Politicization of the background of Nizami Ganjavi: Attempted de-Iranization of a historical Iranian

JlcJjuj ojj%j jj ^U (j\

• • •

CjljujI ^L QjoJb jS± Ol CjljujI (j3uuJ

Politicization of the background of Nizami

Ganjavi: Attempted de-Iranization of a historical

Iranian figure by the USSR

B y D r. A li D oostzadeh
(alidoostzadeh "AT"y ahoo.com)

(In memory of Vladimir Minorsky and Nowruzali Mohammadzadeh)

Special thanks go to Shahrbaraz http//:shahrbaraz.blogspot.com for proof-reading and
adding useful comments. This article is dedicated to the memory of Novruzali
Mammadov and Vladimir Minorsky.

Note 1: The article believes that Nizami Ganjavi despite his Iranic background, culture
and contribution to Iranian civilization, and being a product of this civilization is a
universal figure. He is also equally a part of the heritage of Iran, Kurdistan, Afghanistan,
Tajikistan and modern republic of Azerbaijan. These are people that are either Iranian or
have been greatly affected by Iranian civilization although at his own time, the concept of
nation-state did not exist for any particular modern country to claim Nizami Ganjavi.
People of Iranic backgrounds and inheritors of Persian language, civilization and culture
have the duty to present this universal figure to the world and keep his language alive. At
the same time, this great figure has been politically manipulated by some ethno-minded
scholars and USSR ethno-engineers. The article discusses this issue at length where
USSR tried (and failed) to detach this great Iranian figure from Iranian civilization.

Note 2: the PDF version of this article reads much better and can be downloaded from

here:

http://sites.google.com/site/rakhshesh/articles-related-to-iranian-history

(look for PersianPoetNezamiGanjeiPoliticizationByUSSR.pdf)

Or

http://www.archive.org/details/PoliticizationOfTheBackgroundOfNizamiGanjaviAttempt

edDe-iranizationOf

(look for PDF file)

Or

http://www.kavehfarrokh.com/articles/pan-turanism/

(look for .pdf file)

To Cite:

Doostzadeh, Ali. "Politicization of the background of Nizami Ganjavi: Attempted de-

Iranization of a historical Iranian figure by the USSR", June 2008 (Updated 2009).

URL: http://sites.google.com/site/rakhshesh/articles-related-to-iranian-history

The article should also be somewhere in www.archive.org

The goal of this article is to examine the ethnic roots and cultural association of Nezami
Ganjavi, one of the greatest Persian poets. It is of course well known that Nezami is a
universal figure, but there are two reasons to examine his ethnic and cultural associations.
The first reason is that it helps us understand his work better. We provide exposition of
rare sources (such as Nozhat al-Majales) which are crucial for the study of the 12 th
century region of Arran and Sherwan. The other reason to write this article, as explained
later in this paper (under the section: politicization of Nizami USSR and its remnants
today), is the politicization surrounding Nezami Ganjavi's ethnic and cultural background
by the USSR for the purpose of nation building. Through objective analysis based on
Nezami Ganjavi's work and other primary sources, we analyze the ethnic root and
cultural background of Nezami Ganjavi.

The politicization discussion centers on the following points. Despite the fact that Nizami
Ganjavi being a Persian poet and all of his poetry is in Persian, is he a cultural icon from
the Iranian civilization or Turkic civilization? What is his ethnic background and does it
play role in assigning to which civilization he belongs?

kS\ <^jJuuJuI <3jOdfc 9J j±\jj kS\

kS\ c ^jjjj 9 uly^JLuul 9J ^jv-qjIo

And does this question matter at all, given Nizami' s usage of Persian as his cultural
vehicle and hence his contribution to Persian culture, language and civilization? Given
the fact that Nizami Ganjavi's poem cannot be translated without losing its multi-layered
symbolic meaning and fine details, and given the fact that there is no "pure ethnicity" in
the modern Middle East and Caucasia, and given the fact that ethnic divisions were not as
prominent as they are today, does the question even matter? The belief of this author is
that the Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi belongs to all humanity equally. At the same time,
Nizami and his legacy are part of the same culture that he was influenced by and
expanded upon. That is other great poets before him, including Ferdowsi, Asadi Tusi,
Fakhr ad-in Asad Gorgani and Sanai were his predecessors. Those who speak, read and
write Persian, and understand verses of Nizami' s poetry, are those that keep the heritage

of Nizami alive today and have a special responsibility to pass down the cultural heritage
of great Persian poets like Ferdowsi, Sanai, Nizami, Attar and many others. For example,
Pushkin who is the most popular literary figure of Russians is a Russian poet and has
served the Russian language and followed the Russian literary tradition. His ethnicity
from his father's side was partially Ethiopian but nevertheless he is part of Russian
culture and civilization. We shall get back to this issue in the conclusion of this essay.
Thus the question of ethnicity is secondary relative to that of the culture/civilization
which a poet arises from and contributes towards. Especially in the middle ages when the
concept of nation-state did not exist and one has to concentrate on ethnicity and culture
which defines ethnicity.

Despite this simple fact that ethnicity of most 12 th century figures (and most people do
not know their say 20 th ancestor!) cannot be 100% known, we will look into the details of
Nizami 's background and we will provide criticism for invalid interpretations, recent
forgeries of non-existent verses and the politicization of Nizami by the USSR in order to
materialize Stalin's unfulfilled wish that "Nizami must not be surrendered to
Iranian/Persian literature "! Ultimately, Nizami is part and parcel of Persian-Iranian
literature and culture, since he lives through this language, all his thoughts are in this
language and he is popular due the masterpieces in this language. The question of
whether he belongs to Iranian civilization or Turkic civilization is simply answered by
anyone who can read his untranslatable work in its original language. The issue of his
ethnicity has no bearing on this fact. Yet, we will look at this issue in detail and show
that there is nothing to support a Turkic ethnicity for Nizami where -as the corpus of
Nizami' s work and other historical and cultural reasons show an Iranic
background. That is the issue of claiming Turkic father line for Nizami lacks any
solid proof and is used today ethno-nationalists from the republic of Azerbaijan to
detach Nezami Ganjavi from Iranian civilization.

It is clearly evident that in terms of cultural orientation, cultural background, legacy,
myth, folklore and language, Nizami Ganjavi is part of Iranian civilization and a
prominent of Persian cultural history. Thus attempted political annexation of Nizami
Ganjavi from Iranian civilization and attribution of Nizami Ganjavi towards Turkic
civilization will simply bear no fruit in the long run (since he does not even have a single
verse in any other language than Persian) and is a futile political effort which was taken
up by USSR for nation-building process and is continued today for unscientific reasons
of ethnic nationalism. Nizami Ganjavi survives through more than 30000+ Persian
verses and his background is well known to be at least half Iranic and we will show in
this article that it was full Iranic. There is nothing to support a Turkic background for
Nizami Ganjavi 's father, who Nizami was orphaned from in an early age and was raised
by his Kurdish maternal uncle Khwaja Umar.

The reader of course is free to make their own conclusion, but this does not change the
simple fact that Nizami inherited the Persian heritage by previous Iranian poets,
composed in the Persian language through Iranian culture, is alive through the Persian
language, Iranian folklore, mythology and culture and finally it is the Persian speakers of
the world who can read him in his own language and appreciate his untranslatable poetry

(he is arguably one of the hardest poets to translate because of the multi-layered meaning
of many verses, play with language and extensive use of symbolism/imagery pertinent to
Persian language and culture). At the same time, we do not deny his shared heritage
among countries that have been influenced heavily by Iranian culture and are inheritors
of Iranian civilizations and culture. Thus besides highlighting the politicization by the
USSR and Stalin, the article will expose many forgeries and invalid arguments to detach
Nezami Ganjavi from Iranian background, language and culture.

TABLE OF CONTENT

Basic Nomenclature on ethnic names used in this writing 6

On the ethnonym Azeri/Azerbaijani 7

What did the USSR mean by Azerbaijani? 18

Politicization of Nizami by the USSR and its Remnants Today 19

Two important and recent articles on Politicization of Nezami by Alexandar Otarovich

Tamazshvilli 40

Article 1 of Tamazash villi: From the History of Study of Nezami-ye Ganjavi in the

USSR: Around the Anniversary - E.E. Bertels, J.V. Stalin, and others" 42

Article 2 of Tamazshvilli: Afterword: (Iranology in Russia and Iranologists) 70

Recent Politicization of the Figure of Nizami Ganjavi 77

Nizami 's Mother 90

Nizami and his maternal uncle Khwaja Umar 94

Nizami's Father 94

Dynasties before and during the era of Nizami 97

Pre-Islamic Iranic dynasties of Arran, Sherwan and Azerbaijan 97

Post-Islamic period, the Iranian Intermezzo before the Seljuqids 100

Seljuqid Empire and subsequent local Atabak dynasties 110

Regional Iranian culture in Arran/Sherwan and Azerbaijan 122

Arran/Sherwan and Nezami 's designation of Iran/Persia for his land 122

Iranic languages and people of Azerbaijan 138

Language of Tabriz as a special case 143

Maragheh 149

Another look at the linguistic Turkification of Azerbaijan, Arran and Sherwan 149

Qatran Tabrizi, rise of Persian-Dari poetry and what a few modern scholars have called

"Azerbaijani schooP'of Persian poetry 161

What did Nezami call his own style? 168

Persian poetry images and symbols: Turk, Hindu, Rum, Zang/Habash 169

Which Turks are described in Persian Poetry? 206

Unsound arguments made during the USSR era about the ethnicity of Nizami 211

False argument: A false verse created in 1980 211

Incorrect argument: Nizami uses "Turkish words" so "he must be Turkish" 214

Incorrect argument: Nizami Praises Seljuq Turks (or Turks) so he was half Turkic . 221
Invalid Argument: Nizami wanted to write Turkish but he was forced to write in

Persian! 238

The false statement from Stalin 238

No evidence of Turkic literature in the Caucasus and historical invalidity of the

argument due to Shirvanshah not being Persian and not Turkic rulers 239

Example of politically minded writer today 246

Criticial editions of the verses in question 250

Translation and explanation of the introduction of Layli and Majnoon 257

Misinterpretation of a verse in Haft Paykar 310

Incorrect argument: Nizami and his research into Dari-Persian and Arabic literature

means that he was aTurk 329

Incorrect argument: Nizami praises Alexander, so "he must have been a Turk" 334

Invalid arguments about Idioms, Dedicatees, Eldiguzids, Sunni and Shi'i and other

invalid arguments 338

Alleged Claim of Turkish Idioms 338

Eldiguzids-Feudal lords (Atabekan) of Azerbaijan 343

Invalid arguments: Dedicatees of Nezami were Turks so Nezami was a Turk! 349

Invalid Argument: Court poetry and official language was in Persian and that is why

Nezami wrote in Persian to get paid 350

Sunni and Shi'i! 353

Conclusion of invalid arguments 354

Nizami's Iranian Background, Culture and Contribution to the Persian Language, Culture

and Civilization 355

Iranian background and some statements from scholars 356

Nezami's reference to himself as the Persian Dehqan 359

Nizami's reference to his wife and another proof of non-Turkic background for Nizami

363

Other Indicators of Nizami Ganjavi's Father line 369

Lack of Turkish names unlike Turkish dynasties and groups 369

Urban background 369

Shafiite Madhab 370

Qom theory 375

Intermarriage was rare between Western Iranians and Turks due to both religious

and ethnic factors 379

Nizami Ganjavi's Culture 381

Viewpoints of Navai and a perspective upon culture 382

Nizami and the inheritance of Ferdowsi's throne 387

Cultural Content of the works of Nizami Ganjavi 394

Nizami Ganjavi's attachment to Iran 406

Conclusion 407

Bibliography 410

Appendix A: Modern scholastic sources 415

Corrected information 428

Appendix B: Response to two arguments with regards to the population of Turks in

Caucasus 431

Do "Turkish" soldiers in Baghdad during the early Abbasid period have anything to do

with Caucasus and Azerbaijan 431

Akbar Kitab al-Tijan: The Arab folklore Kitab al-Tijan and fight between mythical
Yemenese Kings and Turanians/Turks in Azerbaijan has no historical validity. On the

background of Turanians 435

Appendix C: Some important neglected sources in the study of Nezami Ganjavi 459

Appendix D: On the etymology of the name Axsartan 460

Basic Nomenclature on ethnic names used
in this writing

In this article we use the term Persian, Kurdish, Azeri, Iranic, Qipchaq, Oghuz and
Turkic. It is important to have a clear definition with this regard.

Kurdish: Speaker of the dialects and languages considered Kurdish which is the NW
Iranian language family.

Persian: Is a native speaker of various Iranian dialects. This includes Pahlavi dialects as
well as NW Iranic languages identified as Fahlaviyyat and Azari during the middle ages
and also the Parsi-Dari. The term Persian usually is not as a single linguistic term rather it
denotes a speaker of variety any of the Iranic dialects who have pre-Islamic Sassanid
heritage and Iranian mythology as exemplified by the Shahnameh. We will make a
distinction when we speak of the Dari form of Persian (itself according to scholars the
Khorasani dialect of Middle Persian) rather than what Qatran Tabrizi, Al-Masudi, Biruni
and Nezami have called Persian (Parsi), which is the general definition.

Iranic: Means a native speaker of the Iranic languages. This term encompasses both
Persian and Kurdish and various other Iranian speakers including Soghdians, Scythians,
Medes and etc. In general it encompasses the totality of Iranian civilization and languages
as well those with Iranian heritages.

Oghuz: Speaker of Oghuz dialects, mainly the western Turkic languages.

Qipchaq: Speakers of Qipchaq or similar eastern Turkic languages.

Turkic: Like Iranic, it denotes the speakers of Turkic languages. In Persian literature, the
Mongols have also been considered as Turks since the bulk of the troops and tribes of the
Mongol federation were of Turkic rather than Mongolic origin. Also the term Tatar has
been used in this fashion. Thus Turkic encompasses the totality of various Turkic
cultures, language and civilizations and the Altaic people. It should be noted that
however in early Islamic era, non- Altaic speakers such as Soghdians, Alans and A vesta
Turanians etc. have also been lumped with Turks in some sources due to geographical
reasons. See Appendix B and C of this article for some observations with this regard.

Arabic: Native Arab speaker.

Armenian: Native Armenian speaker.

Georgian/Caucasian: Speaker of one of the languages that has been loosely classified as
Caucasian languages by linguists of today.

On the ethnonym Azeri Azerbaijani

The name Azerbaijan is a Persian word and goes back to the Persian Satrap of Media,
Atropates.

Professor Vladimir Minorsky writes:

"Called in Middle Persian Aturpatakan, older new-Persian Adharbadhagan,

Adharbayagan, at present Azarbaydjan, Greek ' Axpo7iaxf|vr| ? Byzantine Greek

' ASpaPiydvcov, Armenian Atrapatakan, Syriac Adhorbayghan, the province was called

after the general Atropates ("protected by fire"), who at the time of Alexander's invasion

proclaimed his independence (328 B.C.) and thus preserved his kingdom (Media Minor,

Strabo, xi, 13, 1) in the north-western corner of later Persia (cf. Ibn al-Muqaffa, in Yaqut,

i, 172, and al-Maqdisi, 375: Adharbadh b. Biwarasf).

(Minorsky, V. "Adharbaydjan (Azarbaydjan) ."Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by:

P.Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2007.

Brill Online.)

Professor K. Shippmann states:

"In the Achaemenid period Azerbaijan was part of the satrapy of Media. When the
Achaemenid Empire collapsed, Atropates, the Persian satrap of Media, made himself
independent in the northwest of this region in 321 B.C. Thereafter Greek and Latin
writers named the territory Media Atropatene or, less frequently, Media Minor (e.g.
Strabo 11.13.1; Justin 23.4.13). The Middle Persian form of the name was (early)
Aturpatakan, (later) Adurbadgan) whence the New Persian Adarbayjan"
(Encyclopedia Iranica, "Azerbaijan: Pre-Islamic History", K. Shippmann).

The word AzarilAzeri has been used in the early Islamic period for a Persian related
Iranian dialect. Naturally the name of the dialect was derived from the name of the region
itself. We will make mention of this Iranic dialect later in the article.

But it is important to note that the ethnonym Azeri/ Azerbaijani has been used no earlier
than the late 19 th century or the early 20 th century to designate Turkic speaking Shi'i
Muslims(Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, "Turko-Tatars")(Roy, Oliver.
"The new Central Asia: The Creation of Nations") and was really accepted as a self-
designation around 1930.
The origin of Turkic speaking Azeris has been described as:

1) Iranic

2) Turkic

3) Symbiosis of Iranic and Turkic

4) Symbiosis of Iranic, Turkish and Caucasian peoples

According to the multi-volume book "History of the East" ("Transcaucasia in XI-XV
centuries" in Rostislav Borisovich Rybakov (editor), History of the East. 6 volumes, v. 2.
"East during the Middle Ages: Chapter V., 2002. - ISBN 5-02-01771 1-3.
http://gumilevica.kulichki.com/HE2/he2510.htm )

The formation of a distinct Turkic speaking groups who speak the language called
"Azerbaijani-Turkic"(note in Iran it is called Torki and the pre-fix "Azerbaijani" to
Turkic is also recent) language occurred between 15 th - 16 th century.

"CoBpeMeHHa^ Hayica othocht 3aBepineHne cjio)KeHH5i TypeijKoii Hapo^HOCTH k KOHijy

XV b. OneBHAHO, Tax hkq cjie^yeT ^arapoBaTB h cjio)KeHHe a3ep6aii,z];}KaHCKoro 3THOca"

Translation:

"Modern science considers the completion of addition of the Turkish nation by the end of

XV century. Obviously, the same should be dated and addition of the Azerbaijani ethnic

group. "

The book also states that:

B XIV-XV bb. c HanajiOM (J)opMHpoBaHH5i asepGaH^aHCKoro TiopKo-5i3biHHoro 3raoca
B03HHKaeT h ero KyjibTypa. nepBOHanajiBHO OHa He HMejia cbohx CTa6njiBHBix ijeHTpOB
(BcnoMHHM, hto o^hh H3 ee paHHHx npeACTaBHTejieii, HecHMH, norn6 b Chphh), h ee
AObojibho Tpy^HO j\ji% AaHHoro BpeMeHH OT^ejiHTB ot ocMaHCKoii (TypeijKoii) KyjiBTypBi.
^a^e 3THHHecKa^ rpamiija Me^y TypxaMH h a3ep6aii,z];)KaHijaMH ycTaHOBHjiacB tojibko
b XVI b., ^a h Toiyja OHa eme oKOHnaTejiBHO He onpe^ejiKjiacB. TeM He MeHee b XV b.
^opMHpyioTC^ Asa i^eHTpa a3ep6aii,z];)KaHCKoii KyjiBTypBi - K))khbih A3ep6aii,z];)KaH h
Kapa6ax (paBHHHHBiii). OicoHHaTejiBHO ohh cjio)khjihcb y)Ke no3)Ke, b XVI-XVIII bb.

ToBop^ o B03HHKHOBeHHH a3ep6aH,z];)KaHCKoii KyjiBTypBi HMeHHO b XIV-XV bb., cjie^yeT
HMeTB b BH^y npoK^e Bcero jiHTepaTypy h ^pyrne nacTH KyjiBTypBi, opraHHHecKH
CB^3aHHBie c 5I3bikom. Hto KacaeTC5i MaTepnajiBHoii KyjiBTypBi, to OHa ocTaBajiacB
TpaAHi^HOHHoii h nocjie TiopKroaijHH MecTHoro HacejieHH^. BnponeM, Hajinnne
mohjhoto njiacTa HpaHijeB, npHH^Binnx ynacrae b (J)opMHpoBaHHH a3ep6aii,z];)KaHCKoro
3THOca, Hajio)KHjio CBoii OTnenaTOK npe^e Bcero Ha jieKCHKy a3ep6aii,z];)KaHCKoro 5i3BiKa,

B KOTOpOM OrpOMHOe HHCJIO HpaHCKHX H apa6cKHX CJIOB. IIoCJieAHHe BOHIJIH H B

a3ep6aii,z];>KaHCKHH, h b TypeijKHii 5I3bik rjiaBHBiM o6pa30M nepe3 npaHCKoe nocpe^CTBO."
Translation:

In the XIV-XV cc, as the Azerbaijani Turkic-language ethnos was beginning to form,
arose its culture, as well. At first it had no stable centers of its own (recall that one of its
early representatives, Nesimi, met his death in Syria) and it is rather difficult at that time
to separate from the Osman (Turkish) culture. Even the ethnic boundary between the
Turks and the Azerbaijanis stabilized only in the XVI c, and even then it was not quite
defined yet. Nevertheless, in the XV c, two centers of the Azerbaijani culture are
forming: the South Azerbaijan and (lowland) Karabakh. They took final shape later, in
the XVI-XVIII cc.

Speaking of the Azerbaijan culture originating at that time, in the XIV-XV cc, one must
bear in mind, first of all, literature and other parts of culture organically connected with

the language. As for the material culture, it remained traditional even after the
Turkicization of the local population. However, the presence of a massive layer of
Iranians that took part in the formation of the Azerbaijani ethnos, have imposed its
imprint, primarily on the lexicon of the Azerbaijani language which contains a great
number of Iranian and Arabic words. The latter entered both the Azerbaijani and the
Turkish language mainly through the Iranian intermediary. Having become independent,
the Azerbaijani culture retained close connections with the Iranian and Arab cultures.
They were reinforced by common religion and common cultural-historical traditions."

Thus neither the ethnonym nor ethnic group nor language by the name Azerbaijani-
Turk has been recorded in the 12 th century. Since this ethnonym Azeri/Azerbaijani
was not in use during the time of Nizami to refer to any dialect and group of Turkic
speaking people, then it is not used in this work. Also one cannot necessarily talk of
an Azerbaijani Turkic group in the 12 th century as noted by the sources above (we will
show Azerbaijan was far from Turkified by the 12 l century using primary sources). The
fact remains that the ethnonym Azeri/Azerbaijani was not in use at the time of Nezami,
although Azerbaijanis have a thick layer of Iranian culture as well. Thus to say Nezami
was an Azerbaijani poet does not correspond to any historical fact, since the term
Azerbaijani was not used for an ethnic group (it was a geographical location of NW Iran)
and the Azerbaijani Turkic ethnic group was not formed back then. He did not write in
Azerbaijani-Turkish language (no one from 1140-1209 has written in that language from
the Caucasus) and neither was the ethnic designation Azerbaijani used during or before
his time. The formation/ethno genesis of ethnic Azerbaijanis as a symbiosis and blending
of Iranic, Turkic and Caucasian elements comes in a much later. Also the land of Nezami
Ganjavi, where he might have been born (most likely Ganja according to modern scholars
and a minority of manuscripts have said Qom in central Persia or some scholars have said
his ancestry from his father-side was in Tafresh), was really called Arran rather than
Azerbaijan by most historical/geographical sources at that time. Indeed Nizami uses
Arran, Armenia and Azarabadegan (Azerbaijan) and the majority of historical sources
have differentiated between these three lands at the time of Nezami Ganjavi.

Some might make a counter-argument that they want to use the term Oghuz Turk or
Turkic in general instead of Azeri. In their opinions, modern Azerbaijanis are Oghuz
Turks (also called Tatars by Russians). The difference between eastern Turkic (Qipchaq)
and Western Turkic Oghuz had become significant at the time of Nizami. Thus they
might even reduce it to Western Turkic. In any case, "Turk" is a very generic term as an
ethnic indicator: Would it have suggested "Azeri Turkish " in Nezami' s day, or was there
even yet such a language branched out from the common Oghuz? Definitely not - most
likely it would suggest the Seljuq tribesmen, whom I believe were Oghuz, but around the
same time, it could also refer to Khatai Turkic, or Uighur, Chaghatay, Turkoman, Mongol
(Mongols and Turks being used interchangeably in Persian literature around the time of
the Mongol invasion), Kipchaks, Chinese, and Tibetans(being identified with Turks in
some Islamic literature like Qabusnama), Iranic Sogdians (they have been identified with
Turks in some Arabic literature due to being neighbors of Turks) etc.? We have no exact
data from those days, but we may assume that the various Turkic speakers, to the extent
that they held a shared sense of identity, would do so on the basis of a similar language

10

and nomadic lifestyles although tribal identifications would overtake any sort of shared
cultural identity between these groups.

Here are what some scholars and authorities state on the ethno genesis of modern
Azerbaijanis. Some have stated that an Azerbaijani ethnic group was formed by the XIII
centuries, however more specialized sources put it around the Safavid era XVI. We
believe the fact that Safina Tabrizi and Nozhat al-Majales (to be discussed later) show
major urban centers of Arran, Sherwan and Azerbaijan to have been Iranic even in the
Ilkhanid era are an elegant proof that the latter date of XVI is when Azerbaijan and
Eastern Transcaucasia was decisively Turkified.

Professor Richard Frye states:

The Turkish speakers of Azerbaijan are mainly descended from the earlier Iranian

speakers ', several pockets of whom still exist in the region

(Frye, Richard Nelson, "Peoples of Iran", in Encyclopedia Iranica).

For example Professor Tadsuez Swietchowski states:

What is now the Azerbaijan Republic was known as Caucasian Albania in the pre-Islamic
period, and later as Arran. From the time of ancient Media (ninth to seventh centuries
B.C.) and the Persian Empire (sixth to fourth centuries B.C.), Azerbaijan usually shared
the history of what is now Iran. According to the most widely accepted etymology, the
name "Azerbaijan "is derived from Atropates, the name of a Persian satrap of the late
fourth century B.C. Another theory traces the origin of the name to the Persian word azar
Cfire " ') - hence Azerbaijan, "the Land of Fire ", because ofZoroastrian temples, with
their fires fueled by plentiful supplies of oil.

Azerbaijan maintained its national character after its conquest by the Arabs in the mid-
seventh century A.D. and its subsequent conversion to Islam. At this time it became a
province in the early Muslim empire. Only in the 11th century, when Oghuz Turkic tribes
under the Seljuk dynasty entered the country, did Azerbaijan acquire a significant
number of Turkic inhabitants. The original Persian population became fused with the
Turks, and gradually the Persian language was supplanted by a Turkic dialect that
evolved into the distinct Azerbaijani language. The process of Turkification was long
and complex, sustained by successive waves of incoming nomads from Central Asia. After
the Mongol invasions in the 13th century, Azerbaijan became apart of the empire of
Hulagu and his successors, the Il-Khans. In the 15th century it passed under the rule of
the Turkmens who founded the rival Qara Qoyunlu (Black Sheep) andAq Qoyunlu
(White Sheep) confederations. Concurrently, the native Azerbaijani state of the Shirvan-
Shahs flourished.

(Swietochowski, Tadeusz. "AZERBAIJAN, REPUBLIC OF",., Vol. 3, Colliers
Encyclopedia CD-ROM, 02-28-1996)

"The mass of the Oghuz Turkic tribes who crossed the Amu Darya towards the west left
the Iranian plateau, which remained Persian, and established themselves more to the
west, in Anatolia. Here they divided into Ottomans, who were Sunni and settled, and
Turkmens, who were nomads and in part Shiite (or, rather, Alevi). The latter were to keep

11

the name "Turkmen" for a long time: from the 13th century onwards they "Turkised"the
Iranian populations of Azerbaijan (who spoke west Iranian languages such as Tat, which
is still found in residual forms), thus creating a new identity based on Shiism and the use
of Turkish. These are the people today known as Azeris. "
(Olivier Roy. "The new Central Asia", LB. Tauris, 2007. Pg 7)

Although, we do not believe the Oghuz nomads were Shi'ites when they entered Iran,
rather they were Hanafis. They turned to Shi'ism probably due to the Ilkhanid
atmosphere where Shi'ism was supported by some Ilkhanid rulers like Sultan
Khodabanda. A further testament to this fact is that there is not Turkic Shi'ites in Central
Asia and thus the adoption of Shi'ism by Turkic speaking tribes occurred in Anatolia and
Persia.

Professor Peter Golden has written one the most comprehensive book on Turkic people
called An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples (Peter B. Golden. Otto
Harrasowitz, 1992). Professor Golden confirms that the Medes were Iranians and Iranian
languages like Talyshi/Tati speakers being assimilated into Turkish speakers.
Considering the Turkic penetration in Caucasian Azerbaijan and the Turkification of
large parts of North Western Persia, Professor Golden states in pg 386 of his book:

Turkic penetration probably began in the Hunnic era and its aftermath. Steady pressure
from Turkic nomads was typical of the Khazar era, although there are no unambiguous
references to permanent settlements. These most certainly occurred with the arrival of
the Oguz in the 11th century. The Turkicization of much of Azarbayjan, according to
Soviet scholars, was completed largely during the Ilxanid period if not by late Seljuk
times. Sumer, placing a slightly different emphasis on the data (more correct in my view),
posts three periods which Turkicization took place: Seljuk, Mongol and Post-Mongol
(Qara Qoyunlu, Aq Qoyunlu and Safavid). In the first two, Oguz Turkic tribes advanced
or were driven to the western frontiers (Anatolia) and Northern Azarbaijan (Arran, the
Mugan steppe). In the last period, the Turkic elements in Iran (derived from Oguz, with
lesser admixture ofUygur, Qipchaq, Qaluq and other Turks brought to Iran during the
Chinggisid era, as well as Turkicized Mongols) were joined now by Anatolian Turks
migrating back to Iran. This marked the final stage of Turkicization. Although there is
some evidence for the presence of Qipchaqs among the Turkic tribes coming to this
region, there is little doubt that the critical mass which brought about this linguistic shift
was provided by the same Oguz-Turkmen tribes that had come to Anatolia. The Azeris of
today are an overwhelmingly sedentary, detribalized people. Anthropologically, they are
little distinguished from the Iranian neighbors.

It should be noted that Professor Golden on pg 12 of the same book states:

"Turkic population of today shows extraordinary physical diversity, certainly much
greater than that of any group of Altaic language. The original Turkish physical type, if
we can really posit such, for it should be borne in mind that this mobile population was
intermixing with its neighbors at a very stage, was probably of the Mongloid type(in all
likelihood in its South Siberian variant). With may deduce this from the fact that

12

populations in previously Europoid areas of Iranian speech begin to show Mongoloid
influences coincidental with the appearances of Turkic people. The physical
transformation of these Turkicizing peoples, however, illustrated by the population of
Uzbekistan, Karakalpakia and especially the Turkic population of Iran and Turkey itself
To add to the complexity of this process, the Turkic populations that moved to Central
Asia were themselves already mixed. In general, then, the further east, the more
Mongloid the Turkic population is; the further west, the more Europoid"

We shall affirm this fact by showing the description of Turks in classical Persian
literature in another section. Indeed, this physical description, as described by countless
poets including Nizami was Mongloid rather than Caucasoid and this point to the
Turkification of the mainly Caucasoid-featured population by the Mongolid-featured
Altaic groups.

According to Professor Xavier De Planhol:

"Azeri material culture, a result of this multi-secular symbiosis, is thus a subtle
combination of indigenous elements and nomadic contributions, but the ratio between
them is remains to be determined. The few researches undertaken {Planhol, I960)
demonstrate the indisputable predominance of Iranian tradition in agricultural
techniques {irrigation, rotation systems, terraced cultivation) and in several settlement
traits {winter troglodytism of people and livestock, evident in the widespread
underground stables). The large villages of Iranian peasants in the irrigated valleys have
worked as points for crystallization of the newcomers even in the course of linguistic
transformation; these places have preserved their sites and transmitted their knowledge.
The toponyms, with more than half of the place names of Iranian origin in some areas,
such as the Sahand, a huge volcanic massif south of Tabriz, or the Qara Dagh, near the
border (Planhol, 1966, p. 305; Bazin, 1982, p. 28) bears witness to this continuity. The
language itself provides eloquent proof. Azeri, not unlike Uzbek (see above), lost the
vocal harmony typical of Turkish languages. It is a Turkish language learned and spoken
by Iranian peasants. "
(X. Planhol, Encyclopedia Iranica, "Iran: Lands of Iran ")

Professor Gemot Windfuhr in the article: Isoglosses: A Sketch on Persians and
Parthians, Kurds and Medes, in Hommages et Opera Minora, Monumentum H. S.
Nyberg, Vol. 2., Acta Iranica 5. Tehran-Liege: Bibliotheque Pahlavi, 457-472. On pg
468, he writes:

One may add that the overlay of a strong superstate by a dialect from the eastern parts of
Iran does not imply the conclusion that ethnically all Kurdish speakers are from the east,
just as one would hesitate to identify the majority of Azarbayjani speakers as ethnic
Turks. The majority of those who now speak Kurdish most likely were formerly speakers
of Median dialect.

It is important to note that the Oghuz Turks who Turkified Azerbaijan linguistically were
not themselves pure Turks according to Mahmud Kasghari. Although without a doubt

13

Turkic speaking, Turkology expert N. Light comments on this in his Turkic literature and
the politics of culture in the Islamic world (1998):

"... It is clear that he [al-Kashgari] ' a priori' excludes the Oghuz, Qipchaq andArghu
from those who speak the pure Turk language . These are the Turks who are most distant
from Kashghari 's idealized homeland and culture, and he wants to show his Arab
readers why they are not true Turks, but contaminated by urban and foreign influences.
Through his dictionary, he hopes to teach his readers to be sensitive to ethnic differences
so they do not loosely apply the term Turk to those who do not deserve it . ... "

N. Light further explains:

"... Kashgari clearly distinguishes the Oghuz language from that of the Turks when he
says that Oghuz is more refined because they use words alone which Turks only use in
combination, and describes Oghuz as more mixed with Persian ..."

The actual Arabic statement of Kashghari is follows:

(73 OjLxjJj J.£ IgjlSuO Cb-JuJjUJI CjJLoJliLjuJ I 9 \Sjji\ Cjl^J ,JjO \jJuiS Cju^jUU ^jjJ^qJj CjJqLl^I LoJ QjjS^i\»

Translation:

The Ghuzz due having mixed with Persians (Iranians/Far s) have forgotten many Turkic

words and use Persian words instead.

Taymas, Abdullah Battal. "Divan Lagait - Turk Tercumesi", Turkiyat Mecmuasi, Cilt
(XI), Istanbul. 1954, pg. 76"

There are others opinions but we believe that a symbiosis between Iranian and Turkic
elements (where the Oghuz nomads themselves before entering Azerbaijan and the
Caucasia had already assimilated some Iranian nomads in Central Asia) formed the
ethnicity of modern Azerbaijanis in the Caucasus and Iran, although the number of
Turkmen nomads who entered Azerbaijan and Caucasia was small relative to the original
population. The Turkmens of Iran and Turkmenistan, all of them nomads till the last
century, also speak an Oghuz dialect which has been described as more archaic than that
of the Turkish of NW Iran, Caucasia and Anatolia. There are probably many similarities
between them and the Oghuz nomads who entered Azerbaijan during the Seljuq prelude
and Turkmens of Iran and Turkmenistan.

Since the term Azeri/ 'Azerbaijani as an ethnic term for the speakers of Turkic languages in
Iran and Caucasia was adopted in the late 19 th century(possibly some Russian works
might have used Azerbaijani-Tatar and shortened it to Azerbaijani) or early 20 th , we will
not use it in this article. If some feel the identification of Azerbaijani Turk with Oghuz
Turks because of linguistic reason, then we have used the term Oghuz Turks and Turkic
in this article. Because the terms Oghuz and Turk are historical term that had been in use
since at least 10 th century. On the other hand, the ethnic name Azeri/ Azerbaijani Turkic
was not accepted until the 1920s or 1930s by its speakers and the overwhelming

14

reference to "Azerbaijani" without any suffix is geographical in the period before the
adoption of this name for ethnic identification.

As noted by Oliver Roy:

"The concept of Azeri identity barely appears at all before 1920. Up until that point

Azerbaijan had been a purely geographical area. Before 1924, the Russians called Azeri

Tatars "Turk" or "Muslims ".(Roy, Oliver. "The new Central Asia: The Creation of

Nations").

According to Prof. Tadeusz Swietochowski: "Azerbaijani" was coined in the 1930s to
refer to the inhabitants of the Soviet republic of Azerbaijan. (Azerbaijan Seven Years of
Conflict Nagorno-Karabagh - Human Rights Watch / Helsinki- December 1994 by
Human Rights Watch).

Overall then, the term Azeri/Azerbaijani was overwhelmingly and primarily used as a
geographical area before 1930 and also designates inhabitants of the newly formed state
of Azerbaijan regardless of their ethnicity (Talysh, Tat, Azeris, Lezgins, Kurds,
Armenians). So words like "Azerbaijan poet" or "Azerbaijani poet" might have been
used a geographical designation for some poets of the area by scholars, but they did not
have any sort of ethnic meaning and were purely geographical. Just like Khorasani poets
or Khwarizmi Poet or Esfahani Poet or Shirazi poet.. and etc is geographical. Some
authors also distinguish between "Azerbaijani" and "Azeri". "Azerbaijani" means citizen
of the republic of Azerbaijan or from the land of Azerbaijan where-as "Azeri" means the
native speaker of Azeri Turkic.

In any event, we shall show from Nizami and the writing of other Persian poets, the
physical features of Turk are clearly described as Mongloid and do not resemble those of
the Caucasoid Anatolian and Azerbaijani Turkic speakers This alongside recent genetic
evidence indicates that a language replacement via elite dominance is a likely explanation
of the Turkification of Anatolia, Caucasia and Iranian Azerbaijan. Nizami does use
Iranians, Parsi/ , Ajam(Persian) ,Kurd(Kurd), Taazi(Arab), Turk(Oghuz, Qipchaq,
Khatai..), Alan and Rus (the Viking Rus) and etc. So we will use the terminology used
during his time and this is the correct historiography that diligent historians of that era
utilize. We should note that term ' Ajam was originally used by Arabs for Iranians but
slowly this term became accepted and even Iranian nationalist poets like Ferdowsi and
Asadi Tusi have used it in a positive manner and Nezami who was influenced by these
two poets has also used it interchangeably with Parsi. Also Khaqani's title was the
Persian Hessan al- c Ajam (the Persian Hessan, Hessan being a very famous Arab poet
before Islam and Khaqani is the Persian version of him by this title).

It should be noted that Nezami has specifically himself mentioned the area where he
lived as part of the "Persian realm" which is a cultural and geographical term. The reader
can also see the section: Regional Iranian Culture and Nezami' s designation of
Iran/Persian for his land of this article for further usage of these terms.

15

Usage of Azerbaijani to describe Nezami based on geography is also not valid at
Nizami 's time (although he was born in the territory that is called Azerbaijan today),
since the territory around Ganja usually was primarily called Arran rather than
Azerbaijan in medieval history. Thus we should mention that some Western sources and
possibly other sources have used the term Azerbaijani or Azerbaijan poet (not ethnic
sense since such a name was not adopted until the 1930s and before 1930s its primarily
and overwhelming usage was geographic) for Nezami as a geographical designation, but
this is not historically valid as Nizami himself uses the terms Aran, Arman and
Azarabadegaan. Also Nezami has praised three different rulers as rulers of Iran/Persian
and Persian lands, and this shows that not only culture but the land was considered part of
the geographical/cultural region of Persia/Iran.

An example of erroneously using this term and anachronism is for example given by this
quote by a noted scholar: "In the fifteenth century a native Azeri state of Shirvanshahs
flourished north oftheAraxes. " (Tadeusz Swietochowski. Russia and Azerbaijan: A
Borderland in Transition, Columbia University, 1995, p. 2.)

Yet the Shirvanshah called their territory Shirwan, not Azerbaijan. Also the Shirwanshah
were not ethnically Turkic, but were a mixture of Iranians and Arabs and culturally they
were Persians. And also "Azeri" denotes the native Turkic speaker where-as Azerbaijani
would at least have geographical meaning.

This sort of wrong and anachronistic application of geographical name has unfortunately
occurred many times and has been used for various poets and scientific figures.

An inquirer asked one academic writer who used this term:

In the book "Early Mongol Rule in Thirteenth-century Iran " on page 65 you wrote "The
renowned Azerbaijani poet, Nizami of... ".

What do you mean with "Azerbaijani poet Nizami" ? Ethnic, cultural, geographical or
other characteristic?

The Author of the book who used the term responded back:

geographical. The whole subject of nationalities is fraught with controversy since in
mediaeval times nation-states did not exist people could not so easily be labeled. Often
people were defined by their city, e.g. Samarqandi, Balkhi, though often by the region,
Rumi. Nizami has been claimed by the modern state of Azerbaijan though he continues
to be considered a Persian poet and for the student seeking further information
Azerbaijan could be a starting point for their research. You should not read too much
into such labels. George Lane

Despite this, we should note that Ganja at that time was part of Arran and the area was
not called Azerbaijan. So indeed this is a wrong and anachronistic application of the
geographical conventions. At the same time, it illustrates that by this convention, is

16

being used as a modern geographical location(Azeri, Azerbaijani) and not necessarily
culture, ethnicity, language and heritage.

Also as the author who responded back noted, the concept of nation-state did not exist
back then. This is an important point which some people have not unfortunately grasped.
So for example to speak of Iranian or Turkic or Azeri or Arab or Armenian or Georgian
citizenship or nationality(based on citizenship rather than culture/ethnicity) at that era
does not make sense since the ethnicity of the ruler had no implication on the citizenship
(e.g. Seljuqs controlled Iran but overwhelming majority of the inhabitants were neither
Turks or Seljuqians and no one identified their identity through a state).

So for example the Buyids were an "Iranian State"(meaning an Iranic-speaking ruling
elite controlled a state) but they controlled areas (such as Iraq) that had a substantial non-
Iranian population. Those non-Iranian population will not be considered Iranians
ethnically or culturally just because the Buyids were Iranian rulers(which some might call
"Iranian State"). The same is true with Seljuqs or the semi-autonomous Atabeks who
had established a state with Turkic ruling elite, but their main population was non-
Turkic and so the identity of their inhabitants should not be erroneously described
as the citizenship/nationality(based on state not ethnicity/language)/nation-state
concepts that did not exist at that time.

As per the term Azari, there was an ancient Azari-Fahlavi language or group of dialects
spoken in Iranian- Azerbaijan (Atrapatakan) (remnants of it being the Tati in Iran), but
this was an Iranic language. We shall touch upon this later. Scientifically, one cannot
impose a different space and time upon medieval historical settings. So at the time of
Nizami Ganjavi, the term Azerbaijani did not denote a subset of Turkic speakers. At his
time, the overwhelming majority of the sources have referred to the area of Ganja as part
of Arran. For example, to say, Homer was Turkish because he was born in the land of
Turkey does not seem correct. Certainly the people of Turkey should be proud of him that
such a great figure has come from their land, but to assign him the modern majority
ethnicity Turkish of Turkey does not make sense since such a term even did not exist nor
is attested during the time of Homer. This author is of the opinion of Professor Xavier
Planhol:

"Azeri material culture, a result of this multi-secular symbiosis, is thus a subtle
combination of indigenous elements and nomadic contributions, but the ratio between
them is remains to be determined. "

Thus just like ancient Egyptians spoke ancient Egyptian, but modern Egyptians speak
Arabic, it does not mean that ancient Egyptians are not connected to modern Egyptians.
Same with modern Turks of Anatolia who also share in the pre-Turkic Greek civilization.
Although it should be mentioned that there are Iranian speakers in some of these
countries although many of them have become Turcophones gradually in the last several
hundred years and rapidly in last century. The difference with Iranian cultural items that
are claimed by modern Turkic speaking countries (Biruni, Rudaki, and Avicenna in
Uzbekistan; Nizami, Zoroaster, Zoroastrianism, Bahmanyar.. in the Republic of
Azerbaijan; and Abu Said Abul Khair in Turkmenistan) is that there are also countries

17

that speak Iranian languages and Persian in particular, thus they rightfully also claim to
be inheritors of these Iranian cultural items, since the culture has continued. Especially
for such a poet as Nizami Ganjavi, who only wrote in Persian and contributed to the
Persian culture and language, expanded Persian myths and legends and finally came from
an Iranian background. In the end, these countries (both Iranian speaking and Turkic
speaking) have a shared heritage due to the fact that some of these Turkic countries had a
linguistic shift from Iranian languages to Turkish languages due to migration of Turkic
nomads and the Turkification of some of the lands. The question of whether Nizami
belongs to Iranian civilization or Turkic civilization is something we will discuss in this
article. We also note that modern nationalism especially that of pan-Turkism which has
also influenced Caucasia, was a reactionary movement spawning out of the decay and
disintegration of the Ottoman Empire. Thus that secular identity created by it today
(which is based on ethno-nationalism as seen in modern Turkey and republic of
Azerbaijan) in our opinion is radically different than the identities of the Caucasia and
Ottoman Empire prior to this period. For a clear picture of identity of the Caucasus in the
12 th century, one can look at the book Nozhat al-Majales which we shall discuss later in
this article.

What did the USSR mean by Azerbaijani?

Since the ethnonym Azerbaijani for an ethnic group was new, the USSR era did not
provide a clear definition. For example some considered Azerbaijanis to be Medes,
others as Turks and others as Caucasian Albanians. Then there was theories combining
some or all of these. This is another reason why calling Nezami Ganjavi as "Azerbaijani"
in the politicized USSR sources lacks clarity. Do they mean Medes(and the descendant
of Iranic Medes like Talysh, Kurds?), or Caucasian Albanians or Turks and etc.

For example Bolukbashi mentions:

"During the Stalin era, Azeri historians were forced to link Azeri history to Persian
Medes, whose appearance in Iran and the southern Caucasus dates back to the
ninth century BC. In the post-Stalin era, this theory gave away to one which linked
the Azeris' origin to the Atropathenes and Caucasian Albania. By the early 1970s,
however, the Turkic role in Azeri history had begun to be admitted, so that until the
Gorbachev era the Azerbaijani historiography based Azeri identity on a
combination of the Medes, the Atropathenes, the Albanians and the Turkic settlers,
a formula which helped prevent the emergence of an all-Turkic historiography"
(Susha Bolukbashi, 'Nation building in Azerbaijan: The Soviet Legacy and the Impact of
the Karabakh Conflict' in Van Schendel, Willem(Editor) . Identity Politics in Central
Asia and the Muslim World: Nationalism, Ethnicity and Labour in the Twentieth
Century. London , GBR: I. B. Tauris & Company, Limited, 2001.)

Arya Wasserman notes:

18

"The growing interest in the nationalities problem and the rising influence of the
ideology ofTurkism revived the old controversy over the ethnogenesis of the Azerbaijani
people, that is between adherents of the concept of the decisive Turkic role and
supporters of the pro-Iranian theory. In the mid 1970s, the republican authorities
headed by the First Secretary Heydar Aliev had resolved the debate by ruling in favour of
the Iranian concept. Now, for the first time monographs dedicated of this problem were
published. The purely scientific problem of ethnogenesis became a regular theme in
newspapers. The authors of some articles used this discussion to express their
opposition to the policy of Turkicization. Politicians also intervened in the dispute. The
President 's adviser on nationalities, Idaiat Orujev, supported the concept according to
which Azerbaijan was the homeland ofOguz Turks, which obviously meant that he was
inclined to accept the theory of the Turkic origins of the Azerbaijani people.

Opponents of the proto-Turkic conceptions of ethnogenesis of the Azerbaijani people
insist that the Kurds, Talysh, Lakhij and other Persian-speaking peoples are ethnic
Azerbaijanis, who had apart from ancient times in the ethnogenesis of the Azerbaijani
people, and that all of them share the same Caspian racial type, to which no other
Turkic-speaking peoples, not even the Turks themselves, belong to "
(Aryeh Wasserman, "A Year of Rule by the Popular Front of Azerbaijan" in Yaacov Roi,
"Muslim Eurasia", Routeldge, 1995. pp 150-152.)

Thus the usage of "Azerbaijani" as an ethnic term was recent and doing the USSR era,
the term did not necessarily mean Turcophone people. Now, today the designation
"Azeri" and "Azerbaijani" are further confused because Azerbaijani has been used as a
geographical term since 1918 for all inhabitants of Eastern Southern Caucasus
(corresponding to the modern republic of Azerbaijan) where as "Azeri" denotes the
Oghuz Azerbaijani-Turkic speaker of that area. But for the USSR, it seems to have
meant a combination of Turks, Iranians and Caucasian Albanians who became
Turcophones. Prior to that, the term was mainly geographical and it could be possible
some authors after 1918 have referred to Nezami as an Azerbaijani/ Azerbaijanian poet
noting that he lived most if not all of his life in Ganja. However, such an ethnic
formation had not yet occurred during the time of Nezami Ganjavi as noted. Thus the
article will not use anachronistic terms and will stick with terms such as Persian, Iranic,
Turkic, Oghuz, Kurds and etc.

Politicization of Nizami by the USSR and
its Remnants Today

The reason to write this article is due to the fact that the USSR politicized and even
distorted the character of Nizami Ganjavi for the purpose of nation building. Remnant of
that period still can be seen in some modern post-USSR texts. The USSR tried to detach
Nizami Ganjavi from Iranian civilization and use him for nation building. In this section
we show many of political manipulations surrounding the figure of Nizami Ganjavi. We
will evaluate the merit of the arguments of the USSR era in a later section and show its

19

invalidity. So in this section, we prove that politicization of the figure of Nizami Ganjavi
and the USSR's efforts to detach him from Persian and Iranian culture and appropriate
him to an ethnic and cultural Turkic label. (Something we believe lacks any evidence
when one actually reads Nizami 's works and considers the cultural background of his
work). For example, in recent years, false verses that are not in any edition or
manuscripts of the works of Nizami have found their way on the internet and are quoted
extensively by nationalistic sites.

One of these false verses is as follows:

Translation:

"Father upon father of mine were all Turks,

In wisdom each one of them was a wolf"!

The problems with the above verse is that not only it is not found in any extant
manuscript of Nizami Ganjavi' s work, but also the words "Tork/Turk" do not rhyme with
the words "Gorg/Gurg"(Wolf). For more on the history of the falsification of this verse
which was traced back to 1980 in Azerbaijan SSR see:

Matini, J. "A solid proof on the Turkic roots of Nizami Ganjavi?!", Iranshenasi, Volume
4, 1371 (1992-1993).

Other times, poetry from Turkic language poets are ascribed to Nizami Ganjavi. Since
Nizami Ganjavi wrote all his works in Persian, this has led to some nationalist pan-
Turkist groups making such unfounded claims. For example, a news report appeared
where two pan-Turkist nationalists have claimed that they have found the Divan of
Nizami Ganjavi in Turkish.

Here is a link for such a news item:

http://www.apa.az/en/news.php?id=28178

Nizami Ganjavi's divan in Turkish published in Iran

[08 Jun 2007 13:17]

Divan of Nizami Ganjavi in Turkish was found in Khedivial library of Egypt, poet and
researcher Sadiyar Eloglu told the APA exclusively.

Eloglu said that he is analyzing Nizami Ganjavi's divan in Turkish. He added that the divan was
found by Iranian researcher of Azerbaijani origin Seid Nefisi 40 years ago in Khedivial library but
for some reasons the scientist did not analyze the book.

20

Poetess from Maraga Fekhri Vahizeden living in Egypt found the divan two years ago and sent a
copy of it to Sadiyar Eloglu. The scientist has been analyzing the work for two years. He said that
the claims denying the works'belonging to Nizami Ganjavi were not proved.

"Historical points and personalities noted in the works were Nizami Ganjavi's contemporaries/'he
said. He noted that 213 couplets in the divan were proved to be written by Nizami Ganjavi.

Eloglu has already published these poems in Iran. /APA/

This Turkish Diwan was found to be from a poet named Nizami Qunavi (d. 1469 or
1473) from the Ottoman Empire and it is written in the Ottoman Turkish language.

.1384
See:

Tabrizi, Mohammad Ali Karim Zadeh. "The (supposed) Turkish Diwan of Nizami
Ganjavi!", Iranshenasi, Seventeenth year, Volume 3, 2005.

See also:

(Osman G. Oguzdenli, "Nezami Qunavi" in Encylopedia Iranica)

We will later show that at the time of Nizami Ganjavi, not a single verse of Turkish has
ever been written from the area and essentially there is no proof that a Turkish literary
tradition existed in the Caucasia (Arran) or Azerbaijan at that time.

False arguments created by the USSR, like "Nizami was forced to write Persian for the
Shirvanshah", based on misinterpretation of verses shall also be dealt with in this article.

Another nationalistic writer who has equated Azeris with Turks (unlike what we wrote)
has written: "Although Nizami did not produce his work in Azeri language, his narratives
are, nonetheless, rooted in Azeri culture and tradition."

The reader is surprised by the above writer since he must think that the Sassanid heritage
(like the stories of Khusraw o Shirin, Haft Paykar) or the Irano-Islamic rendition of
Alexander (Eskandarnama) or the Persianized story (by Nizami) of Layli o Majnoon
have their roots in Turkic cultures and tradition. Such nationalistic outbursts are common
from ethnic nationalistic scholars but they lack any scientific basis.

So what is the root of all these modern forgeries? Why is there a need to retroactively
Turkify Nizami Ganjavi by attributing to him works that are not his? What is the purpose
of creating false verses within the last 30 years or so in order to attribute Grey Wolf
myths to Nizami Ganjavi? What is the origin of the false argument that "Nizami was
forced to write in Persian " or Nizami was "a victim of Persian Chauvinism "!?

We must seek the root of all these forgeries by going back to the nation-building period
of the USSR. I always bring the example of famous Russian poet Pushkin when some
nationalists make their claims about Nizami and attribute him to Turkic civilization.

21

Pushkin was of Ethiopian origin (his grandfather was Tsar Peter the Great's slave).
However, he considered himself and is widely regarded as a Russian poet, and not
Ethiopian poet. No one makes even an attempt to talk about Pushkin's ethnic origin and
question his place in Russian literature or assign him to Ethiopian literature! In the case
of Nizami Ganjavi however, false verses and unsound reasons were invented (as we shall
see mainly misinterpretation of verses associated with the introduction of Layli o
Majnoon) to claim him of non-Iranian origin and detach him from the Iranian culture
world. So unlike Pushkin were one can reliably confirm some Ethiopian ancestry, there
is absolutely nothing to suggest Nezami was Turkic, where-as he was at least half Iranic
and we will show in this article that he was full Iranic based on different valid arguments.
The USSR attempted to disconnect him from the category of Persian literature altogether
and to assign him to the non-existent category (during Nizami' s time) of Azeri literature ,
where-as Azeri-Turkic is a branch of Turkic and Nizami Ganjavi does not have a single
verse in that language and actually the first evidence of poetry from that language from
Azerbaijan or Anatolia or Caucasia comes many years after Nizami.

The Encyclopedic Dictionary Brockhaus and Efron, published between 1890-1906
(before the USSR) has an entry on Nizami Ganjavi. It goes as:

"Nizamy (Sheikh Nizamoddin Abu-Mohemmed Ilyas ibn-Yusof) is the best romantic
Persian poet (1141-1203), born in Cumsky (Qom), but the nickname is "Ganjevi
(Gandzhinsky) because most of life spent in Gunja (now Elizavetpol), and there however
died.

3a cboio no3My "XocpoB h IIlHpHHa"(l 180), nocBflmeHHyio a3ep6aiiA)KaHCKHM
aTa6eKaM, H. 6biji npn3BaH ko ABOpy, ho oneHb cKopo yzjajinjicii ot ero cyeTbi h Beji
)KH3Hb acKeTHHecKyio."

http://be.sci-lib.com/article071752.html

It is worthy to check what the Encyclopedia Britannica 1911 with this regard. Under
Nizami, it is written:

"Nizam-uddin Abu Mohammad Ilyas bin Yusuf Persian Poet, was born 535 A.H. (1141
A.D. "

We note that before the USSR, not a single book or article has described Nizami Ganjavi
as Turkic poet. Even as will be shown later, a Turkic nationalist like the Chagatai poet
Alisher Navai considers Nizami Ganjavi as a Persian and not a Turk. This indeed shows
how Nezami 's cultural heritage and background was ascertained 200-300 years after his
own time.

So what did occur during the USSR era? For the readers in Persian, there is an article by
Professor Sergei Aghajanian which has outlined exactly what has occurred:

.(1371 jlpj) <Sj bj\jxjjj A JLjj j^^oujLljJj gI^jjI t « L jvjoLbu

22

Sergei Aghajanian, "The fiftieth anniversary of a historical distortion: On the occasion of
the 850 th anniversary of the birth ofNizarnF, Iranshenasi, 4 th year, Volume 1, 1992-1993.

According to Aghajanian, around 1930 or so, Nizami Ganjavi's heritage was changed to
Azerbaijani from Persian and the USSR political committee decided to detach him from
Persian literature and incorporate him into Azerbaijani literature. Of course part of it had
to do with the fact that a new country by the name Azerbaijan was formed in 1918 and
the name persisted as Azerbaijan SSR during the USSR era. Thus one argument was that
since Nizami was from Ganja, then he is Azerbaijanian (which he would have been from
a citizenship perspective had he been born in the 20 th century and the concept of nation
state existed! But it did not exist in the 12 century!). This argument again is misplacing
both time and space. During Nizami Ganjavi's time, the region was called Arran and in
general, the Islamic-Iranian culture was a continuously present throughout the whole
urban Eastern Muslim world, especially in the Caucasia. Also as we mentioned, later on
Azerbaijani despite the quotes we brought, has taken to be equivalent to Turkic by some
authors.

Interestingly enough, the writer of the 1897 (Brockhaus and Efron) wrote "Persian and its
literature" in 1900 and also its third edition in 1912 all mentioning Nizami as Persian
poet. But because of the political climate in 1939(see below and the Appendix), he wrote
a monograph "Nizami and his contemporaries" claiming:

""We should fully realize and accept Azerbaijani Nizami, of course, was true Azerbaijani
poet, and Heroes" Leila and Majnun " is not the Arabs from an Arab legend, but Turkic
romantic heroes.""

Such baseless claims like Lili o majnoon was a Turkic legend! Or Nizami was
Azerbaijani poet (rather than Persian poet) were made during the political atmosphere of
1930s and onward.

In the book Russia and her Colonies, Walter Kolarz exposes the USSR's anti-Iranian
schemes (both cultural and territorial) and support of irredentist policy vis-a-vis Iranian
Azerbaijan:

"Whilst trying to link Azerbaidzhani culture as closely as possible with Russian culture,
the Soviet regime is equally eager to deny the existence of close cultural ties between
Azerbaidzhan and Persia. The fact that most of the great poets brought forth by
Azerbaidzhan in the past wrote mainly in Persian does not discourage the Soviet
theoreticians, who are working out the ideological basis of Soviet nationalities policy.
They declare categorically that everything produced by poets born in Azerbaidzhan
'belongs to the Azerbaidzhani people, 'notwithstanding the language in which the works
of the so-called Azerbaidzhani poets were written. (46) According to this theory the
Persians have no right to claim any of the outstanding poets who had written in the
Persian language; if, nevertheless, they do advance such a claim they are immediately
branded as guilty of 4 pan-Iranianism'.

23

The attempt to 'annex' an important part of Persian literature and to transform it
into 'Azerbaidzhani literature' can be best exemplified by the way in which the
memory of the great Persian poet Nizami (1141-1203) is exploited in the Soviet
Union. The Soviet regime does not pay tribute to Nizami as a great representative of
world literature, but is mainly interested in him as a 'poet of the Soviet Union',
which he is considered to be because he was born in Gandzha in the territory of the
present Azerbaidzhani Soviet Republic. The Soviet regime proclaims its ownership over
Nizami also by 'interpreting' his works in accordance with the general pattern of Soviet
ideology. Thus the leading Soviet journal Bolshevik stressed that Nizami's 'great
merit' consisted in having undermined Islam by 'opposing the theological teaching of the
unchangeable character of the world'. (47)

Stalin himself intervened in the dispute over Nizami and gave an authoritative verdict on
the matter. In a talk with the Ukrainian writer, Mikola Bazhan, Stalin referred to Nizami
as 'the great poet of our brotherly Azerbaidzhani people' who must not be surrendered to
Iranian literature, despite having written most of his poems in Persian [Note by the author
of the present article: It should be noted that not a single verse of Turkish was ever
written by Nizami and his mother was Kurdish and his works point to a father oflranic
background] . Stalin even quoted to Bazhan a passage from Nizami where the poet said
that he was forced to use the Persian language because he was not allowed to talk to the
people in their native tongue [Note by the writer of this present article: Shirvanshahs
were not Turkic speaking and Nizami wrote his introduction after completing the story of
the Layli and Majnoon. The verse in question has to do with Ferdowsi and Mahmud, and
Nizami through the mouth of Shirvanshah 's versifies that we are not unfaithful like Turks,
so we need eloquent speech not low speech. This issue has been expanded upon by the
Iranian writer Abbas Zarin Khoi and this invalid claim will be examined in detail later],
(48)

Thus in Stalin's view Nizami is but a victim of Persian centralism and of a
denationalization policy directed against the ancestors of the Azerbaidzhani Turks.
Nizami is not a Persian poet, but a historical witness of Persian oppression of
'national minorities'. It is by no means surprising that Stalin should take this line or
that he should attach the greatest importance to everything that would undermine
Persia's cultural and political prestige. Stalin's interest in Persia is that of a Georg-
ian rather than that of a Russian. In spite of being, as we have seen, a bad Georgian
nationalist in many other respects, he is animated as far as Persia is concerned by a
traditional Georgian animosity against the 'hereditary enemy'. To gain economic
and political influence in Persia is traditional Russian policy ever since Peter the
Great, but the Soviet Government, thanks to Stalin's influence, has done more than
follow in the footsteps of Czarist diplomacy. It has put into effect new methods to
disintegrate Persia, methods which only a Caucasian neighbour of the Persians and
an expert on nationality problems could design.

THE OTHER AZERB AIDZHAN

24

Even before the Second World War the Soviet authorities of Moscow and Baku knew
that autonomist and separatist movements would emerge one day in Persia, particularly
among the Turks of Persian Azerbaidzhan. It was felt however that some time might
elapse before conditions would be ripe for launching a 'national liberation' campaign in
Persia. The organ of the Soviet of Nationalities, Revolyutsiya i Natsionalnosti, stated as
late as 1930 that the Azerbaidzhani Turks of Persia never ceased to consider themselves
as an integral part of the Pahlevi monarchy and continued to supply both leaders and
pioneers for the Persian national movement. However, the same article forecast that the
growth of Turkic culture in Soviet Azerbaidzhan and the attraction of the Baku oilfields
would play their part in awakening the Turkic national consciousness of the people of
Persian Azerbaidzhan. (49)

The 'awakening' of the Azerbaidzhani Turks came earlier than the Soviet sociologists
could have foreseen in 1930, and was a direct consequence of the Russian military
occupation of Northern Persia of 1941-46. During this occupation the Persian
Azerbaidzhani were brought into close contact with the people of the Azerbaidzhani
Soviet Republic, and it is small wonder that the idea of a union took shape in the two
Azerbaidzhans, which, though widely differing economically and politically, are united
by the bond of a common language. With the assistance of the 'brothers from the
North'this Turkic language - ignored under Persian rule - was given the first place in
education and administration all over Persian Azerbaidzhan. An Azerbaidzhani university
and an Azerbaidzhani National Museum were opened; Azerbaidzhani books and
newspapers were either printed on the spot or imported from Soviet Azerbaidzhan. While
contact between Tabriz, the capital of Persian Azerbaidzhan, and Teheran was practically
cut off; the most advanced Turkic nationalists were encouraged to look to Baku for
political and cultural inspiration. Left-wing Azerbaidzhani poets praised Baku with
oriental hyperbole. One of them, Tavrieli, described Baku as the 'Rose of beauty graved
in stone 'and another, Muhammed Biriya, poet and also secretary of the trade unions of
Persian Azerbaidzhan, said he came to Baku to drink the 'life-giving water' of this city
and that he wept 'happy tears 'on seeing Baku. (50)

In 1946, when the Soviet troops left Northern Persia, the Persian Government only too
easily swept away the regime set up by pro-communist Azerbaidzhani autonomists in
Tabriz. The nationalism of the Azerbaidzhani Turks of Persia was still too feeble to put
up a successful resistance even to a weak Persian State. The end of the Azerbaidzhani
separatist government was, however, not the end of the Azerbaidzhan problem. The
Soviet regime did its best to keep the issue alive both in Soviet 'Northern
Azerbaidzhan' and in Persian 'Southern Azerbaidzhan'. Soviet Azerbaidzhani poets and
writers continued to deal in their works with the problem of the unredeemed brothers in
the South and thus to foster an irredentist ideology among the people of the Azer-
baidzhani S.S.R. On the other hand communist refugees from Southern Azerbaidzhan
were given shelter in Baku and were assisted in their efforts to keep in touch with the
Turkic-speaking people of Northern Persia.
(Walter Kolarz., Russia and her Colonies. London: George Philip. 1952.)

Indeed Stalin in his interview in April of 1939 expressed the opinion as noted by Kolarz:

25

"Comrade Stalin in an interview with the writers of Azerbaijan (SSR) was talking about
Nizami Ganjavi and brought some verses from him in order to reject the fact that this
poet of our brothers (he means the Azerbaijan SSR) is part of Iranian/Persian literature,

just due to the fact that he has written ttlOSt of his w ork in Persian "(Kolarz,
Aghajanian)

We note the amazing forgery here. Nizami Ganjavi does not have one verse of Turkish.
There is not a single non-Persian verse from Nizami Ganjavi. Yet Stalin claims that
Nizami Ganjavi was a victim of Persian oppression and only "most of his work" (in
reality all of his work) is in Persian. We note that the first verse in classical Azerbaijani
Turkish was written much later than Nizami' s passing away. It is amazing that Nizami
Ganjavi is not part of Persian literature according to the chief USSR ideologue, despite
the fact that he wrote not "most", but all of his work in the Persian language and is
known throughout the world for his quintuple Persian masterpiece.

As Walter Kolarz has correctly noted:

The attempt to 'annex' an important part of Persian literature and to transform it

into 'Azerbaidzhani literature' can be best exemplified by the way in which the

memory of the great Persian poet Nizami (1141-1203) is exploited in the Soviet

Union.

We may quote the modern Turkic nationalist newspaper Ayna which regularly uses the

term Persian Chauvinists(common amongst pan-turkist nationalists) to describe Iranians.

The newspaper Ayna states:

"Ayna, Baku

10 Aug 04Now, let us have a brief look at Khatami's mistake. While on a trip to

Ganca, he wrote down his words and wishes in the visitors' book at the

world's renowned thinker Nizami Gancavi's mausoleum. There he called

Nizami a poet of "Persian literature". We have always boasted our hospitality. This

national value has always been a feature distinguishing Azerbaijani Turks from others.

Our ills

have often resulted from this feature. With his remarks Khatami proved

that he was a representative of the chauvinist Persian ideology masked

under the cover of democracy."

Yet no one dispute Nizami wrote in Persian and is part of Persian literature. Even
Nizami himself says he is composing Persian literature and nowhere does he use the term
Turkish literature or any other ethno-linguistic term that would imply it is not Persian
literature. For example, when he was inspired and advised by the Prophet Khezr, Nizami
who calls the Persian language as Dorr-i-Dari (a term that was used at least since the time
of Nasir Khusraw) states in his Sharafnama:

When all those advices were accepted by me

I started composing in the Persian Pearl (Dorr-i-Dari)

26

Or again for example in the Sharafnama he states:

OLJUU9I jlslj-wu 0±j5 /xAdj iSj±

Nizami whose endeavor is producing Persian poetry (Nazm-e-Dari)
Versification of Persian(Dari Nazm Kardan) poetry is what suits him

Nizami never says I have composed in 'Turkish " or "Azerbaijani literature"^ term that
did not exist back then and Azerbaijan at that time would be part of the geographical
region of Iran and its people would not be Turcophones at that time). He clearly states
Nazm-e-Dari (Persian poetry). Parsi-i-Dari(term used by Ferdowsi) being the Khurasani
Persian. Nezami uses Parsi and Dari sometimes interchangeably but other times, like
Qatran Tabrizi, local dialects were also called Parsi and this is distinguished within its
own context.

Professor. Gilbert Lazard, a famous Iranologist and also the writer of Persian grammar
states: "The language known as New Persian, which usually called at this period by the
name of Dari or Parsi-Dari,can be classified linguistically as a continuation of Middle
Persian, the official religious and literary language of Sassanian Iran, itself a continuation
of Old Persian, the language of the Achaemenids. Unlike the other languages and
dialects, ancient and modern, of the Iranian group such as Avestan, Parthian, Soghdian,
Kurdish, Pashto, etc., Old Middle and New Persian represent one and the same language
at three states of its history. It had its origin in Fars (the true Persian country from the
historical point of view and is differentiated by dialectical features, still easily
recognizable from the dialect prevailing in north-western and eastern Iran". (Lazard,
Gilbert 1975, "The Rise of the New Persian Language" in Frye, R. N. ? The Cambridge
History of Iran, Vol. 4, pp. 595-632, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)

Unfortunately, few people (some politically minded and some ignorant) who cannot read
Persian have started to call Nizami Ganjavi's poetry as something else rather than Persian
literature.

Professor Yuri Slezkine has given a more general description of that era of USSR nation
building as well a reference to Nizami Ganjavi:

. . ..After the mid- 1930s students, writers, and shock-workers could be formally ranked -
and so could nationalities. Second, if the legitimacy of an ethnic community depended on
the government's grant of territory, then the withdrawal of that grant would automatically
"denationalize" that community (though not necessarily its individual passport-carrying
members!). This was crucial because by the second half of the decade the government
had obviously decided that presiding over 192 languages and potentially 192
bureaucracies was not a very good idea after all. The production of textbooks, teachers
and indeed students could not keep up with formal "nationalization,"the fully
bureaucratized command economy and the newly centralized education system required
manageable and streamlined communication channels, and the self-consciously Russian

27

"promotees"who filled the top jobs in Moscow after the Great Terror were probably
sympathetic to complaints of anti-Russian discrimination (they themselves were
beneficiaries of dass-based quotas). By the end of the decade most ethnically defined
Soviets, villages, districts and other small units had been disbanded, some autonomous
republics forgotten and most "national minority" schools and institutions closed down.

However - and this is the most important "however"of this essay -the ethnic groups that
already had their own republics and their own extensive bureaucracies were actually told
to redouble their efforts at building distinct national cultures. Just as the
"reconstruction of Moscow"was changing from grandiose visions of refashioning the
whole cityscape to a focused attempt to create several perfect artifacts, so the nationality
policy had abandoned the pursuit of countless rootless nationalities in order to
concentrate on a few full-fledged, fully equipped "nations." While the curtailment of
ethnic quotas and the new emphasis on Soviet meritocracy ("quality of cadres") slowed
down and sometimes reversed the indigenization process in party and managerial
bureaucracies, the celebration of national cultures and the production of native
intelligentsias intensified dramatically. Uzbek communities outside Uzbekistan were left
to their own devices but Uzbekistan as a quasi-nation-state remained in place, got rid of
most alien enclaves on its territory and concentrated on its history and literature. The
Soviet apartment as a whole was to have fewer rooms but the ones that remained were to
be lavishly decorated with hometown memorabilia, grandfather clocks and lovingly
preserved family portraits.

Indeed, the 1934 Congress of Soviet Writers, which in many ways inaugurated high
Stalinism as a cultural paradigm, was a curiously solemn parade of old-fashioned
romantic nationalisms. Pushkin, Tolstoy and other officially restored Russian icons
were not the only national giants of international stature - all Soviet peoples possessed, or
would shortly acquire, their own classics, their own founding fathers and their own
folkloric riches. The Ukrainian delegate said that Taras Shevchenko was a "genius"and a
"colossus" "whose role in the creation of the Ukrainian literary language was no less
important than Pushkin's role in the creation of the Russian literary language, and
perhaps even greater." The Armenian delegate pointed out that his nation's culture was
"one of the most ancient cultures of the orient," that the Armenian national alphabet
predated Christianity and that the Armenian national epic was "one of the best examples
of world epic literature" because of "the lifelike realism of its imagery, its elegance, the
profundity and simplicity of its popular wisdom and the democratic nature of its plot."
The Azerbaijani delegate insisted that the Persian poet Nizami was actually a classic
of Azerbaijani literature because he was a "Turk from Giandzha" and that Mirza Fath Ali
Akhundov was not a gentry writer, as some proletarian critics had charged, but a "great
philosopher-playwright" whose "characters [were] as colorful, diverse and realistic as the
characters of Griboedov, Gogol' and Ostrovskii." The Turkmen delegate told the
Congress about the eighteenth-century " coryphaeus of Turkmen poetry,"Makhtum-Kuli;
the Tajik delegate explained that Tajik literature had descended from Rudaki, Firdousi,
Omar Khayyam and "other brilliant craftsmen of the world"; while the Georgian delegate
delivered an extraordinarily lengthy address in which he claimed that Shot' ha
Rust'haveli's The Man in the Panther's Skin was "centuries ahead of west European

28

intellectual movements,"infmitely superior to Dante and generally "the greatest literary
monument of the whole ... so-called medieval Christian world."

According to the new party line, all officially recognized Soviet nationalities were
supposed to have their own nationally defined "Great Traditions"that needed to be
protected, perfected and, if need be, invented by specially trained professionals in
specially designated institutions. A culture's "greatness" depended on its administrative
status (from the Union republics at the top to the non-territorial nationalities who had but
a tenuous hold on "culture"), but within a given category all national traditions except
for the Russian were supposed to be of equal value. Rhetorically this was not always the
case (Ukraine was sometimes mentioned as second-in-command while central Asia was
often described as backward), but institutionally all national territories were supposed to
be perfectly symmetrical - from the party apparatus to the school system. This was an old
Soviet policy but the contribution of the 1930s consisted in the vigorous leveling of
remaining uneven surfaces and the equally vigorous manufacturing of special - and also
identical - culture-producing institutions. By the end of the decade all Union republics
had their own writers' unions, theaters, opera companies and national academies that
specialized primarily in national history, literature and language. Republican plans
approved by Moscow called for the production of ever larger numbers of textbooks,
plays, novels, ballets and short stories, all of them national in form (which, in the case of
dictionaries, folklore editions and the "classics", series came dangerously close to being
in content as well).

Even in 1936-1939, when hundreds of alleged nationalists were being sentenced to death
"the whole Soviet country"was noisily celebrating the 1000 th anniversary of Firdousi,
claimed by the Tajiks as one of the founders of their (and not Persian) literature. . .
(Slezkine, Yuri. "The Soviet Union as a Communal Apartment."in Stalinism: New
Directions. Ed. Sheila Fitzpatrick, Routledge, New York, 2000. pages 330-335)

Professor Bert G. Fragner has also examined the arbitrary decisions of central powers in
the USSR to determine and make history for the purpose of nation building:

Peculiarities of Soviet Nationalism

If these were the basic requirements, we should now look for the consequences. According to the
Soviet concept, nations had to have their own specific territories. Territorialism was obligatory
according to Stalin's basic theses on the National Question. The Soviet principle of territoriality
clearly and outspokenly contradicts the theories of Renner and Bauer, who rejected territorial
requirements for national minorities etc. Within the Soviet system, any decisions on the limitation
of territory were the exclusive prerogative of the central power in Moscow. Economic
considerations and planning were also largely concentrated in central hands. The Soviet power
created territories for created nations like planned habitats or biotopes, according to their Utopian
vision of human and social engineering.

29

This means that in Soviet nationalism there was no place for direct political leadership towards
national independence, and no place for a nation's independent economic growth. But there was
an important task for potential national leaders: to support distinct collective identification with
the specific nation, that is, its territory, its (regulated, or at least standardized) language, and its
internal administration. This set of tasks was to be crowned by the development of a specific and
distinct culture within the Soviet frame, not to be confused with others. Therefore, Soviet
nationalism was less harmonizing than was widely believed; it accepted inner-Soviet nationalist
contradictions and dissent on territories, divergent interpretations of the cultural heritage (such as:

Was al-Farabi a Kazakh? Was Ibn Sina (Avicenna) a Tajik or an
Uzbek? To whom does al-Biruni belong?) It was up to the central
power to solve these kinds of contradiction by arbitrary decisions. This
makes clear that Soviet nationalism was embedded into the political
structure of what used to be called 'Democratic Centralism'. The
territorial principle was extended to all aspects of national histories, not
only in space but also in time: 'Urartu was the oldest manifestation of a
state not only on Armenian soil but throughout the whole Union (and,
therefore, implicitly the earliest forerunner of the Soviet state)',
'Nezami from Ganja is an Azerbaijani Poet', and so on. The Georgian

linguist Nikolai Marr's bizarre, not to say extremist, theoretical rejection of any migrations in
world history was, after some years of disastrous consequences, officially rejected itself, during
Stalin's lifetime. In practice, this concept never vanished from the national discourses in the
Soviet Union, albeit on a scholarly or on a popular and even folkloristic level.
(Fragner. B.G., 'Soviet Nationalism': An Ideological Legacy to the Independent
Republics of Central Asia'in: Willem van Schendel/Erik J. Ziircher (eds.), Identity
Politics in Central Asia and the Muslim World. Nationalism, Ethnicity and Labour in the
Twentieth Century, London 2001)

We note that Uzbekistan still claims that Biruni is an Uzbek despite the fact that Biruni
has a direct statement saying the people of Chorasmia are a branch of Persian and it is
known that his language was the Chorasmian Iranian language (which he has left
important remnants of). He has specifically mentioned that his native language was the
Iranian Chorasmian language.

J.G. Tiwari has also summarized and examined the USSR nation building policies with
regards to Azerbaijan SSR.

(Excerpted from Muslims Under the Czars and the Soviets by J.G. Tiwari, 1984, AIRP).
Taken from: http://admin.muslimsonline.com/babri/azerbaijanl.htm (access date June
2006)

"Right on heels of October Revolution, the Bolsheviks in the Russian dominated town of
Baku seized political power although they were in a minority [100] in the local Soviet.
But the nationalists led by their Mussavat Party overthrew that government and set up
their own independent government in its place in November, 1918 [101]. The Eleventh
Russian Soviet Army was sent to Baku to curb the nationalists and seize power from
them. On April 27, 1920 the nationalist government was overthrown and Soviet authority

30

was established [102] and the army captured millions of puds of oil, according to April
28, 1920 telegram sent to Moscow by Revolutionary War Council of the Eleventh
Russian Soviet Army concerning the liberation of Baku [103].

Immediately after this economic exploitation of Azerbajian began. Oil drilling rapidly
increased. Influx of Russian settlers to Baku was accelerated. By 1934, only one out of
five oil workers was the Azerbaijani Turk. In 1949 Russian was the language employed
in most of the schools [104]. The economy of Azerbaijan being mostly agricultural,
emphasis was given on increasing the area under cotton cultivation. Between 1913 and
1938 the area under cotton increased by 90 per cent while that under wheat shrunk by 12
per cent and that under rice cultivation by 48 percent. There was popular opposition to
cotton growing. Even the Communist Party organization in villages and rural districts
sabotaged the instructions which Baku authorities issued for the implementation of the
cotton plan [105]. Coercion was employed to extend cotton area, to set up collective
farms and to implement alphabet revolution.

Within the Communist Party, opposition arose against Russification and economic
exploitation of Azerbaijan. Between 1921 and 1925, this opposition was led by
Sultangaliyevists who were working within the party under the leadership of Narimanov.
The deviationists were liquidated. This was followed by another similar revolt in the
party led by Khanbudagovism demanding the end of Russian colonization and the
replacement of Turkic workers by Non-Turkic workers. Beria, the NKVD Chief was
specially sent there in the thirties who took a "merciless part in unmasking and
extermination of the Trotskyite-Bukharinist and bourgeois-nationalist deviationists in the
country [106].

Azerbaijan history was re- written to establish the existence of strong friendly relations
between Russia and Azerbaijan in the past and to deny close cultural ties with Persia of
which for hundreds of years Azerbaijan was an integral part. Vigorous attempts were
made to snap Azerbaijan's cultural ties with Iran.

A striking example of Soviet attempts to snap the cultural ties between Azerbaijan and
Persia was their treatment of Nizami, one of the most outstanding Persian poets. Since
Nizami was born in a place that now falls within Soviet Azerbaijan, their propagandists
claimed that Nizami belonged to Soviet Azerbaijan. The Soviet regime went to the extent
of proclaiming that Nizami' s works were in accordance with Soviet ideology. Their
leading journal Bolshevik stressed that Nizami's 'great merit' consisted in having
undermined Islam [107]. Stalin referred to Nizami 'as the great poet of our brotherly
Azerbaijan people 'who must not be surrendered to Iranian literature, despite having
written most of his poems in Persian. Stalin even quoted passages from Nizami showing
that he was forced to write in Persian language because he was not allowed to talk to his
people in their native language [108]. He emphasized the view that Nizami was a victim
of Persian oppression of Azerbaijanis and he opposed Persian oppression of minorities.

New generation of Azerbaijan poets has cropped whose main theme is that Azerbaijanis
in Persia live under oppression while the people of Soviet Azerbaijan live a prosperous

31

life. One Azerbaijani poet in one of his works puts the following words in the mouth of
Stalin:

From here the light will burst in living torrents, On Araby, Afghanistan and Iran; and
dawn will bathe the Orient tomorrow, From this thy land, the happiest of lands [109].

The objective of Soviet literature and propaganda in Azerbaijan is to alienate the
Azerbaijanis from Tehran, from Iran's religion and culture and to encourage people to
look to Baku and not Tehran for cultural and political inspiration.

Since the very inception of Bolshevik regime Baku and Azerbaijan have been used as
instruments for Soviet expansionist aims. Baku is the venue of the Soviet University of
the Peoples of the East where cadres are trained for work beyond the southern borders of
Soviet Union. In 1921 and 1941, twice Soviet army in Azerbaijan aggressed on Iran and
made abortive attempts to set up puppet Soviet regimes there. As early as 1930, the organ
of the Soviet Nationalities, Revolyutsiyai Natsionalnost i, complained that Azerbaijan
Turks consider themselves as integral part of Pahelvi's monarchy and forecasted that in
due course of time Baku would play an important role in bringing about a new
consciousness among Turks of Persian Azerbaijan, [110] in other words implying that
Baku would be used as a propaganda centre for instigating Communist revolts in Iran.
These endeavours have been reinforced by the recurrent theme of Soviet propagandists
and litterateurs that their brothers in Persian Azerbaijan should be redeemed. In this way
an irredentist ideology has been kept alive in Soviet Azerbaijan. Soviet Azerbaijan is the
sanctuary of Iranian Communists and a centre for funding the Iranian Communist Party.
On its Iranian border is positioned a radio station, called the National Voice of Iran which
beams communist propaganda to Iran. As many as 28 Soviet divisions are stationed for
action in Iran [111] and this border is connected by road net- works with the metropolitan
cities of Soviet Union. In other words Soviet Azerbaijan is being keyed to play a vital
role in the realization of Soviet plan to reach Gulf waters. Communist Party of
Azerbaijan remained an important source of help for Afghan communists before they
took over.

Because of the iron curtain the outside world knows very little of the current popular
reaction to Soviet regime in Azerbaijan, but the following two reports in ABN
Correspondence can serve as an indication:

"The Daily Telegraph dated May 22 1973 reported that the nationalist upsurge has taken
place in Ukraine. Recently two writers have been sentenced to 7 and 5 years forced
labour, respectively, for participating in activities of a 'national cultural movement'.
There has been considerable national and religious uprising in Latvia and Lithunia.
Similar activities are evident in Tadzhikstan, Azerbaijan and Turkestan. [112]

"The underground radio stations 'are known to exist in Georgia, Azerbaijan, Lithunia,
Uzbekistan and Ukraine." [1 13]

32

References:

1. Kolarz Walter, Russia and Her Colonies, p. 32.

2. Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1976, Vol. 9, p. 493 and Vol. 7, p. 71.

An example of nation building process is also given by Ismet Cherif Vanly in his article
describes the official state policy (which was really part of the USSR policy of
assimilating smaller groups into larger groups):

"Not only did Turkey and Azerbaijan pursue an identical policy, both employed identical
techniques, e.g. forced assimilation, manipulation of population figures, settlement of non-
Kurds in areas predominantly Kurdish, suppression of publications and abolition of
Kurdish as a medium of instruction in schools. A familiar Soviet technique was also
used: Kurdish historical figures such as Sharaf Khan of Bitlis and Ahmad Khani
and the Shaddadid dynasty as a whole were described as Azeris. Kurds who
retained "Kurdish"as their nationality on their internal passports as opposed to
"Azeri"were unable to find employment."

(Ismet Cheriff Vanly, "The Kurds in the Soviet Union", in: Philip G. Kreyenbroek & S.
Sperl (eds.), The Kurds: A Contemporary Overview (London: Routledge, 1992))

It should be pointed out that during the decay and finally the demise of the USSR, some
notable Russian scholars have spoken about the political attempt of detaching Nizami
Ganjavi from Persian literature and the wider Iranian culture and civilization.

The late Professor Igor M. Diakonoff gives a background on his writing of the book
History of Media and he clearly states as he always had maintained that the Medes were
Iranians. He also gives his impression on the 800* anniversary celebration of Nizami
Ganjavi. He gives an overview of the USSR nation building.

http://www.srcc.msu.su/uni-persona/site/ind_cont.htm
http://www.srcc.msu.su/uni-persona/site/authors/djakonov/posl_gl.htm

Accessed August 2006.

I.M. Dyakonoff(1915- 1999)

Publisher: (European House), Sankt Petersburg, Russia, 1995

ISBN 5-85733-042-4

The book can also be found at the Russian National Library

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_National_Library
http://www.nlr.ru/cgi-bin/opac/nog/opac.exe

^bakohob, Hropb MHxaiijioBHH(1915-).
KHHra BOcnoMHHaHHH. - CII6.: Ooha pernoH.
pa3BHTH5i CaHKT-rieTep6ypra h Ap., 1995.
- 765, [2] c: nopTp.+ 25 cm. - (^hcbhhkh
h BOcnoMHHaHHH neTep6yprcKHx yneHBix).

33

H3£. coBMecTHO c OOO "EBpon. aom", EBpon.
yH-TOM b CaHKT-rieTep6ypre. - ISBN
5-85733-042-4 (000 "EBpon. «om").

I. ^HeBHHKH h BOcnoMHHaHH^ neTep6yprcKHx
yneHbix (3arji. cep.)

MecTOHaxo)K r z];eHHe(inH(^p) :
NLR 96-7/890

^b^kohob, HropB MHxaiijioBHH(1915-).
Kmira BOcnoMHHaHHii. - CII6.: Ooha pernoH.
pa3BHTH^ C.-rieTep6ypra h jsp., 1995. - 767
c: nopTp., (j)aKC.+ 25 cm. - (Cepn^
",3,HeBHHKH h BOcnoMHHaHH^ neTep6yprcKHx
yneHBix"/ Pe^. cobct: B.B. AHaHBHH h ,zjp.).
Ha o6opoTe tht. ji. aBT.: boctokobca H.M.
Ab5ikohob. - ISBN 5-85733-042-4.

I. CepHil "^HeBHHKH H BOCIIOMHHaHHil

neTep6yprcKHx yHeHBix"(3arji. cep.)

MecTOHaxo)K,z];eHHe(inH(j)p) :
NLR 96-7/531

The Book of Memoirs

Last Chapter (After the war)
pp 730 - 731

Our faculty at the University, as I already mentioned, was closed "for Zionism ". There
was only one position left open ("History of the Ancient East") which and I have
conceded to Lipin, not knowing for sure then, that he was an (secret service) informer,
and was responsible for death of lovely and kind Nika Erschovich. But Hermitage salary
alone was not enough for living, even combined with what Nina earned, and I, following
to an advice from a pupil of my brother Misha, Lesha Brstanicky, [signed a contract and]
agreed to write "History of the Media" for Azerbaijan. All they searched for more
aristocratic and more ancient ancestors, and Azerbaijanis hoped, that Medes were their
ancient ancestors.

The staff of Institute of History of Azerbaijan resembled me a good panopticon. All
members had appropriate social origin and were party members (or so it was

34

considered); few could hardly talk Persian, but basically all were occupied by mutual
eating (office politics). Characteristic feature: once, when we had a party (a banquet) in
my honor at the Institute director 'apartment (who, if I am not wrong, was commissioned
from a railway related-job), I was amazed by fact that in this society consisted solely of
Communist party members, there were no women. Even the mistress of the house
appeared only once about four o 'clock in the morning and has drunk a toast for our
health with a liqueur glass, standing at the doors.

The majority of employees of the Institute had very distant relation to science. Among
other guests were my friend Lenja Bretanitsky (which, however, worked at other
institute), certain complacent and wise old man, who according to rumors, was a red
agent during Musavatists time, one bearer of hero of Soviet Union medal, Arabist, who
later become famous after publication of one scientific historical medieval, either Arabic,
or Persian manuscript, from which all quotes about Armenians were removed
completely; besides that there were couple of mediocre archeolo gists; the rest were
[Communist] party activists, who were commissioned to scientific front.

Shortly before that celebrations of a series of anniversaries of great poets of the USSR
people started. Before the war a celebration of Armenian epos hero of David ofSassoon
anniversary took place (epos 'date was unknown, though). I caught only the end of the
celebrations in 1939 while participating in the expedition, excavating Karmir Blur [in
Armenia]. And it was planned an anniversary of the great poet Nizami celebration in
Azerbaijan. There were slight problems with Nizami -first of all he was not Azeri
but Persian (Iranian) poet, and though he lived in presently Azerbaijani
city ofGanja, which, like many cities in the region, had Iranian
population in Middle Ages. Second, according to the ritual, it was required to place
a portrait of the poet on a prominent place, and whole building in one of the central
areas of Baku was allocated for a museum of the paintings illustrating Nizami poems.

Problem was that the Koran strictly forbids any images of alive essences, and nor a
Nizami portrait, neither paintings illustrating his poems existed from NizamVs time.

So Nizami portrait and paintings illustrating his poems were ordered three months before
celebrations start. The portrait has been delivered to the house of Azerbaijan Communist
Party first secretary Bagirov, local Stalin. He called a Middle Ages specialist from the
Institute of History, drew down a cover from the portrait and asked:

- Is it close to original?

- Who is the original? - the expert has shy mumbled. Bagirov has reddened from anger.

- Nizami!

- You see, - the expert told, - they have not created portraits in Middle Ages in the East...

All the same, the portrait occupied a central place in gallery. It was very difficult to
imagine more ugly collection of ugly, botched work, than that which was collected on a
museum floor for the anniversary.

35

/ could not prove to Azeris, that Medes were their ancestors, because, after all, it was not
so. But I wrote "History of the Media", big, detailed work. Meanwhile, according to the
USSR law a person could not have more than one job, so I was forced to leave (without a
regret) Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences, and, alas, the Hermitage, with its scanty
earnings. For some period I worked at Leningrad's Office of History museum...

(It should be noted that Diakonoff here considers Azeris as equivalent to a Turkic group,
where-as in this author's opinion, Azeri's have a considerable Iranic heritage and thus the
Medes and their civilization are part of the broader Iranic heritage of Azeris as well. This
is what Prof. Planhol has called a multi-secular symbiosis. It is noteworthy that the whole
concept of USSR nation building is succinctly described by one of its greatest historians
(Diakonov).

http://www.srcc.msu.su/uni-persona/site/authors/djakonov/posl gl.htm

Original Russian of Professor Diakonov (this author does not speak Russian and thanks
the anonymous friend who helped him by translating it and the translation was checked
via computerized translator):

B Vnueepcumeme namy Kacpedpy, Kax r yjtce eoeopiui, 3aKpbinu <oa cuohu3m». no
cneijuajibuocmu «ucmopun Jfpeenezo BocmoKa" ocmaeunu odny cmaeKy - unycmynun
ee Jlununy, ne 3nan eu^e mozda docmoeepno, nmo on cmyKan, u na ezo coeecmu otcmnb
mujio30 u do6po30 Huku Epcxoeuua. Ho na odny spMumacHcnyjo 3apnnamy 6biJio ue
npooicumb c ceMbeu, daotce c meM, nmo 3apa6ambieajia Huna, un, no coeemy ynenuKa
Moezo 6pama Muiuu, Jlenu EpcmanuijKoso, nodpndujicn uanucamb dnn A3ep6audotcana
«Hcmopujo Muduu». Bee mozda ucKajiu npedKoe no3namuee u nodpeenee, u
a3ep6audofcamjbi nademucb, nmo Mudnne - ux dpeenue npedKU. KojineKmm
Hucmumyma ucmopuu A3ep6audotcana npedcmaenwi codou xopoiuuu nauonmuKyju. C
coijuajibHbiM npoucxojtcdenueM u napmuunocmbw y ecex 6ujio ece e nopndKe (unu maK
cnumajiocb); Koe-Kmo moz odhHcuumbcn no-nepcudcKU, ho e ocnoenoM ohu 6ujiu
3anHmbi 63auMHbiM noedanueM. XapaKmepnan nepma: odnajtcdu, Kozda e mow uecmb
6biJi yempoen 6aw<em na Keapmupe dupeianopa uncmumyma (Kaotcemcn,
nepedpotuennoso c napmuunou padomu na jtcejie3uou dopoze), n 6uji nopajtcen meM,
umo e 3moM odu^ecmee, cocmonemeM U3 odnux HJieuoe napmuu KOMMyuucmoe, ne 6ujio
uu oduou Dtcenu^UHbi. fjaoice xo3HUKa doMa euiujia k naM monbKO okojio nemeepmozo
uaca ympa u eununa 3a name 3dopoebe pwMOHKy, cmon e deepnx KOMuamu. K uayKe
dojibiuuncmeo compyduuKoe uncmumyma UMeno doeonbuo Koceennoe omnoiuenue.
Cpedu nponux zocmeu ebidenmucb mou dpyz Jlenn EpemauuifKuu (Komopuu, enpoueM,
padomaji e dpyzoM uncmumyme), odun neKuu dnasodyiunbiu u Mydpuu cmapeij,
Komopuu, no cnyxaM, 6uji KpacuuM mnuonoM, Kosda ejiacmb e A3ep6audofcaue 6ujia y
Mycaeamucmoe, odun zepou CoeemcKozo Cow3a, apaducm, npocjiaeueiuuucn
enocjiedemeuu empozo uayuubiM u3danueM oduozo ucmopunecKozo cpedneeeKoeozo, ne
mo apado-, ne mo upano-R3bmnozo ucmopunecKozo ucmonnuKa, U3 Komopozo, odnaKO,
6binu mujamejibuo yempaneuu ece ynoMunauuH 06 apMHnax; KpoMe mozo, 6bwu odun
ujiu dea eecbMa emopocmenennbix apxeonosa; ocmanbuue eec 6ujiu napmpadomnuKU,
dpoiueuubie na uayuy. H3biCKauubie eocmonuue mocmu npodonotcanucb do ympa.

36

He3adomo neped meM nauajiacb cepun K)6ujieee eenuKux nosmoe napodoe CCCP. Tleped
eounou ormpeMen wduneu apMHHCKOso snoca ffaeuda CacyncKozo (dama Komopozo
eoo6iife-mo ueu36ecmua) - xeocmuK 3mozo n 3axeamuji e 1939 ^ eo epeMR sKcnedutfuu
uapacKoriKU KapMup-djiypa. A ceuuac e A3ep6audotcane somoeuncn wduneu eenuKoso
nosma HmaMU. C HmaMU 6biJia HeKomopan nedojibiuan nenoeKocmb: eo-nepeux, on
6bin ne a3ep6audotcancKuu, a nepcudcKuu (upancKuu) no3m, xonrn Jtcun on e nune
a3ep6audjfcaucKOM zopode rnndotce, Komopcm, kcik u dojibiuuncmeo 3demnux zopodoe,
UMejia e Cpednue eeKa upancKoe

uacejieuue. Kpojue mozo, no pumycmy nonasanocb eucmaeumb na eudnoM Mecme
nopmpem nosma, u e odnoM U3 ijenmpajibHbix pauonoe EaKy 6ujio eudeneno ijenoe
3dauue nod My3eu Kapmun, ujuijocmpupyjonfux nosMbi Hu3aMU. Ocodan mpyduocmb
3aKjuouajiacb e mom, umo Kopan cmpojtcautue 3anpeu^aem ecnKue u3o6pajtcenun otcueux
cyu^ecme, u nu nopmpema, nu ujuijocmpaifuou Kapmun eo epeMeua Hmajuu e npupode ne
cyu^ecmeoeano. ITopmpem Hu3ajuu u Kapmunu, ujijuocmpupyjoufue ezo nosMbi
(uucjieuHOcmbJO ua ijejiyw dojibtuyujyjo sanepeio) donotcnu 6biJiu mzomoeumb k jodujiew
3a mpu Mecnija.

Ilopmpem 6uji docmaenen ua doM nepeojuy ceKpemapw L[K KIT A3ep6audofcana
Eazupoey, jiOKajibnojuy Cmanuny. Tom ebuean k cede eedyiyeso Medueeucma U3
Hncmumyma ucmopuu, omdepnyn nonomno c nopmpema u cnpocun:

- Iloxojfc?

- Ha kozo?... -podKO npoMRMJiun 3Kcnepm. Eazupoe noKpacnen om zneea.

- Ha Hu3ajuu!

- Budume nu, - CKa3an 3Kcnepm, - e Cpednue eeKa na BocmoKe nopmpemoe ne
co3daeajiu...

Kopoue zoeopn, nopmpem 3anm eedyu^ee juecmo e sanepee. Eonbiueso codpanun
6e3o6pa3uou Ma3nu, neM 6ujio codpano ua My3eunoM smaotce k wdujiew, edea nu
Mootcno cede eoo6pa3umb.

ffoKa3amb a3ep6audcncanijaM, umo Mudnne - ux npedKU, n ne cmoz, nomojuy umo 3mo
ece-maKU ne maK. Ho «Hcmopuw Muduu "nanucan - dojibtuou, mojicmuu, nodpodno
apsyMenmupoeauubiu moM. Mejtcdy meM, e cmpane ebiiuen 3aKon, 3anpeujajou{uu
coejuecmumejibcmeo, u Mm npuiujiocb (6e3 cootcanenun) dpocumb u A3ep6audotcancKyio
AKadeMUJO uayK, u, yeu, SpMumaotc c ezo MmepuuM 3apa6omKOM. HeKomopoe epeMH
padoman c JlenumpadcKOM omdenenuu Hncmumyma ucmopuu, co3dannoM napyunax
pa38poMJiennoso ynuKajibuoso My3en ucmopuu nucbMennocmu H.n.JIuxaucea, a odno
epeMR Hucjiujicn noueMy-mo no MOCKoecKOMy omdejienuw 3mozo Jtce Hncmumyma
ucmopuu. "

37

Another Russian scholar that can be mentioned Victor A. Shnirelman, who received his
Ph.D. in History and is a leading scientist of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology
of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He has published studies and articles on interethnic
relations and conflicts, and focused on Russian nationalist ideologies and anti-Semitism
from the historical and current perspectives. He teaches the sociology of interethnic
relations and nationalism, as well as an introduction to the History of anti-Semitism at the
Jewish University of Moscow.
Shnirelman writes in his important book in 2003:

K 3T0My BpeMeHH OTMeneHHbie npaHCKHH h apM5iHCKHH (j)aKTopi>i cnoco6cTBOBanH
6bictpoh asepGaHA^KamoamiH HcropHHecKHx repoeB h hctophhcckhx nojiHTHnecKHx
o6pa30BaHHH Ha TeppHTopHH A3ep6aii,zpKaHa. B nacTHOCTH, b 1938 r. Hn3aMH b cb5I3h c
ero 800-jieTHHM K)6HjieeM 6blji o6i>5iBjieH reHHajiBHbiM a3ep6aH,i];)KaHCKHM iio3tom
(HcTopH5i, 1939. C. 88-91). Ha caMOM Aejie oh 6biji nepcH^CKHM iio3tom, hto h
Hey^HBHTejiBHO, Tax KaK ropo^cKoe HacejieHHe b Te ro^Bi 6bijio npe^CTaBjieHO nepcaMH
(^bakohob, 1995. C. 731). B CBoe Bpejvui 3to npH3HaBajiocB BceMH

3HI^HKJI0ne r Z];HHeCKHMH CJIOBap^MH, BBIXOAHBHIHMH B POCCHH, H JIHHIB BoJIBHia^

CoBeTCKa^ 3Hi^HKjione r z];H^ BnepBBie b 1939 r. o6i>5iBHjia HroaMH "bcjihkhm
asepGaiiA^KaHCKHM no3TOM M (Cp. BpoKray3 h E(j)poH, 1897. C. 58; TpaHaT, 1917. C. 195;
EC3, 1939. C. 94).

Translation from Russian:

By that time, already mentioned Iranian and Armenian factors contributed to the rapid
azerbaijanization of historical heroes and historical political entities on the territory of
Azerbaijan. In particular, in 1938, Nizami in connection with his 800-year anniversary
was declared a genius(marvelous) Azerbaijani poet (History, 1939. Pp 88-91). In fact, he
was a Persian poet, which is not surprising, because the urban population in those years
was Persian (Dyakonov, 1995. page. 731). At one time it was recognized by all
Encyclopedic Dictionaries of published in Russia, and only the Big Soviet Encyclopedia
for the first time in 1939, announced Nizami as a "Great Azerbaijani poet (Sr. Brockhaus
andEfron, 1897. page. 58; Garnet, 1917. page. 195 ; BSE, 1939. p. 94).
Source:

(Russian) Shnirelman, Viktor A. Memory Wars: Myths, Identity and Politics in
Transcaucasia. Moscow: Academkniga, 2003 ISBN 5-9462-8118-6.

Note the above book is critical of ethnic driven historiography in the Transcaucasia
(Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia) in general.

The Russian philologist Ivan Mikhailovich Steblin-Kamensky, Professor and the Dean of

the Oriental Department of Saint Petersburg University comments

("Oriental Department is ready to cooperate with the West", Saint Petersburg University

newspaper, No 24—25 (3648—49), 1 November 2003").

http://www.spbumag.nw.ru/2003/24/l.shtml ):

Mm roTOBHjiH TaKHx cneijHajiHCTOB, ho, KaK noKa3bmaeT Haine c hhmh oGmemie, TaM onem

MHOrO HaiJHOHaJlHCTHHeCKHX TemjeHIJHH, HayHHBIX (j)aJTBCH(j)HKaLI,HH. Bh^HMO, 3TO CB5I3aHO c

nepBbiMH ro^aMH caMOCTOirrejibHOCTH. B hx Tpyzjax npncyTCTByeT HaijHOHanHCTHHecKoe

38

Hanajro, HeT o6i>eKTHBHoro B3rsmjia, HayHHoro noHHMamra npo6jieM, xom HCTopHHecicoro
pa3BHTH^. IloAHac - OTKpoBeHHa^ (j)ajibCH(j)HKaLi,Ha. HanpHMep, HH3aMH, naM5ITHHK KOTOpOMy
B03,z],BHrHyT Ha KaMeHHOOCTpoBCKOM npocneKTe, oG^zBimeTcn bcjihkhm a3ep6aH,zpKaHCKHM
noaTOM. Xota oh no-a3ep6aH,zpKaHCKH ^a^ce He roBopHji. A o6ocHOBbraaiOT 3to tcm, hto oh tkwi
Ha TeppHTopHH HbiHeniHero A3ep6aH,zpKaHa - ho Be/jb HroaMH nncaji cboh cthxh h no3Mbi Ha
nepcH^CKOM ^3biKe!
Translation:

" We trained such specialists, but, as shown by our communication with them, there are a
lot of nationalistic tendencies there and academic fraud. Apparently it's related to the first
years of independence. Their works include nationalist beginnings. Objective perspective,
scientific understanding of the problems and timeline of historical developments are
lacking. Sometimes there is an outright falsification. For example, Nizami, the
monument of whom was erected at Kamennoostrovsk boulevard, is proclaimed Great
Azerbaijani poet. Although he did not even speak Azeri. They justify this by saying that
he lived in the territory of current Azerbaijan, but Nizami wrote his
poems in Persian language!"

Overall, it seems the political detachment of Nezami Ganjavi from Iranian civilization is
recognized by authors who write about the former USSR: Yo'av Karny, "Highlanders : A
Journey to the Caucasus in Quest of Memory", Published by Macmillan, 2000. Pg 124:
"In 1991 he published a translation into Khynalug of the famous medieval poet Nezami,
who is known as Persian but is claimed by Azeri nationalists as their own."

Another Russian scholar, by the name of Mikhail Kapustin in 1988 (during the time when
the USSR was opening up to the world and there was no pressure on scholars to
manipulate fact) wrote in the cultural magazine of Soviets:

Nizami Ganjavi is one of the greatest thinkers and poets of the middle ages and belongs
to the exceptional heritage of Persian literature of Iran. He had no connection with the
current culture ofAzarbaijan. And Azerbaijanis are making a useless effort to claim him
as one of their own. At the time of Nizami, Azeri-Turks did not exist in that land.
(Sovietkaya Kultura (Soviet Culture) magazine, 27 of December, 1988).

