Antropological Concept in Mystical Poetry of Parvin Etesami

The essay reflects on the creativity of Parvin Etesami (1907 – 1941), a distinguished Persian poet, little known abroad. We highlight anthropological teaching based on the religious worldview as one of the aspects of her mystical poetry. Created in the era when Persian literature and its classical tradition were breaking, Parvin’s poems affirm loyalty to the mystical tradition and the ways of self-creation of an individual laid down in it. The article shows that the Muslim science of behavior guides a person striving for wisdom and determines their path. The preaching of morality in Parvin’s poems, coupled with her mystical enlightenment, attempts to return her contemporaries to the classical world of their tradition. This research investigates the concept of man and is based on the only collection of 60 poems published in Russian (Journey of Tears, 1984), as well as on the new poetic translations. Two of the poems translated by M. Yahyapour and M. L. Reysner are introduced to the readers for the first time. The paper describes different facets of personality and fate, found in poetic self-reflection, the most significant of which is Parvin’s Auto-Epitaph. The values corresponding to Parvin’s spiritual personality are revealed: purity of soul, strictness, restraint, intellectualism, moral seriousness. Following the Sufi teachings about men, Parvin criticizes deviations from the true path —such as susceptibility to passions and pride. The poet considers them the destroyers and believes that they occur because of the evil forces distorting the human soul. The poet proposes a way out for the soul captured by the world — the knowledge of the Truth and the appeal to the experience of the righteous. The essay demonstrates that in Parvin’s poetry, fidelity to a thousand-year-old spiritual tradition and individual creativity appear as an organic unity. In the era that leads a person of the West and the East away from the spiritual roots of culture, the poet becomes a gnostic and a mystic in his individual creative life and, abandoning modern trends, consciously takes the path of mystical enlightenment and brings to her readers the wisdom found on these paths.

Sharwīn of Dastabay: Reconstructing an early Persian Tale

The article discusses a little-known lost Persian tale, The Story of Sharwin of Dastabay, and traces references to it in Arabic, Persian, and Byzantine sources. The earliest references to the story come from the mid- to late eighth century, and it seems to have remained well known in Arabic and Persian literature until the early twelfth and possibly the early fourteenth century, while Byzantine literature shows that at least some of its elements circulated already in the mid-sixth century. The article also discusses how the story may have been transmitted both in Iran and, crossing the linguistic boundary, in an Arabic context. Though much of the story remains unknown, it is clear that it relates to later epics and reveals something of the literary context of Firdawsi and his Shahname.

Husrev u Shirin-Farhad u Shirin Masnavis and Ferhad as the Primary Hero in Turkish Literature

The story of Husrev and Shirin, which was first put into poetry in Firdevsi's Shahname, was later written by many poets. It is undoubtedly NizamiGanjavi who brought the story of Husrev and Şirin to the real fame in Persian literature. Nizami's Husrev u Shirin Masnavi inspired many Persian and Turkish poets who came after him. Each poet has immortalized this story according to his own imagination. In Turkish literature, poets have produced original works by changing the story according to their own traditions and belief cultures instead of translating the story from Persian literature. In this context, Ali Shir Nevayi and Lamii Chelebi's Farhad u Shirin masnavis are two remarkable works. While Hüsrev was the main hero of Husrev u Shirin masnavis in Persian literature, the real hero was Farhad in these two masnavis. In Turkish folk literature, Ferhad stands out as the only hero without mentioning Husrev. This is a result of the efforts of Turkish poets to construct a new story with Farhad. In our study, the subject of why a story whose main hero is Husrev evolved into Farhad in Turkish literature will be examined

Rumi whirling in a secular age: Applying medieval Sufi wisdom to the questions of our day

In a secular society, obsessed with materialism and consumerism, the 13th-century mystical teacher and poet, Jalaluddin Rumi (1207–1273), has found a surprisingly widespread following. While his work is often misunderstood and diluted, this research proposed the opposite: that Rumi may broaden his modern admirers’ worldview and bring about an encounter with God. This study thus applied the insights of an 800-year-old mystic to the questions of today. The research comprised of a qualitative literature research method that first explored the life and writings of Rumi, and then investigated the issues and yearnings of a secular society as proposed by philosopher Charles Taylor. The study showed that Rumi may indeed open up the enclosed secular worldview by adding significance to our living, God to our loving and hope to our dying.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article was a study in religion – applying the work of a medieval Sufi mystic to the philosophical questions of today. It also considered Anatolian history and Persian literature and offered philosophical options. It further related to missiology, as well as systematic and practical theology.

