geography in the form of memoirs; Of course, the mentioned method and style in some cases make the reader tired due to the complexity or specialization of the discussion or high detail. By describing the hardships of his life and those around him, he indirectly evokes the general atmosphere of the society of that day in Iran and Iraq in the minds of the audience. But with spoken literature and humor, he eliminates the sadness of the story. The use of local expressions, the use of proverbs that are sometimes slang and sometimes literary, the extensive use of poetic materials, creative imagery, omnific descriptions, the use of paradoxical facades are some of the other literary attractions of the book ''Siahat-e Shargh''.

Correction and printing

The book ''Siahat-e Shargh'' is the

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...

, originally written in 1928. This book was corrected and revised from original manuscripts by ''Ramezan Ali Shakeri'' in 1972 and was published in Iran, which was very well received. According to the corrector, ''Ramezan Ali Shakeri'', "two versions of manuscript of this book, one in 403 pages in

Octavo Octavo, a Latin word meaning "in eighth" or "for the eighth time", (abbreviated 8vo, 8º, or In-8) is a technical term describing the format of a book, which refers to the size of leaves produced from folding a full sheet of paper on which multip ...

size format and the other in 198 pages in

Quarto Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...

size format, are in the possession of the relatives of the deceased author, which was written in 1928 in the handwriting of

" and both versions has been used to produce final corrected book. The author has not categorized the book of ''Siahat-e Shargh'' into specific titles and chapters and the corrector has organized it to facilitate the work in terms of categorizing of the contents and also to preserve the intact text, titles and other scattered texts. The corrector has also used "the help of relevant scholars and professors and the relevant books and references" in explaining some of the contents of the book, which he has mentioned in the footnotes.

References

External links

Bücher MOst - Siahat-e Shargh

Siahat-e Shargh - takbook
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siahat-e Shargh Biographical books Iranian biographies Iranian autobiographies