This author does not agree with Mikhail Kapustin in terms of not having any connection
with the culture of Azerbaijan. Nizami Ganjavi has influenced the whole realm of Islamic
literature and he is also part of the Iranian heritage of the Republic of Azerbaijan. At the
same time, the folklore of Nizami Ganjavi is based on Persian (Sassanid, Shahnameh)
and Iranian folklore (with the exception of the case of Layli o Majnoon which was a
Persianized version of an original Arab story) and not Turkmen/Oguz folklore like those
of Dede Qorqud or Grey- Wolves. Nizami Ganjavi' s epics are not based on Turkic
themes. It is also important to emphasize that the two major influences on Nizami were
Sanai and Ferdowsi. So Nizami Ganjavi is part of the Iranian heritage of Iranian people
and people that also have Iranian heritage including Azerbaijanis. The view of Diakonof
and Kapustin put Nizami Ganjavi in Iranian civilization.

39

For example, a relatively nationalistic website mentions:

"The original opera had been based on "Kaveh, the Blacksmith". However, such a plot
would absolutely have jeopardized their lives. First of all, it was based on a foreign tale:
Kaveh was a mythical figure of ancient Persia, memorialized by 10th century Ferdowsi in
Persian verse in the u Shahnameh "(Book of the Kings) "

http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ail42 folder/142 articles/142 koroghlu

why.html
(Betty Blair, Why Hajibeyov wrote the Opera Koroghlu, Azerbaijan International,
Summer 2006)

On the other hand, Nizami Ganjavi has mentioned dozens of Shahnameh figures in his
Panj-Ganj or Khamseh (these is a small section on this in this article). He has written that
he considers himself a successor and inheritor of Ferdowsi. He has never mentioned once
a symbol from Turkish mythology like those of Grey Wolf, Dede Qorqud, Oghuz-nama
and other myths/folklore of Turkic groups. Ferdowsi is widely praised and used by
Nizami Ganjavi, yet a nationalist journal claims Ferdowsi's work is a foreign tale. So a
minority of the modern intellectuals (from both Iranian Azerbaijan and the Republic of
Azerbaijan) identify themselves solely with Oghuz Turks and even if there are strong
Iranic elements in the history of Azerbaijan and the Caucasia (like Masud ibn Namdar,
Nasir ad-din Tusi, Bahmanyar, Nizami Ganjavi, Zoroaster, Medes, Parthians,
Achaemenids), some of these intellectuals will either dismiss them or attempt to Turkify
them if possible.

Two important and recent articles on Poiiticization of Nezami by
Alexandar Otarovich Tamazshvilli

Alexander Otarovich Tamazshvilli worked as one of the scholar in the Russian institute
of Oriental studies in St. Petersburg until his retirement. He has written two important
articles on the poiiticization of Nezami and USSR views on the Persian culture heritage.
This author through a friend that spoke Russian as good as a native speaker had a chance
to ask him several questions through the phone. We obtained his phone number through
the Russian institute of Oriental Studies and unfortunately he did not use email.

Question: Your two articles on poiiticization of Nezami are very important. Can they be
translated?

Answer: Yes of course.

Question: Do you have an e-mail?

Answer: No I do not use e-mail but I can give you my address for further questions.

40

Question: Do you think Nezami was Iranian or Azerbaijani Turkic? Because in your
article you mention that the overwhelming orientalist scholars consider him Persian, yet
you mention that the USSR results could have been reached later, but they came during
his 800 th anniversary?

Answer: I am not a scholar Nezami or ancient history of the East. Rather I study the
politicization and USSR politics. So I have no position on the ethnicity or cultural
attribution of Nezami.

Question: Do you think that the republic of Azerbaijan will reconsider its position on
Nezami?

Answer: No. Nezami is a very important figure for Azerbaijani nation building. Thus the
view that he is an Azerbaijani will remain therefor the foreseeable future.

Anyhow, despite Dr. Tamazshvilli not taking a position himself (which is reasonable
since he did not consider himself an expert), he has two articles which reveal how
Nezami was politicized and used for nation building. We should recall though that in the
USSR era especially 1 940-1 970 's, the term "Azerbaijani" was not equivalent to Turkic
rather it meant primarily a synthesis of Iranian (Medes) and Caucasian Albanians. Indeed
the USSR Great Soviet Encyclopedia mentions the Avesta as the oldest form of
Azerbaijani literature, where the Avesta is in an Iranian language and the correct term
would be Iranian literature.

Dr. Tamazshvilli wrote two important articles and here we provide translations of both
articles where it concerns politicization of Nezami. Dr. Tamazshivilli himself though
took no position on the actual background of Nezami in our interview and said he is not
an expert in ancient history or Persian literature.

Article 1:

Tamazshvilli A.O. "From the History of Study of Nezami-ye Ganjavi in the USSR:
Around the Anniversary - E.E. Bertels, J.V. Stalin, and others" in "Unknown pages of
domestic oriental studies'^ Editors: Naumlin VV, Romanova NG, Smilyanskaya IM),
The Russian Academy of Sciences. Oriental studies institute. 2004.

Article 2:

Tamazshvilli, A.O. Posleslovie (Afterword). Iranistika v Rossii i iranisty (Iranology in
Russia and Iranologists). Moscow, 2001 Russian Citation: TaMa3HinBHjiH A. O.
IIocjiecjiOBHe [k ny6jiHKaijHH AOKjia^a B. H. 3axo^epa «E. 3. BepTejibc»]. —

HpaHHCTHKa B POCCHH H HpaHHCTbl. M., 2001.

However the articles of Tamazshvilli speak for themselves. They clearly show that the
USSR scholarship was concerned about nation building. Indeed scholars such as E.E.
Bertels were affected by political decisions.

41

Article 1 of Tamazashvilli: From the History of Study of Nezami-ye Ganjavi in
the USSR: Around the Anniversary - E.E. Bertels, J.V. Stalin, and others"

One of the most glaring and remarkable cultural and socio-political events of the
USSR in the autumn of 1940 was supposed to have been the 800 th anniversary of the
poet and thinker, Nezami-ye Ganjavi. The war pushed the festivities six years back until
the autumn of 1947.

This long (from 1937 to 1947) anniversary campaign, in which many scholars -
Orientalists, literary people, and politicians - took part, gave good results. In the
boundary of 1930s and 1940s, its active participant, E.E. Bertels said, "real scholarly
study of Nezami can only be done in our time." 1 He himself concluded that "Only
twenty years ago all the literature on Nezami in Russian language was based on few
articles mostly of bibliographic character. The 800 th anniversary of the Great Azerbaijani
thinker and poet in all the corners of our Homeland has basically changed this
situation." 2 Main, revolutionary result of this campaign for our native scholarship
became attributing Nezami as an Azerbaijani poet, and his works as achievements of the

1 Bertels, E.E. Some Tasks of the Study of Nezami' s Works. - Nezami. First Collection. Baku, 1940. p. 3.

2 Bertels, E.E. The Great Work of Nezami. Literaturnaya Gazeta (Literary Gazette). 15.12.1953. N2148.

42

Azerbaijani literature, while in the realm of the world Oriental Studies (and prior to this
in the Soviet as well), the viewpoint of him as a representative of Persian literature.

Political content of the Soviet Nezami-studies was left out of the view of the
historians of the native scholarship, including the biographers of E.E. Bertels. Moreover,
the question of nationality of Nezami and his works, other than scholarly aspects, had
clear political aspects; and a scholarly based answer to this question is an important
political meaning which was based on the creation of the Azerbaijani SSR. 3 Therefore,
from beginning to the end of Nezami's 800 th anniversary campaign, scholarship and
politics went hand-in-hand, supporting and directing each other; but it seems that
politics still had a more important role. This was stipulated by a number of objective
and subjective reasons.

Nezami deserved an anniversary in any case, which seemed to have an evident
benefit to scholarship. There was a precedent as well - in 1934, the 1000 th birth
anniversary of the classic of Persian literature, Ferdowsi, was held in the USSR.
However, having the anniversary of Nezami, while presenting him with the same
qualities, would not have been objectively expedient.

3 The scholars of the Azerbaijani SSR gave and propagated very high appraisals of Nezami. "The role of
Nezami in the development of human civilization can only be compared with the missions of Aristotle,
Avicenna, Shakespeare, and Pushkin." (Aliev, R.M., Nizami Gyandzhevi (Nezami Ganjavi). Nizami
Gyandzhevi. Kratkiy Spravochnik (Short Handbook). Baku, 1979, p.9). "The works of Nezami played an
incomparable role in the formation and the further development of philosophic and artistic thought, the
socio-ethic view of not only our people, but all the people of Near and Middle East - Turks, Iranians,
Kurds, Indians, Afghans, Arabs, and others"(Aliev, Rustam. Nizami. Kratkiy Bibliograficheskiy
Spravochnik (Nezami. Short Bibliographic Handbook). Baku, 1982, p. 123). Naturally, it is honorable and
flattering for a new sovereign state to have a person of such scale in its history.

43

The second half of the 1930s became a period of national literary anniversaries.:
In 1937, 750 th anniversary of Shota Rustaveli's poem, "The Knight in the Panther's Skin";
in 1938, 750 th anniversary of 'The Tale of Igor's Campaign"; in 1939, 1000 th anniversary
of the Armenian epic, "David of Sasun." These anniversaries were held in the
Azerbaijani SSR as well. If Azerbaijan would not propose a similar anniversary, both
from chronological as well as cultural perspective, it could have been an argument for
beliefs (and not only from a narrow-minded level) about historically formed
backwardness of the Azerbaijanis and their national culture in comparison to the
Persians, Georgians, and Armenians. This is supported by a reference to Nezami and his
works during the anniversary campaign and the controversy on the development level
of Azerbaijan in the 12 th century; but later on this.

"Celebrating the 800 th anniversary of the birth of Nezami is a huge achievement
of our people in the area of cultural buildup," was said in Azerbaijan. 4

The loud anniversary of an Azerbaijani poet of the middle ages was, for the
current situation, vital in the interests of the policy of harmonizing international
relations in the South Caucasus, which was being held by the Soviet government and the
ACP(b) (Ail-Union Communist Party (bolsheviks)).

The First Secretary of the CC CP(b) (Central Committee of the Communist Party
(bolsheviks)) of the Azerbaijani SSR of those years, M.D. Baqerov, had very strong anti-
Iranian feelings, and undoubtedly was a patriot of Azerbaijan, although a one who could

4 To Comrade Stalin. - Bakinskiy Rabochiy (The Baku Worker). 28.09.1947, JN2191.

44

get carried away. 5 It is enough to say that in the Resolution of the 14 th Convention of
the CP(b) of the Azerbaijani SSR, which was accepted due to Baqerov' s speech,
demanded "foundational improvements in the teaching of the Azeri language, while
clearing it out of Arabisms, Farsisms, Ottomanisms, etc." 6 Baqerov tried to attentively
follow the study of history and culture of the peoples of Caucasus and South Caucasus,
and actively struggled against situations that seemed wrong and ideologically fallacious
to him. One such situation surely was the statement that Nezami is a Persian poet.
Mostly, due to M.D. Baqerov, the anniversary was very successful.

It must be admitted that Baqerov was left in a difficult situation, when the
problem of a literary anniversary appeared for Azerbaijan. The question of Nezami, as it
was put in the Republic, in the 1930s, was a question that did not only concern, or was
in the level, of the Republic. His decision was outside of the competency of the
leadership of the Azerbaijani SSR. The attempt to reconsider the nationality of Nezami
and his works in the interests of Azerbaijan, could have been viewed by the official
Moscow as demonstration of nationalist tendencies - an attempt to "better" the past of
the Azerbaijani people, strengthen the authority of the Republic in the determent of the
historical truth.

How definitely and harshly the political leadership of the USSR struggled with the
displays of nationalism, as well as nationalists, was perfectly known. Objections from
scholars could be expected as well, primarily from the Leningrad specialists, who

5 His name is written either as Mir Ja'far Baqerov or Mir Ja'far Abbasovich Baqerov in different sources.
His has left a visible mark in the history of Soviet oriental studies, which is practically unknown in the
scholarly literature.

6 Bakinskiy Rabochiy (The Baku Worker). 17.06.1938, JN«137.

45

created the trend for the Soviet literary Orientalism. However, it worked; and the
"transfer" of Nezami as an Azerbaijani poet was done in a very well thought manner,
fast, persistently, but properly, and overall, even elegantly. But everything started with
a scandal.

It was planned that in 1938, there would be a decade of the Azerbaijani art in
Moscow, for which the Republic had decided to prepare an "Anthology of Azerbaijani
Poetry" in Russian. The first version of the anthology, which was supposed to present
"the greatest masters - the creators of the Azerbaijani poetry," the inclusion of
Nezami's poetry was not considered. This was the case in May, 1937. 7 But already on
August 1, the press reported that the two-year work on translating poetry for the
Anthology is over, and the Russian reader can become acquainted with the monumental
poetry of Nezami. "At some point, the dirty hand of the enemies of the people was
placed on the Anthology [...] they did everything so that the Anthology looked perhaps
more skinny and decrepit," reported the newspaper. 8 But there are not enough bases
to argue that the decision to include the poetry of Nezami was based purely on the
political basis. Argument for this decision could have been the view of the Soviet
Orientalist, Yu.N. Marr on Nezami. In one of his works, he had stated that as soon as he
started researching Rustaveli, Khaqani, and Nezami, and their epochs, he right away was
convinced that "the epoch and authors are in a disgracefully neglected situation." 9 Back

7 Shamilov, S., Lugovskiy V., Vurgun, Samed. Poety Azerbaydzhana na russkom yazyke (Poets of
Azerbaijan in Russian Language). - Bakinskiy Rabochiy (The Baku Worker). 16.05.1937, JV2I 12. All the
three of it's authors were editors of the first version of the "Anthology of the Azerbaijani Poetry."

8 Antologiya Azerbaydzhanskoy poezii na russkom yazyke (The Anthology of the Azerbaijani Poetry in
Russian Language). Bakinskiy Rabochiy (The Baku Worker). 01.08.1937, N2177.

9 Marr, Yu.N. Predislovie (Foreword). - Khakani, Nizami, Rustaveli. M. - L., 1935, p. 5

46

in 1929, Yu.N. Marr asserted that "Nezami is its own for Caucasus, especially for the
ethnic group that has kept the Persian tradition in its literature until recently, i.e. for
Azerbaijan, where the Ganjian poet is more respected than in Persia." 10 Of course, "its
own for Azerbaijan" is not the same as "Azerbaijani," but in the middle of 1937, Marr
who had died in 1935, was the only Soviet Orientalist on whose research could the
proponents of the view of Nezami as an Azerbaijani poet lean. It must be noted that
luck was on their side as a whole, and especially because it was Yuriy Marr in Particular
who spoke of Nezami. His scholarly reputation in the eyes of the political leadership of
the country must have been somehow connected with the reputation of his father -
Academician N.Ya. Marr, whose name was very authoritative in those years in the Soviet
scholarship, as well as in the Party circles. The rays of father's popularity fell on the son
too.

They did not fail to tie the name of N.Ya. Marr with the Nezami-studies in
Azerbaijan: "Special merit in the revision of the scholarly understanding of Nezami is
owed to the Azerbaijani scholars, Academician N.Ya. Marr, Professor Yu.N. Marr, and
others. They hold the merit of revising the Bourgeoisie Oriental scholarship, which has
distorted the image of the Azerbaijani poet..." 11 This reference to Marr appeared more
for political reasons, because there were no direct statements of the scholar that
Nezami is an Azerbaijani poet.

10 Cited by Arasly, G., Arif, M., Rafili M. Antologiya Azerbaydzhanskogo Naroda (Anthology of the
Azerbaijani People) -Antologiya Azerbaydzhanskoy Poezii (Anthology of the Azerbaijani Poetry).
Moscow, 1939, p. XIX.

11 Rafili, M., Nizami Gyandzhevi i ego tvorchestvo (Nezami Ganjavi and his works). Baku, 1947, p. 7-8.

47

The Institute of History, Language and Literature of the Azerbaijani Branch of the
Academy of Sciences of the USSR started working on the study and the preparation of
publication of the works of Nezami Ganjavi, who from 1937 was confidently referred to
as the great classic of the Azerbaijani literature. 12 In the published materials in
Azerbaijan in the second half of 1937, where Nezami is mentioned, his name and works
are often closely tied to the name and works of Shota Rustaveli. Showing the speech by
an Azerbaijani literary in a ceremonial plenum of the Baku Municipal Soviet of Deputies
of the Workers for the 750 th anniversary of the poem, 'The Knight in the Panther's Skin"
of is a good example. "Comrade Merza Ebrahimov names the classics of the Azerbaijani
literature - Nezami and Khaqani - that lived and created in the epoch of Rustaveli, who
were struggling for the same high ideals and aspirations, which were geniusly sang by
the great Shota, and which were realized only in our Stalin epoch." 13 The name of
Rustaveli here helps give the basic idea about the consonance of the works and ideas of
Nezami with the ideas of the Stalin epoch more tacitly, and consequently some ideas of
Stalin himself. The support of Moscow is extremely important in the Azerbaijani
decision of the Nezami question.

Next year of 1938 became the year when the USSR once and for all ended the
"negligence" of Nezami. The Decade of Azerbaijani Arts was passing with great success
in Moscow from 5 th to the 15 th of April of 1938. In Baku, the "Azerneshr" publishing
published 700 remembrance copies of the "Anthology of the Azerbaijani Poetry," where

12 Yagubov, A. A. Nauchnaya Rabota v Azerbaijane (The Scholarly Work in Azerbaijan). Bakinskiy
Rabochiy (The Baku Worker). 28.02.1938.^48.

13 750-letie genial'nogo tv or eniy a Shota Rustaveli "Vepkhis Tkaosani" (750 th anniversary of the genius
work of Shota Rustaveli "Vepkhis Tkaosani"). Na Torzhestevvnom Plenume Bakinskogo Soveta (In the
Ceremonial Plenum of the Baku Soviet). Baknskiy Rabochiy (The Baku Worker). 31.12.1937. N2304.

48

there were Nezami Ganjavi's poems translated by Konstantin Simonov. The editor of
the anthology was only one - V. Lugovskiy. It is logical to conclude that the other two -
Samed Vurgun and S. Shamilov - were removed in 1937 as those who were not able to
work, but it is presumed that the reason was not only this. According to some sources
the anthology had a second editor as well - Merza Ebrahimov (Esmail Merza Azhdar-
Zadeh), who was already the Head of the Department for Arts Affairs under the Soviet
People's Committee [Ministry ] of the Azerbaijani SSR, but his name was not in the book
either. 14 The reason that the name of high ranking officials disappeared from the list of
editors of the anthology was probably because the work was supposed to look as a
result of the initiative and work of only creative intelligentsia of Azerbaijan and Russia.
Moreover, the work done only by (only on the surface) non-Azerbaijani poets is harder
to consider a nationalist view of Nezami. The anonymous foreword to the Anthology
says, "Among the Azerbaijani poets of the 12 th century, Nezami is highly regarded," but
this assertion is not backed by anything. 15

The publication of this anthology was a crafty tactical move to make a decision
about Nezami's situation. Undoubtedly, this book was being given to the members of
the government of the USSR and the leadership of the ACP(b), who showed lively
interest in the Decade of the Azerbaijani Art, among whom was Stalin. If anything in the
contents of the "Anthology of the Azerbaijani Poetry" (for example, assertion on the

14 Antologiya Azerbaydzhanskoy Poezii (Anthology of the Azerbaijani Poetry). Literaturniy Azerbaydzhan
(Literary Azerbaijan). 1938, N°3. p. 8; Antologiya Azerbaydzhanskoy Poezii (Anthology of the Azerbaijani
Poetry). Literaturnaya Gazeta (Literary Gazette). 05.04.1938, N2I9.

15 Poeziya azerbaydzhanskogo naroda. Istoricheskiy obzor. (The Poetry of the Azerbaijani People. An
Historical Overview). Antologiya azerbaydzhanskoy poezii (The Anthology of the Azerbaijani Poetry).
Baku, 1938, p.3.

49

national belongingness of Nezami) would bring about objection and politicized criticism
"from above/' the fault for the publishing of a flawed book would remain on the
leadership of the Azerbaijani SSR; however, there were no proofs that their views on
Nezami were reflected in the book.

However, exposing these views with full manifest, as with the authors of the
foreword in the Anthology, would not be too hard. But, evidently, there were no
questions or objections to the contents of the Anthology. In any way, the first edition of
the "Anthology of the Azerbaijani Poetry" had a strange fate. It is unlikely that the
Anthology remained practically unknown to the literary people and scholars; however,
for some reason people did not talk much about it. The short essay, "Nezami Ganjavi,"
which was part of the foreword in the book, is not mentioned in the work of Rostam
Aliev, "Nezami: A Short Bibliographic Reference" (Baku, 1982) either.

On the day of the opening of the Decade, Pravda ["The Truth" - official
Communist Party of the USSR Publication] had an editorial, "The Art of the Azerbaijani
People." It stated, "Back in the age of the feudal lawlessness, the Azerbaijani people
gave birth to the greatest artists. The names of Nezami, Khaqani, Fuzuli of Baghdad are
on par with the Persian poets Saadi and Hafez. Nezami, Khaqani, and Fuzuli were
flaming patriots of their people who were serving the foreign newcomers, only under
pressure." 16 The meaning of the article is hard to overstate for the "repatriation" of
Nezami to Azerbaijan. This was a proof that the official Moscow agreed with the
decision made in the Azerbaijani SSR on Nezami.

16 Iskusstvo azerbaydzhanskogo naroda. (The Art of the Azerbaijani People). Pravda. 05.04.1938, N°94.

50

On the next day, April 6, 1938, 'The Baku Worker" republished the article from
Pravda (which strengthened its meaning for the Republic). From this moment on, the
official Baku every time would demonstrate that gave up the initiative to Moscow, and
the course of the 800 th Anniversary of Nezami is coming from Moscow.

On April 18, 1938, Provdo came out with "The Triumph of the Azerbaijani Art."
"But despite all the prohibitions and persecutions, in defiance of victimizations, the
heroic Azerbaijani people would bring out those who expressed their rebellious,
courageous, and angry spirits. Back in the age of the feudal lawlessness, the Azerbaijani
people gave birth to such greatest artists as Nezami, Khaqani, Fuzuli. They were flaming
patriots of their people, the champions of freedom and independence of their country."
This was a better reference of Nezami by Provdo. 11 It seems that the poet no longer
served the foreign newcomers.

In the preparations of this material, it should be assumed, the Azerbaijani side
took part with the leadership of Baqerov and Ebrahimov, who were part of the
delegation to Moscow of Azerbaijan to the Decade of the Azerbaijani Art. Only Baqerov
could coordinate the publication of these articles in different instances.

But whoever has written them, they reflected the official viewpoint of the CC
ACP(b); this was the meaning of the writings of Provdo. Only a select few Orientalists
could contend the viewpoints, but they did not do it, maybe because the question of
Nezami was quite contesting even before Provdo' s publication. Here we can refer to the

17 Torzhestvo azerbaydzhanskogo iskusstva (The Triumph of the Azerbaijani Art). "Pravda''' 18.04.1938,
JN2107; Bakinskiy Rabochiy (The Baku Worker). 20.04.1938, JN«90.

51

interpretations of Yu.N. Marr and A.N. Boldyrev. 18 In the end of the 1940s, Bertels
asserted that "Back in 1938, it was evident to me that groundlessly ascribing the whole
of great, colossal Persian literature to Iran is not only wrong, but the largest mistake.
The Persian language was used by many people, which was the mother tongue of a
completely different system." 19 It is quite possible that the reason for Bertels' review of
his former views on Nezami, whom he considered a Persian poet only in 1935-1936, was
the publication in Pravda.

A viewpoint was said in our scholarly literature that "E.E. Bertels publicly called
Nezami an Azerbaijani poet earlier than anyone." 20 However, as the deeper research of
the question showed, the conclusion that Nezami is an Azerbaijani poet, was done by
the scholars, literary people, and politicians of Azerbaijan without much concern for the
view of their Russian colleagues, and before E.E. Bertels.

On May 9, 1938, another "Anthology of the Azerbaijani Poetry," which was
under the edition of the same V. Lugovskiy and Samed Vurgun, was given to print to the
Moscow State Publishing House of the Artistic Literature. It also had the foreword, "The
Poetry of the Azerbaijani People", which showed the authors - Azerbaijani literary
people and scholars, G. Arasly, M. Aref, and M. Rafili. Evidently, it was mentioned

18 Look up Boldyrev, A.N., Dva shirvankskikh poeta Nizami i Khakani (Two Shervani Poets: Nezami and
Khaqani). - Pamyetniki epokhi Rustaveli (The Statues of the Rustaveli, Epoch), Leningrad, 1938.

19 Quote from Tamazshvili, A.O. Posleslovie (Afterword). Iranistika v Rossii i iranisty (Iranology in
Russia and Iranologists). Moscow, 2001, p. 185-186.

20 Same place, p. 191.

52

before the Decade of the Azerbaijani Art in Moscow - "A mass publication of the
Anthology is being published in Moscow." 21

The initiators of the review of national belongingness of Nezami were ready for
good and bad luck.

The textual closeness of the two texts, one of which was published in Baku and
the other in Moscow, of the "Anthology of the Azerbaijani Poetry/' shows that the
group of writers was the same or almost the same. The Moscow version of the
Anthology was signed only two days left to a year later - May 7, 1937 - and the reason
is not known.

The initiators of the campaign for the 800 th Anniversary of Nezami waited a long
time for the scholarly circles of Leningrad and Moscow to make a clear statement on the
poet.

On May 8, 1938, the Council of the People's Commissars [The Council of
Ministers ] of the USSR, which was looking over the working plan of the Academy of
Sciences of the USSR, decided not to approve the plan and return it for further
deliberation to the Academy of Sciences. 22

On May 17, 1938, there was a state banquet for the workers of the Highest
School. Stalin made a small speech, rather a toast at the banquet, where he said, "For
the flourishing of sciences, those sciences, the people of which, while understanding the
power and meaning of the scientific traditions and using them for the interests of

21 Antologiya azerbaydzhanskoy poezii (Anthology of the Azerbaijani Poetry). Bakinskiy rabochiy (The
Baku Worker). 23.03.1938, JNs>67. An interesting fact - in 1937, M. Rafili was kicked out of the Union of
Writers of Azerbaijan, including for "showing the Crimean writer (Karaim) as an Azerbaijani."
12 V Sovete Narodnykh Komissarov Soyuza SSR (In the Council of the People's Commissars of the Union of
SSR. VAN, 1938,JN25,p. 72.

53

sciences, still do not want to be slaves of these traditions; which has courage, resolution
to break the old traditions, norms and arrangements when they become old, when they
become breaks for movement forward; and the one that can create new traditions, new
norms, new arrangements." 23 All of this could be used for the study of Nezami.

On July 25, 1938, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR once again
gave a negative vote to the working plan of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. 24 The
Presidium, while reviewing already the third version of the plan, on September 11, 1938,
mentioned that "The scholarly councils of the institutes did not mobilize the whole
collective of the workers for the struggle to fulfill the sayings of Comrade Stalin to
develop and strengthen progressive sciences." They proposed that the Institute of
Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR enter the preparation of a
scientific monograph on the "life and works of the great Azerbaijani poet, Nezami." 25
This meant the official recognition of Nezami Ganjavi as an Azerbaijani poet, as well as
the Academy of Sciences as whole, and the Institute of the Oriental Studies. The
question of national belongingness of Nezami seemed decided completely. Pravda
"canonized" the view of Nezami as a poet - a patriot of Azerbaijan, who was not
spiritually broken with the most difficult situations. In the XIV Convention of the CP(b)
of the Azerbaijani SSR, M.D. Baqerov referred to the 12 th century as the "golden age of
the Azerbaijani literature," because "the great epic poet Nezami Ganjavi and no less

23 The same place, p.l.

24 V Prezidiume Akademii nauk SSSR (In the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR). VAN,
1938.JNo7-8,p.ll9.

25 The same place, p.l 19, 126.

54

gifted, beloved people's poet of Azerbaijan, Khaqani, lived" at this age. This
assessment was received in the Republic as a canonizing assessment, and in that very
year one could read about the "epoch of Nezami, which has come into history as the
"Golden Age of the Azerbaijani culture." 27 "This is how the Secretary of the CC of the
Communist Party of Azerbaijan, Comrade M.D. Baqerov defined it," was reported to the
so-called "wide reader" of the USSR. 28 And for him, it was certainly authoritative.

Both the political circles, as well as the scholars of Azerbaijan were fully aware
that the best results in the works on the legacy of Nezami - a work that by its nature
related to the classical Oriental philology - could be achieved only through cooperation
with the specialists from the Oriental centers of Russia, primarily Leningrad. The
Republic acknowledged that the "Institute of History, Language, and Literature is still
the most weak part of the AzBAS [Azerbaijani Branch of the Academy of Sciences ]." 29
At the same time, in Russian Orientalism there already appeared a good tradition, even
school of helping the peoples of the USSR in their national and cultural building. The
press had a report: "The leaders of the organization of Azerbaijan are attracting to the
preparation of the Anniversary (Nezami - AT.) the Institute of Oriental Studies of the AS
of the USSR, scholars, artists, and poets." 30

26 From the ending speech by Comrade M.D. Baqerov in the XIV Convention of CP(b) of Azerbaijan. -
Bakinskiy rabochiy (The Baku Worker). 16.06.1938, Xsl36.

27 Yaqobov, A. A. Pered yubileem velikogo Nizami (Before the Anniversary of Great Nezami) - Bakinskiy
rabochiy (The Baku Worker). 11.11.1938X2136.

28 Rafili, Mikael. Nizami Gyandzhevi. Epokha, zhizn', tvorchestvo (Nezami Ganjavi: Epoch, Life, and
Works). Moscow, 1941, p. 6.

29 Za dal'neyshiy rastvet sotsialisticheskoy kuVtury i nauki v Azerbaydzhanskoy SSR (For the Future
Flourishing of the Socialist Culture and Science in the Azerbaijani SSR) - hvestiya Azerbaydzhanskogo
Filiala AN SSSR (News of the Azerbaijani Branch of the AS of the USSR). Baku, 1938, JN«4-5, p.26.

3 800-letie so dnya rozhdeniya poeta Nizami (800 Years of Poet Nezami' s Birth). Literaturnaya gazeta
(Literary Gazette). 29.09.1938, Jfe52.

55

E.E. Bertels took the most active part in this process, and it is an interesting,
mostly a model fragment of the history of the Soviet Orientalism. The political
situations played an important role in the biography of E.E. Bertels. Maybe the most
difficult ones and the most unique were connected to his works on Nezami.

There were achievements in 1938, but the Anniversary Campaign for the 800 th
Anniversary of Nezami as a whole was not going as dynamically, as its initiators wanted,
and required constant control and stimulation. This is not strange either. With all due
respect and interest towards Nezami, the problem of his anniversary in the period of
1938-1941 objectively could not be considered as a primary problem. Moreover, on
February 3, 1939, Provdo published an article by E.E. Bertels, "Genius Azerbaijani Poet,
Nezami." 31 Getting published by own initiative in Provdo, especially not long before the
XVIII Convention of the ACP(b) was obviously very difficult. Therefore, it can be
assumed that the article was ordered. This was E.E. Bertels 7 first public statement to the
whole country, where he called Nezami an Azerbaijani poet. Almost ten years later,
Bertels stated: 'To ascertain ethnic belongingness of every author worthy of attention,
and then reclassify them by different literatures; well such a task, firstly, would be
impossible to implement, because we do not have the data on the ethnic belongingness
of old writers, and will likely never have them. Secondly, methodologically it would
have been faulty to the most extreme. Consequently, we would be building literature
based on blood, based on race. We do not need to mention that we cannot and will not
build literature in such a fashion; I in any case will not; if somebody else wants to,

31 Pravda. 03.02.1939, Jfa33; Bakinskiy rabochiy. 04.05.1939, JfelOO.

56

please, it is his personal business." 32 However, in his 1939 article, Bertels did not bring
any proof that Nezami is an Azerbaijani poet, other than the fact that the Poet was born
and lived in Ganja (future Kirovabad). This is one of the riddles of the Scholar: he, for
some reasons, decided to recede from his original scholarly views in the 1930s, or they
changed at the end of the 1940s?

E.E. Bertels' article in Pravda surely was an important stage in the formation of
the Soviet Nezami studies. Academician and literalist, I.K. Luppov said: "If half a year
ago, a "cellar" on Nezami was found in Pravda, if in the Soviet Union, an organ of the
Party put a "cellar" on Nezami, it means that every conscious inhabitant of the Soviet
Union must know who Nezami is. It is an indication to all the directorate organizations,
to all the instances of the Republican, County, District scale, and here the Academy of
Sciences must say its word in this work, while not violating its high scholarly dignity." 33

However, the view on Nezami in the publications of Pravda, could be reviewed,
and accepted as wrong. Many people who were declared "enemies of the people" were
published in different times in Pravda and many wrong viewpoints had appeared in its
pages. A good chance interfered into the situation, possibly a very well organized one.

On April 3, 1939, Pravda published the material "On the Results of the XVIII
Convention of the ACP(b). The speech by Comrade M. Bazhan in the meeting of the
intelligentsia of Kiev on April 2, 1939." The Ukrainian poet, Mikol Bazhan informed
about the meeting between J.V. Stalin with writers, Alexander Fadeev and Peter
Pavlenko. "Comrade Stalin especially attentively asked, was interested, and even

32 Quoted in Tamazshvili A.O. Ukaz. soch., p. 184

33 Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences, (j).456, on. 1, #. 18, ji. 70-71.

57

checked the knowledge of these Comrades about the phenomena and names of the
Tajik, Kyrgyz, Kalmyk, Lak people's literature, whose literature unfortunately, even today
is not fully known to the Soviet reader. Comrade Stalin spoke of the Azerbaijani poet,
Nezami, quoted his works to destroy the viewpoint by his own words that this great
poet of our brotherly Azerbaijani people, should be given to the Iranian literature, just
because he has written most of his works in the Iranian language. Nezami, in his poems
himself asserts that he was compelled to resort to the Iranian language, because he is
not allowed to address his own people in his native tongue. This very place did
Comrade Stalin quote with the genius swing of his thought and erudition, while
including everything remarkable that has been created by the history of mankind." 34

Although Stalin's viewpoint was promulgated literally through the third person,
certainly it was told correctly, and the conversation with Stalin in fact did take place.
Nobody would even think of coming up with something from Stalin's mouth. After M.
Bazhan's speech was published, E.E. Bertels' article on Nezami became of secondary
importance. A logical question arises: why did Stalin remember of Nezami, especially
during the political situation of 1939? It must be taken into account that Stalin loved
poetry and understood it, and he loved Baku. However, even without these factors, he
perfectly understood the political meaning of the anniversary of Nezami - the
Azerbaijani poet.

Bazhan's report was met with enthusiasm in Baku. On April 10, 1939, the
Meeting of the Intelligentsia of the city adopted the poem for J.V. Stalin. The authors of

34 Pravda. 03.04.1939, Jfa92.

58

the poem were Samed Vurgun, Rasul Reza, and Soleiman Rostam, while the translators
to Russian were P. Panchenko, I. Oratovskiy, and V. Gurvich. On April 16, 1939, this
message was published in Pravda. It has the following lines:

Vladeli nashym Nizami, pevtsa pokhitiv chuzhaki,

No gnezda, svitye pevtsom v serdtsokh preznatsel'nykh krepky

Ty nam vernul ego stikhi, ego velich'e vozvratil

Bessmertnym slovom ty o nem stronitsy miro ozoril 35

| [They] Possessed our Nezami, the singer | stolen | [the] aliens |

| But | [the] the words sung by [the] singer | in hearts | grateful | are strong |

| You | to us | returned his poems, his greatness [you] returned

| With immortal word | you about him | the pages of the world | [you] brightened

On the next day, "The Baku Worker" republished the Russian version referring to

Pravda. But interestingly the Azerbaijani original was not published until April 17,

1939. 36

The official Baku underlined that all the events on Nezami's anniversary which
have a political aspect are done through the initiative of Moscow, and by Moscow's
approval.

The new interest, which was shown by Stalin on Nezami, gave a new impulse for
the further development of the anniversary campaign. In Azerbaijan, Committee for

35 Pis 'mo bakinskoy intellegentsii tovarishu Stalinu (The Letter of the Baku Intelligentsia to Comrade
Stalin). -Pravda. 16.04.1939. JV«105

36 Communist (in Azerbaijani language). 17.04.1939, N288.

59

Preparation and Carrying-out of the 800 th Birth Anniversary of Nezami Ganjavi under the
Council of the People's Commissars (CPS) of the AzSSR, which started its work in May of
1939. Its membership included all three authors of the Address to Stalin, as well as E.E.
Bertels, LA. Orbeli, Merza Ebrahimov, M.D. Baqerov, who was formally an ordinary
member of the Anniversary Committee and others. 37 However, the activities of the
Committee were naturally under the control of Baqerov.

After the viewpoint of Stalin on the issue of Nezami was published, the affair of
publishing the "Anthology of the Azerbaijani Poetry" in Moscow made a progress, and
hardly is it an accident. In the autumn of 1939, it came out in 15,000 copies. Poetess A.
Adalis, wrote a very benevolent review, which has nonetheless strange and difficult to
explain positions. The review say that such an anthology is coming out for the "first
time in the history of world literature/' and "a clear word is said about the
belongingness to the Azerbaijani people of a number of world classics in this book." 38
The full impression that Adalis did not know anything about the Anthology, published in
1938 in Baku, in which, by the way, a fragment from "Kor-oglu" epoch, translated by her
took place.

In the foreword of the Moscow Anthology, and the assertion that Nezami
Ganjavi is the great Azerbaijani poet-romantic, leans on a selection of arguments. There
is a reference on Yu.N. Marr's saying, who is referred to as the best Soviet Iranologist,
an excellent expert on Nezami and Khaqani, and a reference to Institute of Oriental

37 V SNK Azerbaydzhanskoy SSR (In the CCP of the Azerbaijani SSR) -Bakinskiy rabochiy (The Baku
Woker). 04.05.1939 JN2IOO.

38 Adalis, A. Antologiya azerbaidzhanskoy poezii (Anthology of the Azerbaijani Poetry). Literaturnaya
gazeta (Literary Gazette). 26.09.1939 Jfa53.

60

Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR "in its special decision on the
anniversary of Nezami firmly and decisively accepted in Nezami a great Azerbaijani
poet." 39 Here the Azerbaijani authors pretended that everything that is happening
around Nezami has been started by the initiative and scholarly viewpoints from Russia.
However, local proofs of belongingness of Nezami's works to the Azerbaijani literature
were promoted. "Lively pages of history appear in the works of Nezami. Fantasy,
fabulous imagination interweave with the true pictures of life of the Azerbaijani people.
The attack of the Rus' to Barda, a fable story about a Russian Tsarevna (Princess), beauty
Shirin and Tsaritsa (Queen) Shamira, the Amazons, battles described in different poems
of Nezami - all of this is historically and geographically connected with Azerbaijan and
the Caucasian middle age world.

"Is it necessary after this to proof after this the right of the Azerbaijani people to
consider the works of Nezami as its own ! Inability and reactionary works of traditional
attachment of Nezami to the Iranian literature by the Bourgeoisie Orientalists is evident.
Artificial, forced distortion of the history of world poetry, not understanding the role of
the Farsi language and the Iranian tradition in the history of the Azerbaijani culture,
denial of centuries-long history, of high and rich culture and the literature of the
Azerbaijani people by the Bourgeoisie Orientalism; all of this brings to the denial of the
large historical truth, and strong creative powers of the people." 40 The supporters of

39 Arasly G., Arif M., Rafili, M. Poeziya azerbaydzhanskogo naroda (Poetry of the Azerbaijani People).
Antologiya azerbaydzhanskoy poezii (Anthology of the Azerbaijani Poetry). Moscow, 1939, page XVI,
XIX.

40 Same place, p. XVII-XIX.

61

the new viewpoint on Nezami saw political enemies in their opponents, and were not
going to be sentimental with them.

Baku also declared that the Azerbaijani people "honors the memory of its great
poet for 800 years/' 41 and the clear insufficient level of knowledge of Nezami's works
was explained in the following manner: "Base agents of fascism, Bourgeoisie
nationalists, super power chauvinists did everything possible to hide from the
Azerbaijani people the heritage of its great son - Poet Nezami." Such formulations
also clearly did not allow the wish to discuss - whose poet is Nezami.

M.D. Baqerov in every possible way propagated the version that the return of
Nezami and his works to Azerbaijan is namely due to Stalin. In December of 1939, in the
meeting of the Party activists of the city of Baku, dedicated to the 60 th birthday of J.V.
Stalin, Baqerov made a speech, where he quoted Mikola Bazhan, and added: "This
saying of Stalin, which is full of wisdom, teaches us how our relation should be to our
past cultural heritage." 43

In 1939, a volume of BSE came out where E.E. Bertels in his article on Nezami
refers to him as a great Azerbaijani poet. 44 This in a way formalized the review process
by our Orientalists of the national belongingness of Nezami Ganjavi.

800-letniy yubiley Nizami (800 th Anniversary of Nezami) - Literaturniy Azerbaydzhan (Literary
Azerbaijan), 1938. JfalO-ll, p.100.

42 Nauchno-issledovatel'skaya liter atura o zhizni i tv or chestve Nizami (Scholarly Research Literature on
the Life and Works of Nezami) - Literaturniy Azerbaydzhan (Literary Azerbaijan), 1939, N23, p. 73-74.

43 Baqerov, M.D. Iz istorii bol'shevistskoy organizatsii Baku i Azerbaydzhana (From the History of the
Bolshevik Organization of Baku and Azerbaijan) Doklad na obshebakinskom sobranii partiynogo aktiva
posveshennogo shestidesyatiletiyu so dnya rozhdeniya tovarisha I.V. Stalina. 19-20 dekabrya 1939g
(Speech in the Meeting of the Party Activists of the city of Baku, dedicated to the 60 th birthday of Comrade
J.V. Stalin). Baku, 1944. p. 170.

44 Bertels, E.E. Nizami (Nezami) BSE. First edition, volume 42. Moscow, 1939, p.93.

62

Undoubtedly, Bertels was well aware of Mikol Bazhan's speech and the details of
the future scholarly-political campaign, and at the time he did not see a principal fault in
some politicization of some works on eastern literature.

We will bring, out of necessity, a quote from currently forgotten article by E.E.
Bertels, which talks about the hero of Nezami's "Eskandarnameh":

The wise man travelled for a long time. He was in the south, in the west, and the
east, but could not find happiness anywhere. Finally, his travels brought him to
the north. If we tried to draw his travels on a map, then this place would be
approximately in Siberia. And there Eskandar finally found what he was looking
for. He met people who did not know rich or poor; who did not know depression
or oppression; who did not know kings or tyrants. In this open society where
powers are not spent on struggle, everything is directed towards improvement
and fixing of life.

There people were able to get rid of illnesses, and prolong the happy life of
people. Everything flowers there; everything makes the eye happy; this is the
reign of everlasting peace and everlasting happiness. After he fond this amazing
country, Eskandar exclaims that if he knew about its existence earlier, he would
not waste time on his travels, and would make its lifestyle a law.
Perhaps to the bourgeoisie researchers this country seemed a "scholastic
imagination." We, Soviet readers of Nezami, look at this from a completely
different viewpoint. We know this country; we are lucky to live in this country
and know which way one should go in order to achieve such happiness.

63

It also excites the Soviet reader that the greater Azerbaijani thinker of the 12 th
century, put this country in the geographic location, where his great dream was
in fact realized. Let us note that all of Nezami's works end here; that all of his
works were to get to this culminating period ... And now, in the country where
socialism became victorious, a country that does not know the fear of historical
truth, Soviet scholars take onto themselves an honorable task to give to the
peoples of their country the treasures that were denied to them for centuries. 45

What would a word of thanks to Stalin for his help to scholarship mean as
oppose to the abovementioned words of political loyalty?! Bertels, according to a
number of his publications, was very respectful of J.V. Stalin, however, in any of his
Russian-language works of this era on Nezami, does he mention that the poet has been
returned to Azerbaijan by Stalin, and hence there are no words of thanks to Stalin. It is
possible that this has been mentioned in any of Bertels' small newspaper notes,
probably in the Azeri language, however the possibility is very slim.

Actually, in Moscow and in Leningrad - the largest cultural and scholarly centers
- as of 1939, there is a widely accepted practice: not to mention the role of Stalin in the
decision of national belongingness of Nezami Ganjavi in the press. It is not evident
whose initiative this was - the government or the scholars and the literary circles. This,
as a rule, was extended to the Azerbaijani authors in the Russian publications.

45 Bertels, E.E. "Preparation for the Anniversary of Nezami." Literaturnaya gazeta (Literary Gazette)
10.12.1939. JN268

64

The story that Stalin returned Nezami to Azerbaijan is not mentioned in the
Moscow edition of the "Anthology of the Azerbaijani Poetry/' although the Decade of
the Azerbaijani Arts of April of 1938 is mentioned. In 1939, for occasion of the 60 th birth
anniversary of Stalin, Samed Vurgun published an article in the Literaturnaya Gazeta
(Lietrary Gazette), named "Pride of People." He has written there that "Comrade Stalin
loves the Azerbaijani popular proverbs and uses them in an appropriate situation.
Comrade Stalin lived in Azerbaijan back in his young age. More than thirty years have
passed since, but he has not forgotten the Azerbaijani proverbs" 46 ; but not a word about
Stalin returning the poetry and greatness of Nezami to Azerbaijan.

In 1940, there was the 20 th anniversary of the Soviet rule in Azerbaijan. In all the
festivities a single message to J.V. Stalin was accepted. In it Nezami was quoted; there
were words about the everyday patriotic Stalinist care, which has warmed the
Azerbaijani people; that Stalin is well aware of the history of this people; but there was
not a word about Stalin returning Nezami to it. 47

15-20 May, 1940, Moscow held the Decade of Azerbaijani Literature. One of its
participants has written about the trip to Moscow: "We are headed by the greatest
representative of the world literature, a genius poet of Azerbaijan, the ever living
Nezami ... He threw the heavy chains of tyrants and oppressors, from himself, who were
forcing him to write in a strange language, and came back to his beloved land. Nezami is
going to Moscow, he is going to thank Stalin, who returned him to his native

46 Vurgun Samed. Gordost' naroda (Pride of People) - Literaturnaya Gazeta (Literary Gazette).
21.12.1939, Jf°70.

47 Velikomu Stalinu (To the Great Stalin). Liter aturniy Azerb ay dzhan (Literary Azerbaijan). 1940, N°4~5,
p.15-17.

65

Azeerbaijani people." 48 During the Decade, Samed Vurgun, made a speech in the Lenin
Military-Political Academy, and gave a new accent to the theme of "repatriation" of
Nezami. "Foul enemies of the people, nationalists-Musavatists, Pan-Turks, and other
traitors wanted to take away Nezami from their own people, just because he wrote
most of his works in the Iranian language. But the great genius of the workers, our
father and leader, Comrade Stalin, returned to the Azerbaijani people their greatest
poet." 49 Well, Stalin really did fight Pan-Turkism very strongly.

In 1940, in Baku, the book of E.E. Bertels, "The Great Azerbaijani Poet, Nezami:
Epoch, Life, Works," where Stalin was not mentioned. Although the version of Stalin's
great role in returning Nezami to Azerbaijani people, started to dominate in Azerbaijan,
none of Bertels' works published there, Stalin was not mentioned by editors; although
they could, especially if Baqerov would demand.

In 1941, the book of Mikael Rafili came out in Moscow, which practically had the
same name, "Nizami Ganjavi: Epoch, Life, and Works." Its author, at the end referred to
Stalin's saying about the poet as "the greatest stage in the development of scholarship
on Nezami." 50 Hence it seems logical that the book opened with the corresponding
quote from M. Bazhan's speech.

Was it an exchange of experiences or correction of someone's (E.E. Bertels'?)
political mistake? The idea of opening the book with reference to Stalin's words might
not have been Rafili's. He was Responsible Secretary of the Anniversary Committee of

48 Sadykh, A. Moskva! Stalin! (Moscow! Stalin!). -Dekada azerbaydzhanskoy literatury v Moskve. (The
Decade of the Azerbaijani Literature in Moscow). Baku, 1940, p. 121.

49 Vurgun Samed. Speech at the Reception of the Lenin Military-Political Academy. Same place, p. 222.

50 Rafili M. Nizami Gyandzhevi i ego tvorchestvo (Nezami Ganjavi and His Works). Baku, 1947, p. 8.

66

Nezami under the CPC (Council of People's Commissars) of the Azerbaijani SSR, but in
his publications on Nezami, (primarily before the war) often did not mention Stalin at
all.

Under the accompaniment of the politicized anniversary ballyhoo, the
translating scholarly-research and publishing work became more active, which was
important both politically and culturally. According to E.E. Bertels, already by 1948, by
the hard work of Soviet scholars, a new field in scholarship was started - Nezamiology -
whose works, written in the past decades "are much better than what Western Europe
could write in one and a half centuries." 51

The war did not stop the process of creating the Soviet Nezamiology. In autumn
of 1941, the 800 th anniversary of Nezami was even celebrated in Leningrad. "On
October 17," retells Piotrovskiy, "there was a meeting dedicated to Nezami in
Hermitage, to which many of its participants, including two of its speakers came straight
from the front. The bomb shelters of the Hermitage were prepared in such a way that,
in case of necessity, the meeting could be continued there." 52 The first speaker was the
director of the Hermitage, Academician J. A. Orbeli, "he delivered a fiery speech, which
warmed hearts." 53 Then the gathered ones listened to the speeches by A.N. Boldyrev,

51 Bertels, E.E. Nizami i egopoema "Khosrov i Shirin" (Nezami Ganjavi and His Poem "Khosrow and

Shirin). Nizami Gyandzhevi. Khosrov i Shirin (Nezami Ganjavi. Khosrow and Shirin). Moscow, 1948,

p.20.

32 Yuzbashyan, K.N. Akademik Iosif Abgarovich Orbeli (Academician Joseph Abgarovich Orbeli) 1887-

1961. 2 nd ed. Moscow, 1986, p.85.

53 Word of the writer. The speech of Nikolay Tikhonov in the meeting of Presidium of the Union of Soviet

Writers of the USSR and the Plenum of the Board of the Union of the Soviet Writers of Azerbaijan on

September 23, 1947. Bakinskiy rabochiy (The Baku Worker). 26.09.1947, JN2189.

67

G.V. Ptitsyn, M.M. D'yakonov, and Poet V.A. Rozhdenstvenskiy read out his translations
of Nezami. 54

In this way, Nezami's anniversary was held according to plan, and with most
possible dignity. It was possible not to continue the 800 th anniversary campaign for the
Poet after this. However, Baku disagreed.

In 1944, the abovementioned book of M.D. Baqerov was published. Victory in
the war already near; and one could build definite plans for the peaceful post-war life,
and remember the Nezami celebrations that were cut off by war.

In May of 1945, Baku built the Nezami Museum. "Just starting the peaceful
built-up, the workers of Azerbaijan honored the memory of their immortal
countryman/' 55 The visitors of the Museum in the Hall "Nezami and Our Epoch" could
see "The words of Comrade Stalin about Nezami as a great Azerbaijani poet, who was
compelled to resort to the Iranian language, because he was not allowed to address his
people in the native language, with golden letters were placed on the wall" 56 Izvestiya
reported on it, but the Baku Worker for some reason did not pay attention to this. In
1946, Baku published Baqerov's book in the second edition. Whatever the reasons, this
was another reminder about the Nezami problem; about the uncelebrated anniversary
of the Poet in the Republic. The question about why this anniversary was not held in
1945, 1946, but only in 1947, is still not answered. Nevertheless, E.E. Bertels, most
likely because of the circumstances, said that the date of birth of Nezami "cannot be

54 Yuzbashyan, K.N. abovementioned, p. 85.

55 Raeva, R. "Po zalam museya Nizami" ("Through the Halls of the Nezami Museum"). - Bakinskiy
rabochiy(The Baku Worker). 27.09.1947 JN2190.

56 Gik, Ya. Muzey velikogo poeta (Museum of the Great Poet). Izvestiya. 21.09.1947. N2I9O.

68

considered firmly fixed" and "there are basis to believe that he was born a few years
later, or in 1147." 57

Victory in the Great Patriotic War strengthened the feeling of national identity
and national pride of the peoples of the USSR. In such a atmosphere, in summer-
autumn of 1947, a limited discussion on the circumstances of Nezami's life and works,
and the level of cultural development during the Shirvan-Shahs. Without getting to the
details of the discussion, that such an argument appeared: 'The Azerbaijani people -
according to Comrade Skosyrev - were almost all illiterate, destitute, and without rights.
They were under the foreign domination of Shirvan-Shahs, and their national culture
was trampled upon. The question arises that on what basis were the works of Nezami
born then? Is it possible that a people almost fully illiterate and destitute, according to
Comrade Skosyrev, could create Nezami? Why did Skosyrev need these black colors
towards the Azerbaijani literature of the 12 th century?" 58 And this underlined that the
Nezami anniversary was needed for Azerbaijan as a political measure as well.

57 Bertels, E.E. Nizami i ego tvorchestvo (Nezami and His Works). Bakinskiy rabochiy (The Baku
Worker). 27.09.1947. Xal07.

Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, A.O. Makovel'skiy thought the same. Look at his
article, "Azebaydzhanskoe obshestvo XII veka po proizvedeniyam Nizami" ("The Azerbaijani Society of the
12 th Century According to the Works of Nezami. Znamya (Banner) (Journal). 1947. N2IO, p. 177.

58 [The Speech of S. Vurgun in the XI Plenum of the Board of the Union of the Soviet Writers of the
USSR]. Literaturnaya gazeta (Literary Gazette). 08.07.1947, N°28. Samed Vurgun argues against the
article of the Soviet writer and literary critic, P.G. Skosyrev, "Vopros daleko ne akademicheskiy. Protiv
Putanitsy i izrasheniya v otsenke liter atury proshlogo" (The Question is not Quite Academic: Against the
Confusion and Perversion in evaluating the Literary Past." Literaturnaya gazeta (Literary Gazette).
14.06.1947, JN224.

69

Article 2 of Tamazshvilli: Afterword: (Iranology in Russia and Iranologists)

The life and the work of Evgeni Eduardovich Bertels have not been studied, as yet, as
fully as they deserve, both by virtue of their own outstanding character, and as a
reflection of the peculiarities of the formation and the development of oriental studies
in the USSR. Therefore it is objectively necessary to enter any materials that tell us
something new about E. E. Bertels into scholarly circulation. This applies to the text of B.
N. Zakhoder's speech, published now, which is dominated by the motif of the immense
significance of Bertels's work in the development of research in the area of oriental
philology, and the scholar's contribution to the cause of acquainting broad masses of
readers with the literary heritage of the East. But among those, probably not numerous,
readers who are well acquainted with the biography and the creative output of E. E.
Bertels, the first impression might be that they are facing a text of rather ordinary
anniversary celebration speech, for all its vividness and elegance, a speech not violating
the canons of its genre and, moreover, containing little that is new. There would be
grounds to be satisfied with such an estimate. But feeling the atmosphere in which the
speech was made, getting a notion of the reasons why it became what it was, realizing
what it says about the relations between E. E. Bertels and B. N. Zakhoder, and what is its
significance for the characterization of them both - in short, understanding this speech
in full, is only possible by implementing the recommendation - or the demand - of
another well-known orientalist, E. M. Zhukov: "We are obligated to translate everything,
through to the end, into the language of politics". That was said precisely in connection
with the discussion of the works of E. E. Bertels, in the process of the academic-political
campaign of struggle against bourgeois cosmopolitanism in Soviet oriental studies that
developed in the late forties. That campaign was conducted mainly "in the language of
politics", as also was (though to a lesser degree) another campaign that took place
simultaneously: for a Marxist treatment of the history of literatures of Central Asia and
the Caucasus. Both campaigns have remained in the history of the nation's oriental
studies as very ambiguous phenomena. In their course, E. E. Bertels was subjected to
harsh, politicized criticism.

It is logical that the events of both academic-political campaigns are only
mentioned by B. N. Zakhoder in passing, as intensive and fruitful discussions;
nevertheless, they have largely determined the content and the goals of his speech.
Even though Zakhoder is evidently well-informed, yet in many details he is imprecise,
sometimes deliberately so. He could not fail to know that the most criticized work of E.
E. Bertels was his recent, 1949, article, "Persian-language literature in the Central Asia"
2 . The author said in it: "By the Persian literature we shall, from now on, understand all
the literary works written in the so-called 'neo-Persian' language, irrespective of their
authors' ethnic identity and of the geographical point where these works emerged." 3 It
was around this statement that the passions mainly flared.

It all began with the appearance of A. A. Fadeev, the General Secretary of the
Union of Soviet Writers, on the podium of the XII Plenum of the SSW (December 15-20,
1948). 4 The problems discussed at the plenum became the topic of an article in
"Culture and Life" ["Kultura i zhizn"] , the newspaper of the Department of Agitation

70

and Propaganda of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. Its author, the
writer K. M. Simonov, asserted, following Fadeev: 'Theories still have circulation among
our orientalists, according to which the history of the literature of the peoples of Central
Asia, beginning almost as far off as the middle of the past century, should be considered
as some unified history. These scholars, under the guise of "historical objectivity", turn
over to Persians, to Persian literature, a whole series of outstanding writers and major
literary phenomena, undoubtedly belonging to the history of the literatures of the
peoples of the Soviet Central Asian republics. This question was raised especially sharply
... in connection with the history of the Tajik literature. These and a whole series of
other errors, present in works of historians of literature in the republics and of
orientalists in Moscow and Leningrad require analysis and severe criticism and
correction." 5 Both Fadeev and Simonov were speaking about, among others, E. E.
Bertels.

In the Moscow group of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of
Sciences (IOS AS), where Bertels was working in the late 40s, a discussion took place, at
an open Party meeting, over a report by the Institute's deputy director A. K. Borovkov
"For a Marxist-Leninist history of the literatures of Central Asia and the Caucasus" (the
discussion was held on February 7, 10, and 24, 1949). On April 4-6, an extended
combined meeting was held of the academic council of the Pacific Institute of the USSR
Academy of Sciences, and the Bureau of the Moscow Group of IOS AS, discussing the
report of the Pacific Institute director E. M. Zhukov: "On the struggle against bourgeois
cosmopolitanism in oriental studies." During both meetings, colleagues blamed E. E.
Bertels for deviating from Marxism, for reflecting in his works the objectivist errors and
the cosmopolitan views characteristic of bourgeois oriental studies. It would be a
stretch to assert that the criticism pursued the goal of "extirpating" Bertels from
oriental studies. But he, too, was the target of calls to expose to the bottom and discard
the "regional cosmopolitan theories of 'classical Persian literature'" and to "smash to
the end the miserable bunch of rootless cosmopolitans, poisoning with their toxic
breath the atmosphere of creative surge in our country."

In the discussion over Borovkov's report, Bertels admitted: "I must say candidly
that those papers which I wrote on the issues of Persian literature, in no way I want to
claim that this was remotely similar, not only to Marxism, but even to anything
approaching it." 6 But at the same time he was in no hurry (and that, too, was well
known to B. N. Zakhoder) to agree unreservedly with the criticism of his views. "To find
out the ethnic identity of every author worth notice, and then classify them over the
various literatures - but such a task would be, first of all, impossible to perform,
because we have no data on the ethnic identity of old writers, and, probably, we will
never have them; and, secondly, that would be methodologically vicious to the extreme.
We would, then, be constructing literature by blood, by race. It hardly needs saying that
we cannot and shall not be constructing literature in such a way, I won't, at least - if
someone else wants to do it, let him, that is his private affair" Bertels said in the same
statement, and he added: "How to draw the dividing line between the Persian and the
Tajik literatures, I, frankly, do not know. If we take the position that a writer must

71

necessarily be assigned to the place where he was born and where he acted for the
greatest part of his life, then that principle will lead us nowhere."

A. K. Borovkov called E. E. Bertels's statement unsatisfactory and non-self-
critical, because the latter "did not say that the criticism of his views is just" and
"repeated those usual assertions that he had made even before." 8

In the same discussion, B. N. Zakhoder, first making the reservation that he was
not a specialist in literary history, agreed with A. A. Fadeev that "cosmopolitanism has,
undoubtedly, influenced many theses of the Academy of Sciences corresponding
member E. E. Bertels" "as a result of the uncritical acceptance by him of the erroneous
theories of the pre-revolutionary literary historian A. N. Veselovski." 9 Besides that,
Zakhoder did not criticize Bertels, but also did not defend him, though in 1949 it would
have been been both timely and appropriate to give the characteristic of Bertels
expressed by him later, at the anniversary celebration: as a Soviet scholar "who has not
stopped in his development, did not ossify in the traditions imbibed before, but kept
growing and developing together with the growth and development of our science."
Such behavior of B. N. Zakhoder is explainable, of course, not by his cowardice etc. (in
the same discussion he unreservedly defended the Academician I. Yu. Krachkovski) but
by his views concerning the issue, by his social-political position. They predetermined
the evaluation by B. N. Zakhoder of the discussion and the criticism that was expressed
in it.

With the further development of the campaign of struggle against bourgeois
cosmopolitanism in oriental studies (and not only in them), E. M. Zhukov accused E. E.
Bertels in his report: "By spreading the legend about a unity of different peoples'
literatures on the sole ground that the writers and the poets of these peoples wrote in
the same literary language - though they expressed different thoughts, different views,
different feelings and traditions - by contributing to that legend, Evgeni Eduardovich is
obviously aiding the spread of the newest bourgeois-nationalist conceptions about an
imaginary superiority of Iran's culture to the cultures of other countries adjacent to Iran,
in particular when speaking about the Soviet socialist republics of Central Asia and
Transcaucasia." 10 The conversation in the language of politics about the scholarly work
of E. E. Bertels was heating up.

Bertels answered: "I must say that I love the peoples of Central Asia dearly, and
will never let anyone abuse them. In Central Asia, they know that very well." At the
same time, he admitted, and made an attempt to explain, his mistake. "This criticism is,
for the most part, fair. The article gave an occasion, and had to give an occasion, for
seeing the relation between literatures of Near and Middle East as different from what
it really is. [...] But it was already clear to me in 1938 that a wholesale assigning to Iran
of all the immense, colossal, Persian literature - that this is not only wrong, but is a
major mistake. So, one had to either look for a solution to this problem, or to discard
this term altogether. And the whole issue is that I did not discard that old term, but tried
to fill it with new content. And that is where this collision occurred. I was departing from
an assumption that has been accepted in Tajikistan by public opinion through all these
years - namely the assumption of commonality of the Tajik heritage with the Iranian -
for the centuries X through XV." n

72

But these explanations were not, apparently, accepted by many. Criticism
directed at Bertels sounded also from the side of Avdiev, the Egyptologist: "His main
theoretical and even, partially, political mistake is that he covered with one traditional
and conventional term 'Persian literature' the literary output of different peoples of
Western Asia, including the great literary heritage of the Azerbaijan people and the
peoples of Central Asia, which have created through a number of centuries grandiose
monuments of their fully original cultural creativity.

Repeating in this way the statements of bourgeois scholars, and by this
artificially impoverishing the great cultural heritage of the peoples of Soviet East, E. E.
Bertels, anti-historically, artificially and quite incorrectly, constructed an ethnically
abstract Oriental cosmos, devoid of substantial internal unity, in which Persians,
Azerbaijanis, Uzbeks, Tajiks and other peoples of Western Asia somehow merge. Such a
point of view and its promotion in academic literature undoubtedly contribute to
reactionary pan-lranism, and do significant damage to, on one hand, development of
Soviet Oriental studies and, on the other hand, development of national cultures of the
peoples of the Soviet East." 12

Such a criticism required adoption of radical measures, and the topic "History of
the Persian literature", developed by E. E. Bertels, was excluded from the research plan
of IOS AS. He was instructed to concentrate, temporarily, on dictionary work.

In 1950, critical campaigns in Soviet oriental studies continued. In the article by I.
S. Braginsky "On the wayside from urgent issues: on the collections 'Soviet Oriental
Studies' [Sovetskoe Vostokovedenie] V (1948) and VI (1949) " the same work of E. E.
Bertels was qualified as fundamentally erroneous due to the author's underestimation
of the creative potential of the Tajik people. Braginsky drew a general conclusion that
was categorical and severe: "The editorial board cultivates a backward, apolitical, and
essentially unscientific, direction in oriental studies." 13

On November 2, 1950, I. S. Braginsky's article was discussed in the Moscow
group of IOS AS. The main speaker, V. I. Avdiev, repeated, in fact, word for word what
he had said almost a year earlier about E. E. Bertels and his works, including his aid to
the reactionary pan-lranism.

And again, B. N. Zakhoder did not contradict Avdiev's point of view.

The editorial board of "Soviet Oriental Studies" reacted to the criticism. The
seventh issue of the collection, scheduled to appear in 1950, was to open with the
article of A. K. Borovkov, "The current tasks of Soviet oriental studies". It asserted that
such an understanding of the history of literatures' development as Bertels's "inevitably
leads to national nihilism, to denial of the richness of the literary heritage of the peoples
of Central Asia and the Caucasus, to denial of the originality of their artistic creativity." 14
The collection was already set up, but 1950 was pregnant with new shocks and changes
in Soviet oriental studies. The discussion in "Pravda" on the linguistic issues erupted,
triggering the campaign against "Marrism" - and the leadership of IOS AS (its director
was Academician V. V. Struve) correctly realized that the beginning of the new
academic-political campaign, objectively more limited in scale, was in essence also the
beginning of the folding down of the preceding campaign. It was decided not to publish
Borovkov's article, replacing it with I. V. Stalin's works on the issues of linguistics. In the

73

end, the seventh issue of "Soviet Oriental Studies" did not appear at all; but all the same
the criticism of Bertels and others in print did not cease with that. After the transfer of
IOS AS from Leningrad to Moscow (in August 1950) its new director S. P. Tolstov
published an article, "For progressive Soviet oriental studies", now quite forgotten even
by historians of science, but at the time, of course, well-known to all who worked at the
Institute. This was the third criticism of Bertels on the pages of "Culture and Life" in less
than two years (quite an "achievement" in its way), where an image was being formed
of him as a scholar who is not transforming his erroneous, and politically harmful, views.
And the estimates given in this paper's issues, irrespective of the person of their author,
were perceived by many as a reflection of the opinion of the Party's leading organs.

Bertels anniversary celebrations were held in a situation when the topic of his
(true or imaginary) mistakes that had been discussed for about two years, was not yet
closed. In preparing his speech Zakhoder had to take into account the consideration
that, even though new acute issues, which were also being discussed "in the language of
politics", have significantly displaced the previous ones, there was no occasion to
completely discount the latter. Therefore Zakhoder did touch on the issue of Bertels's
mistakes, but, as was quite natural, softened and smoothed it to the maximum. The
mention of the anniversary hero's passion for butterflies was an elegant and effective
ploy: the butterfly wings might help freshen a tense or too-official atmosphere, should it
congeal at the meeting.

Zakhoder, naturally, remained a non-specialist in the history of literature; and his
speech was, in essence, counteracting the residual influence of the critical campaigns,
which had subsided, but not died out. Whether Zakhoder expected his speech to have a
wider resonance, is unknown. It is also unknown whether he was following in full the
criticism of Bertels that was also sounding in the republics. But, counter to many of the
critics' assertions, Zakhoder says the direct opposite about Bertels. The example with
the evaluation of Bertels's work by Academician Bartold may be a coincidence, but this
coincidence is significant.

At the time when, in Uzbekistan, the estimates of Alisher Navoi in the works of E.
E. Bertels are being criticized, Zakhoder is speaking of Bertels 's struggle for clearing the
image of Navoi, etc.

In 1949, an accusation was voiced against E. E. Bertels that some of his
theoretical constructs and conclusions lead "first of all, to the tearing away the peoples
of the East from Russia, to introducing hostility between the Russian people and oriental
peoples." 16 And Zakhoder emphasizes that the activity of Bertels as a translator has
"enriched our culture, contributed in every way to mutual cultural understanding
between the Russian people and the peoples of the East." E. E. Bertels is reproached for
underestimating the originality of the Tajik literature - and Zakhoder declares that "with
great hope and interest, our public is awaiting the appearance of the fundamental work,
by the anniversary's hero, on the history of the Tajik literature."

Bertels is directly listed among those who "give away" writers representative of
the peoples of the Soviet East, to Persia, to Iran; Zakhoder specifically underscores the
anniversary hero's merit in "repatriating" to Azerbaijan the poet Nizami Ganjavi. One
could probably find other, more striking, examples of the anniversary hero's powers of

74

observation - but Zakhoder preferred to recall the participation of Bertels in the 800
years celebration of Nizami. It is easy to notice that the question of Bertels's
contribution to the study of Nizami is especially important for Zakhoder. This is
understandable: in this area, Bertels has the most indisputable, under any
circumstances, academic and political merits. The article in "Pravda" where Nizami was
called an Azerbaijani poet, and not a Persian one, as he had been considered before, is
among them. 17 Nizami is an Azerbaijani poet; this treatment of him will be now
unchangeable in Soviet oriental studies, independently of Bertels's will, but thanks to
him, whatever his subsequent mistakes. However, even here not everything was
smooth and unruffled. The Nizami studies, while one of the most successful and fruitful
directions of E. E. Bertels's research, were also the most politicized.

On April 3, 1939, "Pravda" published the material: "On the results of the XVIII
Congress of the VKP(b). Report of Comrade M. Bazhan to the meeting of intelligentsia of
the city of Kiev, April 2 1939." There, the Ukrainian poet Mikola Bazhan told about the
meeting of I. V. Stalin with the writers Konstantin Fedin and Pyotr Pavlenko. "Comrade
Stalin spoke of the Azerbaijani poet Nizami, quoted his work, to demolish, with the
words of the poet, the unfounded claim that this poet must, allegedly, be given to the
Iranian literature just because most of his poems he wrote in the Iranian language.
Nizami asserted himself in his poems that he is forced to have recourse to the Iranian
language because he is not permitted to address his people in his native language.
Comrade Stalin quoted just this piece, embracing with a sweep of his genius all the
outstanding achievements created by the history of humanity"

On April 10, 1939, a meeting of Baku intelligentsia voted a verse address to I. V.
Stalin 18 . It was published by "Pravda" on April 16, 1939. It included the words: "The
aliens had held our Nizami, having appropriated the singer, /But the nests that the
singer has built in grateful hearts, are strong;/ You gave back his verse to us, you have
returned his greatness./ With an immortal word about him you have lighted up the
world's pages. By 1947, the point of view that it was Stalin who first "returned" Nizami
to Azerbaijan was dominant, at any rate, among Azerbaijani scholars. The participants of
the celebratory meeting in Baku honoring Nizami's anniversary, adopted with great
enthusiasm, as Bertels wrote, the text of greetings to Stalin containing the same lines
about Nizami. Thus, the priority of Stalin in ascribing Nizami to the literature of
Azerbaijan seemed to be recognized by Bertels himself. And the criticism by himself of
his own mistakes, as it was d one in 1949 after the speech of E. M. Zhukov, gave a
formal ground to reproach Bertels (as V. I. Avdiev in fact did) for an attempt to revise an
already established view of Nizami Ganjavi as an Azerbaijani poet, a view shared by I. V.
Stalin.

V.I. Avdiev also said this about Bertels: "Having admitted that his theoretical
mistakes are due to the heavy burden of bourgeois science's old traditions, Bertels,
undoubtedly, has made a significant step forward which gives him an opportunity to
start on the way towards rectifying these mistakes, which is possible only by effectively
mastering the basics of dialectic and historical materialism." 20 In conditions when any
pronouncement by Stalin was declared by many to be a contribution of genius, both
into dialectical and historical materialism, it would have been obviously profitable for E.

75

E. Bertels's reputation to play in this respect on the coincidence of his and Stalin's views
on Nizami. But neither Bertels, nor Zakhoder do this... As we see there are no mentions
of Stalin in Zakhoder's speech - on the contrary, he, quite rightly, emphasizes that
Bertels called Nizami an Azerbaijani poet before anyone else.

The speech of B. N. Zakhoder became the basis of the first, in two years, positive
publications about E. E. Bertels, though in one of them it was said anyway that he,
"having once ascribed Nizami to the number of Persian poets, succeeded in overcoming
this mistake, which had been uncritically borrowed from bourgeois orientalism/' 21
Obviously, in publications, too, it would have been very profitable for Bertels to refer to
I. V. Stalin's point of view, but here, too, it was not done.

This is an additional proof that those who did not want, to refer necessarily to
Stalin, in or out of context, in academic statements or publications, - did not do it.

The knowledge of all the above allows to conjecture the reason why it was
Zakhoder who became the main speaker at E. E. Bertels's anniversary in December
1950. 22 After all, something of the same kind could have been said by some of the
anniversary hero's colleagues - literary historians. Many could have found sincere, kind
words about him, could have recalled E. E. Bertels's services to knowledge. But to
Zakhoder it was also an opportunity to cancel, in some measure, his moral debt, to say
about Bertels what he had not said before, in conditions that were, of course, more
difficult. Such a version is not at all excluded - but if so, has Zakhoder succeeded in
compensating for what was omitted before?

Notes

1. The archive fund of the Moscow group of IOS AS

2. Soviet oriental studies, volume V, Moscow-Leningrad, p. 199-228.

3. Ibid. p. 200

4. For a new advance of the Soviet literature. (Debate over the reports of A. Siras, I.
Muijniek, and S. Mukanov, and co-reports of K. Simonov, A. Surkov, and B.
Gorbatov) // Literaturnaya Gazeta, Dec 12, 1948, #102

5. K. Simonov, Some issues of the development of the literatures of peoples of the
USSR, (On the results of the Plenum of the Union of Soviet Writers). Kultura I
Zhizn, Jan. 11 1949, #1.

6. The archive fund of the Moscow group of IOS AS

7. Ibid.

8. Ibid.

9. Ibid.

10. Ibid.

11. Ibid.

12. Ibid.

13. Kultura I Zhizn, Jan. 11 1950, #1.

14. The archive fund of IOS AS

15. Kultura I Zhizn, Aug. 11 1950, #22.

76

16. The archive fund of the Moscow group of IOS AS

17. E. Bertels. The genius poet of Azerbaijan, Nizami// Pravda, Feb. 3,1939, #33.

18. Samed Vurgun, Rasul Rza, Suleiman Rustam, A letter of Baku intelligentsia to
Comrade Stalin.// Literaturnyi Azerbaijan, Baku, 1939, #4, p. 3-12

19. See: E. E. Bertels, The Nizami anniversary in Azerbaijan // Vestnik AN SSSR, 1947,
#12, p. 96.

20. The archive fund of the Moscow group of IOS AS

21. Celebration of the Corresponding Member of AS of the USSR Professor E. E.
Bertels: in connection with sixty years' birthday and thirty years of scholarly work
in oriental studies// Brief notices of IOS AS USSR, Issue 1, Moscow, 1951, p. 63.

22. On November 17, 1950, by the order # 95 at IOS AS, an anniversary commission
has been formed in the Institute, to celebrate sixty years of E. E. Bertels. The
commission's chairman was the institute's director S. P. Tolstov, among its
members were I. S. Braginsky, B. N. Zakhoder and others.

The introductory remarks at "the celebration meeting in honor of E.E.
Bertels were made by S. P. Tolstov, the address of greetings from IOS AS USSR
was read by V. I. Avdiev, and today it may seem somewhat strange in the eyes of
some people. E. E. Bertels himself, to judge by some of his remarks, perceived
objective criticism, even if very harsh, as a necessary element of scholarly work.
All the same, it would be rash to assert anything about the influence of the
criticism on his relations with his colleagues in the period under consideration.

Recent Politicization of the Figure of Nizami Ganjavi

Thus we saw that during the USSR era, the heritage of Nezami Ganjavi became
politicized. He was attributed to a non-existent identity (Azerbaijani-Turkic) during his
own time and it was falsely he claimed that he was forced to write in Persian. Even
Stalin got involved and E.E. Bertels himself who said that it is impossible to discuss the
ethnicity of 12 th centuries figure was politically pressured and recognized Stalin's
decision. Indeed, later on when he wanted to express a differing opinion about the
integrity of Persian literature but again was forced to take back his opinion due to
political pressure. Overall, we can see that attribution of Nezami Ganjavi as an
"Azerbaijani" (which was defined by the USSR as Medes, Caucasian Albanians or etc.)
was political in nature. However in order to justify this political maneuver, some false
arguments (like Nezami was forced to write in an Iranian language) were coined. These
false arguments are dealt with in another section of this article.

After the breakup of the USSR, independent Muslim republics emerged and one of them
was the Republic of Azerbaijan. Small minority of the opposition and elite in that country
(including the People's Front) strongly identified with pan-Turkism at one hand and also
continued upon the policy of weakening cultural ties with Iran by not mentioning or
minimizing their fraternal relationship with the wider Iranian world.

77

The USSR historiography legacy has been continued by some of the elite elements in the
Republic of Azerbaijan after the fall of the USSR. According to Professor Bert G.
Fragner:

"In the case of Azerbaijan, there is another irrational assault on sober treatment of history
to be witnessed: its denomination. The borders of historical Azerbaijan crossed the
Araxes to the north only in the case of the territory of Nakhichevan . Prior to 1918, even
Lenkoran and Astara were perceived as belonging not to Azerbaijan proper but to Talysh,
an area closely linked to the Caspian territory of Gilan. Since antiquity, Azerbaijan has
been considered as the region centered around Tabriz, Ardabil, Maragheh, Orumiyeh and
Zanjan in today's (and also in historical) Iran. The homonym republic consists of a
number of political areas traditionally called Arran, Shirvan, Sheki, Ganjeh and so on.
They never belonged to historical Azerbaijan, which dates back to post-Achaemenid,
Alexandrian 'Media Atropatene'. Azerbaijan gained extreme importance under (and
after) the Mongol Ilkhanids of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, when it was
regarded as the heartland of Iran.

Under Soviet auspices and in accordance with Soviet nationalism, historical Azerbaijan
proper was reinterpreted as 'Southern Azerbaijan', with demands for liberation and,
eventually, for 're '-unification with Northern (Soviet) Azerbaijan a breathtaking
manipulation. No need to point to concrete Soviet political activities in this direction, as
in 1945-46 etc. The really interesting point is that in the independent former Soviet
republics this typically Soviet ideological pattern has long outlasted the Soviet Union.

(Bert G. Fragner, 'Soviet Nationalism: An Ideological Legacy to the Independent
Republics of Central Asia' in Van Schendel, Willem(Editor) . Identity Politics in Central
Asia and the Muslim World: Nationalism, Ethnicity and Labour in the Twentieth
Century. London , GBR: I. B. Tauris & Company, Limited, 2001.)

According to Professor Douglass Blum:

"Finally, Azerbaijan presents a somewhat more ambiguous picture. It boasts a well-
established official national identity associated with claims of a unique heritage based on
an improbable blend of Turkism, Zoroastrianism, moderate Islam, and its historical
function as 'bridge 'between Asia and Europe along the Silk Road. At the same time there
remain strong local allegiances and ethnic distinctions, including submerged tensions
between Azeris, Russians, and also Lezgins and Talysh (besides Armenians), as well as
stubborn religious cleavages (roughly two thirds of the Islamic population is Shi'ite one
third Sunni). This persistence of parochialism is hardly surprising inasmuch as there
has been little historical basis for national identity formation among Azeri elites,
who were significantly affected by Russification and are still generally lukewarm in
their expressions of pan-Turkism. Perhaps the most powerful source of social cohesion
and stale legitimacy is the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, which has at least generated some
degree of collective identity as victim of Armenian aggression perhaps a slender reed on

78

which to construct a national identity conducive to developmental state building in the

future".

(Douglass Blum, "Contested National Identities and Weak State Structures In Eurasia"(in

Sean Kay, S. Victor Papacosma, James Sperling, Limiting Institutions: The Challenge of

Eurasian Security Governance, Manchester University Press, 2003.)

Here are examples of some news reports from a Republic of Azerbaijan news site on
Nizami Ganjavi. (All accessed in Dec, 2007 and the URL given on the bottom of each
picture)

Today.Az » Society » Iran again calls Nizami "Iranian
poet"

02 J uty 2006 [17:49] - Tpday.flz

Azerbaijani poet Nizami Ganjavi s iove stories of "Leyii ve
Majnun" and "Khosrovve Shirin"were translated into the Uzbek
language.

According to the Mehr News
Agency, Abbas-Ali Vafaii, Iran's
cultural attache in Uzbekistan
said Sunday that the books of the
"Iranian poet" were translated by
the Uzbek poet Alim Jan Buriev,
edited by Muhammad Khan
Muminov, and published by

Al-Hoda Publications.

It's not the first time when Iran's officials try to pose Nizami as
Iranian poet.

Nizami Ganjavi (1141-1209) lived and died in Ganja, an ancient
city in Azerbaijan, where his mausoleum stands.

U RL: htt p://www.t od ay. az/n ews/s o<: i ety/2 778 1.html

79

Editors of "Tolishi sedo" newspaper took stand of betrayal of country

Azerbaijani well-known poet Nizami Ganjavi and historical hero Babek were shown as Talish in these materials published in the
newspaper.

Court consideration on the cases of Novruzeli Mammadov, Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences Linguistics department chief.

editor-in-chief of Tolishi sedo" newspaper and Elman Guliyev, official of Linguistics Institute was started in the Court of Grave Crimes today.

Shakir Alasgarov presided at the trial. Court consideration was held behind closed doors.

Answering the questions of Ramiz Mammadov, lawyer of defendant Mammadov, Guliyev admitted that Iranian Talish Study scientist AN

Abdeyin rendered amount of financial assistance to "Tolishi sedo' newspaper.

Azerbaijani well-known poet Nizami Ganjavi and historical hero Babek were shown as Talish in these materials published in the newspaper.

It was shown in the newspaper that Turkish came to Azerbaijani regions afterwards where Talish people live and these lands were Talish

lands historically. Guliyev admitted that they received $1000 a month from Talish organizations in Iran. Trial will continue in the second half

of the day.

Novruzali Mammadov was detained on February 3 andYasamal Court passed decision to arrest Novruzeli Bayramov for 15 days. Novruzeli

Mammadov faced charge under Article 274 (State betray) of Criminal Code on February 17. Elman Guliyev is also accused of the same article

© 2097 AM rights reserved. Citing to ANS PRESS is necessary upon using news.

Story from anspress.com: http:tfwww.anspress.CDm
Published: 19.12.2007 17:37
© anspress.com

Today. Az » Society » Unidentified persons insulted
bas-relief of Nizami Ganjavi in Georgia

17 April 2M& [09:45] - Today .Az

The great Azerbaijani poet Nizami Ganjavi's bas-relief in the
center ofMarneuii region in Georgia suffered of insulting
behaworAprii 13 to 14.

APA reports that the bas-relief for
Nizami Ganjavi stands next to the
bas-relief of Georgian poet Shota
Rustaveli. Unidentified persons
wrote the word "Father" under the
memorial of Rustaveli with color
and insulting words under the
memorial of Ganjavi.

Besides, the unidentified persons throw mud on Nizami's face.
The analogous behavior was redone next day. The
correspondent of APA appealed to the governor of Mamueli
Amiran Subitidze regarding the incident. The governor said the
police had partially identified the hooligans. He also said that
after necessary investigations they would be detained and
punished.

U RL: htt p://www.t o d ay. az/n e ws/s o c i ety/2 521Q.html

80

Toclay.Az. » Society * Afshar Su I ey man i considers Nizami and
Shahriyaras Persian poets

13 Mardl 2006 [10:06] - TMwAr

"Former tranian President Mahammad Khatamis writing thai Nizami Ganjavi is
a Persian poet is tnse. Nizami wrote and seated nis worts in Persian, ne didn't
have ev-^en one work in Azerbaijani, " tranian Ambassador *o Azerbaijan, Afshar
Suieymani, ioid

As A PA rEps-rts, Suieymani also said there
is no EvidEncE to prove that Mizami wrote
in Azerbaijani.

"Mizami didn't write in Azerbaijani.
Mizami wrote in Persian but these poems
were translated into Azerbaijani later".

The Iranian Ambassador also claimed
that Shahriyar is not Azerbaijani poet as

well.

Chairman of parliament standing com mission an culture affairs, Professor
Mizami J afarov doesn't agree with Iranian Ambassador.

"It is a fact that Mizami Ganjavi praised Macedonian Alexander, who raised
Iran, while other Persian poets showed Alexander as a bloodthirsty killer. If
Mizami Ganjavi had been a Persian pnet, he would alsn- have show Alexander
as a bloodthirsty killer instead of praising him. It proves that Mizami is a genius
Azerbaijani poet. Mizami's creative works are in the spirit of Azerbaijan-Turk".

As for great Turkish-Azerbaijani poet Shahriyar, professor said that his
nationality was reflected in his documents and works.

"Iran was a Turkish state till XX century and it was personalized after that. If am
not wrong, Afshar Suleymani is Azerbaijan i as well, hie should investigate and
learn history, he, as a diplomat, may need this knowledge".

Jafarov also said that 3b million Azerbaijan is live in Iran and their rights are
violated there. Professor thinks that it would be better for Afshar Suleymani to
answer the ban imposed in Iran on speaking its own language and getting
education.

URL: http:/,'\vww.today.az/news/society/242B2. html

Another news article claims:

81

Day.Az » OSuicctbo » flircaTejib 3/ibMHH TacaHOB:
«HaM hv?kho pa6oTaTb Hafl tem, MTo6bi bo bcem
Mwpe noBepwjiH b to, mto Hn3aMH 11 <Dn3y/in —
a3 ep6a iSflMa h 14b 1 »

22 Maprs 2006 ;02:33] - Day.Az PacneuaTaTb

3KCW?K?3MBH0e MHTepBhtO D&y,AZ C W7BHQM CGK?33 f7MC3Ta/ie£f

Ajep&aifcpftaHa, HSBSCTHbtM ny&j?MijtfcrGM S/jbVMHOM racauoBbtMs

- 3/lbMHH Mya/1/IHM, KaK Bbl

npoKOMMeHTHpyeTG iaflBJieHUfl
nocna HcnaricKoti Pecny6/iMKH
HpaH b A3ep6afiAH<aHe Achilla pa
Cy/ieiiMaHH o tom, mto oh npoms

TOrO, MTO&bl Ha3blBaTb

LUaxpiwpa a^ep6aiiA>KaHCKiiM
noaTOM, a Hn3aMM rflHAmeBH 11

EOECeflBJlfleTCfl HpaHCKMM
n03TOM H MTO OH, nOTOMy MTO Be/IHKHH I103T, MOJ1 He MlfTaJI
CBf>M CTHXM Ha asepftatlAHOHCKDM A3blKP r a MMTa/1 MX Ha

c}>apcn, h oh 11 no^AHee 6bmii nepeBeAeHbi Ha
33 ep6a m ahc a h ckh m ?

- HaMHSM, no nopflflKy, c LUaxpMapa. 3to, 6e3yai0BH0,
a3ep6aMAJ*<aHCKMM nosT. Oh 6bi/i upaHCKHM asepSaMflSKaHueH m
rmcaji Ha a3ep6aMA>KaHCK0M fl3biKe. A bot c HMsaMH see HecKOJibKO
npoSjier-iaTHMHee. K npwMepy, Ha Hero npeTeHflyK>T m TaAXMKM,
KOTopbie 3a^B^flK>T, mto oh n^caji Ha TaflJKHKCKOM A3biKe. To xe
caMoe rosopflT MpaHLjbi, m apaGbi, m wpaHUbi, n a math m km HwsaMM
ecrb He TO/ibKO b AaepSafiAJKaHe, ho m b UpaHe, Ta/pKMKMcraHe m
crpaHax apa6cKoro Mwpa. fla, sejiMKMM noaTJKMJi b r^HA^e. Ho
AocraTOMHO jim btoto &nn toto, mtoGh secb Mwp npM3Ha/i HM3BMM
a3ep6aHA5KaHU6M? Ha mom B3I"jiaa, hgt.

- A Koro, Ha Baui bzivuia, mo>kho HaaaaTb hcthhho
azepfraiwtiaHCKHM niicaTe/ieM h no3TOM?

- 3to -XaraHM, Ba3ex, HlMpa^M, Ca6Mp. C npM3HaHM6M mx
a3ep6aMfl5KaHuaMH y Hac npoGjieM hgt. Ho b to xe sper-ia mh
TaioKe CMMTaer-i a3epSaMfl>KaHueM m C"M3yjiM. Ho bto TaioKe TpyAHO

noiiMnre, a He i~obopk>, <-n~o Hh^bmh mjim 0M3y/iw He flB/iflK>TCfl
a3ep6aiifl>KaHuaMH, ho bto euje HyjKHO AOKa^aTb BceMy Mwpy. A
A/ifl 3Toro Har-1 Hy>KHO AJifl 3i~oro, npe^e scero, nocrpon~rb
npaBHJihHyK> jimhmk> nponaraHflbi. noKa OHa Ha OMeHb hm3kom
ypoBHe.

B 3T0M CMblCflG, HBH HyJKHO H6 CTeCHflTbCfl yMHTbCfl y apMflH.

nocMOTpwre, KaKyMejio ohm pacnycrmiw MH^opr-iaLiMK} ton, mto
PaMMJih Ca^aposySMJi cn^inero apMAHMHa. Ha car-ior-i Ae,ne
*cnfli_i4MM apMAHMH* 3to - HM0- Ho B Hero ycne.no nosepnTb OMeHb
MHoro /iK>Aeti b Hwpe. TaioKe m hbh Hy^KHO pa6oTaTb HaflTen,

MT06bl BO BC6M MMpe nOBepM^M BTO r LfJO HH3BHM M OM3y^M -

a3ep6afiA>KaHi4bi.

82

Which translates to(roughly done with google translator):

http://www.day.az/news/society/44452.html (March 22, 2006)

Day.Az exclusive interview with a member of the Writers' Union of Azerbaijan, a
famous writer Elchin Hasanov.

- Elchin Mualla how would you comment the statements of the Islamic Republic of
Iran to Azerbaijan by ambassador Afshar Suleimaniyeh that he objected to calling
Shahriyar and Nizami and states they are Iranian poet. They say that they did not
write their poems in Azeri language and that they were later translated to Persian?

- For starters, on Shahriyar. He is of course, Azeri poet. He was an Iranian Azeri and
wrote in the Azeri language. But with aNizami several problems. For example, he is
claimed by different groups and Tajiks claim that he wrote in the Tajik language. The
same about Iranians and Arabs. Monuments of Nizami are not only in Azerbaijan but
also in Iran, Tajikistan and the Arab world. Yes, the great poet lived in Ganja. But is this
to the whole world recognized Nizami Azerbaijanis? In my opinion, no.

- Who, in your opinion, can be called truly Azerbaijani writers and poets?

- It - Khagani, Vazeh, Shirazi, Sabir. With the recognition of Azerbaijanis, we do not
have problems. But at the same time, we also believe in Fizuli. But it is also difficult to
prove. After all, he lived in Syria, has never been in Azerbaijan, and also wrote Arabic.

Understand, I am not saying that Nizami, Fizuli are not tAzerbaijanis, but it remains to
be proved to the world. And for that we need to do this, first of all, to build a proper line
of propaganda. While it is very low.

In this sense, we should not hesitate to learn from the Armenians. See how well they
dissolved the information that Ramil Safarov killed Armenian sleep. In fact, «sleeping
Armenian» that - a myth. But he managed to believe so many people in the world. Also,
we need to work to make the world believe that Nizami and Fizuli - Azeris.

83

And finally here is a report from an Azeri Ambassador in Europe:

Today. Az » Society » Conference devoted to Nizami
Ganjavi held in Strasbourg

Z : . ?-_sry 2™07 [■: :lz' - Todg-y.Az

Scientific conference devoted to famous Azerbaijani poet
thinker and philosopher Nizami Ganjavi's life and literary activity
was held in Mark Bloch University in Strasbourg, France.

Members of the Azerbaijani
delegation to the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe
(PACE), head of the permanent
Azerbaijani delegation to PACE
Arif Mammadov, students
teachers, professors and literary
critics participated in the
conference organized by

"Azerbaijani House" organization and Association of Students

Studying in France.

MP Rafael Huseynov made a broad speech about Nizami
Ganjavi's life and literary activity. Hi" touched upon the question
that being an Azerbaijani poet Nizami Ganjavi wrote in Persian.
Most in Europe consider Nizami a Persian poet. After his
speech Rafael Huseynov was asked a lot questions. Rafael
Huseynov and other parliamentarians called upon the
Azerbaijani students to be active in the protection of interests of
our country, APA correspondent in Strasbourg reports.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/society/35499.html

Thus the above news reports from the Republic of Azerbaijan takes an issue with calling
Nizami Ganjavi an Iranian. Indeed an ethnic Iranian Talysh editor who believes that
Nizami Ganjavi and Babak Khorramdin were Talysh (perhaps the merit of the argument
being that the old Azari language and Kurdish and Talysh are all of the same root and at
that time mutually intelligible NW Iranian languages and the Pahlavi idioms as shown in
Nozhat al-Majales are closely related to Talysh language as well) is accused of a grave
crime for disagreeing about the background of Nizami Ganjavi (although the article does
not make it clear this was the reason or something else that the Talyshi editor was jailed,
nevertheless why should an arrest of a person have to do with Nizami Ganjavi who lived
850+ years ago?). The whole situation is easily solvable if some elites in the country also
attest to their shared heritage with the wider Iranian world.

Yet all scholars agree that Nizami was at least half Iranic ethnically and he wrote all his
work in Persian. He also praised his rulers as rulers of Persia/Iran which means that to
him, the land he was living in was the Persia/Iran. Furthermore, as will be shown, there

84

are clear arguments for 100% Iranian ethnicity and of course explicit testaments to his
Persian heritage.

Nizami Ganjavi is known by his Persian epic poetry. The Iranian world and Persian
speaking world has many great poets and the current government of Iran is a pan-Islamic
government and in terms of nation building, it does not put a serious endeavor like former
USSR countries, many of whom have been besieged by ethnic war and thus have a high
nationalist fervor both amongst their government elite and some of their people.

Thus some elite sectors refuse to recognize that Nizami Ganjavi, who is part of the
Iranian civilization, is also part of the Azerbaijani's heritage due to the fact that they also
have Iranian heritage. Instead, some still believe Nizami Ganjavi was a Turkl who was
forced to write in Persian or he used Persian since it was a common tool. We will show
both ideas are false and actually not only Nizami wrote in Persian, but he expanded upon
Iranian folklore and mythology while nothing is said in his work about Turkic folklore
and mythology. His stories were Persian/Iranian and not just the language he used. Thus
besides ethnic reasons, the use of the cultural language, Nizami Ganjavi was culturally
Iranian as well due to the stories he versified (and the ones he optionally chose like Haft
Paykar and Khusraw o Shirin is a testament to this).

A more prudent approach which will not cause contradiction would be to simply accept
the obvious fact that Nizami is part of the Persian culture and historic Iranian civilization,
and the Republic of Azerbaijan is also one of the inheritors (alongside with Tajikistan,
Afghanistan, Iran) of this Persian culture. However, nationalistic scholars in the republic
of Azerbaijan do their best to disassociate Nezami Ganjavi from Iranian civilization and
to attribute it to newly forged identity (Azerbaijani-Turkic) which did not exist at that
time and is mainly a product of USSR and pan-Turkist theories. The current Iranian
government of course does not care too much about this issue since Iran has many
historical poets and of course it is a pan-Islamists government rather than a nationalist
one. There are pan-Turkist publications in Iran (like the Turkish-Persian journal Varliq)
who also claim Avicenna and Biruni as Turkic scholars. They also obviously claim
Nizami Ganjavi (and we will respond to their arguments in the section
"Misinterpretations of verses by the USSR"). In our opinion, 1000 year from now, if
civilization survives, Nizami Ganjavi will still be known by his Persian poetry and
Iranian cultural heritage since that reflects the character and content of his work.

Going back to such nationalistic writers who disregard scholarly convention, the word of
Dr. Jafarov (in the above news reports) shows ultra-nationalistic fever is very high with
regards to Nizami Ganjavi. Note Dr. Jafarov' s unsound assertion:
"It is a fact Nizami Ganjavi praised Macedonian Alexander, who raised [sic. he meant
razed] Iran, while other Persian poets showed Alexander as a bloodthirsty killer. If
Nizami Ganjavi had been a Persian poet, he would also have shown Alexander as a
bloodthirsty killer instead of praising him. It proves that Nizami is a genius Azerbaijani
poet. Nizami 's creative works are in the spirit of Azerbaijan-Turk"

85

What Dr. Jafarov fails to mention is that Nizami Ganjavi says that Alexander followed all
of the traditions and customs of the Kiyani kings (Achaemenid kings) with the exception
of Zoroastrianism. Without the understanding Persian language and its classical literature
(Ferdowsi, Sanai, Qatran, ...) the understanding of the works of Nizami Ganjavi is also
impossible. Alexander the Great was also identified with Dhul-Qarnain of the Qur'an and
many Persian poets have praised him. He is after all an Islamic figure and Nizami was
also a devout Muslim.

For example, Sa'adi the Persian poet also praises Alexander:
l t s^>sj j-LJiSLjuul" <=iS <=llqS Cjl>Ijj& <=u jp> olijuudS ±jLS jl J$l ^L jl js>l CjuKs> j j oLJuul

iJuJuu jJlQjo lSjjOI fjuuUZuj/ _>£/ fJJi jl c/Lu/ C/jJS
Ol OlSjjJ />b <) jO^jjbj Ol Cj^Cj /> JljJj ±jl$ <=lS i^JlkJOJj-JuJ jjb j± Js>$j£. LS/jJ> U£S2/ LioS

These sorts of statements about Alexander are typical of many Persian poets. This does
not make Sa'adi a Turk just for saying something positive about Alexander. Neither
Sa'adi praising the local Turkic ruler of the area makes him a Turk.

And according to the Encyclopedia of Islam (Iskandar-Nama):
In the Shahnama, Firdawsi already makes Iskandar an exemplary figure, whom the
companionship of Aristotle helps to rise still higher, by the path of wisdom and
moderation, in the direction of abstinence and contempt for this world. And Firdwasi laid
stress on the defeat of Dara (the Darius of the Greeks) as something desired by "the
rotation of the Heavens".

At the time of Nizami, however, Islam is from then onwards well established in Iran, and
it is the prophetic and ecumenical aspect of his destiny that the poet makes evident in his
hero. As a learned Iranian poet, Nizami, who demonstrates his eclecticism in the
information he gives (he says, "I have taken from everything just what suited me and I
have borrowed from recent histories, Christian, Pahlavi and Jewish ... and of them I have
made a whole"), locates the story of his hero principally in Iran. He makes him the
image of the Iranian "knight", peace-loving and moderate, courteous and always ready
for any noble action. Like all Nizami's heroes, he conquers the passions of the flesh, and
devotes his attention to his undertakings and his friendships. These features appear in the
account, which follows ancient tradition, of his conduct towards the women of the family
of Darius, in his brotherly attitude on the death of that ruler, in his behaviour towards
queen Nushaba (the Kaydaf of Firdawsi, the Kandake of the pseudo-Callisthenes) whom
he defends against the Russians. (Abel, A.; Ed(s). "Iskandar Nama." Encyclopaedia of
Islam. Edited by: P. Bearman , Th. Bianquis , C.E. Bosworth , E. van Donzel and W.P.
Heinrichs. Brill, 2007. (2nd edition online version))

86

The Encyclopedia Iranica also discusses the difference between Perso-Islamic and Perso-
Zoroastrian view on Alexander. Persian historians and poets (including Ferdowsi)
according to this Professor Hanaway present Alexander as a just king:

"Two aspects of the story are important in differentiating the versions of the Alexander
romance that descend from the Greek through the Syriac from those influenced by
Persian oral tradition. The first is the genealogy of Alexander. In the Pseudo-Callisthenes
tale, and the Syriac version, Alexander is the son (by an illicit union) of the Egyptian
Pharaoh Nectanebos and Philip of Macedon's wife Olympias.

In many of the Persian versions, including that of Ferdowsi, Alexander is the son of
Darab (Darius II?) and the daughter of Philip of Macedon. The second aspect is the way
in which Alexander himself is viewed in the text. In the Persian versions of the story,
Alexander is usually identified with Dhu'l-Qarnayn, a prophet mentioned in the Koran
16:84 (see Watt). In the early New Persian commentary on the Koran entitled Tarjoma-ye
Tafsir-e Tabari Dul-Qarnayn is mentioned twice in connection with the wall of Gog and
Magog (I, p. 196; IV, p. 918). Stories of Alexander/D'u'l-Qarnayn appear in popular
lives of the saints, such as Abu Eshaaq Neyshaburi'Qesas al-Anbiyya (pp. 321-33 and in
a chapbook version, Kabul, n. d., pp. 94-101).

Among the historians, Tabari (I, pp. 692-704; tr., IV, pp. 87-95) gives the fullest
summary of the tale of Alexander, including the birth story in which Alexander and Dara
are half-brothers, the details of which appear in various Persian versions. Neither the
historians (Tabari, Masudi, Dinavari, and Hamza Esafahani) nor Ferdowsi develop the
prophetic role of Alexander which the connection with Du'1-Qarnayn suggests,
presenting Alexander as a conquering hero and a just king. Nezami Ganjavi develops the
prophetic side fully in what is the most extensive surviving version in New Persian".
(Encyclopedia Iranica, "Eskandar Nama", William L. Hanaway)

We note that in the Shahnameh, Alexander the Great even visits Mecca and in the
Shahnameh, he is actually half Iranian. Nizami Ganjavi praises Ferdowsi (who definitely
was not a Turk and according to many sources his Shahnameh had a certain anti-Turkish
bias) and the Shahnameh had an important role in the Eskandarnama (as well as Haft
Paykar and Khusraw o Shirin). Neither Sa'adi nor Ferdowsi were of Azerbaijan-Turk
background but they both have praised Alexander who was identified with the Muslim
Dhul-Qarnain. We also note that Nizami' s romantic poetry is based on Persian folklore
(Haft Paykar, Khusraw o Shirin) and have absolutely nothing to do with Turkic folklore
like Dede Qorqod. Finally in the Eskandarnama, Alexander attacks Azarabadegaan
(traditional Iranian Azerbaijan) and puts out the fire temples. Yet some of the same elite
who deny any Iranian also claim Zoroastrianism is a Turkic religion and Zoroaster was a
Turk.

As per the nationalist writer Elchin Hassanov. He is incorrect about Nezami and Shirazi.
By Shirazi, he could possibly mean Sa'adi of Shiraz (who is popular in the country
Azerbaijan) but he is not Azerbaijani nor does anyone know him as Azerbaijani nor has
he written anything in Azerbaijani. Similarly Shahriyar is an Iranian Azeri poet. He was
born of Iranian nationality and spoke Azerbaijani as his native language. However, it

87

should be mention that the pan-Turkic claim on Nezami Ganjavi is a falsified allegation
that his father was Turkic. While the arguments of pan-Turkists arguments are analyzed
in this article and are shown to lack any proof (and are misinterpreted verses seen through
highly ethno-nationalistic narrow prisms), we should not that Shahriyar' s full name was
Seyyed Muhammad Shahriyar. Thus if one goes by purely father line, rather than
cultural contribution, someone like Shahriyar would be an Arab since his father line (a
Seyyed) goes back to Prophet of Islam (PBUH). Thus if a poet is to be classified by their
father line (we will discuss Nezami' s later), then Shahriyar is an Arab poet. If they are
supposed to be by their output, then obviously Shahriyar who wrote 90% of his work in
Persian, will be a Persian poet. However, Shahriyar is classified as an Iranian Azeri poet
(which we believe is correct) because of his culture milieu. He hailed from an Iranian
Azeri cultural background. However at the time of Nezami Ganjavi, the cultural milieu
of Arran and Sherwan was Persian as will be shown by works such as Nozhat al-Majales
and others. For example at least 24 Persian poets have been mentioned in the Nozhat al-
Majales which is from Nezami' s era and all being from Ganja.

Also there was no Azerbaijani-Turkic language, culture, identity at that time of Nezami.
Also the comments about "manipulation" and using methods of "Armenians" in order to
prove to the world that Nezami was "Azeri" shows that the world does not at this time
buy such a claim. The Azerbaijani republic ambassador also confirms this claim as he
clearly states: "Most of Europe considers Nezami a Persian poet". In actuality, it is all
European scholars outside of USSR, since they recognize that one cannot misplace time
and history and assign non-existent identities during the time of Nezami to Nezami.

Of course if Iran's government does not do anything, and ordinary Iranians remain aloof,
and some scholars are paid (we bring such an example later), then obviously falsehood
will creep into mainstream Western scholarship.