Husrev u Shirin-Farhad u Shirin Masnavis and Ferhad as the Primary Hero in Turkish Literature

The story of Husrev and Shirin, which was first put into poetry in Firdevsi's Shahname, was later written by many poets. It is undoubtedly NizamiGanjavi who brought the story of Husrev and Şirin to the real fame in Persian literature. Nizami's Husrev u Shirin Masnavi inspired many Persian and Turkish poets who came after him. Each poet has immortalized this story according to his own imagination. In Turkish literature, poets have produced original works by changing the story according to their own traditions and belief cultures instead of translating the story from Persian literature. In this context, Ali Shir Nevayi and Lamii Chelebi's Farhad u Shirin masnavis are two remarkable works. While Hüsrev was the main hero of Husrev u Shirin masnavis in Persian literature, the real hero was Farhad in these two masnavis. In Turkish folk literature, Ferhad stands out as the only hero without mentioning Husrev. This is a result of the efforts of Turkish poets to construct a new story with Farhad. In our study, the subject of why a story whose main hero is Husrev evolved into Farhad in Turkish literature will be examined.

World Literature and Translation in Persian Literature Textbooks

Persian literature textbooks, designed, compiled, and distributed by a state bureau run by the Ministry of Education, Organization for Educational Research and Planning, also have sections on the theory and practice of translating world literature. The current study deals with those passages, how they are represented and how they are consequently interpreted in the light of Venuti’s conceptualization of domesticating and foreignizing translation. It is aimed to understand the status, significance, and visibility of translators in the corpus under study. The results of content analysis for the five high school literature textbooks (grades 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12) indicate a strong sense of domestication and appropriation by the compilers of the textbooks. The following strategies are recognized to have the largest share in the textbooks: no mention of the name of the translator, Iranization, and appropriation. The strategies are followed by samples for each theme. The paper concludes that the polyphonic world promised to be achieved by studying foreign and world literature is not, therefore, attained in such a context, as the emphasis is ultimately on the target ideologies and worldviews. The study also sheds doubt on the assumption that domestication is confined to the so-called imperialistic cultures like the Anglo-American.

The “evidential paradigm” in Persian Classics: princes from Sarandip and other clue interpreters

The rich history of Persian literature reception in the West includes such a major event as the translation of the Persian narrative into European languages. This has influenced the comprehension of a new epistemological paradigm in the humanities. The story under discussion is the first chapter of Amir Khusrav Dihlavi’s poem “Eight Paradises” (Hašt bihišt, 1299–1301), in which the Indian princess tells the Sassanian king Bahram Gur a tale of three princes from Sarandip (Sri Lanka, Ceylon). As the plot progresses, the princes restore the events of the past according to clues and signs and repeatedly demonstrate their firāsa or ability to guess based on the analysis of evidence. The stages of European reception of this story are well known. All this material is discussed in the methodologically famous work “Clues: Roots of an Evidential Paradigm” (1986) by Carlo Ginzburg, who connected the “evidential paradigm” with the Arabic firāsa, a “complex notion which, in general, designated the ability to pass, on the basis of clues, directly from the known to the unknown”; Ginzburg noted that the Sarandip princes were famous exactly for that ability. In this article, the Persian prose sources of the Three princes tale are under discussion, as well as some other sagacity stories from Persian didactic books (adab). Among the detective characters Abū ʻAlī ibn Sīnā gained particular popularity; in some stories, the great philosopher and author of the fundamental canon “The Medicine” acts as a doctor who recognizes a disease by symptoms and at the same time as a detective who restores the course of events from evidence and refutes unfair accusations before a judge.

