N畊ir-i Khusraw was a major figure in medieval Persian culture. This Muslim philosopher, poet, traveller and Ismaili 糸偵平朝Lit. ‘summoner,’ a term for missionary amongst various Muslim communities, especially used among the Ismailis before and during the Fatimid period as well as in the Alamut period of Ismaili…, who lived a thousand years ago in the lands today known as Afghanistan, Iran and Tajikistan, is consistently ranked by Persian speakers as one of the finest poets in their language. Yet, in the West, where he is known largely for his 皆温韓温姻-稼偵馨温 (travelogue), describing his seven-year journey from Khursn, in the eastern Islamic lands, to Cairo, the city of the Fatimid caliph-imams, his poetry and ideas are less familiar. Even among those who know the poets work, few understand the concepts he expounds, as the genre of philosophical poetry in Persian remains mostly unexplored. As the first Western study of Persian philosophical poetry, this volume seeks to redress the balance.
Written by authorities on N畊ir-i Khusraw and Persian literature, and originally presented as papers at a conference at SOAS, University of London, the chapters here cover topics ranging from metaphysics, cosmology and ontology, to prophecy, rhythm and structure, the analysis of individual poems and the matter of authorship. Rigorous literary analysis of several complete major poems advances the field of Persian Studies beyond investigating what a poem means to how it is constructed and how poetic technique and philosophy can be combined to create masterpieces. This volume therefore represents the initiation of important studies in the genre of Persian philosophical poetry.
Editors Introduction: N畊ir-i Khusraw and Philosophical Poetry
Alice C. Hunsberger
I. Speech and Intellect
1. The Position of 平粥援鉛 in the Prose and Poetry of N畊ir-i Khusraw
Faquir Muhammad Hunzai
2. Ontological and Religious Aspects of the Intellect in N畊ir-i Khusraws Poetry
M. J. Esmaeili
3. I Am a Mine of Golden Speech: Poetic Language and Self-Reference in N畊ir-i Khusraws 河温畊Ｄd温壊
Daniel Rafinejad
4. N畊ir-i Khusraws Ode to the Universal Soul and Intellect
Leonard Lewisohn
II. Philosophical Poetry: Enlightening the Soul
5. N畊ir-i Khusraw, Imagination, Prophecy and the Poetics of Enlightenment
Mohammad Azadpur
6. N畊ir-i Khusraws Poetics of the Moral Journey and the Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals
Mehdi Aminrazavi
7. The 檎温敬壊鞄温稼偵幣朝-稼偵馨温 and the Older Iranian Cosmogony
Mohsen Zakeri
III. N畊ir-i Khusraws Poetics
8. Also a Poet
Michael Beard
9. Hearing by Way of Seeing: Zabn-i 畍ツl in N畊ir-i Khusraws Poetry and the Question of Authorship of the 檎温敬壊鞄温稼偵幣朝-稼偵馨温
Nasrollah Pourjavady
10. On the Steed of Speech: A Philosophical Poem by N畊ir-i Khusraw
Alice C. Hunsberger
11. Symbolic Structure in a Poem by N畊ir-i Khusraw
Julie Scott Meisami
12. Rhythm in N畊ir-i Khusraws Poems
Finn Thiesen
13. N畊ir-i Khusraw: A Poet Lost in Thought?
Julie Scott Meisami
Appendix: Three 河温畊Ｄd温壊 in the Persian script
Bibliography
Index
Alice C. Hunsberger received her PhD in Islamic and Persian studies from Columbia University. She has written and lectured extensively on N畊ir-i Khusraw, and is the author of the acclaimed biography Nasir Khusraw, The Ruby of Badakhshan: A Portrait of the Persian Poet, Traveller and Philosopher (2000), which has been translated into Persian, Tajik, Russian and Arabic. A former Research Fellow at 今叔利, London, Dr Hunsberger currently lectures on Islam and Sufism at the City University of New York, Hunter College, where she has twice won the First Prize President LeClerc Award for Excellence in Teaching.