Indeed there was no ethnicity by the name Azerbaijani-Turkic at that time neither was
there an Azerbaijani-Turkic culture or language (it came about through proto-Oghuz
mixed with Persian and Arabic vocabulary at least a century after Nezami. All of the
work of Nezami is in Persian, his cultural contribution is to the Persian language and his
stories are from Persian folklore and culture. As per his ethnicity, it is agreed that he was
at least half Kurdish (an Iranic people/group), and we shall show that the ethnicity of his
father was Iranian(which is somewhat irrelevant in the case of Nezami since he was
raised by his maternal uncle and he was orphaned early from his father), although this
issue by itself does not make difference on his cultural characterization as a Persian poet.

Just like Shahriyar or Nasimi's father line (both Arabic Seyyed) does not change their
cultural characterization as "Iranian Azeri poet" and "Turkic poet" respectively.
Although with regards to Nasimi, he also has written in Arabic and Persian and thus one
should classify him as a "Turkish, Arabic and Persian poet" and we do not know his
cultural milieu and native language clearly. Similarly, the founder of Safavid dynasty,
Ismail I is hailed as an "Azerbaijani poet" because he has written in Azerbaijani-Turkic
(less of his Persian works has survived). However if one goes by father line, all major
modern Safavid scholars classify his ancestor as Shaykh Safi al-Din Ardabili who was of

88

Kurdish Shafi'i background. All Safavid chronicles both before 1501 and after 1501
trace the Safavids lineage to Firuz Shah Zarin Kolah and in the oldest extant genealogy,
he is called Firuz Shah Zarin Kolah Kurd of Sanjan and he is called Kurdish directly.
The same issue holds with Pushkin who had Ethiopian father line, but no one challenges
his place in Russian literature. With regards to Nezami, he contributed to the Persian
language and used Persian cultural stories and thus is rightfully a Persian poet. A poet
cannot be translated and thus the masterpiece he has created makes it also belong to the
particular language he has used. However irrelevant the issue of his father line may be,
we shall also show that all indicators show Nezami' s father line just like his mother line
was Iranian. Thus the above news reports show that politicization of Nezami Ganjavi
and robbing him of his Persian cultural heritage is actively being pursued for pan-
Turanist/ethno-nationalistic reasons and nation building.

A more recent statement from the ministers of foreign affairs of Azerbaijan has a more
scientific tone:

a country which embraced Islam in its very early days and which remarkably contributed
to enriching the Islamic civilization through its illustrious sons of eminent philosophers,
scholars, thinkers, historians and poets like Nizami and Khaquani, Bakhmanyar, Masud
Ibn Namdar and many others.

http://www.oic-oci.org/press/English/2007/04/sg-speech-baku.htm
(Accessed September 2007)

We note that Abul Hasan Bahmanyar the son of Marzaban was a Persian Zoroastrian and
a student of Avicenna. The name of his uncle, which he devoted one of his works too is:
Abu Mansur the son of Bahram the son Khurshid the son of Yazdyar who was also a
Zoroastrian. Masud ibn Namdar, as Vladimir Minorsky has clearly stated, was a Kurd.
Indeed Masud ibn Namdar himself affirms he was a Kurd. The Persian poet Khaqani has
a Christian Iranian or Georgian or Greek mother and an Iranic father. His title was the
"Persian Hassan". Finally, Nizami is the case we study in detail and it is shown that all
evidences point to non-Turkic, Iranian father as well as Kurdish mother. Culturally, all
that is left from Nizami are his work and he considers himself an inheritor/successor of
Ferdowsi. Again it is this author's opinion that just like ancient Egyptians are connected
to modern Egyptians, some of the writers from the Republic of Azerbaijan do not need
Turkify Avesta, Zoroastrianism, Bahmanyar and Iranian cultural relics in order to feel a
connection with their past. The Iranian ambassador mentioned in the news should also
explain that Turkic speaking Azerbaijanis of Caucasus have Iranian heritage (despite
massive efforts by both USSR and pan-Turkists to deny and erase this heritage) and while
the language of the area has changed, Nezami is part of the Iranian culture heritage of the
region and they should also see this heritage as their own as well and not try to
retroactively and anachronistically Turkify it.

89

Nizami's Mother

Professors Vladimir Minorsky, Jan Rypka, Julia Meysami, Vahid Dastgerdi and other
Nezami scholars are unanimous that Nizami's mother was of a Kurdish (an Iranic
speaking group) background.

Vladimir Minorsky writes (V. Minorsky, Studies in Caucasian History, Cambridge
University Press, 1957. pg 34):

"The author of the collection of documents relating to Arran Mas'ud b. Namdar (c. 1 100)
claims Kurdish nationality. The mother of the poet Nizami of Ganja was Kurdish (see
autobiographical digression in the introduction of Layli wa Majnun). In the 16 th century
there was a group of 24 septs of Kurds in Qarabagh, see Sharaf-nama, I, 323. Even now
the Kurds of the USSR are chiefly grouped south of Ganja. Many place-names composed
with Kurd are found on both banks of the Kur"

Also Vladimir Minorsky writes (G. H. Darab, Makhzan al-Asrar, 1945 (reviewed by
Minorsky, BSOAS., 1948, xii/2, 441-5)):

Whether Nizami was born in Qom or in Ganja is not quite clear. The verse (quoted on p.
14): "I am lost as a pearl in the sea of Ganja, yet I am from the Qohestan of the city of
Qom ", does not expressly mean that he was born in Qom. On the other hand, Nizami's
mother was of Kurdish origin, and this might point to Ganja where the Kurdish
dynasty of Shaddad ruled down to AH. 468; even now Kurds are found to the south
of Ganja.

Professor Julia Scott Meysami also states the same:

"His father, who had migrated to Ganja from Qom in north central Iran, may have been a

civil servant; his mother was a daughter of a Kurdish chieftain; having lost both

parents early in his life, Nizami was brought up by an uncle. He was married three times,

and in his poems laments the death of each of his wives, as well as proffering advice to

his son Muhammad."

(Nizami Ganjavi, The Haft Paykar: A Medieval Persian Romance. Translated with

introduction and notes by Julia Scott Meysami. Oxford and New York: Oxford

University Press, 1995.)

We will discuss the Qom theory and his forefather in a later section. For now, this section
is concerned with Nizami's mother.

Jan Rypka (Rypka, Jan. 'Poets and Prose Writers of the Late Saljuq and Mongol Periods',
in The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 5, The Saljuq and Mongol Periods, ed.,
Published January 1968. pg 578):

"As the scene of the greatest flowering of the panegyrical qasida, southern Caucasia
occupies a prominent place in New Persian literary history. Hakim Jamal al-din Abu
Muhammad Ilyas b. Yusuf b. Zaki b. Mu'ayyad Nizami a native of Ganja in Azarbaijan,
is an unrivalled master of thoughts and words, a poet whose freshness and vigour all the

90

succeeding centuries have been unable to dull. Little is known of his life, the only source
being his own works, which in many cases provided no reliable information. We can only
deduce that he was born between 535 and 540 (1 140-46) and that his background was
urban. Modern Azarbaijan is exceedingly proud of its world famous son and insists that
he was not just a native of the region, but that he came from its own Turkic stock. At all
events his mother was of Iranian origin, the poet himself calling her Ra'isa and
describing her as Kurdish."

The late Professor Rypka does not get himself involved in the petty argument about the
ethnicity of Nizami. He just mentions what is a well known fact that the poet's mother
was of Kurdish background and of Iranian origin. Professor Rypka also uses the term
"Modern Azerbaijan" which is a reference to the surge of popularity of Nizami in the
Azerbaijan SSR during the Nezami celebration of the USSR. Another point made by Jan
Rypka is about the forefathers of Nizami. These are: Nizami the son of Yusuf son of Zaki
son of Mua'yyad.

From the above data, we clearly state that the mother of Nizami was a Kurd. This is
shown in the following verses of his famous Layli o Majnoon where he alludes to the
deceased past ones of his family. He mentions his father Yusuf the son of Zaki the son of
Mua'yyad (some have read it as Yusuf the son of Zakkiyeh Mua'yyad), he mentions his
Kurdish mother and finally he mentions his maternal uncle Khwaja Umar.

This is given as:

±j5 <^juUUJj QJO j^Lo jS

:>U pjS \j$ lS^clAJ jl

CjljulH ±J^> jjjuLS jl jjljuUUJ /XC
■^P jjjl \JJj\S CjljulH jJljuUUJ Olj

^j9> 0I9J p± jlj^ ^J \jj\5
OjLo^jvj .yp 9 /xc <jjI u

Oj\S> CjljuUL^juUUoIjS lS9jI^

CjljulH [Jj^Jj P^jS jU ^5^ ^JvSLjuU

CjljulH {JjJui-f. J^P^J Qj *& 0^ ^JVJO

^jI^-juu j± j9-^J S^r. c&^s^ ul
^j\jj >juu j\jib <-Sy jl

Furthermore, scholars know his name as Ilyas due to this verse which is also connected
with his mother:

91

^Oj/j jif tJUuLJuU <={S j±Lo

^ou <-£/ 5 jlj*& ->-LC lS^^

IjjUUOUj l-SjJ uUu fju/LJ/ g

fjjuuob CjljujI QJ 9 J>$J t«L» /xn>
/>jl± QjJLjuJ lib i pS -L& L

The first couplet clearly shows Nizami identifies with Iranian legends and cultural
themes. We will delve fully into this later in this article. But, for example, the first two
verses we translate as follows:

My Mother who aided/protected me with Spand,
Gave birth to me with the armor of Spandyar

He means that his mother, who used to burn the incense Spand for him, gave him birth
with protected armor of the warrior Spandyar due to this Spand and blessing,.

We note that one reason it is impossible to translate and explain Nizami from Persian to
any other language is the way he has interwoven words and symbols of Iranian culture. It
is very hard to translate the words Spand and Spandyar. Also the translation will not
have the rhythmic nature of the verse. Finally words such as Spand and Spandyar are
unfamiliar to those who are not familiar with Iranian civilization. They can be translated
to for example Western cultural languages by transforming Spandyar to Achilles the
Greek warrior.

It is worth explaining what Esfand and Esfandyar are just to demonstrate this subtle but
very important point.

Esfand is Persian word and it goes back to old Iranian languages like Avesta. In Avesta,
the word according to linguists means Pure and Holy. In Iranic cultures, Esfand is a seed
that was burned as incense in order to keep the evil eye away. Usually mothers and
grandmothers burn this seed in order to cast away the evil eye which according to
traditions occurs due to envy and jealousy of others. This writer himself recalls many
times that his Grandmother has burned this incense for this purpose. Esfand according to
Professor Omidsalar was well known among the ancient Indo-Iranians. Dioscorides
provides in the 1st century C.E. the earliest description of the plant; he further state:

"The practice of burning esfand seeds to avert the evil eye is widely attested in early
classical Persian literature (e.g., Lazard, Premiers poetes II, p. 12; Shahnama, ed.
Khaleghi, I, p. 337; Farrokhi, p. 106). This practice may have been influenced by the
association of esfand with haoma (q.v.), the sacred beverage of Zoroastrian lore (for
argument in favor of such identification see Flattery and Schwartz). The continuity of
Persian tradition has brought the ancient sacred plant into Islamic sources."

92

(Omidsalar, Mahmoud. "Esfand"in Encyclopedia Iranica
http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v8f6/v8f615.html)

Esfandyar is a popular hero in Iranian literature and especially in the nationalistic
Iranian/Persian epic of Shahnameh. Nizami Ganjavi was well familiar with Ferdowsi and
Shahnameh (including the 1000 verses of Daqiqi included by Ferdowsi) and has praised
Ferdowsi and has used the Shahnameh as one of his major sources. We shall write more
about Ferdowsi/Shahnameh and Nizami' s connection to it in a later section.

["Esfandyar" in Encyclopedia Iranica by Professor Ehsan Yarshater
http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v8f6/v8f6 1 6.html!

In the Shahnameh, we read about Esfandyar and his battle against Turks (in the
Shahnameh, the ancient Iranian tribes of Tur/Turanians were taken in different places to
be the same as Turks due to similar geographical designations). Esfandyar fights on the
behalf of Iran against the Turanian (also identified as Turks during the time of the
Shahnameh) Arjasp.

Here is one comment from Esfandyar from the story of the Shahnameh:

jUJulQ_juuI iJ^iJ-kjJSj JuJul^J

jlSjLuub ySy kS\S CjJS 9Cy

jjljuJOjJ U CO \^jS 9J ^JVJU-U

Again we read from Esfandyar:

Again about Esfandyar after his battle with Turks:

JuLoJ ulsljS <^50lh> ulS^j j

Esfandyar is a major hero in the Shahnameh who saves Iran from the invader Turks
(although again it should be stressed that the Turanians mentioned in the Avesta were not
Turks but were identified as Turks in the Shahnameh period due to similar geographical
location and this is discussed in Appendix C). Throughout the Panj-Ganj of Nizami, we
do not see one instance of heroes from Turkic (whether Oghuz or Qipchaq or Uyghur)
mythology. From the evidence so far, Nizami Ganjavi 's praise of Esfandyar who has
made some comments against Turks in the Shahnameh is an indication that he was not
Turkic or at least he was totally immersed in Iranian culture such that he did not really
recognize himself as a Turk. No one that knows the Shahnameh well and considers
himself a Turkic nationalist would be relating himself to Esfandyar. We shall get back to
this issue when we discuss Nizami' s father and culture.

93

Nizami and his maternal uncle Khwaja
Umar

Nizami writes about the passing away of his maternal uncle (khaal in Persian means
maternal uncle and is used in Kurdish and this is another hint at Nezami's background
since he uses this family term with regards to his maternal uncle) Khwaja Umar:

_*£J QjO UU9 <joJUJljuU <_5JL>

/>lqj|£j lSjI^ £\Jb jl

j-OtJj ^£-0 qjI jl /XjuUjJ^JVjO

jj£$1£ ^9-juj 9I pjS uls*9lS

CjljuUUljulJlS [Jjjd%J JgLpfcD ^ ^JVJO Ol
CjljuUUljuUL^J Oj.-i._juJ 0j.*-*.U.O..Q>

It is well known fact that Nizami was orphaned at an early age. According to Jerome

Clinton and Kamran Talatoff :

"His father, Yusuf and mother, Rai'sa, died while he was still relatively young, but

maternal uncle, Umar, assumed responsibility for him".

(Talatoff K., Clinton J.W. "The Poetry of Nizami Ganjavi: Knowledge, Love, and

Rhetorics", NY, 2001.)

Thus if the above assertion of the authors are correct (Jan Rypka and Julia Meysami also
states he was orphaned as an early age and so do other biographers of Nizami), then
Nizami Ganjavi was raised by his Kurdish maternal uncle. The verse about his father
also points to the fact that he was orphaned early. Thus, even assuming the argument that
his father was not Kurdish, he did not know his father well and was raised by a Kurdish
maternal uncle. We shall show later that it was the case that Iranians usually married
Iranians (like most people at that time), Shafi'ites usually married Shafi'ites (like most
people at that time) and thus it is hard to imagine that unless Nezami's mother was a
servant (which she was not given the fact that the maternal uncle takes care of Nezami
and some have stated that Nezami's mother was of an important Kurdish clan due to the
name Ra'isa being a title of a high women), his father would also be Iranian. We will
delve into the issue of Nezami's father later since Nezami does not explicitly pronounce
the background of his father as he does with his mother.

Nizami's Father

According to Jan Rypka, the background of Nizami Ganjavi was Urban. This would
make sense given the fact that Nizami Ganjavi 's writing is a product of sedentary culture

94

rather than one of nomadic culture. We have little information on Nizami Ganjavi's
father and all that is left is given in the following verses:

J^> Cju^juUU Qj />J±> JljuJ jS

As Jan Rypka pointed out and most scholars concur with him, the father of Nizami
Ganjavi was named Yusuf. His grandfather is named Zaki and finally his great
grandfather is named Mu'ayyad.

This is all the information that Nizami Ganjavi has left for us on his father. Although it is
not a whole lot of information, it can still provide us with a few clues.

First all the names are Arabic. This suggests that Nizami Ganjavi's father line was
Muslim for at least three generations before Nizami Ganjavi. The second pointer is that
there is no tribal designation in the name. That is when we consider the
names/designations of Seljuqs, Ghaznavids, Ghezelbash Safavid tribes or even Turkic
poets like Fizuli (reputedly from the Bayyat tribe for example which was an Oghuz tribe
although some authors have mentioned Kurdish (see Kurds in Encyclopedia of Islam 2 nd
edition)), we see tribal names from the father-side. This corroborates with the evidence
that Nizami Ganjavi was urban. Finally, since Nizami Ganjavi was orphaned early and
lost his father, we can perhaps surmise that his father was at least 40 years old when
Nizami Ganjavi was born. Thus we may assume that 1140 A.D. (approximately when
Nizami Ganjavi was born), 1100 A.D. (when Yusuf was born), 1075 A.D. (when Zaki
was born) and finally 1050 A.D. (when Mu'ayyad) was born. Noting the fact that there is
an absence of tribal designation with regards to Nizami, we can perhaps assume that
Nizami Ganjavi's father's family went back to Ganja (assuming it was originally from
Ganja which again there is nothing to confirm this) to at least 1050 A.D. On the other
hand, some manuscripts of Iqbal Nama (although not all of them) claim that Nizami
Ganjavi's family goes back to the village of Ta, near Tafresh in Qom in Central Iran
today. And other authors have made such a claim based on other verses outside of that
one. We will look at this point later. For now, we can see that there is no evidence from
the above verse that Nizami Ganjavi was Turkic. Indeed the Urban setting, the Muslim
names, the lack of tribal designation points to non-nomadic cultures of Iranians before the
Seljuq domination of Ganja in 1075 A.D. Before the Seljuq domination of Ganja, the
area of Ganja was controlled by the Shaddadid Kurdish dynasty and it was their capital.
We will briefly go over this point later in the article.

Either way, Nizami Ganjavi has not left us explicit statement about the ethnicity of his
father as he has done with his mother. The point also is not important with regards to
Nezami's culture as he was raised by his Kurdish mother's family and all of his works are
in Persian. But the evidence points overwhelmingly to Iranic ethnicity and a clear Iranic
culture as we will show later. Less likely, but possible is another local Muslim group
(possibly Christian converts generations ago or even Arab migrants) origin who were
Iranicized. Thus we will have to look at other indirect evidence to see if we can find
anything conclusive about Nizami Ganjavi's father's background. This is the area where

95

many misinterpretations have taken place during the USSR era. The worst interpretation
which is often repeated is that Nizami wanted to write the Layli o Majnoon in Turkish but
was forced to write in Persian. This invalid claim will be discussed in its own section.

We note that some have even gone further and (as mentioned already) recently falsified
the verse in 1980 about his father:

The above verse, like much false information on Nizami Ganjavi, can be easily found in
different nationalist websites although it was falsified in 1980. Its basic rhyme of
Gurg/Gorg (Wolf) and Turk/Tork show its invalidity and the lack of knowledge of the
nationalist person who forged it. Some nationalist groups have used this falsified verse in
their article to claim that Nizami Ganjavi was of Turkic stock. Supposedly the Grey Wolf
or Wolf is seen as wise creature in Turkic mythology. If that is the case, then one should
look at actual and authentic verses of Nizami Ganjavi about Wolves which gives a totally
opposite picture.

Here are some verses about Wolves by Nizami Ganjavi which depict wolves as stupid,
vile character and bloodsucking creature! There is nothing about the wisdom (Farzanegi)
of the Wolf in his poems. The wolf is considered a vile, savage and stupid creature
whose stupidity makes him inferior to a fox. The wolf is also compared with evil people.
For example:

:L?

/xJL> j<p*Jj ^jv^Juj CjlSs Qj

:L?

±jj olj Oj^j <Sj5> ) 0U9J

Oj^J CjuOU 9 CjljuoSjJJ CjuoLu

96

^jS JuU JJl^> 0U9J jj^Sj

OL-Juub ^j OL^> AJ^JO />9_juU
^jvjL^juU Jul j <\15 v-Sv^jS lj ^

jliu ^J 9I U OLuU ^9! .p
Jjl^J U 9_ajU v_S^J jl <*->>-> -^JU^S

JuLoijIg b uLjJu 9_juu pu^ j
lSjLuu Ojb> _p ±$j U9jSl OjS ^>

Thus it is extremely unfortunate that someone in 1980 falsified such a verse.
Unfortunately the above false verse as well as Turkish poems not belonging to Nizami
Ganjavi are attributed to Nizami on the Internet and many susceptible readers will get
false information if they use "Google" or other tools.

Dynasties before and during the era of
Nizami

Pre-lslamic Iranic dynasties ofArran, Sherwan and Azerbaijan

Northern Iranian peoples such as the Scythians, Sarmatians, and Alans began to appear in
the northern Caucasus in the 1st millennium, B.C.E. The Persians and Medes who settled
in Iran could have come in large numbers through the Caucasus. But the first complete
control of the Caucasus by an Iranic dynasty was that of the Achaemenids (although it is
possible that the Medes expanded towards some portions of Caucasus but the evidence on
the Median Empire is usually slim). Caucasia was under the control of the Achaemenid
dynasty until the conquest of Alexander the Great. Afterwards, it came under the control
of the Iranian Parthian dynasty. The Parthian influence in Caucasus can be ascertained

97

by the large number of Iranic loan-words in classical Armenian (Grabar). Also the
Parthian language is considered by some linguists as a predecessor (or to have greatly
influenced) Baluchi, Kurdish, Zazaki and some other Iranic languages.

Perhaps the greatest pre-Islamic dynasty that had tremendous influence in the area was
the Sassanids. Indeed Nizami Ganjavi wrote three of his five jewels about ancient Persia
(the Eskandar-nama being Persianized/Islamicized version of the story of Alexandar).
But the two Sassanid works of Nizami Ganjavi, the Haft Paykar and Khusraw o Shirin
are considered his most important masterpieces. Both of these works have to do with
Sassanid Kings. We shall see in the section on Qatran Tabrizi, that the Sassanids were
praised widely by local poets. Also as will be noted, the Shirwanshah dynasty claimed
descent from the Sassanids as did later Turkic dynasties that conquered Persia and
became Persianate in culture and kingship.

Major cities and areas with Iranic names like Darband, Ganja, Sharwan, Beylekan
(Paydaaregaan), Piruzpad (Armenian Partaw probably Islamicized to Barda') testify to
the Iranian influence of the area. During the Sassanid era, large number of Iranians also
settled in Caucasia and the Sassanids built walls and forts to protect the Caucasus from
northern invaders.

We will here quote several scholars with regards to the Sassanid era.

According to Encyclopedia Iranica (Albania):

All along the Caspian coast the Sasanians built powerful defense works, enclosing the

space between the mountain and the sea and designed essentially to bar the way to

invaders from the north. Firstly, north of the Apsheron peninsula, the two parallel walls

of Barmak rise up, 220 meters apart; these are known from the Armenian Geography of

Pseudo-Moses (ed. Patkanian, St. Petersburg, 1877, pp. 30-31) by the name of Xorsbem

(cf. Trever, Ocherki, pp. 274ff.). Next are the walls of Servan (or Sabran), remarkable for

their 30 km length

(cf. Pakhomov, "Krupneishie pamyatniki sasanidskogo stroitel'stva v

Zakavkaz'e/TroWemy istorii material' noi kuVtury , 1933/9-10, pp. 41-43 and fig.;

Trever, Ocherki, pp. 269-71).

To the north of Samur a third line of defense works could be the wall referred to as
Afzut-Kavad in the Armenian Geography (p. 31) and thus have been built by Kavad (cf.
Trever, Ocherki, pp. 271-72). The most celebrated of these fortifications are those of
Darband, which shut off the pass of Cor (2-3 km between the mountain and the sea).

The contribution of the Sassanians to the defense of this pass (mentioned in classical
sources from the 1st century A.D.) covered a considerable area. Movses Kalankatuaci
(History 2.1 1, tr. p. 83) speaks of "magnificent walls built at great expense by the kings
of Persia. "Yazdegerd II undertook the construction of a mighty wall of unbaked brick
mixed with straw which extended from the sea to the slopes of Darband
(cf. A. A. Kudryavtsev, "O datirovke pervykh sasanidskikh ukreplenii v
Derbente," Sovetskaya Arkheologiya, 1979/2, pp. 243ff.).

98

Kosrow II Anosiravan — and perhaps his father Kavad I before him — set himself to
reinforce the existing works with a solid wall of stone provided with iron gates (on
Darband, cf. Geiger and Kuhn, Grundr. Ir. Phil. II, pp. 535-36; Barthold, EI 1 1, pp. 940-
45; Trever, Ocherki, pp. 274ff.). Twenty inscriptions dated 700, are found on the northern
wall (cf . Pakhomov in hvestiya obshchestva obsledovaniya i izucheniya Azerbaidzhana
8/5, 1929, pp. 3-22; H. S. Nyberg, ibid., pp. 23ff.; Trever, OcherkU pp. 346-53). If this
date is related to the Seleucid era, it should correspond to A.D. 386 (G. Gropp, "Die
Derbent-Inschriften und das Adur Gusnasp "Monumentum H. S. Nyberg I, Acta Iranica 4,
Tehran and Liege, 1975, pp. 317ff.); but there are other, later datings (Trever, Ocherki,
pp. 350ff.; Gropp, "Derbent-Inschriften,"p. 317, n. 4; V. G. Lukonin in Kudryavtsev, "O
datirovke,"pp. 256-57)."
(Albania in Encyclopedia Iranica, M.L. Chaumont)

A more detailed article on the influence of Parthians and Sassanids is beyond the scope of
this article. The reader is referred to Lang, David M. (1983), "Iran, Armenia and
Georgia", in Yarshater, Ehsan, Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 3.1, London: Cambridge
UP, pp. 505-537 for a short survey.

Also available here:

Iran, Armenia and Georgia

Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 3, David M. Lang

Not only were Iranian settlements established during the Achaemenid, Parthian and
Sassanid era (and most of the Armenian dynasties had Iranian ancestry), but in the words
of Professor Lang, cultural influences of Iran were also profound:

In other cultural spheres also, there was much mutual enrichment arising from contacts
between Iran and the Caucasian nations during the Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian eras.
One has only to think of the perpetuation of the ancient Iranian gosdn or minstrel in the
Armenian gusans (Georgian, mgosani), who have continued to delight popular audiences
right up to modern times, composing both music and poetic text as they went along. As
early as the 5 th century, the Armenian Catholicos St John (Hovhannes) Mandakuni
composed a treatise, "On the Theatre and the Gusans", a copy of which may be seen in
the Matenadaran or National Manuscript Library in Erevan. Political relations between
Iran and her Caucasian neighbours may not always have been cordial, but there is no
doubt of the depth and extent of reciprocal influences in many spheres of art, literature
and religion, as well as in social and political organization."

It should be noted that occasional Iranic and Altaic nomads including the Khazars
penetrated the Caucasus, but this does not equate to settlement in the area by the nomads.
Much like for example the Bulgars had penetrated Thrace,Greece or etc. For example the
Viking Rus penetrated in Barda'and Shirwan around 1000 years ago, but they did not
have permanent settlements.

99

Post-Islamic period, the Iranian Intermezzo before the Seljuqids

In this section we list some of the Iranian dynasties of the era when Nizami's great
grandfather Mua'yyad lived. We also mention the dynasties who patronized Khurasani
(Dari-Persian) poetry including Shaddadids, Rawwadids and Shirwanshahs. Iranian
dynasties predominated in what is known as the "Iranian Intermezzo", a period after the
Arab conquest which ended with Seljuq conquest. The study of these Iranian and
Iranicized dynasties is important since they promoted Khurasani Persian (Dari-Persian)
poets and were patrons of Iranian culture.

Vladimir Minorsky in one of his seminal works "Studies of Caucasian History" writes:

THE IRANIAN INTERMEZZO

It is still insufficiently realised that the so-called Persian Renaissance in Khorasan had a
momentous sequel in Central and Western Persia and in Armenia. By the beginning of
the 10th century a great Iranian movement came from the Caspian provinces. At the head
of the hosts of Gilan and Daylam, a new set of rulers ousted the Arabs from their last
positions held in Iran, and round this new power a fringe of other small principalities was
created in the farther west of the Iranian territories.

Even when the Arabs adopted the system of indirect control of Armenia through the
agency of the Bagratid princes (A.D. 806-1045) to the east of this autonomous area they
retained the system of direct rule in Azarbayjan and Arran. To some extent this policy
was dictated by the great rebellion of Babak (201-23/816-37) in the eastern part of
Azarbayjan. Babak was captured and executed but there remained a number of important
problems, political, social and national, as between the Arab conquerors and the local
populations, such as the Armenians.

The grip of the Abbasids was gradually weakening as shown by the centrifugal
developments in the family of the last energetic rulers appointed from Baghdad, the
Sajids.l Muhammad b. Devdad (276-88/889-91) and especially Yusuf b. Devdad
(appointed in 296/908) were powerful rulers and a formidable check on Armenia.
However, soon after 299/91 1 Yusuf showed signs of disobedience. He revolted openly in
305/917. In June 919 he was captured by the Caliphs troops and for three years remained
in disgrace. He was re-instated in 310/923 but this time (down to 313/925) his attention
was absorbed by affairs in Central Persia (Rayy, Hamadan). In 314/926-7 he received an
assignment against the Qarmatians and on 7 December 927 lost his life fighting these
dissenters. Practically the beginning of a new era in Azarbayjan can be dated from
Yusuf s disgrace. The stage vacated by the Arabs was occupied by local Iranian
elements, the Daylamites and the Kurds.

The rise of the DAYLAMITE Highlanders, inhabitants of the small and poor area above
Gilan, reminds one of the expansion of the Northmen in Europe. In point of fact the
Daylamites had an old dynasty of kings ("the family of JUSTAN") who ruled on the
Shahrud, i.e., on the river which flows from the East and joins the Safid-rud near Manjil.
The MUSAFIRIDS, or Kangarids, whose centre was Tarom were linked by marriage ties
with the Justanids but were a family apart. It must not be forgotten that the more

100

important Daylamite princes, the BUYIDS were upstarts who, with a crowd of other
adventurers from Gilan and Daylam, appeared on the stage towards 308/ 920.2 By
323/935 the sons of the Daylamite Buya were masters of Isfahan and Rayy. On 17
January 946 Baghdad was theirs, and for a century the orthodox caliphs became puppets
in the hands of these heterodox usurpers.

The rise of the Buyids did not directly affect the northwestern corner of Iran. Apart from
a few expeditions into eastern Azarbayjan, the Buyids did not interfere with the affairs of
this region. But the impulse given by them resulted in the rise of a number of local
Iranian dynasties, partly Daylamite and partly Kurdish, both in Azarbayjan and in the
adjoining regions of Transcaucasia and Armenia.

Thanks to the publication of Miskawayh's excellent Tajarib al-Umam we now know
much better the events in the lands between the Buyids'territories and Armenia, i.e., in
the area under our consideration.

The original sedentary population of Azarbayjan consisted of a mass of peasants and at
the time of the Arab conquest was comprised under the semi-contemptuous term of uluj
("non-Arabs") — somewhat similar to the raya (*ri'aya) of the Ottoman Empire. The only
arms of this peaceful rustic population were slings, see Tabari, III, 1379-89. They spoke a
number of dialects (Adhari, Talishi) of which even now there remain some islets
surviving amidst the Turkish speaking population.

It was this basic population on which Babak leaned in his revolt against the caliphate.
After the collapse of the Arabs and their Turkish generals, the same population came
under the sway of the warlike Iranian clans and families. Despite their languages
belonging to the common Iranian stock, the new masters, DAYLAMITES and KURDS,
differed among themselves to a considerable extent. The Daylamites belonged to a
particular blend of Caspian tribes, spoke a Caspian dialect, were attached to the Shia,
were recognisable by their hirsute appearance and fought on foot, their arms being
javelins (zhupiri) and huge shields. The basic haunts of the Kurds lay to the south of
Armenia. They spoke a more isolated Iranian language, they professed the Sunna (or the
Kharijite doctrine) and they were horsemen. At a very early date the Kurds penetrated
into Western Azarbayjan and even crossed the Araxes (see below, p. 123). There seems
to have been a feeling that the Kurds, more permanently established in Azarbayjan,
protected it against the later invaders from the Caspian provinces.

After the fall of the Sajids their former general DAYS AM ibn IBRAHIM struggled for
supremacy in Azarbayjan during some eighteen years (327-45/938-56) with interruptions.
He was a Kharijite born of an Arab father and a Kurdish mother, and his fighting force
consisted chiefly of Kurds.

Daysam's first opponent was LASHKARI b. MARDI, a native of Gilan supported by his
countryman and former master, the Ziyarid Vushmagir ("the Quail-catcher"). His
conquest of Azarbayjan in 326/937 was a short-lived episode (LA., VIII, 261). Much
more important was the expansion of the MUSAFIRIDS. As already mentioned, this
Daylamite house, whose home was in Tarom, south of Ardabil, was independent both of
the Justanids and of the Buyids; its main operational axis was in the northerly and
westerly directions, Under Marzuban b. Muhammad b. Musafir, surnamed Sallar (330-
46/941-57) the Musafirids expanded not only over the whole of Azarbayjan and up the

101

Araxes valley, but even into the eastern part of Transcaucasia (Arran, Sharvan) and up to
the Caucasian range. Both the Armenian royal houses, the Bagratids and the Artsruni
were their tributaries.

When after Marzuban's death (346/957) quarrels arose among his successors, the
dominions of the Musafirids shrunk to the area near their original home in Tarom, while
new masters appeared in Western Azarbayjan, namely the family of R A WW AD. Its
eponym, Raw wad, was an Arab of the Azd tribe first mentioned towards 200/815 as a
semi-independent ruler of Tabriz. After nearly two centuries of new occupations and
invasions, we hear again of the masters of Tabriz and Maragha bearing Iranian names
(Vahsudan, Mamlan, Ahmadil) but considered as descendants of a Rawwad. I have little
doubt that these new rulers were scions of the same old family although this time their
family name, al-Rawwadi, is sometimes followed by a further qualification al-Kurdi.
Kasravi thought it preferable to distinguish between the old Arab Rawwadi and the later
Iranian Rawwadi, and occasionally I make use of this suggestion. It would be only too
natural for the Arabs stranded in Azarbayjan to have intermarried with local elements so
that the term al-Rawwadi al-Azdi lost all practical meaning and had to be replaced by al-
Rawwddi al-Kurdi.

There are numerous examples of similar denationalisation among the chiefs of Kurdish
tribes. Between the two spells of Rawwadi domination in Tabriz lies a period (struggles
with Babak, Sajid rule) when we hear nothing of the family's presence in that fief. Then
suddenly in the list of Marzuban's tributaries (A.D. 955) we find an Abul-Hayja b.
Rawwad as lord of Ahar and Varzuqan. In this case "Rawwad"is not necessarily the
father's name, but more probably only the designation of the family. The two points
mentioned by I. Hauqal lie north-east of Tabriz. The identity of the earlier and later
Rawwadis appears also from the fact that, according to Ya'qubi's History, p. 446-7,
Yazid al-Muhallabi, the governor of Azarbayjan on behalf of Abu-Jaafar (754-75)
allotted to Rawwad b. al-Muthanna al-Azdi a fief stretching from Tabriz down to al-
Badhdh (later Babak' s stronghold). The possessions of the later Rawwadis (Tabriz- Ahar)
lay precisely along this line.

Very unfortunately, the History of Azarbayjan, written by one of the family, Abul-Hayja
al-Rawwadi is now lost. It would have been useful to fill the gap between 369/979, the
year in which Miskawayh ends, and 420/1029, when Ibn al-Athir takes up the thread of
events in Azarbayjan.

While the Rawwadis were controlling Azarbayjan, another Kurdish dynasty issued from a
SHADDAD sprang up in the part of Marzuban's dominions which lay to the north of the
Araxes. We have spoken of the Shaddadids in great detail and at this place we need only
stress for memory the fact of their domination in Dvin and their close association with the
Ayyubids. We shall have further occasion to explain how the roots of Saladin's family go
back to the Iranian intermezzo.

Similarly in another seminal work titled "A History of Sharvan and Darband in the 10th-
11th Centuries", Minorsky provides a description of the Iranian dynasties that controlled
the area of the Ganja before the Seljuqids. Furthermore, Minorsky describes various
Iranian tribes including Kurds and Daylamites who controlled the region after the Arab
conquest of the region.

102

The Albanians

Our oldest information on Eastern Transcaucasia is based on the reports of the writers
who accompanied Pompey on his expedition in 66 B.C. In Greek and Latin, the alluvial
plain of the lower Kur and Araxes extending between Iveria (Georgia) and the Caspian
sea was called Albania. The Armenian equivalent of this name is Alvank* or Ran, in
Syriac Arran (pseudo-Zacharia Rhetor, XII, ch. 7) — from which the Islamic sources
derived their al-Ran, or Arran.

According to Strabo, XI, 4, 1-8, the soil of Albania was fertile and produced every kind of
fruit, but the Albanians were inclined to the shepherd's life and hunting. The inhabitants
were unusually handsome and tall, frank in their dealings and not mercenary. They could
equip 60,000 infantrymen and 22,000 horsemen. The Albanians had twenty-six languages
and formed several federations under their kings but "now one king rules all the tribes".
The western neighbours of the Albanians were the Iberians (Iberia being the ancient
name of Georgia) and the Armenians. Caspia (probably the region near Baylaqan) also
belonged to Albania.

According to Ptolemy, V, 1 1, Albania comprised not only the above-mentioned territories
of Transcaucasia but extended north-east to comprise the whole of the region now called
Daghestan along the Caspian coast.

One must bear in mind the distinction between the areas occupied by the tribes of
Albanian origin and the territories actually controlled by the Albanian kings. The
Armenians considerably curtailed the Albanian territories to the south of the Kur and
Armenicised them. Only after the division of Armenia between Greece and Persia in 387
did the provinces of Uti and Artsakh (lying south of the Kur) fall again to the lot of the
Albanian ruler. The earlier capital of Albania seems to have lain north of this river,
whereas the later capital Perozapat (Partav, Barda'a) was built by the Albanian Vach'e
only under the Sasanian king Peroz (457-84).

In the words of Marquart, Eranshahr, 117, Albania was essentially a non- Aryan country
("eminent unarisches Land"). In the fifth century A.D. one of the languages of Albania
(that of the Gargars near Partav) was reduced to writing by the Armenian clergy who had
converted the Albanians to Christianity in its Armenian form. According to Moses of
Khoren, III, ch. 54, this Albanian language was "guttural, rude, barbaric and generally
uncouth". The forgotten alphabet, the table of which was found by the Georgian Prof.
Shanidze in 1938, consisted of fifty-two characters reflecting the wealth of Albanian
phonetics. The Arab geographers of the tenth century still refer to the "Raman"language
as spoken in Barda'a. At present, the language of the Udi, surviving in two villages of
Shakki, is considered as the last offshoot of Albanian. Living as they did on open plains,
the Albanians were accessible to the penetration of their neighbors and, at an early date,
lived in a state of dependence on the Persian Empire and the Armenians. In 359 the
Albanian king Urnayr took part in the siege of Amid by the Sasanian Shapur II. In 461
the rebel king Vach'e lost his throne and the country was apparently taken over by the
direct Persian administration. Even under the Sasanians Sharvan, Layzan and other

103

principalities of the northern bank of the Kur were completely separated from Arran.
Towards the end of the sixth century a new dynasty, issued from a Mihran sprang up in
Arran and was soon converted to Christianity.

Though the names of the kings are recorded in the local history of Moses Kalankatvats'i,
III, ch. 19 and 22, the facts about them are fragmentary and confused. We must await the
publication of the new translation by C. Dowsett. Albania suffered particularly from the
invasions from Northern Caucasus, first of the "Huns"and then of the Khazars (see below
p. 105).

Arran surrendered by capitulation to Salman b. Rabra al-Bahili in the days of 'Othman,
see Baladhuri, 203, but the presence of the Arab amirs did not do away with the feudal
rights of the local princes. The fact that the Mihranid Varaz-Trdat, who died in A.D. 705,
paid yearly tribute simultaneously to the Khazars, the Arabs and the Greeks (Moses Kal.,
Ill, ch. 12), shows how uncertain the situation remained on the eve of the eighth century.
The authority of the "kings"of Arran was restricted to local affairs and was mainly
reduced to the southern bank of the Kur. We know, for example, that when Sa'id b. Salim
(*Salm) was appointed to Armenia by Harun al-Rashid (ci Ya'qubi, II, 518), the town of
Shamakhiya was founded by Shamakh b. Shuja whom Baladhuri, 210, calls "king (malik)
of Sharvan". Consequently Sharvan on the northern bank remained outside the
administrative purview of Arran.

The revolt of Babak (210-22/816-37) greatly disorganised the Arab administration, and,
under the cover thereof, a significant change took place in Arran. The last Mihranid
Varaz-Trdat II was murdered in A.D. 822. His title Eranshahik was picked up by the
prince of Shakki Sahl b. Sunbat. In 853 many Armenian and Albanian princes were
deported to Mesopotamia and this secured a firmer basis for the domination of the new
Islamic dynasties. After the liquidation of the Sajids (circa 317/929) the system of direct,
appointments by the caliph collapsed and gave way to the hereditary domination of
Muslim houses: the (Hashimids of Darband, Musafirids of Azarbayjan, Yazidids of
Sharvan and Shaddadids of Ganja).

b. Iranian penetration

As we have seen, the original population of Arran belonged to a special group unrelated
to any of its great neighbours. However, the Persians penetrated into this region at a very
early date in connection with the need to defend the northern frontier of the Iranian
empire. Possibly already under the Achaemenids some measures were taken to protect
the Caucasian passes against the invaders, but the memory of the fortification of the most
important of them, Darband (in Armenian Ch'or, in Arabic al-Sul, but usually al-Bab)
and of a series of "gates'* (i.e. fortified passes), is traditionally connected with the names
of the Sasanian kings Kavat (in Arabic: Qubadh b. Firuz, A.D. 488-531) and his famous
son Khusrau (Chosroes, Kisra) Anushirvan (A.D. 531-79). A brief account of these works
will be found on p. 86. Apart from such feats of military engineering, the Sasanians
strove to reinforce their northern frontier by organising vassal principalities of local tribes
and by settling in its neighbourhood large numbers of their subjects, chiefly from the

104

Caspian provinces. The titles Tabarsaran-shah, Khursan-shah, Vardan-shah, "the Lord of
the Throne"(sarir), etc., found in Muslim historians (cf. Baladhuri, 207), refer to the first
class of indigenous vassals, though even in this case some tribal names may have in view
not the aboriginal inhabitants but the aristocracy of outsiders superimposed upon them. It
is curious that the grandfather of Mardavij (the founder of the Ziyarid dynasty and a
native of Gilan) bore the name (title?) of Vardan-shah, which points to the existence of a
Vardan tribe or family.

The presence of Iranian settlers in Transcaucasia, and especially in the proximity of the
passes, must have played an important role in absorbing and pushing back the aboriginal
inhabitants. Such names as Sharvan, Layzan, Baylaqan, etc., suggest that the Iranian
immigration proceeded chiefly from Gilan and other regions on the southern coast of the
Caspian. In fact even in Roman times the presence of Daylamite mercenaries is attested
as far as Pegamum in Asia Minor, and in the tenth century A.D. Daylam (i.e. the hilly
part of Gilan, lacking fertility) became the prodigious reservoir of man-power from
which the greater part of Persia and a considerable part of Mesopotamia, including
Baghdad, were conquered.

The most obvious of the Gilanian names in the region interesting us is Layzan, now
Lahlj, which is definitely connected with the homonymous Lahijan in Gilan, see Hudud
al'Alam, p. 407.1 Similarly Baylaqan (probably *Bel-akan) is to be linked up with
Baylaman in Gilan (Bel-man "home of the Bel-s"), see Muqaddasi, 372-3, etc. Sharvan
itself ("place of the Shar-s", Gurji-van, Kurdi-van in the same neighbourhood) must
belong to the same series. Ibn Khurdadhbih, 118, and Ibn al-Faqih, 303, refer to a town in
the district of Ruyan (between Gilan and Tabaristan, see E.I) called al-Shirriz, which may
have been the metropolis of the contingent transplanted to Sharvan. According to Tabari
III, 1014, Lariz and Shirriz, which his grandfather conquered, belonged to Daylam.

c. Christian elements and influences

Of great importance in the life of the area under our consideration were the Armenians
who after 190 B.C. incorporated the territory of Siunik'(also called Sisakan) 5 and other
districts in the highlands near Lake Sevan, and played a conspicuous part in the affairs of
the region lying between the Kur and the Araxes, and even north of the Kur (in Shakki).
After A.D. 387 these provinces were lost by the Armenians, but we have seen that the
conversion of the Albanians to Christianity and the endowing of the Albanians with an
alphabet were the work of the Armenians. Armenian settlers and cultural elements
contributed to the further absorption of the Albanian nation. The Albanian and Armenian
nobility freely intermarried, with the result that there appeared a mixed class of Albano-
Armenian aristocracy. The later Armenian kingdoms of Ani and Vaspurakan had little
influence in Eastern Transcaucasial but the petty Armenian rulers of Siunik* and Artsakh
(south of Barda'a) played a considerable role in the affairs of Albania.

The other Christian neighbours of Albania, the Georgians, had to a large extent
succeeded in preserving their statehood, but their attempts at expansion were noticeable
chiefly along the northerly line Kakhetia-Shakki. This latter territory (Shakki), situated to

105

the north of the Kur, had a dynasty of its own, which in the ninth century played some
role in the affairs of Arran, see below, p. 83.

The Georgians professed Byzantine Christianity and consequently were opposed to the
Armeno-Albanian Monophysitism. Attempts to introduce the Greek (Chalcedonian)
creed in Albania met with opposition. When the wife of Varaz-Trdat (d. in 715), with the
help of the bishop of Gardaman, took steps in that direction, the Monophysite clergy rose
against them and even invoked the help of the caliph * Abd al-Malik (d. in 86/705). 2 On
the other hand, politically the Greek Empire had much to attract the Albanians, hard
pressed as they were by their non-Christian neighbours. Though at the time of the arrival
of Emperor Heraclios in 624 the Albanian prince did not join him, for fear of the Persians
(cf. Moses Kalan., II, ch. 11), local historians on several occasions record - the close
relations of the Albanians with the Byzantine empire to which they even paid tribute.

d. Northern invaders

The question of the ancient invasions into Eastern Transcaucasia from the North cannot
be adequately treated in this place. We know that the Alans and other Caucasian
highlanders were an essential part of the forces at the disposal of the Armenian Arshakid
Sanesan who carved out for himself a kingdom north of the Kur in the neighbourhood of
the Caspian (in the region later called Masqat) and opposed his brother (or relative) King
Khosrov II of Armenia (316-25).

The most important invaders from the northern Caucasus were the Khazars, a people
probably belonging to a particular group of Turks, and at all events including a
considerable number of other Turkish tribes. During Heraclius's struggle with Khusrau
Parviz of Persia the Khazars acted as the allies of the Byzantine emperor, and in 626
Heraclius met Ziebel (Silzibul?), the nephew of the Khaqan, under the walls of the
besieged Tiflis. The Byzantines did not expand their dominions in Transcaucasia which
remained at the mercy of the Khazars till the arrival of the Arabs. Baladhuri, 194, who
confirms this situation, speaks particularly of Qabala (east of Shakki) as belonging, or
being occupied, by the Khazars (wa hiya Khazar). Some peaceful Khazars were brought
to Shamkur in 240/854, see Baladhuri, 203. A party of Khazars was settled by Marwan b.
Muhammad between the Samur and Shabaran. The devastating Khazar inroads under the
caliphs Hisham {circa 112/730) and Harun al-Rashid in 183/799, see Tabari, II/3, 1530
and III, 648, must have also increased the number of Khazars in Transcaucasia.

[We are far from having exhausted the list of northern invasions in Transcaucasia which
must have left settlements in various parts of the country. In their rush towards Armenia
and Asia Minor the Cimmerians may have left traces of their infiltrations. About the
middle of the seventh century B.C. they were followed by the Scythians (Saka), one of
whose centres must have been the province EaKaorpty) (Strabo, XI.8.4-5), irregularly
called in Arranian Shaka-shen (the first sh may have been influenced by the following -
shen, or by the aberrant Armenian pronunciation (Adonts). The most curious perhaps was
the arrival in the middle of the seventh century A.D. of a group of Hungarians who

106

became settled west of Ganja near Shamkhor (Shamkur), see below p. 164, n. 6.] [Note
Minorsky is talking about the Sabartians or Armenian Sawardiya].

e. The Arabs

The facts concerning the Muslim occupation of Transcaucasia will be dealt with in the
commentary on our text and here we can add only a few general remarks.

Islamic geographers use the term al-Ran (*Arran) somewhat conventionally. A detailed
definition of its territory is found in Muqaddasi, 374, who describes it as an
"island"between the Caspian Sea and the rivers Araxes and Kur, but among its towns
mentions both Tiflis and al-Bab, as well as the towns of Sharvan. Ibn-Hauqal, 251, uses
the term "the two Arrans"apparently for the northern and the southern banks of the Kur.
In practice, during the period which specially interests us (circa A.D. 950-1050), three
main territories were clearly distinguished: Arran to the south of the Kur, Sharvan to the
north of this river, and al-Bab, i.e. the town of Darband and its dependencies. On the
lesser and intermediate areas see below PP. 77. 83.

Partav (of which Arabic Bardhaca, later Barda'a and Barda* is only a popular etymology,
"a pack-saddle of an ass") was occupied in the days of Othman by capitulation. Although
the local princes retained their lands, Bardafa, the capital of Arran, became the spearhead
and the centre of the Arab administration. Arab geographers praise its site, its extensive
gardens and its abundance of various fruits.

Among the titles which the Sasanian Ardashir conferred on local rulers Ibn Khurdadhbih,
17, quotes Shiriyan-shah or Shiran-shah, which is probably a magnified honorific of the
Sharvan-shah. The ruler bearing this title submitted to Salman b. Rabi'a in the caliphate
of Othman, Baladhuri, 209. The building of the important centre Shamakhiya (Shamakhi)
is attributed by the same author to al-Shamakh b. Shuja* (see above p. 13).

The earliest Muslim reference to a native of al-Bab is found under the year 15/636: a
certain dihqan of al-Bab called Shahriyar, whose corpulence ("like a camel") struck the
imagination of the Arabs, commanded a detachment of the Sasanian army and was killed
in single combat with an Arab at Kutha, near al-Mada'in, see Tabari I, 2421-2. When the
Arabs reached al-Bab (in the year. 22/643) its governor on behalf of Yazdajird III was
Shahr-Baraz - a relative of his famous namesake who conquered Jerusalem in 614 and for
a few months ascended the throne of the Chosroes. This governor submitted to Suraqa b.
'Amr.

After the conquest, al-Bab became the base of Arab operations against their great north-
eastern enemy, the Khazars, who thwarted their plans of expansion into Eastern Europe.2
Many famous Umayyad generals, such as Maslama b. Abd al-Malik and the future caliph
Marwan b. Muhammad, won their laurels on the Khazar front, and a considerable number
of Arab warriors and settlers were introduced into Eastern Transcaucasia and especially
into Darband, just as Khazar prisoners and settlers appeared in Transcaucasia (see above
p. 17).

107

With the advent of the Abbasids, the grip of the caliphs on the Caucasian frontier
gradually weakened and our source dates the decay from the time of al-Mutawakkil (232-
47/847-61). In 238/852 the expedition of Bugha al-Kabir sent by the caliph liquidated the
amir of Tiflis, Ishaq b. Isma'il (of Umayyad parentage), who entertained close relations
with his non-Muslim neighbours and whose wife was a daughter of the ruler of al-Sarir.2
After Ishaq' s death, Bugha attacked Ishaq' s allies (the Sanar mountaineers) who inflicted
a heavy defeat upon him. However, in the following years (852-5) Bugha dealt severely
with the Armenian and Albanian princes, many of whom, with their families, were
deported to Mesopotamia. Though, on the whole, his campaigns were tactically
successful, the local life was thoroughly disorganised, and when the caliph's attention
was absorbed by the war with the Byzantines, the central government's hold on
Transcaucasia loosened. The foundation (or restoration) of Ganja by the Yazidid
Muhammad, in 245/859, was the first symptom of the self-determination of a local
governor. A parallel development in al-Bab was the advent to power of the Hashimids in
255/869. Under the Sajids, and especially under Yusuf ibn Abil-Saj (288-315/901-28), an
attempt was made to resume the tradition of energetic policy in Armenia and
Transcaucasia, but with Yusuf s death the Yazidids and the Hashimids restored their de
facto independence.

In the beginning of the tenth century the great movement of Iranian tribes (Daylamites
and Kurds) withdrew from the caliph's control the whole of the western half of Iran. The
Daylamite Musafirids who seized Azarbayjan successfully extended their rule into
Transcaucasia up to al-Bab but only for a short time. In 360/970 the Kurdish Shaddadids
ousted the Musafirids from Arran, and thus Eastern Transcaucasia became divided into
three autonomous Muslim principalities:

The Arab Hashimids (of the Sulaym tribe) of al-Bab, who became strongly mixed with
local Daghestanian influences and interests;

The Arab Yazidids (of the Shayban tribe) of Sharvan, who gradually became integrated
in the local Iranian tradition;

The Kurdish Shaddadids of Arran.

For this period of local awakening, which forms a kind of interlude between the Arab
dominion and the Turkish conquest, our History of al-Bab is a source of outstanding
importance.

The three dynasties of Shaddadids, Rawwadids and Shirwanshahs deserve a closer
examination. All three dynasties where either Iranian or Iranicized and controlled the
areas of Azerbaijan, Ganja in Arran and Shirwan before the Seljuq incursion and
subsequent gradual Turkification of the region. The Shirwanshah maintained control of
Shirwan even after the Seljuq invasion. Sometimes, they were vassal kingdoms and other
times they ruled virtually as independent ruler. The duration of this dynasty was the
longest or one of the longest in the Islamic World. Also assuming Nizami Ganjavi's

108

ancestors were from the region of Ganja, then his ancestry through his great grandfather
Mu'ayyad goes back to this pre-Seljuqid era.

The Rawwadids who patronized Persian poets such as Qatran Tabrizi were in the 10 th
century accounted as Kurdish. But in reality, according to many experts (Minorsky,
Bosworth), the family was probably of Arabic origin, from the Yemeni tribe of Yazd, but
became Iranicized with such Kurdish names "Mamlan" and "Ahmadil" being
characteristic Kurdish versions of the familiar Arabic names "Muhammad" and
"Ahmad". The Rawwadids rulers between a period of early fourth century to
approximately 951-1071 A.D. when the Seljuqs gained control of Azerbaijan. Their
center was Tabriz and a good deal of information about them is actually derived from the
Diwan of the Persian poet Qatran Tabrizi. Prior to their submission in 1054 to Seljuq
rule, and the subsequent Seljuq control of Azerbaijan in 1071, an important Oghuz
Turkmen incursion from the Ghaznavid realm occurred around 1020-1030. The details of
this incursion are given in Ibn Athir, the Diwan of Qatran Tabrizi and Ahmad Kasravi's
"Shahryaran Gomnam ". Later in this article,, we shall look at how Qatran Tabrizi
viewed this event. But Wahsudan b. Mamlan with the help of Kurdish neighbors and
allies was successful in coping with this incursion and were able to get rid of the chiefs of
the Ghuzz tribes and driving off the invaders from Azerbaijan and the Caucasus. So in
short the Rawwadids lost control of Azerbaijan until Alp Arsalan returned from his
Anatolian campaigns and deposed Mamlan II. B. Wahsudan. But one later member of the
family is known as Ahmadil of Maragha, and his name was perpetuated in the twelfth by
a line of his Turkish Ghulams (servants), called after him the Ahmadilis (historians have
called this dynasty the Atabekan-e-Maragha (feudal-lords of Maragha)).

The Shaddadids were another Kurdish dynasty who ruled Arran and eastern Armenia. In
particular, they ruled Ganja up to the year 1075 A.D. when the Seljuq commander
Sawtigin took control of the area. Qatran Tabrizi was also a court poet of the Shaddadids
and in particular has praised the ruler Ali Lashkari among others. The Shaddadids
submitted to the Seljuq Toghril Beg when he first appeared in the Transcaucasia region,
but in 1075 A.D., Alp Arsalan' s general Sawtigin invaded Arran and forced Fadlun to
yield his ancestral territory (including Ganja). Ganja was the main capital of Shaddadids
and the Kurdish ancestry of Nizami Ganjavi might possibly be due to the Kurdish
settlements in and around Ganja. A line of Shaddadis did survive in Ani, capital of the
Armenian Bagratids and ruled from 1072 to 1174.

The Shirwanshahs were a dynasty of mixed Arab and Iranian origin that were thoroughly
Persian in culture and language at the time of Nizami Ganjavi. They claimed Sassanid
descendant and are also called Kisranids (meaning related to Kisra=Sassanids).
According to the Encyclopedia of Islam, the title of Shirwanshah might well go back to
Sassanid times. The father line of these Shahs goes all the way back to Yazid b. Mazyad
al-Shayabani, governor of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Arran, Sharwan and Darband under the
Abbasids. Well before the 10 th century, these Shahs were profoundly Iranicized and in
fact claimed descent from Bahram Gur. They are praised for their Sassanid ancestry by
Nizami Ganjavi and Khaqani Shirwani. Nizami Ganjavi devoted his Layli o Majnoon to
the Shirwanshah Akhsitan the son of Manuchehr (whose name according to Minorsky

109

could possibly be Ossetic). The Shirwanshahs not only survived the Seljuq invasion, but
they also survived the subsequent Khwarazmian, Mongol, and Turkmen invasions and
their rule ended around 1607 A.D. during the Safavid era. They are well known for their
patronization of Persian culture and language. The introduction of Layli o Majnoon was
misinterpreted during the USSR era in order to claim Turkic descent for Nizami Ganjavi.
We shall address this issue in a later section. As will be touched upon later, Nizami
Ganjavi entrusted his son to the son of Akhsitan.

Overall, the Iranian nomadic incursions (Scythians, Cimmerians...) and the subsequent
Medes, Achaemenids, Parthians, Sassanids and the subsequent Musafarids, Shaddadid
and Shirwanshahs brought strong Iranicization to the region of Arran(and Shirwan) and
many Iranian toponyms for the major cities of the region, as well as fire temples, also
attest to this fact.

Also many local Iranian dynasties like the Mihranid and various Armenian dynasties
were of Iranian(Parthian/Middle Persian speaking) origin. The name Ganja, which could
date back to the Sassanid era (See "Ganja" in Encyclopedia Iranica by C.E. Bosworth)
and other Iranian names (Darband, Piruzpat, Sharwan...) are testament to these
settlements. A testament to the Sassanid influence is given by the fact that Nizami
Ganjavi chose the two most important work of his (Haft Paykar and Khusraw o Shirin)
based on his own free will. Besides Nizami Ganjavi, Khaqani Shirwani and Qatran
Tabrizi, as well many other poets from the region have praised the Sassanid dynasty,
which shows its lasting influence on the region's culture, despite its demise 500 year
prior to Khaqani and Nezami. We shall mention this briefly when we discuss Qatran
Tabrizi.

Seljuq id Empire and subsequent local Atabak dynasties

The rise of the Seljuq Empire had a significant social and political effect in the Islamic
world and beyond. We will briefly touch upon the most salient aspects of this empire. For
more detailed information, the reader is referred to Encyclopedia of Islam (Saldjukids)
and Cambridge history of Iran.

According to Professor Ehsan Yarshater ( "Iran " in Encyclopedia Iranica):

A Turkic nomadic people called Oghuz (Ghozz in Arabic and Persian sources) began to
penetrate into the regions south of Oxus during the early Ghaznavid period. Their
settlement in Khorasan led to confrontation with the Ghaznavid Masud, who could not
stop their advance. They were led by the brothers Togrel, Caghri, and Yinal, the
grandsons of Saljuq, whose clan had assumed the leadership of the incomers.

Togrel, an able general, who proclaimed himself Sultan in 1038, began a systematic
conquest of the various provinces of Persia and Transoxiana, wrenching Chorasmia from
its Ghaznavid governor and securing the submission of the Ziyrids in Gorgan. The
Saljuqids, who had championed the cause of Sunnite Islam, thereby ingratiating
themselves with the orthodox Muslims, were able to defeat the Deylamite Kakuyids,

110

capturing Ray, Qazvin, and Hamadan, and bringing down the Kurdish rulers of the Jebal
and advancing as far west as Holwan and Kanaqayn. A series of back and forth battles
with the Buyids and rulers of Kurdistan, Azerbaijan, and Armenia ensued; and, although
the Saljuqids occasionally suffered reverses, in the end their ambition, tenacity, and
ruthlessness secured for them all of Persia and Caucasus. By the time Togrel
triumphantly entered Baghdad on 18 December 1055, he was the master of nearly all of
the lands of Sasanian Iran. He had his title of Sultan confirmed by the caliph, and he now
became the caliph's protector, freeing the caliphate from the bond of Shiite Buyids.

After nearly 200 years since the rise of the Saffarids in 861, this was the first time that all
of Persia and its dependencies came under a single and powerful rule which did not
dissipate and disband after a single generation. Togrel (1040-63) was followed by his
nephew Alp Arslan (q.v.; 1063-73). He was a warrior king. In his lifetime the realm of
the Saljuqids was extended from the Jaxartes in the east to the shores of the Black Sea in
the west. He captured Kottalan in the upper Oxus valley, conquered Abkhazia, and made
Georgia a tributary, and he secured Tokharestan and Caghanian in the east. In 1069 he
crowned his triumphs with his defeat of the eastern Roman emperor, Romanos Diogenes,
by sheer bravery and skillful planning; after extracting a huge tribute of 1,500,000 dinars
he signed a peace treaty with the emperor for 50 years. This victory ended the influence
of Byzantine emperors in Armenia and the rest of Caucasus and Azerbaijan, and spread
the fame of the Saljuqid king in the Muslim world.

Alp Arslan was succeeded by his son Maleksah (1073-92). Both were capable rulers who
were served by the illustrious vizier Nezam-al-molk (d. 1092). Their rule brought peace
and prosperity to a country torn for more than two centuries by the ravages of military
claimants of different stripes. Military commands remained in the hands of the Turkish
generals, while administration was carried out by Persians, a pattern that continued for
many centuries. Under Maleksah the Saljuqid power was honored, through a number of
successful campaigns, as far north as Kashgar and Khotan in eastern Central Asia, and as
far west as Syria, Anatolia, and even the Yemen, with the caliph in Baghdad subservient
to the wishes of the great Saljuqid sultans.

The ascent of the Saljuqids also put an end to a period which Minorsky has called "the
Persian intermezzo"(see Minorsky, 1932, p. 21), when Iranian dynasties, consisting
mainly of the Saffarids, the Samanids, the Ziyarids, the Buyids, the Kakuyids, and the
Bavandids of Tabarestan and Gilan, ruled most of Iran. By all accounts, weary of the
miseries and devastations of never-ending conflicts and wars, Persians seemed to have
sighed with relief and to have welcomed the stability of the Saljuqid rule, all the more so
since the Saljuqids mitigated the effect of their foreignness, quickly adopting the Persian
culture and court customs and procedures and leaving the civil administration in the hand
of Persian personnel, headed by such capable and learned viziers as 4 Amid-al-Molk
Kondori and Nezam-al-Molk.

After Maleksah' s death, however, internal strife began to set in, and the Turkish tribal
chiefs'tendencies to claim a share of the power, and the practice of the Saljuqid sultans to
appoint the tutors (atabaks) of their children as provincial governors, who often became

111

enamored of their power and independence, tended to create multiple power centers.
Several Saljuqid lines gradually developed, including the Saljuqids of Kerman (1048-
1188) and the Saljuqids of Rum in Anatolia (1081-1307); the latter survived the great
Saljuqs by more than a century and were instrumental in spreading the Persian culture
and language in Anatolia prior to the Ottoman conquest of the region.

The establishment of the Turkish Seljuq Empire in Persia and Iraq reversed the political
march of Shi 'ism and the removal of the Buyyid dynasty reinvigorated the Sunnite
World. The Seljuqs were Sunnis of Hanafi rite who replaced the existing powers in Persia
including the Ghaznawids and Shi'i Daylamite dynasties of northern and western Persia.
C.E. Bosworth brings an interesting praise of the Seljuqs by their Persian historian,
Rawandi:

"Saljuqs achieved some prestige in the eyes of the Orthodox by overthrowing Shi'i Buyid
rule in Western Iran. Sunni writers even came to give an ideological justification for the
Turks 'political and military domination of the Middle East. The Iranian historian of the
Saljuqs, Rawandi, dedicated his Rahat al-Sudur to one of the Saljuq Sultans of Rum,
Ghiyath al-Din Kay Khusraw, and speaks of a hatif, a hidden, supernatural voice, which
spoke from the Ka'ba in Mecca to the Imam Abu Hanifa and promised him that as long
as the sword remained in the hands of the Turks, his faith (that of the Hanafi law school,
which was followed par excellence by Turks) would not perish. Rawandi himself adds
the pious doxology, "Praise be to God, He is exalted, that the defenders of Islam are
mighty and that the followers of the Hanafi rite are happy and In the lands of the Arabs,
Persians, Byzantines and Russians, the sword is in the hand of the Turks, and fear of their
sword is firmly implanted in all hearts!"
(C.E. Bosworth, "The rise of Saljuqs", Cambridge History of Iran).

Indeed religious loyalties were for the most part much stronger than ethnic affinities
during these centuries and the Seljuqs were welcomed by many Iranian Sunnis.

According to the Encyclopedia of Islam:

"The Seljuqs were soon able to overrun Khorasan and then to sweep into the remainder
of Persia. We need not assume that the actual numbers of the Turkmens were very large;
for the ways of life possible in the steppes meant that there were natural and
environmental limitations on the numbers of the nomads. Yuri Bregel has implied,
working from the 16,000 Oghuz mentioned by the Ghaznawid historian Bayhaki as
present on the battle field of Dandankan (Tarikh-i Masudi , ed. Ghani and Fayyad,
Tehran 1324/1945, 619), that we should probably assume, in this instance, a ratio of one
fighting man to four other members of the family, yielding some 64,000 Turkmens
moving into Khorasan at this time (Turko-Mongol influences in Central Asia, in R.L.
Canfield (ed.), Turko-Persia in historical perspective, Cambridge 1991, 58 and n. 10).

The sultans never conceived of themselves as despotic rulers over a monolithic empire,
rulers in the Perso-Islamic tradition of the power state as it had developed, for instance,
under the early Ghaznawids [q.v.]. They had risen to power as the successful military
leaders of bands of their fellow-Oghuz tribesmen, and at the outset depended solely on
these tribal elements. The position of the Saldjuk sultans was thus fundamentally

112

different from their predecessors in the East, both from the Samanids, with their
aristocratic Iranian background but a military dependence on professional, largely slave
Turkish, troops, and from the Ghaznawids, themselves of slave origin and dependent on a
purely professional, salaried standing army; likewise, their opponents in the West, the
Buyids and Fatimids, had come to depend upon professional, multi-ethnic armies. The
sultans did not prove to be wholly exempt from the pressures arising out of the ethos of
power in the Middle East at this time; they endeavoured to increase their own authority
and to some extent to marginalise the Turkmen tribal elements, yet these last remained
strong within the empire, and on occasions, powerful enough to aspire, through their
favoured candidates for the supreme office of sultan, to a controlling influence in the
state.

The threat of economic dislocation to the agricultural prosperity of Persia was alleviated
by the deflection of the Turkmens and their herds westwards, against the Christian
princes of the Caucasus and Anatolia and against the Fatimites and their allies in Syria,
and Alp Arsalan attached such importance to these projects that he fought in Georgia and
Armenia personally.

Whilst many of the Turkmen elements percolating into northern Persia all through the
Seljuq period passed on towards Anatolia, others became part of the increasing nomadic
and transhumant population of Persia and central Arab lands, and this process became
accelerated in the time of succeeding invaders, the Khwarizmshahs and Mongols, through
the movement of the Turco-Mongol people.
("Saljuqids"in Encyclopedia of Islam, 2007).

According to the Encyclopedia of Islam:

"Culturally, the constituting of the Seljuq Empire marked a further step in the
dethronement of Arabic from being the sole lingua franca of educated and polite society
in the Middle East. Coming as they did through a Transoxania which was still
substantially Iranian and into Persia proper, the Seljuqs with no high-level Turkish
cultural or literary heritage of their own - took over that of Persia, so that the Persian
language became the administration and culture in their land of Persia and Anatolia. The
Persian culture of the Rum Seljuqs was particularly splendid, and it was only gradually
that Turkish emerged there as a parallel language in the field of government and adab; the
Persian imprint in Ottoman civilization was to remain strong until the 19 th century."
("Saljuqids"in the Encyclopedia of Islam).

Rene Grousset states: "It is to be noted that the Seljuks, those Turkomans who became
sultans of Persia, did not Turkify Persia-no doubt because they did not wish to do so. On
the contrary, it was they who voluntarily became Persians and who, in the manner of the
great old Sassanid kings, strove to protect the Iranian populations from the plundering of
Ghuzz bands and save Iranian culture from the Turkoman menace"
(Grousset, Rene, The Empire of the Steppes, (Rutgers University Press, 1991), 161,164)

113

It is noteworthy that the Persian culture of the Seljuqid era was not that of the culture of
their Turcoman troops but rather the culture of native population of the lands they
conquered as well as the high culture of the court. The Seljuqs relied upon Iranian Viziers
including the famous Nizam al-Mulk to run the everyday affairs. They also lacked a high
culture of their own and in reality had no alternative except to adopt Persian culture as
part of their own culture. The Seljuq were also major patrons of Persian culture. Many of
their ministers and viziers were Persian. The most famous of these viziers was Nizam al-
Mulk, whose influence was so pervasive that a later historian like Ibn al-Athir calls his
thirty years of office as the government of Nizamiyya.

Mehmad Fuad Koprulu also speaks about the pre-Islamic and post-Islamic Iranian
influence on Turks and the Seljuqs of Rum:

"On Pre-Islamic influence, one must mention Soghdians who influenced Eastern Turks
greatly. Because of their geographical location, the Turks were in continuous contact with
China and Iran from very ancient times. The early Chinese chronicles, which are reliable
and comprehensive, show the relationship of the Turks with China fairly clearly. The
early relationship of the Turks with Iran, however, only enters the light of history -
leaving aside the legends in the Shahname — at the time of the last Sasanid rulers. After
the Turks had lived under the influence of these two civilizations for centuries, Iran,
which had accepted Islam, gradually brought them into its sphere of influence. Even
during the development of the Uighur civilization, which was the {Turkish civilization}
most strongly influenced by China, the attraction of the Turks to Iranian civilization,
which had proven its worth in art, language, and thought, was virtually unavoidable,
especially after it was invigorated with a new religion.

Even before it drew the Turks into its sphere of influence, Iranian civilization had had, in
fact, a major effect on Islam. With respect to the concept of government and the
organization of the state, the Abbasids were attached not to the traditions of the Khulafa
al-Rashidun {the first four caliphs} but to the mentality of the Sasanid rulers. After
Khurasan and Transoxiana passed into the hands of native Iranian — and subsequently
highly Iranized Turkish — dynasties with only nominal allegiance to the Abbasids, the
former Iranian spirit, which the Islamic onslaught was not able to destroy despite its
ruthlessness, again revealed itself. In the fourth/tenth century, Persian language and
literature began to grow and develop in an Islamic form. This Perso-Islamic literature was
influenced, to a large extent, by the literature of the conquerors. Not only were a great
many words brought into the language via the new religion, but new verse forms, a new
metrical system, and new stylistic norms were also adopted in great measure from the
Arabs.

Indeed, almost nothing remained of the old Iranian syllabic metrical system, the old verse
forms, or the old ideas about literature. Still, the Iranians, as heirs of an ancient
civilization, were able to express their own personality in their literature despite this
enormous Arab influence. They adopted from the 4 arud meters only those that suited their
taste. They created or, perhaps, revived the ruba'i form {of verse}. They also introduced
novelties in the qasida form {of verse}, which can be considered an old and well known
product of Arabic literature, and in the ghazal {lyric "love song"}. Above all, by

114

reanimating {their own} ancient mythology, they launched an "epic cycle"that was
completely foreign to Arabic literature.

These developments were on such a scale that the fifth/eleventh century witnessed the
formation of a new Persian literature in all its glory.

The Turks adopted a great many elements of Islam not directly from the Arabs, but via
the Iranians. Islamic civilization came to the Turks by way of Transoxiana from
Khurasan, the cultural center of Iran. Indeed, some of the great cities of Transoxiana were
spiritually far more Iranian than Turkish. Also, the Iranians were no strangers to the
Turks, for they had known each other well before the appearance of Islam.

For all these reasons, it was the Iranians who guided the Turks into the sphere of Islamic
civilization. This fact, naturally, was to have a profound influence on the development of
Turkish literature over the centuries. Thus, we can assert that by the fifth/eleventh
century at least, Turko-Islamic works had begun to be written in Turkistan and that they
were subject to Perso-Islamic influence. If Iranian influence had made an impact so
quickly and vigorously in an eastern region like Kashghar, which was a center of the old
Uighur civilization and had been under continuous and strong Chinese influence, then
naturally this influence must have been felt on a much wider scale in regions further to
the west and closer to the cities of Khurasan.

But unfortunately, ruinous invasions, wars, and a thousand other things over the centuries
have destroyed the products of those early periods and virtually nothing remains in our
possession. Let me state clearly here, however, that such Turkish works that imitated
Persian forms and were written under the influence of Persian literature in Muslim
centers were not widespread among the masses. They were only circulated among the
learned who received a Muslim education in the madrasas {these colleges of Islamic law
began to spread in the fifth/eleventh century}.

{As they emigrated to the west,} the Oghuz Turks who settled in Anatolia came into
contact with Arab and Muslim Persian civilization and then, in the new region to which
they had come, encountered remnants of ancient and non-Muslim civilizations. In the
large and old cities of Anatolia, which were gradually Turkified, the Turks not only
encountered earlier Byzantine and Armenian works of art and architecture, but also, as a
result of living side by side with Christians, naturally participated in a cultural exchange
with them. The nomadic Turks {i.e. Turkmen}, who maintained a tribal existence and
clung to the way of life they had led for centuries, remained impervious to all such
influences. Those who settled in the large cities, however, unavoidably fell under these
alien influences.

At the same time, among the city people, those whose lives and livelihoods were refined
and elevated usually had extensive madrasa educations and harbored a profound and
genuine infatuation with Arab and Persian learning and literature. Thus, they cultivated a
somewhat contemptuous indifference to this Christian civilization, which they regarded
as materially and morally inferior to Islamic civilization. As a result, the influence of this
non-Muslim civilization on the Turks was chiefly visible, and then only partially, in those

115

arts, such as architecture, in which the external and material elements are more obvious.
The main result of this influence was that life in general assumed a more worldly quality.

If we wish to sketch, in broad outline, the civilization created by the Seljuks of Anatolia,
we must recognize that the local, i.e. non-Muslim, element was fairly insignificant
compared to the Turkish and Arab-Persian elements, and that the Persian element was
paramount/The Seljuk rulers, to be sure, who were in contact with not only Muslim
Persian civilization, but also with the Arab civilizations in al-Jazira and Syria - indeed,
with all Muslim peoples as far as India — also had connections with {various} Byzantine
courts. Some of these rulers, like the great 'Ala' al-Din Kai-Qubad I himself, who married
Byzantine princesses and thus strengthened relations with their neighbors to the west,
lived for many years in Byzantium and became very familiar with the customs and
ceremonial at the Byzantine court. Still, this close contact with the ancient Greco-Roman
and Christian traditions only resulted in their adoption of a policy of tolerance toward art,
aesthetic life, painting, music, independent thought - in short, toward those things that
were frowned upon by the narrow and piously ascetic views {of their subjects} . The
contact of the common people with the Greeks and Armenians had basically the same
result.

{Before coming to Anatolia,} the Turks had been in contact with many nations and had
long shown their ability to synthesize the artistic elements that they had adopted from
these nations. When they settled in Anatolia, they encountered peoples with whom they
had not yet been in contact and immediately established relations with them as well. Ala
al-Din Kai-Qubad I established ties with the Genoese and, especially, the Venetians at the
ports of Sinop and Antalya, which belonged to him, and granted them commercial and
legal concessions. "Meanwhile, the Mongol invasion, which caused a great number of
scholars and artisans to flee from Turkistan, Iran, and Khwarazm and settle within the
Empire of the Seljuks of Anatolia, resulted in a reinforcing of Persian influence on the
Anatolian Turks. Indeed, despite all claims to the contrary, there is no question that
Persian influence was paramount among the Seljuks of Anatolia. This is clearly revealed
by the fact that the sultans who ascended the throne after Ghiyath al-Din Kai-Khusraw I
assumed titles taken from ancient Persian mythology, like Kai-Khusraw, Kai-Ka us, and
Kai-Qubad; and that. Ala' al-Din Kai-Qubad I had some passages from the Shahname
inscribed on the walls of Konya and Sivas. When we take into consideration domestic life
in the Konya courts and the sincerity of the favor and attachment of the rulers to Persian
poets and Persian literature, then this fact {i.e. the importance of Persian influence} is
undeniable. With regard to the private lives of the rulers, their amusements, and palace
ceremonial, the most definite influence was also that of Iran, mixed with the early
Turkish traditions, and not that of Byzantium. (Mehmed Fuad Koprulu , Early Mystics in
Turkish Literature, Translated by Gary Leiser and Robert Dankoff , Routledge, 2006, pg
149)

According to Hodgson:

"The rise of Persian (the language) had more than purely literary consequence: it served
to carry a new overall cultural orientation within Islamdom. Henceforth while Arabic

116

held its own as the primary language of the religious disciplines and even, largely, of
natural science and philosophy, Persian became, in an increasingly part of Islamdom, the
language of polite culture; it even invaded the realm of scholarship with increasing
effects. It was to form the chief model of the rise of still other languages. Gradually a
third "classical' 'tongue emerged, Turkish, whose literature was based on Persian
tradition."

(Marshall G. S. Hodgson, The Venture of Islam, Volume 2: The Expansion of Islam in
the Middle Periods (Venture of Islam, Chicago, 1974) page 293.)

E. J. W. Gibb, author of the standard A Literary History of Ottoman Poetry in six
volumes, whose name has lived on in an important series of publications of Arabic,
Persian, and Turkish texts, the Gibb Memorial Series. Gibb classifies Ottoman poetry
between the Old School, from the fourteenth century to about the middle of the
nineteenth, during which time Persian influence was dominant; and the Modern School,
which came into being as a result of the Western impact. According to him in the
introduction (Volume I):

The Turks very early appropriated the entire Persian literary system down to its minute
detail, and that in the same unquestioning and wholehearted fashion in which they had
already accepted Islam.

The Seljuqs had, in the words of the same author:

Attained a very considerable degree of culture, thanks entirely to Persian tutorage. About
the middle of the eleventh century they [that is, the Saljuqs] had overrun Persia, when, as
so often happened, the Barbarian conquerors adopted the culture of their civilized
subjects. Rapidly the Seljuq Turks pushed their conquest westward, ever carrying with
them Persian culture ...

So, when some hundred and fifty years later Sulayman's son [the leader of the Ottomans]
. . . penetrated into Asia Minor, they [the Ottomans] found that although Seljuq Turkish
was the everyday speech of the people, Persian was the language of the court, while
Persian literature and Persian culture reigned supreme. It is to the Seljuqs, with whom
they were thus fused, that the Ottomans, strictly so called, owe their literary education;
this therefore was of necessity Persian as the Seljuqs knew no other.

The Turks were not content with learning from the Persians how to express thought; they
went to them to learn what to think and in what way to think. In practical matters, in the
affairs of everyday life and in the business of government, they preferred their own ideas;
but in the sphere of science and literature they went to school with the Persian, intent not
merely on acquiring his method, but on entering into his spirit, thinking his thought and
feeling his feelings. And in this school they continued so long as there was a master to
teach them; for the step thus taken at the outset developed into a practice; it became the
rule with the Turkish poets to look ever Persia-ward for guidance and to follow whatever
fashion might prevail there. Thus it comes about that for centuries Ottoman poetry
continued to reflect as in a glass the several phases through which that of Persia passed....

117

So the first Ottoman poets, and their successors through many a generation, strove with
all their strength to write what is little else than Persian poetry in Turkish words. But such
was not consciously their aim; of national feeling in poetry they dreamed not; poetry was
to them one and indivisible, the language in which it was written merely an unimportant
accident."

C.E. Bosworth mentions:

While the Arabic language retained its primacy in such spheres as law, theology and
science, the culture of the Seljuk court and secular literature within the sultanate became
largely Persianized; this is seen in the early adoption of Persian epic names by the Seljuq
Rulers (Qubad, Kay Khusraw and so on) and in the use of Persian as a literary language
(Turkish must have been essentially a vehicle for every days speech at this time). The
process of Persianization accelerated in the thirteenth century with the presence in Konya
of two of the most distinguished refugees fleeing before the Mongols, Baha al-din Walad
and his son Mawlana Jalal al-din Rumi, whose Mathnawi, composed in Konya,
constitutes one of the crowning glories of classical Persian literature.
("Turkish expansion towards the west", in UNESCO History Of Humanity, Volume IV:
From the Seventh to the Sixteenth Century, UNESCO Publishing / Routledge, 2000.).

The overall political and cultural climate of the Seljuqs is succinctly summarized.
"The entry of the Seljuqs and their nomadic followers began a long process of profound
social, economic and ethnic changes to the 'northern tier' of the Middle East, namely the
zone of lands extending from Afghanistan in the east through Persia and Kurdistan to
Anatolia in the west; these changes included certain increase in pastoralisation and a
definitely increased degree of Turkicisation. Within the Seljuq lands there remained
significant number of Turkish nomads, largely unassimilated t settle life and resentful of
central control, and especially, of taxation. The problem of integrating such elements into
the fabric of state was never solved by the Seljuq sultans; where Sanjar's reign ended
disastrously in an uprising of Oghuz tribesmen whose interest had, they felt, been
neglected by the central administration, the Oghuz captured the Sultan, and, on his death
soon afterwards, Khorasan slipped definitely from Seljuq control. The last Seljuq sultan
in the west, Toghril III, struggled to free himself from control by the Eldiguzid Atabegs,
but unwisely provoked a war with the powerful and ambitious Khwarazm Shah Tekish
and was killed in 1 194. Only in central Anatolia did a Seljuq line, that of the sultans of
rum with the capital at Konya, survive for a further century or so."
(C.E. Bosworth, The New Islamic Dynasties).

Thus the Seljuqs were one of the reasons of the gradual Turkification that was brought
upon in the region. Although the Seljuq elites and Sultan had Persian culture, the
Turkomen nomads who were the backbone of their army was not Persianized at that time.

The number of these nomads as shown by the Encyclopedia of Islam was not large and
many of the Turkmen followers found new pasture land through the conquest of the
former Christian lands of Armenia, Georgia and Anatolia. Much larger number of
nomads appeared during the Mongol era.

118

Thus the actual number of nomadic Turks that came to the region with the Seljuqs were
small and this is clearly seen in the book of Nozhat al-Majales were the everyday Muslim
urban culture was Persian/Iranian and there is absolutely no hint of any Turkish culture in
the region. The Turkish dynasties themselves like Seljuqs, Eldiguzids, Ahmadilis
became Persianized and we do not see trace of any Turkish culture from their courts as
well. However, after the Khwarzmian empire and the Mongol conquest (the majority of
whose elements were Turkic and also their movement pushed opposing Turkic tribes
westwards), larger number of Turkic elements were also pushed from Central Asia
towards Anatolia, Persia and the Caucasus. When it comes to the plans, there could have
been a significant Turkic element by the end of the Seljuqid era, however these had to
compete with the already established Iranian tribal elements.

Still the major urban centers were not affected since the cultural of the Turkmen nomads
was not compatible with the urban culture whose major elements were Iranian in Persia
and cities like Ganja, Darband and Tabriz. Thus we see for example during the Ilkhanid
era, Tabriz which was a major city had its own Iranian language as recorded in the
Safmaye Tabrizi and it is called "Zaban-e-Tabrizi". The cultural language was also
Persian which was related to the Tabrizi dialect. In Maragha, we saw that Hamdullah
Mustawafi clearly shows that the language was Fahlavi. In the Caucasus, the Nozhat al-
Majales which is from 1250 or so again shows that Iranic culture was prevalent.

The migratory Turkmen tribes should not be confused with more advanced urban Turkic
cultures like those of Kashghar or Uighyurs who were influenced by Soghdians. We
already brought the example of Tabriz, where historical sources use the term "Zaban-e-
Tabrizi" for the Persian dialect that was predominant there, even during the Ilkhanid era.
Also according to Diakonov (1994) as mentioned:

"There were slight problems with Nizami -first of all he was notAzeri but Persian
(Iranian) poet, and though he lived in presently Azerbaijani city of Ganja, which, like
many cities in the region, had Iranian population in Middle Ages".

Thus Nizami 's urban background in this author's opinion clearly again establishes a non-
Turkic father line. For example Nizami Ganjavi explicitly mentions the nomadic lifestyle
of Turks:

gL-^jO g^ LSg-JuU QJLjJjS 0\5jJ 9^>
(jI^juU^H UJJ^jo)

Additionally we note there is no tribal designation (Seljuq, Bayat, Oghuz, Bayandur...) in
the names of his forefathers. While Persian culture was not the culture of the nomadic
Turkmen supporters of the Seljuqs, but it was the main culture of the courts, viziers,
sedentary towns of the empire. Linguistically this makes sense, since the major ethnic

119

component of Greater Persia including Central Asia and the Caucasia (Nezami
addressing his different patrons as Kings of Persia) were Iranian and Iranian ministers
had a large say in the Seljuq government. Later in this article, we shall delve into these
points in more detail.

During the era when Nizami was born, Seljuq power was actually declining and new
local dynasties called Atabegs were former who effectively held major power and were
under nominal Seljuq control. Atabegs were originally commanders who were trusted as
tutors for young Seljuk princes. But later on, they grew powerful enough to become
virtually independent of the Seljuq Sultan and were sometimes the driving force in Seljuq
politics. Two of these dynasties who actually commissioned Nizami Ganjavi to write two
of his most important epics were the rival dynasties of Eldiguzids and Ahmadilis. Later
on historians would also refer to them as Atabakan-e- Azerbaijan and Atabakan-e-
Maragheh. Interestingly enough, they allowed Nezami Ganjavi to choose the topic
(unlike the quest by Shirwanshahs which wanted the story of Leyli o Majnoon) and
Nezami voluntarily chose the Sassanid stories of Khusraw o Shirin and Haft Paykar.

The Eldiguzid were an Atabeg (feudal-lord) dynasty of Qipchaq Turkic origin who
controlled most Azerbaijan, Arran and the northern Jibal during the second half of the
12 th century. At this time, the Seljuq sultanate of Persia and Iraq was in full decay and
unable to prevent the expansion of the virtually independent dynasties. Eldiguz was in
control of Ganja, which the contemporary Kurdish Muslim historian Ibn Athir (1 160-
1233) has called "The mother city of Arran". During the reign of the Seljuqid ruler
Arsalan, the Eldiguizds were the power behind the throne and controlled the great
Seljuqid Empire. Their territories stretched from the south as far as Isfahan, in the west to
Akhlat and in the north to Sharwan (controlled by the Sharwan) and Georgian dynasties.
In their last phase of the Eldiguzids, their power decayed and they were once more local
rulers in Azerbaijan and east Transcaucasia, and by 1225, they were incorporated into the
Khwarazm Shah Empire.

"The historical significance of these Atabegs thus lies in their firm control over most of
north-west Persia during the later Seljuq period and also in their role in Transcaucasia
as champions of Islam against the resurgent Bagratid Georgian kings ".
(C.E. Bosworth, The New Islamic Dynasties).

The Encyclopedia Iranica has an overview of the Eldiguzids under the entry "Atabakan-i
Azerbaijan"(a name used by historians to distinguish different Atabek kingdoms based on
regions) states:

ATABAKAN-E AZARB AY JAN, an influential family of military slave origin, also called
Ildegozids, ruled parts of Arran and Azerbaijan from about 530/1135-36 to 622/1225; as
"Great Atabaks " (atabakan-e azam) of the Saljuq sultans of Persian Iraq (western Iran),
they effectively controlled the sultans from 555/1160 to 587/1181; in their third phase
they were again local rulers in Arran and Azerbaijan until the territories which had not
already been lost to the Georgians, were seized by Jalal-al-din Kharazmsah in 622/1225.

120

Literature, learning, and architecture. All of the Ildegozids were patrons of literature and
learning, even though the later ones were apparently more drunken than devout. They
were patrons of many of the well-known poets of the period and were closely associated
with some of them. Mojir-al-din Baylaqani seems to have been closer to Ildegoz and
Mohammad whereas Athir-al-din Akhsikati was nearer to Qezel Arslan (Divan-e Athir,
introd. Homayun Farrokh, pp. 75-77; Rypka, Hist. Iran. Lit., p. 208). Zahir-al-din
Faryabi is especially associated with Abu Bakr (Divan, introd. Bines, pp. 86-92). Saraf-
al-din Safarva Esfahani may have belonged to Mohammad's entourage (Awfi, Lobab, p.
615). Other poets connected with the family are: Emadi Sahriari (Awfi, p. 724; Shafa,
Adabiyat II, p. 745); Jamal-al-din Mohammad Abd-al-Razzaq Esfahani (Shafa, II, p.
732); Rokn-al-din Davidar (Shafa, III/l, p. 347); Athir-al-din Awmani (Shafa, III/l, p.
395); Qewami Moarrezi, Yusof Fozuli (Dawlatsah, ed. Browne, p. 1 17); Jamal Ashari
(Awfi, p. 406); Jamal ofandi (Ebn Esfandiar, II, p. 152). Khaqani wrote poems in praise
of Qezel Arslan (Divan, introd. Abbasi, p. 26) and also wrote a long letter to that atabak
(Monsaat, pp. 148-63). Nezami Ganjavi certainly dedicated his Khosrow o Sinn to
members of the family, first to Mohammad, then to Qezel Arslan, along with Sultan
Toghrel, according to Shafa (II, p. 803). As far as Nezami' s Eqbal-nama is concerned,
there is a difference of opinion (Nafisi, Nezami, pp. 115-16; Minor sky, "Caucasica
II, "pp. 872-74; Shafa, II, pp. 704-06) as to whether or not it was dedicated to an
Ildegozid. It does seem to be true that the only meeting Nezami had with any ruler was
with Qezel Arslan (Nafisi, Nezami, pp. 86-93). Uzbek's vizier, Abu'l-Qasem Harun (q.v.)
was a well-known patron of learning in Tabriz.
(Luther, K. "Atabkan-e-Adarbayjan: Saljuq rulers of Azerbaijan", Encyclopedia Iranica).

We should note that the court culture of the Eldiguzids was also Persian and culturally,
they were not different than the Persianized Seljuqid elite. The urban centers and culture
was Iranian at the time as shown clearly by books such as Nozhat al-Majales.

We should also note that Nezami Ganjavi was not a court poet and was not attached to
any particular dynasty. Thus Nezami was more like Ferdowsi, who was not a court poet
and unlike Khaqani or Onsori who were court poets. For example, he devotes works to
rival dynasties of Ildiguzids including the Shirwanshahs and Ahmadilis. He also sent his
son to the court of the Sherwanshahs and entrusts his son to them.

Another dynasty which commissioned one of Nizami Ganjavi 's works (the Haft Paykar)
was the Ahmadilis. The Ahmadilis which historians have also called "Atabakan-
Maragheh" were rulers of Maragheh and Ru'in Diz (Ruin Duzh=Persian for Brass Fort
compare with Esfandyar's title "Ruyin Tan"(invulnerable body)) in Iranian Azerbaijan.
The dynasty ruled early in Maragheh in the 12 l century and maintained themselves
against the much more powerful neighbors like Eldiguzid Atabegs. Aq Sunqur Ahmadili,
the founder of this dynasty, was presumably a freeman of Ahmadil, a Kurdish noble
possibly related to the Rawwadids. Ala'al-din Korp Arsalan, who the Haft Paykar was
commissioned by (the story itself being chosen by Nizami Ganjavi) is said to have ruled
between 1175-1188.

121

The fact that Nizami Ganjavi was commissioned by at least three rival dynasties
(Shirwanshah, Eldiguzid and Ahmadilis) is a testament to his fame. We should note the
court culture of all these dynasties (whatever their ethnic origin) was Persian and one
cannot claim these dynasties had a non-Iranian identity. Since the court itself brought
Iranianization of these dynasties as the administrators, officials and poets who gathered
there were natives of the region whose urban cultural language was Persian. Also the
Viziers of majority of the Persianized Turkic dynasties who ruled Iran, Caucasus and
even sometimes India were of Iranian origin. At the same time, Nizami Ganjavi was
aloof from politics and was not a court poet. This allowed him to remain on friendly
terms with rival dynasties that actually attacked each other's territories. The
Encyclopedia of Islam entry on him states:

"Usually, there is more precise biographical information about the Persian court poets,
but Nizami was not a court poet; he feared loss of integrity in this role and craved
primarily for the freedom of artistic creation. His five masterpieces are known
collectively as the Khamsa, Quintet, or the Pandj Gandj, the Five Treasures. The five epic
poems represent a total of close to 30,000 couplets and they constitute a breakthrough in
Persian literature. Nizami was a master in the genre of the romantic epic."
(Nizami Ganjavi, "Encyclopedia of Islam"by Chelkowski, P).

Regional Iranian culture in
Arran/Sherwan and Azerbaijan

Arran/Sherwan and Nezami's designation of Iran/Persia for his
land

Overall, a brief survey of all these dynasties (Rawwadids, Shaddadids, Shirwanshah,
Seljuqids, Eldiguzids and Ahmadilis) is important. The Rawwadids, Shirwanshah and
Shaddadids were some of the early patrons of Persian-Dari poetry in the area and the
Shirwanshah ruled the area of Shirwan during the time of Nizami Ganjavi. Taking Tabriz
as an example, and also the statement of Diakonov about Ganja, Ganja transitioned from
Iranic rule to that of Persianate Turkic dynasties but it did not lose its Iranic character at
once and overnight. The general Muslim culture of Arran and Sherwan during the era of
Nezami Ganjavi is reflected perfectly in its totality in the book Nozhat al-Majales. This
book provides the best evidence of the culture of the region today and unless a time-
machine is created, it is the best resource available to scholar to assess the urban culture
of the population.

The Persianate Turkic dynasties although of nomadic origin were nevertheless soon
establishing their thrones and ruled in what C.E. Bosworth has called Perso-Islamic
manner. Their courtly life was in Persian and they upheld Persian culture and standards in
governing their major cities. This was because the bulk of the Muslim population was
Iranian and culturally Persian was the chief language. This might have alienated them
from their Turkomen followers as it was the case for the Seljuqid Sultan Sanjar. Yet

122

many Iranian Sunnis supported the Seljuqids in order to weaken the rise of Shi 'ism under
the Buyid dynasty. They also supported the Seljuqid rule, since it brought a sense of
stability and unity which did not exist prior.

Ganja, which was called the mother city of Arran, was the capital of the Shaddadids
(assuming Nizami's great ancestor was from them). We already touched upon Nizami's
Kurdish mother and his Kurdish uncle who raised him. Later on Ganja passed to the
Seljuqs and Eldiguzids before the Khwarazmid and Mongol invasion. There is no
evidence of the process of Turkification of Ganja at the time of Nizami (as the Oghuz
nomads were not urban and the book Nozhat al-Majales shows the culture of everyday
urban people was Persian). Also looking at Tabriz (a city under the Ildiguzids) as an
example (which had an Iranic language after Mongol invasion as exemplified in the
Safinayeh Tabriz), it is clear (as mentioned by Diakonov) that Ganja was an Iranic
speaking city, at least before the Mongols and Ilkhanid era. Note cities, even when they
accept migrants, usually have some capacity to absorb the migrants and mould them into
the culture of the city. According to Professor Xavier De Planhol:
"Thus Turkish nomads, in spite of their deep penetration throughout Iranian lands, only
slightly influenced the local culture. Elements borrowed by the Iranians from their
invaders were negligible."
(X.D. Planhol, LANDS OF IRAN in Encyclopedia Iranica)

Even during the Mongol era, Hamdullah Mostowfi in his Nozhat al-Qolub mentions that
the city of Abhar (near modern Zanjan) has migrants from everywhere, "but their
language is of not yet unified, but it will be most likely be a modified Persian".

We note that travelers before the time of Nizami Ganjavi maintain Persian (not
necessarily Khorasanian Persian) was the major binding language and was a common
language of the area. The influx of Turkish nomads from the Seljuqs and the much larger
influx during the Mongol/Khwarazmid movement were some of the phases of history in
which Turkification of Arran was gradually started. Indeed on the eve of the Mongol
invasion, large numbers of Turkomen tribes are mentioned in the Caucasia by Nasavi, the
Khwarazmian historian. It is not known if these were pushed by the waves of Mongols
attacking Central Asia or had come gradually during the Seljuq era. But they were recent
nomads and their ancestry does not go back to the Shaddadid era. Their culture was also
not urban and we do not have any cities with Turkic names at that time while Ganja,
Darband, Barda', Baku and etc. are all Iranic names.

Thus the subsequent Khwarazmian/Mongol push was instrumental for the gradual
Turkicization of the region of Arran(which in many maps also includes Shirwan).
However, just taking into account the Seljuq/Eldiguzid era before Khwarzmian empire,
the Oghuz nomads only settled in grazing lands and not cities and even most nomads of
Arran and Sherwan were probably Kurdish and other Iranian/Caucasian types. The
culture of urban Muslim people and city dwellers was firmly Iranian as shown by the
Nozhat al-Majales and its everyday idiom.

123

As noted, the Safinaye Tabriz shows a Persianate-Iranian culture in the city of Tabriz (a
city which was also under the Ildiguzids like Ganja) during the Mongol era. This, despite
the fact that the Mongol army itself was overwhelmingly composed of Turkic tribes. The
urban life of the major cities of the area was not compatible with the nomadic culture of
the Turkomen tribes and the Muslim cities had Perso-Islamic culture. In Iranian
Azerbaijan for example, according to the Encyclopedia Iranica, the deciding factor for
Turkification was the Safavid period:

But the decisive period no doubt occurred in the Safavid period with the adoption of
Shi 'ism as the state religion of Iran, while the Ottoman state remained faithful to
Sunnism. Soon Shi 'ite propaganda among the tribes located outside of the urban centers
of orthodoxy, prompted the Anatolian nomad tribes to return to Iran. This migration
began in 1500 when Shah Esmail assembled the Qezelbash tribes in the region of
Erzincan. The attraction made its elf felt as far as the region of Antalya, whence came the
Tekelu, who were to play an important role in Iran, in mass along with 15,000 camels.
Nomads undoubtedly constituted the majority of the movement, though it also affected
semi-nomads and even peasants. At the end of the 11th/ 16th century, Shah Abbas Ts
organization of the great confederation of the shahseven precipitated the massive entry of
Turks into Azerbaijan, and the area became definitively Turkish in this period, with the
exception of some isolated Tati-speaking communities. (Azerbaijan in Encyclopedia
Iranica)

This would also hold true for the Caucasus in our opinion. Specially the Sherwan regions
which were under the Sherwanshah until the Safavid era. Also the Turkmen nomads for
many generations lived a nomadic lifestyle. Even after disassociation from the nomadic
lifestyle, the next step would be part migration and part settlement in villages.

Afterwards, it would be full settlement in farming villages and finally migration from
villages to major cities. All these steps come through many generations and not instantly.
One reason for example the Atabeg dynasties of Fars, Yazd, Syria and etc. were not able
to Turkify their respective area (although large number of nomadic Turkic Qashqai tribes
live in Fars today, but this nomadic component in Fars was after the Seljuqid rule) is due
to the fact these areas did not provide a widely available pasture land and thus they were
absorbed into the local Iranian population. Let us bring some of the primary sources and
review some of them again:

Estakhri of 10 th century also states:

"In Azerbeijan, Armenia and Arran they speak Persian and Arabic, except for the area
around the city of Dabil: they speak Armenian around that city, and in the country of Barda
people speak Arranian."
Original Arabic:

O^xxKju 1£jJI^> 9 Jjj^ Jj3>I ul ^ cbj^l 9 cl^ujjIqJI ul^l 9 cujujoJ 9 ube^jjil uLuuJ 9

(Estakhari, Abu Eshaq Ebrahim. Masalek va Mamalek. Bonyad Moqufat Dr. Afshar,
Tehran, 1371 (1992-1993))

124

Al-Muqaddasi (d. late 4th/10th cent.) considers Azerbaijan and Arran as part of the 8th
division of lands. He states:

"The languages of the 8th division is Iranian (al-'ajamyya). It is partly Dari and partly
convoluted (monqaleq) and all of them are named Persian"

(Al-Moqaddasi, Shams ad-Din Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Ahmad, Ahsan al-Taqasi fi
Ma'rifa al-Aqalim, Translated by Ali Naqi Vizieri, Volume One, First Edition, Mu'alifan
and Mutarjiman Publishers, Iran, 1981, pg 377.)

jjS± <\jyz>jj £/x-JL9\JI QSjSio v_sv3 /xj^ujUjJI ,>juuoI <Juoj>I <jj_)uoj*jo cUJljuX^jl <jjjJI<jjuucxjJj tv _souuJLiijoJI

.377 yjo f 1361 tul^l gIoj^juo 9 oLaJ^o oI^LjuduI <J9l v^ '1 -^^ i ^j^.js ^s^j^i^-

Al-Muqaddasi also writes on the general region of Armenia, Arran and Azerbaijan and

states:

"They have big beards, their speech is not attractive. In Arminya they speak Armenian, in

al-Ran, Ranian (Aranian); Their Persian is understandable, and is close to Khurasanian

(Dari Persian) in sound"

(Al-Muqaddasi, 'The Best Divisions for Knowledge of the Regions', a translation of his

Ahsan al-Taqasimfi Ma 'rifat al-Aqalim by B.A. Collins, Centre for Muslim Contribution

to Civilization, Garnet Publishing Limited, 1994. pg 334).

Thus from Muqaddasi we can see that a regional Persian language was spoken in the area
and cross referencing with Estakhri, we can conjecture that this was the main language of
the muslim population, specially in the urban areas.

According to C. E. Bosworth:

"North of the Aras, the distinct, presumably Iranian, speech of Arran long survived,

called by Ebn Hawqal al-Raniya"

(Azerbaijan: Islamic History to 1941, Encyclopedia Iranica).

Although we do not have any manuscripts of al-Raniya to really judge the nature of this
dialect (Was it was a dialect of Parthian or Iranian languages, or was it a Caucasian
language or non-standard dialect of Armenian?), nearby the Kur river, in the town of
Barda' in Arran:

"The fertile rural environs produced much fruit (with a particularly noted variety of figs),
nuts, and also the dye stuff madder (runas), which was exported as far as India. In the
Kor and other nearby rivers, the sturgeon (sormaki from Persian surmahi, salt fish) and
other tasty fish were caught; and there was extensive production of textiles, including
silks (see Ebn Hawqal, pp. 337-39, 347, 349, tr. Kramers, II, pp. 330-32, 340, 342;
Maqdesi, [Moqaddasi] , p. 375; Hodud al-Aalam, tr. Minor sky, pp. 143-44, sees. 36.21,
36.30; R. B. Serjeant, Islamic Textiles. Material for a History up to the Mongol Conquest,
Beirut, 1972, p. 69)"
(Barda, Encyclopedia Iranica, Bosworth).

The word sormahi which Prof. Bosworth derives from Shurmahi in Persian could
actually be red fish (sor/suhr being the Pahlavi for red which in modern Persian is Surkh).

125

Al-Muqaddasi translates the "Monday" to Yam al-Ithnayn which in Persian and Iranian
dialects is Doshanbeh (the second day). An important point to mention is that Ganja like
many other pre-Seljuq toponyms has an Iranian name, which naturally reflects the fact
that it was founded by Iranian settlers (C.E. Bosworth, "Ganja", Encyclopedia Iranica).
One should also mention the native Iranian (Parthian/Persian) dynasty which ruled over
the area of Arran up to at least the 8 th century.

Al-Mas'udi the Arab Historian States:

"The Persians are a people whose borders are the Mahat Mountains and Azarbaijan up to

Armenia and Arran, and Bayleqan and Darband, and Ray and Tabaristan and Masqat and

Shabaran and Jorjan and Abarshahr, and that is Nishabur, and Herat and Marv and other

places in land of Khorasan, and Sejistan and Kerman and Fars and Ahvaz...All these

lands were once one kingdom with one sovereign and one language... although the

language differed slightly. The language, however, is one, in that its letters are written the

same way and used the same way in composition. There are, then, different languages

such as Pahlavi, Dari, Azari, as well as other Persian languages."