İSKÂT-I İZÂFÂT TEVHÎDİ-II

“At-tawheedu isqāt al-idhāfāt”, which is a definition of tawheed, that states “tawheed is to deny the attributes” is a concept of tawheed belonging to high mysticism. One of the evaluations made about the tawheed of “isqāt al-idhāfāt” attributed to Junaid Baghdadi, is that it is the tawheed of true tawheed and havâssu'l-havâss. Isqāt al-idhāfāt tawheed is also presented as a benchmark, which is an important criterion of true tawheed in sufi literature. The fact that havâssu'l-havâss is a definition of tawheed is sufficient evidence to express its difficulty. It is for this reason that it is said that “ isqāt al-idhāfāt, which is the perfection of tawheed, is one of the intensified and difficult tasks of arbāb-i tahqīq”. When the isqāt al-idhāfāt tawheed is evaluated within the framework of the Sunni mysticism and unity of existing paradigms, some interpretation differences arise. This definition of tawheed has been mentioned a lot in the verse and prose texts of classical Turkish literature. When isqāt al-idhāfāt tawheed, (which has different interpretations), is used for human beings and other creatures, it does not give a real effect to bad thoughts, causes, and reduces the existence of creatures to the level of imagination and does not give them the rank of real existence (wujud-u-genuki); When used for the divine essence, it is based on the concept of Ahadiyet. As far as it is known, Farid al-Din Attar was the first person to use the term “isqāt al-idhāfāt” in poetry. Attar uses the term isqāt al-idhāfāt in Asrār-nāmeh's tawheed ode with the phrase “که التوحید اسقاط الإضافات / Ki al-tawheedu isqāt al-idhāfāt”. This usage has been quoted by both Persian literature poets and classical Turkish literature poets. The concepts of tajrīd, tefrīd, abandonment and unity of tawheed-i misākī have a very close connection with the concept of isqāt al-idhāfāt. Key Words: Tawheed (Monotheism), Tajrīd, Oneness, Abandoning, Ahadiyet

The Muqaddam Represented in the pre-Mongol Persian Documents from Ghur

This paper addresses the Muqaddam, or the village headman, the relevant fiscal department, and the process of tax collection as represented in pre-Mongol Persian documents found recently in the Ghur region in present day Afghanistan. It argues that “Muqaddam” was the title used for a village notable associated with the fiscal department called the Diwān al-Ikhtiyārī. The Muqaddam collected the ʿushr, or the state's shares of harvests as prescribed under Islamic law. The tax is collected only in the presence of the Muʿtamid, who is the Diwān's trusted agent. Tax collection followed the Diwān's issuance of an edict termed ḥukm-i tafṣīl, which detailed the instructions given to the Muqaddam. The analysis in this article highlights the Ghurid aspect of the Muqaddam's role, which was previously unknown. This is due in part to the scarcity of primary sources about his roles; in part because the Muqaddam mentioned in the medieval north Indian Persian literature overshadowed discussion on the Muqaddam. By analysing the Ghurid documents, this paper thus argues “Muqaddam” was a term specifically used in the Ghur region in a particular agricultural context.

Libraries of Tajikistan: current state and development prospects

In the article, the author reveals the systems of libraries in the Republic: the number of libraries, the total amount of library collections in traditional and electronic media. Training and professional retraining of personnel, perfecting the librarians social image, scientific-research and scientific methodical work effectiveness’ growing are of great importance.The dominant role of the National Library of Tajikistan as a center for scientific research of the dynamics and prospects for the development of library and information technologies, advanced training and retraining of library workers in the Republic is observed.The article touches upon priority trends of the National Library development, gives characteristics of some long-term projects, such as “Creation of an electronic collection of book monuments of Tajik-Persian literature”, “Creation of an electronic collection of book monuments on the culture and art of the Tajik people”, aimed at forming the national segment of the electronic collection of book monuments of the Tajik people. Another important direction of its work on preserving and popularizing the historical and cultural heritage is the creation of historical and local history resources for the state public libraries of the Republic.