Source:

Al Mas'udi, Kitab al-Tanbih wa-1-Ishraf, De Goeje, M.J. (ed.), Leiden, Brill, 1894, pp.

77-8.

Thus Masu'di testifies to the Iranian presence in the Caucasus and Azerbaijan during the
10 th century and even names a local Iranian dialect called Azari and says Persian peoples
in Arran, Armenia and Darband and Bayleqan spoke Persian languages.

This Iranian culture was strong in the region and perhaps even grew during the Seljuqs
and Ilkhanids. It is only with the Safavids that probably the traditional Sufi-Shafi'ite
oriented Persian culture faded away.

Probably the best example to show the extent of Iranian culture and population in
Arran and Shirawn is through the book Nozhat al-Majalis. There are 1 14 poets in
Persian just from this book in the area of Azerbaijan, Arran, and Shirwan.

_7 tv.soujjls Jj^cxjujI _6 jlSJuujI _5 c Jl^joJI^jI v_s^l9 _4 j/xjujUJI^jI _3 ikSjjjjJ JuJoaJl^jl _2 <j9jLjj \Lc^jI _1
iLS\<*jxjS u\sbjj _12 <v_s\jUJLj gjJu _11 <^9joj*jo ^jjjJIjJu _10 tv _souuuJLaJ jJu _9 i v_sO \$j->JJ jU*^ -8 <v_souolbl

_18 <v_s\»b\lj> ^b _17 tSjjj^ v_s^l9 >juoj -16 i<\j*l& cdLuu >juoj _15 i<\j^S v-»..»-b.-> >juoj _14 i^j\^jujj slpj _13
_24 ^^$2* JLoj> _23 tv _sJ\L> _22 iLSj\^> J\L> _21 h^^j^jj v^souuuJLftj _20 <£jJLd ^b _19 <v_solSjj ^b
nS\<*sxjS JLoj> _28 ijjxc JLoj> _27 t is j9jL^lc JLoj> _26 i^j\^j^jj v.sorb* JLo^> -25 h^j\$jujj J-Jb> JLoj>
jujoj> _34 ikSjjjjJ Jujoj> _3 3 «^jjojlj-5i ij+jujs* _32 <U_juj ij+jujs* ^jJj _31 <v_sOujo _30 i<UljjjS oLpj> _29
jj^>^ -39 i<*s*jS v-.»-»-b.-> >i>^ _38 i$\S pu&> jjs>± _37 h^^jujj v_svjl9L> _36 iLS\<*s*jS Jujoj> _35 h^^juSj
ckS\<^lS o+jloj> _44 ns\<^& j+jjjj -43 ty^j^j^jj i+jjjj -42 tv _*jUJLj Ju^io -41 <v_soljuj >i^ -40 t- >\ILuj
^sSj _50 t (j9_jj\Jb) <J£I ^Sj _49 t ±&\j _48 c^.p> o$j -47 ^^A ^\£j &Sj -46 ^\<^lS <=u^>j _45

126

-56 i v_SvJ \jjlj^J J+JuJ -55 i v_SvJ \$J^JJ AaSjuJ _54 iLS\<^uS AS_juJ _53 ijUl^> JSLjuJ _52 tv _SOujbiLJuJ _51 tV-Sl clcI^jo

t v.SVjJQJ^jJO jJJJuI^^j-juJ _60 tv.SV-Cl^jJO <3juuJ _59 tv_^LaJLj £ul^ iJJ^j-juJ _58 iO^jSLjuJ ^BjuuJ _57 tv_SOuUL«JLiJ ^SLjljuJ

_65 jsSIcL^jlS jJJjLJI jJjUUCXjJj _64 tv _^jUJLj &Ll9l jJjUUCXjJj _63 iLS\<*2<uSjSLjuj\ QJJJIjJjUUCXjJj _62 tOLjijU^^jJj _61

_68 i c \SSuS jJXC (JjUUCXjuJ _67 c(GjljujI ^B^jSIO LSjJjjJ (JjUUCXjuJ jl jjl£. Cb) ^SjJ^jjJ <jjUUCXjuJ _66 jlS^^I (JjUUCXjuJ

v_sv-ft-^ _73 tv _soUJLj v_svjl^> _72 tv _solSjj j_l^> _71 tv.sv.cl^ qjX^ -70 <^sIcij%jlS ^Lp-*^ -69 <lS_lcIS ^Lp-*^
oLoJLc _78 <lsI3j%jlS jjj^JIjux _77 jlsIclcI^xj <jjjJI > g_b_76 £09^5-^ - >_^_b_75 <v_so*j9>- ^^-b-74 tv.sO^^jJj
_84 ^v^sO^^h^j ^Lox _83 < JLxS >j>c _82 t^j^j^jj jjjs: _81 ^^^^h^^c _80 ^UlJI^jI >c _79 <lsI«i£|>o
v^svils -89 tjjjisu j^b _88 .ssIclcI^o ^ _87 ^\<^>^ ^s _86 ^sS^I ^SL^I ^^^s _85 <sslci^ ^Lx

ckS\<^^S y^o\$9 -94 <lSjJjjJ v_Sv-SLlJLC V-.-L.9 _93 t^^l V-.-L.9 _92 tU jaJLsU v_sv^>l9 _91 tv _Sv^l9 _90 ty^J^j^Jj

tv _soUJLj >c*jo _99 tv _souuuJLftj i-o-J^J -98 tv _souuuJLaJ JLxS _97 ^sS^I ^ox^jI JLxS _96 <>j>2JI<jjI JLo^ -95

QjjJIv-^o -104 tv _svj9SU ^jSlo _103 jlSjj^ij ^-6-b.o _102 nS\<3szlS jstiLizjo _101 <v_sJLj^>I v^-S^ Juoj^jo _100

_109 ^ssIcl^JlS /xj%j _108 tj^jo+juj pszj _107 ^I>*jj ^9$* _106 <LSlqj%jiS v_soljuul0jo _105 ^s^^^jjjjjus

114" .i^jJ^jjU v_SVJ^*J -113 i v_SVJ I3 - >-jJu jjjUUlQJ _112 <sS|c*J%jiS v_S\joLLu -111 jlSIcL^jlS ^jju^U _110 iLS\<*S*jS <^uu*J

^jj \$JJLJUJ J-Jb> JLoj>

We note none of these poets have a Turkish name. In the introduction, we read that the
quatrains by these Persian poets were song in the Khanaqah (Sufi Houses), Bazars,
Streets (Kucheh) and thus Persian was the common and everyday language of Muslims in
Arran and Shirwan at the time. Some of these poets are women who did not usually
receive education but their Persian poetry proves the expanse and spread of the Persian
language during that time. The book was written between 1225 to 1290 and the only
manuscript is from Istanbul dated to the early 14 th century. The book is a complete
mirror of the culture of Arran and Shirwan at that time.

(Jamal Khalil Shirvani, Nozhat al-Majles, Edited by Mohammad Amin Riyahi, Tehran,

1987)

Here we have also included the full article from Iranica which shows the common Persian
language and heritage of the region before its linguistic Turkification. Some excerpts
which we have bolded illustrate the full extent of Iranian culture at the time:

127

NOZHAT AL-MAJALES, an anthology of some 4,000 quatrains (roba /; a total of 4,139
quatrains, 54 of which have been repeated in the text) by some 300 poets of the 5th to
7th/l 1th- 13th centuries, compiled around the middle of the 7th/13th century by the
Persian poet Jamal-al-Din Kalil Sarvani. The book is arranged by subject in 17 chapters
(babs) divided into 96 different sections (namat). The anthology also includes 179
quatrains and an ode (qasida) of 50 distiches written by the author himself, who is also
credited with one lyric (gazal) in Mohammad Jajarmi's Mo nes al-ahrar.

As stated in Jamal-al-Din's own ode at the end of the book, he compiled his anthology in
the name of Ala-al-Din Sarvansah Fariborz III (r. 1225-51), son of Gostasb and
dedicated it to him. It has reached us in a unique manuscript copied by Esmail b.
Esfandiar b. Mohammad b. Esfandiar Abhari on 25 Sawwal 731/31 July 1331, and is
presently bound together in one volume with the divan of Fakr-al-Din 'Eraqi at the
Suleymaniye Library in Turkey (no. 1667) among Wali-al-Din Jar- Allah's collection. This
manuscript embraces some 77 leaves (fols. 4 la- 118a), each page having 27 lines. The
first few leaves of the book, which had probably embodied a preface in prose, have been
lost. Fritz Meier (p. 117) and Christian Rempis (1935, p. 179) have erroneously taken
Esmail b. Esfandiar, the copyist, to be the author of the book.

The manuscript of Nozhat al-majales was first described by Hellmut Ritter (pp. 223-33).
Three years later, in 1935, Rempis extracted and published the quatrains of Omar
Khayyam (Kayyam) recorded in the anthology, and in 1963 Fritz Meier performed the
same task for Mahasti's quatrains. The first Persian scholar to use this anthology was
Mohammad- Ali Forugi, who obtained a copy of the manuscript and incorporated 31
quatrains of Khayyam found there in his edition of the Roba iyat-e Kayyam (pp. 35-44).
Said Nafisi (pp. 176-77) wrote on the Nozhat al-majales and extracted the names of the
unknown poets of Arran and Sarvan who were mentioned in the anthology. Mohammad-
Taqi Danespazuh, in his article describing this anthology, rearranged the list of names
extracted by Nafisi according to the names of the poets' hometowns and also gave the list
of the subject matter in each section of the book (pp. 573-81).

Nozhat al-majales belongs to an era when quatrains were very popular and formed
substantial sections in the divans of major poets of the time such as Anwari, Attar,
Sanai, Kaqani, Rumi, and Kamal-al-Din Esmail. Sadid-al-Din Mohammad 'Awfi (d. ca.
1232-33) remarked in his biographical anthology Lobab al-albab, that many poets wrote
only quatrains. At about 1192, approximately a hundred years before the compilation of
Nozhat al-majales, a similar anthology of quatrains entitled Majma al-roba iyat had
been compiled in Ankara by Abu Hanifa c Abd-al-Karim b. Abi Bakr, an incomplete copy
of which is now at the library of Halat Afandi (Ate§, pp. 94-133). Jajarmi also devoted
the twenty-eighth chapter of his Mo nes al-ahrar (comp. 1340) to roba 7s, comprising
470 quatrains. In another recently discovered anthology, entitled Safina-ye Tabriz, a
major part called "Kolasat al-asar fi'1-robaiyat" contains 498 quatrains arranged in 50
sections (bab). Most of them, however, are selected from Nozhat al-majales and in a
number of cases offer a more reliable reading (Afsar, pp. 535-38).

128

Nozhat al-majales is a very valuable source for identifying the authors of many quatrains
which had been wrongly attributed to major poets or whose authors had not been
identified at all. For example, eighty quatrains published in Badi-al-Zaman Foruzanfar's
edition of Rumi's Divan-e Sams are now proven to belong to other poets, due to their
inclusion in this anthology. The same is true about nine quatrains attributed to Hafez in
some old manuscripts of his divan.

Another significant merit of Nozhat al-majales is that it contains the quatrains of a
number of poets whose collected works are no longer extant. For instance, the thirty-three
quatrains by Khayyam and the sixty quatrains by Mahasti found in this anthology are
among the oldest and most reliable collections of their works. Nozhat al-majales also
comprises many quatrains by such scholars and mystics as Avicenna, Ahmad Ghazali,
Majd-al-Din Bagdadi, and Ahmad-e Jam, who had never been recognized as poets, and
such poets and writers as Nezami Ganjavi, Asadi Tusi, Fakr-al-Din As ad Gorgani, and
Onsor-al-Maali Kaykavus, who had been known only by their major works and hardly
any poems had been ascribed to them; as well as quatrains by a number of rulers and
statesmen, including the Saljuk sultan Togrol, Atsi'z K w arazmsah, Fariborz Sarvansah,
Sams-al-Din Mohammad Jovayni, Malek Zawzan, Solaymansah of Iva, Amir Kamyar,
and Ala-al-Din Kabud-jama.

The most significant merit of Nozhat al-majales, as regards the history of Persian
literature, is that it embraces the works of some 115 poets from the northwestern
Iran (Arran, Sarvan, Azerbaijan; including 24 poets from Ganja alone), where, due
to the change of language, the heritage of Persian literature in that region has
almost entirely vanished. The fact that numerous quatrains of some poets (e.g. Amir
Sams-al-Din Asad of Ganja, Aziz Sarvani, Sams Sojasi, Amir Najib-al-Din Omar
of Ganja, Badr Teflisi, Kamal Maragi, Saraf Saleh Baylaqani, Borhan Ganja i,
Ely as Ganja i, Baktiar Sarvani) are mentioned together like a series tends to suggest
the author was in possession of their collected works. Nozhat al-majales is thus a
mirror of the social conditions at the time, reflecting the full spread of Persian
language and the culture of Iran throughout that region, clearly evidenced by the
common use of spoken idioms in poems as well as the professions of the some of the
poets (see below). The influence of the northwestern Pahlavi language, for example,
which had been the spoken dialect of the region, is clearly observed in the poems
contained in this anthology.

It is noteworthy, however, that in the period under discussion, the Caucasus region was
entertaining a unique mixture of ethnic cultures. Kaqani's mother was a Nestorian
Christian, Mojir Baylqani's mother was an Armenian, and Nezami's mother was a Kurd.
Their works reflect the cultural and linguistic diversity of the region. Hobays b. Ebrahim
Teflisi paraded his knowledge of different languages by mentioning the name of the
drugs in his medical dictionary, Taqwim al-adwia in several languages, including Persian,
Arabic, Syriac, and Byzantine Greek. This blending of cultures certainly left its mark on
the works of the poets of the region, resulting in the creation of a large number of new
concepts and terms, the examples of which can be noticed in the poems of Kaqani and
Nezami, as well as in dictionaries.

129

In contrast to poets from other parts of Persia, who mostly belonged to higher
echelons of society such as scholars, bureaucrats, and secretaries, a good number of
poets in the northwestern areas rose from among the common people with working
class backgrounds, and they frequently used colloquial expressions in their poetry.
They are referred to as water carrier (saqqa ), sparrow dealer ( osfori), saddler
(sarraj), bodyguard (jandar), oculist (kahhal), blanket maker (lehqfi), etc., which
illustrates the overall use of Persian in that region. Chapter eleven of the anthology
contains interesting details about the everyday life of the common people, their
clothing, the cosmetics used by women, the games people played and their usual
recreational practices such as pigeon fancying (kabutar-bazi; p. 444), even-or-odd
game (taqyajoft bazi; p. 446), exercising with a sledgehammer (potk zadan; p. 443),
and archery (tir-andazi; p. 444). There are also descriptions of the various kinds of
musical instruments such as daf (tambourine; see DAF[F] and DAYERA), ney (reed
pipe), and cang (harp), besides details of how these instruments were held by the
performers (pp. 150-63). One even finds in this anthology details of people's
everyday living practices such as using a pumice (sang-epa) to scrub the sole of
their feet and gel-e sarsur to wash their hair (pp. 440-41).

Nozhat al-majales suffers from certain structural shortcomings. The overriding concern
of the author has been to arrange the quatrains strictly according to their contents,
therefore paying little heed to the names of the poets of the verses. This has occasionally
led to the attribution of a particular quatrain to two different persons. The scribe has not
been very careful in doing his work either. He has apparently transcribed all of the
available poetry first and then added the names of their poets so haphazardly that the
name of a poet is sometimes mentioned either further down or further up than the place
where his quatrains are located. Some of the errors and oversights have been identified in
the edited version, and, following the publication of the text, Sayyed Ali Mir-Afzali
pointed out a number of other errors missed by the editor (see bibliography).

Bibliography:

Iraj Afsar, "Noska bargardan-e safina-ye Tabriz," Nama-ye baharestan 6, 2002, pp. 535-38.

A. Ate§, "Hicri VI-VIII (XIV) asirlarda anadolu'da fars9a eserler," Ttirkiyat mecmuasi 7-8,
1945, pp. 13-94.

Mohammad-Taqi Danespazuh, Fehrest-e microfilmha-ye ketab-kana-ye markazi-e
Danesgah-e Tehran, 1969, p. 42.

Idem, "Nozhat al-majales-^ Jamal-al-Din Kalil Sarvani," Rahnema-ye ketab 15/7-9, 1972,
pp. 569-84.

Jamal-al-Din Kalil Sarvani, Nozhat al-majales, ed. Mohammad Amin Riahi, Tehran, 2nd ed.
Tehran, 1996.

130

Omar Kayyam (Omar Khayyam), Roba iyat-e Kayyarn, ed. Mohammad- Ali Forugi and
Qasem Gani, Tehran, 1942, editors' Intr., p. 35.

Jalal Matini, "Nozhat al-majales: talif-e Jamal-al-Din Kalil Sarvani," Iran-
senasi/Iranshenasi 1/3, 1989, pp. 574-82.

Fritz Meier, Die schon Mahsati: Ein beitrage zur geschichte des persischen vierzeilers I,
Wiesbaden, 1963, pp. XII, 412.

Sayyed Ali Mirafzali, "Barresi-e Nozhat-al-majales" Ma aref 14/1-2, 1977, pp. 90-147.

Idem, "Moqayesa-ye roba c iyat-e do majmua-ye kohan," Nasr-e danes 8, no. 40, 2004, pp.
36-42.

Abu'1-Majd Mohammad b. Mahmud Tabrizi, Safina-ye Tabriz, facsimile ed., Tehran, 2002.
Sa c id Nafisi, Nazm o natr, pp. 176-77.

Christian Herrnhold Rempis, Omar Chajjam und seine Vierzeiler, Tubingen and New York,
1935.

Idem, Neue beitrage zur Chajjam-forschung, Sammlung orientalistischer Arbeiten 17
Leipzig, 1943.

Hellmut Ritter, "Nachdichtungen persischer poesie," in T. Menzel, ed., Festschrift Georg
Jacob zum siebsiegsten Geburstag..., Leipzig, 1932.

Ahmad Soheyli K v ansari, Roba iyat-e Hakima Mahasti dabir, Tehran, 1992. Parviz
Varjavand, Iran wa Qafqaz, Arran wa Sarvan, Tehran, 1999, pp. 203-66.

(Mohammad Amin Riahi)

December 15, 2008

(Mohammad Amin Riahi, "Nozhat al-Majales" in Encyclopedia Iranica)

Thus books like Nozhat al-Majales show that the people in the Arran and Sherwan region
spoke regional Iranian dialects and were fully part of the Persian cultural milieu. Such a
book as Nozhat al-Majales does not exist from the area in Turkish because at that time.
This is because the urban dwellers of major cities were Persian culturally and spoke
Iranian dialects. Thus the book is a decisive proof about the culture of the area and ends
any speculation by politicized authors.

As shown by the Nozhat al-Majales, we note that not only court poets, but everyday
people who have various trades and works, women, and etc. have left us a glimpse of the
prevalent Iranian culture of the area at one time. Every day words like "Sang -pa" and
"Gel-e-Sarshur" shows that Persian and Iranian languages were the native language of

131

Ganja (where 24 poets are mentioned in this book alone which by itself is sufficient since
politicized authors cannot even demonstrate a single Turkish verse from any author from
that era) and urban Islamic areas of Arran and Sherwan. As noted by the major scholar
of this work (Shaadravan Mohammad Amin Riahi, a native of Khoy in Iran): "Nozhat al-
majales is thus a mirror of the social conditions at the time, reflecting the full spread
of Persian language and the culture of Iran throughout that region, clearly
evidenced by the common use of spoken idioms in poems as well as the professions
of the some of the poets (see below). The influence of the northwestern Pahlavi
language, for example, which had been the spoken dialect of the region, is clearly
observed in the poems contained in this anthology."

It is obvious that if there was a sophisticated urban Turkic culture in the region at the
time (beyond the nomadic Oghuz tribes who were arriving), then one would have an
equivalent work as the Nozhat al-Majales in Turkish. Thus the important of Nozhat al-
Majales for the study of the region's history as well as the study of some of the more
uncommon symbols of poetry used from the areas of Sherwan and Arran cannot be
underestimated.

Even according to Russian sources("Caucasus in IV-XI centuries" in Rostislav
Borisovich Rybakov (editor), History of the East. 6 volumes, v. 2. "East during the Middle
Ages: Chapter V., 2002. -ISBN 5-02-017711-3.
http://www.kulichki.com/-gumilev/HE2/he2 1 03 .htm)

necTpoe b 3THHHecKOM njiaHe HacejieHne jieBo6epe)KHOH Aji6aHHH b 3to BpeM^ Bee
6ojibine nepexo^HT Ha nepcH^CKHH 5I3bik. EjiaBHbiM o6pa30M 3to othochtc^ k ropo^aM
ApaHa h LLtapBaHa, Kaic CTajin b IX-X bb. HMeHOBaTbCii ^sa rjiaBHbie o6jiacTH Ha
TeppHTopHH A3ep6aii,z];>KaHa. Hto icacaeTCii cejibCKoro HacejieHH^, to oho, no-BH^HMOMy,
b ochobhom coxpaH5Dio eme AOJiroe BpeMii cboh CTapbie 5i3biKH, poACTBeHHbie
coBpeMeHHbiM ,a;arecTaHCKHM, npoK^e Bcero jie3rHHCKOMy.
Translation:

The multi-ethnic population of Albania left-bank at this time is increasingly moving to
the Persian language. Mainly this applies to cities of Aran and Shirwan, as begin from 9-
10 centuries named two main areas in the territory of Azerbaijan. With regard to the rural
population, it would seem, mostly retained for a long time, their old languages, related to
modern Daghestanian family, especially Lezgin.
And we already mentioned Diakonov:

[http://uni-persona.srcc.msu.su/site/authors/djakonov/posl_gl.htm ^b^KOHOB, Hropb
MnxaftjiOBKH. KHHra BOcnoMHHaHHH. PfeAaTejibCTBO "EBponeiicKHH aom", CaHKT-
neTep6ypr, 1995., 1995]. - ISBN 5-85733-042-4. CTp. 730-731 [[Igor Diakonov]]. The
book of memoirs: ( Nizami) was not Azeri but Persian (Iranian) poet, and though he lived
in presently Azerbaijani city of Ganja, which, like many cities in the region, had Iranian
population in Middle Ages, (russian text: (HH3aMH) 6biji He a3ep6aH,n;)KaHCKHH, a
nepCH^CKHH (HpaHCKHii) no3T, xora )khji oh b Hbme a3ep6aH,z];)KaHCKOM ropo^e E^H^e,
KOTopaii, KaK h 6ojibiHHHCTBO 3ACHIHHX ropo^OB, HMejia b Cpe^HHe Beica HpaHCKoe
HacejieHne)..

Late 15 th century Persian poets like Badr Shirwan who has left 12500 Persian lines and
60 Turkish and dozens or so of verses in the peculiar Persian Kenarab dialect show

132

examples of Iranian dialects in the region. For example Badr Sherwani has poetry in the
Kenarab Persian dialect.

We should also mention the many Iranic words collects in a medical dictionary by a
person from Shirwan. The book Dastur al-Adwiyah written around 1400 A.D. also lists
some of these native words for plants in Shirwan, Beylakan, Arran: Shang, Babuneh,
Bahmanak, Shirgir, KurKhwarah, Handal, Harzeh, Kabudlah (Beylakani word , standard
Persian: Kabudrang), Moshkzad, Kharime, Bistam, Kalal.
(Sadeqi, Ali Ashraf, "New words from the Old Language of Arran, Shirvan and
Azerbaijan"(in Persian), Iranian Journal of Linguistics, Vol. 17, No 1(33), pp 22-41,
1381/2002). Usually words for native plants and fish (ShurMahi/SorMahi) would be a
word from the native language of the region and this shows the wide usage of Iranic
dialects in the region at the time. As shown by the Nozhat al-Majales, also words for
food, games, music instruments and everyday cultural items, hobbies and jobs are also all
in Persian. Thus making it clear that in Arran and Sherwan as mentioned by al-
Muqaddesi and other travelers, Persian and Iranic languages were predominant.

Mention should also be made of Kurds, since Nizami's maternal uncle was Kurdish as
well as his mother and possibly his father.

Vladimir Minorsky writes (V. Minorsky, Studies in Caucasian History, Cambridge
University Press, 1957. pg 34):

"The author of the collection of documents relating to Arran Mas'ud b. Namdar (c. 1 100)
claims Kurdish nationality. The mother of the poet Nizami of Ganja was Kurdish (see
autobiographical digression in the introduction of Layli wa Majnun). In the 16 th century
there was a group of 24 septs of Kurds in Qarabagh, see Sharaf-nama, I, 323. Even now
the Kurds of the USSR are chiefly grouped south of Ganja. Many place-names composed
with Kurd are found on both banks of the Kur"

Indeed the Kurdish presence goes back to at least Shaddadid times. According to Dr.
Sadeqi: "Masudi points to the presence of Kurds in Armenia, Aran, Beylakan and
Darband. Ibn Fiqiyeh, when describing the conquest of Arran and Balasagan (a region
located for the most part south of the lower course of the rivers Kura and the Aras
(Araxes), bordered on the south by Atropatene and on the east by the Caspian Sea.)
mentions Salman ibn Rabi'a inviting the Kurds of Balasagan to islam. Baladhuri also
mentions the Kurds of Balasagan, Sabalan and Satrudan. Istakhri and Ibn Hawqal also
mention the Bab al-Ikrad near Barda'. Baladhuri also mentions the Nahr-e-Akrad
(Kurdish river) in Armenia. Shaddadids which ruled over parts of Armenia and Arran
were also Kurds"(Sadeqi Ali Ashraf, "The conflict between Persian and Turkish in Arran
and Shirvan", Iranian Journal of Linguistics, Vol. 18, No. 1 (35), pp 1-12, 2003)

The Encyclopedia of Islam also states:

Mas'udi (about 332/943) and Istakhri (340/951) are the first to give systematic
information about the Kurds. In the Murudj al-dhahab (iii, 253) Mas'udi enumerates the
following tribes: at Dinawar and Hamadhan: Shuhdjan; at Kangawar: Maddjurdan; in
Adharbaydjan (so the text should be emended): Hadhabani and Sarat (probably

133

Shurat=Khridjis [g.v.]; cf. the story of Daysam below); in Djibal: Shadandjan, Lazba
(Lurri?), Madandjan, Mazdanakan, Barisan, Khali(Djalali), Djabarki, Djawani and
Mustakan; in Syria: Dababila etc.; at Mawsil and Djudi the Christian Kurds: al-
Yakubiyya ("Jacobites") and the Djurkan (Djurughan). To this list, the Tanbih of the
same author (88-91) only adds Bazindjan (cf. Istakhri, 155), Nashawira, Budhikan and
Kikan (at the present day found near Mar' ash), but he gives a list of the places where
there were Kurds: the rumum (zumuml) of Fars, Kirman, Sidjistan, Khurasan, (Istakhri,
282: a Kurd village in the canton of Asadabad), Isfahan (a section of the Bazandjan tribe
and a flourishing town described as Kurd, Yakubi 275; Istakhri, 125), Djibal, notably
Mah Kufa, Mah basra, Mah Sabadhan (Masabadhan) and the two Ighars (i.e. Karadj Abi
Dulaf and Burdj),Hamadhan, Shahrizur, with its dependencies Darabad and Shamghan
(Zimkan), Adharbaydjan, Armenia (at Dwin on the Araxes the Kurds lived in houses
built of clay and of stone; Mukaddasi, 277), Arran (one of the gates of Bardha'a was
called Bab al- Akrad and Ibn Miskaawayh says that at the invasion of the Rus in
332/942 the local governor had Kurds under his command), Baylakan, Bab al-
Abwab (Darband), al-Djazira, Syria and al-Thughur (i.e. the line of fortresses along the
Cilician frontier).

(Bois, Th.; Minorsky, V.; Bois, Th.; Bois, Th.; MacKenzie, D.N.; Bois, Th. "Kurds,
Kurdistan." Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P. Bearman , Th. Bianquis , C.E.
Bosworth , E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2007.)

Also Hamdullah Mostowfi mentions the province of Goshtasfi in the Caucasus in the
Ilkhanid era. According to Mostowfi, this Caucasus region the adjoining Caspian Sea
spoke Pahlavi close to Jilani (Gilaki) and were followers of Imam Shafi'i. Actual quote:

<-S>£J 9 OJ>LuU \j Ol V^jljuuIj^J <JJ <*_jljuU UljuoS <*S CjljulH ^JvjLuU LljuoS Cju\Jg Uj^ <w>l jLS jl

,<Us>\-uJ u\^\jB kSV$j± ul jj 9 QJLjuj\±jJ \jbiSp> ul jl 9 CjljuuIoJujJ <jjJjI 9 j$ v' jl ^ jj-!

/>Lol k_JL^JuO jJ 9 JulOj^>JujLuU jjoJUO^^jO ^£J O^jlO 9 QulL} <^Jul tQJjJ tOl£> jjajJL^>L>
jl [JjJuU v 3jLajU OLol jJ [JjJuJIQjS ij)QSL> .CjljuuIcLJljuiJU JU L 5vj\JlofcJ lS^JL^ OLuUUUj. ^Jn^SLuU

-L^ub 9 j\)sb 0-\->-fl> 9 Ju^> u^J^I 9 CjljuuIo^^j uLoj <jul 0L09J Ju^ { Jjjlaj\jqS \J$S2x> cJg^ j££-b

JljJuU ^3jJtiJQ Jul O^LuJ \jj\ <& jSLuULC oLcUoSl QS>S j± 9 CjljuuI jLp

(Mostowfi, Hamdallah. "Nozhat al-Qolub ". Edit by Muhammad Dabir Sayyaqi. Tahuri
publishers, 1957.)

Indeed Nezami Ganjavi himself praises the Eldiguzids as the King of the Persian lands
which obviously shows that the area was associated with Iranain people and culture:

Ju^jS p\j JuOC*jO \j <^jl>Iz3 9^
<jaJuli> QJljujS OJjJ /3uL> ^JvSu

0L0 Jul u Ij v>^ &J-! l3^
oLuu ubgbr \j pcz£. kSJjq ^jvSu

In that day that they bestowed mercy upon all,

134

Two great ones were given the name Muhammad,

One who 's pure essence was the seal of prophecy,

The other who is the Kingdom 's Seal, in his own days

One whose house/zodiac is moon of the Arabs

The other who is the everlasting Shah of Realm of Persians

In praising the rulers of Shirwan (who sometimes extended their rule beyond Shirwan),
Nizami again mentions:

This book is better to be written

A young peacock is better to have a mate

Specially for a king like the Shah of Shirwan

Not only Shirwan, but the Shahriyar (Prince, Ruler) of all Iran

Nizami Ganjavi calls upon the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH &HP):

<j5 03I9I jl ^ lj ulpj> 9^>^

Do not stay in Arabia, come to Persia
Here are the light steeds of night and day

So the area at that time was considered part of the Persian ethnic and cultural region. He
has used the term Molk-e-Ajam (Persian realm), ' Ajam (Persia) and Iran for his land.

According to Bosworth: "But by the 3rd/9th century, the non-Arabs, and above all the
Persians, were asserting their social and cultural equality (taswia) with the Arabs, if not
their superiority (tafzil) over them (a process seen in the literary movement of the
So ubiya). In any case, there was always in some minds a current of admiration for the
'Ajam as heirs of an ancient, cultured tradition of life. Even the great proponent of the
Arab cause, Jahez, wrote a Ketab al-taswia bayn al- Arab wa 7- Ajam. After these
controversies had died down, and the Persians had achieved a position of power in the
Islamic world comparable to their numbers and capabilities, " Ajam " became a simple
ethnic and geographical designation"(Encyc\oQQ&m Iranica, "Ajam", Bosworth)

And Khaqani, who was given the title Hessan al-Ajam also uses this term for his
homeland and praises one of his patrons as the prid of the Persian land (Molk-e-Ajam):

oL«-juu 9 kSJjq jlg^ oLuu j^jljuu^ 9 Qj>\p>

135

"the supporter of the Arab religion (Islam)
The pride of the Persian realnrT

and Sa'adi also praises the Atabek Sa'ad ibn Zani ibn Mauwdud as the ruler of Molk-e-
Ajam:

/xiagl v^ubl pcz£. kSJjq Cjj\$

^9^9jO ^JvSLij ASLjuU >Su£jl ASLjuU

"The inheritor of the Persian Realm"

The current Turkic Oghuz language spoken in Azerbaijan and Arran has its roots with the
Turkoman/Oghuz nomads that arrived in the region during the Seljuq incursions. But
this movement was small relative to the bulk of population. However, a large amount of
nomads entered the area during the Mongol invasion. But in reality, the steadily
replacement of the old Iranian dialects by Turkish takes a turning point around the
beginning of the Safavid dynasty's rule in Persia. Although there are still Tati settlements
in Iranian Azerbaijan and Iranian speakers in Arran, which is in the territory of the
modern Republic of Azerbaijan. West Azerbaijan region of Iran also was predominantly
Kurdish until the Safavid era and even today, Kurds make up between 50 to 70% of its
population.

Many Turkic speaking nomads had chosen the green pastures of Azerbaijan, Arran and
Shirvan for their settlement during the advent of the Seljuq. However, they only filled in
the pasturelands while the farmlands, villages and the cities remained Iranic in language.
The linguistic conversion of Azerbaijan had much to do the conversion of the Azeris into
Shi'ism, when large number of heterodox Shi'ite Ghezelbash tribes moved from
Anatolia, Rum and Syria into the Safavid realm and supported the new dynasty. Even
during the Safavid era, Awliya Chelebi of the 17 th century mentions "Pahlavi, Dari, Farsi
and Dehqani" among the languages of Naxchivan(Sadeqi Ali Ashraf, "The conflict
between Persian and Turkish in Arran and Shirvan", Iranian Journal of Linguistics, Vol.
18, No. 1 (35), pp 1-12, 2003).

Even up to the 20 th century, there was a large number of Iranic speakers Tats (Persian),
Talysh and Kurds in Arran and Shirwan, but the Turkic linguistic elements by the 20 th
were predominant and many of these Iranic elements were assimilated into the Azeri-
Turkic identity, specially during the USSR era. For example on Tats:
"In the nineteenth century the Tats were settled in large homogeneous groups. The
intensive processes of assimilation by the Turkic- speaking Azerbaijanis cut back the
territory and numbers of the Tats. In 1886 they numbered more than 120,000 in
Azerbaijan and 3,600 in Daghestan. According to the census of 1926 the number of Tats
in Azerbaijan (despite the effect of natural increase) had dropped to 28,500, although
there were also 38,300 "Azerbaijanis"with Tat as their native language."
(World Culture Encyclopedia: "Tats",

http://www.everyculture.com/Russia-Eurasia-China/Tats-Orientation.html accessed Dec,
2007)

136

(Natalia G. Volkova "Tats"in Encyclopedia of World Culture, Editor: David Publisher,
New York: G.K. Hall, Prentice Hall International, 1991-1996).

Abbas Qoli Agha Bakikhanov, a 19 th century literary figure from the Caucasia mentions
in his Golestan Iram large number of Tats in the area around Baku:

There are eight villages in Tabarsaran which are: Jalqan, Rukan, Maqatir, Kamakh,
Ridiyan, Homeydi, Mata'i, and Bilhadi. They are in the environs of a city that
Anushiravan built near the wall of Darband. Its remains are still there. They speak the Tat
language, which is one of the languages of Old Persia. It is clear that they are from the
people of Fars and after its destruction they settled in those villages. ..The districts
situated between the two cities of Shamakhi and Qodyal, which is now the city of
Qobbeh, include Howz, Lahej, and Qoshunlu in Shirvan and Barmak, Sheshpareh and the
lower part of Boduq in Qobbeh, and all the country of Baku, except six villages of
Turkmen, speak Tat. it becomes apparent from this that they originate from Fars.
(Floor, Willem. and Javadi, Hasan. i(2009), "The Heavenly Rose-Garden: A History of Shirvan &
Daghestan by Abbas Qoli Aqa Bakikhanov, Mage Publishers, 2009)

Original Persian:

9 uLjuj 9 ^LcxS 9 ^jj-bUjo 9 J1^9j 9 uUJL> <*S u\juujjj^> j± <^jjS CjljJul^ ICjljujI OJuol j9^Juo \~>\jS 18 qj>jpL^vp
±$j 0±j$ jjlOSH JultP <3j Jy^Uuo J^^jo j± u\$jjljuj$j\ <*S LSj^jjJ v.sJI^ j± tJuJuL ^SJcsJLj 9 v_sv-cLLlo 9 <-SJujoj>

_p g9l9 o\JL*jo :cjljujI ojuol ojlj^jj ^U v-sbS 19 <3s*jl& p^Lcul .jj^b ob obj <Cjl_ujI />$1szx> j$i& ol ^bl 9

9 dLo>j 9 v\$j+jjJ j± $b$ujjS 9 £l&\I 9 u^>9^> J-iuo <CjljujI Qu3 j-^^J ^b> °£> <Jb_X9 9 v.s^LcxjJj^jjS^Jj uLjo
...JujL \j ^-»u uuj^jjjcx^ i c \j>S\jj <S ^jB (Jjuuuj <^Sl9_«jj 9SI1 LjlSJLojo />Ioj 9 Qu3 j$ ^99-Li <j~"-^ 9 ^JH U^-"-^
Jbto 9^ Oj^ 9 Qjj^jxjuj LS c ^j^>\j 9 ^jb OJl^iJLc v-sObj <*£ ^3JL^> ^S <\jjS sSl9_*jj QuS CaSJLojo v_sy>9 p*-ujS
J^ax) lj uLj dl^jj v_sJl&l 9 JJjb ^^9-^l^jo uLj t ^jP-b.i.o O b>\Lka^ I <\j JuljJjIj v _svx> 9J_Loj>I 9 O^p <*S ul^juu^jj^b

.JuuOUv_SvjO

(Gulistan-i Iram, Baki Khanuf, "Gulistan-i Iram " 9 matn-i ilmi - intiqadi bi-sayy va
ihtimam: Abd al-Karim Ali-zadah [va digaran],Bakku: Idarah-i intisharat-i Ilm, 1970.)

On the Talysh, according to Hema Kotecha:

According to a 1926 census, there were 77,039 Talysh in Azerbaijan SSR. From 1959 to

1989, the Talysh were not included as a separate ethnic group in any census, but rather

they were included as part of the Turkic-speaking Azerbaijani's, although the Talysh

speak an Iranian language. In 1999, the Azerbaijani government claimed there were only

76,800 Talysh in Azerbaijan, but this is believed to be an under-representation given the

problems with registering as a Talysh. Some claim that the population of the Talysh

inhabiting the southern regions of Azerbaijan is 500,000.

(Hema Kotecha, Islamic and Ethnic Identities in Azerbaijan: Emerging trends and

tensions, OSCE, Baku, July 2006.

http://www.osce.org/documents/ob/2006/08/23087 en.pdf)

We already mentioned Kurds and Minorsky's statement on Kurds in Ganja during
Shaddadid times and even in the south of Ganja during modern times.

Svante Cornell, a writer who researches into the modern Republic of Azerbaijan and is
actually accused of pro- Azerbaijani bias also states:

137

In Azerbaijan, the Azeris presently make up over 90 per cent; Dagestani peoples form
over 3 per cent and Russians 2.5 per cent. 6 These figures approximate the official
position; however, in reality the size of the Dagestani Lezgin community in Azerbaijan is
unknown, officially put at 200,000 but according to Lezgin sources substantially larger.
The Kurdish population is also substantial, according to some sources over 10 per cent
of the population; in the south there is a substantial community of the Iranian ethnic
group, ofTalysh, possibly some 200,000 -400,000 people.

(Cornell, Svante E. Small Nations and Great Powers: A Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict
in the Caucasus . Richmond, Surrey, , GBR: Curzon Press Limited, 2000.)

It is this author's opinion, if the subsequent USSR assimilation policies of the last 80-100
years were not upheld in the historical Arran and Shirvan, approximately 20% or more of
the modern population of the Republic of Azerbaijan would be speaking an Iranic
language. However this deserves it own study and the goal of this article is to examine
historical facts without being involved in modern politics.

Iranic languages and people of Azerbaijan

The Turkification of Arran/Ganja has some similarities to that of historical Azerbaijan.
Although both places were primarily used in the beginning as a pass to the wider pastures
of Anatolia, but they were also Turkified through a long list of Turkic dynasties as well
as the fact that they provided some pasture grounds for the Turkic nomads entering via
Central Asia. Linguistic Turkification of Azerbaijan was a complex and multistage
process. Diakonov has already stated that the population of urban centers like Ganja at
the time of Nizami Ganjavi was Iranian.

According to Vladimir Minorsky:

(i The original sedentary population ofAzarbayjan consisted of a mass of peasants and at

the time of the Arab conquest was compromised under the semi-contemptuous term of

UlujC'non-Arab") -somewhat similar to the raya(*ri'aya) of the Ottomon empire. The

only arms of this peaceful rustic population were slings; see Tabari, II, 1379-89. They

spoke a number of dialects (Adhari (Azari), Talishi) of which even now there remains

some islets surviving amidst the Turkish speaking population. It was this basic population

on which Babak leaned in his revolt against the caliphate "

(V. Minorsky, Studies in Caucasian History, Cambridge University Press, 1957, pg 112).

The process of Turkification as mentioned was long and complex and there are still
remnants of Tati and other Iranian languages in Caucasia and NW Iran. It is worthwhile
to give an overview of the linguistic Turkification of Azerbaijan and some of the
historical attestations. Also it is worthwhile to give samples of the ancient language of
Azerbaijan. Since Azerbaijan is the closest region to Caucasia, one may assume that the
Turkification of Arran took a similar path. Although in Arran, both Caucasian and Iranic
elements were present, but the Caucasian elements around Ganja had a Christian culture
and the Muslim high culture at the time in and around Ganja was that of Iranian culture
and Muslim Iranian dynasties ruled the area before arrival of the Seljuqs.

138

Ebn al-Moqaffa'(cl. 142/759) is quoted by Ibn Al-Nadim in his famous Al-Fihrist that the
language of Azerbaijan is Fahlavi and Azerbaijan is part of the region of Fahlah
(alongside Esfahan, Rayy, Hamadan and Maah-Nahavand):

!JUuULj9Jv_S\J0 CjljuJjj^JU I j^> ;OjJJ <Jj|

JJ9I0J 0I09 uljucx^9 sS^J^ ulgjL^I v_sv^9 uIjJj cLjuuuoj> ^jJLc gsu /xjujI <\L^B ^jJI ^^jujuj^B cu^JLp-dJI L0I9

vUl O^Job" ^jJI cu^juuuuo v_svj3>9 dULoJI vU^ CH / x ^^ ^ll> U-J9 u J l JuCX JI ^-^ ^^9 ^UjjJI L0I9 obtuji^

sloJLaJ^ OJul^xJI Ipj />JL£jl9 cUjujjIoJI L0I9 £jJlj Jjfcl <*sdi\ 9 c9>j^ijuoJl9 uLujI^-v Jj^I <=l£j qjo Ij^jJLc ^^9

^_aS*1JI gJol^x^ O^iiJI v_sv9 ^I^huj^J^ vil^JLoJI /xliu ulS Lp-«3 cUj^idl L0I9 <jjJj19 Jj^I ^aJ v_s^9 PV&U-^^S

^{jjuujJIi q^JLII o^ 6.9^ v_S^ ^-ulSuoJ^ -^I^jujJI Jjfcl Lpj /xliu uH9 cujL^huuJI I0I9 <=U^ujb*JI gj09 6JJUI3

v_SOuJjl9

olo 9 uljua£j 9 CSj 9 OlgJL^I !>g-JuJ £UU ^jJ CjljjjI OJljuJ O^lpj />U <^S cd^S Cb CjljujI ^S-iuJuJZ LS$1$£ Lol=)

9 JuuLaSv_svx) o^*-*^ U ' J J u ' Ju ^L*Jj^L; v\jj\jj± 9 CjljujI o-*'-^ <-Sl&>p-«J <-*&! ^j^ 9 .uLajlrpI 9 ±)$\jj

lol .CjljujI i^jJIc uLij ul jJ (SJj JO^jA Cjl£J 9 »J}>JulUO 9 uLujI^ J^l Cjl£J 9 jbj-> J°^J-° ^ CjljujI ^-»9^uUUuO

.jljujLj ujjjIs J*&l />^>o oLj ol 9 Juu^S q^ljuj olju oLjLuI juuLo 9 LoJLc 9 gIju^xj ^S cjljjjI v_s\jo\1_J v.soujjIs

£>$CjJ& _>9-> Cju^JjL> 9 uLosjJJ l» OjJ 9 <^jlsJ gjJol^jo 9 09JL> j_> ^I^jujI 9 ^9X0 ciS CjljjjI v_sObj sSj9>" Lol

.(juulj (>->UuJ Olju _>I9_juJ />->>0 ClS CjljujI ul v_S\J L>juJ Lol .JJuS

Source:

(1346 <Lu*juj qj\ oljLujjul isjsxj Loj ls<*jx>jj j «cjljuj - >j^9» :c9b*-jujl o-i -^°^*j° i p^.-^ g-j'

Ibn Nadeem, "Fihrist", Translated by Reza Tajaddod, Ibn Sina publishers, 1967.

A very similar explanation is given by the medieval historian Hamzeh Isfahani when
talking about Sassanid Iran. Hamzeh Isfahani writes in the book Al-Tanbih 'ala Hoduth
al-Tashifthat five "tongues"or dialects, were common in Sassanian Iran: Fahlavi, Dari,
Farsi (Persian), Khuzi and Soryani. Hamzeh (893-961 A.D.) explains these dialects in the
following way:

Fahlavi was a dialect which kings spoke in their assemblies and it is related to Fahleh.
This name is used to designate five cities of Iran, Esfahan, Rey, Hamadan, Maah
Nahavand, and Azerbaijan. Farsi (Persian) is a dialect which was spoken by the clergy
(Zoroastrian) and those who associated with them and is the language of the cities of
Fars. Dari is the dialect of the cities of Ctesiphon and was spoken in the
kings Vdarbariy an/ 'courts'. The root of its name is related to its use; /darbar/ 'court* is
implied in /dar/. The vocabulary of the natives of Balkh was dominant in this language,
which includes the dialects of the eastern peoples. Khuzi is associated with the cities of
Khuzistan where kings and dignitaries used it in private conversation and during leisure
time, in the bath houses for instance.

(Mehdi Marashi, Mohammad Ali Jazayery, Persian Studies in North America: Studies in
Honor of Mohammad Ali Jazayery, Ibex Publishers, Inc, 1994. pg 255)

Ibn Hawqal (d. ca 981) states:

139

"the language of the people of Azerbaijan and most of the people of Armenia is Iranian
(al-faressya), which binds them together, while Arabic is also used among them; among
those who speak al-faressya (here he seemingly means Persian, spoken by the elite of the
urban population), there are few who do not understand Arabic; and some merchants and
landowners are even adept in it".
(E. Yarshater, "Azeri: Iranian language of Azerbaijan"in Encyclopedia Iranica)

It should be noted that Ibn Hawqal mentions that some areas of Armenia are controlled
by Muslims and others by Christians. So unlike what some scholars state, we believe he
means Caucasus as those were areas controlled by Christian kingdoms at that time.

Reference: Ibn Hawqal, Surat al-Ardh. Translation and comments by: J. Shoar, Amir
Kabir Publishers, Iran. 1981.

Estakhri of 10 th century also states in his

"In Aderbeijan, Armenia and Arran they speak Persian and Arabic, except for the area
around the city of Dabil: they speak Armenian around that city, and in the country of Barda
people speak Arranian."
Original Arabic:

(Estakhari, Abu Eshaq Ebrahim. Masalek va Mamalek. Bonyad Moqufat Dr. Afshar,
Tehran, 1371 (1992-1993))

Al-Muqaddasi (d. late 4th/10th cent.) considers Azerbaijan and Arran as part of the 8th
division of lands. He states:

"The languages of the 8th division is Iranian (al-'ajamyya). It is partly Dari and partly
convoluted (monqaleq) and all of them are named Persian"

(Al-Moqaddasi, Shams ad-Din Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Ahmad, Ahsan al-Taqasi fi
Ma'rifa al-Aqalim, Translated by Ali Naqi Vizieri, Volume One, First Edition, Mu'alifan
and Mutarjiman Publishers, Iran, 1981, pg 377.)

jjS± Qjx>y </xJl9\JI <13jSLq v_svS /xj^jujUjJI ^>juuc>I <Juoj>I ,jj_)uoj*jo cUJljuX^jl qjjJIjjjuucxjJj £v _soujJiiijoJI
.377 yjO f 1361 iO\jj\ uloj^jjuo 9 ulaJ^o oljLjuuLil ^9! v^ '1 Jl ^ 'SS>09 StS v -° Jl *J-C

Al-Muqaddasi also writes on the general region of Armenia, Arran and Azerbaijan and

states:

"They have big beards, their speech is not attractive. In Arminya they speak Armenian, in

al-Ran, Ranian (Aranian); Their Persian is understandable, and is close to Khurasanian

(Dari Persian) in sound"

(Al-Muqaddasi, 'The Best Divisions for Knowledge of the Regions', a translation of his

Ahsan al-Taqasimfi Ma 'rifat al-Aqalim by B.A. Collins, Centre for Muslim Contribution

to Civilization, Garnet Publishing Limited, 1994. pg 334).

140

Thus from Muqaddasi we can see that a regional Persian language was spoken in the area
and cross referencing with Estakhri, we can conjecture that this was the main language of
the muslim population, specially in the urban areas.

According to C. E. Bos worth:

"North of the Aras, the distinct, presumably Iranian, speech of Arran long survived,

called by Ebn Hawqal al-Raniya"

(Azerbaijan: Islamic History to 1941, Encyclopedia Iranica).

Although we do not have any manuscripts of al-Raniya to really judge the nature of this
dialect (weather it was a dialect of Parthian or Iranian languages, or was it a Caucasian
language or non-standard dialect of Armenian?), nearby the Kur river, in the town of
Barda' in Arran:

"The fertile rural environs produced much fruit (with a particularly noted variety of figs),
nuts, and also the dye stuff madder (runas), which was exported as far as India. In the
Kor and other nearby rivers, the sturgeon (sormahifrom Persian surmahi, salt fish) and
other tasty fish were caught; and there was extensive production of textiles, including
silks (see Ebn Hawqal, pp. 337-39, 347, 349, tr. Kramers, II, pp. 330-32, 340, 342;
Maqdesi, [Moqaddasi] , p. 375; Hodud al-Aalam, tr. Minor sky, pp. 143-44, sees. 36.21,
36.30; R. B. Serjeant, Islamic Textiles. Material for a History up to the Mongol Conquest,
Beirut, 1972, p. 69)"
(Barda, Encyclopedia Iranica, Bosworth).

The word sormahi which Prof. Bosworth derives from Shurmahi in Persian could
actually be red fish (sor/suhr being the Pahlavi for red which in modern Persian is Surkh).
Al-Muqaddasi translates the "Monday"to Yam al-Ithnayn which in Persian and Iranian
dialects is Doshanbeh (the second day). An important point to mention is that Ganja like
many other pre-Seljuq topynoms has an Iranian name, which naturally reflects the fact
that it was founded by Iranian settlers (C.E. Bosworth, "Ganja", Encyclopedia Iranica).
One should also mention the native Iranian (Parthian/Persian) dynasty which ruled over
the area of Arran up to at least the 8 th century.

Al-Mas'udi the Arab Historian States:

"The Persians are a people whose borders are the Mahat Mountains and Azarbaijan up to

Armenia and Arran, and Bayleqan and Darband, and Ray and Tabaristan and Masqat and

Shabaran and Jorjan and Abarshahr, and that is Nishabur, and Herat and Marv and other

places in land of Khorasan, and Sejistan and Kerman and Fars and Ahvaz...All these

lands were once one kingdom with one sovereign and one language... although the

language differed slightly. The language, however, is one, in that its letters are written the

same way and used the same way in composition. There are, then, different languages

such as Pahlavi, Dari, Azari, as well as other Persian languages."

Source:

Al Mas'udi, Kitab al-Tanbih wa-1-Ishraf, De Goeje, M.J. (ed.), Leiden, Brill, 1894, pp.

77-8.

141

Thus Masu'di testifies to the Iranian presence in the Caucasus and Azerbaijan during the
10 th century and even names a local Iranian dialect called Azari.

Original Arabic from www.alwaraq.net :

^^Jl ulaJLJI 9 u\j\ 9 cuJujOjI ^\L v_sJj Lo ^jJI ubtujSl 9 1&>«X 9 ol&loJI ,jjo JLpJI l5^\L Jo <=Lol ^uu^d-lls
9 ij^jLujuJ v_sv^ 9 t^p-jJu^l 9 ub^p* 9 ul^LjuJI 9 JoiLmJuoJ I 9 ^jJLjuj^^b 9 LSj)\ 9 v^^l9 vUJI 9-^ 9 -^j-^
u^l ,jjo dJJju Ju^iil Lo 9 t jl9^\ll 9 (jjJjlS 9 uLo^ 9 u Lljuuc*uuj 9 uLuul^ ^\L ,jjo dJJ-i ^ 9 9^x5 9 6l^

I^jIS /x^jI \JI £ joI9 L^jLuuJ 9 J0I9 dJULo L^JLo 0J0I9 qSJLouo CjuIS :>\LJI oju& J5 9 CaS^JI Iju& ^ pj>lc\)\

9 OJ0I9 ^julSu v_SVjJI V$2$y> U9SL1 uL OJ0I9 U^Su LojI C^sdUl ul dJU^ 9 olaJJI ,JjO >-»*JuUU Sv_SOiJj v_SvS U^juLuU

I^^jX 9 cUji>\JI 9 ^UjjJI 9 cu^lpjUlS ^p^AJI ^Lj^^I >*Luj ^s3 «_^JUi> asj CjlqJLl>I ul 9 <J^l9 ulJU \^B^^> vjp-JU

.ijjj^jjUl olaJ <jjO

Ahmad ibn Yaqubi mentions that the

People of Azerbaijan are a mixture of c Ajam-i Azari (Ajam is a term that developed to

mean Iranian) of Azaris and old Javedanis (followers of Javidan the son of Shahrak who

was the leader of Khurramites and succeeded by Babak Khorramdin).

Source:

Yaqubi, Ahmad ibn Abi, Tarikh-i Yaqubi tarjamah-i Muhammad Ibrahim Ayati,

Intisharat Bungah-i Tarjomah o Nashr-i Kitab, 1969.

"Zakarrya b. Mohammad Qazvini's report in Athar al-Bilad, composed in 674/1275, that

"no town has escaped being taken over by the Turks except Tabriz"(Beirut ed., 1960, p.

339) one may infer that at least Tabriz had remained aloof from the influence of Turkish

until the time".

("Azari: The Iranian Language of Azerbaijan"in Encyclopedia Iranica by E. Yarshater

http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v3f3/v3f2a88b.htmll )

"From the time of the Mongol invasion, most of whose armies were composed of Turkic

tribes, the influence of Turkish increased in the region. On the other hand, the old

Iranian dialects remained prevalent in major cities. Hamdallah Mostowafi writing in the

1340s calls the language ofMaraqa as "modified Pahlavi" (Pahlavi-ye Mughayyar).

Mostowafi calls the language ofZanjan (Pahlavi-ye Raast). The language of Gushtaspi

covering the Caspian border region between Gilan to Shirvan is called a Pahlavi

language close to the language of Gilan ".

Source:

("Azari: The Iranian Language of Azerbaijan"in Encyclopedia Iranica by E. Yarshater

http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v3f3/v3f2a88b.htmll )

Ahmad ibn Yaqubi mentions that the

People of Azerbaijan are a mixture of c Ajam-i Azari (Ajam is a term that developed to

mean Iranian) of Azaris and old Javedanis (followers of Javidan the son of Shahrak who

was the leader of Khurramites and succeeded by Babak Khorramdin).

(Yaqubi, Ahmad ibn Abi, Tarikh-i Yaqubi tarjamah-i Muhammad Ibrahim Ayati,

Intisharat Bungah-i Tarjomah o Nashr-i Kitab, 1969.)

142

Probably the best proof of Iranian language, culture and heritage of the Muslims of that
time are the books of Safinaye Tabriz and Nozhat al-Majales. Both of these will be
discussed later and provide a complete mirror of the culture and language of the area.

Language of Tabriz as a special case

The language of Tabriz, being an Iranian language, was not the standard Khurasani Dari.
Qatran Tabrizi has an interesting verse mentioning this in a couple:

JS j\jB J-Xjj v>^° uLuu 3j JjJL

Translation:

The nightingale is on top of the flower like a minstrel who has lost it heart

It bemoans sometimes in Parsi (Persian) and sometimes in Dari (Khurasani Persian)

Source:
^-jujLuuj CjLcMhl !«ubtj|jjil \j$S ubj lSOjUj^ v-SvjLbL>\Lo» <qjjoIjuoc*jo tv-SVfP* v-* *^-)

181-182 lSOjLo^u clS^LusI-

(Riyahi Khoi, Mohammad Amin. "Molehezati darbaareyeh Zabaan-i Kohan
Azerbaijan"(Some comments on the ancient language of Azerbaijan), 'Itilia'at Siyasi
Magazine, volume 181-182)
Also available at:
http://www.azargoshnasp.net/languages/Azari/26.pdf

There are extant words, phrases and sentences attested in the old Iranic dialect of Tabriz
in a variety of books and manuscripts. Here are some examples:

Hamdullah Mostowafi mentions a sentence in the language of Tabriz:

(JJjJj/ 0$-ajU jJ tj± OS* c-A/ <^s$L> j$5ul

\j v-S^ljuuo ^jl>L^> jSI OjjLu " ! ^j3$LjuJdQ qJJljuoo <w><^JLqJ|cLq^jj j± u\jjjjjJ ubj jl ^JLol> <Sdi
jCpul v-Sv^J \ jjJjJul 09_juU j± tj± Qs> v-Sy v-S^B^l^ j9-*-il -^9-> <-^u l>juuli jjjuLJ u

Pg 98" OJUj^ AjljuJ p CjljuuI (u^JJO lS j^J I ) ^9^

Translation:

"The Tabrizians if they see a fortunate man in an uncouth clothes say: He is like a fresh

grape in a ripped fruit basket."

Source:

1336

143

Mostowafi, Hamdallah. Nozhat al-Qolub. Edit by Muhammad Dabir Sayyaqi. Tahuri
Publishing, 1957.

A mulama 'poem (meaning 'colourful', which is popular in Persian poetry where some
verses are in one language and others in another language) from Homam Tabrizi where
some verses are in Khorasani (Dari) Persian and others are in the dialect of Tabriz:

CjljuU^ jl /XiSj CjuljuUUO /XjuUC> p -XjJu

CjljuUUO v_SVJU U$J V-S^ J^ 9 fi*SH
lSJ9j OS /Xjbv-SVJO 9 CjlSj ^>/>IJ^
Cjljuu^ jl /xiLS fJjJ^> v_S^juuu /^& Oj^jO Qj

Cjljuuu uLS 9 Jj^ ojoc> ^g\J CjuI^J
9_juu uuj^jo ^cp* l _9_juuLc jj v_svjo^
*^-v^ v_sO 9 CjljuulS lS jj9>£jo >-*ju sS jS

Jul^J OL> jl />lodfc jS Ol^^jjo^ 3j

CjLJuujIg Ojjou uI^j ulS jjijjl^jo
v_svju9j /^-juoj sSjjl 9 L> ^o^p

Source:

1377 ijgj j.is oljLiLul <™ubtj|jjil ubj 9 jLu £yjb" iLoj/>\Lc tj^^L^Lil

Gholam Reza Ensafpur, "Tarikh o Tabar Zaban-i Azarbaijan"(The history and roots of
the language of Azarbaijan), Fekr-I Rooz Publishers, 1998 (1377).

Another ghazal from Homam Tabrizi where all the couplets except the last couplet is in
Persian, the last couplet reads:

«uljl&9 <3jo <JL> J9 <3jo uljb LS9I // v-sy u^^> jb yo^ 9 J9 9 jl&9»
Transliteration:

Wahar o wol o Dim yaar khwash Bi
Awi Yaaraan, mah wul Bi, Mah Wahaaraan

Translation:

The Spring and Flowers and the face of the friend are all pleaseant

But without the friend, there are no flowers or any spring.

Source:

1333 <>o-«j <«ob*jlrpl oL-juuLj oUj jl c i<*igJ 9^ <v_sOj>ifc 9 S 5vjb»: v-sJ^JIa-lc <oLijlS

Karang, Abdul Ali. "Tati, Harzani, two dialects from the ancient language of
Azerbaijan", Tabriz, 1333. 1952.

144

Another recent discovery by the name of Safina-yi Tabriz has given sentences from
native of Tabriz in their peculiar Iranic dialect. A sample expression of from the mystic
Baba Faraj Tabrizi in the Safina:

Standard Persian (translated by the author of Safina himself):

Modern English:

They brought Faraj in this world in such a way that his eye is neither towards pre-eternity

nor upon createdness.

Source:

.1384 <jLijisl j£± oIs^s^jo ^Ljj <ob*jljji>l ojjj^ oUj ckS^u^o j^^^lo

Mortazavi, Manuchehr. Zaban-e-Dirin Azerbaijan (On the Old language of Azerbaijan).
Bonyad Moqufaat Dr. Afshar. 2005(1384).

Indeed the Safina is a bible of the culture of Tabriz which was compiled in the Il-khanid
era. It is a clear testament and proof that no trace of Turkic culture, folklore and language
was present in Tabriz during the Ilkhanid era.

A sample poem in which the author of the Safina writes "Zaban Tabrizi"(Language of
Tabriz):

^j& jj J jj^. j*> jj^ j^ b j^ jih lsJ*
145

Sadeqi, Ali Ashraf. "Chand She'r beh Zaban-e Karaji, Tabrizi wa Ghayreh"(Some poems
in the language of Karaji and Tabrizi and others), Majalla-ye Zabanshenasi, 9,
1379./2000,pp.l4-17.
http://www.azargoshnasp.net/languages/Azari/zabankarajitabrizi.pdf

A sentence in the dialect of Tabriz (the author calls Zaban-I Tabriz (dialect/language of
Tabriz) recorded and also translated by Ibn Bazzaz Ardabili in the Safvat al-Safa:

<p kSjjjjJ o\jjj [Jjj\j ^JoL> OlaS 9 CjlSjS j\jS j± \j q+juj jls ^Ljuo^ juol j± $z> oLuulJLc»

OjLdO KjLiS jJ CjljuU^ tjJLaS jjjl j^ .CjljuuI OJuljuJj CjlQJjJ> ^Sj ^Bj^Lf QJSUuU <^5VJlS2J ^Ij jJUy>

The sentence "Gu Harif(a/e)r Zhaatah"is mentioned in Tabrizi dialect.

Source:

Rezazadeh, Rahim Malak. "The Azari Dialect"(Guyesh-I Azari), Anjuman Farhang Iran

Bastan publishers, 1352(1973).

A sentence in the dialect of Tabriz by Pir Hassan Zehtab Tabrizi addressing the Qara-
Qoyunlu ruler Eskandar:

(31 <j^> '^s^sp*

"Eskandar! Roodam Koshti, Roodat Koshaad"
(Eskandar! You killed my son, may your son perish")

Source:
i^-jujL-juj CjLcMhl !«ubtj|jjil yj$$ ubj lSOjUj^ v_sOLb^>\Jjo» <qjjoIjuoc*jo lkS^S> St5^>^j

181-182 lSOjLo^u iiS±Uu9l-

Riyahi, Mohammad Amin. "Molahezati darbaareyeh Zabaan-I Kohan Azerbaijan"(Some
comments on the ancient language of Azerbaijan), 'Itilia'at Siyasi Magazine, volume
181-182.

Also Available at:
http://www.azargoshnasp.net/languages/Azari/26.pdf

The word Rood for son is still used in some Iranian dialects, specially the Larestani
dialect and other dialects around Fars.

Four quatrains titled Fahlaviyat from Khwaja Muhammad Kojjani (d. 677/1278-79); born
in Kojjan or Korjan, a village near Tabriz, recorded by Abd-al-Qader Maraghi

146

(Fahlaviyat in Encyclopedia Iranica by Dr. Ahmad Taffazoli,
http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v9f2/v9f232.html)

(Dr. A. A. Sadeqi, "Ash'ar-e mahalli-e Jame'al-Alhaann,"Majalla-ye zaban-shenasi 9,
137171992, pp. 54-64/

http://www.azargoshnasp.net/languages/Azari/AshrafSadeqiasharmahalimaraqi.pdf
).

A sample of one of the four quatrains from Khwaja Muhammad Kojjani

S- _ S-

^SLfuJj>Lf ^JVJLJUUL^ JuLgj <S')jS QjbJb

OjjU$ iS'jjS CjljuU^ <*5 <^> gl Lu

s-

03-J9 <S'jjS ^aJclzlo Jloc*jo

Two qet'as (poems) quoted by Abd-al-Qader Maraghi in the dialect of Tabriz (d. 838
A.H./1434-35 C.E.; II, p. 142)

(Fahlaviyat in Encyclopedia Iranica by Ahmad Taffazoli,

http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v9f2/v9f232.html)

(A. A. Sadeqi, "Ash'ar-e mahalli-e Jame'al-Alhaann,"Majalla-ye zaban-shenasi 9,

137171992, pp. 54-64.

http://www.azargoshnasp.net/languages/Azari/AshrafSadeqiasharmahalimaraqi.pdf)

- 2- S-

.9 s- __
O^jIjS 99I Ijj^

A ghazal and fourteen quatrains under the title of Fahlaviyat by the poet Maghrebi

Tabrizi (d. 809/1406-7)

(Fahlaviyat in Encyclopedia Iranica by Dr. Ahmad Taffazoli,

http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v9f2/v9f232.html)

(M.-A. Adib Tusi "Fahlavyat-e Magrebi Tabrizi/'NDA Tabriz 8, 1335/1956

http://www.azargoshnasp.net/languages/Azari/fahlaviyaatmaghrebitabrizi.pdf)

147

A text probably by Mama Esmat Tabrizi, a mystical woman-poet of Tabriz (d. 9th/15th
cent.), which occurs in a manuscript, preserved in Turkey, concerning the shrines of
saints in Tabriz.

Adib Tusi, "Fahlawiyat-e- Mama Esmat wa Kashfi be-zaban Azari estelaah-e raayi yaa
shahri", NDA, Tabriz 8/3, 1335/1957, pp 242-57.

http://www.azargoshnasp.net/languages/Azari/fahlaviyaatmamaesmat.pdf

An interesting phrase "Buri Buri"(which in Persian means "Biya Biya"or in English
"Come! Come!") is mentioned by Rumi from the mouth of Shams Tabrizi in this poem:

kSj$Ljuj± Qj j»> /xjLj j± a^-m &P?>J l3^9 >:>

The word "Buri"is mentioned by Hussain Tabrizi Karbalai with regards to the Shaykh
Khwajah Abdul-Rahim Azh-Abaadi:

: 1 15 yjo tCjLJuuc^j ji3± tuL^JI oLdsj j^

kSjJjjJ lS9-..CjljuuI fJjSUQ 9 jj^L^UuUUO ^j\j>j^uJ j^...LS^bljl /Xj^^J I JuX Qj>\^>. . .jl JjO 9 A9^jO»

9---v_svJLol vj^ v-sJI^ j^ >^>V .p CjljuuI v-SvJu^jo ^>9^ ^ (^bljl)^bb>l ^>9^ ^ v^^^ -^1

lSj^sIaJuuo /XjJuu^jI v-Sv^-USb CjlS^Ju^) <3j Jjlgl j± <*^>\p> Cjj^l> <*5 O^Lsl ^LoJLjuuI o-*Jc> 9I jl

« c U-juuI^ uLuuu9j^ ^ U ^>\L>I jLhuuu 9 0^9-u v_svj9jj 9 v-SvJ^sxx^r jl v_sJL> 9 Jul o^joJ v_s\jo

<J*_Lz3 j^ v-S^-" ^9>ax) jj± Q$ QJ^>\JljJj CjLJijJL> ^ku Qj 9 OJu^ lj LS9 Jujjo bb O^L>- sSjgj

jl Ob \j uI^Sj^ <^S <bj bj i^J&J. SS^^J *~>J$J puJ>j}\A+£. iPJLaS tCjLJuul v_S\»aJL^jO ,jlil c Ulh uU

«.JLJuub v-SObj ololgJI jl 9J />\)& v-SV-fcS2J 3jL> jl Ij 9J 9 CjljuuI jljb

1349-1344 t ^fbS jujjj 9 ^ux^jj ollju <«oL^JI oL^9j» ^^Sjj^u ^^^5 o-h^^> Jo3b>

.1970-1965

Karbalai Tabrizi, Hussein. "Rawdat al-Jinan va Jannat al-Janan", Bungah-I Tarjumah o
Nashr-i Kitab, 1344-49 (1965-1970), 2 volumes.

This word is also mentioned in the Fahlaviyat of Baba Taher. In the Harzandi Iranic
dialect of Harzand in Azerbaijan as well as the Iranic Karingani dialect of Azerbaijan,
both recorded in the 20 th century, the two words "Biri"and "Burah"means to "come"and
are of the same root.

Source:

148

1333 c^o-d)

Karang, Abdul Ali. "Tati o Harzani, Do lahjeh az zabaan-i baastaan-i Azerbaijan " 9
Shafaq publishers, 1333(1955) (pg 91 and pg 112)

Maragheh

5 th

Hamdollah Mostowfi of the 13 century A.D. mentions the language of Maragheh:

«CjljuuI >*^X) SS^JL^ OLuOJIjJ>>!JljuUU9J s 5VJO <^cI^jO /)^jjO uUj

Interestingly enough, the 17th century A.D. Ottoman Turkish traveler Evliya Chelebi,

who visited Safavid Iran, writes: "The majority of the women in Maragheh speak in
Pahlavi".

Source:

^-jujLuuJ Cslc\lhl !«ubfciljjil \J$S ubj lSGjIjj^ v-SVjLbL>\Lo» <QjjoIjuOC*jO tv.svjfp* v-S^^^J

181-182 lSOjLo^u clS^LusI-

Riyahi, Mohammad Amin. "Molahezaati darbaareyeh Zabaan-I Kohan
Azerbaijan"(Some comments on the ancient language of Azerbaijan), 'Itilia'at Siyasi
Magazine, volume 181-182.

Also available at:
http://www.azargoshnasp.net/languages/Azari/26.pdf

Maragheh was the Ilkhanid capital and yet the language is called Fahlavi. Similarly
Tabriz was an an important city of the Ilkhanids yet we have references to "Zaban-i
Tabrizi" in the Safmayeh Tabriz, in the collected songs of AbdulQadir Maraghi and in
the Safwat as-Safa. Thus making it explicitly clear that major urban centers like Tabriz
and Maragheh were far from being linguistically Turckizied even in the Ilkhanid era. We
believe this to be the case in Arran during the Ilkhanid era. As per Sherwan, the area was
under the Sherwanshahs and so it was less Turkicized than Arran and Azerbaijan in tha
era.

Another look at the linguistic Turkification of Azerbaijan, Arran
and Sherwan

There have been two theories with regards to the Turkicization of the Eastern Southern
Caucasus (Arran/Sherwan now basically the same as territory of modern republic of
Azerbaijan) and Azerbaijan proper (compromising North Western Iran). One theory

149

states that Turkicization was nearly complete at the end of the Seljuq or Mongol era. By
nearly complete, I would presume it means that it was in an advanced stage. The other
theory mentions that the advance stage occurred during the Safavid era. The Western
sources we found about Seljuq/Mongol era (where supposedly Turkicization was in
advanced stage) are usually one line and are not written by experts in the area (who
would also need to know Persian and Arabic) and of that medieval period.

A third theory which does not concern us (see also the appendix) is in the actual republic
of Azerbaijan were ethno-genesis is a highly political and ideological issue. This theory
dates the Turkicization back to the Khazar era or even claiming the Caucasian Albanians
and Medes had Turkic components. 60+ years of USSR control and subsequent pan-
Turkist nationalist writing had combined history and politics to such a degree that it will
take time for the local historians to sort out the truth. However we have tried to examine
this issue using Western sources.

There seems to be a sort of contradiction or at least lack of clarity from some Western
writers . That is they express uncertainty on when this issue occurred and even the same
authors sometimes seem to make different statements in different publications and
writings.

Unfortunately, as far as we know, there has not been a recent detailed study on the
Turkicization of Azerbaijan, Arran and Sherwan. That is no specialized book (or thesis)
has been written on this area. The only substantial work would be that of Kasravi, but
Kasravi had no access to Safinaye Tabriz, Nozhat al-Majales, the numerous Fahlaviyyats
(Maghrebi, Mama 4 Esmat) and etc. Also he did not have access to many Armenian and
Georgian sources that have to light. He had to work with what he had at that time. His
main concentration was also on Azerbaijan proper and not Arran/Sherwan.

With regards to some (not all) modern Western sources, there has been some weakness
due to lack of detail. Authors have lumped Azerbaijan, Arran and Sherwan together
although Turkicization occurred differently in these areas. For example, in terms of
Sherwan, the area was never directly ruled by a Turkic dynasty until the demise of the
Sherwanshahs during the Safavid era. Authors have not distinguished between nomadic
plains (say the Mughan steppes or steppes in Arran and Azerbaijan) and urban city
centers. It takes many generation to give up the nomadic lifestyle, for semi-nomadic
lifestyle, to rural settlements and finally to urban settlement. Authors have not looked in
detail at the differences of Islamic sects. For example in Western Iran (Azerbaijan)
unlike Khorasan, the population was mainly Sunni Shafi'i where-as the Turks that
entered the region were overwhelmingly Hanafi.

We believe the following scholars are correct based on the primary evidences we have
presented thus far.

According to Xavier Planhol, a well known scholar of historical geography (a branch that
studies both history and geography and their interaction) and specialist on cultural history
of Islam as well nomadicization of Iran, Central Asia and Turkey:

150

"This unique aspect of Azerbaijan, the only area to have been almost entirely
"Turkicized" within Iranian territory, is the result of a complex, progressive cultural and
historical process, in which factors accumulated successively (Siimer; Planhol, 1995, pp.
510 — 12) The process merits deeper analysis of the extent to which it illustrates the
great resilience of the land of Iran. The first phase was the amassing of nomads,
initially at the time of the Turkish invasions, following the route of penetration along the
piedmont south of the Alborz, facing the Byzantine borders, then those of the Greek
empire of Trebizond and Christian Georgia. The Mongol invasion in the 13th century led
to an extensive renewal of tribal stock, and the Turkic groups of the region during this
period had not yet become stable. In the 15th century, the assimilation of the indigenous
Iranian population was far from being completed. The decisive episode, at the beginning
of the 16th century, was the adoption of Shi c ite Islam as the religion of the state by the
Iran of the Safavids, whereas the Ottoman empire remained faithful to Sunnite orthodoxy.
Shi c ite propaganda spread among the nomadic Turkoman tribes of Anatolia, far from
urban centers of orthodoxy. These Shi c ite nomads returned en masse along their
migratory route back to Safavid Iran. This movement was to extend up to southwest
Anatolia, from where the Tekelu, originally from the Lycian peninsula, returned to Iran
with 15,000 camels. These nomads returning from Ottoman territory naturally settled en
masse in regions near the border, and it was from this period that the definitive
"Turkicization" of Azerbaijan dates, along with the establishment of the present-day
Azeri-Persian linguistic border-not far from Qazvin, only some 150 kilometers from
Tehran, (in the 15 st century assimilation was still far from complete, has been the
adoption of a decisive Shiism in the 16 st Century)"
http://www.iranica.eom/newsite/articles/unicode/v 1 3f2/v 1 3f2024i.html

Professor Ehsan Yarshater who has also studed

"The gradual weakening of Adarl began with the penetration of the Persian Azerbaijan by
speakers of Turkish. The first of these entered the region in the time of Mahmud of
Gazna (Ebn al-Atlr [repr.], IX, pp. 383ff.). But it was in the Saljuq period that Turkish
tribes began to migrate to Azerbaijan in considerable numbers and settle there (A.
KasravT, Sahrlaran-e gomnam, Tehran, 1335 S./1956, III, pp. 43ff., And idem, Adarl , pp.
18-25). The Turkic population continued to grow under the Ildegozid atabegs of
Azerbaijan (531-622/1 136-1225), but more particularly under the Mongol il-khans (654-
750/1256-1349), the majority of whose soldiery was of Turkic stock and who made
Azerbaijan their political center. The almost continuous warfare and turbulence which
reigned in Azerbaijan for about 150 years, between the collapse of the Il-khanids and the
rise of the Safavids, attracted yet more Turkic military elements to the area. In this
period, under the Qara Qoyunlu and Aq Qoyunlu Turkmen (780-874/1378-1469 and 874-
908/1469-1502 respectively), Adarl lost ground at a faster pace than before, so that even
the Safavids, originally an Iranian -speaking clan (as evidenced by the quatrains of
Shaikh Safi-al-dln, their eponymous ancestor, and by his biography), became Turkified
and adopted Turkish as their vernacular. Safavid rule (905-1 135/1499-1722), which was
initially based on the support of Turkish tribes and the continued backing and influence

151

of the Qezelbas even after the regime had achieved a broader base, helped further the
spread of Turkish at the detriment of Adari, which receded and ceased to be used, at least
in the major urban centers, and Turkish was gradually recognized as the language of
Azerbaijan. Consequently the term Adari, or more commonly Azeri, came to be applied
by some Turkish authors and, following them, some Western orientalists, to the Turkish
of Azerbaijan (a large migration of Turks in 12 century, then age 13, Adar loses position
in 16 th century during the Safavid)"

http://wwwiranicaxom/newsite/indexisc?Article=http://wwwiranicaxom/newsite/articl
es/v3f3/v3f2a88b.html

According to Fridrik Thordarson:

Iranian influence on Caucasian languages. There is general agreement that Iranian
languages predominated in Azerbaijan from the 1st millennium b.c. until the advent of
the Turks in a.d. the 11th century (see Menges, pp. 41-42; Camb. Hist. Iran IV, pp. 226-
28, and VI, pp. 950-52). The process of Turkicization was essentially complete by the
beginning of the 16th century, and today Iranian languages are spoken in only a few
scattered settlements in the area.
(Fridrick Thordarson, "Caucasus and Iran" in Encyclopedia Iranica)

John Perry:

"We should distinguish two complementary ways in which the advent of the Turks
affected the language map of Iran. First, since the Turkish-speaking rulers of most Iranian
polities from the Ghaznavids and Seljuks onward were already iranized and patronized
Persian literature in their domains, the expansion of Turk-ruled empires served to expand
the territorial domain of written Persian into the conquered areas, notably Anatolia and
Central and South Asia. Secondly, the influx of massive Turkish-speaking populations
(culminating with the rank and file of the Mongol armies) and their settlement in large
areas of Iran (particularly in Azerbaijan and the northwest), progressively turkicized local
speakers of Persian, Kurdish and other Iranian languages. Although it is mainly the
results of this latter process which will be illustrated here, it should be remembered that
these developments were contemporaneous and complementary.

2. General Effects of the Safavid Accession

Both these processes peaked with the accession of the Safavid Shah Esma'il in 1501 CE
He and his successors were Turkish-speakers, probably descended from turkicized
Iranian inhabitants of the northwest marches. While they accepted and promoted written
Persian as the established language of bureaucracy and literature, the fact that they and
their tribal supporters habitually spoke Turkish in court and camp lent this vernacular an
unprecedented prestige. "(John Perry. Iran & the Caucasus, Vol. 5, (2001), pp. 193-200.
THE HISTORICAL ROLE OF TURKISH IN RELATION TO PERSIAN OF IRAN)

152

So it is ironic that the Safavids, themselves of Iranian fatherline but progressively
Turkicized had the decisive role in the Turkcization of Azerbaijan.

Professor Peter Golden states:

"Turkic penetration probably began in the Hunnic era and its aftermath. Steady pressure
from Turkic nomads was typical of the Khazar era, although there are no unambiguous
references to permanent settlements. These most certainly occurred with the arrival of
the Oguz in the 11th century. The Turkicization of much ofAzarbayjan, according to
Soviet scholars, was completed largely during the Ilxanid period if not by late Seljuk
times. Sumer, placing a slightly different emphasis on the data (more correct in my view),
posts three periods which Turkicization took place: Seljuk, Mongol and Post-Mongol
(Qara Qoyunlu, Aq Qoyunlu and Safavid). In the first two, Oguz Turkic tribes advanced
or were driven to the western frontiers (Anatolia) and Northern Azarbaijan (Arran, the
Mugan steppe). In the last period, the Turkic elements in Iran (derived from Oguz, with
lesser admixture ofUygur, Qipchaq, Qaluq and other Turks brought to Iran during the
Chinggisid era, as well as Turkicized Mongols) were joined now by Anatolian Turks
migrating back to Iran . This marked the final stage of Turkicization. Although there is
some evidence for the presence of Qipchaqs among the Turkic tribes coming to this
region, there is little doubt that the critical mass which brought about this linguistic shift
was provided by the same Oguz-Turkmen tribes that had come to Anatolia. The Azeris of
today are an overwhelmingly sedentary, detribalized people. Anthropologically, they are
little distinguished from the Iranian neighbors. "(According to the Soviet school
turkizatsiya Azerbaijan was completed with Ilhanidah until the mid 14 century, the
author takes the point view that it happened later in the Kara-Kuyunlu and Safavid in the
16 st Century) (Peter Golden mentions both theories(An Introduction to the History of the
Turkic Peoples (Peter B. Golden. Otto Harrasowitz, 1992. Pg 386)

We note that Professor Golden states: "The Turkicization of much ofAzarbayjan,
according to Soviet scholars, was completed largely during the Ilxanid period if not by
late Seljuk times. Sumer, placing a slightly different emphasis on the data (more correct
in my view), posts three periods which Turkicization took place " . We have not looked at
his other writings with this regard, however his overview is based on Sumer or USSR
sources, which both seem to be outdated. We have found the viewpoint of Xavier
Planhol, a brilliant scholar of historical-geography and specialist on Muslim culture to be
the most up to date. But even Professor. Planhol provides only a paragraph or two
(which is understandable for an Encyclopedia).

Professor Clifford Edmonds Bos worth, a giant in the field also states:

During this later medieval period, the gradual Turkicization of Azerbaijan was favored by
the Il-khanids' policy of allotting to their leading commanders land grants (eqta s,
soyurgah) (cf. I. P. Petrushevsky, in Camb. Hist. Iran V, pp. 518ff.); by the presence of
the khans themselves and their entourages in these favored regions of upland pasture, and
then of their Turkman epigoni, beginning with the Jalayerids; and finally, by the
incoming of fresh waves of Central Asian nomads accompanying Tlmur on his
campaigns to the west.

153

C.E. Bosworth, "Azerbaijan: History up to 1941", Encyclopedia Iranica.

In a detailed (as possible) examination of the Turkicization of Arran, Sherwan and
Azerbaijan we must look at primary sources as well secondary sources. It appears there
were four stages to this process.

First, the Seljuqs who brought with them influx of Oghuz tribes and settled them in
grazing lands. However, these had little effect on the urban centers. The best proof of
this is the Nozhat al-Majales, Safinayeh Tabrizi and the description provided by
Hamdullah Mutsawafi on major cities such as Goshtasfi province, Tabriz, Abhar,
Maragheh and etc. However the rulers themselves were Persianized and upheld Persian
culture. Also one cannot expect the nomadic Oghuz tribes to settle down overnight in
urban centers after many generations of nomadic lifestyle. Rather the first step from
nomadism to semi-nomadism is to establish villages and then from semi-nomadism to
rural villages takes many other generations and finally from rural villages to urban
centers takes some time itself. Thus in terms of urban centers, as witnessed by Nozhat al-
Majales and Safinaye Tabrizi, we can say these nomads had no effects. However on the
grazing plains, they were assigned some lands. But bulks of these nomadic tribes were
sent off to battle Christians in the Caucasus and Anatolia. Thus Azerbaijan proper was
probably the least affected. Note in this period, we consider not only Seljuqs, but the
whole area of Arran, Sherwan and Azerbaijan up to the Mongol invasion.

Second, the Mongol invasion and subsequent Ilkhanid dynasty brought a large influx of
Turks into Caucasus, Iran and Anatolia. Most of the Mongol army was of Turkic
components. However, as noted, the two major cities of the Ilkhanids that is Tabriz and
Maragheh held their Iranian culture. The Safinaye Tabrizi explicitly states "Zaban-i
Tabrizi" and this Zaban-i Tabrizi is an Iranic dialect as studied by Dr. Ali Ashraf Sadeqi.

A sample poem in which the author of the Safma writes "Zaban Tabrizi"(Language of
Tabriz):

^J^ OJJ JJi J^ UJ J J^ D J^ J^ L$ j*

154

Sadeqi, Ali Ashraf. "Chand She'r beh Zaban-e Karaji, Tabrizi wa Ghayreh"(Some poems
in the language of Karaji and Tabrizi and others), Majalla-ye Zabanshenasi, 9,
1379./2000,pp.l4-17.
http://www.azargoshnasp.net/languages/Azari/zabankarajitabrizi.pdf

We should also mention that an unfortunate error occurred in a recent overview of the
book: A. A. Seyed-Gohrab & S. McGlinn, The Treasury of Tabriz The Great Il-Khanid
Compendium, Iranian Studies Series, Rozenberg Publishers, 2007.
And it is understandable that the authors were not linguists.

Here are the exchanges:

From: Ali Doostzadeh
To: Seyed, Gohrab A.A.
Subject: Correction on your book

Dear. Dr. Ghoraab,

I have the book you edited Safina Tabrizi and also your book on Nizami Ganjavi: Love,
Madness and Mystic longing. Both are excellent books.

I just wanted to make a correction on your article on Safina. Pages 678-679 of the Safina
are not about a Turkish dialect (Tabrizi and Gurji)(page 18 of your book), but they are
both Iranian dialects that predate the Turkification of Tabriz. For more information,
please check these two articles by Dr. Ashraf Saadeghi

http://www.azargoshnasp.net/languages/Azari/zabankarajitabrizi.pdf
http://www.azargoshnasp.net/languages/Azari/AshrafSadeqiasharmahalimaraqi.pdf

There are Karaji and Tabrizi languages. Both are studied in detail by Dr. Sadeghi

Tashakkor,

Ali Doostzadeh, Ph.D.

Here was the response with this regard.

From: "Seyed, Gohrab A.A.
To: Ali Doostzadeh
Dear Dr. Doostzadeh

155

I would like to thank you very much for your kind email and your friendly words about
my books. I deeply appreciate your constructive critical note and will surely correct this
in a second edition of the book.

With kind regards and best wishes,
Asghar Seyed-Ghorab

Dr. A.A. Seyed-Gohrab

Chairman of the Department of Persian Studies

Fellow of the Young Academy of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences

(KNAW)

Leiden University

Faculty of Arts

A sentence in the dialect of Tabriz (the author calls Zaban-i Tabriz (dialect/language of
Tabriz) recorded and also translated by Ibn Bazzaz Ardabili in the Safvat al-Safa (d.
around 1350):

9S kSjJjjJ OUjJ [Jjj\j j^>\s> kLjJS 9 CjlSjS j\jS j± \j Q+juJ j\$ ^LjuUL^ Juol j± $Z> oLuUlJLc»
OjLdO vjLiS jJ CjljuU^ tjJLaS <Jjl j^ .CjljuuI OJuljuJj CjlSUj^ ^Sj ^Bj^Lf ,JJ*UuU ^JVJlSJ ^Ij jJUy>

The sentence "Gu Harif(a/e)r Zhaatah"is mentioned in Tabrizi dialect. Zhaateh ajI j is
etymologically equivalent to modern Kurdish Haateh 4jU which means "come". Thus is
a direct statement about Tabriz not being Turkified yet. Also the quatrains of Shaykh
Safi al-Din in the local Iranic dialect of Tabriz and that of his successors are from this
era.

In terms of Arran and Sherwan, Sherwan was under the Sherwanshahs and the inhabitants
were primarily Tat. However, the plains of Arran had large number of nomadic Turkic
and Kurdish tribes. The major urban centers however based on the Nozhat al-Majales
were Persian/Iranic speaking. In Maragheh, the capital of the Ilkhanids, the language was
Fahlavi as mentioned by Hamdollah Mustafawi. Thus we have direct and primary
references with regards to Maragheh and Tabriz. And the Nozhat al-Majales covers a
portion of the Mongol era.

Third was the Turkmen era (Aq-Qoyunlu and Qara-Qoyunlu) going from 1378-
1501/1502. It seems that Turkic languages progressed during this era. However, we
have examples of Fahlaviyyat from Mama 'Esmat Tabrizi, Pir Zehtab Tabrizi and Abdul
Qadir Maraghi. The most interesting is Abdul Qadir Maraghi who records again in the
dialect of Tabriz:

Two qet'as (poems) quoted by Abd-al-Qader Maraghi in the dialect of Tabriz (d. 838
A.H./1434-35 C.E.; II, p. 142)

156

(Fahlaviyat in Encyclopedia Iranica by Ahmad Taffazoli,

http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v9f2/v9f232.html)

(A. A. Sadeqi, "Ash'ar-e mahalli-e Jame'al-Alhaann,"Majalla-ye zaban-shenasi 9,

137171992, pp. 54-64.

http://www.azargoshnasp.net/languages/Azari/AshrafSadeqiasharmahalimaraqi.pdf)

- s. s.

S- ^ ^ s-

O^jIjS 99I \jjJb

A ghazal and fourteen quatrains under the title of Fahlaviyat by the poet Maghrebi

Tabriz! (d. 809/1406-7)

(Fahlaviyat in Encyclopedia Iranica by Dr. Ahmad Taffazoli,

http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v9f2/v9f232.html)

(M.-A. Adib Tusi "Fahlavyat-e Magrebi Tabrizi/'NDA Tabriz 8, 1335/1956

http://www.azargoshnasp.net/languages/Azari/fahlaviyaatmaghrebitabrizi.pdf)

In this era, the author does not have much information on Arran proper (primary sources).

Vladimir Minorsky writes (V. Minorsky, Studies in Caucasian History, Cambridge
University Press, 1957. pg 34):

"The author of the collection of documents relating to Arran Mas'ud b. Namdar (c. 1 100)
claims Kurdish nationality. The mother of the poet Nizami of Ganja was Kurdish (see
autobiographical digression in the introduction of Layli wa Majnun). In the 16 th century
there was a group of 24 septs of Kurds in Qarabagh, see Sharaf-nama, I, 323. Even now
the Kurds of the USSR are chiefly grouped south of Ganja. Many place-names composed
with Kurd are found on both banks of the Kur"

We should also mention the many Iranic words collects in a medical dictionary by a
person from Shirwan. The book Dastur al-Adwiyah written around 1400 A.D. also lists
some of these native words for plants in Shirwan, Beylakan, Arran: Shang, Babuneh,
Bahmanak, Shirgir, KurKhwarah, Handal, Harzeh, Kabudlah (Beylakani word , standard
Persian: Kabudrang), Moshkzad, Kharime, Bistam, Kalal.
(Sadeqi, Ali Ashraf, "New words from the Old Language of Arran, Shirvan and
Azerbaijan"^ Persian), Iranian Journal of Linguistics, Vol. 17, No 1(33), pp 22-41,
1381/2002)

However we propose our theory. First we need to distinguish urban centers from
nomadic grazing lands. If there were significant cultural activities in the area according
to primary sources in the urban centers, then we need to look at the language of the

157

cultural activities, the culture itself and also notice if there is any trace of

Fahlavviy at/Kurdish or other dialects. The Dastur al-Adwiyah which we mentioned is a

good start with this regard and it is from 1400 A.D.

Our theory is that the urban centers of Arran (those that had survived the Mongol
invasions and were not totally decimated) were like Tabriz. They had Sunni Shafi'i
religion with primary Iranian population but they were ruled by Turkmens. Thus
Turkicization had advanced possibly in these cities. However, it seems from what
Maraghi has called the Tabrizi language and the Dastur al-Adwiyah, and also the
Fahlaviyyat of Mama 'Esmat Tabrizi (a mystic Women who did not have education), the
primary language of Arran which is very close to Tabriz was Iranic. It should be noted
the daughter of Fazlollah Astarabadi who was born and lived in Tabriz has all her work in
Persian as well where-as in Iraq, Nasimi, a Seyyed (descendant of the Prophet
Muhammad) wrote in both Persian and Turkic. Thus our first theory is that just like
Tabriz, major centers in Arran were not Turkified. However, the plains of Arran were
definitely an area of grazing for Iranian (Kurdish) and Turkic nomads. Which group was
more is not certain, but the Sharafnama as alluded to by Minorsky mentions 24 septs of
Kurds in Qarabagh (roughly equivalent to Arran proper) alone. A contradiction to this
theory would be brought if there are primary sources that mention the urban centers and
their language and cultural around the 1400 A.D. period. For now, the author is only
aware of Dastur al-Adwiyah.

As per Sherwan, the area was under the Sherwanshah. Badr Sherwani has poetry in the
Kenar-ab dialect. Also there is a mistake in the Iranica article on Badr Sherwani which
was brought to the attention of Iranica authors by this editor. Unfortunately the
Azerbaijani writer Rahimov has omitted many verses of Badr Sherwani for political
reasons in his edition and he has claimed that Badr's mother tongue was Turkish. In
reality this was not the case as noted in:

Sadeqi, Al Asharf. "The conflict between Persian and Turkish in Arran and Shirvan "(in
Persian), Iranian Journal of Linguistics, Vol 18, No (35). Pages 1-12. ISSN 0259-9082

Badr Sherwani clearly states he is not a Turkomen but he knows some Turkish:

He also has harsh words against the Turkomens as it seems at that time, there was major
battles between the Sherwanshah and the Turkomens:

158

CUd^j j Cjj»1^ ^jj£^)^. Clia^)x^ j aIc j p jli

Unfortunately Rahimov did not publish "._." parts of these verses but from the other
words we can see Badr Sherwani had disdain for the Turkomans.

After contacting the editor of Iranica and sending him the study by Dr. Sadeghi, this is

what Dr. Yarshater stated:

"Very many thanks for your email of November 19 and the attached article by Professor

Sadeghi on the languages of Arran and Shervan. I truly appreciate your drawing my

attention to the inexcusable error in Rahimov' s short entry. Obviously the author was a

Turkish Azarbaijani intent on the glorification of Turkish. We shall remove

the entry from our electronic version and we shall add in the Addenda and Corrigenda of

the Volume XV the fact that the entry in the printed version is erroneous and one needs to

look at the electronic version for the correct entry.

I was wondering that since you have detected the error, whether you could give us the

added assistance of putting together an entry on Badr-e Shirvani, to be published under

your own signature, based on Prof. Sadeghi' s article and other articles that you may have

come across on the poet? He deserves a longer and more substantial entry. I should

greatly appreciate your help."

Dr. Yarshater at first had the impression I was a scholar of Persian poetry since I
introduced him to articles on Badr Sherwani. However as I explained to him, I was not
and he is currently in the process of finding someone suitable to rewrite that entry.

According to Dr. Ali Ashraf Sadeqi: "However it seems in Badr 's time, some Iranian
dialects, other than Persian i.e. Tati, Talesh and Pahlavi, still prevailed in the area"

What is interesting though about Badr Sherwani is that he knew Persian, a Kenar- Ab
Iranic dialect and also Turkic which he had learned. He has less than 100 verses total in
these two and the rest of his work (12500 verses or so) are in Persian. The Kenar- ab
dialect is the rarest dialect among these and it is in our opinion the native dialect of Badr
Sherwani himself. It seems that this period was a period of increasing bi-lingualism but
at the same time, Badr points out "I am not one of those that do not know Turkish" which
means that a large portion of the Muslim population of the area did not yet know Turkish.
Thus when it comes to Sherwan, we can safely assume Iranic dialects were prevalent.

Finally, the Safavid era is a key turning point. The Safavids not only transformed the
religious landscape of Azerbaijan (except some Kurdish areas which kept their ShafiT
faith), but they brought large number of nomads to settle in the Azerbaijan. Majority (if
not all) of the Ghezelbash supporters of the Safavids were from Anatolia and Syria. The
names of these tribes such as Rumlu (from Rum (Anatolia)), Qaramanlu (from Qaraman
in Anatolia), Shamlu (from Syria) and etc. also show this. It should be noted that Tabriz

159

for example was mainly a Sunni Shafi'i city before the Safavids. Today in Azerbaijan
proper (historical Iranian Azerbaijan), the Sunni Tats, Talysh and Kurds all follow the
Shafi'i rite. Turks that entered the area as shall be explained later were mainly followers
of Hanafi rite of Islam. Despite this, even in the Safavid era, the 17 th century Ottoman
traveler 'Awliya Chelebi mentions that most of the Women in Maragheh speak Fahlavi.
On Naxchivan he also mentions Iranian dialects as among the languages spoken
including "Pahlavi, Dari, Farsi and Dehqani". He also mentions the high class in Tabriz
spoke Persian (not just write) which probably means the lower class now started
speaking Turkish. It should be noted that Turkicization of Azerbaijan continued in the
Safavid and Qajar era, and large pockets of Talyshi/Tati dialects were Turkicized. In
terms of Arran and Sherwan, it seems that Talyshi, Tati and Kurdish after the Safavid era
increasingly lost space. Specially after the demise of the Sherwanshah in Sherwan.

But even up to the 20 th century, there were a large number of Iranic speakers Tats

(Persian), Talysh and Kurds in Arran and Shirwan, but the Turkic linguistic elements by

the 20 th were predominant and many of these Iranic elements were assimilated into the

Azeri-Turkic identity, especially during the USSR era. For example on Tats:

"In the nineteenth century the Tats were settled in large homogeneous groups. The

intensive processes of assimilation by the Turkic- speaking Azerbaijanis cut back the

territory and numbers of the Tats. In 1886 they numbered more than 120,000 in

Azerbaijan and 3,600 in Daghestan. According to the census of 1926 the number of Tats

in Azerbaijan (despite the effect of natural increase) had dropped to 28,500, although

there were also 38,300 "Azerbaijanis"with Tat as their native language."

(World Culture Encyclopedia: "Tats",

http://www.everyculture.com/Russia-Eurasia-China/Tats-Orientation.html accessed Dec,

2007)

(Natalia G. Volkova "Tats"in Encyclopedia of World Culture, Editor: David Publisher,

New York: G.K. Hall, Prentice Hall International, 1991-1996).

Abbas Qoli Agha Bakikhanov, a 19 th century literary figure from the Caucasia mentions
in his Golestan Iram large number of Tats in the area around Baku:

There are eight villages in Tabarsaran which are: Jalqan, Rukan, Maqatir, Kamakh,
Ridiyan, Homeydi, Mata'i, and Bilhadi. They are in the environs of a city that
Anushiravan built near the wall of Darband. Its remains are still there. They speak the Tat
language, which is one of the languages of Old Persia. It is clear that they are from the
people of Fars and after its destruction they settled in those villages. ..The districts
situated between the two cities of Shamakhi and Qodyal, which is now the city of
Qobbeh, include Howz, Lahej, and Qoshunlu in Shirvan and Barmak, Sheshpareh and the
lower part of Boduq in Qobbeh, and all the country of Baku, except six villages of
Turkmen, speak Tat. it becomes apparent from this that they originate from Fars.
(Floor, Willem. and Javadi, Hasan. i(2009), "The Heavenly Rose-Garden: A History of Shirvan &
Daghestan by Abbas Qoli Aqa Bakikhanov, Mage Publishers, 2009)

Despite these, we believe that one can decisively state that Turkish became the main
language of urban areas in Arran, Sherwan and Azerbaijan after the Safavid era and not
before that era. When exactly this occurred in the Safavid era, it is unknown to us.

160

However taking Tabriz an example, the period of constant Ottoman and Safavid warfare
which brought major decline to the fortunate of the city is a possibility. A period of
bilingualism is possible in the Turkmen Aq-Qoyunlu and Qara-Qoyunlu era for some
urban centers (outside of Sherwan but in Azerbaijan and Arran). However when it comes
to the Seljuqs, Atabeks, Khwarizmshahids and Ilkhanids, the major urban centers were
predominanetly Iranic as mentioned and the Turkish nomads at that time hand not settled
down in the major urban centers in noticeable numbers.

A complete book or a Ph.D. dissertation can be written on this subject because there are
many primary materials. This article has probably provided one of the more details look
at this process (Turkicization) in Azerbaijan, Sherwan and Arran. However, some
authors who are not specialist in the area or authors with nationalistic concerns or authors
who do not possess the necessary languages (Persian and Arabic, and also Armenian and
Georgian can be helpful), have came up with variety of conclusions. Sometimes even
notable scholars have contradicted themselves. And even more, sometimes even myths
(see the appendix) have been used to comeup with a totally unrealistic scenario.
However, without important sources such as Safinayeh Tabriz, Nozhat al-Majales,
Hamdullah Mustawafi, ' Awliya Chelebi, Badr Sherwani, Rodhat al-Janan, the
Fahlaviyyat of Mama 'Esmat, Maghrebi Tabrizi, Armenian and Georgian sources and
etc., a complete study cannot be claimed. Virtually none of the authors we mentioned
had available to them the rare manuscripts of Safinayeh Tabriz and Nozhat al-Majales.

Qatran Tabrizi, rise of Persian-Dari
poetry and what a few modern scholars
have called "Azerbaijani schooP'of
Persian poetry

Qatran Tabrizi is generally regarded as one of the earliest Persian poets of Azerbaijan
who composed in Khorasani Persian (Dari-Persian). Although earlier examples of Persian
poetry (whether Fahlaviyat (vernacular Iranic dialects) or perhaps Khorasani-Persian) is
attested by the historian Tabari. Tabari mentions a governor of Maragheh by the name of
Muhammad ibn al-Ba'ith who composed poetry around 829 A.D in Persian.

U <& ^jj^s^o />\j*CjusliJ\ <jj juoj^jo" />\j <\j v _s\j^>->->.u jl <£ 228 / Jj 235 cujuj gjl9s Jji> i^^> (Hjjb J^ S^^^b

LgJ>Ljuj| ,JJO CLclo^ CJxI^jjoJU v_SVJ_LjuUuI COl v_SVjU JlT> IJljuUU^Jv.SVJO 9I '^jljujI CU^L^jJ V.5uO CO v_SOujLtC JjuJ^juO

co ^Sjj^> t*3$S ^-oU^ j* .«Cju^L>I 9 TjLc^l cU 9 cixb*_AJj 9 cu^l 09^^ 9 <*+juJjI&}\j CjuSlJ\ ,jj\I TjLiaJjI
.^jLcxj 1 Jj v _svjo v.soujjls (lS^jJ*^ >°9_juj Oj9 Jj^I j±) \j 0\s*j\jji\ p±y> ubj <^z>\j^>

161

(See: Ahmad Kasravi, Azari ya Zaban Bastan Azerbaijan).

But the earliest extant example of Persian poetry from the area is that of Qatran Tabrizi.
It is worth looking into the biography of Qatran Tabrizi, since he is what some authors
have mentioned as the initiator of the "Azerbaijani" or "Trans-Caucasian" style of
Persian poetry. Also recently, a statement from the Safarnama of Naser Khusraw has
been misinterpreted and some sources have claimed that Qatran also wrote in Azeri
Turkish. (See for example here:

http://literature.aznet.org/literature/qtabrizi/qtabrizi en.htau accessed in Dec, 2007.)
While the language native to Tabriz, as shown above and clearly stated in the Safinaye
Tabrizi, was a peculiar Iranian dialect that was not exactly the Khorasani Persian dialect
of Naser Khusraw.

Qatran Tabrizi, who lived at the courts of the Shaddadid and Rawwadid dynasties, was
according to Jan Rypka: "The most famous panegyric poet of his time from Azerbayjan. "
Qatran was born in Shadiabad (Persian Shaadi+Abaad for Happy Dwelling/Prosperous
place) and lived between 1009/1014 to 1072 and died in Ganja. His full name according
to an old manuscript attributed to the famous poet Anvari Abivardi (529 Hijra about 60
years after the passing away of Qatran) is Abu Mansur Qatran al-Jili al- Azerbaijani.

The Al-Jili would identify his ancestry from Gilan while he himself was born in
Shadiabad. The Dehqan class was the same class of Iranians that Ferdowsi was from and
possibly even Nizami Ganjavi (we shall mention this later). Note the verse of
Shahnameh:

ubjb J9 ySy 9 u\jj\ j\

uLo jJul Jul JuJu. lS^Ijj

±$j lSjU qj 9 kSjj <3J uUi)^ qj

Here Dehqan is used for Iranian and at that time, the word Dehqan actually denoted an
important class of Iranians.

According to the Encyclopedia Iranica:

The term dehqan was used in the late Sasanian period to designate a class of landed
magnates (Mojmal, ed. Bahar, p. 420) considered inferior in rank to Azadan, Bozorgan
(qq.v.; Zand i Wahman Yasn 4.7, 4.54), and kadag-xwadayan "householder s"(Arda
Wiraz-namag 15.10, where dahigan should be read for dadagan). According to some
early Islamic sources, the rank of the dehqan in the Sasanian period was also inferior to

162

that of the sahrigan "chief of the small cantons"(Yaqubi, Tarikh I, p. 203; Masudi, ed.
Pellat, I, sec. 662; Christensen, Iran Sass., p. 140).

The Arab conquest (q.v.) of the Sasanian Empire began with sporadic attacks on the lands
of the dehqans of the Saw ad, the cultivated areas of southern Iraq. After the defeat of the
Persian army and the gradual disappearance of the nobles who administered the country,
the local gentry, that is, the dehqans, assumed a more important political and social role
in their districts, towns, and villages. Some were able to protect their settlements from the
conquering armies by surrendering and agreeing to pay the poll tax (jezya).

The majority of dehqans favored Persian culture, however, and some were patrons of
renowned Persian poets. Rudaki (p. 458) related that the dehqans gave him money and
riding animals. Farrokhi in his youth served a dehqan in Sistan and received an annual
pension from him. According to one tradition, Ferdowsi himself was a dehqan (Cahar
Maqala, ed. Qazvini, text, pp. 58, 75).

Most of the credit for preservation of the stories in the national epic, the Sah-nama\ pre-
Islamic historical traditions; and the romances of ancient Iran belongs to the dehqans.

(Tafazzoli, Ahmad. "Dehqan"in Encyclopedia Iranica)

Qatran as Zabih Allah Safa in his famous Tarikh-e-Adabiyaat Iran has mention was also
from the Dehqan class (as Qatran himself has mentioned):

^jobb j >cLJu p±ujj V&Ljj />_>u uLft-o)^ ^j£j

Translation:

/ was a Dehgan(Noble Iranian class) myself, O King, and became a poet from ignorance

From being a poet, you turned me back to be a Dehgan again

According to Jan Rypka:

"He sings the praise of some thirty patrons. His work has aroused the interest of
historians, for in many cases Qatran has perpetuated the names of members of regional
dynasties in Azerbayjan and the Caucasia region that would have otherwise fallen in
oblivion. His best qasidas were written in his last period, where he expressed gratitude to
the prince of Ganja, the Shaddadid Fadlun, for the numerous gifts that were still
recollected by the famous Jami (d. 1492). Qatran' s poetry follows in the wake of the
poets of Khurasan and makes an unforced use of the rhetorical embellishment. He is even
one of the first after Farrukhi to try his hand at the Qasida-I Masnu'i, 'particular artificial
qasida'. When Nasir Khusraw visited Azarbayjan in 1046, Qatran requested to him to
explain some of the most difficult passages in the divan of Munjik and Daqiqi that were
written in "farsi", i.e. according Chr. Shaffer, in the Persian of Khurasan, a language that
he, as a Western Persian, might not be expected to understand, in contrast to the guest
from Khurasan. Kasravi is the opinion that the text of the Safar-nama has here been

163

corrupted because Qatran, though he spoke Iranian Adhari (the old Iranic language of

Azerbaijan before the advent of Oghuz Turkish) was fully acquainted with Parsi, as his

Divan shows. Qatran' s qasida on the earthquake of Tabriz is regarded as a true

masterpiece"

(Jan Rypka, "History of Iranian Literature" . Reidel Publishing Company. 1968).

An important epoch of the history of Iran and Azerbaijan is the Oghuz attack on Western
Iran, specially the areas of Kurdistan and Azerbaijan and Caucasia. The terrifying
massacres committed by these bands of Oghuz Turks against native Iranians have been
documented by different historians.

Bosworth gives an overview of the description of the Kurdish Rawwadid dynasty and the
Oguz attack during their reign:

The Rawwadids (latterly the form "Rawad"is commoner in the sources) were another
product of the upsurge of the mountain peoples of northern Iran; their domain was
Azarbaijan, and particularly Tabriz. Strictly speaking, the Rawwadid family was of Azdi
Arab origin, but by the 4th/ 10th century they were accounted Kurdish. At the opening of
the 'Abbasid period Rawwad b. Muthanna had held a fief which included Tabriz. Over
the course of the next two centuries his descendants became thoroughly Kurdicized, and
the "Rawwadi Kurds"emerged with Iranian names, although the local poet Qatran (d. c.
465/1072) still praised them for their Arab ancestry. Early in the 4th/10th century the
Sajid line of Arab governors in Azarbaijan collapsed, and the region became politically
and socially disturbed. A branch of the Musafirids of Tarum first emerged there, but
despite Buyid help the Musafirid Ibrahim b. Marzban was deposed in c. 370/ 980-1,
probably by the Rawwadid Abul-Haija Husain b, Muhammad (344-78/955-88); certainly
it was the Rawwadids who succeeded to all of the Musafirid heritage in Azarbaijan.

The most prominent member of the dynasty in the 5th/nth century was Vahsudan b.
Mamlan b. Abol-Haija (1019-54). It was in his reign that the Oghuz invaded Azarbaijan.
These were some of the first Turkmen to come westwards, being the so-called 'Iraqis', or
followers of Arslan Israeli, expelled from Khurasan by Mahmud of Ghazna (see pp. 58
and 40-1). Vahsudan received them favourably in 419/1028, hoping to use them as
auxiliaries against his many enemies, such as the Christian Armenians and Georgians and
the rival Muslim dynasty of Shaddadids. He even married the daughter of an Oghuz
chief, but it still proved impossible to use the anarchic nomads as a reliable military
force. In 429/1037 they plundered Maragheh and massacred large numbers of
Hadhbani Kurds. Vahsudan allied with his nephew, the chief of the Hadhbanis, Abul-
Haija'b. Rahib al-Daula, against the Turkmen; many of them now migrated southwards
towards Iraq, and in 432/1040-1. Vahsudan devised a stratagem by which several of the
remaining leaders were killed. The rest of the Oghuz in Azarbaijan then fled to the
territory of the Hakkari Kurds south-west of Lake Van. Vahsudan' s capital, Tabriz, was
destroyed by an earthquake in 434/1042, and fearing that the Saljuqs would take
advantage of his resulting weakness, he moved to one of his fortresses; but the city was
soon rebuilt, and Nasir-i Khusrau found it populous and flourishing.

(C.E. Bosworth, The Political and Dynastic History of the Iranian World (A.D. 1000-
1200) in Camb. Hist. Iran V)

164

The Persian poet Qatran Tabrizi was alive at that time and has described the unruliness
and savageness of the invading Oghuz nomads and the massacres committed by them in
Azerbaijan. At the time of Qatran Tabrizi, the inhabitants spoke Persian/Iranian dialects
slightly distinct from the Dari Persian dialect of Khorasan. Naser Khosrow, himself from
Khorasan mentions the slight dialect differences between the two places. This difference
is partially also examined in this article:

.(418-405 qj>-6.^> <2 g * 1371) jLJosI :>£joc*jo ^jSs oI^s^jo :>Lju .oI^j

Matini, Jalal. "Daqiqi, Zaban-i Dari o Lahjeyeh Azari" in Zaban-i Farsi dar Azerbaijan,
Gerdavari: Iraj Afshar, Tehran, Bonyaad Moqoofaat Dr. Mahmud Afshar, (1371, volume
2, pg 405-418.

Available here:

http://www.azargoshnasp.net/languages/Azari/daghighizabandariazari.pdf , accessed Dec,
2007.)

The Iranian dialect difference is mentioned by the following verse of Qatran where he
contrasts Parsi (Persian) (meaning his own dialect) with Dari-Persian (Persian of
Khorasan which through time became the main medium of communication after Islam):

JS j\jS J-Juj y^-b.0 uLuj <\j JjJj

Translation:

The nightingale is on top of the flower like a minstrel who has lost her heart

It bemoans sometimes in Parsi (Persian) and sometimes in Dari (Khurasani Persian)

Qatran had a very unfavorable view of the Oghuz attack during the Ghaznavid era and
has harshly criticized Turks and shows that Turks at the time were foreign in Azerbaijan.

ijjUL&^Su I^C*-ajJ \j Uul 9 CJjljuUuL iJjJUjj-juJ CU-juUuLuJ \j ulS jJ ,jjUuI& Qjo\£s> j\ <3jLjuUU J^JJJ ^SjJjjJ v\j]o9

!Jul ^jvjo JjS j± oLjI ul jl ^5vjL^ cU^joJ . CjljujI 0^S

*s±$j o$jjj\ o\^jujj <\j oLjuul jji»jb ^joljoj

jJ^jl ul Subpl 3 i uLJuuI 3 Loj> ^ iloj

<jjojI ^cp* jjpr. jj ^^ouuo uLuuul [JjJjv jl ^>^J
( \? ♦ \jO 1 1377 t/>\jj&S 0\j\jj^jjJ kS$j-ujS Juoj>I) j9>juJ ^^> JLo jj ^jouoS uLjijul cdLoj> jl ±$jJ

0\SjJ jl pS. \j j$jjJj <^\s> V$Z> OJljJj

165

JuJu _p «^OL^ cu ulSjJ Cjl9I <~S^9-u £
(^HV^^j <ulcx£>) uLljujIj 0\$j-uJJ> 0$z* Qjxtb ^JvuS lSJuljuUU

Jul ^S^J-I C ^Y 1 jjUuI - >-ajJ ubfcJUj.il uIjjjoI j\ iSjjJZl <jjUUU_jul> j^ CO jJj V— a-U j| l ^jljuJ9j CU />9_£_QjO ^jjl 9

^1^9 vijj \S\lu \j u\jj\ :>b c^> j%\

(^HV^^ <uIoj3>) lSjIj _uS ijjuubjj U9^> ubU <jjuJjlc jl ^9_*jj

->Lp!' 9 jl^J^ lj Ol^jj CjljujI O^^jjj OJlu^j) t^jjljj j± <& <jiuul& cLobj> jl >5u^ ^^Ou j^ ^jvjbijljjiil ^cLju ,jjI

:cjljujI ojjI^ jlSuo 9 jIjlc 9

^Sjliu OlSjJ C^Jj Cf—S j gj JJuLjuUU j oS

^Sjl^pr cu J_xSu cLcx^ lSjI^^J^ cu 9>-Su Q, oJb

ub^sijuuuo Jjj> -V.^a.9 qj <3^9S1juuuo uL^jJ ^^Ou
kSj\^u^> cb O^b ub 9 lSjIS o^ ^J CH o^lfj

,jiuub U >-SuO ^jj cjj> t cJ9^ U j-LX ^jj

(WT^/) iUlod^LSjLio 9 iSjI-U-C CjljuUL& UlSjJ j\ <> <^-^jS\

pj\$ <jjO JJjL^juUU oLuJ LSlv.sv-dij 9 v_sJLj> \jJ
0\5jJ jl jjjzS v-sJL*^" 9 u^^9 jl /xS ^sS \j v_S^j

<jJLjuUO jJ ^IjU jJ O^^J GLuUuI >OjX CLajUUOJ^

uLuuuul uLjijJb* JljJjU CU9SJI uLjuuoj^: JljJjL 9^>

As can be seen by the above verses, the poet Qatran complains intensely about the
plundering and destruction brought by the first wave of the nomadic Oghuz Turks who
ravaged and plundered Azerbaijan. He calls these nomads Khoonkhaar (blood suckers),
bringers of Viran (ruin) to Iran, kin-kaar (workers of hatred), covenant breakers (Ghadar),
Makar (Charlatan and deceiver). These Oghuz tribes were too unruly for the Ghaznavids
and they were not manageable by the Kurdish rulers of Azerbaijan who initially wanted
to use them against their neighboring and rival Christian kingdoms.

At the same time following Khorasani poets, the Turks (Of course the Kazakh/Kyrghyz
types of today which were the original Turks) were also seen as the ideal type of beauty
by Qatran as in other Persian poets:

lA , 9j9- > ^y "^l 9 S^H ^>* j9- > ^

y^Z> j$JJ pJb 9 ^^OLjJuLpJ CjuUJ /x^

l

166

(Qatran Tabrizi, "Divan Hakim Qatran Tabrizi", corrected and edited by Mohammad
Nakhjavani with articles from Badi ol Zaman Foruzanfar, Zabillah Safa, and Hasan
Taqizadeh, Qoqnus Publishers, 1983)

Qatran Tabrizi also praises the Sassanids in many of his poems, and uses Persian
mythology and symbolism throughout his work. Qatran is an example of the Iranian
culture of the region and in praising the Amir Lashkari, we can observe this:

uLjLujLuJ CaSlJjO /XjL CjljuJ^J ulgj> ,Jjl

JuS OLujLuJ CjlSlJjO j± \jJ> <j1t)\ILjJ CjljujI^

kSjS-iuJJ 0$J> OLjLjujLjuJ >£>9-> j^> [jJjS CjljuUUJ

ajS o\jj\ ^^v-^Ljj oISLj o$z* ol jjjuu b

^juj <\j juuj /JLc dULo Sjj&j u$JjjS\ $szx>Jb

JjS uljJj^ JjJ> dJULo jjjXj v_sv^ul 9

^-)9' -J-P-^9^ ulo^S cu uLljuui^p 9 />$j

JuS u\^jujJ^j pSs> jjj cu u\jljujSjj 9 JJJb

^ptb-Ajj j± JJuLjjJJjj u\jj\ <Slo Cju^j cu 9I

_uS u\j\ jlyjo \j ±p> AJjjB OJ.jiqS

jjS obp \j ^^> objj ^±su ^jvxjjfc b

ajS objj ^jvxx^ ch ^' ^ j' U 9' ^^

_uS uLo^ cu-jujIJ J^j.S^ ^Sj £.Sj9 J9

Qatran was steeped in his ancient Iranian culture and his use of Shahnameh symbolism is

significant and ranks him with Nizami. Dr. Sajad Ayadlu has done a comprehensive

study with this regard:

(Ayadlu, Sajad. "Nokhostin Sanad Adabi Ertebaat-i Azerbaijan o Shahnameh,

Iranshenasi Magazine, al Year 17, also available here:

http://www.azargoshnasp.net/languages/Persian/shahnamehqatran.pdf ,

accessed Dec, 2007.)

And Qatran being himself of the Dehqan class was well of the Iranian folklore, much like
his compatriot Ferdowsi who was of the same class.

The importance of Qatran in terms Persian-Dari poetry is the fact that the oldest extant
verses of Persian-Dari from the region are from him. Some have also gone further and
have said that Qatran started the Persian-Dari poetry in Azerbaijan (at the court of the
Rawwadids) and Caucasia (at the court of the Shaddadids). Some scholars have used the
term "Azerbaijani school of poetry" or "Azerbaijani style of poetry" or "Trans-Cacausian
style of Poetry" or "Arrani style of poetry" to describe the poetry of the region of
Azerbaijan and Arran. This term in reality was created by USSR scholars and may
possibly even be politically motivated inorder to support local nationalism and nation
building. Some scholars have pointed to the great Christian symbols in the poetry of the
region, but from this author's own analysis, the stories and flows of Nizami Ganjavi has a
great resemblance with that of Vis o Ramin. Professor. Dick Davis also mentions this
point:

167

The poem (Vis o Ramin) had an immense influence on Nezami, who takes the bases for
most of his plots from Ferdowsi but the basis for his rhetoric from Gorgani. This is
especially noticeable in his Khusraw o Shirin, which imitates a major scene (that of the
lovers arguing in the snow) from Vis o Ramin, as well as being in the same meter (hazaj)
as Gorgani's poem. Nezami's concern with astrology also has a precedent in an elaborate
astrological description of the night sky in Vis o Ramin. Given Nezami's own paramount
influence on the romance tradition, Gorgani can be said to have initiated much of the
distinctive rhetoric and poetic atmosphere of this tradition, with the exception of its Sufi
preoccupations, which are quite absent from his poem.
(Encyclopedia Iranica, "Vis o Ramin")

It should be noted that unlike the other styles of Persian poetry: Sabk-e- Araqi (this is the
Persian central area or Araq-i Ajam), Sabk-i Esfahani or Hindi (Indian style) and Sabk-i-
Khurasani (Khurasanian school) which are historical names used by Persian poets, this is
a modern nomenclature. Dr. Mohammad Amin Riyahi uses the term Sabk-e- Arrani
(Arranian style) since the two greatest poets (Nizami and Khaqani) from the Caucasia
were actually from historical Arran (which at times included Sherwan).

We note the term the term "Azerbaijan"is actually an Iranian term, and the ethnic term
"Azerbaijani"used for Turkic speakers goes back to the 19 th /20th century. So when these
scholars speak about a style, they do not have any ethnic designation in mind. This notion
has been misinterpreted by some people in order to assign a Turkic nationality to the
Persian literature of the region. The best proof of this misinterpretation is the fact that
Qatran Tabrizi was not of Turkic background and the Oghuz nomads who attacked
Azerbaijan were foreigners to him. He had a completely Iranian culture and heritage and
alludes to himself as part of the Dehqan (which is a class of Iranians at the time).
And Jan Rypka notes about the "Azerbaijan school of Persian poetry":
The school, which begins with Qatran (d. 1072), formed a well defined group of teachers
and pupils of whom two, Khaqani and Nizami, were to exert a lasting development of
their respective genre: Khaqani being the greatest exponent of the qasida and Nizami the
most brilliant writer of romantic epics".

The importance of Qatran Tabrizi is also illustrated in the manuscript of Safinayeh
Tabrizi where he takes a predominant place among the poets of the region.

What did Nezami call his own style?

There is no doubt that Nezami like Sa'adi, Ferdowsi, Hafez, Naser Khusraw and other
great Persian poets had his own lively style. But in general, Persian poetry has been
subcategorized by various forms. One of these forms is the Araqi(Iraqi) form where
Araq/Iraq/Arak here denotes the Arak-e-Ajam or Persian Iraq consisting of areas of
Shiraz, Hamadan, Esfahan. Nezami states:

As Hafez states:

168

Thus both Nezami and Hafez considered themselves as part of the Iraqi school rather than
the Khorasani school. Indeed, the Saqi Nameh of Hafez has been greatly influenced by
that of Nezami in his Eskandarnama. So the "Arranian", "Azerbaijani", "Trans-
Cacausian" style of Nezami is a subset of the same Iraqi style, although these terms were
invented in the 20 th century and were not used prior to that. As mentioned, one of the
first people to use "Azerbaijani school of poetry" was the policitized author Bertels (see
the articles about him in this article) who before 1935 was clear that Nezami was a
Persian poet. So it is very possible that name "Azerbaijani school of poetry" is politically
motivated although Khaqani, Qatran and Nezami like most poets of the world, were from
a particular area and had local influences. So it could just be an unintentional term to
denote regional style. Still, we believe "Arranian" or "Khaqani style" is a better term for
poets such as Nezami and Khaqani due to the fact that Nezami lived in Arran. We state
"Khaqani" style because he was the first to use such symbolic and metaphorical language
and had a tremendous effect on Nezami. The high usage of metaphors and symbols is
what distinguishes Khaqani/Nezami and thus a "Khaqani" style is also appropriate. But
from what Nezami himself states, his style is simply the Iraqi style and the Iraqi style is a
historical term used in Persian poetry unlike "Arranian", "Azerbaijani school of poetry",
"Trans-caucasian school of poetry" and etc. So "Arranian" or "Khaqani style" would
indeed be a regional variation of Sabk-e-Iraqi.

Persian poetry images and symbols: Turk,
Hindu, Rum, Zang/Habash

The words "Turks"(Turks), "Hindus"(Hindus),"Rums"(Greeks, Romans),
"Zang/Habash" (Blacks, Ethiopians) are favorite symbols of the earliest Persian poets in
forming poetic images. As we shall show, in the context of compare and contrast, as well
as in other contexts, these words did not have an ethnic meaning but rather were used to
contrast various moods, colors and feelings. It is very important to cross-reference the
verses of various poets using such symbolic imagery for a better understanding of their
usage in Persian poetry. In other words, just like one cannot study Nizami in depth
without studying Sanai, Gorgani, Nozhat al-Majales, Asadi Tusi and of course Ferdowsi,
one cannot understand Persian poetry without proper understanding of its symbols and
imagery.

169

It is this imagery, metaphors and symbolic devices of poetry that were misinterpreted by
the political atmosphere of the USSR in order to claim that Nizami Ganjavi had nothing
to do with his Iranian/Persian heritage and was actually a Turk who was forced to write
Persian. Before we study the misinterpretation of Persian poetry in the next chapter by
such publications as Varliq and other ethnic-minded scholars, we briefly touch upon this
subject. We also study its usage in Persian literature among Attar, Hafez, Khaqani,
Nizami, Rumi, Amir Khusraw and Sanai. Poetic symbols in Persian poetry have been
studied by various scholars who had a deep understanding of the Persian language and
were free in the West to pursue their academic interest. One of these scholars is the later
Professor Annemarie Schimmel. We will quote two of her articles here before giving
more examples from Persian poetry as well as various Persian poets.

We quote her paper here:

Schimmel, Annemarie. "A Two-Colored Brocade: The Imagery of Persian Poetry", the
imagery of Persian poetry. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, (pg 137-144).

Turk and Hindu

u O Venus, from your Hindu-eyes notch the arrow on the bow like a Turk!"

Over the preceding chapters we have observed that Persian poetry is imbued to a certain
extent with images that evoke the external interplay of Beauty and Love, or the tension
between legalism and love, between intellect and inspired madness. As with Mahmud and
Ayaz, we may also discern this tendency in another favorite combination that arose in
historical and social reality but served mostly as a poetical image whose original context
was soon forgotten: the contrast between Turk and Hindu. 'Turks enjoyed an important
role as soldiers in the Abbasid Empire beginning in the mid-ninth century, and former
military slaves soon rose to become rulers (sultans) in their own right, especially on the
eastern fringes of Iran and in their homeland, Transoxania.

Indeed the idea of the Turk as the beloved first emerged, it seems, in the days of Mahmud
of Ghazna, whose love for Ayaz of the Oymaq tribe was a model for the delight one
could take in one's love for a Turk. The Turk was considered as beautiful as the
moon, even though he might be cruel. Soon the Turkish type of beauty became
prominent both in pictures and in poetical descriptions: a round face with narrow
eyes and a minute mouth. The most famous expression of an Indo-Persian writer's
infatuation with a "Turk"is Amir Khusrau's verse:

His tongue is Turkish, and I don 't know Turkish — how nice it would be if his tongue were
in my mouth!

Turkish cities in Central Asia, such as Chigil and Taraz, became ciphers for the dwelling
place of the beloved, where the lover directs his thoughts. Thus Hafiz asks, using a fitting
tajnis:

That Turk with a fairy 's countenance went away from me yesterday — what mistake
(khata) did he see, that he took the road to Khata [Cathay] ?

As for the Hindu, he is the perfect contrast to the Turk. Like the Greeks, the peoples of
Western and Central Asia regarded the Indians as black, and the Arabs were in contact

170

with the dark-skinned inhabitants of southern India well before the advent of Islam. Thus
the black Hindus came to be compared to devils, both in travelogues and in mystical
visions — where the angles of course resembled Turks. Moreover, India was for the
Muslims a country benighted in blackest heathendom:

Light up the candle of monotheism,

Set forth into infidel Hindustan:

says Sana'i. The term Hindu, then, meant in the first place "black,"but also "lowly
slave"-- a slave who had to serve and obey the ruling Turkish princes, as the first Muslim
dynasties in northern India were indeed Turks.

The beloved's beauty mark, the black mole, the tresses, the eyes, could all be called
"Hindu"because of their blackness, but the term also implied treacherous and faithless
behavior. The "infidel tresses of Hindu origin"lurk like highway robbers, or else they
stretch across the pale ear like a naked Hindu on a white bed. The Hindu tresses may
even open a shop: "Give a life for every hair! "And the small mole may be a Hindu child
that plucks roses from the cheek.

Images of this kind show that the apparently negative connotation of the "black"Hindu
could be transformed into something quite lovable, and in somewhat later times Katibi
Isfahani would give a delightful description of the beloved's face, ridiculing the narrow-
minded theologian who would rather not admit that a Hindu infidel can reach Paradise:

ascetic, if you deny that a Hindu finds the way toward Kauthar

And an infidel comes to the eternal garden,

Then look how those tresses and the mole came on his face and his

Ruby mouth: an infidel in the garden of Paradise, a Hindu at the well of

Kauthar!

Hindustan is, then, logically, the country of blackness (and for some poets it was even the
veritable Hell, as Khushhal Khan, the Pathan warrior, states).

A late poet, longing for his home in Iran, sighed during his stay in India:

Like a black hair that finally turns white

Draw myself from India to Iran.

And Hazin, in a comparable situation, saw his stay in Hindustan as proof of sad fact that
the day of his life had ended in black night.

More famous, however, is Talib-i Amuli's remark, on his emigration from Iran to India,
that now perhaps his bad luck (called in both Persian and Turkish "black fortune") would
finally leave him alone:

Nobody has ever brought a Hindu as gift to Hindustan — therefore leave your "black
fortune "in Iran!

The darkness could, however, also gain a positive meaning — was not the Water of Life
hidden in darkness? Therefore Molla Shakibi praised the Mughal Khankhanan ' Abdur
Rahim, the greatest benefactor of poets around 1600, with the verse:

171

Come, cupbearer, give the Water of Life!

Draw it from the Khankhanan 's fountain!

Alexander sought it but found it not,

For it was in India and he hastened into the darkness.

In astrology, Saturn, connected with black, is called "the Hindu of the sky"or else the
Hindu doorkeeper, as it was the last planet known to medieval observers. Hence the
chapter in Nizami's Haft Paykar about Saturday, which is ruled, as its name says, by
Saturn, takes its comparisons, images, and stories entirely from this sphere of blackness.
The Indian princess whom Bahram Gor visits is a gazelle with Turkish — that is,
dangerous — eyes, eyes of the kind that are often called "drunken Turks,"and the black
tresses on her rosy cheeks resemble fire-worshiping Hindus.

The Muslims had a certain knowledge of the rites of cremation as practiced by the
Hindus, and Amir Khusrau in particular, who lived in India, sometimes alludes to the
custom of satti, the burning of widows.

Learn from the Hindu how to die of love —

It is not easy to enter the fire while alive.

He also describes sunrise with a related image:

The Hindu Night has died, and the sun

Has kindled the fire to burn that Hindu.

The custom of satti formed on one occasion the topic of a Persian epic, Nau'i's Suz u
gudaz (Burning and Melting), which was composed for Akbar's son Daniyal and was
several times illustrated.

Cross-relations with the fire worship of the Zoroastrians occur now and then (see also
chapter 6 above). A typical example, from the late sixteenth century, is by Yolquli Anisi,
who tells his beloved:

My heart is a fire temple when I think of you,

And on it is your brand, like a black Hindu who tends the fire.

Such mixture of images is found as early as Nizami's Haft Paykar.

The Hindu was the slave of the Turkish rulers, and for this reason poets liked the idea that
they would lovingly become Hindu slaves if only their Turkish beloved would be kind to
them — an idea paradoxically elaborated in Hafiz's often-quoted Ghazal about the "Turk
of Shiraz"(see below).

The word Turk came to designate, in India as in parts of Europe, the Muslim in general,
and the positive picture of the moonlike Turkish beloved often also has a tinge of cruelty
to it. Poets developed a large stock of metaphors about the pillaging, drunken "Turk"who
gallops through the countryside, shooting arrows with his eyelashes to wound his
admirers: perhaps he plays polo with the severed head of a victim who enjoys being
treated like that, and he plunders (yaghma) every place. Such negative images — without
the positive aspect — can be found, for instance, in satires by 4 Ubayd-i Zakani. But when

172

reading these descriptions one must always keep in mind that the beloved in traditional
Persian poetry is indeed cruel and does not care for his lover, and that the lover, in turn,
seems to relish all the wounds inflicted on him — for the beloved's cruelty is better than
outright indifference.

The mystics too made use of the Turk-Hindu contrast. Rumi saw the whole world as a
dark Hindustan that must be destroyed "in Turkish style"so that the soul may finally be
freed from material fetters. And Turk and Hindu appear in "the Hindustan of clay and
water and the Turkestan that is the spiritual world".

As Saturn is the "Hindu of the sky,"Mars, the martial planet, is rightly called the "Turk of
the sky. "But in the service of the beloved both are lowly slaves, as Bayram Khan, a
Turcoman general in Mughal service, sings:

For your castle, old Saturn is the doorkeeper;

For your Hindu curls the Turk of the sky is a Circassian slave!

Much later another poet from India would complain:

From grieving for you I have black fortune and wet eyes —

I own [the whole area of] black [fertile) soil from India to the Oxus!

The contrast of Turk and Hindu was certainly strengthened by the realities of Muslim
history at the turn of the first millenium, but the many possible interpretations of both
terms made them a favorite for poets throughout the centuries. With these possibilities in
mind one gets closer to

the secret of Hafiz's famous (and often misinterpreted) verse:

If that Turk of Shiraz would take my heart in his hand,

I would give for his Hindu mole Bukhara and Samarqand.

The Shirazi Turk has a black — Hindu — mole, and for this mole, which is traditionally
seen as a black slave, the poet is willing to sacrifice the most of beautiful cities of the
Turkish empire. Besides this grand exaggeration in which all values seem to be reversed,
the verse contains three names of cities (Shiraz, Bukhara, Samarqand), as well as three
parts of the body (hand, mole, heart), and furthermore plays on the contrast of giving and
taking, so that a whole chain of rhetorical figures is incorporated into these seemingly
simple lines which express the poet's hope for some kindness from his beloved. But the
whole beauty of the verse is inevitably lost in translation, especially in translations by
those unaware of the delightful wordplay which the poet — effortlessly, as it seems — puts
before his readers.

The Turk also appears, though rarely, in other connections. On a few occasions the
aggressive riders from the steppes are contrasted with the complacent, urban Tajiks, and
sometimes a poet collects a veritable "league of nations"around his friend's face:

"The Turk of your eye carries away the heart from the Arab and the

Soul from the Persian; the Abyssinian mole on your face makes the Hindu a slave!"

173

In the eighteenth century Qani'the historian of Sind, considered that Byzantines,
Europeans, and Indians were all variously destroyed by his beloved's face, his down, and
his lip — each of which corresponds to a color: white, black, and red.

Besides the Turk and the Hindu one finds the juxtaposition of Rum and Habash-
Byzantium and Ethiopia — to allude to white and black, but in this connection the
meaningful symbolism that lies behind Turk and Hindu is lacking. The Ethiopian or
Negro, Zangi, is usually remembered for his curly hair, as Sa'di says in the Gulistan:

The world is more confused than a Negro 's hair.

A similar combination of the Daylamites — mountain-dwellers near the Caspian Sea —
with curly, "broken"hair occurs in early Persian poetry.

From the late sixteenth century onward the role of the Turk as dangerous beloved was
taken over at least in part by the Firangs — the "Franks" — that is, the Europeans and in
particular the Portuguese, who from 1498 had begun to settle on the southern and western
coast of India and had plundered affluent ports, like Thatta in the Indus Delta, most
cruelly. They thus could replace the pillaging Turk, and the "European prison"became a
new image in Indo-Persian poetry. This prison sometimes seems rather colorful, and the
Europeans are generally connected with colors and pictures, for European paintings were
brought to Mughal India beginning in the days of emperor Akbar and were copied by
indigenous artists with amazing skill: hence the new combinations in color imagery in
later poetry. But the Turk and the Hindu still survive in folk poetry, even in lullabies.

Another article by Professor Schimmel also gives remarkable examples of these symbolic
images in Persian poetry in addition to supplying the original Persian alongside the
English translation.

Annemarie Schimme Turk And Hindu A Literary Symbol

(Schimmel, Annemarie. "Turk and Hindu; a literary symbol". Acta Iranica, 1, III, 1974,

pp.243-248)

A field which is still to be elaborated is the study of Persian symbolic language. Though
scholars like Ruckert and Hammer-Purgstall, like Ritter and Rypka and, recently, Bausani
in his Storia della letteratura Persiana (Motivi e Forme della poesia Persiana, cf. also his
Persia Religiosa) have dealt with several symbols and topoi which are preferably used in
Persian poetry — and therefore later on also in Turkish and Urdu poetry — there is still a
large field for further investigation into the development of certain symbolic expressions.

We need not mention here the symbols taken from the Quran, starting with the ruz-i alast
(cjljuJI jsj) which is alluded to in poetry so frequently with dush / Jjj$± «yesterday»; or
the use of Quran personalities; or the old Iranian tradition which is interwoven in the
fabric of lyrical poetry, the most famous example being the Jam-i Jam (ps* />L>). Others,
like the Rose and the Nightingale, gul u bulbul (JJL 9 J^) can, in their elementary

174

meaning, be traced very far back in the history of religions, the complaining nightingale
being only the poetical transformation of the primitive concept of the soul-bird.

Of special interest are, however, those symbols which stem from a certain historical
person or a specific act in history — the classical example is the figure of Mansur — al-
Husain ibn Mansur al-Hallaj (d. 922), the martyr mystic who has become, at least since
'Attar's time, a central symbol of mystical love, suffering, and, though by wrong
interpretation of his cry ana'1-haqq (^JIUI), a representative of the essential unity of
being not only in Persian poetry but as well in Turkish literature and even more in
Muslim India where his name is well known to the Urdu, Sindhi and Punjabi poets, so
that even the simple villagers of the Indus valley remember him in their songs.

Persian poetry has always liked the use of pairs of contrasting symbols, and the literatures
under its influence share this predilection. A famous example of this style is Hafiz's oft-
quoted couplet:

Ij Ijkzj $ JULSjjOlmj /^.LLl.jzj ujuugJuLd) uu> cit

« If this Turk from Shiraz would take my heart in his hand,

I would give for his Hindu-mole Samarqand and Bukhara "

with the confrontation of Turk and Hindu. It is interesting to follow the development of
this contrast-pair in early Persian poetry.

Hammer-Purgstall has given, in the introduction of his Geschichte der schonen
Redekunste Persiens (1818) some explanations of common Persian symbols; here we find
f.i. that the eyelashes are the two battle arrays of the Indians; the eye, too, can be called a
Hindu since it is black, whereas the beautiful white face is Turkistan; the down (khatt /
Jcl>) and the mole (Khal / JL>) are likewise compared to India and Hindus — that means,
Hindu has, in later time, become synonymous with black; Turk, Turkish is everything
white and lovable, (cf. Steingass' dictionary s.v. $±k&)

Turks are already mentioned in the poetry of the early Abbasid period — Abu Nuwas
compares the bubbles of wine to Turks who shoot their arrows, and this connection of the
word Turk with the young, dangerous but attractive hero is common in early Persian
poetry too — thus, when Farrukhi addresses his friend

...oLl> s^jobr 9 q5s 9_juj <^Su Qj <Sy \S\ [J^jj

«Throw the quiver aside, oh Turk, and the dress of war...» The Hindus, on the other hand
— mentioned in prophetic traditions as well as the Turks — have been mostly described
in Arabic sources of old as blackish, and Hindustan was, at least from the time of
Mahmud of Ghazna, the typical battlefield (cf. Asadi, in Shafaq, Tarikh 136 who,
however, compares the night still to a negro, Zang, not to a Hindu) for the Muslims who
were, in the Ghaznawid period, mostly of Turkish origin. Thus Sanai says in the Hadiqa:

q£ jC^JuO \j -±±>$J &**-***

Make the candle oftauhid shining,

175

Turn toward infidel Hindustan.

Sometimes the famous Indian swords are mentioned, and the Muslim knew about the
strange customs of Hindu ascetics, who might even burn themselves (thus Naubakhti in
the <*suljjjJ\ 3j9) — Biruni's book on India then enlarged the knowledge of his
coreligionists about Indian customs.

The slaves which were brought from India were considered ugly, mean, and blackish —
in contrast to the Turkish slaves — , and in a poem by Mukhtar-i Gaznawi (quoted by
Fritz Meier in Die schone Mahsati, p. 8) the poet says that he kept well an ugly Hindu
slave until he became good so that one could kiss him.

It may be that the famous love story of Sultan Mahmud and Ayaz which has become a
symbol in itself may have contributed to the development of the symbol Turk' for the
beloved which is very common, it seems, in the Seljukid period. In Mahsati' s poetry (i.e.
first quarter of the 12th century) the Turk-i Tir andaz (j\jj\ ^j <Sjj) or the Turk who uses
his club for beating people are common symbols for the friend (cf. Meier No. 5, No. 149,
p. 362). At that time the theories of mystical love developed in Iran, theories which are
reflected in the work of Ahmad Ghazzall and c Ain-ul-qudzat Hamadani.

The fact that here the beloved is not only beautiful but also extremely cruel — so that the
lover finds his highest happiness in being wounded or even killed through him — seems
to have made the Turk, who was already connected with the qualities of both beauty and
cruelty, a fitting symbol of the Divine Beloved — a fact that is expressed verbally by
Ruzbihan Baqli (d. 1209) who told that he had seen his Divine Beloved in the shape of a
Turk wearing his silken headgear awry (i.e. the kajkuldh / oMS $6 of later Persian poetry).
Ritter has drawn the attention of the reader to the fact that Abu Hamid Ghazzall has
mentioned in his Mishkat ul- Anwar that Turks at the end of the earth are fond of perfect
beauty that they prostrate before things of overwhelming beauty. (Ritter, Meer der Seele
454, Gairdner, mishkdt 92).

By the end of the 12th century, the symbol Hindu for black is used commonly by Nizami:
— The Indian princess — described with the famous contrast-pair as

« Gazelle with Turkish (i.e. killing) eyes, from Hindu origin»

is that of Saturday which is ruled by Saturn which is poetically called the o+! ^.j^i ^Ss-^^
or >£*juj lSsajl^ and has, according to astrological tradition, black colour. But Nizami has
also compared the crow to the Indian:

JljujLu <*_jljuUU LS9AJL& y> £\j

JljJjLu *^jS*lC G^JuLlfc jl lS^P

« The crow is surely of Hindu origin,

and to steal is not astonishing in Hindus » (HP 112)

And how beautifully has he, as Ritter has pointed out, used this symbolism in his
description of the fire in winter:

176

«A magician from Hindustan, like Zardusht starting with murmuring the zand».

(Khosrow o Shirin) or,

« The fire lit from sandal and aloe-wood,
the smoke around it is like Hindus in prostration. »

« A Turk from Byzantine origin,

whose surname is «the object of pleasure to the Hindus»», (cf. Ritter, Bildersprache 12 f.)

In 'Attars work (d. 1220) we find again a number of allusions to Indian and Turkish
subjects — the self-sacrifice of the Hindu ascetic is mentioned in the Ilahiname (6/9), the
Hindu is several times shown as a seeker of religious truth (cf. Mantiq ut-tair 31/2,
Musibatname 19/4 where he asks «What shall I do with the house without the Lord», i.e.
the Kaeba, cf. Meer der Seele 262, 522, 533). Even Mahmud of Ghazna whose
destruction of the temple of Somnath has become one of the famous symbols of the
victory of faith over infidelity (MT 36/6) is said to have put a little Hindu boy besides
him on the throne (A pious Hindu slave is also mentioned IN 176/13). The Hindu in the
Ilahiname (79/9) is contrasted with the beautiful princess of China, not with a Turk. The
Turk is depicted in 'Attar's epic in the usual way — cruel, but also an object of love
(Mus. 32/1, 33/8, IN 10/7). The picture is, however, different when we turn to 'Attar's
divan (ed. by Said Nafisi). Here the term Hindu is almost exclusively used for the meant
and obedient slave: the poet often calls himself a Hindu, and tells his beloved that he
would like to become «the Hindu of the Hindu of his curling locks (467). Though once he
claims to be «not a Hindu-yi badkhu, of bad character, in the service of his beloved but
an Abessinian who bears his mark»

He mostly declares himself to be the Hindu slave of the Turkish beloved (465):

J^ 9 oL> jj Lu ,jS lSjL^j
<p <<S$AJJb />9_jJj J^ 9 oL> j b
The classical locus is perhaps in 371:

ubtj />JljJj 9I <^S$AJJb

«Since my Turk gave me a kiss I became from the bottom of my heart his Hindu... »

The cruelty of the Turkish beloved is alluded to in the lines:

177

9I l59AJl^ ubfcj ,JjO 9 *SjJ CjljuUL^
CjljuJJuoI j\5 j± gjJ U ^/O^pAJ

«He is a Turk and I from the bottom of my heart his Hindu, necessarily he has come to
work with his sword. » (129)

Attar uses astrological symbolism in the words (466)

9J iS$AJJb JuJj <£ b C>9.yp ^^
« Hindukhan became the surname of the Lord of the Heaven
since the Turk of the Heaven (i.e. Mars) became your Hindu(slave)»,
A verse which has probably influenced Maulana Rumi's verse (Div.V2130)

±$-Jj jSb> (JJJ9 <SjJ

«The Turk of the Heaven (i.e. Mars) becomes the servant of Him,

who became His (i.e. the beloved's) Hindu. »

Though Rumi has sometimes compared black and white, good and bad to Rumis and
Abessinians (Div. Y 2428), the contrast-pair Hindu-Turk is completely developed in his
poetry — thus when the Prophet says in the Mathnawi (I 2370)

CjLJUOjft <£ JUUJ Ol ,JJ0 J± $AJJb 9 *SjJ

«I am the polished mirror, Turk and Hindu see in me that what exists. »
The day is compared to the beautiful Turk with fair face (Div. II 524):

Olgj <*_jljuJ jJul CjljulH lSj$J

«The day is hidden in the night, a Turk in the midst of Hindus, "
and just as the infidels shout when the Muslim Turks fight them

Ouj bjsu <*_jljuJ 1S9JUL&

«the Hindu night is uttering loud cries since the Turk entered the tent (Div. II 252)»

Maulavi Rumi compares, as most profane poets, the curls of the beloved to Hindustan
(Div. V 2363) but gives the whole symbolism of Turk and Hindu a more metaphysical
sense, since for him this world is the Hindustan of polluted earthly life, and thus he can
say in a description of spring that (Div. II 570):

$j\jjj <j\^jj sqju Li^ ul uLjuulS^ j
Juol }\jy^jjj yA co JS 9 vl uL_juJ9Judfc co

«The baggage of the nice-looking Turks from the Turkistan of the other world

178

came to the Hindustan of clay and water by the order of that prince. »

And the comparison of Sanai — the Hindustani Kafir — is carried on further when Rumi
says (Div. IV 1876):

«Like a Turk (or in the Turkish way) pillage the little Hindu of existence... »

i.e. kill the natural worldly existence and reach the Turkistan-i 'adam. It may be
interesting to throw a look at the symbolism of a Persian-writing poet who lived in Hindu
environment, Amir Khosrau. In his Divan (ed. M. Darwesh, introduction Said Nafisi) the
symbol of the turk-i tir andaz is used very often (1416, 1081, 1104, 350, 243), the
intoxicated Turk appears likewise (347, 848), the rose-cheeked (308) and coquettish
(289), or white faced (1096) Turk are frequently mentioned. The Hindus are mentioned
comparatively rarely (cf. 449 the .contrast Turk-Hindu); perhaps the most interesting
example of the use of this symbol is the last verse of a Ghazal (186)

j9^uUUO 6^jJQ QjuS* <Jjl Jjj()_JuJ OJjj \j OI9AJL&
CjuuUU LS3 \*ft> 3 jJ>\ GjljulH ^SjJ °lS \j 3 - )-juaJ> OJuu

«They burn the Hindus alive; do not burn such a dead, (namely) the slave Khusrow who
is a Turk, and yet your Hindu».

These few notes which should be elaborated by careful exegesis and collection of
material from early Persian poetry show that the couplet in Hafiz' famous ghazal stands in
a long literary tradition which reflects also some political and social features of the
Islamic Empire in its contact with its neighbours — and the contrast pair Turk-Hindu has
always remained popular, be it in the poetry of Sir Muhammad Iqbal, or even in a lullaby
from Shiraz, which Zhukovsky noted down in 1886:

There came two Turks from Turkestan

and carried me to Hindustan...

Before summarizing the relevant information provided by Professor Schimmel, we will
provide more examples of the usage of the term, Turk, Rum, Hindu, Habash/Zang.
One of the earliest poets who considered Turks to be the ideal type of beauty is actually
the Persian poet Ferdowsi:

Jul Oj^jzjjj GJu> Qj v\5jj oS
Jul Ojjj ^j v^U u^jJj\ *SjJ> <\j

Thus Ferdowsi says that Turks in the view are as beautiful as fairies.
Even before Ferdowsi, one of the first Persian poets (Rudaki) states:

jJul ^SL^> ujOjj lSu Cu uljl^ ^j->

oLijjSjS CULQ-& 9-^ y. oL° ^> <Sj jib

And we also noted Qatran Tabrizi, who is one if not the first Persian poet from
Azerbaijan who composed in Eastern Khorasanian Persian:

179

lA , 9j9- > *^>* ^ 9 £-H *^>* j9- > ^
JJ3- j^jj pJb 9 ^jOLjJuLpj Cjuuj /x&

b

Instead of listing about thousands of uses of Hindu, Turk, Rum, Zang and Habash
amongst in Persian poetry, we take examples from the recent excellent book of Professor
Rahim Afifi. The author of each of these couplets is given. We note that many times
these imageries come together in the sense that all four (Turk, Hindu, Rum, Zang) can be
used in a single verse.

Some examples of the symbolic meaning of Hindu as allusion and imagery:
Hindu=From India, Slave, Overseer, Watcher, the blackness of the hair of the beloved.

u\jyj>jj <^>C jl <^jv9Jul& ^ °l9>b

(aul5l>)

{ JjJJ0\S CjljuJ^J pSs> j^> jJ U

jjjuuou 9J \S$X>Jb ^9_)ul^ JLJUJ

CjljujI p\j CL> jjjJ9_)UL^ _9-*Jl& ,Jjl
CjljujI JoVlC \j 9J ><t> ^JSU

jb ^jjLjuj j 09^ Lo ^jo^-b*

(^jvjoLbu)

^olcy ^9_)ul^ CjLftS /xjl^J ^jS

/>\$j iS$5 oLuj v5L> iS$±iJb

9J ^l^^ftjo lj g,b b KS$AjJb

9J jjl»9^ j^ lj OJuu ijZ <3Lp_aJL>

Git*)

^jj> 9J ^9_)ul^ viaJj ,jjo J^ jj Juuj
>*J^ CaSj cJS jjj j± 9 <jlO£j >>

(J^loouJ JlaS)

We note Kamal Ismail uses the word Hinduyeh-Dozd or the Hindu Thief. Something
used by other Persian poets including Nizami.

180

j-jujj> {jj^r. jj Q^jSi ^jj ^jS-juuu

Hindu beh Azar Sookhtan (Burning the Hindu in the fire=symbolically getting rid of
darkness and become day/light):

Gld^ jAj\ CjSjS 0$±j5 uLJul9 jjiuul sCL^S 0^>
CU_>9_uJ jiil co 9JUL& OIjLjuJ9Jul^jJ ->9xxJu

(^jvjLqJLj >a<*jo)
O^ jl <*j\jS=j\j$JJJb

CjljuJ ^JV-C^jjO 9j ^O^p CL> jjjUUJuOJ (JjOJ cu ;oJl9

(cSAS_uj)

Hinduvash (Hinu-face=like a slave, servant):

CjljuUL& CJj> ^S| Jjo| qjO />\Lc <JJ*-JuJ l&LuJ

.y^Lj 9SL0 Cjucxa9 cvS ^joui^Juusb

Hinduyeh Atash-neshin (The Hindu sitting in fire=A symbol for the hair of the beloved):

^Lpj jj$5 9J Jsd t±\jj 9_)ul^ 9J ^aJj

uLujJ ^Jjjl >J<p (J^JwU u-^jl t-S3-V-»-Q>

Hinduyeh Aiinehdaar Cheshm (The Hindu holding the mirror for the eye=a symbol for
the blackness of the eye):

V-SuOuuUL"^ <SjZ$jJZ jl CbLS=/XjuUC> jIjl^JujjI <S$JuJb
O'jJO jl CULuJ JuO OljuJ^j-uJ jl CLaJjLuJj

(Jifilouuil Jloi)

I_>9_ujJu LS9JJLd>
C^^hujuo 9 jSlS jl cuLS tJ^XfP" C59JUL&

Here the unbeneficial Hindu is compared to a trickster and an unbeliever:

CjljuJ I ^JVJ I _>9_juJ Ju \S$X>Jb UCp* <SjJb

CjljuJ I ^JVJ I9-JUJJ ^Vf^ ^JlLOjS^ j^j

(LS9J9X))

Hinduyeh-Basar (The Hindu of the eye=the blackness of the eye):

/xjujj> <Sjo$jjo jl cbuS — ju^u C59JJL&

CjljujI gjj-> v^l ^jj >^ 9-* ^9j

_>Juljuju cj5 ^wZJj CS9JJlj3j ^jtu j_>

181

^JUljuUU Q$ jj£U i*S$JuJb CjuOJ>J

OUoc)
Hinduyeh Bakr SalKhurdeh (The old pure Hindu=the black rock of Mecca):

<^S_)Ul^ §aJ 9 - >-^juUUCXjuJ — §aJ ^9_)Ul^
V>£ *-SL^iSl U 3>jJj JO j Cjl2aJ ^9Jul5^

Olo^jS Cjl^J j± uISjLjuj cLaJj 09^

Hinduyeh Charkh (literally the Hindu Wheel=used as an image for Jupiter)

oLJj gJlb j lj ^^ ^9_U^
( Jlj^ljuX JLoj>)

jj <3 Lg-JuJ^p? <»_jljuJ L _$\J9jld> CU

(^jvjoLbu)

Hinduyeh Choobak zan - (The Hindu with the wooden weapon=symbolically means the
head servant)

uLjujU >*-0jo jl ^L^ — Oj <Sj$2* iS$JJJb

CjljujI Oj *Sj$2r iS$JJJb CjjJS p\j j\jBjJ
Jj>j jjliJuul^ c^ /xJLa^ cisds qjLjujb

Hinduyeh Chahaar Paareh Zan-(A symbol of a dancing slave, dancer...)

Oj 6j\jj\s> iS$JJl&
oLljJulSuI j± u^J p&JJb oL^l9j <l5 CjljujI ^jSs>^ \SV$$uj 6j\j.j\j^>) u £>\Sj iu^ '-^>> jj 9 0-^j jl S^L^

JUJ9I _p Ijl^D co lj Ol 9 JJJlS)

CjljuUO <JJOJ> ^jJojO 9J j OjLuJ

CjljJulS Oj OjUjlgo ^59Jul5^

i-jQjOzjq vJuj ^jJbijLJuj jl cbuS

0^ l ^d\J3' CjlqJj <39Jul5^ Juu j lj J^
^^ JLa.-> ^Su\Jjo ^jjjo £Juo ^Ij 0^>

182

U9^jl9 u^jlqJj <39_)ul& jl pj\$>

09jj> j9j p+-»jj tJuuJ <»_jLJuj <jjo j9j

(^jjLpj £u*-^)

Hinduyeh-Shab (The Hindu of Night=symbol of the darkness of night)

<»_JLJUJ L _$OU - )U jl ^ijS — «^JLJUJ LS3JUL&

uLjujU co ^SjjS °o> ±j± g-^b ,Js_b <3l
(^jOLqJLj >j^o)

^lj 0L0 0^> k-jljJj <39_)ul& jl jb
^U9 <-Sj9J 1^-09-) > JUJ .P

CjljujI^ vJJ^U ^pt-JuJ Li ^jy^JuJ ;0^juUC> JO^JA

uLjujU i^jljJj iS$JJJb CjljujLo GI9J jj Q£>y>

Hindu-Guy (Literally one that talks Hindu)

Ju^S \j2x-k±> \SXk&> cb oS> ul

9I ^9^ 9_Lufc £j ,^09^ j

9I \S$Xi& cu^JoS uLx^j cLaJj

(^jvjoUoj)

[Jjj$j. cLo ^9_)ul^
iJ oLjuj ^aJj jl cbLS

JUuJ ^->u j$ Lcxjuj jjl»9J cLo ^9_Ll^ <S$j c ^> jl

Hinduyeh-Noh-Chashm (The Hindu with nine eyes=a black reed music instrument with
nine holes)

CjljujI £Mj9_juJ CU <3ljl^ CO (oL-juJ ^jvj) ^SLjljuJ^O jl ^jvjJI.

^9! j^ oLili cu \j p*jjjs> cU ^9Jul5^
Gjul9l>)

Hinduyeh-Haft-Chashm (the Hindu with seven eyes=another black reed that has 7 holes)

/xjuuc> v"»6fr> ^9_)ul^

.CjljujI ^I - )9_juJ v"»6fr> tSljl^ ClS (oLjuJ y^S) ^SLjljuJ^JO jl ^jvjJI

p^/JJs> CjlQ^ ^9Jul5^ O9S ^lj uLcx^
p*jjjs> 9 ^jJuj ^b>9 ±js\y>

(^jOuJ9_b <3_)ljujI)

Hindu Haftom Pardeh=One of the stars or planets, Jupiter or Saturn

183

Hindi (a symbol of sword, dagger)/Hindish

Hindi Dragon (symbol of sword, dagger)

0\$jS U J^>j SOjLljuJ jl <*j}jS

cU_*Jub Olj9^ jlcl jl /XjuJj <\j \S\

lh'U C>^ A*-^-^ ^9-Ju^ lj 9^ j-^S >ojLb

(Jjfril)

*>Sjjjj cJjJuo ^sOiSb b«*S °*-09

^jj.juUUCXjuJ jl ^jLo~i5JUu3>
i jjUUJul& t." 1 i ''Ljv aJl S yj £UD (i jjUUjj^JjO l > ni lfti jV » «i

(^joLqJLj >«^o)

JjJ OJjj >JUJ ^>J ;oJj LSJJujj $J>

J-J /)J> j^ cjjob> uLJLj Juj

/xJL> i^JaS) >P-*-*jj 9 /xi>- «3>jljiJuuo v^l

L^^jl l5_XJl& 9 jlo l5j.^>.0 0^9! CjljuJ^ ^>jj

Hindi Parand (Indian Silk=another symbol of sword, dagger)

Hindu- Vash (used as in slave)

[ JjjJjjJ m LSJuujj ul JuljuUU jJ^*-*^-^ j
.Ju^S o^*-**' ^juj^U 9 °tlLJuuu 9 cU.juulSL.Jj <*S <3L&Juu 9 />\Lc jl cuL^

CjJULjujI V-S_mJ CUjI /)uuJU jl <JJO

JuLoJ j$ o-*-*^ >°>^ <-SJul& j

CjljuJL& Cl-> ^pl Juol ,JJO />\aX <JJ*UuJ l&LuJ

^j9Lu 9SLJ Cjucxa9 ciS ^jo!Jj99JuL5i

Hinduyeh Atash Neshin (used for the hair of beloved)

^Igj jj^ 9J Jsd t^ljj 9_xJl& 9J ^aJj

uLuuu G^' -HSP OtH 1 ^*-' u-^l ^9 -*-»■£>

^jvjLo^ 9->L>

184

Some examples of the symbolic meaning of Turks as allusion and imagery: Tork (symbol
of the beloved, loved one, and the Sun)

^j\s^> Jljuj /xJu-i 9 JjlC 9 [JjjQJb 9 jju^> 9 OJu 9 jo\j

JulSuuO jJJUUuJ ^^ <-J>J OLoJLuJ CO IjU <JJO O^jJ

(l^^L^ oLoJLuj)

j9>ol ^-^j ^Sj-! ^j^j^o O- lP^ ^_9-jujLc O^jJ
^9j Jufcl^ 0I9J 0_LO jl cvS u^> jS± U

(Jb9l>)

JuJiJ 0>\S>y> j± kSjj ulS ulij 0^ <^jL_»Jj <39JuLdi

Torkkaar/Torkaar (Turkish work-symbol of aggressiveness)

jl^xx^U 9 jl^xx^ uLuuu ^jv-cIj 9 i^SjIS^jj

(lS^)

Tork-i-Aseman (The Turk of Sky=symbolically the Sun):

Torkan-i Charkh (The Turk of the Wheel = symbol for the moon, sun and the 5 classical
planets: mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn)

. Jj>j 9 £u>x> nSjjLjJixx> i^\j3\ i0lo iOjsbji±j\k£- jl JuJjLc oS cUliLQ-ft oIjLjuj jl cbUS

jluS ^9^ £y>:. uo\>j ciS <^jl_*jj

CjljujI j^>jj oLl> G^jIS

9-|^ jULftS JuJLJUUU l^-JLJUjb^l $J>

9j_)c> ulS^J olS jl Juol S$jB
(^jvju9^)

j^i 9 jljul o^*-*^ j' coL^'l^-*^ uISjj
^^9 q^o^ qj _uS qjo^r: ulj

^^jj^lj-pjL^ JuulS^jJ <jjI
<jiu^L9 <^iJ jl ^j0l9L>

Torkan-i-Falak (The Turks of heaven=reference to the classical seven rotating bodies)

,jj| jl jjjUU Ij kSIs u\^jj cux£i

185

JJjjcxjuj uLuuul ^jorLoJu ,J^JL>
(,jjl9l>)

Tork Ahu Cheshm (The Turk with the eye like that of Gazzelle- symbol of the beloved)

U^a>jO jl ^{jS-p-iuix^ £&l ^SjJ

Juuj jb> /xjo^juuc> 9J <-S9j uJu^ <-SI>j jS

(^sJ\U)
Tork-e- Aflak (The Turk of Heaven=a symbol of Mars)

p\j^j b £y>° cOjIjLjuj jl <^j\jS — <S\ls\ kSjj

cjj^s cjuLj jl ulp_> _p
(^j^^L^ oLoJLuj)

CjljuUL^JLjJj^ JuuLo <*S Cj&XJjJ <SjJ ul)
(CjljuUUljuJj-juU ^-juSjJ CJj^ j jJjUOU JS ^jU

CjlSj Lo^ jl <jl»9^ ^ O^gJSKJ^jJ v^^ ul

C^j Uo>- olj jl <*S _LO \]cd> cl> U

(Jo9l>)

Torktaaz (Attacker, someone that attacks like Turks)

V»l 9 u^Jul >!^o^ <~Sb> vi cb 9J j\ <3_)uJu

(lS>2o)

9j jU _)Ul& <39_juJ 0LjuJ9j g-^b <3l
ijS -)Ul> uS^-juJ jJLmJ juS>J ^juULC ^9

(LS9J9X))

^ 0Ar:l9 <^yj\ ^JSs c**slc

Cji-jujLjJ Ol 9J />X jl^>J

(^jvjLqJLj >a<*jo)

Torktaaz Kardan, Torktaazi Kardan (To attack in a Turkish manner=literally pillage and
plunder)

o^jS ^\jb jl cuLS

O^jS jb 9 Cjl^U tOlSU co uijj >09^i5i

_uS j\j p~>jjs> 9J ^^ jU

_uS juS^ ^9^ ^^9^°
(lSJL> 3 I)

jli^jj o^l «-5^ '-'I >£J jl y>
jLoJ /)jl CjljJuuj ulSjuu u^^r <*S>

186

(^jvjoLbu)

CjuoJj ^JS^U^ c LjuJ9j 9 pjS kSjuSjJ

pj\j ^>b Q$ 9J J9 ujjo <*S JU9S <*S U

( Jlj^ljuX JLoj>)

9_»Jj ,J^JL> ^9-^1 iSLpJL»julSL.Jj cJS ^^b

<j^ jl^>J ^Lfc^j >» cui9 Glob

OoJ-^)

.olSU 9 vl^-*^ Ij ^^9! <^>b jl S^L^ — «-Sjli^jj
9I ^jul^ jj> Tcjljuull^ ^jUS^j <j-J L? 0L0

JuJu Juol 0\$jjS jl 0$5jjS v$z> 9S CL^L>

(jUuJU jU jJJUUJ 9 OU9S ^^jjljujI ^JV-^joI^ tvA-l^jj) V— '^jl^jO jl ^LS — ^jjJC^aSJ^jJ O^jJ

V9-P»^o jl S^L^ — 9^>Ju^ <^>J
9>Juu \Sjj u\ JuuS qjS j^S

CjljJjAS OI^^JLjujI jl <*S JuLuJj uLi3>r lJ^^

(^Is^UIj)

/>loJu jl COU^ 9 ClJu^J /XjJ CjljuJ^S -fJjJ^sSjJ

JljuJjjjO JOQjljuJ ^jS>jJ ^S^S -^1 U^S^ ^ >* O^l
/XjuUC> ^^ ^>J_UjjO OL> 9J j <*S ^jvSlj OL> <^l

>ol> ^/OjJ />$j£ £> J -^ v>*^-*i9^> <-j>J
/>LoJ 9jljuuu ^^jj^ p^*^> jl

(LS9J9X))

Tork-Chihreh (Turkish face=symbol of the beloved)

^aJj 9 Luj jl coLS-O^gja^J

Jul&^g-^r v^^jj CjJlg cu ,jjo &d> u\La_b

/)j^Lo >o^9j ^jyJuOjl <*S ^ <*Sjk QJ9

(^jvjLqJLj >a<*jo)

(^jvjoLbu)

Ju^JiJj^ jl qjbS-iSjLa.>- ^S^

^L^l jlS j <3jL£L> v^^ $>■

^L9l jL^l> _p oL^j> ^9^

187

(^jvjoLbu)

Tork Del Siyah (The Turk with the black heart=symbolically means the eye of the
beloved)

v3$ujixszo jy->jjs> jl ^liS

(Ja9l»)

.pl^gj U (Hj>x> jl cbLS-U9.^p ^Ijl pjj kSjj
JL*jo Jubjl ^^ 09^ <S\j\ pjj kSjj

Tork-e-Zard-rooy (The Turk with the yellow face=Symbol for the Sun)

JuCp j^JO Qj J0$ jJb 9J OUlC <SuljuJ p'j£>
(^JV-hjUlJo jJjUUCXjuj)

v»L^I jl c bL^ - >^- juJ ^^

cu9b u\p> cLjJj^S ^j j^ /j^ jl />jS> yj£>£

(vl^Sl jl S^) O^SLJj uUaJLuj v^^j

O9S ^j ^ O9S [JjS> '-Sbj^ j
(^jvjoLbu)

(v9-P*^o jl ^1-^)0^1 j^-vJ *^jJ

pS\jJ3 CO XUjJ ^jJLjuulS jl jjjUU <&j\ \j

(^->9-c%jo jl cbuojjjj ^^SLjuj O^jJ

PJJjjS^iuJ <SjJ Ol CUljuUU 9 Ju*£_juJ

<-S^9J ^JLjuuucp* oL-juj JiLi (jjuuuuubejo JjLi co

(^la9ljlj)

Tork-e-Sobh (The morning Tork=the Sun)

^3fi_»jJ (jjuJLbl JUO ^oLuJ V-jljuuI lSu j^>

188

Lu^ >«JlC Jl^J £Lu^ ^JJ ^jul> j^>

OUoc)

Tork-e-Sahraayeh Aval (The first Tork of the Sahara-a symbol of the moon)

0L0 jl cuL^ - J9I kS\^^^> <Sjj

j$j <3LpJL>\ij> U J9I <3l y>L^> ,jjI vS^j

(^jJLljuj)

Tork Tab' (Turkish natured=symbol of cruelty and harshness)

ula^b v^^J Cjljuj^ 9J Jjl£ U

(^jvjLqJLj >a<*jo)

V9-P^o jl cbLS-jlLb <Sjj

jLub v^^J p->JJS> £>jJj olS co

jb y>3 ^9^ cUui9 ^ ^jvjcx^

jLub vS^j lj Lp-jJuLftJ ul JuJu

jL>j| jj^> u <j-*j> oLuj Cjij^j j
(^jJLj^I <JjIx)

■ V9-P^O jl S^L^ ~9- JuUL *^ L-UrS^ ^>J

cLl*»juj Jj%Jl^uuj 0L0 ul jl JljJj 0-^9-) ^L^
^9^uuuS JjL«jlc V^jJ Ol jl JUiJiJ jjiolS O^*^"

(i3JL> S l)

Tork-e-Falak (The Tork of heaven=symbolizing the planet Mars or the Sun)

<SlS kSjJ 9J oLo^Juc> U cuaS

CjljuJUXjuJ uS3-U-Q> jjjjcp* OJUU

^Juu ^oxS 9I jjiuuj vil9 v^^J cu ^pl

(^j^s^j oLoJLuj)

\j+jp? jj jjjull> gji o^H^ Ij *-juL9 O^j

G^-*^ .P CH^ ^ Li ,pu Ij uuJj 6^-b

(^>l*>)

Ij^j jjO ^iSJS V^jJ CjljujI />\I»C

Cjljuuuu olj ^^ j^> 9J ol<p>-Ju <p?r

CjJLdT vJU=)
IdUj /x<*iju co Cj^I^sI pic o^>

-bLuUU CjJLjuJ CO CjSj kSIS \SjJ

189

Tork-e-Kafar Kish (The Kaffar (unbeliever) Turk-symbol of the beloved)

V9-P*jo jl ^L^'u^u^)^^ kSjj

\j ijjjj^> OuS /xjIjujoJ ubloJLuuuo ^1
(^>^j>9)

u^>jo jl cuLS-o\lS £iS v^jj
<-S^9J ^JLjiJiju£> ol^^SLu /xii*J ^ <-5^ ul jS

CjljujI <jJljuUU9>' 0\15 £p O^jJ lSu ji - >-juJ

(^1*9 bb)

U^JO jl COuS — jjjoSuLcxS V^^jJ

,^9 JuuulSL«jo \JjJzS ^ /xjuulS uLcxS v^^jj

Ol^JuJOJ ^jJiS^p ^juULC ^l^^ V^^jJ

(su»)

/jl^gj b £y>x> OjLljuj jl Qj\j&-0$±ji *Sjj

CjljujI <JjO Ji-Q-vjU <^CjS> CU CjljuUUO

/XJjU jjjuuI J$ \j GI9JUL&
(^jvjoUqj)

u\J9^ 9 Ojlx 9 ^IjU jl cuL^ — j\j 9 ^>»
j9>C jl «^jJL^ £J>> jb 9 ^jJ jl /xJslc

(^_jJLd)

^jvjuljujI^ v_jljuj93 9 9 Luj jl cuLo 9 O^jj JuuLo-^jjjcp^jj

^Sj^jjjS <^>Ld 9J bejlS ^^9^0^ ul Ljj9>- <3l

(,^uj>9)

.G^S ^jJ-xSjljuj-qJCSP Cju*_juj jl <1j\jS-0±j$\ ^JvS^j

\)l lJSH^ 9 p^J^> CjuoX jLu ^pl
/x&IS^p* 9^>r ciJLjuuu ^jjcxS - >ju^d 9 ,JJjuULC CO

(LS9J9X))

^^ jl9>J uLc> O^^jo ^j\»b9_b

^JVJlSLjuJJLPX 9 L _$Vjl99jJ jl ^l-" "^JVJLflj^ ^Jvj>J

190

CjljuuuJ Lo <3Ij_juj ( jj>uuj cKJySjj

(^jvjoLbu)

.U^S ^SjjS C *-S^ tO±j5 ^jJ^ Cjl^UuJ tO±j5 pJLjuj 9 j^> j\ <1j\jS-0±j5 i^SjJ

(^jJLljuj)

9^Juuo uljb <<jio ^jvS^ IJ&2LO Op>

9J LS^-juJ <jjo Jjjo ^Sl l5 v ^>' G^-°

9J <39_)ul& ciSJj ^ol^J v^^jj <*S

(^jvjoLbu)

Some examples of the symbolic usage of Rum(Greek) in Persian allusion and imagery:
Rum o Zang (Greek and Black=Day and Night)

t^jviujb 9 k _s^jjj$j ij^j 9 ^-j^jjj j\ cuLS-oLij 9 p$j

^>j 9 />9j ^jb igl*
(^9^JlS ^jvjoLbu)

^juJ^JuO JljuJj ^JvjCX^ ^jvjLoj ^^

Ouj 9 ^09^ j <^jljuj 9 j9j c U_*jj 9^

Rumi (Greek=Sun, brightness)

vbi9l 1 ^JVJ ULJUJ9J jl c UuS- l _5vj09j

Cjljuuu puu j\ ^S^°Sj kS^^ -^boJ

CjljJuuo co >^> ^jj ul 9 OijjjS

(^jouJ9_b <3JljujI)

JujuJj v jjull> uIj9^ cp>r Cjljuuo uLgJu ^s^°Sj

(LS9J9X))

Rumiyaaneh Roo Daashtan (Having the face of a Greek=bright face, light face, beautiful
face)

O^ *S$j Luj <0>p-^ J^q_juj jl coLS-^jJLjJjb 9^ <*j\jlO$j.

Jb> 9 ^aJj ctiLSjj t^jb <S$j ciiLx^j
^juJlC jj ^>b ^9>jI uLj>L> uLcxS U9^>

(<3AS_juj)

191

Rumi Bachegan (Greek Kids=tear drops of the eye)

^^vjLuuu JujI^ 9J lS^jo 9 9J iS$j jl

/xjJuc> iS$JuJb 9^ J9 /xj>S 09^

Rumiyeh Talkh (The bitter Greek=a bitter wine)

.£uu ^j\juuj jl cUu^— £uu ^5vj09j

(^x)b>)

.^IjjoJI O9JL1UO 9 oLij 9^ jl <*j\jS-*Sp> ^svjo9j

JljJj Cjl^ISjU ^9> jl 9 <3b v^L> U9^> \$&
^jvJULjuuu ^Scp* ^_s^°Sj ^Sj lJ vj0 ^ jsb± jl ^l>>

(^olsL>)

.^9^, Luj jl cuLS -£j k_s^oSj
±^> 9J <^aJj >j 9^ ^U 9 ^j^>j ^J^°Sj

.JuS ^JVJCX^ 1*^^ Ji-JuJ O^LuJ iSLuUUO jl

.u^9j Lft-^U 9 J-xSu 9 <Aj>Su 9 9^^ jl <*j}jS "^^ >°9j ^lJ^j

I ub cUuJ^ b cJ^ ^Jjjo cLojfc

T^jljujI uLSjj U Cji-b ^J-uO 1^
(jl^jl /XjujIs)

<S$5 \j JuljuJj^> O^lj ^svjo9j oLuj

jjjUUU^I uLajO jl g;«J ^joSjO^jJ

±\j ^_s^°sj oIjjl>I b>£^>

(^JV-hjUlJo jJjUUCXjuj)

v»l^9l jl S^L^ — L^j ^j <^°9j

JjpLi Ij v>^ 09jL> Juul ulj <ls>jS

JJuuU UlCj Oj J.JVJ09J cUul jjJOJ j^

l _5vj09j cLob^ — v—JLuu J.JVJ09J

^^jj^ ^jOJuu CjljujI ^jJ^ O^ljl

192

[JjJQJ CS^jJljuJUuJ CjljujI k _$JJl& i_$3<)j&

P$j2*lo C\jJ CjljujI ^jyJLuJ ^S^Sj

/XC U C\jJ CjljujI ^>JjJO ^_$Sjj

(julsb.)

. ^jvjib Ljuj 9 Aaa-juj j9j 9 <^jljuj tjlS^j jl ^XiS — ^_$Sjj 9 lJ vj0 9j

OJlL uL^jOsjJ ,jjI ,JjO u ^puo

oLij 9_> JlajjLu ^jSjj 9 ^svjo9j 9->
(^jvjoLbu)

^_?jS jLuLcl p ^joLij 9 ^_s^°Sj 9^ O^-V
JuLuulSj jLouj j-> u >09j j

cijljuuu /)_> jU j_> uLlC ^jvS-ij 9 ^svjo9j u^ 9_>
u\J9-> jl JuuU ^jvjoj^ c9jjl ^9 ^>*^ ^j

CjljujI i^fSjj 9^ S JL -*- J U JSj V **
CjljujI ^JOUj olS iJ^Sj oIS CUloj

(9 > uj> >a>l)

.j9j 9 <^jljuj ^jo^jjj 9 l _5\Jljuj9 - ) jl <^Uo - uLp_> 0_>9joJ ^sSjj 9 lJ vj0 9 - )

^jvSjj 9_> j_> CSjlS Cjljujuj Ij uLp_>

^jvSLij ^jv-^5 -JuLo^ lJ^j i^-P-^

(^jvjoUqj)

.^>juj9 - ) 9 <J)L^ jl cOufJ 9 ^svjo9j JuuLo — fjjj^jjo^j

A iJjJQjlQSj c\£ ^jvjo ul ^JvSLuJ Lu
CjljujI <j-JJ> ^JOUJ U£-> /XSLsb <*!> 0_> ,JjO <\j

(^jvjoLbu)

Some examples of the symbolic usage of Zang/Habash (Blacks/Ethiopians) in Persian
poetic allusions and imageries: Habashi (Abyssenian/Black=symbol of blackness, symbol
of darkness of the beloved's hair)

^JOuJ-C>

<JUj oL^juj- >£-> oL^juj "Ouj dl^H^ jl Sj^

Ju^dI ^oLoj 9 0>£-> ^jou\jlc> ulSL/jlSu
jjJb jjjj-»9I cLcx^ ^jOlao J\L cLo^

Jb^SLij ^j ^joLoj »^j^uj-c>

JuJuu \jj^> ^s^°Sj c9^ u^J^j-i 9^ ^

Zangi (Black/ symbol of the darkness and darkness of night)

L _5vSu - )U 9 ^jv-^Ljuj jl cOuS — tjOuj

193

3JL>U ^JvSjj ul Jul ^S^

(^jouu^-b <3_)uujI)

/)9j 9 ^svSJj uloj ^ Cjuojj^ 9 CjuojJ^ j$
uLlC <3^>S «^Lhuj ul 9 v^j <-S^ ul^S o^J

oLjuj jl <^j\jS — ulouj 9^kjcx^-cuLSjj

JL> 9 ^aJj cuLSLij ^jb <39j cuLjo9j

v-uJlCjj ^>b «-S9>jI ubj>b> ulcxS 9^>

(^ASIjuj)

<^aJj qj^JJjfc ul kS$JJl& CjljujI ^jOlsb*
jjli^Juo oLjuj Jb> cuLSLij ul 9

UL> jl <=ULO-ULiL^eJ tjOuj

O^lj O^Lo j ulSL*j ^SvSjj
(<3AS_juj)

j9j_xS ^JJufc cu^ljul
(^jvjoLbu)

oLjuj j^SjI ^Lg-gjb jl coLS-jj uliscj ^jvSjj

^jljuJ^-u j9^-«j0 jj uISl^kj ^J^-U V^^

(^JV-hjUlJo jJjUUCXjuj)

Jj ^jvAjjU jl <^Uo -c u5uj ^jJ j^JvSJj

^jojjU jl cuLo -^ f^S^j

JJL)\ *>S\j$ jl /XJ=«jl { Jjj^jS
(^jJLljuj)

1 i^s^ob jl S^bo-^b tjouj
jb ^jvSjj qj.\5 px-jj o\jjS ol jl

j\j ^jv5u ^JJl^jjoJ ^9> lJ^-0 9^Z

194

\jJuS> t^S^J OJuu JUuJ L%5 jJJOJ

jLuj Jljuj Oj OjUjL^r j^jvSJj

£loi jj £w> :>j qS CLjuuJaC 9^ <Sj. ±\j jl

j\j CjljuUUuUU OS jJ^S CU U c \JlSL> ^_$Sjj

Zangi Del/Zangi Deli (Zangi heart, Zangi heartedness, =merciless, black hearted)

CjljujI JJl^LjuJ 9 p^>J+J <*$ Ol jl <*J m \jS — JjuSjj

.^jjjuu^uuj iCj$[suuj 9 <3j9JLpJu^ jl ^juS — ^jJjuSjj

v>£ o\b ^jvSjj <~slx££ j

/xjJuol O93? <*S ^jOljJ uljjp

Juol J^ £jl9 oLSLij 9I 93?
Juol Ju^>b> 9j ^jJ^ tjOuj ^jouuu

^joujU jl ^jl-" — ^jujj j^JvSJj

CjljuJJ j^JOUJ £Lu^ ^Lo^j-juJ j 0<p>r

CjljuulSuI 9 jjjuuI jJul Jujo^ /)^
JjJ> ^j ^JVJCX^ 09^ >0_\J%Ju^>

J-JJI^j ±$j ^jvjcx^ Ob> ^jyJLaS

(^jJLljuj)

\J9$uuixSlO 0L_mU kS$JO jl ^UO-ClJLJuUO^j-JuJ j^JOUj

tSLpJL^iil ^^ ^ cLo j ciS ul «3l

i^lgJLifcjjol J5 ojj 0I9J 9 juuj v

Cjljuul^^j ciS olj cIJLjuuiS^j-juj ^SvSLij ul

.<»_jljuJ ^JvAJjU jl ^jl-" ~S jlji ^ lJ^-^-O

^_->l jlS j^ 9J 9 ^^>j OjlS v_-»l j9j ^jvjo9j

jL> 9 £uu j^ 9J 9 ^^>j O^jjoX ^-^>j ^-j^juj ^s&Jj

( Jlj^JljuX JLoj>)

Ju^jj kS^Sj O^jS jj-^juuu v>^° lJ>-*-0
<-j\±o ,J^ii-C oLij o^> co \j ,J^Q-juj ^b

195

Thus as we can see:

"The Hindu in Persian poetry is used a symbol for ugliness, black, of evil omen, mean
servant of Turkish emperors, the nafs, the base soul which on other occasions is to
compared to an unclean black dog. Yet, even the nafs if successfully educated - can
become useful, comparable to the little Hindu-slave whose perfect loyalty will be
recognized by any Shah. Turk is from Ghaznavid times onwards equivalent with the
beloved; the word conveys the idea of strength, radiance, victory, sometimes cruelty, but
always beauty; ..These stories in which the Turkish warrior-not endowed with too much
intelligence-is slightly ridiculed, are by far outweighed by those allusions (not stories) in
which the Turk is contrasted to the Hindu as the representative of the luminous world of
spirit and love, against the dark world of the body and matter"
(Schimmel, Triumphal Sun).

Also as Professor Annmarrie Schimmel alluded to:

"Besides the Turk and the Hindu one finds the juxtaposition of Rum and Habash-

Byzantium and Ethiopia — to allude to white and black".

In the above examples we have shown how Turk, Hindu, Zangi/Habash, Rum is used for
description and symbols of slavery, rulership, slave (Hindu), ruler (Turk), trees, birds,
flowers, stars, climes, complexions, colors (yellow, white, black), animals (the eye, face),
planets, day (Rum, Turk) and night (Hindu, Habash/Zang), languages, tears, hair, face,
various moods and feelings without taking any ethnic meaning. Unfortunately during the
USSR era, there was attempt to detach Nizami Ganjavi from his Iranian heritage and
Turkify him to the extent possible. We shall look at such wrong interpretations in the next
chapter.

Thus the multitude of examples given from Persian literature from the above books and
articles does not denote ethnicity, especially when comparing and contrasting.

We note some examples that show multiple of contradiction if we are to take them
literary.

Attar:

Attar is a well known Persian poet and philosopher and has had tremendous influence on
Sufism and mysticism. So much so that Rumi considers himself to be in the niche of a
street while he considered Attar to have travelled through the Seven Cities of Love.

Attar says:

196

/A £J \S^ oLuJ <^L> i^Judfc

If we are to take this literally, then Attar is actually an Indian (Hindu) and he was not
Iranian. And here will quote again from Schimmel who quotes:

The classical locus is perhaps in 371:

ubtj />JljJj 9I KS$AJJb
«Since my Turk gave me a kiss I became from the bottom of my heart his Hindu... »

Thus if we are to take this literally, then Attar was a Turk or had a Turk who gave him a
kiss and his heart became a Hindu.

Here again:

«not a Hindu-yi badkhu, of bad character, in the service of his beloved but an Abessinian

who bears his mark»

Thus now Attar is a Ethiopian (Abessinian).

Jp_w jSb> <Sls fSjj

«The Turk of the Heaven (i.e. Mars) becomes the servant of Him,
who became His (i.e. the beloved's) Hindu. »

Now heaven is a Turk, for who is a servant to those that became his Hindu.

9I KS$XiJb ubfcj ,jjo 9 *Sjj Cjljuuu^
CjljuJJuoI jIS j± gjJ U ^o^pAJ

9I l^Judfc ObtJ ,JJO 9 *SjJ CjljuUL^

CjljujAjoI jIS _p gjJ U .yo^pAJ
« He is a Turk and I from the bottom of my heart his Hindu, necessarily he has come to
work with his sword. » (129)

Thus as we can see if we are to take Attar's imagery and symbolism literally, then there
would be arguments between Ethiopians and Indian nationalists about the ethnicity of
Attar.

Abu Esmai'l Abdallah Al- Ansari Al-Heravi (Khwaja Abdullah Ansari of Herat):

He was born in Herat and is considered one of the outstanding Persian writers and
mystics. Khwaja Abdullah Ansari was a descendant of the companion of the Prophet of
Islam, Abi Ayub Ansari. This companion of the Prophet or one of his early descendants
migrated to Herat and eventually the family became Persianized.

197

The Pir of Herat, Khwajah Ansari writes:

(Dastgerdi, Wahid. "Resa'il Jaami' 'Aref Qarn Chaharom Hejri: Khwaja Abdullah
Ansari", Forooghi Publishers, 1 349/1 970, 2 nd edition, p 60)

Translation:

Oh Night, What are? A black Zangi, and I am of Khotanese descent (look like) a moon

(beautiful).

Oh Night, you are upon the dark ruins like an owl and I am on the throne of the age of

Eskandar-e-Rumi (Alexander the Greek).

Thus if we take this literally, then the well known Ansari, a descendant of the compantion
of the Prophet of Islam, would be of Khotanese descent. Of course the contrast between
Dark/African/Zang and Khotanese is a well known contrast used by many Persian poets.

Amir Khusraw:

Amir Khusraw, according to Annmarrie Schimmel, was born to a Turkish father and an
Indian mother and is one of the most important Persian poets of India. Athough
ethnically, he was not Iranian, but rather Indian/Turkic, nevertheless, culturally he was
Iranian.

Schimmel quotes this verse from Amir Khusraw and then further explains:

"The tongue of my friend is Turkish
And I know no Turkish -

Amir Khusrau's own father was of Turkish extraction and the great mystic guru in Delhi
Nizamuddin Auliya affectionately called the poet Turki Allah 'God's Turk'. However the
word Turk was traditionally used to also mean a beautiful, fair-complexioned, lively,
sometimes also cruel beloved, compared to which the miserable lover felt himself to be
but a lowly, humble, swarthy Hindu slave. The literary counterpart turk-hindu, which can
also mean 'black- white', was in use for centuries in Persian literature, and had has its
counterpart in reality on the subcontinent since the days of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna.
Mahmud was of Turkic lineage, and he invaded India no fewer than seventeen times
between 999 and 1030. As a result the Turks were established as a military force, and
they also formed the ruling class, under whose auspices the theologians and lawyers
henceforth had to work"

(Schimmel, Annemarie. "The Empire of the Great Mughals: History, Art and Culture;
translated by Corinne Atwood ; edited by Burzine K. Waghmar; with a foreword by
Francis Robinson. London: Reaktion Books, 2004. Excerpt from pg 233)

Thus if one was to take this verse out of context, Amir Khusraw who knew Turkish (note
his praise of India) did not know any Turkish, although he said:

198

"And there are the numerous languages of India which, when imported, develop more
beautifully than it was possible in their native country - is not the Persian of India much
superior to that of Khurasan and Sistan? Do not people learn the finest Turkish here?"
(Annemarie Schimmel, Turk and Hindu: A Poetical Image and Its Application to
Historical Fact in Speros Vryonis, Jr., ed., Islam and Cultural Change in the Middle Ages
(Undena Publications, 1975), posthumously honoring G.E. von Grunebaum)

We should note something here about the cultural identity of person like Amir Khusraw,
Blban (one of his patrons) and the Turco-Mongols that settled in India. Schimmel points
out:"In fact as much as early rulers felt themselves to be Turks, they conntected their
Turkish origin not with Turkish tribal history but rather with the Turan of Shahnameh: in
the second generation their children bear the name of Firdosi's heroes, and their Turkish
lineage is i variably traced back to Afrasiyab — weather we read Barani in the fourteenth
century or the Urdu master poet Ghalib in the nineteenth century. The poets, and through
them probably most of the educated class, felt themselves to be the last outpost tied to the
civilized world by the threat of Iranianism. The imagery of poetry remained exclusively
Persian."( Annemarie Schimmel, Turk and Hindu: A Poetical Image and Its Application
to Historical Fact)

As Canfield also notes:"The Mughals, Persianized Turks who had invaded from Central
Asiaand claimed descent from both Timur and Genghis strengthened the Persianate
culture of Muslim India. "(Robert L. Canfield, Turko-Persia in historical perspective,
Cambridge University Press, 1991)

Khaqani:

Afzal a-din Badil Ibrahim who received the penname from the Shirvanshah Khaqan
' Azam AbuPMufazzar Khaqan-i Akbar Manuchehr b. Faridun and was also known as
Hessan al-Ajam Khaqani (the Persian Hassan) may be regarded as the second most
important literary figure of the Islamic Caucasia after Nezami Ganjavi. In actually, when
it comes to certain forms like the Qasida, he would be the greatest poet of the area. He
also had a great influence on Nezami as shown in the appendix. He was born to a
Christian mother(possibly Iranian, Armenian, Georgian) and an Iranian (Iranic) father.
He writes about his mother:

"Nesturi o Mobedi Nejaadesh" (Of Nestorian and Zoroastrian(Mobed being the title of
Zoroastrian priets). That is his mother's family might have been originally Zoroastrians
who converted to Nesrotrian Christianity, like many Iranians did in the late Sassanid era.

Here are some verses that Khaqani Shirvani literally claims to be a Hindu (that is if we
read it literally):

cb^u />9xxjuj J9-JUJ pJS y>

199

CjljjjI v_S\jl9L> 9I *S$JJJb iJJjjJbS

pjS jjjuJLajuo jo\j ^jJ m X> j->
(jul5l»)

jjli^Juo oLjuj Jb> cuLSjj ul 9

Thus at least twice Khaqani is claiming to be a Hindu here. But these verses are
obviously not taken literally. Or for example, in his famous "Aivaan Mada'en", Khaqani
remarks:

uLljuulS^ cl*Jj 9_)ul^ 1 JjL viJLo />JLo

This is that same kingly court, which had from its great Kings

(relative to it) a Daylamite was a king of Babylon, A Hindu the King of Turkistan

Rumi:

According to Annemarrie Schimmel: "Rurni 's mother tongue was Persian, but he had
learned, during his stay in Konya, enough Turkish and Greek to use it, now and then in
his verses."
Here are two contradicting verses from Rumi:

9J <£uu^> qS SSjS Qo> tO^p^olo jSy \S\

\$jj J^S :<*S i^J.$$ 9 o^ J^^j^^ <\j v_svjI

lJXkjjJuJ OjJ jS\ \JJ& 9 ^S^jJ _0U) 9J

9_juj vl <CjljujI ^S^jJ °0 °^ jA9 ,jjI ,jjo pj\±

jJljuj O^jjJ OJuu <jjI j\ jS 9J oLj> V.-M

Translation:

'To^ are a Turkish moon and I, although I am not a Turk,
I know this little, that in Turkish the word for water is su "

^jvSjj <*S 9 ^j^Sj ^ 9-3ul5^ <*S 9 />^>i ^
^jlSLil 9 .pjl^sl ub> \S\ CjljujI 9J jjia-aJ jl

200

Translation:

"I am sometimes Turk, sometimes Hindu, sometimes Rumi and sometimes Negro,

O Soul, from your image is my approval and denial "

"Everyone in whose heart is the love for Tabriz, becomes - even though he be a Hindu -
he becomes a rose cheeked inhabitant ofTaraz (i.e. Turk) " (Schimmel, Triumphal Sun)

Note Taraz is a city in central Asia known for its beauties. All these contradictory verses
have symbolic meaning and should not be taken out of their context.

In the case of Rumi, he has also left compositions and his followers have written about
him. Here is an interesting Sufic view on the role of Turks according to Rumi in history.

Nizami:

Finally we discuss some imagery from Nizami before discussing misinterpretation of his
verses in the next chapter. It should be noted that the misinterpretation has gone as far as
assigning Turkish ethnicity to Layli (in Layli o Majnoon) and to Shirin (in Khusraw o
Shirin) despite the fact that their names are Arabic and Persian respectively; Shirin was a
Christian originally of probably Aramean origin, but later on she became known by poets
as an Armenian princess. But these shall be discussed in the next chapter.

As Schimmel has already noted:

By the end of the 12th century, the symbol Hindu for black is used commonly by Nizami: — The
Indian princess — described with the famous contrast-pair as

« gaze lie with Turkish (i.e. killing) eyes,
from Hindu origin »

±\j 9Jud3> /XjJuc> *Sjj l5£j3>I

is that of Saturday which is ruled by Saturn which is poetically called

the ij+j ^jj\j l59_Ll^ or >^juj ^jjofc and has, according to astrological tradition, black colour.

But Nizami has also compared the crow to the Indian:

JljujLu <*_jljuUU LS9AJL& y> £\j

JljJjLu Sjl<*iC G^JuLlfc jl lS^P

« The crow is surely of Hindu origin,
and to steal is not astonishing in Hindus » (HP 112)

<jjUL^juUU GLjO^ J^JuUU jl ^jSjJ

« A Turk from Byzantine origin,
whose surname is «the object of pleasure to the Hindus»

Here are some other examples.

201

In praise of one of the rulers:

jjliSJJufc Ju^U o-h> v\5jj QjzJb

Translation:

May all the Turks of China be his Hindu (slave),
May no frown come upon his brows from the Chinese

We note that Chin in Persian poetry (Shahnameh and Panj Ganj) is actually Western
China and parts of Central Asia that were ruled by Khaqan. That is why the Khaqan of
Gok Turks in the Shahnameh is called the Khaqan of Chin.

Here is another example from Nizami:

^S^fP^- v\5jj {JjJu^y uI&Lhuu

Author's translation:

Siyaahaan Habash (The blacks of Ethiopia), Torkaan Chini (the Turks of China),
Cho Shab (like the night) baa maah (with the moon) kardeh hamneshi (have gathered
together): The blacks of Ethiopia, the Turks of China, like the night with the moon have
gathered together.

Note here that the Siyaahaan Habash (blacks of Ehtiopia) are the color of the night while
the Torkan Chini are the moon (and the stars).

Another example: Here is one where the Kurd's daughter is of Hindu Mole, Indian
nature/created and Turkish eye and face.

Cjlj»JuL0J \j CUJj O^L GL_JuJ9Juiifc j

The Kurd had a daughter with beautiful face

A lovely beauty with Turkish eyes and Indian mole

A bride of Hindu components and Turkish face

From Hindustan has given the king a paradise

When the King of India offers his daughter to Alexander the Great, Nezami Ganjavi

writes this description of her in his Eskandarnama:

CjljuUjjuU 9-VjLfi) OjLuUL^j O^J \^&~°

202

/>loJ 9_)Jl^ u^> J^ UJu^p Pj

9 1 lS^S LSgJJufc £j l5^>9j j
9I l59_JJl^ QJLjJjS uLj09j <^jJj

A geat beauty of Hindu origin with Turkish face

It has made Hindustan (India) a Paradise for the King

Not a Hindu, but a Khatai Turk in name

But when it comes to stealing hearts, as adept as a Hindu

From her Roman face and Hindu (sweet) talks

The King of Rome (Alexander) has became her Hindu (Slave)

Another example: A verse from Shirin in Khusraw o Shirin:

Author's translation:

If my eye because ofTurkishness has narrowed,

Came apologizing the chivalrous Hindu

(Here in my opinion Nizami is describing the blackness of the eye beautifully)

Here the whiteness of the eye is the Turk and the blackness of the eye is the Hindu,
furthermore, Turks in Persian poetry are known for Tang-Cheshmi (narrow eyedness) due
to the fact that the Turks described in Persian poetry are the original Asiatic Turks and
not the linguistically Turkified people of later Azerbaijan, Caucasia and Anatolia. We
shall discuss this in the next section. Unfortunately ethnic-biased misinterpretations by
has used such symbolic imagery to claim that Shirin and also Layli in Layli o Majnoon to
be Turkish. Despite the fact that the image of Shirin is known in Persian poetry and both
Shirin and Mahin Banu are Persian names, and the historical Shirin was Aramean while
the Shirin of Nizami Ganjavi is popularized as a Christian Armenian (note the many
places where Shirin reveres the One God) princess and regarded as such by most
scholars. And Layli was from Arabia and Nizami Ganjavi refers to the foreignness of the
tale.

We now quote some verses from the translation of Haft Paykar with regards to Persian
imagery. Original Persian of some of these verses is brought here:

u The Slav king's daughter, Nasrin-Nush

A Chinese Turk in Grecian Dress "
(Julia Meysami, Haft Paykar, pg 51-52)

203

Thus we can see that if we take the verse literally, Slavic king had a daughter who was a
Chinese Turk in Grecian Dress. But the verse makes perfect sense given the brief
overview that was given on Persian poetic symbols, imagery and allusion.

"A fair Turk from Greek stock it seemed

The Joy of Hindus was its name "

(Julia Meysami, Haft Pakyar, pg 99)

Thus we can see the symbols Rum, Hindu and Turk all at play in a two verses.

We note that when the Persian Sassanid King Bahram enters the black dome which is
identified with the kingdom of India:

"When Bahram please sought, he set

His eyes on those seven portraits

On Saturday from Shammasi temple went

In Abbassid black to pitch his tent;

Entered the musk-hued dome and gave

His greetings to the Indian maid"
(Julia Meysami, Haft Pakyar, pg 105)

"See what a Turkish raid heaven made,

What game with such a prince it played

It banished me from Iram 's green

Made my black lot a legend seem "

(Julia Meysami, Haft Paykar, pg 108)

"A queen came forth from her palace dome

Greek troops before Ethiops behind

Her Greeks and Blacks, like two-hued dawn,

Set Ethiops troops against those of Rum (in reality Greece=Rum)"

(Julia Meysami, Haft Paykar, pg 108)

While still in the black dome (associated with the kingdom of India) he meets a lady by
the name Turk-taz (Turkish attack, Turkish raid). This is reminiscent of this verse of
Khwaja Abdullah Ansari of Herat:

OjLc ^>Su J^ 9 Juol ,Jj_jtJuLC
j^jvjI^ (^juulC Ca_jujI Sjl<*iC KS^y

OjLc CjljuulJ v-jloe-c ^y j$

Here is another use of this in the Haft Paykar.

"My love ", said I, "What will you? Fame
204

You surely have; what is your name? "

She said: "A lissome Turk I am,

Turktaz the beautiful my name

In harmony and accord, I said

Our names are to each other wed

How strange that Turktaz your name

For mine-Turktaazi-is the same

Rise; let us make a Turkish raid

Cast Hindus aloes on the flame;

Take life from the Magian cup

With it, on lovers sweetmeas sup "

(Julia Meysami, Haft Paykar, 119-120)

"Til favor you, at life 's own cost

If You're a Turk, I am your black"

(Julia Meysami, Haft Paykar, pg 128)

(Here Hindu or Ehtiop was probably translated as Black)

'Without the light's radiance, like a shade,

A Turk, far from that Turkish raid"

(Julia Meysami, Haft Paykar, pg 131)

"The Chinese-adorned bride of Rum

Said 'Lord of Rum, Taraz, Chin"
(Julia Meysami, Haft Paykar, pg 133)

In the tale of the Greek's daughter in the Yellow dome we read:

"Each newly purchased maid she 'd hail

As ( Rumi 'queen and Turkish belle "

(Julia Meysami, Haft Paykar, pg 134)

"Although her Turkish wiles enflamed,

He kept his passion tightly reined"
(Julia Meysami, Haft Paykar, pg 137)

In the Turquoise Dome

"In Egypt dwelt a man, Maahaan

More beautiful than the full moon,

Like Egypt 's Joseph, fair of face;

A thousand Turks his Hindu Slave "

(Julia Meysami, Haft Paykar, pg 1 75)

"Till the nights Ethiop rushed day 's Turks,
205

The king ceased not his joyful Sport"
(Julia Meysami, Haft Paykar, pg 216)

Chinese King apologizing to Bahram:

"I'm still his humble slave; of Chin

At home, but Ehtiop to him "

(Julia Meysami, Haft Paykar, pg 257)

We note all these symbolic allusions and imagery are part of Persian poetry and have
been used by many Persian poets including Hafez, Sa'adi, Sanai, Attar, Khaqani and
Nizami Ganjavi. Nezami Ganjavi, Attar, Rumi, Hafez, Khaqani, Sanai and several other
Persian poets used them extensively. Unfortunately due to lack of knowledge of Persian
language and literature, and also due to political reasons, the USSR tried to misinterpret
some of the verses with the word Turk in order to assign a Turkic ethnicity to Nizami.
The ultimate goal was what Stalin tried to portray, that Nizami Ganjavi was forced to
write in Persian and was a victim of Persian Chauvinism! We shall deal with this issue in
the next chapter but this section has overall proved that the context of the verse and its
meanings must be understood appropriately and Nizami Ganjavi who was not an ethno-
cent eristic has used these symbols like many other Persian poets have.

Which Turks are described in Persian Poetry?

Today there are two groups of Turkic speakers in term of physical characteristics
(phenotypes) although the genotypes show a greater variety. The Turcophones of
Anatolia, Azerbaijan and the Caucasia as opposed to the Turks of Central Asia, China
and Siberia are overwhelmingly Caucasian looking. It is easily shown that when Nizami
Ganjavi and other Persian poets (Attar, Hafez, Sanai, Rumi, Khaqani, Salman Saveji...)
use the term Turk, they are referring to the Mongloid types of Central Asia and not the
Caucasoid type of the Caucasia and the Near East. This is important since the association
of Turks in classical Persian poetry at least up to the time of Hafez has to do with the
Central Asian types. Of course, the Caucasoid types (who are mainly linguistically
Turkified due to the elite dominance of Turks) are not physically different than Persians,
Kurds, Armenians, Greeks, Arabs and etc where-as the Mongoloid types are radically
different. It is clear that the primary heritage left by the Turkic nomads and invaders of
the region was that of language (heavily influenced by Persian and Persianized Arabic)
rather than culture. Thus it was their distinctive facial and physical features which made
the Turks of Central Asia as the ideal type of beauty in Persian literature.

We already quoted Professor Peter Golden who has written the most comprehensive book
on Turkic people in English up to this time:

"The original Turkish physical type, if we can really posit such, for it should be borne in
mind that this mobile population was intermixing with its neighbors at a very stage, was

206

probably of the Mongloid type (in all likelihood in its South Siberian variant). With may
deduce this from the fact that populations in previously Europoid areas of Iranian speech
begin to show Mongloid influences coincidental with the appearances of Turkic people. "

We have also quoted Prof. Schimmel who has said:

"Soon the Turkish type of beauty became prominent both in pictures and in poetical

descriptions: a round face with narrow eyes and a minute mouth. "

Iraj Anvar, the translator of forty eight ghazals from Rumi also mentions this:

"It indicates people from the North, with high cheek bones and almond shaped eyes,

considered to be the most beautiful people ".

(Anvar, Iraj. "Divan Shams Tabrizi, Fourthy Eight Ghazals, Translated by Iraj Anvar",

Semar Publishers Sri, 2002. Pg 131)

We now quote many Persian poets including Nizami Ganjavi, as well as Muslim
historians account. One attribute of Turks identified in Persian poetry is Tang-Cheshm
(literally: narrow-eyes) which is part of the Mongloid features.

Nizami Ganjavi mentions this fact at least four times with respect to Turks:

'I brought so much light into this world, that I cast away narrow -eyedness from Turks "
Nizami Ganjavi describing the anger of Alexander at the Khaqan:

St, ^ ^ St

~ ~ St

- St _ St

Ol<p*jO 9^jl jJ~*S> jJXJ v_S\Ju^> j

olSu p±y> ulouj jJjIjj

St, St

uLju^juULU JuuLflS CjljuuIj QJ^UuU
uLjl^> j± CjljuuuJ L99 9 Jl0_C <&

Jul 0Ju> uLua^ p^JJ^r. <*j \S&\j$

_- St
$$J iJuS LxjuU j^JQ OS v-SO JJ±>

^ St St ^ St St

v_SvJljuuI^ L99 v_SVjuJ^ i-JjJ jS I

And in another description:

207

An allusion to the beauty of the eyes:

According to Ibn Athir, When the Mongols reached the Alans (Iranian tribe) and Qipchaq

(Turkic Tribe) tribes, the Mongols told the Qipchaq:

"We and you are of the same race, but the Alans are not from you, so that you should

help us. Your religion is also not like theirs. "Thus the Qipchaq turned away from the

Alans, but later on the Mongols attacked the Qipchaq).

(Al-Kamil Ibn Athir).

In Persian literature, when Turks are described, they are described with the physical

feature of the Turks of Central Asia and Yakuts. For example this statue of an ancient

Turkish King of the Gok-Turks Kul Tegin exemplifies this

http://www.ulkuocaklari.orq.tr/kulturedebiyat/qrafik/kultiqin.ipq

Here is a picture of Seljuq Prince found online:

208

OJU /XjuUC> U OjJ &OJuuIj*juU

OLoj Ol c LljuUU CjljuoS jjoJUlJu /XjuUC>

^joJu jl OJu 3^> Ij LLx> v^jJ /xjuuc> 9^
l5j9^ qjI jl uLp-> ^Lh^ ^jl^ jL^ c ^r

lSjUU /XjuUC> OljU lSIS Cjl&S
^lSjU^JVjO /XjuUC> 3j Ij IjO Juu^>

/>Lpdl ^-jS^> ^j3 ^JoJI olj-^lS

/>\LuuJl9 ^jvj^S CjljuuI uISjj JL>

Jul O^jS ^JVJjJ ^5 ^JVJ Lg-ifi-uU Ol JuujJ^JU)

209

9J j^ :>^ v^uu v\£jj puJjdr u$2r b <jiub

lSjS JuZ3 CjlSLuUUO j^ lSjLuU j9^ Ij ^9> ^> jS

Qj\± Qj ^s^^jo sSjIj OJjJI pssu ol^-bb^

ojuj 653 JLuu b <& OljuuI jISjsj qjI c ui*y u^gj >ij 9 c uS9^> p^** ^l>s^j jl <-s^ ^9

OlJl> uljujO j^ /Jjjl^ <3j Oil^aX) ^iJLoO j± 0$ CjljuuI iSjjS O^-^' A^ ^hLjuJ 9I .CjljuuI CO^J

v_SvjlS>C W^^JLuU ^ CjljuuI ^Lsdl ^L^VjjO <J*9*£U V^ ^9 jj\ fJJ.jJ /^JO- CjljuuI OJljuU QJljujS

JJjS 9 Jc^jO 9 V^jJ c Uj0O ^ jjJuO LSI jl v-S^JuU-^Jj^ .CjljuuI CoL C-H^ ^J^ Sr^-^jM ^~j °W *J

\puJl£> v-S^JO Ij jJ^ 1 --^ U^l /^ V -CjljujI CO^p OjLuuI $£>

CjiSb UjJljuu/ jLu jLqS \_J^Ji>JO jSljulJ (617) ^ULoJLajU $ juuUlC $ &LJUU QJljuJ j££-juJ $Jjb' jJ>»

jl tCjLjJuS jjblh (JulcMo ul jl <lS <J)jS> 9 />Jl& $ j-jujI $ Jji9 j) ±LuuS $ <=UJi9 ul g t jbj> ul ju

ciszul J// OJUobu £yjb' gun) jJ> $ CjljuuI 0J>IjJ uLuuu (juuS /)\LujI 9 jJiS jb± $ jj^lC gun)

/OJ^jOjS 9 CjljuuI 0j/j jb j+> uLojJI js>l iSLd) <UJL9 jl jo\LuuJI 9 dgJLzill c uic (j+a^J^I^

/\0j2)£~>2 ulS <J)$j\JI uUS d<p?$JI jjos> (j+c\JI jbz& iSjjJI IpJbUu lJ^> clcLuuJI />$su V

olSul b Sj+ZtJjJ CuoLS t <^S 0±$JOj9 9 CjljuuI O^jS (JuuCiLo jLqS \jul CJl& £ <Z9j^loJI uktjoJI

,j^j uLuiuLo) lJ^uj $ Juuub ±jS> uLuuul LSln> /Xjuus> <lS lJ^o$2 <-Ll*5u JLs uISjj b bxjuu <%S

Ol jl JJ2J $ .OJUljuuS jl CjljuUQj- jJi-JuU U£^jOlQ> gljS $ _>£/ £j-mU uLuOjl lSL& lS$j $ _>£/

<=iS j>£jojJ -J^aJI < J^aJI :Jl$ ^£j^l bo I^ujI J^juuj b :JLJ ^j^JIjjl^u 3 icjljuuI o±$x>jS

j$j Qj /)\LuuJI 9 Ogl^aJI c bJLc <=L>I^> <lS CjljuuI ul Qj&lg (Jul t CJLJL-> 4u .j£juU jbuuUU Jul9

J*P-JUU kSj jl <=0 Jp/ CU^Ss* jjljllLU (JUjI ( Jul9 .5£J 0JUJ> jb ULajU Jul $ Jl»£L.ilLulU jl (JjUju Cj^jJ
jljn> -L»^-'b {j*JLU LoS £ Jul O^jS (JJubS Ol Cjl/\J$ 9 CjljuuI U2jJZ2> fjul L-ajUJjO $ jJ^JO ^ lSj
ObuoLuul $ />Luul \jSJLoJ> jJ (JuuCiLo Ol ±LuUl9 $ <=UJi9 $ .<%JljJUS j+juuI $ dJuol Jji9 <=U l t S>jOJ>I

<=U CjuuZjO $ JL^JuUj CjuLc <ZJ \L U^> CjlaSLc LZjS C/jbuC JjS> jl <={S CjljuuI Cf^Lfj ul jl

J>£J fjJuAjuLO <={S OIJjOlQ) J&JuU jl CajJZJP ,JU I . . . U I$SZJljuU I Qj 5jlS $ -L^JuUj uL> 4u jlS $ Cjulpj

jj> £ jj joLoJ £jJb lSjJzL> u^jSZO jJ> OljjjS: $ uLuUU$j± jl i^SUOJ> b Juol U$jjU ^jljuU <=U

jLqS <%S Ju»-JuUj Obs> jju> jjJiS Qui 1-jlSLC jJ 9 iJrfJjl olj <=U <=ULoJljuU $ juuUlC uLoJ QjljuU J^fi-^U

U<pr ^ JjJUuuU$5u cS~ JuJ S 9 J-& ^V J-fi-**' {Jb&t 9 -!/->/> jL^O $ JJJLol uIJjOlQ) J&JuU <Z/..(JulCILo

i^uulU $ JuljuuS j LljuUJ iJ^Js* 9 JLJuljuUJ J*p-JvU $ JLul9u CjljuuI jLqS ~ JuLoJ CjlO^LQjO Cjl9UD

j&juu Qu <={S I j uLfJzJo (jul iSbjSl $ JuJjS /)Lou ir jvljs> $ -ti^jJ j^-^l b CjIj^C 9 lj JbUol

.Ju^jS JLl0-juU jjljuULU £JU±£J

^sSjSu Lo £b Qu Jujb

«i T sSjU JULOJ LO (JudS j<)

uLuuul LSln> lS$j 5 _>£/ (j£j uLuZubb t_5u-u/ 5 Juuub ±jS> uLuuul LSln> /xjuus> <& ir svo$9»

«0JlauuUS jJ> CjljuUQj- jJf-vU U£^OlQ) gljS $ ±$J (tj-W

210

Unsound arguments made during the
USSR era about the ethnicity of Nizami

We now have provided the necessary images of Persian poetry and history background to
review the merit of the unsound arguments made during the USSR era. We also
demonstrated that Nezami Ganjavi became fully politicized in the USSR scholarship and
even Stalin gave a direct verdict. Although it seems Bertels did not provide a detailed
study of Nezami Ganjavi' s background (nor any significant USSR author did), false
arguments were made by ethno-nationalists in Azerbaijan SSR and some other USSR
scholars. In order to look at the arguments, we have chosen three sources:

1) An article in the bi-lingual (Persian and Azeri) magazine Varliq written by Javad Heyat
which has a well known Turkic nationalist bent in Iran. The article references sources
from the Republic of Azerbaijan and the former USSR.

2) An article by a scholar Mohammad Zadeh Sadiq who received his doctorate from Turkey
and claims the Sumerians, Elamites, Avesta and etc. were Turks.

3) An article by a Hossein Feyzollahi from Tabriz going as far as claiming Layli in the Layli
o Majnoon in Nizami Ganjavi 's was from a Turkic tribe in Arabia. (Again because
Persian imagery where central Asiatic Turks were seen as the ideal type of beauty).

The arguments by these three authors as well the random sites have been taken straight
from USSR historiography and repeat the same arguments first made in the USSR. We
will also mention their reasoning, analyze them, and finally show that they lack any basis
for assigning Nizami Ganjavi a Turkic father line.

False argument: A false verse created in 1980

Although we touched upon this false verse before, it is important to touch upon it again,
since a good deal of nationalist websites are spreading it over the internet and print
media. Indeed and unfortunately, there is no regulation for search engines such as google
and many people will google out false information from the internet.

As mentioned recently, a false verse in 1980 about Nizami' s father was forged:

Translation of the false verse:
"Father upon father of mine were all Turks,
each one of them was wise as wolf! "

211

The above couplets, like much other false information on Nizami Ganjavi can be easily
found in pan-Turkist websites/books/articles although it was falsified in 1980. Its basic
rhyme of Gurg/Gorg (Wolf) and Turk/Tork show its invalidity and non-ingenuity of the
author who falsified it. Yet the USSR scholar from Azerbaijan SSR, Arsali Nushabi
writes:

Ali Ganjali, a well known researcher from the Azerbaijan SSR in the introduction of his
Layli o Majnoon Nizami, translated by the Turkish author M.K. Kurtuncan has written: "I
do not know which manuscript of Layli o Majnoon I have seen this verse in the Ayasufia
library, which Nizami explicitly mentions that he is a Turk and his fathers were Turks,
the verse is this:

±$J ^SjJ l>X> jJQ j-X^ jJ jXt

See:

.1371 ,4 JLuu t^^AjjIjLjJuul^l i« \kS$z*l& ^jvjoLbu G^j *Sjj j± jj u±$j jjJSlo <3Juljuj» t^jOuJuo J\L>

Matini, J. "A solid proof on the Turkic roots of Nizami Ganjavi?!", Iranshenasi, Volume
4, 1371(1992-1993).

The above example, like the false statement of Stalin that: "Nizami wrote most of his
poetry in Persian " (Trying to hint that he has Turkish poetry!), shows the unethical and
unscholarly political writings that have attempted to demean the personality of Nizami
Ganjavi. All of these futile efforts were to take Nizami Ganjavi out of Iranian civilization
by any means possible. Indeed, if Nizami Ganjavi had any serious references to any sort
of Turkish identity or culture, there would not be a need to create such a false verse.

The nationalist groups have used this falsified and forged verse in their articles and books
to claim that Nizami Ganjavi was of Turkic stock. Supposedly, the Grey Wolf or Wolf is
seen as wise creature in Turkic mythology. If that is the case, then one should look at
actual and authentic verses of Nizami Ganjavi about Wolves which would actually
counter their argument (since Wolf is a holy symbol in Turkic mythology than Nizami
Ganjavi 's derision of it means he was not from that culture).

Here are some verses about Wolves by Nizami Ganjavi which depict wolves as stupid,
vile character and bloodsucking creature and even prefers a fox to a wolf and calls the
fox as the king of Wolf due to the Wolfs stupidity! There is nothing about the wisdom
(Farzanegi) of the Wolf in his poems and indeed bad and unpleasant people are compared
with Wolf:

/XjJL> j^>Uj ^_$S^jj Ca99 <*J

212

Oj^j CjuOU 9 CjljuoSjjj CjuoLu

^jj olj o^^j OjS j 0U9J

OjjJ CjuOU 9 CjljuoSjJJ CjuoLu

JJj^j^S Ju 9 JuJu v-SOLo^jjO

JUjjU O-juU 9 OjS j v_sOLq_juU9J

^ JuU JuU <^j^ Ij W^jS

±j5 JuU JJc> 0U9J jj^Sj

JuuyO j O^lj ^ v-SOU^L>

JJuyO^I Oj9^> 3j ^^vjlS^

V^LljuuI^ ^j UUC> JuC^O />9-JuU

^sOL^juU Jul j ^US v-Sv^jS lj ^

jl^itJ^ v-Sv^^P sSJJlQ-juu^S Jubj

jliu 9I U OLuU ^9! J$
Jul^J U 9_juU v_SvSu jl <Sj5 JljuUO

JuLojjIg b uLjuj 9_juu pu^ j

LSjU <^j> JuU ^ \j OLjuJ

Thus it is extremely unfortunate that someone in 1980 falsified such a verse in the former
USSR. This was part of the USSR policy of nation building but there is no excuse for its
abundance in Google and some non-internet publications. Unfortunately, lies coupled
with ethnic nationalism propagate fast on the Internet and other media and the ethnic
nationalists who spread these lies have little regards for truths. More unfortunately, the
above false verse is coupled with Turkish poems of other authors and then attributed to
Nizami Ganjavi. Thus many susceptible readers will get false information with regards
to Nizami Ganjavi unless they were aware of ethnically natured manipulations with
regards to his personality. Anyhow, if Nizami Ganjavi was not Iranian and did not have
Iranian culture and had Turkic culture (which the book Nozhat al-Majales provides
decisive proof that Iranic culture was dominant in the urban centers), there would be no

213

need to create such false verses to associate him with Turkic nationalist Gray Wolf
myths.

Incorrect argument: Nizami uses "Turkish words" so "he must
be Turkish"

One of the unsound claims used is that since Nizami Ganjavi uses a dozen or so Turkish
words, then he could have been Turkic! Mohammad Amin Rasulzadeh (who was a pro-
Iranian nationalist at first but later on became pro-Turkic nationalist and pan-Turkic) is
known for his political activism, but he also admired Persian poetry and has written a
book where he enumerates 30 or so "Turkish" words and titles. It should be mentioned
that the etymology of some of these words that are claimed to be Turkish by him are not
probably Turkish. For example Khatun, Saav, Ghirmiz, Miyanji, and Amaaj are not
Turkic words. Before looking at the matter closely, we should mention that many Persian
poets before and after Nizami use the same Turkish words. Indeed as Professor Xavier
Planhol has stated:

"The Turks, on the other hand, posed a formidable threat: their penetration into Iranian
lands was considerable, to such an extent that vast regions adapted their language. This
process was all the more remarkable since, in spite of their almost uninterrupted political
domination for nearly 1,000 years, the cultural influence of these rough nomads on
Iran 's refined civilization remained extremely tenuous. This is demonstrated by the
mediocre linguistic contribution, for which exhaustive statistical studies have been made
(Doerfer). The number of Turkish or Mongol words that entered Persian, though not
negligible, remained limited to 2,135, i.e., 3 percent of the vocabulary at the most. These
new words are confined on the one hand to the military and political sector (titles,
administration, etc.) and, on the other hand, to technical pastoral terms. The contrast
with Arab influence is striking. While cultural pressure of the Arabs on Iran had been
intense, they in no way infringed upon the entire Iranian territory, whereas with the
Turks, whose contributions to Iranian civilization were modest, vast regions of Iranian
lands were assimilated, notwithstanding the fact that resistance by the latter was
ultimately victorious. Several reasons may be offered. "
(Land of Iran, Encyclopedia Iranica)

Thus Persian has been influenced slightly by Turkish and Turkish has actually been
influenced much more by Persian. The argument also has no importance. For example
Ottoman Turkish has many Persian words but that does not make the users of the
Ottoman language necessarily Persian.

Now as per some of the words Khatun, Saav, Ghirmiz , Miyanji, Amaaj, their
etymologies are not Turkish.

For example Khatun:

This is considered Soghdian by Frye (History of Bukhara, 1954), Clauson from Soghdian

xwate:n ("lord'Vith fern. end.).

214

Modern Iranians use the term Khanum (which is Turkish) besides the Persian word Banu
(which is Persian) and occasionally Khatun is seen. Nevertheless, the word Khatun had
entered modern Persian from Soghdian already and is attested in Rudaki's Diwan,
Ferdowsi's Shahnameh and Naser Khusraw' s Diwan. The Dehkhoda Dictionary provides
sufficient testimony to this fact.

:>lj *Sli J± jIjuj CjljuuuIju
^b j u9jL> 9 olsL> ajj^ <£

OqjS\ AjU y^SjS 9j 0$j\s> ciS

(9 - )-juUL> JJ&UJ

The word Saav (sLuj) is a Persian word and its Middle Persian/Pahlavi form is saag or
saav and it is also used already by Ferdowsi (again quote from the Dehkhoda Dictionary):

The word Miyanji is also Persian and is related to 'Mian'or middle. Its Middle
Persian/Pahlavi form is Mianjig and has been used numerous times in the Shahnameh and
has been also used by Nasir Khusraw:

(cS^9^0

It is the same with the word Ghirmiz (red) and Amaaj which have been used by Persian
poets before Nizami. One may refer to the RIRA online Persian poetry
(http://rira.ir/rira/php/?page=view&mod=classicpoems&obj=home&id=Q accessed Dec
2007) or the Dehkhoda Dictionary.

For example, Nasir Khusraw, the Khorasani poet says:

uLoj CjljJulS^ Aifcl9^J pj\± QjJi^jOdfc

kSjjQjS Cjj$j> kS$j 9 lS^jJlC OAs*>-

\$j-ujJ> >*^>u)

And the word Amaaj has already been used by Khorasani poets including Sanai
Ghaznawi and Farrokhi Sistani:

ulcxS jj L 3v-^J jjJ olSL>lol <\j 9J 0§z>
\y uLlC 9 CjljuJ^ £9j 9 J-Q-C AjS OA^uuJ

( l 5\jLljuj)

215

The word Bilak (<^Lj) is probably a Persian word although some sources have said it
could be Indian. Anyhow, regardless of its etymology, it has been used by many poets,
even prior to Nizami. For example Sanai, Suzani, Anvari Abivardi.

(lS^I)

So not all words claimed to be Turkish are indeed of Turkic origin. We now take a look
at ten of the words which we believe have clear or probable Turkish etymology and that
are used by Nizami Ganjavi. The Dehkhoda Dictionary brings sufficient examples that
these words were used by Persian poets before Nizami Ganjavi. Also a false claim has
risen by authors who are not familiar with the Turkish law of vowel harmony nor Perso-
Arabic script that Nezami used Turkish spelling of these words. Actually as shown he
uses Persian spelling which were used by previous poets. We should also note that
Doerfer has listed virtually all Turkish words in Persian and all the Turkish words used
by Nezami have been used by other Persian poets and they follow Persian spelling and
form of these words.

1)

Yotaaq/Yataaq (<JLu) which in Persian means "Paas Daashtan, Sarvari, Hefz,
Mohafezaf'has been used by the Seljuqid Vizier Nizam Al-Molk. We will quote the
Dehkhoda dictionary here:

/>lbu i^JLoJI jjljuj) *S^$J jIajLi L _5^9 - p l _s\j3>ISjL> 9 ^SAJJSj J)Lu Qj ^jJQ JuL> <1$ Ju^j 6±j5 /)$1slo

(^JLoJI
The word is also used by Sa'adi who is definitely not considered to be Turk:

\j Lo 9 jU ^jljuuJ CjljuUUO £J
CjlSUU j± CjljuoS lSjI_XjJ

We note that Turkish spelling of this word is J?bU which neither Nezami nor Sa'adi nor
Nezam al-Moolk use.

2)

Another word is Totoq (^u). Note Nezami uses the form ^u but in Turkish spelling it
would be spelled as JJ9J9J. The Dehkhoda Dictionary believes its etymology is possibly
Persian. The meaning of this word is a big tent or curtain. Anyhow the word has been
already used by famous poets like Asadi Tusi and Anvari Abivardi before Nizami. We
will quote examples from the Dehkhoda Dictionary:

9j /xSjJ 9 /Aj fJ^J^jS <\j\s> J^

Jul j^jvjoJ jJu ,JjJu j jjJ^

(i_S j9 jl)

(_S3_jJuo gJu^> JjiJ _p Cj_iili <& 1J3I j

216

tf$> \j eU^ul 9

(lS^I)

The word is also used by the Persian poet Attar:

j9^ ^jvJlS O^gj^ ^-j\js\ j\ ,J^u Ocp*

6u*o

3)

Another word is Manjuq/Monjuq (Jj^^juo). Although the Dehkhoda Dictionary is not sure
about etymology of this word, that could possibly be Iranian (it might even be Greek),
there are numerous examples of this word in Persian poetry by Attar, Farrokhi, Asadi
Tusi, Sanai and other Khorasani Persian poets.

>*r^ OJJJ 9 ^9< ti - >0-° Li^

( L _S^uJ9-b lSJuujI)
/xic 9 J^cptJuo 9 ^^h-o j\ L 3JL> j^jvJl^U

S>±\ t^ib cS^-^9^ P
GUoc)

^JLJLJJ 9 J9j ^)J^ j^JNJL^LuJ ,JJ^ O^JuZlJ *-Sl>J jl

,jj^jo 9 ^cp* 9 Oj-J O^I^C 9 ^cptJuo 9 J-«-b

( l _5\jLljuj)

As well as Nezami:

v3^jlC ^ 0±y> ^jvjcxL^ 9_juj ^ CU

^9^tJuo A2>- Ocp* «US QJLjJjJb<)j9

(i^olbu)

Again the etymology of Majnuq was claimed to be Turkish by a Turkish author, but we
are not sure. Be that it may, the word has been used by many other Persian poets.

4)

Another word is Bayraq (3m or flag) which we believe is Turkish since the Persian word
for it is Akhtar/Darafsh. The word has been used by Khorasani poets already and the
Dehkhoda Dictionary gives the example of Anvari Abivardi:

o\j JuLi 9jAjI JJL> <*5 ^jvJuexS^ <\j
k3}jJ oLjo ulj Ju^LjoS olo 9 ^gjo j

(ySj9i\)

217

The word is also used by Khaqani, Khaju and other Persian poets.

5)

Toghra (\^io). This word has been used by Attar, Borhani (an early Persian poet of the
Seljuq era who served in the Seljuq courts), Hafez, Khaqani and etc. The Dehkhoda
Dictionary gives some example of the usage of this word. Here is couplet from Borhani:

Cite)

^jLilkxs> JuIjujoj L3VJ9? Lo O^^ <^>lz>
CjljuuuJ <Jj cLljuuo uLJuu l^jiUo ,Jjl jJulS

(Ja9l»)

6)

Yazak 0-S>»). The Dehkhoda Dictionary believes the word is actually Persian. Whatever

the origin, it has been used by such poets as Anvari Abivardi, Rumi, Sa'adi, Nizami,

Khaqani and the Samanid era Tarikh-i Bal'ami (a Persian translation of the Tarikh-i

Tabari).

0_juJ <\j \S&\$ O^^SljuUU <j^>>C 9 J9J0 jJ QjlSU. ^JVJ

(lSV^I <3j£jI)

^jvSu CJLJUJ9I l _5vSjISj j± <£ jSZJ ul

L _SvSJ^ Jc*Jljuuu jJzj u\ j\ 6j^S *Su>

l59 p AJS\ /die Jjjfc OJc*jfc j%

L _5vSjj JuLi 09^ 9I jl <*S Iqj>

GUoc)

7)

Totmaj (gloJu). This word has already been used in the Persian medical dictionary
(Dhakhireyeh Khwarizmshahi) and the Khorasani poet Suzani and the Shirwani poet
Khaqani. It is a certain type of soup and there are many Persian food names in Turkish
and there are Turkish food names in Persian. Just like the word Macaroni is in many
languages of the world. Here is what Dhakhioreyeh Khwarimzshahi (written in Khorasan
which shows the familiarity of Persians with this type of meal) says:

CjL_fciKp Ocp* AjS JJ9J -buJLc LSlpjolsLb jl <*$ gjJ kS\^Jj^>j 9 Cjljuj\LuoI ^Jljuj jJ^j ^juljuj <*1xxj> j±

(^^Nj^LJuuojjIcp* zOjjJ>±).. 9 Qjj£ 9 cU-jJjj 9 gloJu-.^lS

218

The fact the word is used by a famous medical tome written in Khorasan shows that it
was a popular dish throughout the Persian Islamic world.

(l5^j9-"0

,jjI j\ ,jjuy \j *SJs ulS^ QjzJb

AJjX^-iuj OLuuul l _5nJ>Louu ^3JL>

Gjul§b>)

We should note that Turkish spelling (following vowel harmony) would be %y&y which
is not used by Nezami.

8)

Chavush (j±j$ b>) is another military term that has been claimed to be Turkish (it is
possible too since a good portion of Turkish loanwords in Persian had to do with military,
nomadic lifestyles and aristocratic titles). It has been used by such Persian poets as
Anvari Abivardi and Amir Mo'ezi (early Seljuqid era poet):

6jj \j jISjj JljuJc^ 9J <*_j^>b> y>
(lSj^X) >jjoI)

(lS j9 jI)

9)

Voshaq (3 1^9) has also been used by such Khorasani poets as Manuchehri and Attar.

oL_juj j± lSJuj CjljujI^ JJI9J ^jS
l _5\jOJ^icI «JLJj9 Jul olj Pj jS

^JVJO^P^ jl 9I ^JNj^LjLJUaS CjLJUULlfr

G.;loll ^JaJuo - jlloc)

9_d>l ulju J^ ^p^^^juj 9^b> ul 3j ^jJulC pJ3y>
,jJul9LJj9I ±j5 9^L> 9 CjljJulS l _sv9LJj9 9_ftl OqjS

(lS>£^Lo)

10)

Khailtash (j^LJL>). The word Tash in this word is Turkish. The word has already been

used by the Ghaznavid era historian, Beyhaqi in his famous Tarikh.

(^jJL^jlj £yju) .^ULjuj^ jjjJj-C ^Kj «J)J>lo jl j-J \j ^^j-juuuo { Jlj\jJuJ> cLjuj 9

219

(Ijc*j3>:> jl <uSjZjj)

Where-as the dozen or so Turkish words Nizami uses have been used by Persian poets
and can be found in Persian texts before and after Nizami, he has used peculiar Kurdish
words that no other Persian poet has used as far as we know, like 'golalakan'in the
following couplet:

(u^jcfcjo 9 usJLJ)

Dr. Servatian considers this as Kurdish meaning the eyes. (Ayandeh, 15/657)

As clearly demonstrated, a number of Turkish words which became part of the Persian
lexicon have been used by poets and authors before and after Nizami Ganjavi. Indeed we
only used two sources, the Dehkhoda Dictionary and a poetry database with 25 poets,
most of them after Nizami Ganjavi. There are thousands of manuscripts before, during
and after the time of Nizami Ganjavi. Indeed it is surprising to see that out of an
estimated 300,000 (unique and non-unique) words (in 30,000 couplets and assuming 10
words per couplet) only 30 or so words are of possible Turkish origin (assuming the
etymology is certain). This is extremely of a low frequency and percentage. Dr. Behruz
Therwatiyan and Barat Zanjani are also clear that the frequency of Turkish words used by
Nezami is characteristic of Persian poets of that era. Thus we can see many of the same
words are also used by Khaqani who is another Persian poet.

Had one browsed through every book before, around and after Nizami Ganjavi, one could
easily find Turkish words also and Doerfer has done a complete listing (although it
should be mentioned that not all of his etymologies are agreed upon). This is expected,
since at least from Samanid era, Turkish soldiers were used in the army. Consequently
Turkish terms (many of them military) slowly entered the Persian-Dari language. The
argument can also be brought for Greek words that are part of Persian like f^fcP , ^, ^,
jj^, j^j ? .iiK, ^ j^i^ ? jjte jl, j^-jSI, (all used by Nezami and many also by
Ferdowsi)..and more. As well the many Greek names and titles used by Nizami(overall
Greek words come third after Persian and Arabic). Yet none of this implies that Nizami 's
father was Greek or he knew Greek!

The politically minded scholars who want to use such an unsound argument in order to
cut off Nizami Ganjavi from his Iranian and Persian heritage are actually showing their
lack of knowledge in the Persian language. These politically minded scholars do not
understand that Nizami Ganjavi is part of the greater genre of Persian poetry and it is
imperative to study important works of Persian poetry in order to understand him. Thus
as we can see, this was another unsound argument created during the USSR era in order
to disassociate Nizami Ganjavi from Iranian civilization. It is like claiming that Fizuli or
Ottoman writers were all Persians because they used many Persian words (with extremely
higher frequency than Persian poets use Turkish or Greek words).

220

Interestingly enough, we would like to point out that Nizami Ganjavi pronounces
Azerbaijan as in the New Persian Shahnameh: ul^Upl and Vis o Ramin: ul^jUpl .
This is the older Persian pronunciation where-" Azerbaijan" is a somewhat Arabicized
form of the Middle Persian word Aturpatakan.

Incorrect argument: Nizami Praises Seljuq Turks (or Turks) so
he was half Turkic

One of the arguments used to ascribe Turkic ethnicity to Nizami Ganjavi is that he
supposedly praises Turkic rulers and thus he has Turkic background. The argument has
several flaws on the onset.

The first flaw is that praising qualities of one group does not mean the author is from that
group. For example Xenophon the Greek writer and host of other Greeks (including
Plato) have praised Cyrus the Great of Persia. But these do not make Plato to be an
author of Persian background. Indeed good qualities of Persians are praised by many
Greek historians including even Herodotus. Or for example, Western European writers
have praised ancient Greeks, ancient Chinese or etc. Shakespeare has plays about
Romans and praises of their good qualities. It does not make Shakespeare a Roman.
Goethe has praised Persians, Persian poetry and etc., it does not make him a Persian.
Thus the argument is flawed from the onset(Note see our comments under the fifth flaw
of the argument where Nezami also has some chastising comments about Turks as well).

The second flaw is that we have already shown how Turk, Hindu, Zangi/Habash, Rum is
used for description and symbols of slavery, rulership, slave (Hindu), ruler (Turk), trees,
birds, flowers, stars, climes, complexions, colors (yellow, white, black), animals (the eye,
face), planets, day (Rum, Turk) and night (Hindu, Habash/Zang), languages, tears, hair,
face, various moods and feelings without taking any ethnic.

The third flaw is that many other Persian poets besides Nizami including Hafez, Sa'adi,
Attar and etc. have used the term Turk for a beautiful beloved, ruler, light and spiritual
and etc. This was part of the Persian poetic imagery used by many Persian poets
throughout centuries. Later on European types took this place in Persian poetry. In the
20 th century for example, the ideal type of beauty in many non-European countries was
the blond hair and blue eye Nordic type Women. These do not make any of these people
as Nordic.

The fourth flaw is that many Persians, especially Persian Sunnis have praised the
Seljuqids including the historian Ravandi and their Vizier Nizam al-Molk. Indeed the
courts of such dynasties as Ghaznavids and Seljuqids were full of Iranians and they
patronized many Persian poets. Or they commissioned many Persian poets who indeed
bestowed praise upon them.

221

Rene Grousset states: "..renewed the Seljuk attempt to found a great Turko-Persian
empire in eastern Iran..", "It is to be noted that the Seljuks, those Turkomans who became
sultans of Persia, did not Turkify Persia-no doubt because they did not wish to do so. On
the contrary, it was they who voluntarily became Persians and who, in the manner of the
great old Sassanid kings, strove to protect the Iranian populations from the plundering of
Ghuzz bands and save Iranian culture from the Turkoman menace"
(Grousset, Rene, The Empire of the Steppes, (Rutgers University Press, 1991), 161,164)

So praising by itself does not prove that Nizami's father who he was orphaned from at an
early age was of Turkic ancestry! The Seljuqids initial rise indeed was welcomed by
many Iranian Sunnis. We already have quoted the Persian historians such as Ravandi and
Nizam al-Molk and mentioned how the Seljuqids brought stability to places where many
local kingdoms used to feud. One episode that has lead for misinterpretation is when the
old lady talks about the lack of justice to Sultan Sanjar of the Seljuqs:

Translation:

CjlS^p lSjjJL o<^> oISjj cJs^

"The rise of the empire of Turks (Seljuqs) was due to their justice

Since thou fosters injustice, thou are not Turk, thou art a plundering slave (Hindu)."

If one reads the whole story, as shall be brought here, one can see that this is an old lady
crying for justice and indeed she has criticized the Seljuq rulers. The empire of Turks
here is a reference to the Seljuqs. The second couplet is simply a comparison between
ruler (Turk) and Hindu (slave) and is a common Persian imagery. The old lady has called
rulers (Turks) that do injustice, as Hindus (slaves/thieves). This was obviously due to the
position of these two groups in the Islamic world and we have already discussed this
symbolism in the last chapter. Also the fact that Turk was a symbol of light/beauty and
Hindu that of ugliness/darkness. As we already mentioned, the dislodging of the Shi'ite
Buyids from Baghdad was welcome by Iranian Sunnis and the rise of the empire of Turks
(Seljuqs) was praised. C.E. Bosworth brings an interesting praise of the Seljuqs by their
Persian historian, Rawandi.

"Saljuqs achieved some prestige in the eyes of the Orthodox by overthrowing Shi'i Buyid
rule in Western Iran. Sunni writes even came to give an ideological justification for the
Turks 'political and military domination of the Middle East. The Persian historian of the
Saljuqs, Rawandi, dedicated his Rahat al-Sudur to one of the Saljuq Sultans of Rum,
Ghiyath al-Din Kay Khusraw, and speaks of a hatif, a hidden, supernatural voice, which
spoke from the Ka'ba in Mecca to the Imam Abu Hanifa and promised him that as long
as the sword remained in the hands of the Turks, his faith (sc. that of the Hanafi
madhhab) would not perish. Rawandi himself adds the pious doxology, "Praise be to
God, He is exalted, that the defenders of Islam are mighty and that the followers of the
Hanafi rite are happy and In the lands of the Arabs, Persians, Byzantines and Russians,
the sword is in the hand of the Turks, and fear of their sword is firmly implanted in all
hearts!"
(C.E. Bosworth, "The rise of Saljuqs", Cambridge History of Iran)

222

We also noted that in general, the rise of the Seljuqs brought an era of stability. As noted
by Ehsan Yarshater:

The ascent of the Saljuqids also put an end to a period which Minorsky has called "the
Persian intermezzo"(see Minorsky, 1932, p. 21), when Iranian dynasties, consisting
mainly of the Saffarids, the Samanids, the Ziyarids, the Buyids, the Kakuyids, and the
Bavandids of Tabarestan and Gilan, ruled most of Iran. By all accounts, weary of the
miseries and devastations of never-ending conflicts and wars, Persians seemed to have
sighed with relief and to have welcomed the stability of the Saljuqid rule, all the more so
since the Saljuqids mitigated the effect of their foreignness, quickly adopting the Persian
culture and court customs and procedures and leaving the civil administration in the hand
of Persian personnel, headed by such capable and learned viziers as Amid-al-Molk
Kondori and Nezam-al-Molk.
(Ehsan Yarshater, "Iran"in Encyclopedia of Iranica)

Nizam al-Molk, a very important minister whose influence was so pervasive that a later
historian like Ibn al-Athir calls his thirty years of office as the government of Nizamiyya.
He was a major factor in the rise and stability of the empire of Turks (Seljuqs). The
Seljuqs in turn patronized Persian culture and writing and this was discussed in the
preceding Chapters. What is indeed interesting is that through the story, Nizami Ganjavi
has criticized the rulers of his time and even the Turkish Sultan Sanjar. Given that the
ruler lived very close to his time, this was indeed a political criticism by Nizami Ganjavi.

Sultan Sanjar on the other hand has been described positively by other Persian poets
including the famous Anvari. This story criticizes later Seljuq ruler and the tragic story of
Sultan Sanjar and his capture by Ghuzz tribes is perhaps interpreted by Nizami due to his
laxness on Justice. Due to the fact that unlike the earlier Seljuq rulers (who have also
been praised by Persian poets and they in turn had Persian Viziers and their court culture
was Persia), he has forsaken justice. The poem is interesting because we have someone
like Nizami Ganjavi criticizing a major ruler of the Seljuq Empire (Sultan Sanjar)
through this story where-as criticism of rulers was a taboo in Sunni Islam and many
Persian poets throughout the centuries have been praising Kings. Especially criticism of a
ruler of a dynasty that was still ruler in name (and the Seljuq Sultan was regarded highly)
seems somewhat out of the ordinary for its time.

Here we bring the whole story through the translation of Gholam Hossein Darab:

An old woman suffered injustice ;
she laid hold on the skirt of Sanjar,

Saying: "Oh king, I have seen little of thy justice,
and all the year long I have suffered thy tyranny.

A drunken watchman came down my street
and kicked me sorely.

223

/ was innocent, but he forced me from my house
and dragged me to the end of the street by my hair.

He abused me shamefully and placed the seal
of oppression on the door of my house.

He said: 'Oh hunchback, who killed
such a one at midnight in thy street??

He searched my house, saying: Where is the murderer? '
'Oh king, what humiliation could exceed this?

When the watchman is intoxicated a-murder is committed.
Why should he violently accuse an old woman?

The drunkards consume the revenue of the country;
they carry off old women on false accusation

He who has condoned this tyranny,

has destroyed my honour and thy justice,

"My wounded breast was smitten;
there nothing left of me, body or soul. "

"Oh king, if thou dost not do me justice,

will be counted against thee on the Day of Judgment.

"Thou art a judge, I see in thee no justice
I cannot acquit thee of tyranny. "

"Strength and help come from kings,
See what misery comes to us from thee.

"It is not right to seize the goods of orphans
Cease from it; this is not the usage of nobility, "

"Do not rob an old woman of her trifles;

be shamed by the grey hairs of an old woman, "

"Thou art a slave, and thou claims sovereignty.
Thou art not a king, when thou workest destruction. "

"The king who attends to the affairs -of his kingdom,
passes just judgment on his subjects, "

224

"So that they may all obey his commands
and love him in their hearts and souls, "

"Thou hast turned the world upside down.

all thy life what good deeds hast thou really done? "

"The rise 'of the Empire of the Turks was due to their love of justice.

"Since thou foster est injustice, thou art not Turk, thou art a plundering slave, "

"The houses of the town-dwellers have been ruined by thee.
The harvest of the villagers has been ravaged by thee. "

"Reckon with the coming of death.
Protect thyself whilst thou canst. "

"Thy justice is the lamp illuminating thy night.
The companion of thy to-morrow is to-day. "

"Give the old woman joy by thy words,
and remember this word of an old woman. "

"Withdraw thy hand from the wretched,

that the arrows of the sorrowful may not wound thee. "

"How long wilt thou shoot arrows in every direction?
Thou know est not the spiritual power of the poor. "

"Thou art a key to the conquest of the world,
Thou wast not created for injustice. "

"Thou art a king to lessen tyranny,

and if others wound, thou shouldst heal. "

"The relation of the poor to thee is that of the beloved to the lover.
Thy relation to them should be to foster them. "

"Beg at the door of the saints and protect the poor "

Sanjar who had won the empire of Khorasan,
suffered loss when he disregarded these words.

Justice has vanished in our time;

she has taken up her abode on the wings of the Phoenix.

There is no respect under this blue dome; no honour remains on this suspended earth.

225

Arise Nezami, thou exceedest all limits.
Thou woundest the bleeding heart.

On the other hand, Nizami Ganjavi has another story in the Makhzan al-Asrar praising
the Persian Sassanid king Anushiravan who was a model of justice. Here we bring the
translation from Gholam Hossein Darab:

The story ofNushiwan and his vizier

Whilst hunting, the horse of Nushirvan carried
him far away from the royal retinue.

The only companion of the king was his minister;
the king and the minister were alone together.

In that hunting ground the king saw a village ?
ruined like the heart of an enemy.

Two birds were sitting close together;

their discussion was closer than the heart of the king.

He said to the minister: "What is their argument? What is the meaning of their cries to
one another? "

The minister said: "Oh, the king of the world, I will explain it, if the king would take a
lesson. "

"These two voices are not mere singing; they are the proclamation of a marriage
ceremony.

"This bird has given a daughter in marriage to that other bird and demands from him
that the price of mother 's milk be settled in the morning,

"Saying: 'Leave this ruined village to us together, with a few more like it'

' The other one answers, saying: 'Do not worry about this. See the tyranny of the king
and do not grieve.

" Tfwe have this same king and this destiny, in a short time I will give thee a hundred
thousand ruined villages like this ' "

These words had such an effect on the king,
that he heaved a sigh and began to lament.

226

He tore his hair and wept grievously, What can
be the result of injustice but tears?

He gnawed his finger at this oppression. He said: ' 'Look at the oppression which is
known even to the birds. ' '

"See my tyranny which leaves owls for the farmers instead of hens.

"Oh, how negligent and worldly I have been!
For this tyranny I shall have to suffer much regret,

"How long shall I take the property of the people by force?
I am unmindful of death and the grave of tomorrow.

' 'How long shall I usurp? See how I am playing with my life,

' 'God gave me the empire, that I may not do that which is unworthy.

' 'My base metal is covered with gold; yet I do what is prohibited,

' 'Why should I spoil my good name by oppression? I oppress
others, alas! I oppress myself.

"May there be a truer justice in my heart. Let me be ashamed either before God or before
myself,

"Today I am the embodiment of oppression. Alas for the exposure of my tomorrow!

"My unproductive body is fuel. For this grief my heart burns for my heart,

' 'How long shall I raise the dust of injustice, spill my own glory and the blood of others ?

"On the day of resurrection, they will call me in question for this spoliation.

"I am shameless, if I am not humbled, now-My heart is of stone, if I do not grieve now.

' 'See how long I will suffer reproach, that I may bear this shame till the day of
resurrection,

"That which bears me is, in truth, my burden-That which is my remedy is, indeed, my
poison

"Of these countless jewels and treasures, what did Sam take, and what did Feridun carry
away?

"And of this power and empire which is mine what in the end shall I possess? "

227

The king, became so heated over this matter, that the shoe of his horse melted from his
haste.

When he reached his camp and royal standard, the hope of kindness spread over the
country,

Immediately, he remitted the taxes on the overtaxed land. He abolished bad customs and
the ways of injustice.

He spread justice and destroyed tyranny, and to his last breath he remained faithful to
this.

He has gone, and after many turns of the wheel of fortune, the fame of his justice
remains.

In the empire of the spiritually -minded, the die of his name bore the impress of justice.

He found a fortunate ending. He who knocked at the door of justice found this name,

Pass thy life in making hearts happy, that God may be pleased with thee.

Seek the protection of angels. Seek thine own toil and the comfort of thy friends.

Take away pain and give remedies, that thou may est reach kingship.

Be warm in love and cold in revenge. Be generous like the moon and the sun

The good that he did returned to him who began a good work

As an analogy, the revolving dome knows what is due to good and to evil.

Devote thyself to prayer; turn thy face from sin, that thou may est not make excuses like
sinner.

Since life in this world is but an hour, spend that hour in devotion, because devotion is
better than all.

Do not make excuses; they do not ask for wiles. These are only words; they demand
action from thee.

If matters could be simplified by words, the affairs ofNizami would reach heaven.

So the story of Nushirawan the Sassanid king is opposite to the story of Sultan Sanjar and
the old lady. In the story of Nushirawan, we see that after hearting complaints about
injustice, Nushirawan takes bold action and brings justice to his empire. Indeed Nizami
states: "He has gone, and after many turns of the wheel of fortune, the fame of his justice
remains. " On the other hand, on the lack of action of Sultan Sanjar, Nizami Ganjavi

228

states: "Sanjar who had won the empire ofKhorasan, suffered loss when he disregarded
these words. Justice has vanished in our time; she has taken up her abode on the wings of
the Phoenix. "

As noted though, the line coming from the old lady is nothing more than contrast of Turk
(Ruler/light) and Hindu (Slavery/Thief/Darkness) and has no relationship to any ethnic
affiliation.

Nizami also praises Zoroastrian sense of justice and virtue and abhors the lack of
justice/virtue in his own time:

lSjLuu ^L^ul ol 9 JjlC ol \j>£

l5jU CjlSj uLuuuul jl Jjjj U ^

JOjS UU^ JljuU ^JsjljuJj^ [Jjjj\ j OLp->

>0>JuU ijJ ^jOLoJLuUUO QJJ I^U <*S

CjljuuI p\j jjS 9I lo puJ loJLuUUO

CjljuuI JO\jS ^JsJ LoJLuUUO <-S>p jjjl jS

ju9_juu ^LkjjSijuuj jj ^jvjoUcu

JI9I Juol £jJb \j JJU £jjO <&

(oo*-^ 9 9>^>)

He writes

"Look at the politics/governance of the past,
And the justice that did not even escape the beloved son of King.
Nowadays, if they spill the blood of hundred poor people,
no justice will be met.

What happened to the justice and virtue of those Sassanid Kings?
The World became so warm (full of justice/prosperous) from the fire -worshippers
that thou should be ashamed of this Islam.
We are Muslims and they Zoroastrians.
But if they are Zoroastrians, then what is a Muslim?"

Here Nizami, who is of a devout Muslim background, criticizes Muslims and their
understanding of Islam and praises Zoroastrians.

So overall, none of these poems tell anything about Nizami' s father whom he was
orphaned from early and consequently was raised by his Kurdish uncle.

The fifth flaw in this argument is that Nizami Ganjavi and many of the same Persian
poets also have negative comments about Turks when the term Turk was not used as
imagery. It should be remembered that Nizami Ganjavi or other Persian poets were not
thinking of positives or negatives when using Rumi, Zang, Turk, and Hindu as part of

229

poetic imagery. They were simply using the imagery of Persian poetry used by many
Persian poets and were common.

For example, Nizami's usage of the term "Turk" for Layli and her tribe here in Arabia:

As explained, this was the imagery used by many Persian poets to describe a beautiful
person and here Layli is used as a Turk.

For example in describing Eskandar, Nizami uses the imagery of a Turk as a
ruler/conqueror:

±y olj 9_Ju ^jvjfcl^ ^b ^

9I OLou^ ±$J ^JVJLjuuIj qjAj
9I uLo^S Qj jS-^jS CjJl& JljJu <lS

^LJul^ /xJLc jIS ^s^\ j\$ j

oH5 %s*&9j ^jJ \S&. °j£s

olSjU <*5^j ^jv^ o^-? °W 9 -^^ ^

09jS jjoJUuU jl ^jJL^ {JjJj^ <S±QjJ

That is, Alexander is called a Turk with a Roman hat. Turk here describes
ruler/conqueror/king and not a Turkic person. The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is
called the "Turk" (Ruler) of the Seven Armies in another poem. The reason that "Turk"
became equivalent with rulers/conquer is obvious, since Turkic dynasties were ruling
almost all of the Middle East, parts of Africa, Caucasia, Central Asia, India and Persia.

Perhaps, the highest mention of Turks I have founded in Iranian literature is from the
Iranian ethnic Daylamite Roozbehan Baqli (d. 1209 and a contemporary of Nezami' s
time) who states:"Last night it was though I saw myself in the desert of China, and God
arose in the form of clothing with divinity, in the forms of Turks" (Ernest, Carl E. ,
"Ruzbihan Baqli", Curzon Sufi Series, 1996, pg 83).

Note while Alexandar was a roman, in another verse of Nezami he takes the symbolic
qualities of a Hindu. When the King of India offers his daughter to Alexander the Great,
Nezami Ganjavi writes this description of her in his Eskandarnama:

CjljuUjjuU 3JUL& OjLuUL^j O^J \^&~°

/>loJ 9_)Jl^ O^z* J^ OJu^p Qj
230

3I i5£JU& cUjJjS uLo^j cuiJ

A gre^tf beauty of Hindu origin with Turkish face

It has made Hindustan (India) a Paradise for the King

Not a Hindu, but a Khatai Turk in name

But when it comes to stealing hearts, as adept as a Hindu

From her Roman face and Hindu (sweet) talks

The King of Rome (Alexander) has became her Hindu (Slave)

Thus when describing Alexandar as a conqueror, he is likened to a Turk (conqueror) and
when he falls involve with the daughter of the ruler of India, he becomes the Hindu
(slave) of that Indian.

On the other hand, Alexander's thought and words during an encounter with Turks and
their Khaqani is also versified in another portion:

OlcptO 9^jl \J-tS> jSXJ ^JsjlaJ> j

OQu >o^jjo uLou^ JjjIjJ

OLJu^juULU JuuLaS CjljulHj (JJ*UuU
OLjuJ^ j± CjljuUUJ \S$ 9 Jl^-C <&

JurOJuJLJuuy ^jvjo^juuc^ OJu QjoJb

^JVJLjuuI^jJ c l^> ^jS LuCXjuUL> Oj

*& ° C * J9I u-*- JuUL ^' Li^-^9^ ul .P

^9_juu Qs> y>\ O^jS ^j^jucxjuu^ o^J9

^jvSu uLou^ 9 ^ ^jvSu J^ IjjO

^£J O^S LcXjuU j^jO ^5 ^JVJ jjJ>

Opened his tongue in execration of the Turks, Saying: —

"Without (hidden) Fitnah (calamity, discord, rebellion) no Turk is born of his mother.

"Seek not from the Chini aught save the frown on the eye-brow (the vexation of the

heart):

"They observe not the treaty of men.

231

"True speech uttered the ancients;

"Treaty -faith exists not among the men of Chin.

"No one seeks manliness from the Chini;

"For, save his form, that pertaining to man is not theirs.

"They have all chosen narrow-eyedness (shamelessness);

"They have beheld (experienced) openness of the eyes (shamefacedness) in other
persons.

"Otherwise, after such amity,

"Why tookest thou up the path of hatred?

"First, in that friendship-seeking, — what was there?
"At last, in this hostility-displaying, — what advantage?

"Mine, — the heart was one, and covenant one;
"Truthfulness great; treachery little (none).

"Not (mine), — the intelligence that your love was hate;
"That the heart of the Turk of Chin was full of twist and turn.

"If the Turk of Chin had kept faith,

"He would (like the faith-keeping Sikandar) have kept the world beneath the fold (the

skirt) of his garment.

Note in the above verses Chini means Turk also and not Chinese. Since in the
Shahnameh, the Khaqan of GokTurks was called Khaqan of Chin and Chin in ancient
Persian literature references NW China and parts of Central Asia. The above verses are
certainly not positive and unlike Alexander who is symbolically called a Turk (ruler,
conquerer), here we have direct reference to Turks as an ethnic group.

Here is another instance of Alexander describing Turks as one poison to be used against
another poison (Russians):

[Jjjlaj \jjJ$j u c *-sP uLuuuo^ j\ pJb

oAj>jjq ,jjI ulijJ ulSLu Qj

qJLI ijjj$j lS^J jJ Cjl^jj 0I9J

CjljuoSLjuJ ±j\ jJJ j± (p jlbj LuUU

jjU Ov$J CjljulT) GISLjuJ OlJU <\j

jjjLjJj\5 ijj£ pcxj ulcpr *Sy> 9^

232

jLuu 6j\s> Qj$j ±j oLiU l jvSu
jb SjS u11_juj uli3^ jl AJu ^

CjljuJ±j$± jl JuolS GISLuJ oLibj

jIS Ca59 ubjlS lSOAjJISLuj

jLuu 9 O^ yjjJsy b l>x> c l^>: >SI

jLj JuLj (JJoS j^JNJLJuUy /x^ cjj

Translation:

"Although the Turks were not allied (in friendship) with the men of Rum,
"With the men of Russia their rage even greater than with the men of Rum:
"By the sharp darts of the Turks of this halting-place (Sikandar 's camp)
"One can scatter the blisters (of flight) on the feet of the Russians.
"Often, the poison which brings distress to the body, —
"By another poison it is proper to obstruct.
"I have heard that from the wolf, the fox-seizer,
"The old fox escaped through the noise of dogs: —
"Two young wolves sowed the seed of malice;
"They took up the pursuit of the old fox.
"A village there was; in it large dogs, —
"All thirsty for the blood of the fox and the wolf
"The fox, remedy-deviser, expressed a cry
"Which opened the fastening from the mouth of the dogs.
"The village-dogs took up the cry;
"For they thought the fox a wolf.
"From the noise of the dogs, which came from afar,
"The wolves were terrified and the fox escaped.
"The meditator, work-knowing, at the time of action,
"Becomes free from the enemy (the Russians) by the enemy (the Turks).
"Although — with these arms and weapons, — mine
"Is no need of anyone 's aid,

"Not closed is the door of remedy to the remedy-deviser;
"Every matter is not connected with the sword. "

Here is another verse from Nizami Ganjavi with negative connotations:

.j9^ />I0^jS ^JSjCXjuUC^OJu 0\5jJ j

Translation:

/ have brought so much light into the eyes

233

/ distanced narrow-eyedness from Turks

Here Nezami calls the Qifchaq, a major Turkish tribe, as savages and Alexander builds a
walled gate in order to protect people (Sharafnama) who are plundered by them:

CjljuUjjuU ^J^juUC^ JjL^iaS /XjJ jl ^
CjljuoS /XJjLj L _5\jOJJfcJ JjjO fJJj^

Due to the savage nature of the Qifchaq
We cannot cultivate the seeds we sow

When the Khaqan of Turks attacks Iran during the reign of Bahram in Haft Paykar or
Bahram Narna, Nizami Ganjavi writes in praise of the Sassanid King:

±$j uLuuul jl jjj 9 uLuuuul jl g-J
±$j uLujI^ 9jl p,^x> jl JuLJj

9I <£\j j\^y o^' j' ^y

9I 6j jj Cjl^uuj pd>j uL^jl9
jjj \jqSj 9 CjljuoS Juo

•'LjJj cu Ij £ii9 jb^xxj Q^JJ
"Ijulj^svjO ^jjJ 9 JuIjj^svjO gjj

g-*jo uLjuyl 9 ^£j ^U 9I L 3vJLftS

jjj CIJLJUJ^ j Ij »^J>J ^pLJUUU

And if with stroke oblique he terrified,

he cleft the man asunder at the waist.

Of this kind was (his) sword, of that, (his) shaft —

'tis likely that the foe would be dismayed.
The Turks from this his sudden Turk-like raid,

and wounds so deadly on the path he took

Inclined to flight; the swords of all of them became (all) blunted, and their racing keen.
When the king 's sword was brandished on all sides,
the Turkish troops relaxed in (their) attempts.

The king discerning signs of victory, drove (at the foe his) sword, and shot (his) shafts.
By the shock of (his) sword he broke their ranks: he was the wind, you 'd say, and they
were clouds.

Through the sharp dagger 's (work) the dust of flight
reached the Turks army to the Oxus stream

234

Another usage of the word in Nizami's literature is "Turki" as an act/verb:

Translation:

Do not Turki (as a verb) Oh Turkic beauty with Chinese decorations

Display not frown on thy eye-brow ', come for a moment to gather

Turki as a verb here means rough, acting in Turkic manner and etc. Here is another
instance of negative usage where Nezami composes (these verses will also be described
in detail but Nezami versified these and calls each character of the letter of Sherwanshah
as blessed):

CjljuUUJ Lo LSL99 kUJL^ {J^J-J

CjljuUUJ Lo lSIj-juU jJJSUuU Qj\SjJ

Julj JJiL ^.JLJUUU j 0$ Ol

Jul JJiL o^uuu \j 9I

Our faithfulness it not like Turks

Turkish-way of speech (or speeches meant for Turks) does not suit us

That who comes from a high ancestry

High and eloquence is befitting for him

(Note the above four verses are from Nezami who takes a poetic interpretation of the
letter of Shirvanshah and praises every word of the letter as a blossoming garden, which
shows his agreement with the letter).

Or common words like Turktazi (Turkish Plunder) and association of plundering with
Turks.

JuLLjuu ^JvSjJ jl OjLc ^JvSjj Qj

He was looking for a horse to follow towards Shirin

In a Turkish manner (Turk being used as plunder,), sought Plunder from a Turk (being

used as a beautiful)

fjjjS Cjljuu^-u ^SjJ jl <^5vJjlc

jjjoS CjljuU^j^-juUU 3JUL& Qj Cjl>j

235

No one has plundered Turks

No one has given up his belongings to a Hindu

(using common imagery about Turks taking plunder and Hindus as thief/beggars)

Thus the wide array of usage (from positive to negative) was used as a tool in Persian
poetry and does not say anything about Nizami' s ancestry. It was used by previous
Persian poets before Nezami and had become a poetic tool. One cannot call Hafez a Turk
just because of the verse:

"If that Turk from Shiraz were to capture my heart.
I would give away Samarkand and Bokhara for her Hindu mole"

And simple logic dictates just because Greeks like Plato, Xenophon, Herodotus have both
praises Persians and also used negative feeling as well, it does not mean they were
Persian!

The sixth flaw why the argument also falls apart because Nizami Ganjavi has also praised
Romans, Persians (while having nothing negative from any positive character), Zangis
and Hindus. He has also praised Zoroastrianism's sense of Justice in Khusraw o Shirin
(and says Muslims should learn as we shall see), calls himself the successor and inheritor
of Ferdowsi, praises the eloquence of the Persian Dehqan (An important class from the
Sassanid era), and etc. For example on the Persian Dehqan (which some authorities like
Behruz Servatiyan claim is Nizami Ganjavi himself), Nizami says:
In Leili o Majnoon:

:(u^Jl^jo 9 ^jJLJ) .CjljuuI uIjs^ urulilo-Q^" 9 uL-juuLj o\jj\ kS\$& 9 JL> j±

In Khosrow o Shirin:

\( { JJjjLJuJ 9 9j*juUL>) \J$S Oljjl QjjCX^ jl jjjJUULajU jb
^U yJ$S lSI&OLLjuuL <jl^9J ^

JJiiaS OjjSIi. o^uuu uIjISq^

. CjljuU IqJlC jlSul CjljuuI jj Jlj jSg

In Sharafnameh:

.jJJSUuU pj\juuJ 0[Qft)± gLJjU j
jjjuj^ 9I Cjl&S JljuU 9 CjLttS Q~*JS>

236

Or on the Zangi (black) says:

CjljuUUuU9 l_$VJ09j CO^JU) Ol ^JvSLuU Lj
OJUy ub*jo ^JVJ jjjl QjO U j5u0

Ouj 9^ JljuuLu ^sSjj 9 ^s^j09j 9^>

Translation

Bring Saqi that wine that is Rumi Faced (White)

Give me some of that wine, since my nature is cheerful that of the Zangi (Black,

Ethiopian).

One can imagine if Nizami used Turk instead of Zangi in the above, then ethno-
nationalist groups would use it to claim that Nizami was Turkish. Where-as we can see
again, these comparisons are part of Persian literature (and World literature in general)
and are not tied to ethnicity. We should also note that Nizami Ganjavi was a strict
Muslim and did not drink wine. For example during his one visit to the court, the Sultan
ordered all wine out of the court. Wine was used as a symbol in much of Sufic Persian
poetry and to deal with this symbol here is outside the scope of this article.

Or in praise of the land of Iran, Nizami Ganjavi proclaims:

J^ 0\jj\ 9 CjljuuI fJJ /xJLc ^JCX^

{ JS^> jjjuLS QJJ OJUU9S CjljuUUJ

JljJuU CH^J ^ uljjl <£ U9^>

JljuUU Q+SU t±$J Qj <JJ j J^

Jjjb ulj^jo <£ Cju\Jg ulj

The world's a body, Iran its heart,
No shame to him who says such a word
Iran, the world's most precious heart,
excels the body, there is no doubt.
Among the realms that kings posses,
the best domain goes to the best.

Thus Nizami Ganjavi considers Iran the best land, and the most precious heart of the
world and he has no shame in making such a proclamation. Alexander, Shirin or Layli
and the usage of "Turk" for them or the term "Hindu" for one of Khusraw Parviz's
messenger are all imageries used by Nizami.

So what did really Nezami preach?

In one of his famous Ghazals, Nezami considers himself the dust of the feet of Believers,
Armenians, Christians, Zoroastrians and Jews.

jjuIjJj ol j± OljuuI o\slo oll^ Qjl

^9^-juU 9 lSU 9 jS^-kjJ 9 K-jljuuJ 9 &XXjuU 9 Jl&LuU

237

39^aibo ^jvjLj ^ b 9_juu ^Lcx^ lS^ v^L>

Translation:

77*/s w £/*£ ruin tavern of the Magians, and in it are rebels for God

Witnesses, Candles, Wine, Sugar, Reed and Beautiful Music

Whatever that exists in the horizon is present there

Muslims, Armenians, Zoroastrians, Christrians and Jews

If you want to be allowed in the ruin of the Magian (divine wisdom)

Become a dust upon the feet of all of these people, so that you may reach the goal.

(Zanjani, Barat. "Ahwal o Athar o SharH Makhzan olAsraar Nezami Ganjavi", Tehran
University Publications, 2005, pg 18)

In our opinion, this Ghazal (which are usually much more personal than the pentaologue)
brings out the true Nezami.

Back to the current argument though, as described, Turk, Hindu, Zangi/Habash, Rum are
used for descriptions and symbols of slavery, rulership, slave (Hindu), ruler (Turk), trees,
birds, flowers, stars, climes, complexions, colors (yellow, white, black), animals (the eye,
face), planets, day(Rum, Turk) and night(Hindu, Habash/Zang), languages, tears, hair,
face, various moods and feelings without taking any ethnic. Nizami like many Persian
poets before him has used these symbols (with their vast range of positive and negative
meanings) to decorate his poetry and make his allusions more appealing. There are
negative/positive usages of these terms but Nizami was employing symbols of Persian
poetry.

So in conclusion, Nizami' s usage of these symbols and images are just in the steps of
other Persian poets before him and are not his own innovations to Persian literature. They
encompass both positive and negative meanings and again not related to ethnicity per se,
but have to do with the employment of these symbolic and imagery tools in Persian
poetry. Finally Nizami' s praise of Rum, Zang, and Arabs, becoming a dust upon the feet
of Armenians(It should be noted that no modern pan-Turkist nationalist (widely present
ideology in Turkey, Republic of Azerbaijan and some other regions) is ready to become a
dust upon the feet of an Armenian.), Jews, Zoroastrians are also not necessarily any sort
of ethnic or religious identification either.

Invalid Argument: Nizami wanted to write Turkish but he was
forced to write in Persian!

The false statement from Stalin

This argument, which is based on false interpretation of Persian verses of Nizami, was
forged in the Soviet era and is the most common misinterpreted and invalid opinion.

238

Recall that Stalin (and this was part of the USSR biography on Nizami) said explicitly in
an interview: "Stalin even quoted to Bazhan a passage from Nizami where the poet said
that he was forced to use the Persian language because he was not allowed to talk to the
people in their native tongue".

From the onset, the argument lacks basis, since even if we assume (as we shall show the
argument is a product of false nation building and has no basis except a lack of
understanding of Persian literature) Nizami wanted to write Turkish that does not make
him Turkish. Also as we shall show, Nizami Ganjavi was of Iranian ancestry and
Turkish would not be his native tongue.

Just like for example, Rumi's son, Sultan Walad (who admits that he does not have very
good knowledge of Greek and Turkish) has left us some scattered Cappadocian Greek
verses (actually the oldest extant (possibly first) Greek poems by anyone in the
Cappadocian dialect and one of the earliest if not the earliest Muslims to write in a Greek
dialect).

Or the Iranian author Mirza Habib Esfahani has written in Persian and Ottoman Turkish
("Habib Esfahani Mirza", Tahsin Yazici, "Encyclopedia
Iranica" http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/vllf4/vl lf4056.html) .

We shall touch upon Nizami 's significant contribution to the Persian cultural heritage in
the next Chapter. But the false argument and incorrect interpretation that Nezami wanted
to write in Turkish by itself does not prove any sort of ethnicity. Else more 30,000+
verses of Nizami Ganjavi in Persian which has enriched Persian thought, language,
heritage, culture and civilization versus zero verses in Turkish can be used to say that
Nizami' s was Persian ethnically. Besides all the Quatrains, Ghazals and etc. of Nezami
are in Persian (not a single verse of Turkish has been recorded from the Caucasus during
Nezami 's era since the language was limited to the Turkic nomads and not urban centers
like Ganja) which shows he voluntarily wrote in the language. And of course this is
strong enough argument, since culture is the most important aspect of a poet and not
blood! But this point shall be discussed in the next Chapter.

Before we examine the false allegation by Stalin/ USSR (continued by some ethno-
nationalists) that Nizami Ganjavi wanted to write Turkish but was forced to write in
Persian (as if one can create masterpieces under force!), we should note the following
important facts, which by itself invalidates any claims on Nizami Ganjavi writing
Turkish.

No evidence of Turkic literature in the Caucasus and historical invalidity of
the argument due to Shirvanshah not being Persian and not Turkic rulers

Some pan-Turkist nationalist authors claim that the Oghuz book Dede Korkut was written
down in the 7 th century. Where-as this is false given Dede Korkud's use of hundreds of
Persian and Arabic word, and given its reference to names such as Istanbul (with the
name transformation occurring after the fall of Constantinople) . Also Nizami Ganjavi
considers himself a successor and inheritor of Ferdowsi and has used Shahnameh folk

239

and epic, rather than any Turkic epic, again defining his background. But let us first quote

from some academic books on the age of Dede Korkut:

It was not earlier than the fifteenth century. Based on the fact that the author is buttering

up both the Akkoyunlu and Ottoman rulers, it has been suggested that the composition

belongs to someone living in the undefined border region lands between the two states

during the reign of Uzun Hassan (1466-78). G. Lewis on the hand dates the composition

"fairly early in the 15th century at least".

(Cemal Kafadar, "in Between Two Worlds: Construction of the Ottoman states",

University of California Press, 1995)

The greatest folk product of the fourteenth century was the prose collection of Dede
Korkut, the oldest surviving examples of Oghuz Turkmen epic. Dede Korkut relates the
struggles of Turkmens with the Georgians and Abkhaza Circassians in the Caucasia as
well as with the Byzantines of Trabazon, adding stories of relationships and conflicts
within Turkomen tribes.

(Stanford Jay Shaw, History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey, Cambridge
University, 1977, pg 141)

The Dede Korkut stories have their origins among the thirteenth to fourteenth century
Oguz people of North Eastern Anatolia.

(Michael E. Meeker, "A Nation of Empire: The Ottoman Legacy of Turkish Modernity",
University of California, Press, 2002.)

Professor Michael E. Meeker notes:

The Book of Dede Korkut is an early record of oral Turkic folktales in Anatolia, and as
such, one of the mythic charters of Turkish nationalist ideology. The oldest versions of
the Book of Dede Korkut consist of two manuscripts copied sometime during the 16th
century. The twelve stories that are recorded in these manuscripts are believed to be
derived from a cycle of stories and songs circulating among Turkic peoples living in
northeastern Anatolia and northwestern Azerbaijan. According to Lewis (1974), an older
substratum of these oral traditions dates to conflicts between the ancient Oghuz and their
Turkish rivals in Central Asia (the Pecheneks and the Kipchaks), but this substratum has
been clothed in references to the 14th-century campaigns of the Akkoyunlu
Confederation of Turkic tribes against the Georgians, the Abkhaz, and the Greeks in
Trebizond. Such stories and songs would have emerged no earlier than the beginning of
the 13th century, and the written versions that have reached us would have been
composed no later than the beginning of the 15th century. By this time, the Turkic
peoples in question had been in touch with Islamic civilization for several centuries, had
come to call themselves "Turcoman" rather than "Oghuz," had close associations with
sedentary and urbanized societies, and were participating in Islamized regimes that in-
cluded nomads, farmers, and townsmen. Some had abandoned their nomadic way of life
altogether.

Composed by an individual who was reworking Oghuz tales in a specific time and place,
the Book of Dede Korkut itself bears the marks of social and political history in southwest
Asia. The presentation of Oghuz heroes and heroines in the Dede Korkut stories is

240

designed to highlight an Oghuz ethical outlook rather than to celebrate the variety and
richness of Oghuz narrative tradition. In this respect, the stories reveal that the Oghuz
heritage was, at the time of the Book ofDede Korkut, associated with a question about the
proper form of personal identity and social relations. This feature of the Dede Korkut
stories may itself be a literary reflection of projects of institutional redesign and remaking
that had been pursued by Turkic dynasts in Anatolia for several centuries. In any event,
the Dede Korkut ethic became part of Anatolian society and culture by virtue of these
dynastic projects. Consequently, the modern Turkish reader who is likely to have an
Albanian, Circassian, Kurdish, or Arab among his or her forebears is nonetheless able to
see a piece of himself or herself in the Dede Korkut stories.

(Michael E. Meeker, "The Dede Korkut Ethic", International Journal of Middle East
Studies, Vol. 24, No. 3 (Aug., 1992), 395-417)

Despite these facts, one can find articles on the internet by some nationalist circles
claiming Shahnameh, the works of Nizami Ganjavi and even Homer's Iliad and Odyssey
where influenced by Dede Korkut and have their roots in them! The fact of the matter is
while Nizami Ganjavi refers to approximately one hundred Shahnameh characters or so,
he does not refer to one character that has to do with ancient Turkic folklore. The verse
forged around 1980 about his father's being brave as a wolf is a testament to political
attempts that try to connect Nezami Ganjavi to some sorts of Oghuz folklore.

Now we overview the development of Turkish literature of Azerbaijan and Caucasia. We
should note that we are not talking about Eastern Turkic languages which had a much
earlier literature due to interactions with Soghdians. The oldest person to have written in
what is now known as "Azeri-Turkish" was Shaykh 'Izz al-Din Asfarayini, a 13 l century
poet from Khorasan. He has left a Persian and Turkish Diwan and two Azeri-Turkish
Ghazals of his (heavily Persianized) were recorded by later biographers. The two Ghazals
contain more Persian words than Azeri-Turkish and show that the poet tried to adapt
forms from Persian poetry into Azeri-Turkish. We note that Shaykh 4 Izz al-Din
Asfarayini was not born in the Caucasia and Azerbaijan and actually hailed from
Khorasan.

According to Gerhard Doerfer:

Azeri belongs to the Oghuz branch of the Turkic language family. In the eleventh century
the "Turan defeated Iran" and a broad wave of Oghuz Turks flooded first Khorasan, then
all the rest of Iran, and finally Anatolia, which they made a base for vast conquests. The
Oghuz have always been the most important and numerous group of the Turks; in Iran
they have assimilated many Turks of other origins and even Iranians.

The early Azeri texts are a part of the Old Osmanli literature (the difference between
Azeri and Turkish was then extremely small). The oldest poet of the Azeri literature
known so far (and indubitably of Azeri, not of East Anatolian of Khorasani, origin) is
Emad-al-din Nasimi (about 1369-1404, q.v.). Other important Azeri authors were Shah
Esmail Safawi "Khatai"( 1487- 1524), and Fozulu (about 1494-1556, q.v.), an outstanding
Azeri poet".

241

(Encyclopedia Irani, "Azeri Turkish" G. Doerfer).

We note that Fizuli was from Baghdad. As per Nasimi, despite what Professor Doerfer
mentions, different birthplaces are given, the most common being in the modern country
of Iraq (Dehkhoda dictionary based on older biographies mentions Shiraz).

According to the Encyclopedia of Islam on Nasimi:

"An early Ottoman poet and mystic, believed to have come from Nesim near Baghdad,

whence his name. As a place of this name no longer exists, it is not certain whether the

laqab (Pen-Name) should not be derived simply from nasim zephyr, breath of wind. That

Nesimi was of Turkoman origin seems to be fairly certain, although the Seyyid before his

name also points to Arab blood. Turkish was as familiar to him as Persian, for he wrote in

both languages. Arabic poems are also ascribed to him."

(Babinger, Franz (2008). Nesimi, Seyyid 'Imad al-Din Encyclopaedia of Islam. Brill

Online. Retrieved on 01-09, 2008.) *

The birth-place of Nasimi is not known exactly (Baghdad being the most common one,
some have said Syria, others have Shiraz, others Shirvan), so we cannot definitely ascribe
his birth place to any particular place.

The next two writers, who were from the area that have written in Turkish are Moin al-
Din Ali Shah Qasim Anwar (born in 1356) and Abdul Qadir Maraghi. It should be noted
that both men spent time in the courts of Ottomans or Timurids. To distinguish early
Turkish Ottoman and Azeri is not clear cut, since for example Fizuli, Nasimi and Dede
Korkut are all considered both Azeri and Ottoman Turkish literature by various sources.

Now going back to Shah Qasim Anwar. Shah Qasim Anwar has also some poems in the
Gilaki Iranian dialect which would be extremely rare for Turkic speaker.

According to Encyclopedia Iranica:

"The Dialect poems of Qasem Anwar (d. 1433-34) may belong to the Fahlavi genere
(Kolliyat, pp. 342-344, 347; Brown, Lit. Hist. Persia III, pp 473-87; Dawlatabadi, pp.
553-556"(Fahlaviyyat in Encyclopedia Iranica)

While others have called the Iranian dialect used by Shah Qasim Anwar as an early form
of Gilaki.

But, he also spent time in Herat and Khorasan, and this may be the possible place that he
wrote his Turkish work (Around 10 Ghazals of Turkish are ascribed to him). Thus it is
our belief that he since he also wrote in Gilaki, he was not of Turkish background and his
few Turkish poems were written in Khorasan under the Timurid renaissance (recall the
first poet in "Azeri-Turkish" is actually from Khorasan).

242

Abd al-Qadir Maraghi (d. 1435) who wrote his four important music treaties in the
Persian language, not only recorded songs in the Persian language, but also in Arabic,
Mongolian, Turkish, Chagatay as well as various Iranic dialects (Fahlavviyat).

For the Fahlaviyat, one can check:

Dr. A. A. Sadeqi, "Ash 'ar-e mahalli-e Jame 'al-alHaann, " Majalla-ye zaban-shenasi 9,
1371./1992, pp. 54-64.

Also available here:

http://www.azargoshnasp.net/languages/Azari/AshrafSadeqiasharmahalimaraqi.pdf

We note that under the dialect of Tabriz, Abdul Qadir Maraghi records songs in an
Iranic language and not Turkish one. He records two Qet'as (poems) which he calls
"dialect of Tabriz". For example the four quatrains titled Fahlaviyyat (regional Iranic
dialect) from Khwaja Muhammad Kojjani (d. 677/1278-79); born in Kojjan or Korjan, a
village near Tabriz, recorded by Abd-al-Qader Maraghi.

("Fahlaviyaf'in Encyclopedia Iranica by Dr. Ahmad Taffazoli
http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v9f2/v9f232.html)

A sample of one of the four quatrains from Khwaja Muhammad Kojjani

S- _ S.

^JSJLJUJJ>Lf ^JSJLJUJU> JJjpj ^S'jjS C LCX^

Oj-Js iS'jjS CjljuU^ <& $Z> gl Liu

s.

We already mentioned that Hamdallah Mostowfi mentions the language of Maragheh as
modified Pahlavi and even the 16 l century Ottoman traveler, Evliya Chelebi mentions
the majority of the Women of Maragheh speak Fahlavi. So there is no proof Abdul Qadir
Maraghi who spent time in the courts of various Turkic dynasties was of Turkic
background. Thus, probably the beginning of Azeri-Turkish literature in Azerbaijan and
Caucasia goes back to the Qara Qoyunlu era. Even then, there are recorded Fahlaviyyat
poems from Mama Esmat Tabrizi, Maghrebi Tabrizi and Pir Zehtab Tabrizi.

("Fahlaviyaf'in Encyclopedia Iranica by Dr. Ahmad Taffazoli
http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v9f2/v9f232.html)

Anyhow, taking Nasimi (1369-1417), Shah Qasim Anwar (b. 1359) and Abdul Qadir
Maraghi (b. mid 14 th century d. 1435), we can see that the first Turkish poems availab
from the Caucasia and Azerbaijan proper were written at least (taking a minimum

243

number, assuming Nasimi was not from Iraq or Aleppo, assuming the Turkish poems of
Shah Qasim Anwar were not written in Khorasan a) approximately 200 years after
Nizami Ganjavi(born around 1140) and Qasim Anwar born around 1359.

It should be noted that a pan-Turkist nationalist scholar named Javad Heyat has claimed:
1) Scythians were Turks and Herodotus has mentioned Turks 2) Qatran Tabrizi was a
Turk 3) two Million Turks were settled in Azerbaijan by the Mongols 4) Sultan
Mahmoud Ghaznavi sent 45000 teachers to Iran to teach Persian and other
unsubstantiated claims. None of these claims have had any source. We mention his
name here, because he also has mentioned a poet by the name of "Nasir Bakui" who is
claimed to have written a single Turkic panengyric poem in the honor of Oljaitu the
Ilkhanid King (1304-1316). Unfortunately no source to any ancient documents were
given by Javad Heyat and thus we do not know when such a poet existed and in what
book this poem is recorded, or if he wrote the poem at that time (recorded when?) or
much later period in praise of Oljaitu. However, if we take Javad Heyat' s word to be
accurate, as we can see, even this poet lived 100+ years after Nezami and thus there is not
a single evidence for any Turkish poetry from the Caucasus during the time of Nezami.

Indeed the book of Nozhat al-Majales shows 100+ Persian poets from Ganja, Arran,
Sherwan, Azerbaijan as opposed to zero verses of Turkish from the time of Nezami
Ganjavi. If there was an urban Turkish culture at that time, it would obviously have had
produced its own poetry and be present in an anthology like Nozhat al-Majales. Nozhat
al-Majales as clearly shown, records Persian poetry from ordinary everyday people from
the Caucasus who were not affiliated to the court. 24 of these Persian poets including
Nezami and even some woman from Ganja are recorded in this anthology. Most of these
were everyday common people not affiliated with the courts. The only explanation for
this would be that Persian was a widespread spoken regional language and regional
Persian dialectical features occur in Nozhat al-Majales.

So the question comes up that if according to Stalin (and then later on USSR
historiographers and finally ethnic nationalists from the Republic of Azerbaijan) Nizami
was: "the great poet of our brotherly Azerbaidzhani people who must not be surrendered

to Iranian literature, despite having written most of his poems in Persian"

(Stalin), why is there not a single historian, biographer and etc. who has recorded a single
Turkish verse not only from Nizami, but from no one else during the time of Nizami from
this area! This opposed to hundreds of thousands of surviving Persian poetry (and more
than 114 authors recorded in Nozhat al-Majales) yet not a single verse of Turkish poetry
has remained from the same era. Obviously a Turkish literary tradition did not exist at
that time. There is not a single verse in Turkish from Nizami' s time from that area, let
alone a developed romantic epic!

The misinterpretation of Nizami' s Persian verses goes further. The ethnic nationalists
allege that Nizami wanted to write the Layli o Majnoon in Turkish but Shirvanshah
forced him to write it in Persian! We shall show the invalidity of this argument by careful
examination. However before that, we should mention some important facts with this
false claim:

244

1)

The Shirvanshah was one of the very few rulers that were not of Turkic origin and
praised by Nezami. Although of remote Arabic father line, by the time of Nezami they
were completely Persianized in culture, ethnicity and language and had mixed in with the
local Iranian population. If Nizami knew Turkish (assuming possible) and wanted to
write Turkish, he would have written Turkic poems for the Kipchak rulers like the
Eldiguzids or Ahmadilis, or the Turkic Oghuz rulers such as the Seljuqs. Although again
it should be emphasized that even Seljuqs, Eldiguzids and Ahmadilis were Persianized in
the sense of culture and their court language was Persian and their Viziers were generally
Iranians. This is because nomadic Turks that had just entered the area were not urban
and the urban culture brought automatic Iranianization for Muslims.

Rene Grousset states: "It is to be noted that the Seljuks, those Turkomans who became
sultans of Persia, did not Turkify Persia-no doubt because they did not wish to do so. On
the contrary, it was they who voluntarily became Persians and who, in the manner of the
great old Sassanid kings, strove to protect the Iranian populations from the plundering of
Ghuzz bands and save Iranian culture from the Turkoman menace"
(Grousset, Rene, The Empire of the Steppes, (Rutgers University Press, 1991), 161,164)

But these rulers probably at least knew Turkic unlike Shirvanahs who were proud of their
claimed ancient Persian descent. The Shirvanshah who was not Turkic king, did not
understand Turkish and was not Turkic and obviously would never ask for Turkic poetry
for his court. In fact not a single author from that era has written a Turkish poem for any
Turkic or non-Turkic ruler in that area, let alone a romantic epic in that language. No one
has written Turkish from that era in the court of Shirwanshah since they were not Turks.
So this fact within itself shows that the introduction of Layli o Majnoon is not about
Turkish language or poetry or demand not to write Turkish and these are false
interpretations in line with communist ideological thinking. Only false communist
ideologies mixed with ultra ethno-nationalist would come up with arguments and
thoughts like "Nezami wanted to write in his native language but the local aristocratic
rulers forced him to write in Persian". This false communist ideological thinking
designed for nation building has been taken as a fact by few nationalistic authors, but
reasonable and sane interpretations of these verses based on detailed examination will be
given.

2)

Nizami Ganjavi praises the Shirvanshah (as we shall show), sends his son to be tutored in
the Shirvanshah' s court (as we shall show), encourages the reading of the Shahnameh by
the son of Shirvanshah, praises the son of the Shirvanshah and finally praises
Shirvanshah in his Eskandarnama and according to some sources, he originally wanted to
dedicate the Eskandarnama to the Shirvanshah Axsatan, but Axsatan passed away and
Nizami writes a praiseful eulogy for him in the Eskandarnama. So he had an excellent
relationship with the Shirvanshah and if he was forced to do anything against his will by
them that would not be the case! In reality, he did not live under the Shirvanshah
domain(who would be rivals of the Eldiguzids just like Ahmadilis were rivals of

245

Eldigzuids) although he had an excellent relationship with them (and it seems from
available all other kings).

So, as we can see, the allegation that Nizami Ganjavi wanted to write Turkish is invalid
historically. Nezami himself refers to his Panj Ganj and mentions all of them by name,
but never does he talk about a single Turkish work. There was no "Turkish" or "Azeri-
Turkish" literature/culture at the time of Nizami Ganjavi from Arran, Shirwan and
Azerbaijan, and there is not a single verse of Turkish from the courts of the Seljuqs,
Eldiguzids, Ahmadilis and Shirvanshahs at the time of Nizami Ganjavi. Shirwanshahs
were not Turks. Indeed, the Seljuqids, Ahmadilis, Eldiguzids were of Turkic origin
although one cannot say they were necessarily culturally Turkic since they were largely
Persianized. There did not exist an urban Turkic culture at the time and these rulers
obviously were assimilated to the Persian urban culture (which is illustrated well by the
book of Nozhat al-Majales) of the area. For example Khusraw o Shirin and Haft Paykar,
both stories chosen voluntarily by Nezami Ganjavi are of Persian Sassanid origin and
have nothing to do with nomadic Oghuz culture or Turkic folklore. These two were
patronized by Seljuqs/Eldiguzids and Ahmadilis and read by them in their courts.

However, if Nezami Ganjavi allegedly (based on false nation building interpretation of
the 20 th century) wanted to write Turkic for the Persian Shirwanshahs, it would make no
sense to write Persian for Turkic rulers like Eldiguzids/Seljuqids/Ahmadilis who could
probably at least understand Turkic. But there is not a single Turkic verse from him or
anyone else in the Caucasus region during the lifetime of Nezami. In fact, not even a
single verse, but to go from simple verses to poetic forms and poetic forms to highly
refined romantic epic poetry takes generations.

As noted by Turkish professor (Tourkhan Gandjei, "Turkish in Pre-Mongol Persian
Poetry" BSOAS 49, 1986, pp. 67-76), also states:

The Oghuz tribes which formed the basis of the Saljuq power, and to one which the
Seljuqs belonged were culturally backward, and contrary to the opinion advanced by
some scholar s{he mentions a Turkish scholar), did not posses a written language. Thus
the Seljuqs did not, or rather could not take steps towards the propagating the Turkish
language, in a written form, much less the patronage of Turkish letters.

Example of politically minded writer today

Yet we have politically minded scholars like Brenda Shaffer who make up theories. For
those who do not know Brenda Shaffer, we recommend a look at this article:

http://en. wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brenda_Shaffer&oldid= 1 9582066 1

She is a military officer in the Israeli army who later worked as a post-doc in the
University of Harvard. She wrote a book with false sources and information (see the link

246

above) alleging that Azerbaijanis in Iran want to separate from Iran. Anyhow, she was the
head of Harvard's Caspian program which also turned into a big controversy.

According to Ken Silverstein of the prestigious Harper Magazine:
Harvard's program is led by Brenda Shaffer, who is so eager to back regimes in the
region that she makes Starr look like a dissident. A 2001 brief she wrote, "U.S. Policy
toward the Caspian Region: Recommendations for the Bush Administration,"
commended Bush for "intensified U.S. activity in the region, and the recognition of the
importance of the area to the pursuit of U.S. national interests." Shaffer has also called on
Congress to overturn Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, which was passed in 1992
and bars direct aid to the Azeri government. The law has not yet been repealed, but the
Bush Administration has been waiving it since 2002, as a payoff for Azeri support in the
"war on terrorism."

Harvard's Caspian Studies Program receives a lot of money from both the oil companies
and from some of the governments." I share Starr's concerns here, and since I briefly
mentioned Harvard in my original story, and since several readers asked for more details,
let me provide it here. As I had previously reported, the Caspian Studies Program (CSP)
was launched in 1999 with a $1 million grant from the United States Azerbaijan Chamber
of Commerce (US ACC) and a consortium of companies led by ExxonMobil and
Chevron. The program's other founders include Amerada Hess Corporation,
ConocoPhillips, Unocal, and Glencore International.
(Academics for Hire - Tuesday, May 30, 2006

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2006/05/sb-followup-starr-2006-05-30-29929
Accessed in 2007.)

Her book has also been criticized by different scholars as show here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brenda Shaffer&oldid= 195 820661

For example Full Professor Evan Siegel mentions about her book:

"Brethren and Borders is a highly political book on an emotional subject which needs

careful, dispassionate analysis. Its chapters on the historical background are full of

inaccuracies. Its chapters on current events and trends include a few interesting

observations which don't appear in the literature, but most of it is readily available

elsewhere."

Full Professor Dr. Touraj Atabaki comments:

"With Brenda Shaffer's Borders and Brethren one would expect a contribution to our
understanding of future developments in Iran as well as in the neighboring countries.
Within the first two chapters, however, the reader becomes disappointed with the
unbalanced and sometimes even biased political appraisal that not only dominates the
author's methodology but also shapes her selective amnesia in recalling historical data."
Atabaki concludes his review by stating "Borders and Brethren is an excellent example of
how a political agenda can dehistoricize and decontextualize history"

The Full Professor American historian Ralph E. Luker echoes Silversteins article, saying:

247

"Silverstein's second article also implicates Harvard historian Brenda Shaffer, who is
research director of the University's Caspian Studies Program, in similar apologias.
These programs appear to be largely funded by regional regimes, American oil and
industrial investors in the region, and right-wing foundations in the United States."

Now let us see what this person whose Caspian Studies program was funded by several
governments has to say about Nizami Ganjavi:

If you will allow me to be a little sentimental at the end, I would like to quote Nizami.
Why the poet Nizami? Well, first because both Azerbaijanis and Iranians claim him as
their own, and thus he is a great symbol of the fluidity of culture in this region. Nizami
was of Turkic- Azerbaijani origin from Ganja, but wrote mostly in Persian. And this is
what this region is about, is actually about fluidity of cultures. Right?
Well Nizami, in his famous Khamsa, which in the East is considered comparable to the
works of Shakespeare, and many of the stories are very similar, wrote about great love.
One of the most important parts of the Khamsa is about the love of Xosrow and Shiren.
Some have interpreted Xosrow to be an ancestor of today's Turks in the Caucasus, and
Shiren as a woman who is an ancestor of Armenians. Nizami ended his epic Khamsa
relating to the great love between Xosrow and Shiren.

(Brenda Shaffer, "Stability and Peace in the Caucasus: The Case of Nagorno-Karabagh:
Keynote Address", Event Report, Caspian Studies Program, The Case of Nagorno-
Karabakh, May 2-4, 2001,

http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/12777/stability and peace in the caucas
us. html
Accessed 2006).

Note the many alleged falsifications. Nizami was of "Azerbaijani-Turkic origin" from
Ganja. Yet there was no "Azerbaijani-Turkish" culture or literature at the time of Nizami.
Furthermore, Nizami was shown to be of Kurdish origin from his mother line and we
shall show that there is no proof of Turkic origin from his father line and all evidences
point to Iranian ancestry. Furthermore, we note the false statement: "wrote mostly in
Persian". Again there is not a single verifiable verse in Turkish from the time of Nizami
from any poet or court in the Caucasus and Azerbaijan. No biographer has mentioned any
work except Persian works for Nizami Ganjavi alludes to the fact that he wrote in
Persian as well. Such political authors like Brenda Shaffer still try to propagate USSR
Stalinist nation building myths in order to detach Nizami Ganjavi from Iranian
civilization and pursue their political agenda. These types of writers will forge any lie in
order to achieve political agendas or nation building concepts.

Nezami Ganjavi calls his work as Persian literature:

.CjlQ_juu LSp lSIqVP <&j\ CjlSs Qj

248

W%£ft a// ^6>££ advices were accepted by me

I started composing in the Persian Pearl (Dorr-i-Dari)

OLJUU9I jlS kSj± p^u oS ^jvjoLbu
U9I jlslj-juu v±j5 /xlbu kSj±

Nizami whose endevour is producing Persian poetry (Nazm-e-Dari)
Versification of Persian(Dari Nazm Kardan) poetry is what suits him

(Note Nizami 's use of Dari is much like that of Qatran Tabrizi where Parsi is term that
means Iranian and the local Iranic dialect and Dari means Khurasani Persian which was
becoming spread at the time in the region).

But nowhere does Nizami ever allude to writing in any other language (we shall examine
the misinterpretations of the USSR era soon) or even using such a non-existent term at
the time of "Azerbaijani Turkish literature"!. He mentions all of his Panj Ganjs by
name in his poetry, but never does he mention any work in Turkish nor do any
biographers mention anything Turkish from him (if ever a single verse of Turkish existed,
then Alisher Navai would have mentioned it as we discuss below and other biographers
too). But not a single verse of Turkish has come down from the Caucasus from the era
of Nezami.

Yet we have politically minded people continuing the lies of Stalin, USSR
historiographers and ethnic nationalists. Indeed the situation gets more distressful when
the Sassanid Khusraw Parviz (and hence the whole Sassanid dynasty) is exported to
Turkic civilization.

Of course the reason is simple. The two most notable and important of the five works of
Nizami Ganjavi are about Sassanid kings and Sassanid Iran. And the tremendous
influence of the Sassanids in the Caucasus and the many important Iranian place names
left from them are well known to scholars. Therefore, there is no connection between
Sassanid Iranian culture and Turkic culture and civilization. So what is the best way out
of this for paid scholars to continue the Stalinist nation building process? Claim that
Sassanids were the ancestors of today's "Turks in the Caucasus". We also note that she
spelled Shirin as "Shiren", but that is not even worth considering relative to the grave
falsification about Nizami which have their roots in USSR historiography. The interesting
thing is that some writers in the Republic of Azerbaijan also try to disassociate Shirin
(with her Persian name) and Mahin Banu (with her Persian name) from Armenians
(although all poets after Nizami inspired by Nizami' s work considered Shireen an
Armenian and she was a monotheist and historically well known Christian) and claim
that she was Turkish despite the fact that she is known to be a historical Aramean

249

Christian in the Sassanid era and has Persian name and was a monotheist, but they abuse
the symbolic term "Turk" for beauty when used for Shirin or Lili in the Lili o Majnoon
which actually is a reference to Central Asiatic Turkic features and nothing to do with
Anatolian/Caucasian Turcophones who were not formed yet at the time of Nezami.
Anyhow, this author condemns the misusage of the high personality of Nizami for
political and nationalist games.

Here was another falsification we brought in the beginning of this article:

http://www.apa.az/en/news.php?id=28178

Nizami Ganjavi's divan in Turkish published in Iran

[08 Jun 2007 13:17]

Divan of Nizami Ganjavi in Turkish was found in Khedivial library of Egypt, poet and
researcher Sadiyar Eloglu told the APA exclusively.

Eloglu said that he is analyzing Nizami Ganjavi's divan in Turkish. He added that the divan was
found by Iranian researcher of Azerbaijani origin Seid Nefisi 40 years ago in Khedivial library but
for some reasons the scientist did not analyze the book.

Poetess from Maraga Fekhri Vahizeden living in Egypt found the divan two years ago and sent a
copy of it to Sadiyar Eloglu. The scientist has been analyzing the work for two years. He said that
the claims denying the works' belonging to Nizami Ganjavi were not proved.

"Historical points and personalities noted in the works were Nizami Ganjavi's contemporaries," he
said. He noted that 213 couplets in the divan were proved to be written by Nizami Ganjavi.

Eloglu has already published these poems in Iran. /APA/

We note all these falsifications (even going as far as making up verses about Nizami
Ganjavi's father line) are to simply disconnect Nizami Ganjavi from the Irano-Islamic
civilization and to assign him to Turkic culture and civilization, which was not developed
in the Caucasus and Azerbaijan at his time. Thus when Stalin or Brenda Shaffer claim
that Nezami Ganjavi wrote "most of his work in Persian" (while not a single poetic
anthology has ever mentioned anything but Persian nor is there a single verse of Turkish
from anyone at the time of Nezami Ganjavi from the Caucasus and Nezami clearly states
his poetic work is in Persian), they give license to other nationalists to find obscure
Turkish works of other authors and claim it as that of Nezami (in this case it is a Ottoman
poet from Konya called Nezami Qunavi who is also a victim of political nationalists since
his works are ascribed by these nationalists to Nezami Ganjavi in order for them to
falsely verify the statement of Stalin and Brenda Shaffer).

Criticial editions of the verses in question

In order to examine these misinterpreted verses in the Layli o Majnoon and Haft Paykar,
we rely on four editions of Nizami Ganjavi.

250

1) Kolliyaat Nezami Ganjavi, Wahid Dastgerdi (Tehran, 1315 /1936)
One can find this on the internet:
http://rira.ir/rira/php/?page=view&mod=classicpoems&obj=poet&id=30

The Dastgerdi edition has valuable comments on many of the verses and thus his
comments have been used by numerous researchers.

According to one book (written from a nationalist Turkish point of view) by the R. Azada
(R. Azada, Nezami, Elm Publishers, 1981. Translated in 1991.) (The book does not
mention anything about Nizami's Kurdish mother and claims in the end that:
"Nizami is studied and read by many fraternal Soviet people in their own language. His
translation and publications in Ukrainian, Georgian, Armenian, Turkmen, Tartar,

Tajik, Beylorussian, Kirghiz and other languages are evident of this. [The writer
forgets that Tajik is the same as Persian and claims are made on Persian writers like
Suhrawardi (whose Zoroastrian influence and symbology is well known and has only
Persian and Arabic works) and ' Ayn al-Qudat Hamadani (who has writing in the local
Iranic Fahlaviyyat vernacular and has only Persian, Fahlaviyyat and Arabic works)(both
authors lived before the linguistic Turkification of Azerbaijan) on being Turks.
Unfortunately the USSR even tried to say Ferdowsi was not a Persian but a Tajik poet!]:
Remarkable are Vahid Dastgerdi' s studies on Nizami being a step forward in world
orientalism. He prepares the most correct texts of Nizami's works by comparing various
manuscripts of different scribes and times, commenting on difficult couplets, lines and
allusions, and compiled a dictionary of words which were not easily understood, and not
least of all, did an honourable job by researching into poet's life and creative
activity"(Ibid)

Although better editions of various jewels of Nizami have come forward since Vahid
Dastgerdi, we should mention that the verses where misinterpretations have occurred are
exactly or almost the same in both the Dastgerdi edition and newer editions.

2)

According to Francois de Blois:

More recently, the Haft Peykar was re-edited by the Azerbayjani scholar T. A.
Magerramov (Maharramov) (Moscow, 1987). This edition quotes variants from fourteen
manuscripts, the Ritter/Rypka edition and the uncritical edition by Wahid Dastgerdi
(Tehran, 1315/1936 and reprints), but Magerramov made no attempt to divide the
manuscripts into families and in this regard his version is a step backwards from the
Prague edition.

Nevertheless, we found this edition useful, since it highlights the discrepancies on variant
versions of Haft Paykar.

"Haft Paykar" edited by Tahir Magerramov (Maherramov), Moscow: Idarah-i Intisharat-
i Danish, Shu'bah-i adabiyat-i Khavar, 1987.

3)

251

We also have consulted the USSR edition with its numerous mistakes:

1386-1385 — (l^-J^ .J^) J^W — J^j^ Sr 5 ^ L^bd ^ l^-^liaj-^ ma^

4)

For Layli o Majnoon we utilize the excellent edition by Dr. Barat Zanjani:

Zanjani, Barat. Layla o Majnun-i Nizami Ganjavi: matn-i ilmi va intiqadi az ru-yi

qadimtarin nuskhah ha-yi khatti-i qarn-i hashtum ba zikr-i ikhtilaf-i nusakh va ma'ni-i

lughat va tarkabat va kashf al-bayat / bih tashih Barat Zanjani., [Tehran]: Mu'assasah-i

Chap va Intisharat-i Danishgah-i Tehran, 1369 [1990].

Nezami - Khamsa- The Moscow-Baku edition, Hermes Publisher, 1385-1386

We note that Professor Barat Zanjani has shown more than 20 wrong readings by USSR
scholars just in the introduction (before the start of the work of Nizami) of his edition.
Although some USSR scholars have done an excellent job at producing critical editions
of ancient manuscripts, Iranian scholars have since the time of Bahar learned this method
from Western scholars (although Hamdallah Mosowfi actually comes up with a critical
edition of Shahnameh 700 years ago). Obviously people that have been trained in
Persian, schooled in Persian or whose mother tongue is in Persian have greater advantage
in understand the language, symbolism and imagery of Nizami Ganjavi and combined
with newer methods of producing critical editions of texts, we can expect better editions
of major Persian texts in the future.

Here are some examples of mistakes pointed out by Professor Zanjani on the USSR
edition:

!lS9j9_juu
OJuIj kS^kJjjuuj 9I 0$ qjgSulj

i^jvjbfcjj Ol^J JjS^ OJljuU gUu^L^J v^

OJulj iSuJjj^uj 9I 0$ qjgSulj

Ol l59j9_juU U^jl^jO 9 ^jJLJ gpgj^UO 9 <\±JuJ§J «CaS juuJ» ,JSLuU ^ lj «CjljuuI <S juuJ» ^jyjl^
jjjl lSIjJ 9 ^U-JuUub ULpj 9 6±j5 j$*£U «9J U» \j £lj-£bO 9^ jj3* jS>\ 9 OJuI^^OljuUL^ juuJ» \j
QjJl^ \j CjuU 9 JjJuJ^UiJ^jJu^ Qj Qj \j"<Sj m yjJj» OJljJu jb>U Jl&JJ CjljuU^ jl \j c USlS jSLjJj <*5

9J U ^JUjuuJ \jJQ CjljuoS juuJ

252

(^jObejj) />l_)jl w5jb 9 ^lgj O^j^b

,1

(l59j9_jJu) /)l_Jjl w5jb 9 ^lgj O^jjSb

iOJul^ OJuJb lj OJlJIj Cjuj qjI j^ 9

(^jOb^jj) /xJLJuULpj j^ 9J j^ uL>

(l59j9_juu) /XJLJuULpj j^ 9J j^ <^L>

!Cjuj 9^ <jjI j^ 9

/XCljJ> OljU OLuUjJ Vj^

/xcb Ju^j^uj 9I {Jjj^j\ j£

<-Sj9>3 ulg_> jl />Jljuuc*j 3S
(l59j9_aJu) <-Sj9j c^lj^ lJV^' <*->^j j-^

:o-*j qjI p 9

(i^obejj) L jJ\J3' 09^ jj^ju^-juu 9>juu 0I9

Lp-juUU^Jl^juU^ jl 9 O^SLi CjuLlC ^JvJlS^jO 3j <Jl&_XjjO uLiu Ij ^jJLJ UJljJu ul^jU 9 V-QaPJO ^

\QJ3jj\i \j jjj JijuU
^jJ^JLq^ 0^> \JJJUf&0 jJu JljuJ

(l59j9_juu) ^jJlp* Oy> fJjjuL^juj 9>juu 0I9

:lj o-u qjI 9

(^jObfcjj) JljuuU O^jJD ^j^l ^9_juu ^_9_juuLc

JljJuU O^^juulS jSI ijlil&JJul^i*
(l59j9_juu) Jljuuu O^jjoJ ^1 ^9_juu l _9_juuLc

i-X^S uLLjuUU>I jjjoI £JuO j^

253

<jjjuob oS uLiLjuul>I %S £ *lmJ oLmJ

(^jvjbfcjj) <jJuLo\bc JljuU jjJjO oS CjljuUJjjJjO

\QJjS 9 O^S uij^ OgLauuu j^ Ij 9I /xijj ^jOlg^jJu ^jOlsb* 9

iJjJjJjJ Ju^ OJl9 j (JJ*UuU LauuU oLaJu

oLuu Ij 9I pJb ^jvjoLbu 9 CjljuuI OJujou b*uuu oLuu Ij ^gJuOuo 9 qjsuuu oLuu Ij ^gj> ^jOlsl-V
Jj^S Cjuu ^uSLi qjI 3j qj>£j OgJu l59j9_jJu U^Jlj^jO 9 ^jJLJ gpe^^bo <CjljuuI OJuyob ^JOIUuU

:cjljuuI o±j5 Wjg o-*jc> Ij jSjJI

(l59j9_juu) <jjulo\Lc JljuU jjJjO <lS CjljuUJjjJjO

The above examples demonstrate the importance of understanding Khaqani, Ferdowsi,
Sanai and Nezami in order to understand each poet better.

Here are some more examples:

JljJuIj j9>£ o^9> Qj ^jS b
(^jvjbfcjj) JljuuIj j9^ OjjO Qj 9J jl OjJO

:0^ JcLy2> Jjj> JSljlU 3J Ij Ol

JljuuIj j9>£ 0^9> 3j ^5^ b
(l59j9_jJu) JljJuIj ^9^ Ojjo 3j £J jl OjJ

.CjljuuI &±j5j c L>9j COc^j ^cLuu jibu ^j9^o ^ ^^J^joJ ul J-^S \$1jq» OjIlC 3j 9

: Jji> c-^j p 9

cJ\Jj> ulgj-p^ 9J j ulgjjuu
(^jvjbejj) cJIjlC 0\j)jJ> 9J j uljjj>

Olgj-p^ l5L> 3j l59j9_juU V^ .P -CjljuuI OJljlU J^Juub ^JV-Lr^ £UuUU j^ UjJLiitJO J15l-uuI Qj <&

QjzJS ^jv^jjbj^ Ij ^jOlsb* LSL^jLjJugj lg]o9 9 JuL^S^jJ^ 9 v^^l U ^U-H^ lJ^ ^
9I olS^lj <£ (ulg^jJu) J9I ^Sy> 9^ Pj ±p> jbl j^ ^jOlg^jJu ^jOlsb* .JuLqjJuJu (ulg^jJu)

ICjljuuI <\±S& 9 0->b OLuijU CjlhuuLuUJ>

^JVjlsb* 0$ O^lO OI9JJLU UllC

(^jOlSl-V) CjljuuIjjuU jjjuIJuuIS >g-JuU ul jl CjljuUj3j

>£-jlu ul /XjuuI ilijJb jl ^ Ij (>jlu) ^jOSiX) 9 JJl^ IJlU v^ ^>H^ ^jl ^l>^ ^ 6±j5 ^JVSLjuU 9

!<^jiS ch^ 9 -^9^V ^9^^° l3^I-^ Lp^j^ j±

CjljuuI juuJ ul ^ 9SL0 ulg^-uU w5L>

CjljuuI jjJ-ljuUjO jjS> <\j (uI^S^jJu) ulS

QiJ jjjUjCjouUjgJ (uI^Sjjuu) /X^j

CjljuuI j^ Pj ubjO ul jl CjJlC <JT>J>

^^9^ <^J ^5^ 1^ kSj^jJJ W_jlxC

CjljuuI >juUJ jJ>I 9 £,>JuU J9IS

254

(^Ol9l>)

CjljuuI OlSuO jjjl j^ <JjO ^JVjJ-JS U
CjljuuI ulg^p* qJLuOgjCXifc ulg^JuU

io^jsl ^9> sLuuJl j± 9

jl 9 v3l>^l <3>JuU QJ k3\j£> >£-^ CjlQJjj jl 9 CjljuuI CjljuuI OJljlU 0\$jju> 9 ulo^JuU ^ulg^JuU

uLl^JI oLogj ulgjjuu ^ Jj 9 tJuLoj^jj v J^ljuuJ Lu^tS uLuuol 9 J_)lC 3j uLuuI^p* >£-juu jL^->

(^jOlsL^ ^JVj^^uUJuo) ulo^Dj ObjL> 9I uLl^LuU 9 CjljuuI

lS9>u ^jOlsli* jibu jl CjljuuI^ OjJl9 ^jv^LJLuu j^ ulgj^uu ^ uLljuuu>I £Juo j^ /xi5j ^jvjoLku 9

:cjljuuI <^-aS 9 o±j5

cJ\L> ulg^p* 9J j ulg^jLU
(^jvjb^jj) cJI_JlC u\jjjd> 9J j uljjj>

ICjljuuI OJljuU JojyiD JjljuU fJJ^-f <S$j$-iuJ V^ J^ ^°*

cJ\l-> uljjjj> 9J j ulgjjuu
(l59j9_juu) cJIjlC uIjjjj> 9J j ulj9->

wSjl> ^jv^jobl jl u9-> J^Sgj 9 JuoL^jLjo ^JL^> <*j jIS ^svJLJ ^jv^JLaS U J^Sgj J9I Ol*-> .p 9

OjU jjjl j^ ^jVjoLfcu .JuljuUjS ^JVJO gJL^> lSIjJ ^^OtjLjO jJU *Sj ^9-> OLuUU9-> jl ^9_juU ^^VjO j*>lc

! JljuUUQjulO

jLcl i$c%jluo QJiMJ ±j£ u^5>r

(^jvjbfcjj) jU jSJlIj j c L«-juU 9^ Ol CjljuUl^

IOJljuU )cuJ£> Qju£> Ig-g^SlJuuJ jl ^Js^SLf j± Lol

(l59j9_jlu) jU >S_x5u j CLa-juU 9^ Ol CjljlU^

:cjuu qjI p 9

JjLo jU /jouUL-> ^ ^ ^jjULO^julJL->

(^jvjL^jj) JuLo jLpjgj ^j 3J \jjJJ$j
.JuIoj^S iiju.io^,jiju9J>> l59j9_jlu uIjlU^juuJL Lol Julg-LJLUO^<j2aj9j>> /xjJl9 lSL^j^ijulu <3jojjj Q$

■ CjljuuI O^QjU CjljuUj^ O LuJLuOjJ^IjuJU
JjLo jU /jouUL-> ^ ^ ^jjUjOcjuUL->

(l59j9_juu) JuLo jLpjgj 3j qj yj±u$J

^>L £lj3 9j5 CjLJuuub
(^jobtJj) :>jh ^1^ ^^ j csy>^

iJulg-LJuugj v-qJLl-^jo Oj0^> <^j Lp-p-^iJuuJ <^

ijb &ljJ> ^ j ^5V9> (1

ijb & 9j ^ ^^ LS9J >^> (2

255

:>jb ^ljj> ^ lS^j jj> (3

^jb ^ljj> jIj^ l5L> o^> (4

v>h £,l>^ >^j^ <S$j o$z> (5

^jb ^ljj> j%± lSq-juu jj> (6

V,b £l>* ^S>^ ^59 >> (7

<>^9j 9 CjljuuI ^USjS JjLp £j>^ jl U ^SP* J<P L-S^^ ^ CjujuU ul jl ^Lu^ IjJJ CjljuuI CjujuUj^

:aj9$ C^)^!

CjljuULQj CO uS^I^ >^ U^9j L^^j
CjujuUJUjJ^ 9J &XXjuU l5^J9^J^ °W

CjljuU^ j^ ul ^Jv^jLuUU 9 Julg-iSjS $J £,l>^ jl 9 5^ &^-^ jl lj ±&> fj£>$j ,P^ LSlgxl^ ^J^JuSJ
.JuIqj^jS f^S^j^.J^ 0^9j l-^j ^juuI&JljuU V>^ uLuUUljuU^ 9 CjljuuI OJuLo Igjl

iJugS ^JVjoLfcu CjljuuI lSjISjLuU jl QJSUuU ^ ^JVjLjV p

CjljuuI lSjU JIAjlCI j <^-> jj5j j^
CjljuuI lSjISjLuU 3j ul ,^-OLJO U=^J I

ico^S CjuJ \j+js> I j />9-^ <^^ <-S9j9_juu uL^i^j^bo

Overall, we see that it is important to have proper knowledge of Persian and also a
detailed understanding of other poets like Khaqani, Ferdowsi, Gorgani, Asadi Tusi, Sanai
and others to fully understand the poetry of Nizami Ganjavi. That is the poetry of these
poets help in their mutual understanding. For example, Khaqani was a poet that had
tremendous influence upon Nezami and this is clearly shown in the high usage of
metaphors by both poets (see also the appendix). The Nozhat al-Majales for example
would be critical for understanding some of the more symbolic verses of Khaqani, Mojir
al-Din Beylekani and Nezami. Yet as far as we know, such methodology has not been
used by most scholars. It is imperative that scholars use modern technology and if there
is confusion about the meaning of some of the very difficult verse, they check with other
poets and anthologies like Nozhat al-Majales. Keeping this in mind, we shall bring the
misinterpretation of the USSR and cross reference it with other poets as well as Nizami' s
other verses. At the same time, there was no variance between the verses that were
misinterpreted and all editions seem to agree on the words of these verses.

256

Translation and explanation of the introduction of Layli and Majnoon

The first misinterpretation in order to allege Nizami was going to write Turkish is based
on the beginning of Layli o Majnoon, in the section when Nizami describes the reasoning
for writing the book:

/XJ9j [JjJuJ CjL^tJ c UujI

/xj^jo o^S cuLuu qj JLsl

QJljulXJ c U-juU^ ^>JUU JS jl £Lu^>
CIJljuUC*^ OJljuU jJJULQJ CU >0j9j

0-«jOX) > jjU £lj 9 £U J-Jj ,>0

OJlhu^ /xic Qj^uuu ggl ^j

OJlhJul^ pSS jJl& gj^ j^

qjlq_juu J^J qj pAs jLqjuo

CjljuuI jIS CjlS9 c lSjul /)j-bL> j^
CjljuuI j\j Cjl^J 9 ^^aSj JLSIS

/xJujS ^jv-^j ujulqJ ^5^ b

pJ+jJJJ ^jv^j uLp-> J^aJu jg

^>^ l5^>^ .bLiju <^S ulj9^

^ CS^ ^l9j l5^ j 9^

d L> U^' J^ L-S^ JljuUjJ ^jOu

Cjl^LuU OI9J Igj OLpj> jLuLTjJ

Cjl^LuU OLp-> U ^ OLpj> CjljuuIj OlS

JljJuU <*S \s>S jib QJj\ u^>

JljuuI^J jJ £,9j^ ^J i^juJUC*

Cjljuuu9^> ^\Jj> 9I <& ^b j^

OLJUUU9S <J*\L> gxS 0^ 09^

^Sjlcpjjj ^p cJg^ uld>

lSjIS jJjuLouJI QjO j lS-^jS

Jl9 ulic* ul 3j ubj clc^ qjo

JL> ul jJul qJLaJu_xS Qj >^>l9

guj ^jj uLc> ^jJ <^S J-«JJJ0

£u^ Jlq^ uLc> Jlq^ ^ cJg^

Olj jl A^>\S AjljuJj Jb> j^

oLuu Q^cl> Jbuo ^jgl

257

/XjuUUJ j^j jJq_juU O^jJy 0^
jjJ^jJSUuU />^ ^jVjLJUjb^ jl

jJjJj^ljuu qjI /xj^S 9 /xilcp* u

^joIj J^juuiC jlj^ l5\JU

3joL> w^gj Qj q^ ^U-juuljl

^^p* qjI CjljuuI^S^P* 3jOd3i oLuu

lSju^> o- 1 *-^ l3^ 9I .p ^ -^L^

lSjU 9 ^s^jU j9jj p

^Sjl>Jo Ij uju9>^ Ojb qjI

/XjuUUljuU QJSuuU ul qjO Co ^jvjI^

/XjuUUljuU O-pS jl 9J oLjIS

CjljuUL& CjujIj^ ^J^Qi^ 0^ U

CjljuU^ jl jjS l&j ^jOj £j-M ^

j.SLaj <^a^> j ^ jSjj

(CjljuUUJ Lo kS\S$ vIjljL^) ^Ijl^jJ !^li*UuUu) CjljuUUjIjO kS\S$ *>LjJlȣ) ^JV^jJ

CjljuUUJ Lo lSIjjuU QJSUuU Qj\S jJ

julj jjJL v LjuULi >^ ul

JuU JuJL fJ^LJUJ \j 9I

/xjuu^S CjlSU oLuu ^qJL> U9^>

/xjJug^ CjlSj £lo^ <3j J^ jl

/xjLu ir> j j^uu ^ Ojj^j QJ

/xjU £u^ 3j o^ q^ OJu^ 3J

/XJ^S jlj ^ Qj /)>^J0 jJJO^

/XJ9S jb £>-^ ^ c l^iS 0J9

^jvjoLbu JuOCfcjO AJj>3

^jvjoI^S uL> ^> ,JJ0 J^ jJ ul

258

[JJJQJ O^ ^M J^ > JuJ -T ^^

jjju^ uLcxjuuI jJ <-S^j c liil uS^

<-S-^>J ^b 9^? U^>H l ^9> ju,jl: >'
CjJS OJuLu U^ju^jO 9 lJ^J

CjljuUjLuU OlSulj. 9 Q^ OuCXaJ

CjLJuUjIgJ <jj*uuu 3 yJ j-LJUUj*JUU

CjljuuI^j^ £J jl 3joU 3j ^joU jjjl

CjljulHj <jS c LOU jljJo 9 Q^juUUU

lSL> jJ CjljuUu& 9J QjauuU pJjS

kS\j o-h^I l59j ^UjI kS\

CjljuoSuj 9^ lg^ /XJl^ Q^r fJ^uJ
CjljuoSjU QJuljuJ 9 £N>9 ^juUUJuI

OjJ UJuol JljJu jl O^uuu ^>S
JuU ^IjS <JJ*-JUU uljujo

JuLoJ ^jvjjlg-juu £^b b

jC^juUUO CjljuUu& Qj^jSl CjuI <Jjl

j9^ gjl CjljuUu& JoLuUU jjljuJlSU

CjljuuI jb 9 JoLuUU <JJ*UuU jlj^l

CjljuuI jLuU ^Lpj <JJ*UuU 9^>^ O^j

J-Ofcj j 9 JuU 9 ^J^LJLa^iuJ jJ

jjSJ± QJJbjJ QJZLjuJ JljuUU

/xjIjJ Oj <lS l5|ciJL>jjo j^

/Xjlj JuC> ^USLi ^ CjljuuIJuJ.
lSjItj^juU pjj QJ 9 £b 3J

lSjISuoIS 3j ^jvjo 3J 9 ^gj 3j

lSjLuU JoLuUU jl QJSUuU JUU
lSjLj <\j£& Qj JuS CjuU b

cJL> lsIjojI jS ^ qjI

gJ\JLo jl iJIlLjujSj ^jS <jjoS

JuLuoSl ^ 9I /xlbu j OJJJ9S
JuLo ulj CjuaSLi OuLc qjI b
jb _U^ qjO Qj uLp-> oLuu U9^>
jbj-»j qjo /)b ^j ^Lob qjI^

259

CjlSLLJ jl /XjLuUj ,jllb*jl

oLuu OjJcl> ^j 9I ojjlcp* jS

JljuuU O^-juoS jSI ,j2u I OJuU 1 9>
JljuUU O^jjO <& jl ^9_juU l _9_juuLc

o^lj qjaJb* ujJL> ol jU

QjO j^uUUCX^ 9J <JJauuU lSI Cjl&S

QjO J^ljJ [JjJujSU ^JVJ^J

CjljuUC> OjJl^> L5l<^^iS QJJS j±

CjljuUUuU jJ^JO Ij pJtu c LjuUUJuI

CjLJuUUjIcp* ,J^juULC CjljuUJu <*S \^>}Jb

CjljuuuJ LuulS <^SuoJ 9I jJ C L^S qjI

^jb />L> vU^ Oj^_juu jj
^^jS 9J jjIjjIjS ^j c ui*y

^jvJqj qj^jj qjJu 0ISJI9

CjljuuI OJuLilS 9I jA9 Qj QJ j^ {J jjS

CjljuuI OJuLo l59 j QJJbjj ^59 j qjj

J$$J OL> 3j jJJUlS ^> 9 CjljuUuL>

JljuUC^J CjUjLc QJ^Ij-U

*LuU OI9J OL> j OL> CtjljJL).

Cjl>IJuuJ Ij JJ>£ OL> [jJjS

CjljuUU /)^ OLjLp-> U^JlitJ oL>

CjljuUU JOjJZlO JJ>C UL> <JJ9

lSjU CjL^j j Lc^ OJJu jl

/)^L-juUuI >^9S qJ-juUL> j±
JD^LfJjS LjOuS 9 />JJl^ olS

olj <^Sjlp jl Ju ^jOjuJuIS

^JVJSjIj ±$jJ <jjI jl jJ^J^

^jvjfclS ^Ljo <jjI jl >iSul->

ojJj <^5JL o^^jo qj jjiju^Lo

09\Jb> qjAj QJauuu jL^juuu

260

Translation:

ogl^b qjI ^jIjJ 9 JJJ9S

j± kS\QJljuJj <^> 9I jl ^jOuJ ^

^ jJufc jl 9 ^jv^j vuX jl
>o>SLi £Lo qjI ch-^^ P
/)j^J kSU ±$jJ lS^jo wiu
^I^^jvjo vl$^ *J^ 9 /3ui-a^L-5 vj0

>>^ £p Jiir: j <tf ^jJbo
/>^£ £>> ^ 9 1 j^j P

jjlSI CjuJ jlj^ jb> jjjl
lS^^J />loJ ^jljuU Ojb> j^

^Ijl ujj9>c qjI °|9^ ^
:>U Ju9^ ^£j| jj^UI

^<p* U OLjJub ^ uLc £yjlj

lSjIS j^j ^ ,jaJUOuL>l^j^

lSjLcxC jJjJu jjjjuoul^IjuI 9

oLuJ v^jLo jhJ ill

The Reason for Composing the Book

It was a felicitous and happy day /I was enjoying like King Kai-Qubdd

My crescent eyebrows were undone /My Diwan ofNezami was open

The Mirror of Fortune was in front of me /And Good Luck was combing my hair

Morning was making bouquets of roses /And with its breath it was making my day
auspicious

My butterfly of heart was holding a candle / 1 was the Nightingale in the garden, and the
garden intoxicated

I was carrying my standard to the Apex of Words / In the Jewel-box of Art I had my pen

261

Beak of Pen was engaged in piercing ruby / My francolin of tongue was making fine
tunes

I was thinking: it is time to do some work / Good Luck is my comrade, Fortune is my
friend

How long should I choose to stay in empty cage? /And sit unengaged in the world affairs

Time was giving the Rich good time /It was keeping it distance from the Empty-handed

A dog with thin and empty flanks / Is not picked for watch and cannot earn any bread

In accordance with the World you can make your fortune / Those compatible with the
World can win it

One can hold his head up / Who is compatible with all like the air

Like a mirror wherever they are / They would erase the lies

Any temperament which is seeking wrong / Is like a wrong note in dissonance

Oh Fortune, if you are gracious / You would beg me to do something

I was throwing my lot to this /And a lucky star was passing then

When someone is accepted this is it /When Fortune is giving treasure, this is it

Right away a courier came from the road/ And a letter from His Kingship he brought

With his beautiful handwriting / His Majesty has written me ten, fifteen or more eloquent
lines

Each word of the letter like a blooming garden/ It was more glowing that a night lamp

Saying: "O Privy to Our Circle of Service / O Magic-Word of the World! O Nezami!

With the sauce of your early-rising breath /Raise another Magic with your words

In the Arena of the Wondrous Words / Exhibit the eloquence that you possess

I want you to recite a story like a pearl / In the memory ofMajnun 's love affair

Like the Virgin Leyli if you can / Produce some virgin words in the literature

So that I can read and say: behold this sugar /I can shake my head and say: behold this

crown!

262

More than thousand books of love /Have been decorated so far

This story is the king of all stories / It is worth if you spend you effort on it

In Persian and Arabic ornaments / Beautify and dress this new bride fresh

You know that I am that expert / Who recognizes the new couplets from the old

While you can mint new pure gold coins of wondrous words / Leave out the business of

fake coins

Watch that from the jewel-box of thoughts / In whose necklace you are putting pearl

Verses misinterpreted:

Literal translation:

Our fidelity does not have Turkic manner I
Turkish-like(=vulgar/harsh) talk do not befit us

Or:

(since) Our fidelity is not like that of Turks -

(thus) Speech for Turks (Turkish Kings) is not befitting for us

One who is of a high birth /He deserves the high praises/words

When my ears found the rings of King(when I became a servant of the King)/ From heart
to mind I lost sense

No courage to reject his request / No sight to find my way to this treasure

I was perplexed in that embarrassment / Because of my old age and frail nature

No privy to tell them my secret / And explain my story in detail

My son, Mohammad Nezami / Who is dear to me like soul to my body

He took this copy of the story in hand dear like his heart / Like a shadow he sat next
down to me

From his kindness he gave some kisses on my feet / Saying: u Oyou who beat drums in
the sky

When you retold the story ofKhosrow and Shirin / You brought happiness to so many

hearts

Now you must say the story ofLeyli and Majnun / So that the Priceless Pearls become

twin

263

This eloquent book is better be told /The young peacock is better be a couple

Especially a king like King ofSharvan / Why Sharvan? He is the King of Iran

He gives blessing and he gives station/ He raises people and he encourages poets

He has requested this book from you with his letter / Please sit and prepare your pen "

I told him: "Your words are very true / O my Mirror-faced and Iron-resolved!

But what can I do, the weather is double / Thought is wide but my chest is tight

When corridors of tale are narrow / Words become limp in their traffic

The field of words must be wide / So that talent can have a good ride

This story, even though, well-known / No joyful rendering for it is possible

The instruments of story are joy and luxury / But this story has excuse for both

On the subject of infatuation and chain and bond / Bare words would be boring

And if decorations beyond the limits are imposed on it /Would make the face of this
story sore

In a stage that I don 't know the ways / It is obvious how much I can show my talent

There is no garden, no royal feast in this story /No songs, no wine, no pleasure

On the dry dunes and hard hills in desert / How long can one talk about sorrow?

The story must be about joy / So couplets can play and dance in the story

This is the reason that from the beginning /No one has ventured around it for its
boredom

Any poet has dismissed its composition / Before they reached the end, they abandoned it

Since King of the World has requested gently / "Compose this story in my name! "

Now despite this narrow field of maneuver / 1 will take it so high in delicacy

That when they recite it for His Majesty / He would cast un-pierced pearls on the road

If its readers are depressed / They would fall in love otherwise they are dead

264

Then that worthy dear son of mine /Because of whom doors of this treasure are open

The only child from my first marriage / The only tulip of my morning wine

Told me, "O! who your words are my equals / That is they are like my brothers

In composing this swift story /Do not have hesitation in your thoughts

Wherever Love has set up a feast table / This story is like a salt-shaker

Even though it has all the savors / It has raw kabab on its table

When its pearl is pieced on your hand /The story would be cooked by you rendering

It is a lovely beauty with nice appearance /But it lacks any make-up and decoration

Nobody has cast pearl on it what it is worth / That is why it has been left bare-face

It is soul, and if nobody works one 's soul on it / This will not wear a rented dress [of
insufficient work]

The soul could be decorated only by soul / Nobody has spent one 's dear soul on this story

Your breath gives life to the whole World / This dear soul of mine is your privy

You start the rendering of this story / Yours truly will pray and the Fortune will help "

When I heard the heartening of my beloved son/ 1 gave my heart and conquered the
battle

I persisted in finding pearls /I dug mines and opened alchemy

My talent was seeking a short path / Because it was worried about the road length

There was no path shorter that this /Nothing more agile that this method

This is a meter light but easy flowing / The fish in this sea are not dead but live

There has been many stories with this sweetness / But none has the freshness of this

No diver from this sea of mind/ Has ever brought up a pearl so special

Each couplet of this book is like a line of pearls / Empty of any fault and filled with many

arts

In seeking this elegant product / There was no a hair to slip

265

/ would say something and my heart would reply /I was scratching and the spring was
giving water

Whatever I earned with my mind / 1 spent on decorating this story

These more that four thousand couplets / Were composed in less than four months

Had any other commitments were held up /It would had finished in a fortnight

On the lovely appearance of this Free Bride /Prosperous be those who say 'Prosperous! '

It was decorated in the best possible way / In the last night ofRajab in Thi, Fa, Dal

The explicit year this book carries on it /Would be Eight Four after Five Hundred

I polished and decorated this bride with the best excellence /And I sat her on the camel-
litter

So that nobody could find their ways to her / Except for the eyes of His Majesty

According to those who have tried to misinterpret the verses of Nizami Ganjavi (and this
was the section quoted by Stalin who did not even have a proper understanding of
Persian), the following couplets are meant to make the unfounded claim that Nizami
wanted to write Turkish but was prohibited:

CjumJUU LO fJSljtJUU yj^CJJj Oj\£jJ

Julj JjJL <<-JljuJJ j5 Ol
JuU JuJL <j3uuU Ij 9I

Verses misinterpreted:

Literal translation:

Our fidelity does not have Turkic manner I

Turkish-like (Turkish-mannered=Harsh/Vulgar) talk do not befit us

One who is of a high birth/ He deserves the high praises/words

Or:

(since) Our fidelity is not like that of Turks -

(thus) Speech for Turks (Turkish Kings) is not befitting for us

One who is of a high birth/ He deserves the high praises/words

266

According to ethnic-minded misinterpreters who have not examined these lines carefully,
the bolded portion: "Means that Shirvanshah wrote to Nizami that do not write in
Turkish! And Nizami was upset"

Unfortunately they have not looked at the whole section and have not understood the
meaning of the verses above. First let us analyze this whole section from beginning. We
note at the end of the section, Nizami Ganjavi mentions he finished the work in four
months and if he did not have other duties, he would have done it in fourteen days. We do
not doubt this claim of Nizami Ganjavi, since he was indeed cP*-^ l5s^L> "Jadooy-
Sokhan" (having magical discourse). Thus Nizami Ganjavi wrote this section(the
introduction after praise of God) after he had finished the book. That is this section is the
last or one of the last sections to be written despite coming into the intro. The reason it is
put in the introduction is because it is a section about composing the book.

Next, in the beginning of this section, it starts with the fact that Nizami Ganjavi while in
happy state (:>Li=shad) and in a Kay-Qobadi state (he refers to it as Neshaat-e- Kay-
Qobaadi, Kay-Qobaad being an important king in the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi and
Nizami Ganjavi comparing his state of happiness to that of Kay-Qobaad, which again
shows the influence of Shahnameh), received a letter from the Shirvan Shah.

He refers to the letter from Shirvanshah as a composition (satr=>kjuj)
(composition/paragraphs and not poetry). Thus we do not have the original letter of
Shirvanshah and all the verses/poetry were composed by Nezami and of course the
style/quality of the verses which are in the meter of the poem(the meter Nezami chose)
show this. How true is Nizami' s poetic verses to the letter of Shirvanshah and how much
of it is poetic interpretation? We will never now. But, we do know that Nizami Ganjavi
describes the letter as "naghz" (very pleasing, eloquent, excellent) and he states that each
and every single word of it is like a blossomed garden whose light is brighter than the
flames lit at night:

So Nizami Ganjavi was very pleased with the words of the Shah and praises the letter.
He considers this letter like night flames which light up the dark and he considers each
word as a pleasant blossoming garden. So this by itself invalidates the false claim that
Nizami Ganjavi was upset at the letter of the Shirvnanshah.

As per the verses which Nizami Ganjavi composed (the Shirvanshah did not compose
any verses, he wrote a letter in prose, just like Nizami Ganjavi's son did not compose any
verses and Nizami talked through him) and was misinterpreted by the USSR:

CJuuuuuLo i5l3£ kJJug \JsSjJ

(lS^pjuM.O) OuuUUU Lo iSljuuJ \J3CMJ QJ\£jJ

±j\j JuJU V-uuUU jS u\

267

JuU JuJU iJDCMJ \j gl

CJuuuuJ Lo i5ld$ Ca-jud 4jI5jJ

(i^buj) CJuuuuJ Lo wSljuuj ijjifejuj ^j\Sjj

X?\j JuJU v-a-ajuu j5 ul

JuU JuJU jJJfcjuJ lj> gl

Translation:

Our fidelity does not have Turkic manner I

Turkish-like (Turkish-mannered-Harsh/Yulgar) talk do not befit us

One who is of a high birth/ He deserves the high praises/words

Or:

(since) Our fidelity is not like that of Turks -

(thus) Speech for Turks (Turkish Kings) is not befitting for us

One who is of a high birth/ He deserves the high praises/words

The late Dr. Zaryab Khoi has responded to the misinterpretation by ethno-nationalist
authors who tried to misinterpret these verses in order to falsify the theory that Nizami
Ganjavi wanted to write Turkish.

As observed in detail by Dr. Abbas Zarin Khoi and here we bring the original Persian of
his article:

Jl^I^> ^jo -Cjljuuuj Lo C5lj_uj ,jJauuJ <^j\^jj -Cjljuuuj Lo <s\s$ k'JjJlo ^3^>J '.jS-kjj j\ 0\szj\jji\ Qj0\jj$j OJJljuJU^J
tob /)Isaj 9 CjljujI OJu_vp £LiLo oLujj^^juj 9 Ju^Su t_5vS>i jSLjSj CjljujI cULjuj|£> ^J>jo ^jvjoLbu Q$ JuS J\IjJljujI

«^JI...juL» jjJLi o^*-*^ U 9^ 9 << 6JI--- CjLjua ^' ^° ^1^9 Cjl^ i^S^ <*S> CjljujI

C5l99 v'LtSuc* Qj ^v-tuj i±$J ^j£>> OLj « L 5sfJ J J» jl $$*nSLO j±\ iQs> <CjljujI 0_v>S oLuljujI OJULJUUU9J ,^9

ciSLL <«Cjljuuuj Lo ^199 CjSL4> ^SjJ^ --^9^j CjljujI cu_»Jj9J ^^vjoLbu cu Q$ CSl cLoU j^ U CjljujIjJ oLuju^^juj

cUbLuj ^^oujjl^ oLu_>l j^> jjlkSj <jul 9 «u_>9j ^>* 9 *-S>S ^.P lJ^ 52 ^ <CjljujI kSjJu^lo ^_$Jszo «^_$Sjj» j\ 3c^a.6_o

^jOlSX) CO CS^p v^^ 9 jCjljujJo ^^>jo 9 £>^ Cju^j lJ v -^ <<; Juuj />LoJ l _5vS - >j» \JJJjS ^jvjo ciS uL-> ._>jb <-S_>ljj

\Jj\ojB ^jo ^jvjLljuj ciS uu-> .CjljujI OJuol Cju9jujj> 9 j^sv^l ^jy 9 C^LujS 9 <JSJOu>j ^JVJ

Jul 0_>j!> ^SvS^ <£ ^^0 LgjjLuJ ul JuujJ ^_$\jO
_>L» OJj uLuuul J9S iGISjj OJu p->JJS> 9^ejo^

J9I £,>-£bO ^JVjlSZjO <jjJU .CjljujI OJljuJ JLoSJljujI OJljuJ 9 ^JVJuJfcjOj ^JVjlSZjO CU «^Sj£j$J» /XjS& CIjuJuI^jS UUj j^ 9

;C\j3> £UuJU ^.JnSLl j^ CO UUC> < CjljuJjJ Lo C5u99 \ZjlSL0 iJ5S?lS9 lJV 9 *-SjH ^^ l^* 52 ^ '^J v ^>' "^ CjljujI iJju^T.

^jVjoLtu O^Jl-^jO 9 ^jJLJ \~j\jS j$ iS^j&LjuJS JuJ>9 ^^-V^jjO 9 CjljujI OJljuJ JqjuJO «CjljuJ-«J Lo CSIJ9 t ^JLftd^) t _5V_J - >J»

9 OjLujI Ij ul 9 JlU_J ^jvjO Ij j^sOl^X) O-^^ ^ ^^ O^l >^j J-^ jCjljujI OJljuJ gJo uLjuUuI ^uJ%j^5j CU CO* j^svjoLtu

CV_J OLl-> 9 .Juub ^J^O CjljujI 0-i^ ^^^9 l5V ^JN-*jJ9^>9 Cb CjuujujJ CV_J kS$Jj£. _>9jOJ^jO uUqJLajJ Ct.^9 CO ^jOfcjjoJj

.Jul 0_>9j ^99^)^0 ^^OlSljuj Jl0_C 9 ^svjL99 ^jy co uLoj ul j_> ulS^ ^CjljujI />$1slo

268

iJu^S <-S-)UujI qS OLu> .CjljujI G^I^jS <SjjJ ^S\jSLjJJ j\sLjJj\ j± ^JvSZO ,Jjl jj^DJ 9

JuJu j^j^i kSjJ j\ Juli I99
JuJu (J jjS L93 JJ> uLjI^jI jl

JjLo <=lS ^jOLuulS 9 -jbl99 ^Sjj ^9-u jSj£> 9 £J lJ^.H ~^l>^jl ■ ( P^jl jL ' P^^ O-?} 9-* J ^9^ ^° 'M9$ l5SjL' ljuJ 9

0IS9J 9 v^^JI *Sjj\» Jjuo ^j tLv->-&^ *s\s\ /».Lhg-o Juuo^iub /xSL> 9 Jbuol v^ °^ ajl^jjU J.».^.pJ qj

<jJ*UuJ \<& CjljulH ,jul <jjlH ^JSIO «CjljuUUJ Lo ^Ij_ajJ <JJ*-JuJ c LilS - >J» !CjuJ />9^ £>>£IX> 9 .JUulS CLS^^-I^jjO V^ul

<3ASL» CjuJ <lc.il ,Jjl JU9JO 9 JJ^J ^99^)^0 ^^Ol&^Ju 3j OlS^jJ Jl£_C Ol j^ I^Uj .CjljuULU Lo <-Slj_*jJ <SuSj 9 CjljuUU

j± \j (J^*-*^ ^^^ '/^H^ i^Q ^ OLu> «JuJj JuUU iJS*LjuJ \j 9I "Julj JJUU K-JLJUjJ jS> Ol» iJu^S ^^VJO <*S CjljujI

qj jS^ (J-^-*^ ^jljjj^ >H^ 9 CjljujI V_SLaSj 9 CjljuUU <jJ*UuJ Ol ,^50^5^0 ClS CjljujI 0_>L jI^jS JJUU ,j3uuJ JjI-QjO

(^J>J9>' V^jj 1 jjjLvCJ .JuuJU ^jvjoJ «<jJiiiS jjJ^uuJ ^^O^j^ ^JSLO

As noted by Professor Zaryab Khoi, the word "Torki" is used as verb in Persian (Torki
boodan and Torki Gari) and has nothing to do with language. Professor Zaryab Khoi
who instructed at Tehran university(Iran's top university) is well known in Iranologist
circles and he was also the head of the library of congress of Iran during the Shah's time.
Originally born in Khoi in West Azerbaijan Province of Iran , he was invited to the
university of Berkeley by Walter B. Henning as a visiting Professor and thought Persian
language for two years in that prestigious university. But he was requested back to Iran
for a prestigious position in Tehran university and he accepted this position due to his
love for his homeland. For an online biography, the reader can look at here:

http://fa.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%D8%B9%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B3 %D8
%B2%D8%B1%DB%8C%D8%A7%D8%A8 %D8%AE%D9%88%DB%8C%DB%8C
&oldid=1451204

Here we translate what Dr. Abbas Zaryab Khoi has stated:

The writer of the newspaper Azerbaijan (Newspaper under the Pishevari regime which
was setup by the USSR) has misinterpreted the lines: Torki Sefat Vafaayeh Maa Nist -
Torkaaneh Sokhan Sezaayeh Maa nist and wants to argue that that Nizami wanted to
write in Turkish and the Shirvanshah forbid him and instead told him: Torki Sefat-i
Vafaayeh Maa Nist - Torkaaneh Sokhon Sezaayeh Maa nist - An koo Ze Nasab Boland
Zaayad - Oo raa Sokhon Boland Baayad.

But the writer is deeply mistaken, because if from the word "Torki" the meaning that is to
be derived is language, then it has nothing to do with faithful characteristic (Sefat-e-
Vafaaye) of Shirvanshah, so that he would write in his letter to Nizami: "Torki Sefat-e
Vafaayeh Maa nist"(Our faithfulness is not of Turkish characteristics) . The meaning
from "Torki" in this line is an infinitive (verb found from noun) like Torki-Gari (To do
Turkish stuff) and Tork Boodan (to act/become Turkish), and this expression has an old
tradition in Persian. For example "Torki Tamaam Shod"(Torki has finished means acting
like Turkish has finished) which means that harj o marj (confusion, wildness and
unruliness) has finished and Torki-Gari (To do Turkish stuff) is equivalent to cruelness,
harshness and this meaning is used by Sanai (translator: from a poem which criticizes the

269

Turkish rulers. Sanai is a famous Persian poet who lived before Nizami and influenced
him):

Do you see those unwise who Torki(Translator: used as an infinitive/verb)
May their grave be tight and dark like the eyes of Turks

Thus the first part of this couplet means this: Torki is an infinitive(verb derived from
noun), and Torki-Gari (To do Turkish) and unfaithfulness is not the characteristic of our
faith. And in some of the manuscripts it has come down as "Torki Sefati, vafaayeh maa
nist" and Vahid Dastgerdi, may God bless him, in his corrected edition of Lili o Majnoon,
brings forth this interpretation and points to the story of Mahmud Ghazna who was
unfaithful to Ferdowsi. And what is clear is that at that time, Turks were known for
unfaithfulness and covenant-breaking.

And such a phrase is found in the poetry of many great poets. For example Asadi
Tusi(Translator: famous Persian poet who lived before Nizami) states:

(vafaa naayad az tork hargez padid)
Faithfulness will never appear amongst Turks

(Az Iranian joz vafaa kas nadid)

And from Iranians, there is nothing but faithfulness

And Sanai(Translator: Another famous Persian poet who lived before Nizami) states:

(Maa khod ze to in cheshm nadaarim aziraak),

We ourselves do not expect anything from you because

(Torki to o Hargez Nabovad Tork vafaadaar)

You are a Turk and a Turk is never faithful

And those that want to see more expressions like these can look at the book of "sayings
and wise quotes" by the great scholar Dehkhoda under "Atrak al-Torook wa law Kaana
Abuk"(Forget being Turkish even if your forefathers were Turkish).

And the second part of the couplet: "Torkaaneh Sokhan sezaayeh maa nist" (Turkish-like
talk is not befitting for us) means that ineloquence and vulgarity is not befitting for us,
because at that time, Turks were known for vulgarity and unmannered words, and the
proof of this is given the next: "An kaz nasab boland zaay ad" (That who is born from a
high birth) "oo raa Sokhan boland baayad" (Elequent speech then are suited/befitting for
him).

Thus as we see, he has compared Torkaaneh-Sokhan(Turkish-like/Turkish-manner
discourse/ speech/talk) to high/eloquence discourse/speech and thus Torkaaneh-Sokhan
means ineloquence, unmannerly and vulgar speech, and the interpretation of "Torkaaneh
Sokhan" never means "Torki Sokhan Goftan" (To speak/write in Turkish language).

270

(Abbas Zaryab Khoi,Ayandeh Magazine, Esfand Maah (February 21 -March 21), 1324
(1946), pages 780-781.)

Since Professor. Zaryab Khoi has mentioned Vahid Dastgerdi, it is interesting to see what
this commentator states. We note that most of all modern interpretations of symbolic and
difficult verses are based upon or have been influenced by Dastgerdi' s extensive
commentary. His extensive commentary on the verses were the first of their kind with
regards to Nezami. Dastgerdi mentions:

<*5 CjljuUUJ kSjJ ^OCfcjO OlLaJLuU U<^> Lo Jl0_C 9 0\^jJ V$Z> Lo kS\S$ <& CjljuUUuI CjuJ ^J^SIO
.CjljulH j^lj-JuUU Lo <S\jJ CjljuoSjJ Ol&LuU^y lSIjjuU OS QJSUuU CJJCpul <JJUy ^9_ajU c IJljuoSljuU

Translation:

The meaning of these verses is that our fidelity is not like the Turks and our faithfulness
is not like that of Sultan Mahmud the Turk. Our fidelity and commitment will not be
broken, so words that are befitting for Turkish kings is not befitting for us.

Nezami also does mention the story of Mahmud and Ferdowsi elsewhere. The Iranian
scholar Said Nafisi also hints that the "Nasab boland" (high birth) had to do with the fact
that many Ganjaviyans including Nezami who were Iranians saw themselves as of high
brith relative to Turkish nomads.

Behruz Servatiyan, an Iranian Azerbaijani scholar who is very passionate about Nezami

and makes many personal commentaries also has made an interesting comment on these

verses. In his 1986 publication of Khusraw o Shirin, he mentions various theories, one

that the verses might refer to the Turkish language based on the USSR theory. But at the

same time, he mentions that the verse:

"The eloquent Persian born Dehqan

Describes the situation of Arabs as such"

is a reference to Nezami. He also mentions that Nezami Ganjavi's mother was Kurdish.

However, he states in this 1986 publication that all these things need further analysis.

That is he states: "It is too soon to make a judgment and one needs to a deeper analysis

which if God willing, and there is years left, I shall undertake"

(Servatiyan, Behruz. "Khusraw o Shirin of Nezami Ganjavi", critical edition and

commentary. Tus publishers, 1986. (pg 58))

However in his Leyli o Majnoon, published in 2008, after 20 years, he clearly states:

9 V^uOsSl> j\ j$$ <& SjjSuJQ <*Jb-KjJ^j-JuJ jS^LkjJ ^yJOKJCU 9 UUljuUoI oLuJ ^JVjljuJ^^I jj j\ UuJ CLjuJ ^JjI _ ^jljujL^U

j± ^^vS^^JLuj o\^jj Cjuo^Sl^ j^lc _p 9 o^L9l £y>:. «-S\J olio 9 oLoj 9 ^b* oL^gj _p <^ jjIjj ±^> 9 ^9!
:_u5L«jo i^Sjbr pis o\jjjj \j ^^oLuauuj <j+j^ <uj*j£j\ k-ju&szj oLuuLuuol ^jjU cjc*j tul^l <^L> j-uj\j->uj

Lo j^lj-JuJ ,jJLaS «~S>juJ>juJ 9 CUlS^jJ <JJ*-JUJ 9 /XjuljuUUU \S$jJ OlS jJ JJuLo^ Lo 9 CjljuUUU ^jS jJ Lo <s\s$ vl»-6-^)

271

L93 9 $$J °Ijljuuu ^j^juj^^jB u i3Jl0_C <& /xJLjuajJ v^^jJ iljJ jl ^^JJX ^^xjj^jo Juulcx^ GuLjuuc>I oLjj ,jjo ^JvjlSZj
.^b pJb\p> jjlibb lj 9J Cjuoj>j 9 £lt) 9 ^^ /x^l£> L93 ^£> _Lp_C cu 9 /xJLjuULft ^^oI^jI ^IjJ jl o^ --^Li

^J^-juJ^S U CjljujI ^JjSLC &Jlb

(>SL«j v"»6ff>)

^Jl^ CO \j O^jl^jO 9 ^jJ-J 9 l^S^Lj JulL CjljuJ^ jl ^J^X-JUJ \j 9I -Vjlj -XjI>J JulL J^juUU 9 <^jljuUU jl ^S ^JOuUL^ ul
IJuLuO jJCD <\J (jdjLtjjLu 9 CtlLjU ,_S\-P-jijlJUJuI Ou «JuJu ^>\'jJ 9 W_jljuUU ^l^jJ JuJj V—jljulO jl <JJ>1juJ>>-^jljijjI.^U

(Servatiyan, Behruz. "Lili o Majnoon", criticial edition and commentary. Amir Kabir
publishers, 2008. pp 338-339)

Translation: "These verses emanate from a feeling of excessive racial pride from Nezami
and Akhsatan relative to Turks. Normally a wise sage like Nezami would not make such
comments, but he did it knowingly probably under ethnic emotions while being fully
aware that the Seljuqids were ruling Iran.

They mean:

Our manners and fidelity is not Turkish and we are not unfaithful like Turks and
thus Turkish-type speech and thoughtless words are not befitting to us.

Akhsatan is saying through the verses of Nezami: "I am shah Akhsatan and I am
not a Turk like Mahmud the Gazna who broke his vow with Ferdowsi and did not
fulfill his commitment. I am an Iranian and I fulfill my vow and will justly reward
your effort and undertaking. The person who is of high birth deserves high speech
and decorate Lili o Majnoon eloquently, with your poetic versatility. The offering
high speech for someone of high birth and race seem in my opinion (Behruz Servatiyan)
to be a low thought.

Although this author does not necessarily agree with the personal comments of Dr.
Servatiyan (rather we believe these were simply poetic conventions that were widely used
and one will never know the emotional state of the poet), we have bolded the portion
where the verse is explained. After 20 years, Dr. Behruz Servatiyan (himself a translator
of many Persian poems into Azerbaijani Turkish and proud of both his Iranian and his
Azerbaijani-Turkic heritage) has mentioned what is the natural explanation of these
verses.

In our opinion these verses have a simple explanation based on what Vahid Dastgerdi has
said. We note that according to a very popular legend (which was known by Nezami and
also mentioned by him in other verses (see our section on Nezami and Ferdowsi)), after
Ferdowsi was not properly rewarded and Mahmud Ghaznavi broke his vow, and showed
his infidelity and lack of faithfulness, Ferdowsi escapes Khorasan and goes in exile and
writes a Hajw-Nama or a versified lampoon for Sultan Mahmud. The Hajw-Nama or

272

versified lampoon makes fun of Mahmud, criticizes him and belittles him by using harsh
and near vulgar language. This Hajw-Nama is exactly what is meant by "Torkaaneh
Sokhan" which can mean "Turkish-mannered speech" or "Speech befitting for Turks". It
has absolutely no relation with Turkish language as explained previously since there was
no concept of Turkish literature at the time nor were the Shirwanshahs whom Nezami
praises Turks.

Let us analyze these verses in even more detail. The word Vafa/Wafa
(faithfulness/fidelity) is said to be lacking among Turks in these verses composed by
Nizami. This is not only mentioned by Nizami Ganjavi, but many other Persian poets.
For example Sanai Ghaznavi, who Nizami Ganjavi modeled his Makhzan al-Asrar after
also mentions:

<^l>Jjl AO^ / XjL * JC ? Or*} SP j ^9^ ^°

(^JvJLljuu)

Translation of Sanai:

We ourselves do not expect anything from you because
You are a Turk and a Turk is never faithful.

We also have Asadi Tusi, who migrated from Tus to Azerbaijan and was a well known
poet of the region who Nizami was familiar with. Asadi Tusi also says in one his poems
where he is comparing Iranians to Turks:

(i^juj^b iSjuujI)

Asadi Tusi expresses the same opinion:

Faithfulness will never appear amongst Turks
And from Iranians, there is nothing but faithfulness

The verse is in the poem where the Iranian warrior Garshasp addresses the Turks:

jJ-ajO^J-H^M jl OjlsL*J CjljuJJ GjjO

<jj£> 9 Ch^^° j ^ 9I >£- j ^ ^ ^
±$j ul^l oLJj ulpj> j± 9I oS

oL^_jJj >juo5u jU ^9_*Jj ol^l <\j

OlpJ> jl lSL> gujfc 9I jb JuJuu

CjljujL^J jSjsb o^ljl y> ul^l jl

L _50uoS OJuu CjljuulJ uLljuuuj Lo j

273

j^SOuuu \j Lo OJuu Lxxjuj j\ CjLjmJufr 9

JuJ^i j^>^ <SjJ j\ Jul) 1^9

JuJu ,jjoS 1^9 jJ> uLil^l J9

Nizami Ganjavi was familiar with Asadi Tusi's work and has mentioned his name
directly in the Haft Paykar. Thus Shirwanshahs who were Iranians are naturally faithful
according to the poet and overall Iranians saw themselves as faithful relative to Turks.

And there is also an old Eskandarnama (not to be confused with the one by Nizami
Ganjavi) where this is mentioned:

{«kSjj» Ojlg jjj IjjaiQ^ qjoLqpJ iJu^lju)

Translation: And the King did not know that Turks lacked faithfulness.

Without understand other Persian poets, including Sanai, Ferdowsi, Khaqani, Asadi Tusi,
Gorgani and others, knowledge of Nizami Ganjavi and his verses will also be deficient.
Thus by that time, it was accepted in Persian poetry that Turks lacked faith. This was
used in two contexts. One in the context of Mahmud of Ghazna and the other in the
context of symbols of beauty who lacked faith.

Numerous other examples can be given, but the best example is Nizami Ganjavi himself
who repeats the lack of faithfulness amongst Turks through the mouth of Alexander the
Great. Nizami Ganjavi talks about the lack of faithfulness in Turks through the mouth of
Alexander (who complains about the Khaqan of Turks/Chin):

oISj p±y> uIcxjj JujIjJ

O UUULJUUUU V i i , O S l" 1 nl I j . jV nl

uLjuJ> j± CjljuUUJ 199 9 _)L0_C <*S

JuI - OJuJljuuu ^jvjo^juul^t OJu CLaJb
^jOLjujI^j cL^r kS$> Uuo^juul> Oj

i£j <*£> J9I ,jJljuUC> ^JVJLjuJ9^ Ol j±

^9_*jj <\j> jj>\ u±j5 ^jOucxjJj^ Chf.JS

^9J iJjS IcXjuJ j^JO 05 ^jJ jjJ>

^joljujI^ I99 i^j^z ^y >**

274

Opened his tongue in execration of the Turks,

Saying: — "Without (hidden) Fitnah (calamity, discord, rebellion) no Turk is born of his

mother.

"Seek not from the Chini aught save the frown on the eye-brow (the vexation of the
heart): "They observe not the treaty of men.

"True speech uttered the ancients;
"Treaty-faith exists not among the men of Chin.

"No one seeks manliness from the Chini;

"For, save his form, that pertaining to man is not theirs.

"They have all chosen narrow -eyedness (shamelessness);

"They have beheld (experienced) openness of the eyes (shamefacedness) in other
persons.

"Otherwise, after such amity,

"Why tookest thou up the path of hatred?

"First, in that friendship-seeking, — what was there?
"At last, in this hostility-displaying, — what advantage?

"Mine, — the heart was one, and covenant one;
"Truthfulness great; treachery little (none).

"Not (mine), — the intelligence that your love was hate;
"That the heart of the Turk of Chin was full of twist and turn.

"If the Turk of Chin had kept faith,

"He would (like the faith-keeping Sikandar) have kept the world beneath the fold (the

skirt) of his garment.

So the first part of the couplet clearly shows that lack of faithfulness amongst Turks was
common attribution amongst Persian poets and writers. Nizami Ganjavi also used the
same words as other Persian poets who regarded Turks as lacking fidelity at the time.
Vahid Dastgerdi believes that the lack of faithfulness of Turks in Persian literature is due
to Mahmud's treatment of Ferdowsi. These verses were also of course composed by
Nezami himself since the Shirwanshah did not compose the verses of poetry in the poetic
rhythm of Lili o Majnoon. For example words such as:

^UaJ (J^a. <j^> j^La,

Are clearly words of Nezami as are the rest of the intro. If Sherwanshah could have
composed the above four verses, he would not need any court poets.

275

As per Turki being used as an infinitive, we note here that Nizami Ganjavi and Sanai
both use it:

jLjo 9^1 j± ChPZ l^^-^L*^ l^
(i^olbu)
Do no/ Twrfo' oh Turk of Chinese art
Stay for a while, do not furrow your brow
(Nezami)

Jul 0±j£ Li^H °& uSvjL^j^-juj ul AJlwJ ^JU)

( l 3\jLjuj)

Do you see those idiots that have Turkied

May their grave be narrow, like the eyes of Turks

(Sanai)

As per the second part of the first couple, it is significant to note the following verses
from Khaqani Shirvani which connects the words "Torkaan"(Turks) and "Torkaneh":

9^Juuo CLilSjJ uS lSLljJjI

jcpsuo ^ISLo j± j\ uli 9 vl

uI^^juj jj 9 j9^ix) ulS^ uli

jcptx) culS^ 9 ^9^ uli <^ol u

Do not be friendly to that stranger

Do not drink the water and eat the bread of that stranger

Do not eat the bread of the Turks (Torkaan) and at the food table

Eat with manners and do not eat Torkaneh (in the Turkish-way)

We note the in the above, Torkaaneh (Turkish-like/Turkish-mannered) is used as a
synonym with vulgar and used as antonym of manners. So Turkaneh does not mean
Turkish but Turkish-like/Turkish-mannered/Turkish-behaving. Just like Divaaneh in
Persian does not mean "Daemon" but rather crazy. Or Shahaaneh does not mean King
but it means grand and royal. In other words, "sit in a Kingly fashion" or in this case,
"Eat with manners and not in a Turkish-type fashion".

Or else to eat with manners and "not to eat Turkish" does not make any sense. That is
Torkaaneh-Khordan (eating the Turkish-way) is used as an opposite to baa adab khordan
(to eat with manners). This is the way Nizami Ganjavi uses Torkaaneh Sokhan (Turkish-
manner/Turkish-like speech) as opposed to Sokhan-e-Boland (eloquent/high speech).

276

That is exactly how the verse by Nizami Ganjavi goes:

OuuUUU Lo iSljuuJ \J3cmJ QjiSjJ

X>\j JbJb v-jljuuu jS uT
JuU JuJb ijjiejuj 1^ 3I

"Torkaaneh Sokhon" (Turkish-like speech) does not mean "Zaban-e-Torki" (Turkish
language) but rather vulgarity or harsh words as observed also by Professor Zaryab Khoi.
"Nasab e Boland" (high birth) is contrasted to Turkish characteristics / unfaithfulness and
high words is contrasted to Torkaneh (Turkish- way) (Vulgar/Non-Eloquent/harsh) words.
Shirwanshahs who claimed descent from Sassanids most likely considered Turks of
lower descent. Later on, Seljuqs, Ghaznavids and other dynasties of Turkic origin that
were Persianized also claimed Sassanid descent. The verse by Khaqani explains the
verse by Nizami and shows how the word "Torkaaneh" has been used by contemporary
poets of Nizami.

Here is another verse again by Khaqani using Torkaaneh which connects with the verb
Torki kardan:

CjljujI l _$nJLjuJ9^ j\ qj\5 QjiSjJ ^Sj^> Oy>
9_j»Juuo uljb t \jSj* %S^jJ < J9^° ucp*

9^Juuo ubU < jj^ulSuo Lib cixx^ ,jjI

You drink blood Torkaaneh (Turkish-manner/Turkish-like) and say this is from

friendship,

Do not drink blood, do not do Turki (used as verb here), do not be violent

You killed me and then claim you did not know

Do not kill so many knowledgeable people, do not be stupid

We note Nizami Ganjavi says nothing about "Zaban-e-Torki" (Turkish language) or
Sokhan-e-Torki (Turkish speech) here. But "Torkaaneh Sokhan" (Turkish-way of speech
and not Turkish speech) means vulgar/low/harsh speech and the proof is brought by both
the Khaqani verses(a contemporary of Nizami and they knew each other) and also the
next verse by Nizami Ganjavi himself where it is contrasted to "Sokhan Boland" (high
speech/words). As can be seen both of these negative meanings(in this context) were
common in Persian poetry and Nizami Ganjavi used them. Of course if Nizami Ganjavi
was Turkic(like Alisher Navai) or had any Turkic national consciousness or cared for any
sort of ethno-nationalism, he would not have versified these couplets which were
negative and would have dedicated Leyli o Majnoon to another king.

277

Indeed any king would have been proud to have such a work in his honor and would have
compensated Nezami accordingly.

It is this author's belief that the Shirvanshah letter really did not contain of these details
and these verses were versified by Nizami. Obviously their high poetic style establishes
this fact. Rather, the Shirvanshah' s letter asked for Lili o Majnoon to be versified and it
would have obviously been in Persian without asking since they were Persianiazed Kings
(who claimed descent from Sassanids), they knew about the stories Arabic origin and
there is not a single verse of Turkic from the area let alone a romantic epic. Also Nezami
Ganjavi had never done a romantic Arabic epic neither has there been a romantic Arabic
epic been produced from Persian lands in such a fashion.

That is Nizami had no imitative of his own to versify this story, but rather he was
commissioned to do so and of course naturally the Shirvanshah' s who were not Turks
would not even order someone not to write Turkish, since it was common knowledge
they had a Persian identity and Nezami knew them well enough to send his son to their
court. Nizami, who was aware of their claimed Sassanid origin (praises them as
descendents of Bahram), was also aware that these Kings were not Turkish in terms of
genealogy and background as he has called them bahram-nejad (descendants of Bahram)
and incidentally Khaqani Shirvani also calls them Bahramian (from the family of Bahram
and the Encyclopedia of Islam also claims they claimed descent from either Bahram Gur
or Khusraw Anushirawan).

Let us examine the verses before and after the misinterpreted verse to clearly demonstrate
that the verses have a clear meaning and no conspiracy theories which were created by
the USSR.

<J*jj> qjI CjljuuI^S^p* <3jcxi3> oLjJu
lSjU 9 ^j^uUjL/ j9^j j±

/XjuUUljuU <JJ*UuU Ol QjO ^5 ^jOl^
/XjuUUljuU \J$S jl 9J oLjIS

^SLaJ 3jl> j <*£ y^t

CjljuUUJ Lo kS\S$ CjljL^ Qj\5jJ
CjljuUUJ Lo lSIj-ajJ <JJ*UuU Qj\SjJ

julj jjJL v LjuuLi j$ ol

JuU JuJL <j3uuU Ij 9I

This story is the king of all stories

and it is suitable if you spend your speech on it.

278

In Persian and Arabic ornaments
Beautify and dress this new bride fresh

you know that I am a literary expert and I know new
couplets from the old ones and imitations

While you have pure gold( 10/10) as your wondrous (-rhymes/ couplets)

dispose of the valueless metal (5/10) from your hand(= the inelegant and ineloquent

speech )

look that from your jewel box of thought, in whose
necklace you are linking pearls

Our promises/faithfulness/fidelity are not of Turkish characteristics(Turkish-way)

Torkaaneh (Turkish-way /Turkish-like -ineloquent/low /uncouth/unmannerly /vulgar)

Sokhan( speech) are not befitting to us.

Or:

Speech meant for Turkish kings are not befitting for us

The person who is born of high birth
Elequent and high speech is what he deserves

We note that Nizami wrote the story in Persian and not "Persian and Arabic".

Persian and Arabic here are not languages as misinterpreted by USSR authors (and
unfortunately this misinterpretation from USSR sources have crept into some articles by
Turkish author). One could argue for a language if it was "Persian or Arabic". But
here it is "Persian and Arabic". We note the fact that the stories origin is Arabic, its
manuscripts were probably in Arabic and Nezami for the first time rendered it in Persian.

This would make it unique in its own aspect, since no one before ever tried to write this
poem in Persian. Nezami too also says that no one had touched this story due to its
barrenness. So Nezami was breaking new grounds by writing this story of Arabic origin
into Persian and decorating under Persian symbols and ornaments. That is he states:

This is the reason that from the beginning
No one has ventured around it for its boredom
Any poet has dismissed its composition
Before they reached the end, they abandoned it

So what does Persian and Arabic ornaments mean? Since it is not language (if it was
Persian or Arabic one could remotely argue for such a case), then we must look at the
nature of the final masterpiece and its ornamentation. We know Nezami Ganjavi wrote
the introduction on the reason for composing the poem after he had finished versifying
the story.

279

Professor Gohrab states:

In composing his romance, Nezami used many of the Arabic anecdotes and

considered several key elements of theUdri genre. He refers explicitly to his sources
seventeen times, at the beginning of each episode, but none of the sources can be
identified with certainty: these references are probably a narrative device to emphasize
the romance's outlandish origin to his Persian readers (Seyed-Gohrab, 2003, pp. 55-57).
Nezami adds a strong Persian flavor to the legend. For example, the Nowfal episode is
developed into a completely different event, hardly resembling the original Arabic
account. The Arabic sources portray Nowfal as an official, but Nezami' s Nowfal is a
chivalrous Persian chieftain (Javdnmard) ready to risk his life to bring the two lovers
together. Nezami threads the scattered anecdotes about Majnun's love into a finely
woven narrative with a dramatic climax. Persian verse romances are commonly about
princes, and characters are usually related to courtly circles. Likewise, Nezami portrays
the lovers as aristocrats. He also urbanizes the Bedouin legend: Majnun does not meet
Leyli in the desert amongst the camels, but at school with other children. Other Persian
motifs added to the story are the childless king, who desires an heir; nature poetry,
especially about gardens in spring and autumn, and sunset and sunrise; the story of an
ascetic living in a cave; the account of the king of Marv and his dogs; the Zeyd and
Zeynab episode; Majnun's supplication to the heavenly bodies and God; his kingship
over animals, and his didactic conversations with several characters.
(A. Seyed-Gohrab, "Leyli O Majnun" in Encyclopedia Iranica)

http://www.iranica.com/newsite/index. isc?Article=http://www. iranica.com/newsite/articl
es/unicode/ot_grp 1 8/ot_leyli_o_mamun_200907 1 5 .html
(accessed 2009)

And in his book, he states:

Although Majnun was to some extent a popular figure before Nizami 's time, his
popularity increased dramatically after the appearance of Nizami 's romance. By
collecting information from both secular and mystical sources about Majnun, Nizami
portrayed such a vivid picture of this legendary lover that all subsequent poets were
inspired by him, many of them imitated him and wrote their own versions of the romance.
As we shall see in the following chapters, the poet uses various characteristics deriving
from 'Udhrite love poetry and weaves them into his own Persian culture. In other words,
Nizami Persianises the poem by adding several techniques borrowed from the Persian
epic tradition, such as the portrayal of characters, the relationship between characters,
description of time and setting, etc.

(Translation taken from: Ali Asghar Seyed-Gohrab, Layli and Majnun: Madness and
Mystic Longing, Dr. Ali Asghar Seyed-Gohrab, Brill Studies in Middle Eastern literature,
Jun 2003, pg 76-77).

This is also alluded to by the Encyclopedia of Islam:" He adapted the disconnected
stories to fit the requirements of a Persian romance"

280

(Pellat, Ch.; Bruijn, J.T.P. de; Flemming, B.; Haywood, J.A. "Ma|nun Layla."
Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman , Th. Bianquis , C.E.
Bosworth , E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2009. Brill Online.)

In reality the story was well known in Persian and Arabic literatures and sources. But
Nizami Ganjavi consciously Persianized it and brought it to a Persian setting and was the
first romantic epic poet to compose this story in Persian. At the same time the story has
its Arabic motifs and Nezami used many Arabic anecdotes as mentioned by Dr. Gohrab.
Thus the story became a mixture of Arabic and Persian symbols and imagery and the
final ornamentation and decor came through by such a mixture. We should mention that
when it comes to the actual Persian language which Nezami wrote the story in, he uses
the term "Dari" rather than Persian. This is just like Qatran Tabrizi who calls his Iranian
language as Parsi and that of the Khorasani-Persian as "Dari".

Thus "Parsi o Tazi"(Persian and Arabic) should not be taken as a language as much
cultural Iranianization of the story. Because Dari or more formally as Ferdowsi calls it
"Parsiye-Dari" was the literary Persian while "Parsi" to Nezami was the local Persian
dialect of the region. We should also note for example Nizami mentions his sources for
Bahram-Nama (Arabic, Persian books, Bukhari, Tabari (books or possibly dialects)) and
Haft Paykar(Pahlavi, Shahnameh, Hebrew, Nasrani(Christian) sources/dialects).

Arab migrants to the area (including the Persianized and Persian speaking Shirvanshahs
of Arab origin that had through intermarriage with Iranian royal families forgotten their
Arab origin and claimed Sassanid origin) had brought the Lili o Majnoon folklore (which
was from pre-Islamic Arabia) with them. It was even known in Khorasan. Already, two
centuries before Nizami, one of the first great Persian poets Rudaki has mentioned it.
Although the story was relatively known, it was still considered a foreign tale in some
sense. Nizami Ganjavi brought it to its highest level by being the first Persian to
compose it as a romantic epic. But before him, due to its popularity in local folklore, it is
called as a king of stories. And that is why Nizami' s son actually brings him a
manuscript which shows that Nizami had a copy of it (in Arabic most likely) and shows
the story was known. Nezami was the first Persian poet to write an epic in the Persian
style for this story. Thus these verses of Nezami and his poetic interpretation of the letter
of the Shirvanshah are easily understood without any conspiracy theories.

After praising this story as the king of stories, the verses of Nizami through the mouth of
the Shirvanshahs asks Nizami to utilize these jewels(stories)/ornaments(Arab origin story
and anecdotes and Persian symbols/imagery/romantic epic) and bring out a new version
with his magical speech (Jadooyeh Sokhan) . At the same time, he was told, he should
not copy or imitate couplets and old sources, since the King is praised as literary expert
by Nizami and is expecting his magical discourse. Instead Nizami should show his
magic discourse, spend effort on the story and dispose of valueless and ineloquent
speech. And he will be rewarded for his eloquent and high speech unlike the legend of
Ferdowsi who was not rewarded for the monumental Shahnameh and Ferdowsi thus
bestowed Mahmud the versified lampoon which he deserved due to Mahmud's breaking
his covenant. But since the King (Shirvanshah) is of high birth, an Iranian and is faithful,

281

he deserves eloquent speech and not harsh/vulgar words/speech (which is reference to the
satirizing poem of Ferdowsi about Mahmud)..

Yet the conspiracy theory that Nizami was forced to write Persian! But wanted to write in
Turkish! seems to have spread in some Turkic speaking countries unintentionally based
on uncritical examination of Nezami's legacy in the USSR. For example Professor
Mehmet Kalpakli (first author) and Walter Andrews (second author) in the "Nizami 's
Layla and Majnun "in the Turkish Manner" in Kamran Talattof and Jerome W. Clinton.
The Poetry of Nizami Ganjavi: Knowledge, Love, and Rhetoric. Palgrave Macmillan,
2001.) has translated: "Torkana Sokhan Sezaayeh maa nist " as " so writing in the
Turkish manner does not suit us". There is no verb here about writing, but what is
mentioned is Torkaaneh Sokhan (Turkish- way of speech=harsh words, vulgar speech)
which is contrasted with high speech in the next line. Also in their translation, the four
crucial translations of the lines before this line and the important line that contrasted
Turkish-mannered speech to eloquent speech and high birth to Turkish
characteristics/(acting in Turkish characteristics) were not brought.

To their credit, Professor Kalpalki does mention Nezami as a Persian poet:
"The story of Layla and Majnun by Ottoman times was a tale told often appearing in
numerous poetic-narrative versions, including rendition by famous Persian poets Nizami
(1140-1202) and Jami (1414-1492). "(Walter G. Andrews, Najaat Black, Mehmet
Kalpakli, "Ottoman Lyric Poetry", Published by University of Washington, 2006. pp 70).

As we mentioned in the introduction, according to the Russian philologist Ivan
Mikhailovich Steblin-Kamensky, Professor and the Dean of the Oriental Department of
Saint Petersburg University comments

("Oriental Department is ready to cooperate with the West", Saint Petersburg University
newspaper, No 24—25 (3648—49), 1 November 2003").

http://www.spbumag.nw.ru/2003/24/Lshtml ) (original Russian in the introduction of
article)

" We trained such specialists, but, as shown by our communication with them, there are a
lot of nationalistic tendencies there and academic fraud. Apparently it's related to the first
years of independence. Their works include nationalist beginnings. Objective perspective,
scientific understanding of the problems and timeline of historical developments are
lacking. Sometimes there is an outright falsification. For example, Nizami, the
monument of whom was erected at Kamennoostrovsk boulevard, is proclaimed Great
Azerbaijani poet although he did not even speak Azeri. They justify this by saying that
he lived in the territory of current Azerbaijan, but Nizami wrote his poems in Persian
language!"

I did ask Dr. Kamran Talatoff also about this issue and he said: "Thank you very much
for sharing your thoughts and concerns with me. It seems that many of these former
soviet republics have been trying to make history and construct cultural background in
the process of their attempt for nation building. The official websites of the Republic of

282

Azerbaijan featured Nezami as one their own many years ago. This happened at the time
when our own officials did not care much about our cultural heritage.". Thus the editors
invited article was printed as it was. It should be noted that based on my own e-mail with
Dr. Kamran Talatoff has no doubt about the Iranian background and heritage of Nezami.

There is no proof that Nezami even knew Turkish and had he known Turkish, he would
have written it for a Turkish king. We should note that some have claimed Nezami knew
Qipchaq Turkic because his first wife given to him as a gift was a Qipchaq and also
illiterate , but this claim has no merit since many illiterate people know many languages.
For example, literacy rate in Iran was about 3% in the Qajar era, but Persian was spoken
by a variety of groups as a medium and common language.

Also Nizami addresses his son in Persian and also sends his son to the court of the
Shirwanshahs who were Shafi'ites and Persians culturally and ethnically (claiming
descent from Bahram Gur while actually being of mixed Arab/Iranian origin). So there is
no proof that Nizami knew any Turkic language and indeed he never mentions any
Turkic sources in his works. Although again, many Iranian people could have learned
Turkic, since it was the language of rulers. However as shown by the Safinayeh Tabrizi
and Nozhat al-Majales, even after the demise of Seljuqs/Eldiguzids, Persian/Iranic
languages were the main languages of urban center and it is our belief based on these
works that Turkic in Azerbaijan and Caucasus was specific only to parts of the nomadic
populations. And a best proof of this is the fact that it was these Turkic rulers (like
Eldiguzids and Seljuqids) that learned Persian since their ministers were many time
Persians and the fact that these rulers themselves patronized Persian culture and became
absorbed in Persian culture shows that the regional Iranian people were able to impose
their culture upon these rulers while these rulers imposed their rule upon them. Indeed
these, rulers are praised as rulers of Persian lands which shows the ethnic characteristics
of the land and culture. So there is no proof that Nezami Ganjavi even knew Turkish.

Those who claim Nizami Ganjavi wanted to write in Turkish but was ordered not to do
so!, not only misinterpret the above verses(sometimes the lie has penetrated Russian
literature that they have took the verse without examining and unintentionally), but claim
that Nizami Ganjavi was upset at the Shah(ignoring Nizami' s direct praise of the letter
which each word is described as a blossoming garden) and quote this verse after which
the king asked for high and eloquent speech:

/xjuu<p CjlSU oLuu qjjJb> o<^>

When my ears found the rings of King(when I became a servant of the King)/ From heart
to mind I lost sense

But they do not quote the continuation:

283

/XJ9S jb ^>juu Qj <**£& <jjg

^JvjoLbu JuOC*jO Ajj^
^jvjoIjS uL> 9^> QjO L-b jJ ul

CjljuUUuUUU °IjLajU <^> QjO lS^JL^ j±

[JJJQJ O-O kSLi j^JQ juuJ jl ±\±

[JJJ^Z OLcXjuuI jJ lS^J <&j\ ^jS

CjJS OJuLu U^jl^jO 9 ^jJLJ

v!jlQj> ^9_juu l _5\JucxaS >^9j U

CjljuUjLuU OlSjy 9 0^ CjuCXS^J

CjljuuI^ j^ 9J jl Qjq\j Qj Qjq\j fjj\

CjljulHj jjS c LOU jl>lo 9 Q^juUUU
l5L> jJ CjLJuULlfr 9J jJJSUuU pjJ&

CjljuoSuj 9^ lg^ pjS Q^r Q^uJ
CjljuoSjJ QuuljuJ 9 £\jS ^juUUJuI

OjJ UJuol JljJu jl O^uuu ^>S
JuLoJ ^jvjjlg-juu ^b b

jC^juUUO CjljuUL^ QS>jS\ CjuI Qjl

j9^ gjl CjljuUL^ JoLuUU jjljuJlSU

CjljuuI JU 9 JoLuUU QJZLjuJ j\jS\

CjljuuI jLuU °ljLpj QJ*UuU 9^>^ O^j

J-Ofcj j 9 JuU 9 ^J^LJLa^iuJ jJ

j-oJ^ c Ll^jJ QJ*UuU JljuUU

/xjIjJ Oj ^ l5|ciJL>jjo j^
pj\j AJS> ^uSLi ^ CjljuuI_JlU

OS Jul J± ±$J iJ^CMJ JU> U

284

No courage to reject his request / No sight to find my way to this treasure

I was perplexed in that embarrassment / Because of my old age and frail nature

No privy to tell them my secret / And explain my story in detail

My son, Mohammad Nezami / Who is dear to me like soul to my body

He took this copy of the story in hand dear like his heart / Like a shadow he sat next
down to me

From his kindness he gave some kisses on my feet / Saying: u Oyou who beat drums in
the sky

When you retold the story ofKhosrow and Shirin / You brought happiness to so many

hearts

Now you must say the story ofLeyli and Majnun / So that the Priceless Pearls become

twin

This eloquent book is better be told /The young peacock is better be a couple

Especially a king like King ofSharvan / Why Sharvan? He is the King of Iran

He gives blessing and he gives station/ He raises people and he encourages poets

He has requested this book from you with his letter / Please sit and prepare your pen "

I told him: "Your words are very true / O my Mirror-faced and Iron-resolved!

But what can I do, the weather is double I Thought is wide but my chest is tight

When corridors of tale are narrow I Words become limp in their traffic

The field of words must be wide I So that talent can have a good ride

This story, even though, well-known I No joyful rendering for it is possible

The instruments of story are joy and luxury / But this story has excuse for both

On the subject of infatuation and chain and bond I Bare words would be boring

285

And if decorations beyond the limits are imposed on it I Would make the face of this
story sore

In a stage that I don 't know the ways /It is obvious how much I can show my talent

There is no garden, no royal feast in this story /No songs, no wine, no pleasure

On the dry dunes and hard hills in desert I How long can one talk about sorrow?

The story must be about joy I So couplets can play and dance in the story

This is the reason that from the beginning I No one has ventured around it for its
boredom

Any poet has dismissed its composition /Before they reached the end, they abandoned

it '

We already noted that Nizami Ganjavi praised the composition of the Shirvanshah and
praised every word of that letter as a blossoming garden. So he had nothing but praise for
the Shirvanshah and his letter. Nizami Ganjavi 's complaint is about the nature of the
story of Lay li o Majnoon, as shown in the above verses and he makes himself explicitly
clear. It is not about the Shirvanshah.

As noted by the Encyclopedia of Islam:

In 584/1 188 Nizami of Gandja composed at the request of the Shirwan-Shah Akhsitan the
mathnawi Layli u Madjnun in the metre hazadj-i musaddas-i akhrab-i makbud-i mahdhuf
with about 5,000 bayt s. This was the third part of the set of poems known as the Khamsa
[q.v.]. The theme was chosen for the first time as the subject of a Persian narrative poem,
but the precedent of the treatment of a similar subject of Arabic origin existed in
Ayyukfs Warka u Gulshah. Nizami states in the introduction to his poem that he
accepted the assignment with some hesitation. At first, he doubted whether this tale
of madness and wanderings through the wilderness would be suitable for a royal
court (ed. Moscow 1965, 41 ff.). He adapted the disconnected stories to fit the
requirements of a Persian romance. They were joined together into a coherent narrative
which describes the development of a frantic love affair from the scene of the first
meeting of the two lovers till the death of Ma^nun at the grave of Lay IT. In some
respects, the Bedouin setting of the original has been changed under the influence of
urban conditions more familiar to the poet and his audience: the young lovers become
acquainted at school; the generous Nawfal is a prince in the Iranian style rather than an
Arab official. Nizami added a second pair of lovers, Zayn and Zaynab, in whom the love
between the main characters is reflected. It is Zayn who in a dream sees Madjnun and
LaylT united in paradise at the end of the romance.

Several other features mark this new adaptation of the romance. Specimens of nature
poetry were used to emphasise, symbolically, important points in the development of the

286

plot: a description of a palm bush in spring where LaylT sits in the flower of her youth; of
the night at the moment of Madjnun's deepest despair; of autumn at the time of LaylT's
death. Much attention is given to Madjnun's role as a poet. In several places, ghazal s are
quoted in the text, which in metre and rhyme are adjusted to the prosodic characteristics
of the mathnawi . It is quite evident that, to Nizami, the subject matter was not least
interesting because of its emblematic possibilities. His poem is, therefore, a didactic work
as well as a narrative. The former quality is noticeable in the frequent asides containing
reflections on such themes as ascetism, the vanity of this world, death and, of course,
love in its various aspects, including its transformation into mystical love. Didacticism is
also the main element of the introduction and the epilogue. (Pellat, Ch.; Bruijn, J.T.P. de;
Flemming, B.; Haywood, J.A. "Ma^jnun Layla." Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second
Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman , Th. Bianquis , C.E. Bosworth , E. van Donzel and W.P.
Heinrichs. Brill, 2009. Brill Online.)

Colin Turner who also translated the poem states in his foreward: "The Persian poet
Nizami was commissioned to write Layla and Majnun by the Caucasian ruler,
Shirvanshah in AD 1 188. In his original preface to the poem, Nizami explains that the
messenger from Shirvanshah arrived and gave him a letter written in the Kings own hand.
Extolling Nizami as 'the universal magician of eloquence', Shirvanshah asked the poet to
write a romantic epic based on a simple Arab folktale: the age old tale of Majun, the
'love-mad' poet, and Layla, the celebrated desert beauty. Since the dawn of Islam some
five hundred years before, the legend of Layla and Majnun had been a popular theme of
love songs, sonnets and orders of the Bedouins in Arabia. Majnun was associated with a
real-life character, Qays ibn al-Mulawwah, who probably lived in the second half of the
seventh century AD in the desert of Najd in the Arabian peninsula. By Nizami 's time
there were many variations on the Majnun theme circulating throughout the region, and
no doubt Shirvanshah approached Nizami with a view to the creation of something
'special'.

Initially, Nizami was loate to accept the commission, as he felt the story offered 'neither
gardens nor royal pageants nor festivities, neither streams nor wine nor happiness', all of
which are staples of classical Persian poetry. But eventually, at his son's insistence, he
relented. Less than four months later, Nizami' s Lay la and Majnun, which comprises in
the original some 8000 lines of verse, was completed" Colin Turner (translator and
scholar), Layla and Majnun: The Classic Love Story of Persian Literature
[ILLUSTRATED] (Hardcover), "John Blake; illustrated edition edition (June 1, 1997)".

This is also mentioned by Dr. Gohrab:

"Nezami initially doubted that this simple story about the agony and pain of an Arab boy
wandering in rough mountains and burning deserts would be a suitable subject for his
cultured audience. It was his son who persuaded him to undertake the project, saying:
"wherever tales of love are read, this will add spice to them.""
(A.A. Seyed-Gohrab, "Leyli O Majnun" in Encyclopedia Iranica)

http://www.iranica.com/newsite/index. isc?Article=http://www. iranica.com/newsite/articl
es/unicode/ot_grp 1 8/ot_leyli_o_majnun_200907 1 5 .html
(accessed 2009)

287

Thus scholars concur that Nizami' s complaint was about the nature of the story and not
some nation-building interpretation of the 20 th century about wanting to write in Turkic!
but being forced to write in Persian for a King that did not even know Turkic! Such
nation-building and wrong interpretation of a 12 th century medieval author who has
written Ghazals, Qasida, Quatrains and Mathnawis all in Persian are a product of USSR
nation building.

What Nizami complains about are his old age, and the barrenness of the story of Layli o
Majnoon. He feels restricted because of the raw and barren landscape of the original
Bedouin tale. He even complains about this:

There is neither garden nor kingly banquet,
no bow-string, nor wine nor blandishment.
How long can one fare on dry sands
and rugged mountains, talking about sorrow?

Despite this complaint, the poet places his initial scene in the Arabian Desert but adorns
the grounds tastefully, giving additional meaning to the desert, cave and mountain, and
including several fantastic sceneries which are purely the product of his imagination and
his poetic eloquence.

(Translation taken from: Dr. Ali Asghar Seyed-Gohrab, Layla and Majnun: Madness and
Mystic Longing, Dr. Ali Asghar Seyed-Gohrab, Brill Studies in Middle Eastern literature,
Jun 2003, pg 313-314).

As Dr. Seyed-Gohrab also mentions:

As in the ( Udhrite love poetry, the entire plot of the romance revolves around the lover,
on an unremitting quest for his unattainable love. Nizami is aware of the legend and
doubts whether this modest Bedouin tale would be suitable for the Iranian court. In
chapter five of the introduction to the romance, the author refers to the legend as an ay a
whose tafsir is sorrowful The word ay a means both a 'Koran verse, ' and a 'sign ' or
'wonder, ' as well as 'paragon ' and 'masterpiece. ' Nizami says that legend needs a tafsir,
'Koran exegesis, ' 'explanation, ' or 'commentary \ Such commentaries include details of
the events that led to the revelation of the verse in question, an elaboration of the 'story '
of the Koran, but may also extend to pious sentiments and esoteric interpretation. Thus
Nizami is using a religious metaphor: as a verse of the Koran needs a commentary, the
Arabic tale needs an elaboration. He is also warning his readers that such a sorrowful —
and serious — theme does not entirely suit the highly conventional and polite style
required of court literature:

Although this tale (aya) enjoys celebrity,

a cheerful interpretation (tafsir) is far from it.

288

The tools of discourse are joy and amorous delight,

discourse thrives by these two means.

The discourse on a naked person,

who is enamoured, fettered and in bondage, is sorrowful.

If one was to adorn the tale to excess,

this would distort the face of the story;

But when I know not the way at some stage,

clearly I shall then add some conceits.

(11. 53-7)

When Shirwanshah Abu l-Muzaffar Akhsitan commissioned Nizami to versify Majnun 's
tragic love story, the poet found himself in a quandary. The writer of love-stories about
the pompous and powerful pre-Islamic Iranian kings such as Khusrau Parwiz II is
suddenly ordered to write a romance about a distraught and naked Arab boy. Nizami
skillfully uses the sad nature of the legend to whet the reader 's curiosity about how he
will narrate this tragic but simple romance. Grief, as MJ. Toolan notes, is perhaps the
most "powerful trigger, " and strangeness, an element which attracts the reader to know
the unknown. The poet refers frequently to the Arab traditions and way of life to remind
us of the story's foreign origin. Moreover, he promises the reader that despite the thin
plot of the story, he will bring his poem to a dramatic perfection so that "unpierced
pearls" will flow from the reader's eyes (5:64 — 5). With his profound knowledge of the
human psyche, Nizami knows how to draw emotional effect by reshaping this strange and
shallow story.

Nizami was at first reluctant to versify this tale. It was his four-teen-years-old son
Muhammad, who encouraged his father to undertake the task:

When you composed Khusrau and Shirin,

you cheered the hearts of the people.

You have to compose Layli and Majnun

so that the precious pearl has a pair.

This book is better to be written,

a young peacock is better to have a mate. (. . .)

Wherever love-tales are to be read,

this tale will serve as salt for them. (11. 43-5, 71)

Although Majnun was to some extent a popular figure before Nizami' s time, his
popularity increased dramatically after the appearance of Nizami 's romance. By
collecting information from both secular and mystical sources about Majnun, Nizami
portrayed such a vivid picture of this legendary lover that all subsequent poets were
inspired by him, many of them imitated him and wrote their own versions of the romance.
As we shall see in the following chapters, the poet uses various characteristics deriving
from ( Udhrite love poetry and weaves them into his own Persian culture. In other words,
Nizami Persianises the poem by adding several techniques borrowed from the Persian
epic tradition, such as the portrayal of characters, the relationship between characters,
description of time and setting, etc.

289

(Translation taken from: Ali Asghar Seyed-Gohrab, Layli and Majnun: Madness and
Mystic Longing, Dr. Ali Asghar Seyed-Gohrab, Brill Studies in Middle Eastern literature,
Jun 2003, pg 76-77).

The conspiracy theory that Nizami Ganjavi wanted to write in Turkish, but was ordered
to write in Persian, and then Nizami becomes upset is a hoax that was fabricated by the
USSR. This hoax is a product of USSR misinterpretation in order to detach Nizami
Ganjavi from Iranian civilization and attach him to Turkic civilization. Of course the
fabricators forgot small details like the Shirwanshahs were not Turks and there was no
Turkic urban culture or literature or even a verse from any other writer or poet in the
Caucasus. They also forgot Nezami Ganjavi praises the letter of the Sherwanshah.

Nezami Ganjavi's only complaint is about the nature of the story.

The Iranian scholar Abdul- Ali Karang has also explained this:

KSLSLG 9 jJXC v_SVJLjuULjuJ» ^9^b *Sj jl CL> ipJSj^jB CLjJijuJul Qj pJS\jj± \j oLuJ OlojB U£-> JU^S v_S\jO ,jdULujuJ

jl jSu± J?>b jl 9 t±$j y>\ sSl^l &jlo (cJL> kJ>jz^) 9 ^joX v_sOLjuuljuj jl -cJbt> ulju />Jljuj cu^uofJ^juj) «cJL>
9 j$jo Cjulgj u 9I </>^LgJ v_svjoLbu Juoc*jo joAjjjB t^^> j\j-vj\ P>>a culSu u Jb> £>juj j/xjLjujIju \Sjjy> ul >ob*jl
CL^>1>) «lSjI9J Ch^^ 9 Gi ^j^osu» oLuj^L CjljujI gjj^ oS ±$xyj jlgJol 9 (UuX^i pj^js^o 9 v_sJLJ /».»-b.i-i y <-j±\
j\$j o^*-*^ 9 d ^ cblo^juu - CjljujI jLuj olSub 9 0_> Cjuojli -ul^l oLjj cvS i<3s> v\$j+jjj - v\$j+jjj oLjiJ £-> v_svSJLo

v_SOjU ,JjO 9 c^Udl jSjlS ,JjO j-) j\jjS ,Jjl f \SjJ±U 9J 9 AjS v^SOuJudjI^ C^oL CO 9J jl jOLuJJ^^juJ U£-> (CjljujI

:/)JLaS 9 j/xjLjJjISjI OJloU \j v.sOl^^r jbLuj-ul 9 -bLjuu ul_)La9 9 o^*-*^ uIjujo

jLuj _ufJ v_svxx£i uLpj> oLjj U9->»

jl->>*J ch° />u co Qjou qj}^

Cjl9LuJLO v_SvSjJ cLcx^ ,jjI u

Cjl91L-J jl /xjLujj ,jlibijl

oLjj <j^co cu 9I ojjI^ jS>

JljujL O^^jujS ^p ,jlil OJuul^
«Jljuju O^jxyj j\ ^9_juj ^9_»jjLc

j\ jJJULU ClS jl^&LuJ uL-jujL <Jjl U _>l_> CSj^JluoI I^jjO [JjJuJ j\ (JJULU JLuljuUU iJSZ-juJ ,Jjl V$Z> ,JJO C$ QjuJ$$ ^iJ>
Cl5uLj> .JO^QXiJ oLuJ ^juOJO /XJJlQJ 9 ^jSlj-^ /xl-U lS COljuJj CU 0L0 _;!-£-> j\ jjJ&S v-S^-^O J-> j^jljujI <^juU jl>^ jLp-^

J\Lo 9 jjS jlg-bl cU^-ggA^ <coljuul> sSjIjjj <«\j\$jj CjJi*£>» jl oLjiJ <^S .bbd ^jjI jl v_s\joLbu ^9_*JiJ v_svx> <\k»\lLo

j-JLdi^) «cuLjul9I jjJ^^ v_soJu» 9 «cJb> ^ftiiJo 9 - >joX v_sOLjuuljuj» ^S cu_*Jub ul puu Q&\j ^CjljujI O^^joJu ^bL^

cblo (j^LoJ v_sJIjI9_juj §^b U — Jub JuJj iJS*ljuj uIjujo - oLJ OJuol JljJj jl o-i*-*^ ^^>S " vSju i^j 0^> cuLuul9

culS^ 9 v.sv.LQ-^) v _svS - >j» c^j> jCjljuuuJ uLjo j^ v_sv^>» uUj ^9^090) \JL^>I 9 <^jLuj p^\jB \j LS9 cJbt> lS

j± LS$jj£. ^^joj^jo uUqJLuj jJlC 9 sS^^jo v_ssj 9 Uj> uljLjujb jl lSI cbL^ G^*-^ ^I^^j 9 kS^jJ*.^ ^s^ jj^)^ { js*ljuj

V_;L> U9jl>jO 9 v_sJLJ CU)U 26 ,j^ Cb-»Jjb> j^ jjJ LS±j&LjuJ± JuJ>9 9 CjljujI v _SOuJ9_> - >9 /XjujUJI^jI /x^SL> ^3->

u J^uuJ» 9 « V _SV_J -> J OL»j» v_S\JLao ^j CjljujI v.sJlS^jJ 9 jJlC v^sOlSO CO (CjljujI 6±j5 OjLujI i^sOl^O ^j' ^ 1313

j_> OJlC C\J oLjljujI JuLuJ 9 t« v _SOuJ -) L9 Obj» v^sOl^O CO CU 9 CjljujI Qj\±j2*J 9 v_S\jl2X) ^ O^^*-*^ V-S^^O CO «JulL

I^jJj jJljuJU OJljuJ vJOuJU v_S^>» V_Suj\L^uJ ^^SLjuJ CO v_S\joUoj U^jl^jO 9 v_sJLJ i~>l£ CS cooj>^j CS C^JUax) j\ OjU c^l

0-i^ ^jjjoj^j co csl cox-v^J 9 jCusLjj^ <SuJ \j olaJ v_sOlao 9 tjlsjujl _>Ujo Ldjb> v_sJLc> j_> 9 j^jjjo v^ / 5J ^>* j0

(djjlS v^sJIjuX) *CjljujI

290

An English scholar of the 19* century also mentions this about the introduction:
S. ROBINSON. "PERSIAN POETRY FOR ENGLISH READERS: BEING SPECIMENS OF
SIX OF THE GREATEST CLASSICAL POETS OF PERSIA", 1883. Printed for private
circulatiuon. Google books: (pages 140-145)

The prince of the neighbouring Shirvan, Akhsitan, also named Manuchahar, with the
surname of Jelal-ud-din Abul- Muzaffer, wishes him to elaborate the love-story of the
celebrated pair Laila and Mejnun. This prince, with whom begins a new dynasty for
Shirvan, had assembled around him a complete poetical city, to which he gave a king as
supreme head. From his origin, which reached back to the old kingly dynasties of Persia,
he regarded himself as the representative of the Persian nationality, and of the Persian
spirit, and wished at least to animate his not very wide spread dominion by making it the
protector of Persian literature. The charge of the prince to Nizami had probably no other
ground than to draw also to his court from his quiet seclusion the poet who was already
so renowned that he was able to say of himself:

I have brought to such refinement my enchanting poesy, That my name is — " The mirror
of the world to come ; "

and so to complete his poetical circle.

The task enjoined upon him by no means at first corresponded with Nizami's inclination.
The subject proposed was indeed a worthy one; the exalted taskmaster thus expresses
himself about it:

Loove-tales there are more than a thousand,

Which have been embellished by the tip of the pen ;

But this is the King of all love-stories :

See what thou canst make of it by the cunning of thine art !

But the subject appears to Nizami too dry to be manufactured into a great poem. The
desolate Arabian wilderness for his theatre, two simple children of the desert as his
heroes, nothing but an unhappy passion — this might well daunt the poet of Khosru and
Shirin, which, in everything, place, persons, and treatment, presented the greatest variety
and grandeur. He says :

The entrance-court of the story is too contracted ;

It would lame the poetry to be ever going backwards and forward !

The race-ground of poetry ought to be spacious, If it is to show off the ability of the rider.

Although the verse of the Koran may deserve tobe well known, The commentary upon it
may be far from delightful. The fascinations of poetry are its cheerfulness and

291

blandishments; From these two sources is derived its harmony. On a journey in which I
know not the way, How can I know what pleasant spots I shall meet with ? There may be
neither gardens, nor royal banquets, Nor music, nor wine, nor aught to wish for ; Only
arid sands and rugged mountains, Till poetry at last becometh an aversion.

But the persuasion of his son Mohammed, at that time fourteen years old, and regard to
the princely sender concurred to overcome the reluctance of the poet, and he took to the
labour. Here was evinced how Nizami, once roused, was able to exhibit an extraordinary
activity. Within a short tirlie he completed this master-work of love-poetry, which,
according to Von Hammer, " in the -comprehensive laying-out of the plan and the
connected execution of the several parts, has remained unsurpassed, though even such
poets as Hatifi and Jami have at a later period treated the same subject." As to the
quickness of the composition, Nizami says :

These five thousand couplets and more

Were indited in less than four months :

Had I not been restrained by other occupation,

They might have been written in fourteen nights.

With reference to his first epic he had boasted also that

This beautiful image, the darling of the soul,

Received its completion in a very brief period.

In his outward circumstances, Nizami's new work led to no change. The decoying

invitation from Shirvan could not move him to expose himself to the disagreeable air of

the court. He avails himself rather of the opportunity to address to himself a warning :

Refrain from seeking the society of Kings,

As from exposing dry cotton to a hot fire !

The light from the fire may be pleasant enough,

But he who would be safe must keep at a distance ;

The moth which was allured by the flame of the taper

Was burnt when it became its companion at the banquet.

Kizil Arslan's present had enabled him to live a quiet country-life. On this account we

find, amongst many personal intimations in the introduction to the Laila and Mejnun, no

complaint of want, and even in the dedication appears no request alluding to it.

Tranquillised by his quiet life, he says in the same passage:

In thy village, on thine own private estate,

Think not of eating from the portion of another.

Fortune will turn round on that light-minded fellow

Who extendeth his foot beyond his garment.

The bird which flieth beyond its own sphere

Measureth its flight with the measure of death ;

The serpent which keepeth not its own path

Twisteth itself in its twistings to its own destruction ;

If the fox come to blows with the lion,

292

Thou knowest well whose is the hand that holdeth the sword.

But what he declined for himself he was not unwilling to grant to his before-named son,
who besought his father to permit him to go to the court of Shirvan, and reside there as
the companion of the young prince :

Me, a friendless boy, for counsel and protection

Intrust to the asylum of that powerful master.

Nizami consents to this, and, it would appear, sent the youth as the bearer of the poem ;

for in his congratulation to the young prince, to whom he gave beforehand information of

his son's request, he says :

No doubt, thou wilt read the book of the Khosrus,

No doubt, thou wilt study the sayings of the wise ;

The treasures, too, hidden within this volume

Look upon as tlie moon in the fulness of her circuit.

If thou dost not behold the face of its father,

Deign to bestow thy care on him who is its brother.

Even out of this consent it is disclosed, that Nizami would have wished to give another
direction to his son's career than he had struck into himself. He gives him practical
counsels in the school of life. "Hast thou, too," he says to him, "a talent for poetry, do not
devote thyself to it; for that which pleases thee soonest is the most untrue."

This judgment certainly does not apply to poetry as Nizami understood it, for, according

to him, Truth is the very theme of poetry; but he means to warn his youthful son against

that counterfeit poetry which had spread itself through the courts of princes and inspired

him with a genuine abhorrence, and to the ensnaring atmosphere of which he was about

to be exposed. Then he goes on :

Although poetry be of high dignity,

Seek thou the knowledge of what is useful.

The Prophet hath said : " The science of sciences

Is the science of matter nml the science of faith."

In the navel of each is a fragrant odour,

In that of the law, and in that of medicine.

But let the law instruct thee in the service of God,

Let it not be to thee a teacher of sophistries.

If thou become an adept in both,

Thou wilt have reached the summit of excellence,

And wilt be held in high estimation in the sight of all men.

And at the same time he recommends to him before everything assiduous activity and

solidity :

Even in thy childhood thou hadst a name and lineage ;

Thy race hath been one highly distinguished for poetry ;

The place which, grown up, thou shouldst occupy is thine

already ;

293

In that thou hast nothing to gain by being my son :

Be, like a lion, invincible thyself;

Show thyself to be the child of thine own good qualities.

The Iranian scholar Said Nafisi also believes that the people of Ganja considered Turks
who were newcomers and nomads as lowly and this verse of Nizami Ganjavi (Torki
Sefat-..) reflects that. Indeed, these verses were composed by Nezami (we do not know
what exactly was the composition of Shirwanshah whom Nezami praises every word of
the composition and compares to a blossoming garden which is brighter than the flames
lit at night) and normal Persian speakers would probably agree with Nafisi' s
interpretation.

Thus we can see that on one end of the spectrum, we have the false interpretation done in
the USSR, but there are valid interpretations when one cross references with Nizami' s
other verses and other Persian poets who have been named by Nezami as his source. In
this article, we cross-referenced with Nizami' s other verses and also other Persian poet to
elucidate the verses that were misinterpreted. We saw that not only Nizami described
each word of the letter of Shirvanshah as a blossomed Garden, but in the next two
sections he praises the Shirvanshah highly. He does complain about the dryness of the
story, his age, the fact that no one else has touched this story due to its dryness and
everyone has avoided it, its barrenness, yet his son urges him on and says for a great king
like Shirvanshah, he should accomplish this. Specifically as he puts:
"What is Shirvan, he is the Shahryar (prince) of Iran".

For example not only in the section on preparation of the book (which we discussed), but
in the next section, he has written about 45 couplets in praise of the Shirvanshah. We will
bring just some of these couplets:

uLljuUP-I 0LuULlld>JuJ £JUD j±

0\j\AJ>\j dU_JuJ JjJ> >*JJ

/xJftgjo <^SJLo ulpj> olsL>
/die ^^JLoJI kSAjq ,j)lhn

^.Q-b-oJI^jl ulSJLo gb

^9_juUlS V "»6ft> V-SJjQ OJulaJJ

jjjUUOU CO OLmJLJL>l ^pSZ-iuJ oLuJ
QjjS yJ> *SjJ Qj OLLijuJ

294

J9I ^9^ Qj U c^fljLb ,jjj

J^uUuLuUUO J^ J^JuUU CO <JjUUJ^IjuJ
OLuJ ^J OLuJ v'» uH(^ ^0^1 U

^ b ^b qS olp_> kSIo p

jjljJJlO^jJj j\j± 9 /AS CG9S
JjLij^JNJ OJjO <Jj*juUU OUJ9I

JjLC U9^> ctZL«JiJ L _svj OJulo^

ob^x) Q-Q-tfr lsLc^ vl^P*^

«J)lsl jb >j>juj 9 jb>juj
^jvjlsx) cu^jiJuc> cLbLf*

j^JVJ UXjuJ I j^JOj tSbb

jJjUUO^X) >£jO ClSjUC* CjljuUUO^
CjljuUlSuI jJJULjuJ OjI^S v"»6ft> ,Jjl

CjLJuuy cU 9 Cjljuj^ y^>, OJLp *^J

^j-juJ ^JjjjjJS> j JuuoSJ jJ b

^juj «liiJb> 9^>r CjljujI OJubo
^b />b vbi^ <-5b^ >H L ^ ^
^jb />l9 obj> vl 9j

qjLjJjS vl.P*' 9I ^^ jl ^^

CLJljuoS lSI^j-juJ ( jjUUO - p jl ^ptj
AJULjuJ OL^_> ( jjJ < >Q lo 9_juJ <jjj
JuLjuiS Olpj> ^jiuuo^ 9_juj ulj

cubjb cLl> co
ijjjuJzj ^oLuuuo jl -XSj> >^9j
JiuOiJ £lo:> jl A0_> £J9^

CjljuUuL^_> ^SJIjOjO Ju^tJjj^
CjljuUuI jl /)jj 9 ,/Ojj CLJljuUuLjuJ

jd\j> b O^j 9 gjJ co £y>x>

,/oljl C^i9^5 { JlJu^> 9 CjljujIj ^>j

L5jb guJLuu _uS £y>x>
^jjj> JjJ &$$ u^ulSjj jl

^jjj Jsd 09S 9^ /)L> J9
jl^^J^ JjJ 9^ ul lS^^Sju U9^>
jb^P Jjd Cjljuuujjo 9 ^509^
l _Sv9Luj £9-y^> °lSj JJJulaJoI
L _S\3b ^b ciSLiL^ iLujuuujlIcJ

J9-0-QJO CjljuJ9^ <\J 9AC ^ jjidUOJ^j
j9^ 9jl pd>j /XjuOJ> ClS CjljuUUjOJ>J

^jb £uu^ -^b 9^>r v-6-h.l j±
±j\$j £s> JuuJj «lS L>>^

295

JLs CjljujI ^-Q-cLz> 9^> /^j .P

jjuLiJixS uL> £uu^> >o^ jl v-Q-h.)
^uLjLJuuub^ ><*!& ^jljuj jl /x^j

JuJuuUU Ij 6j2c£> <JJ^\i(^

^j>jj tScpr Ch^J lSIc9_C

CjljujI jJ^ J^JSj U-^^J^ J-*

CjljujI jjj ^j\ 9 CjljujI jjj jJjUuIS

\JjJjj\ - )l9^uUL^_JuJ OJljuJ 9I U

(JJOjI jl vl -fc^-'^O CjljuJ-XSj

lSjL cUjJl^t o^-)^ °^ >.^y»-9
lSjIj CjljuuuS lSI_xS j9_q.<?_9
L _S\J9 - )0^LjaS ulju Ju^Jj^cp*
^3^95 CJLJUJ9I /)jj ^juaiiC ^Su

^Jv-gJI CjuO^>j 9^ b

L _5N^li^i + jZ> J$jJ CO JulS

j^j uL^jl AJuj oS /x^Juc> jib

^9^ ^9_*Jj 9jl ij$lj> Ju /xjiJuc>

/XX)U jjjUL^IS I^jjO 9J Vjb

/xx>loJ lSJuoj*jo ^jJulC j^
CjljuuJIjo^> lSAxx^jo <*5 <\jJj ulj
CjljuuJLj> _p ct^iil o^ A09-)

and then Nizami Ganjavi, in the section after praising Shirvanshah, has yet another
section praising the Shirvanshah and paying homage:

u*W Ch-oj vUst^

/die ubr 9 ub> /die lSI

/>^l 9 l >jo^I q$ JJj^]^

Aj^Jjj^ gb l5Ij9 9J gb

Ju^Juucx^r Cjl^J j O9 }S 9J Cjl^J

CajjoIoJ jl /die lS^IjI

Cajjo\Lc jl />±y> tS^jl 9

<^SJlouo «lJLoj> OJuJj \J9j0

(<^SJi> £lz>) co |^j g_*39j

/>j5jq 9J cu ul^> ^SJLo /xifc

/xJLuuuo 9J co ul^> /x!j> /Xifc

/)\Luul jl>b 9J Qu^x> pJb

.yol^l cLftJL> 9J cvijjj ^cxifc

<^L> jj Juuo^ 9J <\j^L> £

296

Translation of a portion of these praises are given here:

<*5LJjL> lSL> Qj 9I jl ±jjS> jj

CjJj\$5jJJ jl OJljuJ j^JW^Ij

CjUjL Ojjj <J)Lu cu cJ9^

jLil j± JuJoS uljl 9^> 9 olS
CjljuuuLjuu 9I olS 9 cpr jl cl^jI
CjLJuuuLjai^ olS 9 cLaJj9>- 9^>r

j^JVJ^J JJULC LuZ> ^U J9

CjljuUuLj> <\X^jJixS> <*5 9J (jA*^
CjljuUuL^joI JuZ>I 0^ <-Sj9j

^-^-h-o jl 9J />A9 iS\s>

<J*\J Juj^^vjO 9J j^svSjuu jl

L _So»JuLitj oLS l_L> JuJq9 09^:

Ca_jujL_juJ j^ ^SJjO CO CjljuULaSu
CjljuJU v'» ul(^ OJjO (JJOJ 9 (JJULaJ

j^jv^L^i oL^> j^j^-juju ( jjo t i ^9

lSjL 9J uLJuu JjcxC O^^
lSjL 9J olpj> JjcxC /xi>

77*£ 6>w?z£r of Royal Crown /Darius of the Light and the Darkness

Chief Commander of all crowned kings / The head of all the rulers

Khaghan of the world, the Great King / The absolute King of Kings of the world

The owner of glory and respect / That is, Jalal Dowlat and Jalaleddin

Crown of kings, Abulmozajfar / Worthy of the kingdom of Seven Climes

Sharvanshah whose shadow is on the Sun / Kay-Khosrow with the rank of Kay-Qubad

The generous king, Akhsatan whose name / Is a seal whose slave is the Sun

A sultan who has left the shade /Not apparent, but a hidden caliph

Descendant of Mars and with love of Jupiter / Pearl in the shell of King Manuchehr

From this House up to the early rounds / Kingship has been so continuous

His seed has been on throne upon throne / Up to Adam they have been king upon king

In the kingdom of the world, they may last long /He has a short pen and a long sword

Throne -sitting of the non-transferable kingdom / A commander with no fault, like Reason

Commander of the Seven Whirling Heavens / Sanctuary of prayers for the Seven Men

The day he gives audience /It would be a prestigious Nowruz

I have not seen it, but I can tell / From his ancestors and fortune how splendid he looks

on the throne

297

Like a full Moon rising from the mountains / There are multitudes standing in lines in his

presence

Or like the Bright Spring of Sunlight / That becomes cheerful at the time of entertainment

Or the Rays of Divine Bliss / That come down at morning time

Any eyes that see such light /May the evil eyes of people would be away from them

According to Dr. Gohrab, after paying homage,

"the relationship between Shirwanshah and his son, Manuchihr, is mentioned in chapter
eight. Nizami advises the king's son to read Firdausi's Shah-nama and to remember the
pithy sayings of the wise. Nizami overtly refers to the didactic aspect of his poem. He
promises the prince that in his poem there is a "treasure concealed in a casket." He
considers the poem as his daughter, a beautiful maiden, whom he presents to the royal
family. He adds that even if the prince does not have any regard for her father, he might
look with kindness on her brother, that is, on Nizami' s son. In this subtle way, Nizami not
only entrusts his son to prince Manuchihr, he also draws the prince's attention to the
poem's didactic nature".

(Seyed-Gohrab, Ali Asghar, Layli and Majnun: Madness and Mystic Longing , Brill
Studies in Middle Eastern literature, Jun 2003, pg 276).

Indeed, if Nizami was upset about the letter of the Shirvanshah (whose every word
according to Nizami Ganjavi was a blossomed Garden and actually the verses which are
insults to Turkic descent and way of speech are composed by Nezami himself), then he
would not entrust his son to the courts of the Shirvanshah and ask the son of the
Shirvanshah to always look out for his own son. Out of all the dynasties around him, it
tells of Nizami Ganjavi' s culture that he entrusts his son to the Shirvanshah and advises
the King's son to read the Shahnama of Ferdowsi. Despite the fact that Nizami Ganjavi
was apolitical, he still had a very close relationship with the Shirvanshah and
consequently entrusts his own son to their court. The Shahnameh is referred to a lot by
Nizami Ganjavi where-as not a single Turkic folklore is referenced by him as a source.
Anyhow, the fact that Nizami advises the King's son to read the Shahnameh also shows
Nizami Ganjavi read the Shahnameh numerous times, since he would not advise
something which he himself did not practice. The section where Nizami Ganjavi entrusts
his son is given here:

L _5\^li^ ! uZ> £>juj j^9^ u 9^
{ jjq O^LJoS ulS jsb$5 ul

<JJ0 6^\j CjljuUU 9 <JJO CjljuUU

Julj (j3uuJ cLaJj ulS jsb$5 j9
JuC^jU 9 JlQ_C Qj \j [JjjSulJ [Jj\5

Ju9Ijl> ul oLu. Qj { J1jSj^

J9>X)I <jjJJl0_C Qj \jJQ jLljuUU
J9J0I9J ,JJO 9 CjljujI pJS $j 9S

298

±jj$ JlS Pj \jJ jjJul
CjljuUuLuJ £9! ClS <Jj*juUU Cjl^J OlS

CjljuuuIj o>jjj Li^s ^^-*^jI ^y>

CjljujI OJjO GLcXjujI OjIa-juJ
I <^SJLo OL> 9 CjljujI kSXo /XjuUL>
Ji£jO CU 9 JDjJ v"»Q(fr ^Q_juJ9J Ol
A^S*^ /Xifc 9 A£_C ^jJ^ /Xlfc
}$JQ(p 9 JoLuUU 9J 9 <jdUUU2fcX>9J

lSJuJL ^juj 3j uL^> 9^ ^^9
lSAJuOjjJj^ 3j ulSJLo ji*x>

AjljuJj$J> 9 OL) UULjuJ^I^jjjO

JujoI 9 /Xjj lSLJulS co^jZUuo

Oljlcp^jj >«^-/ j9-i

uljlA^rb jLoJ vl^P*^

gU ^>-Q-Q 9 Cjl^J lS^uI^

gL^jo CJLJUJ9I iS$j 3j JL91S

O^ljjfcLi 9J l^^hJj jl lSI

62>LjuUlS OLajUUu>I OJLo /0^juUC?T

^jvj^LJj Qj CjlSJLojO 9^ £9jj0j0
L 3\^i5L'^iuZ) oLij 9^ sa^juj Ocp*

OJuLJuu l59 - >-juUL> 3j yoJ*J ^Su

OJulo ^LiL«S Qjzcxj jl
jlS ^j qjLjuuuJuu 9J clLlqJ ^Su

>>b oUj o^9> qj ^jjI
^jb olSLi OJj >o^ic> j9

lSj^JujoI Ijl> <V> ^b
lSjLjJj^ 9 yjsbi CjuLc j5

CjUUlC jl JuLulT) OU5fcjl

CjuLft^ ^^ l59_*Jj O^lcx^
j^sOlcp^j O^j-ujJy 3job pJb

£P <jJp b cUii^J £u^ O^l
g^j ^ q y 6 fr 9^ qjo cp* j^jvJuj

lSA^X gujfc 01^9 j Jub

lSjIju jJjJj^I^jj jLcxjJ
jjjuuoLoJ ( JjJjl9J 0\j jl

JljJjLu jjjoS Juucxi^>b> b

Juujbj jjJdy j - )JdJ 9 (JJiJLO >ju»J

ob^ CjljJoS q..^9 9 /xiftS ,jjI

oLi cJ9^ 9 ^b <p JL9l

j$j ,jjI jl ^b O^LjoS p^JS> Ol

j9^ o j0J: ? ^Ij' ^^-° 9-H^ u^9

299

c La-juUlS-iuJ OUuCXjuJ^ J^ 9 CjljuUU

L _5vjb9b> oLJj 9J 3j OJuj

When the Red Pearl of Dawn / Separated darkness from brightness

That pear of mine out of pearl mine /My back and fruit of my back

He told me "Put me in the care of that lord/ ' 1 have nobody (else to support me)

Put me in his care and his promise /He is novice-pen and I am a novice

So when his generosity has reached perfection / He would accept your advice

That Throne-Sitter who is the Apex of Shadows / He is still little but has a great mind"

O, Prince! From whose honour / The Great King Akhsitan is delighted

You have seed from the kingship / Your lineage goes back to Great King Kay-Qubad

May God keep you in His protection! /May He keep you from evil eyes!

I do hope to God / That you reach a level of understanding

May God take from His bliss / Where are ready for any quality

So you can read the Epic of Kings /And you learn the words of learned men

You know that such bride /Does not emerges in any age

If you don 't look at his father / Then do take care of his brother

By giving him full attention / Till his alive, take care of him

So he will not need anyone /He will not have a low head or eye after others

I said this and it is end of story / May you have fortune and May King have command

So not only Nizami praises the Shirvanshah, praises the Shirvanshah's son, advises the
Shirvanshah's son to read the Shahnameh, but he goes further by entrusting his own son
to the son of Shirvanshah and asking the son of Shirvanshah to always look out for his
own son, so that Nezami's son would never be in need of anyone else. Anyhow, the
belittlement towards Turks (and we note that these were the original Asiatic Turks) in the
introduction of Layli o Majnoon is just Nizami Ganjavi using common Persian poetic
tools, but it is hard to imagine someone who is allegedly "Turkic"(USSR/Stalin) and is
against Persian Chauvinism (USSR/Stalin (note such concepts did not exist back then)),
would compose such an insulting verses and we believe the interpretation by Said Nafisi
has the most merit here. As we said the word Turk has taken negative and positive
meanings in Persian poetry. This has lead to the misinterpretation by ethno-minded
scholars who misinterpreted these verses in their own way in order to say "Nizami
wanted to write in Turkish but he was forced to write in Persian ". All of these are
enough (the praise of the Shirvanshah and entrusting his son to the Shirvanshah) are
enough to dispel false nation-building/identity-building myths created in the last century
in order to detach Nizami Ganjavi from Iranian civilization/Persian literature and
appropriate him for "Turkic" civilization.

Also these ethnic theorists do not mention Nizami Ganjavi is great because of his works
which are in Persian and one cannot be forced to create masterpieces under duress! If the
above misinterpretations were not sufficient, the ethnic minded scholars who try to assign

300

a Turkic ethnicity to Nizami Ganjavi claim that Nizami belittled the Shirvanshah in the
end. Let us examine the end and dispel this myth as well (Note the name of the section is
"conclusion of the book in the name of the Shirvanshah"):

0LuUuI3>juJ fib 4j ^j\jS J0ui>

l&Uj olpj> ISJLo I&LJj

IdjLjj j\jsb Jj ^ dLjj ^Su
LS^Jh-i^jvj Qj p$± JiJLjtJjjCp*

,>SijU ^LiLp CLjuUU^^j-juJ

jjp.lh.oJ I 9j I jjli5 olsL>
oLuuuL^_> Jj oLuuu^^juj ^^vJ

L _5^Ljj^l r J ul^ pJJ> \S\

j^jv^LuJ ^LuO 9J /XJU^^JVJ
JjljjyO^I J^JUUU jJ>JP.O lSI

:>U 9J jl /JLc 9^ <^JLo lsI
L^jo CjlOjjj 9 ^jOm

^-V>Ljo gJlb cu qS ^3^

j^JvjLo^LuJ CU l59_juJ J^SLjuULO

j^SvjIcptj \j js6 cLoli ,jj9

lS^Is u^9>^ c^l >^ jl

lS^Su oil? 9 lS^u £u^ <&

l _5^_*Jj9S Juljuuu. j^ «0* ^U ul

^^N^juj^ -*J>^ U^J-^9^*' CjuljuUL>I j

j9>*3 CjJzj 9 *S[j Jj> °c>y>

j^jol CjL3fcjy£LJ I j 9J JLiui m»^

^jv-pJI O^uZiJ ^yc\j jjjj

L _SN^li^l + jZ> ^^ C^jjj 9^ C^jljuOJ

CjLJujLd^AjLojIj ^^JLo Als> J9

j\^jjo oL^> oL^> jlS jj

j\j uL^> jl ^jOlocp <*5 Qj olS

j^jvjI^jIS CU l _5\^_juj jI-XjJ

v^Ol^J >£l £juJ \SjJj\Xu

^jIaj ul^ CjljJul^^ 9 ^b

^jljj Ouj J^JVJO (JJUUJ jS

CjljuUU CjlHj lSIj-juJ CO j^JOJjO JU

CjljuUU Cju\J9 ^O^^ j$ ^^>

CjljuUU Cjl^ ^\Lz> c ^Jj\^

CjljuUUuU UUlC jJ^ ^1 O-^-"*^ J^

CjljujI Qjj Qj 9J 095ljuU °1->>^J jl

CjljujI guS 9 OlS C l-> - pl jjjjl.^

301

j^jvj^jb Ajljuul^jo i^jJqjq
L _5\jLjj^l r ; jO iJ$J$j j^

jjjUUUj Juuj jJlC CU ClS QjCXjuJ^
( jjUuI - )J j^ J9 9_juUUO (J^'

jJjju^jvjo ju^ 9 9_juJ j^lfj

lSjIS Cjljuul^ c L^ - p 9J ^9jIj

lSjU ol9> lSIa>- O^C jl

jL ni'l^ v"* uH(^ Qsrj5\ 9J lSIj

jIASuO CjljuJ^ j ul^U^ lSIj

^jy> l59_*jj 9^Juuo J^ 9^ gujfc b

^Jj^O jl ^jtP* <^juJj^ COljuJ u
jjj^^ j^jouoS ul vl*^->-^) jl

j-J c6* 9 /Tjj olS JuJjIj 9^
^jJlu\j3 ^^v^J >oA9 c^S L>>^
ijJuuJuuj />A9 GJuol jb

JuLJj £>> cb i_s^£j 0^ ^p

OU9S CjljujIj ubj Qj \JI

lSjI^JLjujI ,jS oL^> J99 j±

lSjL^Juj 9J jl 2>9_juJ jJJCXjIS
0^9^JoS £j jl ^9> cu lj ( jjulS

o^^jojLj o^ C^^

lSIoJuo ^loJLcl jjjoS Ji£_C ^>j
lSL> ,jiuujLj ^9> J^ j± b
^^ lj ±y> LS9AC jLo^Juuo
^jj 0I9J iJjJs* ±£> Oj jl jL>
jlj Ol jjiftjJO ^^ouuO \JjJ$£ j±
jU jjjUUuLftS j l59_juj O^jjlS

O^ -^ 6^ j i^j ^ Ijj'

jjiftjJO j^JOuoS^jJ 9J CO 1^19

j9j 9 <*_jljJj j^jvJlS ^jJLb ci^r^ jl

CjljuUlJ^JJ U ClSLil jJJljuoS ^

p jl v>Ip ,jijl9J JbilS
/XJ9S ciS L^jLuul9 cJLoJ2tJulj
/xj9^> culpj qs^ljuj Qj 9J b
Ju9Ijl> ulpj> 9J J^ cti^S

Ju^j jjjl jJjUUC^ cb JuuUU gU^JO

^^vJlj vlf^ j^ 9^ j -^L*

ub^ *SuJ l5Lc^ ^b ,jjuu
l _S\joIS^LJj Ca99 co ^J j^j>

302

jjJjjlSjLuu 9J Juj ^ _p jJb
lA'jLj (jiulj 9J ^9^ °lS b>>^

j^Jijo Cjljuul^ c^5uL^> jj^jIacI 9
:>U l59 jljuoU qS cu)li ,jj|

^ Liy c i^juo^> LS9 cJ9^ ^

We note that the section starts with the praise of the Shah:

O King, O Ruler, O protector of the World

One king not, but equivalent to hundred thousand Kings

The second Jamshid when it comes to capturing the throne

The number one Khorshid (Sun) who has no likeness

The Shirvanshah, the Kay-Qobaad Peykar (body)

Khaqan Kabir Abul Mufazzar (The great ruler Abul Muzaffar)

Not only Shirvanshah, but Jahanshah (ruler of the World)

Kay-Khusraw Thaani (The second Kay-Khusraw), Akhsatan Shah (King Akhsatan)

Oh pride of the sons of Adam

O who both Worlds (earth and heaven) are prosperous from thee

Thus the section begins with this. Then Nizami Ganjavi gives some advice to the king.
One of these advices has been misinterpreted by ethnic nationalists in order to claim that
Nizami Ganjavi was upset due to the introduction of the Layli o MajnoonU:

j^JV-^JI CJjj^U Qj&U <JJJ

CjljujI&JuIojIj ^^JLo Jl^> J9
j\^jju 0[$S> ulpj> j\S jj

^jljj OUj ^_?jS [JJJUL) jS

Listen from these adviser, God's Helper
Listen two three words, in the morning
Look at the world, and see what it has left
And how many Kings have left it
Thus be aware of the world, and cautious of it

303

Since it is best that you are well kept in this world
You are [already] an awakened King in running affair
Become a little more aware if you can

Your justice and giving gifts has no end
If you give more, it will not lessen

Here the ethnic-ideologists have made a big mistake in reading and understanding the
line in bold face. The Persian word causing this misreading is ^^Ijuj 'bidartarak' which
consists of bidartar', the comparative adjective of 'bidar' (awake/aware), plus c ak', a
suffix denoting gentle or kind or diminutive address like 'delbarak' meaning little or
lovely sweetheart; but they have read it as 'bidar tork' (awakened Turk!)!. Bidar-tork
does not make much sense here and this reading will cause a disconnect from the first
part of the line: You are [already] an awake/aware king in running affairs, become an
awakened Turk if you can. What is the relation between being an aware king and
becoming an aware Turk?

Moreover, this reading will produce an unacceptable pause or 'sakteh' in the meter of the

poem which would be a major fault in the meter, far from a grand master of Nezami 's

caliber.

The meter of the epic Layli o Majnoon is

(maful o mafaaelon faulon) but the wrong reading would make it o-J^ Jxliuo Jb?Juo
(mefal o mafaaelo faulon).

The reason for this mistake by the ethno-ideologists (assuming it was unintentional) is
that in Persian script, like in Arabic, the short vowels are not written and diacritic signs
are used to clarify when required. So ^Sy ('TRK') could be read differently including Sy
(tork=Turk), vS^ (tark=leave) or vS^ (tarak=crack). The correct reading requires
education and familiarity with the language, the meter of the poem and the context. It is
unfortunate that even the meter of the poem has been disregarded in order to arrive at
such false misinterpretations.

Even the Moscow-Baku edition(unlike the even more politically editor of Varliq) uses
the term Bidaratarak which obviously is the correct reading and does not create the major
fault in the meter. See:

1386-1385 — (l^-J^ ,J^) J^W — J^^ia Cjl^ ^)jjLuj! ^)J \ a\ laJ-4 uia^

Nezami - Khamsa- The Moscow-Baku edition, Hermes Publisher, 1385-1386

And Nezami used such terms as Khoshtarak, Bidartarak and Pishtarak, Delak and etc:

■ L^

UdJ

304

/XJLjuuI^ ^J^juUU J9>3l ^-J^Juif &XXjuU

This is common in classical Persian poetry and perhaps one the best example of this is a
poem by Khaqani who lived in the same region and was acquainted with Nezami:

\Sj£. \~Sj§£. i-SLS-vju <jjI \.SjxjujS> cb^p <jjI

\SjB\S CjljuJj 9 kSuuSZlO O^LuuS-juJ
GjljujI \SsZjJO 0u9j 9 OjLuJ OljJu <JjO U

v^^^S cUuo_> ^1S_juj vii^p v_$9>- ,jjI
<jjO Cjd*j CO O^jlSI 9 OJuuOj O^juJ 0±$j

(note this is badtarak and not bad turk!) ^ju 9^ ^ jl 9 ^^ 9 c^J oj^Jj ^>^j

Oj±JjuO CUUl^J ^^SljuUUj CUuJj^J Qjl
Cjl99 9^ j_> ±}S> 9 Gj ^JVjuu> CjljujI iS-uJ^jZr

CjlAjuO jl ^/Ojl^i*' jjioS-JuJ ... CO V-SLjuU >OljuUU qjI

O^pjj ^>juj 9 OoJl&^jj v^Ljuj ... cp>r
ul9^l />_> jl Jl^j> ^j\jcx9 v^j9j <~>9->

^jj j_> j\jlsS ^9j OIjLjuJ9^ U

oLjij pjj o\jj^> 9 ol5Jlj-c ^^p

v_vplo ^^p v^^ J9S $-> JuS ^jJb*9

^JVjlSljuUU VJQl^S V-SlS-vjU U£-> U^U 9 CjljuJ^ ^p
<SjuuJ <SjljuJ Qj] GLuUjO_> jl SSjSjjJ pJb

- >JLjujI vSj <J*juJ9J 9 V»SJlS_)uJ - >-^S Ju <jjI

CjljuUuS uISljuJ jl 9I ,jiuO cJS Ljl9L>

V-$j9-> Ol9i*JLjujl iSSljuJ JuS ^jSjuu^> _>9>-

^jv-ft.i ^joliU 9_)u $-> -UfJ \SjiszslC. oLuj

Uji 1 jjOJ ■ jL SH l - u - iu / -*»" v_S3u\l />$

/X->j CjljujI J_> jJ \j 9J 9 ^jOuCJsfx^ uIjjjO

C^ - >JljuUU >09_juJ V-Su^jJJ-C J^9 <1J$-juJ ,JJ j

_>j /x->j JI9-JUJ jjjuu 9S _>9j ^9^ pJb
\Sjj ulab j9j v_$jLjo CV)b ^

For the sake of argument(even though it goes again the meter and meaning and flow of
them poem and even the USSR edition uses the correct meter and of course not a
mediocre poet, let alone Nizami would never make such a simple meter mistake) with
regards to the nationalist Varliq editor Javad Heyat, even the usage of "Awakened Turk"
simply means a ruler who is spiritually awakened (and gives charity to the people as the
next line says) and has no ethnic connotation. For example, Alexander the Great is also
called a "Turk"(Ruler, conqueror)(and in another place a "Hindu" of the daughter of the
King of India) and the fact is in another poem, the old lady complains that the Seljuq
ruler is not a "Turk"(Ruler) but is acting like a Hindu (Beggar, slave).

305

Turks at the time of Nizami Ganjavi were ruling from Africa to India to Central Asia.
Thus the term Turk (Ruler) and Hindu (slave) were prominent and their usage in Persian
poetry have already been discussed. However in this case, there is no argument as even
the USSR knows such a invalid and false play with words goes again the basic meter of
the poem and has no meaning. Only people looking for the most absurd and ridiculous
ethno-centric arguments would misread the poem and go against its basic meter.

So the usage of the term bidartarak here was nothing insulting towards Shirvanshah as
ethnic-minded scholars of Nizami misinterpret it and read it mistakenly as bidar
tork! (awakened Turk!), and indeed Nizami Ganjavi mentions that Shirvansah is not in
need of his advise (possibly Nizami Ganjavi was aware of giving these advises for future
Kings or to other rulers who were not awakened). Nizami Ganjavi highly praises the
Shirvanshah in every section the King is mentioned.

But after giving many advices on kingship, he says that he is looking for an excuse
(Bahaaneh) to have a conversation (in order to show his admiration) with the King in his
presence and a King like the Shirvanshah is already Great and does not need his advise
and then ends the book with the praise of the Shirvanshah.

/XJ9S <& l& qjLuoS qJLoc*julj

/xjcpr ^Igj <j3uuu Qj 9J U

jJ9Ijl> uLp-> 9J J^ ojp

JuiJ. <Jjl ^jjUUL> Qj JljuUU £U^*jO
^JvJLoul&j CjljuuIjJ ^5 b*jlj

^jvjIj ^j\^> jJ> 9J j Jul)

OLjjO iSuJ <*Slc^ ^U <jjUU

^JVjoUdJ CjuCX^ JljuUU <JJJU
jl_JjLp-> jjjl JIjOJ> j Vj L?

jb ulgj \j JujS 9 v9-^l

jjlojlS jLuu 9J Juj Q$ j± jib
jjjjju jjjju 9J ^9j ^ L>>^

j^JLo CjljuUL& ^SuL-> <j1iIJlCI 9

:>U LSg jljuob <& qjou qjI

^^SIjuULO CjljuUL& ^fJLXjlo^uiS /X^

_^9joc*jo ^u jjjjuJLkSlc pJb

These tales (advises he just gave) that I just told you
I wanted to seek an excuse to speak to you
Although the heart of yours, O lord of the World
Does not require any of such advises

306

Because you are already well guided

Nothing comes from you, except Good commands

O God, from the face of this World-holder (Shirvanshah)

Cast away all harm and disorder

Whatever door he knocks, you be his helper

Wherever he goes, you be his helper

Be a helper to all his elders

And give him victory over all his enemies

Thus we can see Nizami has had nothing but praise for the Shirvanshah. From the start,
he praises every word of the Shirvanshah' s composition till the last line of the poem, he
praises the Shirvanshah.

Finally, we note that in the Eskandarnama:

"Moreover, in Sharafnama, Chap. 41, vv. 3-23, the author laments the death of the
Sharvanshah Akhsatan (the dedicatee of Leyli o Majnoon) and addresses words of advice
to his (unnamed) successor. This suggests that Nezami originally planned to dedicate the
Eskandar-nama, like Leyli o Majnoon, to one of the kings of Sharvan. But that dynasty
evidently lost power over Ganja by the time the poems were completed, and in their final
form they are dedicated to the malek of Ahar, Nosrat al-Din Bishkin b. Mohammad. This
ruler is mentioned in the introduction to Sharafnama, Chap. 10, vv. 11-12, where the poet
makes a pun on his name Bishkin ("whose hatred is more"(in Persian)), though some of
the manuscripts have a superscription claiming (wrongly) that the verses evoke Bishkin' s
overlord, the atabeg Nosrat al-Din Abu Bakr."
(Encyclopedia Iranica, "Eskandar Nama", Francois de Blois,
http://www.iranica.com/articles/v8f6/v8f645.html ).

Whatever the historical and political situation was, what is undeniable is the lament over
the death of the Shirvanshah Akhsatan and again shows the great bond between him and
Nizami Ganjavi. Obviously a poet like Nezami, if he was not a friend of Akhsatan would
not lament over his death but would rejoice. Neither of course would he constantly praise
him in his Leyli o Majnoon, praise his letters and dedicate an epic to him.

In the Eskandarnama also, Nezami shows that Persian language is his own language and
he wrote it in it naturally:

jJ-J^uS $$j Jul J^ jS <j3uuu

307

When the consolation of (the prophet) Khizr came to my ear,

Sense made my brain more fresh.

The word (of counsel) was accepted; it became place- seizing;

The speech which comes from the heart is heart-pleasing.

When this counselling took hold on (affected) me,

I opened my tongue with a pearl of the Dari language.

So when he opened his tongue after being divinely inspired, Nezami opened it in the
pearl of Dari (the refined form of Persian). Had he any desire to write Turkish or it was
his natural tongue, then after being inspired, he would have written in Turkish. Or for
example his speech to his son and his son's speech to him are all in Persian. No where
does Nezami mention that he knows even Turkish.

So let us conclude this part of the section:

1) During the time of Nizami Ganjavi, there is not a single extant Turkish verse from the
area. Azeri Turkish literature was not present in the Caucasus or Azerbaijan and the first
sample of Turkish comes around 200 years after Nizami Ganjavi. Not only Nizami
Ganjavi, but not a single extant Turkish verse exists from that area during that era. On
the other hand, a book such as Nozhat al-Majales shows everyday people used Persian in
the Khanaqahs (Sufi prayer house) and non-court poets, even normal folks composed
Persian poetry. The Safinayeh Tabrizi shows that Tabriz (the major capital of Ilkhanids)
had its own Iranic language called "Zaban-i Tabrizi" and Khorasani-Dari Persian was its
cultural language. Thus Nezami Ganjavi besides being Iranian, lived in a completely
Persianate cultural environment as exemplified by Nozhat al-Majales.

2) Shirwanshahs were not Turkic origin and did not know Turkic. Had there existed even
a Turkic literary tradition (which not a single verse exists from that time in the Caucasus
and would have to go many stages to eventually lead to a romantic epic), Nezami would
have written something Turkic for a Turkic-language ruler. As mentioned the Seljuqs,
Eldiguzids, Ahmadilis and etc. were Persianized in culture and manner. But at least these
rulers had Turkic ancestry unlike the Shirwanshahs who were not of Turkic ancestry.
The Shirwanshah were proud of their claimed Sassanid descent (nasab-i boland (high
birth) as opposed to Turkaaneh-Sefat (Turkic- way-characteristics)). So naturally, writing
in Turkic for a non-Turkic ruler who does not understand such a language makes no
logical sense. So besides not being able to differentiate between the words "Torkaaneh"
and "Torki", the nationalist-ideological authors have no context for their wild conspiracy
theories.

3) The Shirvanshah's letter to Nizami was in composition and Nizami Ganjavi versified it
and the verses about the unfaithfulness of Turks and Turkish-way talk (Vulgar as
opposed to Sokhan e Boland) have been mentioned by other Persian poets as well as
Nizami Ganjavi. These were versified by Nizami and were his thoughts(even assuming
the Shirvanshah wrote the verses, Nizami praises every word in the letter as a blossoming
garden and brighter than flames lit at night and thus has the same opinions), as were the

308

words of his son, which were again versified by Nizami Ganjavi. In the Khusraw and
Shirin also, when the King speaks, it is all Nezami's versification and interpretation of
their words. Neither the Sherwanshah nor the Ildiguzids versified a single verse in any of
Nezami's work.

Nizami Ganjavi praises the Shirvanshah both in Layli o Majnoon and in the
Eskandarnama. He praises the Shirvanshah' s son, advises the Shirvanshah' s son to read
the Shahnameh and most significantly, he entrusts the well being of his own son to the
son of Shirvanshah. That is amongst all the kings and rulers of his area, he chose to
entrust his son to the Persianized Shirvanshah who considered themselves descendants of
Sassanids and were not Turks. Although this does not mean Nizami Ganjavi preferred
any ruler over another (since he was a recluse), but the fact that he entrusts his son to the
Shirvanshah' s court (despite not being a court poet) fundamentally rejects any sort of
conspiracy theory that Nizami was forced (!!!) to write in Persian for the Shirvanshah!
Similarly his lament about Axsatan. The two verses are clear. Since the Shirwanshahs
were not Turks and were of high birth and did not break their vow, they deserved high
words and praises. Not the versified lampoon that was written for Sultan Mahmud
Ghaznavi after he broke his vow. Sherwanshah would not break their vow do deserve
such lampoon (Torkaaneh Sokhan).

4) The only complaint from Nezami is not about anything in the letter of the Shirwanshah
which he calls a blossoming garden more brighter than a night flame, but about
confidence in his ability to write an epic for the theme and the nature of the story itself.
Due to his old age and also due to the fact that the story according to Nezami is dry,
barren, lacks joy and hence is not suited for court poetry

/ was perplexed in that embarrassment
Because of my old age and frail nature

There is neither garden nor kingly banquet,
no bow-string, nor wine nor blandishment.
How long can one fare on dry sands
and rugged mountains, talking about sorrow?

Although this tale (aya) enjoys celebrity,

a cheerful interpretation (tafsir) is far from it.

The tools of discourse are joy and amorous delight,

discourse thrives by these two means.

The discourse on a naked person,

who is enamoured, fettered and in bondage, is sorrowful.

If one was to adorn the tale to excess,

this would distort the face of the story;

But when I know not the way at some stage,

clearly I shall then add some conceits.

309

The idea that the Shirvanshah forced Nizami to write in Persian is false and was created
by the USSR (Stalin's quote already mentioned). The Nozhat al-Majales mentioned
earlier which has 114 poets from the area and does not have a single Turkish quatrain and
all of its authors work are in Persian (many of them from normal Sufis and every day
people). 24 of these authors are from Ganja (including Nezami). Interestingly enough,
not one USSR source has mentioned such a grand book.

Obviously it would shatter all the false nation-building theories as 114 Persian poets from
the area, many of them ordinary folks would not serve the USSR type nation-building.
The Shirvanshahs did not know Turkish to begin with. Had Nizami Ganjavi known
Turkish (not proven even though it was the language of some of the rulers and it may be
desirable to learn the language of the ruling class as many non-Turcophone Iranians
learned Turkish during the rule of the Turcophone Safavid dynasty) and desired to write
Turkic, he would have written for a king that actually knew Turkish and not the
Shirvanshahs. He would have been the first Turkish poet of the area, had he written even
a single verse in Turkish, but not a single biography mentions even a verse of Turkish
from that era or from Nizami Ganjavi. Finally, we denote the great Shahnameh imagery
(e.g. Halat Kayqobadi in this section) used all over by Nizami Ganjavi while not a single
Turkic folklore image is used by him. The clear Iranian character of Nezami Ganjavi is
more than obvious and had there not been such a massive political attempt by the USSR,
there would be no need for the present article.

Misinterpretation of a verse in Haft Paykar

Another misinterpretation of a verse by those claiming of Turkish origin occurs in the
Haft Paykar. This misinterpretation is again brought to allege that Nizami wanted to
write Turkish but no one would appreciate it. This misinterpretation fits with Stalin's idea
that Nizami was forced to write in Persian and so this misinterpretation was continued.
The misinterpretation has to do with the section: "In praise of discourse, and a Few
Words of Wisdom " of the Haft Paykar. We will bring the original Persian and then a
translation by Dr. Julia Meysami. We shall also discuss the translation of Wilson of the
disputed verse. By bringing the whole section, we demonstrate that the section has
nothing to do with Nizami Ganjavi wanting to write in Turkish as misinterpreted by
scholars who were following Stalin's opinion.

CjljuuI \j$$ p& 9 CjLJuugj p& 9I c l^ejl

310

^jvjjjl^i* \j oS jib p\j kSjj U£->
^jvjQjIo C>9-> vl j ^j*>! > JUJ

CjljuuI ^-julC-^JsJ £9j £-> 9S ^JVJL^UUU

CjljuuI UuC <3jb> gU^ UjL>

Jjb 9I OJuJljJuU 0^3

3j\^> 9I <HjJjuj\j 3job

lSI_)l> X)jB\ <*2rj£> jl jiu

l5L> 3j Julo Qs> fj^Ljuj y> 9jl b

CjljuuI 2>I>*J0^I jS LSjlf^b

CjljuuI ^b <3jCXIjj jS^ ul CjljuuI fJ^LJuJ

^JvjlS 9 uSOLu jS fj^ Jl£->

^jvjI^j^ Qj b 9 ^jJLq-C qj b
CjljuUL^> ul ^9->9 .p ^ LiOb jb

CjljuUJJ JuI^J^JVjO jjQjjJIjulS

Cjl>LljlU ^£J ^5uLiLJ> Ij ^9-> <^S jJjj

Cjl>Ij3I ^jv^Juj 3j jjuU Jul b

Jjl<P*J ,jaJU9-> jjaJLOJ <& JljuU Ol ^JvjlS

Julo ^jvSb Julo^ jjijLQJ c^J ^>£j

CjljuUj^ Qj ^jOl^IjljuU \j ±£> $J U^->

CjLJULptj j lSj ASu c i-> - p l5j_xSj
-^j-s^ l3V ^9^9 j^ uLuoSuls

JJjJl^ jS^ ulj 9 JJul _p QUJ

^9^l-5V p 9 jU^l5V ^-09^

^9_uu <^-> v^l .P -^4H^ U^

<jjuU9-> J^ jl <jjuO jj& ^9jljuUJ> CjljuUJJ

jjjOJ9-> JS OjloX {jJjS JuljU

CjljuuI <jjU-& j-U ^LgJ p ^J^juoS^Jj^

CjljuuI [JjJjJ CH° £.9^ ^ -^9-^ U**^

JjjlS qiJL, q^ ^jOUJb

Jjjb 9^S /5oZ>l j_Jl> 3j jjuU
JljuUU QjJj9^ S^^ V^^

JljuuLj o>jJlj> ^ou /xl> U9-> ^jLo

CjljuULQjISI jS Ij ^^^ ^>°
CjljuULQjIj j$ ±j± <& Jub 3Jlj>UuU

JuS jL^L> OjSjI jl j.SljulJLO

<w>bj-C >/ >0 °W -^Qj-^Qj >/

vb-jJu °W uISjj^j. jl ±jj LS9S

ulj^job JuuJ [JJ&j] Cjl9I j
Oljjkji-V^jvj jlS CjljlulQj jjkL> ^JVJ
/)Lat> l59^jLjuUL> <3j W^jjj ^^jO

>ob j^ ^jvjcxijj JOSgl ^Sb 9^ ^j

CjljulUjI9-> /xSLuU CH^J ^9^? L<^>^J

CjLJuJujIg/xjLJuu 9I ^j9^> Ch^J j'

311

jLul Qjjl ±jj 9 ±j&> <3jcxi3j b

jIS ^>l ^j ^Scpr Julu /x^

jb ^jvjLljuu 9j c i^>>^ ^> °Ij 9->

ju ^jvjLuUj gJu /xi5j wAj <\j wAj

JUU jjljuOjU OJul> jl ^JjS

p 9 :>jb Jsd <lS £>ajo ul

jj. QjjS 9 CjljuuI JljuU pS OJul>

CjljuujSj <-Sjb c lJLa^J \j ^j^iujS jjb

CjljuUJSj l5jIAjLajU9^ 9 CjljuUJ3j ^JvJLjuUg^
lSjU JljuU j gl jS Ol CjljuuI ^jJ>

:>b jjIju ^j> :>b ^^

^LpJ 9J^ 9 CjljuUUjC^ ^J^JO^I

CjljuuI <<-*&} ^JVJO^I ^ <3JLjuU - >9 uig

CjljuuI *<-jJ>lC> ^jSjJj 9 JuulSjJJ

^£J Jub c l^tjl ^£J Jjl j±

^9_uU ^jljJ Lo J9>ol Jl£->

CjljuUjjuU 3j ^£J Qj <l£ulj Q^ jlS

cjLjJuugj 9 ^jJLdjIS j ^jg^ 9 j\£>

JljuuU ^9> jlS JJJ j± <*5jSb

JljuUU JU CjljuOjU wAju jS 9J u

^J^JuUUCp* JuO JU ^jjO jJU U

^j^juuuJuIju Cm^SjO ,J^> j^

jjjUUJul WAjU CjljuuJSj ^5 Ij ^JvJuOdj}

^joJLjU ^jl i^JVJlU c ^jlUjU ^jVjgSuJ

L5jL> JljuU j jS <^ lSj OLl^uI

l5jU OLuCXjuU^ fjS^> kSj^LI

^fjjjisl Juolj^uu JU9SJ quI

JjjjisiZdQ OLqj ^ ^JJJ*J uig

jjjoS ^>OU ^9-> 9J CjljuU^ c l-> - p

<JJUU JU9JU $}B 9J ^J lSIj.

^9j ^b ^j [Jjj\qj ^Bj c &>\

^ ^Luu 9J /x£ jS ul jl Qj

uLuuJuo L-juub {JjJuu j^>lo ub

uLuuJu u\p> Qj \j qJLoj> l5j9-> j9

gtJLJuujo tobj jj <jjuJLojo u^^

gu^ jj Idj^jl 9-> Jl^ju 3J b

l5j9j9j ^b ^b ^ jS

l5j9jJJJ £,l>^ jJ^U^juUUU ClS ^J
CjljlUUjI^-V V-QjIc ^jy jJ ^JVJO^I
CjljuUU j LljuUJJSj 9 ^JvSjJj ^jy jl
^jb ^S^juU ^JVJO^I Ol jJ wS_uU

^jb vjiJLc >j OJu^ y> 9-> ciS

312

^jvjIjLj ulg_> CjLoJb> Qj b
CjJl> \J^&> 9I ^jJ^ -Xj^ u^9>- v'^

CoL OL> CjlS9 CjljuU^ OljJ /Xifc

CjljuoS ^jOb j-pj j I j Ju^> 9J U9^>
^£J jlS QS> ,jJljuj\jjU w5L>

^ jLuo^L> v^L> JjoL>

*S\j> jl ^JvjO^I ±jj±> uS vj0 ^l j
C^ujli. jl J^ 9 J^ jl v ^ <^

^jvjjj Lc^ b {JjJ$5 uLp-> b

CjljuUL>- JuLuUU l&^jl j ^JvJLjujg^
CjljuUj^ Qj ±J&> ^JVJO^I Lo^jlS

AJLL9I JjloJ b ^ ^jOLjuus^
JJLiSl Jjlajl /x^ Ij uLxxjJu^

jjjj ^\L>jj oLij Ij 9^>^

i^jS OjbS ubj Oj ,jjI jS 3j

^jvJo Ojb -^ jl^? o^' ^9-K>^

JJLi-JuUUO uIjl&Ij 9 vS^p uLq-juu^j
jj^> 9^ 3j jSjo uL> ±jj u\$U

l5Ijj> oI^jju <& qJJ ,>uL>

jj>a£jI jjixJl ^jg^ ^jy jl

Jujjj Ij ^^JLb 9 AJu£> iiiiJ

/xjjl L5b jJj c UuiS b j^>

Julj> lSjjuojLj jj ^9^r ^

JJc> L5Juujb> 9 ^jJbiS C*-6_d>

^j Cjl^j ^b 0$ fjuu \j cJ\J

^9Jlu9> k-jAs 9^ wiu ^jy jl

313

gUjfc ^jljJ ftj± <^JuOj^ 9^>

JulJLjuJ jjl <^> g^uUUO jjuU jJ QjS
AjljuJj^> ^S^. U^y &*5 J-f ^b

^P j j 3j £j ^^j Q^Oj jl

CjljuU^ ^ 9 l _5VjljuU9j /XjuUC> j j CJj £J
JJ^o^^JVJ 9^>^ CjljuoSjJ> 9^ jj

OJJ^I jj CH^J ^9^ u^° ^
OJu^lj^ jj <p> kS^jSj b

^^jS p jl>^ jLuoSljljuU

Juc> L _sojb >olj^ 9 J\Jj> jl
O^jj L 5sJbN OJuol

O^jjO ^joJlS /Xj-J^ OJjj [JjdS /XjjuU
CjljuU^ju^juU Ij /XjJ 9 gljj ^JV-gJ U9^>

^j^juul^ /Xjj 9 guj j I j ^<p>- qiil

^jvSjl^ JuS^jsjq Cjljuu9^ u Cjljuu9^

^Sjbjj qj|j> ulj ub c£ Oj

lSjLjj /x>j 9 2M j gjl q^

JuiSl Olj -bLuUU ^JV^ Ij ^JljuUU

_USl ob> vl p >^ -^j lJ^
lSjIAIj 9 ^jilj 9j guT

vl>> ^jL> 9^ 9^ <*S^>Sj b
^ <^jL> 9^ 9^ <^jL>

LSjb J^jl^ JLOO C^juU j^

CjLJuuujJLjitjo 9J b ^ lS^Lj 9 w5L>
CjljuUL^JI^JVJ ^b 9 l^JI^jvj ^jL>

314

<jijc>b JljJu j9^ Jj*j jS jL>

<joJC>IjOuU £u*juU JjjLuU CO Qj

CjljuoL^ /xSLjJu j^ C^ Ijjl lSjI

CjljuuJS O^J j Qj guOuU O^J

^ u^j9> j u$^ uljJ^ C^ CJj
j± qjb 9^> lS9_jJu ^jvjoI^S b
CjljuuuIjJ^ j\j& \j 9$ ^LuU

^^ LSsjIjLjJugJ ^j OAjljujj b
^J^j CjUj^uU jlj^ -Xju ^j^>

^jyb LSl^JIgJ /xS pL> ^jy

L jvjg_ JU j ^ qj OJljuU jb ^H^ -^

^jvj^JL^; Qj ^j^4 Juol _p b

CjljuUUljuUU juuJ jlj^ Aj^> U^p
CjljuUj COjS j Olj^ jS ^JvSu b

gu^ Q^oljS ^jvSu >fj j QJ9

l _5^juoS^IjjO jJ j\S 0^> CjljuUUJ

^>jo Jub jj± 0$ lS^I^jo jib

±j$j jJ^ jjO^C CJj JljuUU O^jjO

/>IS Jub ^u> <*$ cb l5j ^

/>LoJ jJXC j\S CjljuUUjoIjOU j5

CjljuuLqj jJ± ±\j jJ± $5 J^J

CjljuuL>jJ *SuljuJ *SuljuJ JuolS cJ\J

LSjg-juUQjLJULjucp* 9 lSjLuu09JL>

/XjuU ^JVjOu^gJ jJJjl lSLuUUU ^5b
UJJ £UJ v"*6fl) ^LuU jjjl j-juJ jl

u^ &^° j^ J^ u^l /^-^ J9
> JuU >J bj£j Ojb> jjjJ^> jj

L5_JJj>b jjlO JjjJ u^> OJuj

lSJuuO^Ju jl ^J ^JvjIa^ oL>

OJJulj wiib^> lSJUjjO jS

OJuul^i^ jjj co 9j ^j^j jj

jjllbdO ^I^JO^JVJ uljUjjO jl
QjO (jllbdO ^LqJlCI pS J^Cp j^

/x^jS Ju^> lSLJul^ JijJuuo ^
/xi3^ U9jj 9 0^ lSIjl^q^^

^jOLxgjO Olj j -XjIj^ jS
^5019^ Jl^J ObjO j^ 9^ CjljuULaS

315

/xj^S^jvjo Q^y qjo Q$ JuL JjlC

pjl^>^JsJQ QS> JljuU ^5 OjLuul QJJ

IjjO CjljuUL_X_*Ju <> _50ljuULU jl GjljuULU

IjjO CjljuULQj CjljuULQj <& jjjoSulj <^1S

jj. CjlSjuJo Oj^S jjjl j-> U
jj O^jlO £-> /XJi-Juub ^JVjjoL^

lSj^SjI Jl> 3j />Jl^juUj U$->

^^«j qjjo j Q£>y> j-> <£ ^jvjo
^9-s* u^j' u^*-! j9&* j-^

vl^> .P ^9-juu u<^> JuugS vl

Vl c U^juUC> <3j ->£J jj <3jCXjuUC>

PuljuJ JljuuU <MSiS> vl AJlLJLc

/XjlLuUJ qjI jJ JlQj-> ^jVjSjIcp Qj

jj CjUUlO ->£J ^jS \j /XjljuU

jJQ3 <\J U jjjUUCXjuU j JljuUU Jjj^

->£J QJQJQJ <jjUjO j U ^JVJ /XjljuU

Juol jLSJjj ^ QjO [J^il

jLc cij ->£J /jO 0^-QJ jl (JJUjj

CjljuuI CjL.~Sg.uU /XJUU^> jjjl OIj£-> jl

CjljuuI Cjlj^J jl Cjl^-j* CjljlUjU jjl& jS

<jjUU»juUJlQJ CjLJuULflj ^5 Jj^UlO ul

jjjuLS l59 j j jjjUJljlOjU ^> /XjU

juuJ v^ jl CJ -H^ 9I C ^j\s

juUU uIo^juUJj j \j uloouul
jjjUjLuI JljuU V-ju^S 9 Olo jJ.

Lpjb^ ^ >> 9 ^9-^^> ^ jj

/XjljuU 9 >^9J jIS CjljuuI jJjJlj> U^->

/XjU JuU ->jJ QS> CjlCIjS jl

/X^uju^ °^\>> U^j' j' jCX ^ -^^^

Jul /xjh^ °o\&\ j-> ^jyLsl

j-JLdj-> jl jJJLiS jj5j 3 13 1

jjj Jul^j Lo 3 13 1 <-Sj9j

316

JJJjS <jjoS JJl^> Q^S qjI qjO 0$2*

CjljuUUOjjuU Oj gL^JuUU Ij 9j Olj
CjljuUUOjjuU ^SuOuJ j UJulj JjJ

JuI^jvjoJ />j9u OJljuu ^9_>

JljJuU j-L> pJJSj jl °Sj\
JljuuU j± V$jJ pj[jLJuj\5

<jlib jjojuoI^ Lq^Ju^ jl Oj W^U

^jjJU <joJUob> 9 jJJJU jlj JOjSZLO

^job^jvjo ^> ^ ^ l5^I-^ b
^joI^^jvjcx^ -bJLc b ^jv-LJL^

CjljuUJuO Oj J-H^ ^ CA^ L-H^

CjljuuL^J j lSJuoI oS J9I pJu

lS^jsU J-u 9^ qjj lS^j ul

lS^I ±p> b j9j o^9^

GVp j^ 09^ 9 Irp /)lg

Co^S 0I9J u^> u^Sj <SAs b

^jJb± jb <^JLoc> ^olg b ul>9^

^jv^J j9JL*ju ^j 9 uS^b) 9J b

9^r lSjIjJ uLp-> jb j 09^

9j ^5^19^ <^S b*^^ ulg-> j^

Cjl^j Jub JuiAS Ouljl [JjJuU

Cjl^j jl JJljJul^ 9^3 Ij O^juoSIS

w^b ^gSLuu Ju^> ^ JljuuLj j9j

w5L> y AJS JljuuO jbx jl

/>I<3JJ*JjS JljuUO jL> j pJb

/>JljuUL> <joJul jJ ^jJj <J>Uo

U^jjO b 0l5u0uJ jjjl j± 6j

O^jJ juuJ Qj U^^JU) Q~*JS> qjI

Q^ i>bj Qjjl pJljJjjS 09^

q^ L _$v^l9> Qs?j\jJb \j kSAs 9S

JuJj^ bjolbu ^j^-jJub Jul^>

JjJb jljj ^Slojlgl 9 j-c>

317

JJ^jS JjCXC UjL> Ij /xi^

English Translation by Professor Julia Meysami:

In Praise of Discourse, and a Few Words of Wisdom

That which at once is new and old
is discourse; let its tale be told.
The mother 'Be! ' hath never born,
than discourse, any better son;
Say not the eloquent are dead;
'neath waves of speech they 've disappeared.
But should you mention one by name,
fish-like, he '11 raise his head again.
Discourse — like to a flawless soul —
the keys to unseen treasure holds.
It knows the story yet unheard,
and reads the yet unwritten word.
Look round: of all that God has made,
what else, save discourse, does not fade?
The sole memorial of mankind
is discourse; all the rest is wind.
Strive, from the worlds of mineral,
plant, animal, and rational,
To learn what in creation lives
that to eternity survives?
He who his own self truly knows,
triumphant over this life goes.
Who knows not his design must die;
but who can read it, lives for aye.
When once you know yourself aright,
though gone, you shall not pass from sight.
Those who life 's mysteries ignore
come in through this, go out that door.
Doors cleaned of smoke, windows of grime:
yet none can see — what use the sun?
Each with himself is well content;
no one will his own garden tend.
All offer clever pretexts; nor

318

will any say, 'My milk is sour. '
Wise men, who have great knowledge gained
don 't bend their minds to empty sums;
The man of substance plans ahead;
when substance lacks, 'tis as I've said.
But such a man, though sharp, no doubt,
requires a guard; there 's thieves about!
The Chinese merchant, loading musk,
guards it with gum* against the thief.
The hoopoe, 'neath the eagle 's wing,
inflight leaves other birds behind.
The famed are not immune to sin;
only the base are free from stain.
In search of grain, the clever bird
falls in the trap with both feet snared.
He who 's a glutton like the earth
takes from it but a stomach 's worth;
Though all its stores be well devoured
and plundered, not a grain falls short;
For all you gather, grain by grain,
you one by one give back again.
If, candle-like, you'd seek a crown
of gold, tears will your laughter drown.
That draught of pearls and rubies made
brings little joy, but tears unstayed.
Each person has a hidden friend,
a confidant, that help will lend:
'Tis wisdom, from which succour comes;
he has all things who wisdom owns.
Who gives not wisdom its just due,
though man inform, his nature true
Is demon-like; angelic men
are those with wisdom — wondrous thing!
All was decreed when Time began;
men strive today, but reap no gain.
Strive to improve your nature; sloth
leads but to Hell; to Heaven, work.
He who 's imprisoned by his deeds,
if he 's not good, he will be bad.
To think the worst of others; that 's
the habit of the bad man; but
Who thinks the best of others, wins:
goodness is from good conduct born.
Live such that, if a thorn appears,
you will not reap your foes ' sharp jeers;
Lest this one say, His faults have shown, '

319

or that, 'His just reward has come. '
If no one takes your hand, at least
at your death he won 't stamp his feet
In joy. Who treats you well is best;
not he who 's by your sorrow pleased.
Don 't eat in front of those who fast,
or else, make sure they join your feast.
Don 't weigh your gold before the poor,
lest they twist, snake-like, with desire.
Though New Year 's breeze may gently waft,
best not light lamps before its draft.
Man does not live to eat his fill,
but that he may seek sense and skill
A dog is nobler than the man
whose eyes, ass-like, for fodder scan,
Then strive to serve mankind; 'tis so
your nature will adorn the world.
One who 's good-tempered, like the rose,
smells sweetly everywhere he goes.
Have you not heard the wise man tell,
'He dreameth best who sleepeth well'?
He who 's bad-tempered at his birth
will be that way until his death;
But he who 's with good temper born
will meet a good and happy end.
Don 't take things hard; for many a one
like you, the coarse earth 'sfed and slain.
What use to deck out earth, when ye
who bear earth 'sform, half ashes be.
If someone says, Ture reason must
rise from man, and man's from dust
Say, 'From the thorny rose there comes
rose-water; life from the snake-stone. '
Strive with the world; its wiles abhor;
don 't pitch your tent in dragon 's maw.
Seek not the dragon 's friendship; for
the dragon does all men devour.
A dog may wear a patched cloak; but
its currish nature 's not forgot.
When friends fall out and quarrel, see
how speedily their foes agree.
Like flies o 'er black and white they flock,
make black seem white and white look black.
'Tis better to avoid such thieves,
and cut this fourfold purse away.
In times when pious men are base,

320

the Josephs wolves, the ascetics dazed
With drink, one only 'scapes from peril
by doing, or approving, evil.
May God forbid His servants place

such bonds as these upon their legs.
They kindle fires for Hell 's sake,
seek naphtha, and pour talc away.
Rise; let us stamp out all sedition;
observe obedience 's condition.
How long seek gold to answer dearth?
How long be bound by sky and earth?
The harsh wind rends the tulip 's robes

in search of bits of bloody dross;
Since wormwood bears no golden coin,
the wind does not assail its form.
Don % like the cloud, bear treasure on
your head; rise o 'er it, like the sun,
That, when earth 's moistened by the cloud,

your sun-like kiss turn it to gold.
Scatter your gold upon the sun;
break sun-like rubies with a stone.

Tis wrong gold makes your eyes shine bright,
for wisdom 's the world's true delight.

'Gold' is two letters, unconnected;
how should you boast of something scattered?
Don 't fill your heart with gold, like earth,
lest, like 'gold', you be scattered forth.
Those beauties that have golden forms

are by blue mourning robes adorned.
Each scale which deals with gold is stoned

before a thousand doors. Assume
That, with great effort, you 've obtained

of wealth, lawful or not, some grains:
Some reckless rogue steals them away

and lives, while their collector dies.
To spend gold brings rejoicing; but

'tis pain and fear to lay it up.

Tis loving gold, not its expense,
that kills the self with pain immense.
See how the fool who seeks a stone

sets friends at war, one against one.

Tis best to quit this earthly ruin,
which brings you nought but fear and pain.
How long be porter for the world,
hiding gold's burden in the earth?
Though you may own three porters loads,

321

you y ll gain but the four porters 'abode.
'Tis earth and air that are your foes:
unfriendly earth, air full of woes.
The thorn torn from the date-palm 's crown
will serve the cooking fire to turn.
Thick noodle soup will better fill
the stomach, than rose-petals will.
Pull out your teeth; don 't eat your fill;
then you y ll be worthy as the pearl.
See, with its thousand teeth, the comb
can dress the beard of anyone.
Before you taste time 's remedy,
a thousand poisoned draughts you 7/ see.
From this world's butcher-shop you '11 gain
no portion without causing pain.
A hundred hearts are rent in twain
before a fat haunch is obtained.
A thousand necks are cast aside
in favour of a fattened thigh.
One sets his foot upon a treasure,
another toils for trifling measure.
Since none achieves his goal, 'tis best
to have none, than for many quest.
The man who late his goal achieves
finds joy in his long-travelled life.
Long life is best, for one will find
his goal perfected through long time.
The slow-born ruby long endures;
the swift-come tulip swiftly goes.
How long, like candles, brightly glow?
Consume yourself, your self to show.
Cast off these hoofs of beast-like greed;
from this clay vat pull out your head.
Cut off this seven-rooted branch;
these four-nailed horseshoes, * too, renounce.
Don 't pass o 'er this straw-covered pit
like stones and straw that cover it.
Like lightning, die while flashing bright;
rude health 's eclipsed by virtuous life.
Do as your masters teach, if you
are a disciple; follow true
The path that leads to wisdom; put,
with perfect faith, your trust in God.
I, who untie a hundred knots,
possess a village, dwell without.
If from the road a guest should come,

322

who then will lay the feast for him?
Reason knows well of what I speak;

by this allusion, what I seek.
I don 't despair, despite my want;
I blame but those who earn complaint.
The Ethiop scorns my Turkish wares,
rejects the fine foods I prepare.
When I was raw as unripe grapes
in this, old nature 's cooking-place,
Time pressed me like a grape unripe,
to make colly rium for the sight. *
Since I grew ripe, I've suffered
from the stings of bees, just as the wine
That's poured upon the earth is lost.
Is not the grape 's worth more than that?
I tread the path on which I'm driven,

the name of frozen water 'given;
They say that water, frozen cold,
is not water, but a spring of gold;
They err: still water silver forms,

as silvery ice of this informs.
Whene 'er did silver like gold seem?

they 're different as the moon and sun.
Sim without y a is miss (that's brass),
especially when they 're reversed.
Observe my iron, inlaid with gold,
its silvery work in speech unfold.
Ironmongers would wear golden robes
who iron at silver 's prices sold.
Woe to the goldsmith when, assayed,
his gold is less than silver weighed.
The world's harsh treason chafes me: luck's
the source of fortune, wisdom 's not.
That keen assessor who knows coin
owns not a half-grain, while the man
Who can 't tell cotton plants from flax,
nor ships and shoes from sealing-wax,
With finest stuffs fills up his hoard:
with loads of silks, and chests of gold.
If this is gold and silver 's case,
why should one then fear idleness?
How long should we this ruin grieve,
and draw up water in a sieve?
All from the antechamber call;
one day our turn will come withal.
Others, like me, this tale have told,

323

and, at the end, have found repose.

It was my task to grasp it firm,

lest sleep should seize me in my turn.

The traveller must have supplies,

and flee the perilous places. I

Walk on; my donkey does not follow; I

can 't believe that on some morrow
I too will leave; I'll only know
when I have passed beyond that door.
How long, in ignorance, shall I
go on; string pearls with closed eyes?
Forget your eyes, and silence keep;

be confidant of secrets deep.
All that you know — know this, and heed —
you take in error, or misread.
The flood has swept the road away;
discard your spade; see how the sky
Digs pits for men within the earth;
the earth recks not such spades as yours.
Consider: when you first were born,
what did you have of what you own?
From day and night you 7/ bear away

what you brought with you that first day.
Your neck weighed down with borrowed gems
from earth and sea: how can you then
Dance with the sphere? repay your loan;
let but you arid an empty mount
Remain. Without a grain of this
world's burden, go where 'eryou wish.
Before your crown 's pulled from the throne,
you must cast off what wealth you own.
One day a hundred blossoms must fall

to the ground 'neath envy 's dust.
I, like the rose, of weapons shorn,
have also fled from envy's thorn;
Donned a patched cloak, in hope this might

scatter pure talc on flames of spite;
For even so is the road travelled
that passes through this place of peril.
When I've bid this old inn farewell,
say to the sphere, 'Do what you will'
How long, Nizami, dwell in bonds?

Arise! send forth your voice in song;
Devote your soul to Unity,
and gain, for e'er, Felicity.

324

Let us first recall (far more extensive examples are brought in the introduction) some
examples from Nizami Ganjavi and other Persian poets with regards to imagery in
Persian poetry:

Nizami:

oLij ^j\Lb \j^> jJ ^jj b

OJJ OIJujO ±j£j lS^LuU j <\-uJ

"Till the nights Ethiop rushed day 's Turks,
The king ceased not his joyful Sport"
(Julia Meysami, Haft Paykar, pg 216)

^jvJu^ u\Sjj [JjJuj^y uLq^L^jju

Author's translation: Siyaahaan Habash (The blacks of Ethiopia), Torkaan Chini (the
Turks of China), Cho Shab (like the night) baa maah (with the moon) kardeh hamneshini
(have gathered together). Note that the Siyaahaan Habash (blacks of Ehtiopia) are the
color of the night while the Torkan Chini are the moon (and the stars).

u-*- JuUC: ?' jb Ojb> j ^9_juub

Was not relieved from seeking other solution
An Ehtiopian will not be Khotanese (a place in classical Turkistan) by washing

±L±£ gS^j j 9j £j jl 5^ p*

When the morning cast away the cover from day's face
Khotan (light) upon Habash (darkness) imposed a painful cost

p^jjjS qiiJL> u^^S qjJljuj ulodfc ,jjo
/xjuull> jl 9J U 9 \jjpr. jl ±^> b

Vm still his humble slave; of China
at home, but Ethiop with you.

/XjuulSu $$j uL> Qj jS 9J jb
/xjuull> jl qjo ^jotli* jl 9J jS

Your wile, if it costs life, I shall bear
If you are from Khallukh (a city in Turkestan) (light), I am from Ethiop (dark)

(signifying opposites here)

325

"In Egypt dwelt a man, Maahaan

More beautiful than the full moon,

like Egypt 's Joseph, fair of face;

A thousand Turks his Hindu Slave "

(Julia Meysami, Haft Paykar, pg 1 75)

Thus as we can see the contrast between light, pleasing (Turk) and Habash (Dark) is a
common affair in Nizami's poetry. But this is not limited to Nizami and many other
Persian poets have used such a symbolism and we provide some more examples:

UJJO QjCXjuU jJ OLljuJ JjJljuU

±j \JJ^> JJ [JjJu£> 0U-juU QjO OjJ U<^>
±j UjjljuUU jJ QJljuJJljuJ 0^9_juU O-julJUO jl

(y>l9>)

(Khaju Kermani: Since my Turk brings upon Khotan (Turkestan) the army of

Habash(Ethiop)):

^jS <^JLoO />9j jJ ^jljuU {JJJu^ j^uujJ 0$2*

U^jll> £L b lSLoJu ol-^ljliprb kS$j

JljuUL^ ^JVjIjCXSJ OlSjJ &J$S> jJ OLcXjuuI

(lSASLjuu)

jISu jjaJLp* 0L0 9 j9j^ />9j JuLJuUjCp*

^jU [JjJuO> J^IUjJ JJ <£ KSjJ y\^> 0$Z>

pj^JJJb u<^> 0Jjj9_JuU CjU lSIS ^Sj 9J <J^JLU

(s>^> >o>l)

The Pir of Herat, Khwajah Ansari writes:

■L-5^°9j J-JulSLjuuI jlSj9j CjL^tJ jJ QjO 9 ^JVJO^J U<^> wAjjb L5Lp-pjljJ> jJ 9J <*_jljuU l5I

(Dastgerdi, Wahid. "Resa'il Jaami' 4 Aref Qarn Chaharom Hejri: Khwaja Abdullah
Ansari", Forooghi Publishers, 1349/1970, 2 nd edition, p 60)

Translation:

Oh Night, What are? A black Zangi, and I am of Khotanese descent (look like) a moon

(beautiful).

326

Oh Night, you are upon the dark ruins like an owl and I am on the throne of the age, like
Eskandar-e-Rumi (Alexander the Greek).

Thus if we take this literally, then the well known Ansari, a descendant of the companion
of the Prophet of Islam, would be of Khotanese descent. Of course the contrast between
Dark/African/Zang and Khotanese is a well known contrast used by many Persian poets.

The alleged claim by the three articles we mention (who claim Nizami Ganjavi was an
Oghuz Turk) is that the line (not in a 15 th century edition t
and most editions) in the praise of discourse and wisdom:

Oghuz Turk) is that the line (not in a 15 th century edition but it is in the Dastgerdi edition

is meant to say that Nizami wanted to write Turkish but it was not appreciated and hence
he had to write in Persian! Anyone that has read all of the above section and knows the
contrast between Turk (light) and Ethiopia (Dark) in Persian poetry and can easily see the
invalidity of ethno-nationalistic interpretation.

Let us bring two professional English translations:

The Ethiop scorns my Turkish wares,
rejects the fine foods I prepare.
(Julia Meysami, 1995)

Commentary by Dr. Julia Meysami:

'The Ethiop scorns my Turkish wares: literally, 'The Ethiops (of this region) reject my
Turkish delicacies, ' that is, in this dark and savage region my fine words go
unappreciated. " (Julia Meysami)

Wilson:

This Ethiopia likes not Turkish wares

hence it will have not palatable curds

(1925 translation of Haft Paykar, C.E. Wilson)

The section is about discourse and word of wisdom. Referring to people who claim
wisdom, Nizami says in this section:

All offer clever pretexts; nor
will any say, 'My milk is sour. '

Indeed food as a spiritual metaphor (and we note Dooghbaa is bright and white like the
imagery of Turks in Persian poetry) has been used through Persian literature. Sufficient is
to refer to the comparison between homemade Paludeh and Bazar Paludeh in Persian
poetry. As Annemarie Schimmel has noted:

327

"Paludeh, a dish of milk, fine flour, and some spices, was popular enough in the
thirteenth century to be mentioned several times as the symbol of spiritual
sweetness "(Triumphal Sun, pg 143. A two colored Brocade, pg 435).

Let us look at English translation by these two knowledgeable translators. The key words
they have used are Nakharand (Doesn't buy), Lajaram (consequently), Dooghbaay (This
is a Persian word which is a soup made of yogurt milk, whose color is white and probably
made best by Turkish nomads). So they have taken a meaningful translation of the all the
words. Furthermore, if one goes with a literal translation, Torkiyam as the authors have
translated more naturally takes the meaning of wares literally, since Nizami uses the other
word Nakharand (buy), and lajaram (consequently) they do not taste fresh Dooghbaa (a
soup made of milk best prepared by Nomads).

Nizami here is stating that his beautiful milk/food (the advices and discourses of this
section) he gives are not paid attention to. The context of the section which is on
discourses, advices and ethics makes it clear. It has no political/ethnic content.

Furthermore the contrast of Habash and Turk is something that we have discussed
already. As already demonstrated, Persian poets often make contrasts. Since the
opposition of */sepid /*(Tork) (light, North) and */zangi/Habashi/*
(Abyssinian/Ethiopian) (south) has a figurative meaning, it simply signifies the range of
tastes and climes, cultures and complexions, specifically with the Turks representing fair
skin as opposed to the dark-skinned Habashis.

If we look at that section, it is about spiritual advices Nizami provides and there is
nothing about the Turkish language! So if Nizami wanted to write Turkish, the statement
"Torkiyam raa dar in Habash Nakharand" as some writers claim is not in the context of
the section. If literal (and assuming Nizami meant Turkish language by Torkiyyam! and
not Turkish wares or something that "kharidani" (some that can be bought or obtained)),
we would also need to take the /Habash/ part literally and the Dooghbaa part literally, and
unless Nezami made a trip to Ethiopia (which he never did) or was in Ethiopia, or
composed poems in honor of a dark-skinned African prince (which he never did), then
/Habash/ does not have a literal meaning here. And of course Nezami 's trade was poetry
and not selling (offering) Dooghbaa. So the verse is clear from the section, which
simply means my bright/shining advice are not taken in this dark place.

As well known already, Nizami not only wrote all of the five jewels in Persian but also he
has written ghazals in Persian. Yet in all his work, he only refers to his Persian writing.
There was no Turkish literature at the time of Nizami in Ganja and not a single verse of
Turkish exists from the area during Nizami 's time from any poet or writer. Unfortunately,
misinterpretation of basic Persian poetic imagery was the major tool used by Stalin and
USSR to claim that "Nizami was a victim of Persian Chauvinism and he wanted to write
in Turkish, but he was forced to write in Persian".

Lack of knowledge or misuse of basic Persian imagery and symbols (note the previous
Chapter where we discuss this extensively) was used to politicize Nizami Ganjavi for

328

ethno-nationalistic nation building and propagate the false idea that Nizami (who is great
because of his actual words which are all in Persian) wanted to write in Turkish (which
had no tradition in the Caucasus and Azerbaijan and the language of Turkish nomads was
not the urban language) but was forced to write in Persian! As if one can create such
masterpieces (five them!) under duress which is illogical! This misinterpretation
alongside the misinterpretation of the verses in the beginning of the Layli o Majnoon was
the major basis for this false political claim made during the USSR era and unfortunately
continuing in some circles.

Incorrect argument: Nizami and his research into Dari-Persian
and Arabic literature means that he was a Turk

The argument from a discussion was: Since Nezami mentions his research into Arabic,
Persian, Jewish, Christian and Pahlavi sources and books, then he is a Turk or else if he
was of Iranian Origin, he would not boast of knowledge and ability to research into these
languages!

The argument lacks basis since it does not correspond to Nizami' s verses, but is a invalid
interpretation and an ethno-nationalistic extrapolation. Nor being proud of the capability
of research into Arabic/Dari-Persian literature (as many Iranians are) has any ethnic
bearing. First let us see what Nizami Ganjavi states in the Haft Paykar and
Eskandarnama.

In Eskandarnama he sates:

±£ Jlsl oLjj ul lSUjJI

^jgj kSji j± OJujlSLi />JuJJ
Lp-^jLo /XJljuuI^J QjzljujJ jib j

l^jljjj pJCU jl /XJljuUU 9jJ

LSgj LSlg-^jjb j O^Uj
9I jsu lSI^joU jib j P-^.'p

/xi>b^ qjS obj j^ ubj

/xi>Luu LSlgJLcx^r juuj olo^r ul jl

^ <*5\ <£ jib ubj <Sj jjb j

^£J ^gS OjKSUJ j iJjjJuj
/XiSU ^J^^juuIj jS OV^ ul j±

CjljuuIj LSlgJi^UuU L _5V^l9i>' CjljuuIj jSg
CjljuuI9^>' pJCU {JjJ^\j\ J± JuLuUU

pjS pS 9I jl /xlbu <J^U -H

329

The traces (deeds) of that monarch, world-wandering,

I saw not written in one book.

Speeches (subtleties) that were like stuffed treasure

Were scattered in every work.

I took up materials from every book;

I bound on them the ornaments of verse.

More than (besides) new histories, —

— Hebrew/Jewish, Nestorian/Christian, and Pahlavi —

/ chose from every book its charm (excellence);

Took out from every husk (book) its brain (pith):

Gathered treasure (the Sikandar-Ndma) — speech within speech (boundless);

And prepared from that total (of varied tongues) the sum total (the Sikandar-Ndma).

Whosoever is acquainted with every language (in which the tale ofSikandar is related),

His tongue is short of criticism (on this work).

In that screen of history from which I found truth,

I twisted (arranged) the tip of the curl of (lustrous) speech.

And, if thou desirest truth; — true words,

It is not fit to seek in the ornament of verse.

If of it (speech) I diminish the decoration of verse,

I may put it together in couplets of little value (few and void of lustre).

Everything done by the king (Sikandar) world proudly traversing,

I may bring together complete in this single page of paper.

And in the Haft Paykaer:

Again I sought, from books concealed,

And scattered throughout the world's

I searched through books both fine and rare

for what would free sore hearts from care.

All chronicles of kings of yore

were gathered in one book of lore;

Already one of keenest mind

had ordered it in verse refined.

From that, some ruby dust remained,

shared from which others something feigned.

I, from those fragments, jeweller-wise,

this precious treasure cut to size,

So that the experts who assay

all efforts, this most worthy weigh.

That which was left by him half-said

say; the half-pierced pearl thread;

330

While that which I found right and true,
just as before I've left to view.
I strove that this fair jointure, too,
should be adorned in foreign hue.
Again I sought, from books concealed
and scattered through the world's broad field;
Those words/works in Dari (Khorasani Persian) andAraby's;

Bukharis pen, and Tabari 's; (a minority have viewed/translated it as Bukhari (Soghdian)
and Tabari (Iranian dialect) both of them which have attested literature but majority
consider it as Hadeeth of Bukhari and Tarikh of Tabari)
From other texts, all scattered wide:
each pearl, in hiding, cast aside.
The pages coming to my hand
I wrapped in leather, tied with band.
When all was chosen, ordered well,
when 'neath my pen 's black ink all fell,
A poem I wrote that would win praise,
and not the scholars ' laughter raise.
This written temple I've adorned,
with seven brides, like Magian Zand,
(Julia Meysami: Haft Paykar a Medieval Persian Romance)

So Nezami Ganjavi is simply stating his sources which were in different languages. For
example if a random author states: "I used sources that were scattered, whether in
French, American English and Russian', no one can obtain information about their father
through this and then claim the person must have been a Turk(like it is falsely claimed for
Nezami) just because they did not mention Turkish! So such weak (indeed none)
arguments to derive the ethnic background of Mu'ayyad (Nezami's great ancestor) from
such a simple non-ethnicity related statement. Or for example if modern books by
Iranian authors mention the usage of Persian, Arabic and English sources for the book, it
is precisely because such sources contain valuable information. They are not necessarily
boasting about their knowledge of these languages! By the time of Haft Paykar,
everyone already knew that Nezami was a master poet and he did not need to remind
anyone that he knows Persian.

Nizami references the Shahnameh and other Dari books and Arabic books, precisely
because his stories (Eskandarnama, Bahram Nama or Haft Paykar, Khusraw o Shirin)
were based on Persian folklore and Layli o Majnoon being of Arabic origin. That is
written sources on Alexander were in these books. For example in the Haft Paykar, he
starts with referencing the story in the Shahnameh and then searches in other books of
Dari (in the strict sense Khorasani Persian and as noted Qatran Tabrizi distinguishes
between Persian and Dari and Nezami too by using Dari and Parsi in different places,
most likely knew Dari was a subset of the larger Parsi/Persian group) and Arabic. Dari
which is a subset of Persian language group, is the refined spoken and written Persian as
opposed to rustic dialects which were scattered in the Iranian world.

331

Had Nizami wrote anything about Turkish folklore or had any connection with Turkish
culture/civilization or knew Turkish or had access to Turkish literature, then he would
have mentioned books or at least oral traditions that are in Turkish. So the ethno-
ideological arguments lacks basis for many reason:

1)

Nizami does not "boast" about his knowledge of Persian language! He mentions that for
his work {Haft Paykar), he researched out at many scattered works of Dari- Persian and
Arabic literature. According to Julia Meysami: "In the prologue to the Haft Paykar,
Nizami describes his search for sources and gives pride to one: the Shahnama"(Haft
Paykar by Julia Meysami pg XXIII). So he is describing his search for sources.
However, researching the Qur'an and Shahnameh are a source of pride for many speakers
of Arabic and Dari-Persian. And people who recite the Qur'an or Shahnameh are
generally admired by the public and this level of knowledge is much more than the
average speakers of these languages.

2)

No Iranian, whether those that speak Dari-Persian [(Nizami mentioning Dari) or Iranian
dialects (other versions of Persian and other Iranian dialects) in their family or Parsi
distinguished from Dari-Persian as mentioned by Qatran, Masudi and Ibn Nadeem)] is
born with the knowledge of Persian literature. This knowledge is obtained through many
years of study and hard work. Assuming Nizami says he is "proud" of his knowledge of
the language (which neither the original Persian or the Professional English translation
support such an interpretation), many Iranians (both Dari Persian speakers and other
Iranians) are proud of their research into Persian literature (Adabiyyat-e-Farsi). Indeed it
is a great honor to get a degree in Persian literature and research into Persian manuscripts
from the Balkans to India. Many people who speak English as first language boast of
their knowledge of English vocabulary, their research into the English literature or the
their knowledge of spelling. Indeed the native speaker who wins the spelling-bee is proud
of his/her knowledge of the English language and vocabulary. Many Arabs are proud of
memorizing the Qur'an or part of it. Many Iranians memorize lines from Nizami, Hafez,
Ferdowsi and are proud of their Persian language/literature knowledge. Nizami does not
say anything about the knowledge of the Persian language (which is obvious by his
work), but he is praising important works of Persian and Arabic literature by mentioning
his sources.

3)

Hafez, Naser Khusraw and many other Iranians poets acknowledge their knowledge of
Persian and the masterpieces they have created in Persian and are proud of their Persian
poetry. They are proud of their work and mention its language. Indeed Nizami does boast
elsewhere about his masterpiece in Persian, but so do Hafez, Ferdowsi and Naser
Khusraw and other Persian poets mention their work explicitly in the Persian language.
(Obvious for the reader, their work is in the Persian language but nevertheless by
explicitly mentioning the Persian language by name, they acknowledge their knowledge
of the language and the masterpieces they have created).

332

olSI ±$j ^jouulS -bi9b> ,jiaSJ^ jSLjJj j

(Jo9l>)

^JOuJ JLuU (JJj^ >0^^>J £XJj L _$OuUU
^jOuJjU <JJ-)U />±j£ OJjj /X<fc£

Jul& uL-b^-b Ju9_*Jj o^-*^ >^-«J
(Ja9bO

( 9> ^j> ^li)
4)

Indeed a more logical consequence of the verses of Nizami is the fact that he points to
many scattered (hence a wide geographical area) sources that were examined for his story
(including the Shahname) in different languages but not once does he mention anything
about Turkic/Turkish sources or materials of Turkic civilization. That is Nizami does not
mention anything about Turkish sources or books in Turkish or oral sources or etc.
Many times he mentions Ferdowsi and other Persian sources as his sources but not once
does he mention any Turkic source. This once again shows there was no high Turkish
culture or civilization in Azerbaijan or the Caucasus at his time and books did not exist in
that language at the time. Also if there was any Turkish work available say from
Uighyurs or etc., it shows Nezami did not know about it or did not read Turkish or did
not have any influence on him.

It also shows he did not know Turkish or else he could have mentioned Turkic folklore if
it had any effect upon his culture or upbringing. But he never mentions anything about
Turkic sources nor do any of his stories (like Khusraw o Shirin, Eskandarnama, Bahrain
Nama or Haft Paykar, Layli o Majnoon, and Makhzan al-Asrar) have anything to do with
Turkish folklore/myths. As shown later, he considers the Persian story of Khusraw and
Shirin as the sweetest story of all time. Had he any knowledge or affection for any
Turkic folklore, he could have mentioned such a work once in his more than 30,000
Persian verses. Indeed, in the Eskandarnama, he mentions again the Shahnameh and
books in Pahlavi (probably Zoroastrian books), Nasrani (Christian) and Ebri
(Hebrew/Judaism). Whether this is meant as religion (whose books were translated into
Persian or Arabic) or languages (Pahlavi is a language rather than Magian/Zoroastrian
and it is a very hard language to learn unless one knows modern Persian which is its
descendant), once again shows that he does not mention anything about Turkic sources
when writing his stories.

333

Incorrect argument: Nizami praises Alexander, so "he must have
been a Turk"

The argument was already refuted in the introduction. But it is worth quoting more
sources (like Prof. Chelkowski below) who has analyzed the similarities between
Eskandar Nama and Shahnameh. Also we must add that the argument is easily countered
because Nizami Ganjavi has praised many Sassanid Kings who were major enemies of
Turkish empires (Gok-Turks and Khazars), then he must not have been a Turk. On the
other hand, praise of Alexander was part of the Iranian-Islamic culture and Sa'adi and
Ferdowsi, for example, have also praised Alexander.

The word of Dr. Jafarov (in news report brought from beginning) shows ultra-
nationalistic fever is very high with regards to Nizami Ganjavi. Note Dr. Jafarov' s
unsound assertion:

"It is a fact Nizami Ganjavi praised Macedonian Alexander, who raised [sic. he meant
razed] Iran, while other Persian poets showed Alexander as a bloodthirsty killer. If
Nizami Ganjavi had been a Persian poet, he would also have shown Alexander as a
bloodthirsty killer instead of praising him. It proves that Nizami is a genius Azerbaijani
poet. Nizami 's creative works are in the spirit of Azerbaijan-Turk"

What Dr. Jafarov fails to mention is that Nizami Ganjavi states that Alexander followed
all of the traditions and customs of the Kiyani kings (Achaemenid kings) with the
exception of Zoroastrianism.

We now quote Professor Peter Chelkowsi, who is an authority on the Eskandarnama of

Nizami:

Robert Hartle opens his article entitled "The image of Alexander the Great in

Seventeenth Century France" with a statement: 'When Alexander the Great had

conquered Persia he began to adopt Persian ways; it should be no surprise that when he

conquered seventeenth century France he began to act like a Frenchman'

Alexander was glorified by the Muslims as a divine agent, a prophet-king and the blessed
conquerer of the lands that were to become the stronghold of Islam. To some Muslims,
Islam was a realization of Alexander's "koine" — a commonwealth where people could
live in harmony and in peace of heart and mind. In this atmosphere attempts were made
to make out Alexander not only a Muslim but a Persian as well.

334

The great Muslim historian Tabari (9 th /10 th century A.D.) (we note: also of Iranian origin)
gives several accounts of Alexander based on various sources. In his presentation of the
Persian origin of Alexander, he describes Darius the Third as an oppressive ruler (we
note: Alexander actually praises Darius before Darius dies and asks for advice from
Darius). Tabari' s description of Alexander's refusal to pay tribute to Darius, the war of
Alexander with Darius and the death of Darius, reappear in Nizami's account.
Similarities between Tabari and Nizami are also to be found in the description of
Alexander's treatment of knowledge, science, philosophy, and Alexander's journeys to
India, China, Tibet and the "Land of Darkness".

However, it was not Tabari directly, but Ferdowsi who was Nizami's source of
inspiration and material in composing Iskandarnameh. Nizami constantly alludes to the
Shahnameh in his writing, especially in the prologue to the Iskandarnameh. It seems that
he was always fascinated by the work of Firdawsi and made it a goal of his life to write
an heroic epic of the same stature. And so, for his last masnavi Nizami chose as a theme
the story of Alexander, which is recounted in Firdawsi' s Shahnameh. Even without the
Psuedo-Callisthenes model, Firdawsi had been able to look for the continuity of Iranian
spirit from prehistoric times and was able to consider Alexander as a great hero in the
history of Persian civilization. Persia was the only country which had preserved not only
her language after the Arab-Muslim invasion but also many aspects of her national
identity and character.

In fact, although Alexander conquered Iran, he was soon conquered by Persian customs
and ways of life. In many aspects he was so overwhelmed by Persian civilization that he
became more Persian than the Persians. He tried to make a blend of the Greek and
Persian civilizations - even genetically, when he sponsored mass marriages between his
troops and Persian women. He himself married Roxane (Rowshanak) the daughter of
Sogdian (we note: Sogdians are another Iranian people) prince — not the daughter of
Darius the Third, as both Firdawsi and Nizami believed.

Like Alexander, Arabs, Turks, Mongols and other people who overran the Iranian plateau
also came under the spell of Persian culture. Foreign invaders remained to become
contributors and patrons of Persian art and culture. To give one example, some of
Nizami's benefactors were of Turkic stock.

As previously mentioned, it seems that Nizami's favorite pastime was reading Firdawsi' s
monumental epic Shahnameh (The book of Kings). Firdawsi' s treatment of Alexander in
this great heroic poem was by no means negligible, but in Nizami's opinion it was not
complete and he wanted to write a poetic supplement to it. After several years of research
he gave up this idea and decided that the subject called for a new and independent work.
He still, however, acknowledged his indebtedness to his great master, Firdawsi, and
considered himself a respectful follower of that literary pioneer. He, therefore, chose for
the book of Alexander one heroic epic verse known as Mutaqarib, which Firdawsi
employed in his Shahnameh.

(Chelkowski, P. "Nizami's Iskandarnameh: "in Colloquio sul poeta persiano Nizami e
la leggenda Iranica di Alessandro magno, Roma, 1977).

335

Without the understanding of Persian language and its classical literature (Ferdowsi,
Sanai, Qatran, Khaqani...) the understanding of the work of Nizami Ganjavi will also be
deficient. Alexander the Great was also identified with Dhul-Qarnain of the Qur'an and
many Persian poets have praised him. He is after all an Islamic figure and Nizami was
also a devout Muslim.

For example besides the positive outlook of Ferdowsi, Sa'adi also praises Alexander:

\qS QJj& Cjl>I^ 3j ^<py uLLjuulK <-j\jS jl J9I ^j\j jl y>\ Ouli> j± uLiul

^JljuUU jJlJLO sS^joI fJuu^LJj] ±$J Qjl jl [JJJuU Oj_X9 9 CjulSuO o£ \j

ul ulSjjj />b 9 />^jjLj ul Ol^Cj /)Jljuu ^jlg <& v-Svjujojjjuu j^ j^ J^>9j^ sSIjl> uc^j IjLaS

n .p±£j ±\j v_SvSLj <3j j»>

The Encyclopedia Iranica also discusses the difference between Perso-Islamic and Perso-
Zoroastrian view on Alexander. Persian historians and poets (including Ferdowsi)
according to Prof. Hanaway present Alexander as a just king:

"Two aspects of the story are important in differentiating the versions of the Alexander
romance that descend from the Greek through the Syriac from those influenced by
Persian oral tradition. The first is the genealogy of Alexander. In the Pseudo-Callisthenes
tale, and the Syriac version, Alexander is the son (by an illicit union) of the Egyptian
Pharaoh Nectanebos and Philip of Macedon's wife Olympias. In many of the Persian
versions, including that of Ferdowsi, Alexander is the son of Darab (Darius II?) and the
daughter of Philip of Macedon. The second aspect is the way in which Alexander himself
is viewed in the text. In the Persian versions of the story, Alexander is usually identified
with Dhu'l-Qarnayn, a prophet mentioned in the Koran 16:84 (see Watt). In the early
New Persian commentary on the Koran entitled Tarjoma-ye tafsir-e Tabari Dhul-
Qarnayn is mentioned twice in connection with the wall of Gog and Magog (I, p. 196; IV,
p. 918). Stories of Alexander/Dhul-Qarnayn appear in popular lives of the saints, such as
Abu Eshaaq Neyshaburi's Qesas al-Anbiyya (pp. 321-33 and in a chapbook version,
Kabul, n. d., pp. 94-101). Among the historians, Tabari (I, pp. 692-704; tr., IV, pp. 87-95)
gives the fullest summary of the tale of Alexander, including the birth story in which
Alexander and Dara are half-brothers, the details of which appear in various Persian
versions. Neither the historians (Tabari, Masudi, Dinavari, and Hamza Esafahani) nor
Ferdowsi develop the prophetic role of Alexander which the connection with Du'l-
Qarnayn suggests, presenting Alexander as a conquering hero and a just king. Nezami
Ganjavi develops the prophetic side fully in what is the most extensive surviving version
in New Persian".
(Encyclopedia Iranica, "Eskandar Nama", William L. Hanaway)

And according to the Encyclopedia of Islam (Iskandar-Nama):
In the Shahnama, Firdawsi already makes Iskandar an exemplary figure, whom the
companionship of Aristotle helps to rise still higher, by the path of wisdom and
moderation, in the direction of abstinence and contempt for this world. And Firdwasi laid

336

stress on the defeat of Dara (the Darius of the Greeks) as something desired by "the
rotation of the Heavens".

At the time of Nizami, however, Islam is from then onwards well established in Iran, and
it is the prophetic and ecumenical aspect of his destiny that the poet makes evident in his
hero. As a learned Iranian poet, Nizami, who demonstrates his eclecticism in the
information he gives (he says, "I have taken from everything just what suited me and I
have borrowed from recent histories, Christian, Pahlavi and Jewish ... and of them I have
made a whole"), locates the story of his hero principally in Iran. He makes him the
image of the Iranian "knight", peace-loving and moderate, courteous and always ready
for any noble action. Like all Nizami's heroes, he conquers the passions of the flesh, and
devotes his attention to his undertakings and his friendships. These features appear in the
account, which follows ancient tradition, of his conduct towards the women of the family
of Darius, in his brotherly attitude on the death of that ruler, in his behaviour towards
queen Nushaba (the Kaydaf of Firdawsi, the Kandake of the pseudo-Callisthenes) whom
he defends against the Russians. (Abel, A.; Ed(s). "Iskandar Nama." Encyclopaedia of
Islam. Edited by: P. Bearman , Th. Bianquis , C.E. Bosworth , E. van Donzel and W.P.
Heinrichs. Brill, 2007.)

We note that in the Shahnameh, Alexander the Great even visits Mecca and in the
Shahnameh, he is actually half Iranian. Nizami Ganjavi praises Ferdowsi (who definitely
was not a Turk and according to many sources his Shahnameh had a certain anti-Turkish
bias) and the Shahnameh had an important role in the Eskandar-nama (as well as Haft
Paykar and Khursaw o Shirin). Neither Tabari nor Sa'adi nor Ferdowsi and nor many
other Iranians (many whom have written Quranic exegesis relating Alexander to Dhul
Qarnain) were of "Turk" background, but they have praised Alexander who was
identified with the Muslim Dhul-Qarnain. Indeed, he was popularly identified with the
Quranic Dhul-Qarnain by many Muslim history books and Quranic commentaries. This
popular identification (some modern Muslim scholars have now disclaimed this) was a
sufficient enough reason to embrace him for any believing Muslim regardless of
background.

Also the argument of the likes of Dr. Jafarov can be turned on its head. Can he claim
Ferdowsi was a Turk because he also had a positive view of Alexander!? Or as we
already noted that the Shahnameh is considered as a foreign tale by some nationalists:
"The original opera had been based on "Kaveh, the Blacksmith''. However, such a plot
would absolutely have jeopardized their lives. First of all, it was based on a foreign tale:
Kaveh was a mythical figure of ancient Persia, memorialized by 10th century Ferdowsi in
Persian verse in the "Shahnameh " (Book of the Kings) "

(Betty Blair, Why Hajibeyov wrote the Opera Koroghlu, Azerbaijan Internationa,
Summer 2006)

Bahram Gur who is praised by Nezami also fought and defeated the Turks in the Haft
Paykar. So using the argument of Dr. Jafarov, we can say Nezami was not a Turk.

337

We also note as per some authors that although Ferdowsi was a pious Muslim, "the
Shahnameh nevertheless has a certain anti-Arab and anti-Turk bias ". Yet Nizami
Ganjavi praises Ferdowsi, considers himself as a successor of Ferdowsi, reads the
Shahnameh as his favorite pastime, has chosen his stories from the Shahnameh and
finally advises the son of the Shirvanshah to read the Shahnameh.

Finally in the Eskandarnama, Alexander attacks Azarabadegaan (traditional Iranian
Azerbaijan) and puts out the fire temples. Yet some ethnic nationalists claim that even
Zoroastrianism is an Altaic religion and Zoroaster was of an Altaic background and
Iranians rewrote the Avesta which was originally in Turkish! So this way of
argumentation would conflict with their other non- scientific theories.

Invalid arguments about Idioms, Dedicatees, Eldiguzids, Sunni
and Shi'i and other invalid arguments.

Alleged Claim of Turkish Idioms

We should also note that some nationalists like Javad Heyat claim that Nezami Ganjavi
uses Turkish phrases and expressions and then translated them into Persian! (Note pan-
Turks have recently claimed that the Avesta Zoroastrian holy book was originally
Turkish but it was translated to Iranian languages and its original was lost!)

For example they claim the following expressions are originally Azerbaijani Turkish (a
language and ethnicity that was not formed yet) and were translated by Nezami. Yet they
cannot show any Turkish books or writings that has them before Nezami (nor is there
such a book from the area during the time of Nezami). There is a large overlap between
phrases in Arabic, Persian and other Islamic languages and had they sift through the work
of Persian expressions or even Khorasani poets, they would have easily found such or
similar expressions. We should note also that using phrases of many languages (if their
origin can be proven) has no bearing on ethnicity but at the time of Nezami there was no
Azerbaijani-Turkish identity, ethnicity or language. However there were
Turkmen(Oghuz) nomads and even if they had Turkic folkloric expression, there is no
proof they did not borrow it or Nezami used such expression or etc. But by itself, this has
no bearing on ethnicity.

We will just give few examples.

Javad Heyat claims that the first verse of the following couplet by Nezami:

/XJ<H CjljulHj pJuLJuJj QS U Lj

Is taken from the Turkish expression:

JjLiuL js^ v3lj9J9l <SjZJ J^

338

Where-as if he looked under the Dehkhoda dictionary:

He would have found this from Anvari, a Khorasani poet who lived before Nezami has
used it already:

;OJ<p CjljujIj pJuLJuJj £p Li Lj

(jjjil)

(i5 j9 jI)

We note the first verse is an exact replica used by Nezami and was already in use by
Persian Khorasani poets before him. Sometimes Nezami Ganjavi even gives his source
for the phrase and yet Javad Heyat has deleted the first verse:

Translation:

How sweet said the man from Nahavand to the one in Tus

That the death of the donkey is the wedding of the dog.

Javad Heyat for example deleted the first line about Nahavand and Tus (two Iranian
speaking regions then and now) for his reader and then claims the phrase is taken from
the Turkish:

Or another one is:

SjS [ Jjj^o\jB \j ijJLjuuucp* vAJ

He claims it is taken from the Turkish:

339

Whereas there is an exact and famous Persian expression:

And this uses exactly the name of the same birds.
Another one is:

Translationf'No one calls their Doogh (Persian Yogurt drink which in Turkish is called
Ayran) tart (Torsh) is from the Turkish expression:

Where-as the words Hich Kas and Torsh in this Turkish expression are Persian and
furthermore, Dehkhoda has the following Persian expression in his book on phrases and
wisdom which matches exact words of Nezami:

.JugSLooJ [Jjjjj $&> £9^ <\j [jjjS gu^

Another claim is that terms like Del-Dookhtan (to sow heart) is unique to Turkish and
was translated exactly. We note that Attar uses the exact same term:

CjljuUJuoI j\S ^JVjJ^jU 9J fJjjSjJ

GUoc)

To claim that phrases used by Nezami are from Turkish, one has to show that similar
phrases do not exist in any other language in the region and never existed in any language
and that the Turkish phrases came before Nezami. One can show many phrases used by
previous Persian poets and almost exactly copied by Nezami. For example one can easily
demonstrate the following verses were taken from Ferdowsi by Nezami (as we also
mentioned Anvari before) or Gorgani:

;OJ<p CjljujIj pJuLJuJj £p U Lj
j9_ajJ l _$vJLjujI - ) $j\ ;OjLo ,^500 CO

(lSj»jI)

340

kSjj^jujSj\ j^> GjljujI <J-OU 9^ $J>

: l jouj9^ - >s

^jvj^J l _$vJljuul& cL> ^ «~Sl ^so>r /xjIjJ
^jvj^j ^jOljuuu 9 LSJJlL OUu

\^j\^j^ <SASLjuj\ iJJAHj^xS

09S ul jl pj\x>uj \j ±p> >09_»Jj
09-uU o^jo ^9-«jJlj 1 Juc> 0$z* <l5

Jul^ ,JJ> lj 09-uU O^X) <*S

Also many examples from Persian books like Kashf al-Mahjub, Mersad al'Ibad, Balami's
history, Jawama' Al-Hekaayaat, as well as the Muslim holy books of Quran and Hadeeth
have been collected and compared to the works of Nezami:

Three or four example of the many suffices here:

:0_Lol K^^^LoJi iJijJjS K~>\jS j±

«^9j \$jb 0^9^ ^S\jj jl ^9> b vl»-»->-^ 9 i±$j \jj> ^S\jj jl O^ ^jX
«^uJj\j ±p> ^^j-^u j± <^j\ jl cu ^joJuL^j^p k3jj^u j± JulgJLftS b*jl jl (HjLjuuo 9»

^joJjU jj^jJj ^9> U <*S ^iLgj ul jl

Two examples from the Quran:

341

^jvj^J /JLc Jj> J9I JuJu

^JVJ^J /X£jO OJjj 9 ^jOI^jjjO 9J

Going beyond the region, this author had seen an article where 100 phrases from English
and Persian were put side to side and they were very similar. For example:

oLljuU <^5uuO Ou^ Qj Ou^

The pot is calling the kettle black.

Action speaks louder than words

To be all ears

Be it so

Black will take no hue

CjljuuuJ jbjS /xjJ <^> c ULaS Ju^> 9^

U-^J {JjJ^ LlljuuJ

bU ^U ^jjfc

CjljuuuJ <ta 5vSuj ^jv^L.juu jl >iVu

This too shall pass.

^jJAj jjj qjI

They are fishing in muddy waters

fjJSj^ ^jv^Lo ±$}M% vl jl

Given the similarities above between English and Persian phrases, it is obvious that
phrases in Iranian languages (Persian, Middle Persian, Kurdish, Luri, Mazandarani, and
other Iranic languages/dialects) and other neighboring languages including Arabic,
Turkish, Urdu, Armenian and etc, will have similarities. Also many of the verses of
Nezami have been identified as being translations of the Qur'an and Hadeeth which
permeates many different Islamic cultures. Also in the Caucasus, Kurdish, Talyshi, Tati
Persian, and other non-Iranian languages like Armenian, Georgian, Turkic and etc. will
exchange phrases, much like music, food and dances have similarities in that region as
well. Or just like similarities in music instruments (many of them the same), food and
musical mode has risen due to geographic proximity. So nationalists like Javad Heyat

342

have made an argument that is not valid. They did not look close enough at Persian
phraseology and other Iranian languages, besides phrases used by other Persian poets and
also phrases that are common to the region.

Eldiguzids-Feudal lords (Atabekan) of Azerbaijan

Another argument used to claim Nezami as a Turk was that he lived under the Eldiguzids
or ( "Atabeks (feudal lords) of Azerbaijan " used by later historians) for almost all of his
life. The argument despite being very poor is sometimes repeated. It is as silly as to
claim Homer was a Turk because he lived in modern Turkey or Ferdowsi was a Turk
because the Ghaznavids controlled Tus or Fakhr al-Din Asad Gorgani (the writer of Vis o
Ramin) was a Turk because the Seljuqs ruled Iran or that a certain Parsi scholar from
India is British because the British ruled India. Despite this, some further clarifications
are made.

First the name Azerbaijan in the 12* century denoted mainly the area below the Aras
River. The etymology of the name is Iranian, and the forms Nezami uses for this name in
the Eskandamama((u^M j^Vu^Wj^ are in the exact form of Shahnameh and another
form he uses is in the exact form of the Persian love story Vis o Ramin (jjfJLjll). So
this name is not related in any way or form to Turkic cultures in the 12 l century. The
ethnonym Azerbaijani was only chosen in the late 19 th /early 20 th century and became
accepted in 1930s for Turkic speaking people who speak the regional (Azerbaijani)
version of the Oghuz language. So the term Azerbaijan in its 12 th century form is
independent of the ethnic term Azerbaijani which was chosen much later. The ethnic
term Azerbaijani for example was not even chosen when the formation of the Azerbaijani
Turkic speaking group took place in the 14 th -16 th century.

A source very close to Nezami Ganjavi's is the history ofJalal al-Din Mangubirti
(reigned in 1220-1231) written by a high official of his court Shihab al-Din al-Nasawi (d.
1249). He fled with his king, the Khwarzmshah Jalal al-Din Mangubiri before the
Mongols to Tabriz and from there to Mughan. He was able to escape in the last battle of
the Khwarzmshah with the Mongols in 1231 and passed away in Aleppo in 1249.

We note the many times this book whose author spend time and lived in the area
differentiates between Arran and Azerbaijan.

Nasawi, Shahab al-Din, "The adventures of Jalal al-Din Mangubirti", Bongah
Publishers, 1344 (1964).

(22 qjfcJL^)"jLjyJ ^SbttJUyUUD ij}\j£> iSULo

Translation:

343

Atabek Sa'ad ibn Zangi, the Sultan of Pars (modern Fars Province and surrounding
areas) and Atabek Uzbek ibn Muhammad, the Sahib (ruler) of Arran and Azerbaijan
strengthened their desire to capture "Arak

(24 <*2tSL*e>y<J3j£j \j \J\j\ $ uLSLu^l ^jJI JiJbr uLbJLuj U^pr 9"

Translation:

And since the Sultan Jalal al-Din took Azerbaygan and Arran"

(26 A^iua) ff ll£

After when Atabek fled the area of Hamadan and kept his life, he ordered that the Khutba (Friday
Prayer) and the coins in Arran and Azerbaijan be in the name of the Sultan.

(82 u*)"..^

"And this account is also valid in Khorasan and Mazandaan and Arran and Azerbaijan and Ghur
and Ghazni and Bamiyan and Sistan till India"

The term Arran has always been overwhelmingly distinguished from Armenia and
Azerbaijan in the course of its long history. Although some authors have contradictorily
confused Armenia, Arran and Azerbaijan but this has not been the case for most medieval
authors. Indeed the current author has examined 20+ maps and has not found a single
map that claims the territory of Azerbaijan as above the Aras prior to the 20 th century.
Several historians also attest to the fact that the name Azerbaijan was chosen for political
reasons in the 20 th century.

Vasily Barthold states: "Shirvan is not used that way, to encompass the territory of the
now day Azerbaijan Republic. Shirvan is "not that big" with the main city of Shemakha,
cities like Ganja and others were never part of Shirvan, and whenever it is necessary to
choose a name that will encompass all regions of the republic of Azerbaijan, the name
Aran can be chosen. But the term Azerbaijan was chosen because when the Azerbaijan
republic was created, it was assumed that this and the Persian Azerbaijan will be one
entity, because the population of both has a big similarity. On this basis, the word
Azerbaijan was chosen. Of course right now when the word Azerbaijan is used it has two
meanings as Persian Azerbaijan and as a republic, its confusing and a questions rises as
to which Azerbaijan is being talked about. "

Vladimir Minorsky states:

The territory of the present-day Soviet republic of Azarbayjan roughly corresponds to the

ancient Caucasian Albania (in Armenian Alovan-k', or Alvan-k', in Arabic Arran > al-

Ran)

Vladimir Minorsky states:

344

Historically the territory of the republic corresponds to the Albania of the classical
authors (Strabo, xi, 4; Ptolemy, v, 11), or in Armenian Alvan-k, and in Arabic Arran. The
part of the republic lying north of the Kur (Kura) formed the kingdom ofSharwan (later
Shirwan). After the collapse of the Imperial Russian army Baku was protectively
occupied by the Allies (General Dunsterville, 17 August- 14 September 1918) on behalf of
Russia . The Turkish troops under Nuri Pasha occupied Baku on 15 September 1918 and
reorganized the former province under the name of Azarbaydjan — as it was explained, in
view of the similarity of its Turkish-speaking population with the Turkish-speaking
population of the Persian province ofAdharbaydjan.

Professor Bert Fragner also mentions:

In the case of Azerbaijan , there is another irrational assault on sober treatment of
history to be witnessed: its denomination. The borders of historical Azerbaijan crossed
the Araxcs to the north only in the case of the territory of Nakhichevan . Prior to 1918,
even Lenkoran andAstara were perceived as belonging not to Azerbaijan proper but to
Talysh, an area closely linked to the Caspian territory ofGilan . Since antiquity,
Azerbaijan has been considered as the region centered around Tabriz , Ardabil,
Maraghch, Orumiych andZanjan in today's (and also in historical) Iran . The homonym
republic consists of a number of political areas traditionally called Arran,. Shirvan,
Sheki, Ganjeh and so on. They never belonged to historical Azerbaijan , which dates
back to post-Achaemcnid, Alexandrian 'Media Atropatene'. Azerbaijan gained extreme
importance under (and after) the Mongol Ilkhanids of the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries, when it was regarded as the heartland of Iran.

Under Soviet auspices and in accordance with Soviet nationalism, historical Azerbaijan
proper was reinterpreted as 'Southern Azerbaijan', with demands for liberation and,
eventually, for 'reunification with Northern (Soviet) Azerbaijan a breathtaking
manipulation. No need to point to concrete Soviet political activities in this direction, as
in 1945-46 etc. The really interesting point is that in the independent former Soviet
republics this typically Soviet ideological pattern has long outlasted the Soviet Union.

(Bert G. Fragner, 'Soviet Nationalism': An Ideological Legacy to the Independent Republics of
Central Asia ' in" in Van Schendel, Willem(Editor) . Identity Politics in Central Asia and the
Muslim World: Nationalism, Ethnicity and Labour in the Twentieth Century. London , GBR: I.
B. Tauris & Company, Limited, 2001)

"Azarbaydjan compromises the northwestern corner of the Iranian plateau, from the Qizil
Uzan and Tarum Highlighands in the south of the Aras (Araxes) in the north. Arran, i.e.
the territory further to the north, between the Aras and the Kur River and largely identical
with the former Soviet Republic of Azarbaydjan, was usually considered a separate
region, even though it was sometimes administered together with Azarbaydjan proper."
(Peter Christensen, The Decline of Iranshahr: Irrigation and Environments in the History

345

of the Middle East, 500 B.C. to A.D. 1500 (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press,
1993)

"Although Azerbaijan was a geographical entity in the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries, the term was only used to identify the province in northwest Persia. The
Safavids, at one time, for revenue purposes, included some of the lands north of the Arax
river as part of the province of Azerbaijan. This practice gradually fell out of use after the
fall of Safavids. To Mirza Jamal and Mirza Adigozal Beg (comment: two Caucasian
Turcophone writers), as well as other eighteen century and nineteenth-century authors,
Azerbaijan referred to the region located south of the Arax river"(George Bournoutian,
"History of Qarabagh: An Annotated Translation of Mirza Jamal Javanshir Qarabaghi's
Tarikh-e Qarabagh." Mazda Publishers, 1994)

Be that it may (as this is not the main point of the article), what is seen is that Nasawi,
who travelled to the area, distinguishes Arran from Azerbaijan. Also Nezami Ganjavi
mentions Arran, Sherwan, Armenia and Azarabadegan, thus the name Arran and Sherwan
were in use at that time and the area of Sherwan under Shirwanshahs and the area of
Arran, was not denoted as Azerbaijan.

We already mentioned that Nezami Ganjavi also praises his patrons as Kings of Iran and
Kings of Molk-e-Ajam (Persia). Thus this by itself shows that Nezami saw his region as
part of the Iranian cultural region.

Second flaw with the argument is that "Atabekan-e- Azerbaijan" or in English Atabeks of
Azerbaijan or more precisely "Feudal-Lords of Azerbaijan" was simply a title. The term
Azerbaijan is no more than a geographical designation used by later historians to
distinguish between various minor rulers who are under nominal Seljuq ruler but ruled
autonomously and sometimes even controlled the dynasty. Also there were other Atabek
(feudal lord) dynasties in Mosul, Shaam (Syria), Luristan, Fars, Maragheh and etc.

Indeed, Sa'adi of Shiraz does not become a Turk because he lived and was patronized by
Atabek Sa'ad ibn Zangi. Ferdowsi does not become a Turk because he lived under the
Ghaznavids and Nizam al-Molk or Ghazali do not become Turks because they lived
under the Seljuqs. None of these regions were ethnically Turkic at the time, especially in
their urban centers. The reason later historian called the ruling family "Atabekan-e-
Azerbaijan" rather than Arran is that Azerbaijan is the more important and wider land and
these two and more were under the control of these rulers (although acknowledging
Seljuq supremacy but effectively ruling as the main power). And the reason they don't
use "Atabekan-e- Azerbaijan, Jebal, Arran" because it is too long. But there is no coin or
map or text from the era of Ildiguzids which calls them "Atabekan-e- Azerbaijan". The
term Eldiguzids is more popular as it is in Encyclopedia of Islam, but Iranica which uses
Persian terms and started with "A" (trying to be comprehensive as possible), has opted
for "Atabekan-e- Azerbaijan". It should also be noted that the Eldiguzids origin is
Kypchak Turk which is different than the Oghuz Turks whose Turkish dialect is now
prevalent in Azerbaijan, Anatolia and Arran/Sherwan.

346

And we point out Azerbaijan is an Iranian name, there was an old Iranian languages
(denoted by Azari/Fahlavi in the area) and the ethnonym Azerbaijani for Turkic speakers
is a much later phenomenon and the general ethnonym for Turkic speakers was only
accepted in the 1930s in the USSR. The ethnic minded theorists who try to detach
Nezami from Iranian civilization, should recognize that the concept of nation-state did
not exist back then. While the greatest territory of the Eldiguzids was most Azerbaijan
(hence the name given to them later as "Atabekan-e- Azerbaijan but excluding the areas
of Maragha), the population of Urban areas was Iranian and Christian Armenians and
other groups. A best proof of this is the city of Tabriz and the book Safina Tabriz from
the Ilkhanid era which we alluded to earlier. It was shown in this book that not a single
manuscript is in Turkish and the local language (called Zaban-e-Tabrizi or the Tabrizi
tongue) was an Iranic/Persian dialect. Another proof is the Nozhat al-Majales by Jamal
Khalil Shirvani and mentioning 24+ Persian poets from Ganja alone.
This even after 100 years after the demise of Eldiguzids, places like Tabriz were not
Turkified in speech.

Third flaw with this argument is that just like the Saljuqs (whom sometimes had tight
control and sometimes were controlled by the regional lords specially the Eldiguzids), the
Eldiguzids were Persianate in culture and language. The best proof of this is that not a
single verse or line in Turkish has existed from their court where-as one can discern
hundreds of thousands of Persian poetry from their court. Even the name of famous
architects like Ajami Naxchavani (the Persian Naxchvani) shows that the Eldiguzids were
much like the Seljuqids and Ghaznavids, and did not patronize or do anything for Turkic
culture. So they cannot be really considered "Turkic" in the cultural sense and their
ethnicity like the Seljuqs would have become diluted due to intermarriages with high
class dynasties (some possibly Christian). Ethnically, many of their viziers were Persian
as well as the urban Muslim centers which were Iranian and Iranian speaking and the
flood of Turkomen nomads were not yet settled at that time (which takes many
generations where-as the Turkomen nomads came after the Seljuq invasion and in reality
Nizami's ancestry is recorded before the Seljuq invasion).

Nezami Ganjavi himself praises the Eldiguzids as the King of the Persian lands which
obviously shows that the area was associated with Iranian people and culture:

<jajuli> c IjljuulS Ojjj p^> kS^>.
oLo Jul u Ij v>^ £>J <S^->

oLuu ubsbr \j pc*£. kSJjq ^jSji

In that day that they bestowed mercy upon all,
Two great ones were given the name Muhammad,
One who 's pure essence was the seal of prophecy,
The other who is the Kingdom 's Seal, in his own days
One whose house/zodiac is moon of the Arabs

347

The other who is the everlasting Shah of Realm of Persians

In praising the rulers of Shirwan (who sometimes extended their rule beyond Shirwan),
Nizami again mentions:

This book is better to be written

A young peacock is better to have a mate

Specially for a king like the Shah of Shirwan

Not only Shirwan, but the Shahriyar (Prince, Ruler) of all Iran

Nizami Ganjavi calls upon the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH &HP):

<*_jljuU jjAjljuJ 9 OJul J9j O^jj

Do not stay in Arabia, come to Persia
Here are the light steeds of night and day

So the area at that time was considered part of the Persian ethnic and cultural region. He
has used the term Molk-e-Ajam (Persia) and Iran for his land and both Azerbaijan and the
urban cities of Trans-Caucasia were ethnically Iranic at the time.

The Persian poet Khaqani(l 126-1 198) has used "Iran" thirty times in his Diwan.

fj\ oJj£ J^O tlflj^

From India he has gone to ( Ajam (Persia),
has made Iran a blessed Garden like Iram

So in summary, there was no nation-state in the 12 th century, the bulk of the population
living under feudal dynasties who are called by historians as Atabekan-e- Azerbaijan,
Atabekan-e-Mosul, Atabekan-e-Shaam, Atabekan-e-Fars, Atabekan-eMaragheh,
Atabekan-e-Luristan, Atabekan-e- Yazd and etc. were ethnically non-Turkic and the bulk
in Iranian plateu and Muslim urban cities in Trans-Cauacasia were Iranian. The urban
population of Azerbaijan was not Turkic at the time, as can be seen clearly by the books
Safina of Tabriz and Nozhat al-Majales. The name Azerbaijan itself is Iranian and has
been part of Iranian history, the Turkification of it came much later although the

348

Turcophone population there today have also become connected to Iran due to many
reasons. One needs to define the term(culturally, geographically, ethnically) as it was in
the 12 th century and not redefine it based on definitions of 19 th /20 th century centuries.
Culturally, the Muslim culture of the area was part of the greater Iranian world as
mentioned by both Khaqani and Nezami for the designation of their land. Thus this
argument is flawed as claiming an Armenian author who lived in Ganja during the
Shaddadid era was a Kurd because Shaddadids were Kurds or that Sa'adi was a Turk
because he lived under Atabek Sa'ad ibn Zangi.

Invalid arguments: Dedicatees of Nezami were Turks so Nezami was a Turk!

Another argument that this author has encountered was this: "Nezami dedicated four of
his five works to Turkic kings and only one to the Iranian Shirwanshah, so he was
Turkic!".

First, the argument is of course baseless since the dedicatees have nothing to do with the
ethnic background of Nizami's father. For example Teimurids, Seljuqids, Ghaznavids
had many Persian poets in the courts who dedicated their works solely to these rulers.
None of these become Turks! Where-as Nezami himself was not even attached to any
particular court and was not a court poet.

Second all of Iran and Persia except for minor dynasties like Shirwanshahs were under
the rule of Turkic rulers. At the same time, these Turkic rulers would be as foreign to
modern Turkic nationalists as Persians are. Since these Turkic rulers adopted Persian
custom, language and promoted Persian culture and there is not absolutely a single verse
of Turkish from the courts of Seljuqs, Eldiguzids, Ahmadilis and etc. at this time.

"It is to be noted that the Seljuks, those Turkomans who became sultans of Persia, did not
Turkify Persia-no doubt because they did not wish to do so. On the contrary, it was they
who voluntarily became Persians and who, in the manner of the great old Sassanid kings,
strove to protect the Iranian populations from the plundering of Ghuzz bands and save
Iranian culture from the Turkoman menace"(Grousset, Rene, The Empire of the Steppes,
(Rutgers University Press, 1991)

The dedicatee for Eskandarnama is not known, but many sources state it was a Georgian
ruler of Ahar in Azerbaijan who had had the Persian name Bishkin:

"Moreover, in Sharaf-nama, chap. 41, vv. 3-23, the author laments the death of the
Sharvanshah Akhsatan (the dedicatee of Leyli o Majnun) and addresses words of advice
to his (unnamed) successor. This suggests that Nezami originally planned to dedicate the
Eskandar-nama, like Leyli o Majnun, to one of the kings of Sharvan. But that dynasty
evidently lost power over Ganja by the time the poems were completed, and in their final
form they are dedicated to the malek of Ahar, Nosrat-al-Dln Bishkin b. Mohammad. This
ruler is mentioned in the introduction to sharaf-nama, chap. 10, vv. 11-12, where the poet
makes a pun on his name Bishkin ("whose hatred is more"), though some of the

349

manuscripts have a superscription claiming (wrongly) that the verses evoke Bishkin's
overlord, the atabeg Nosrat-al-Dln Abu Bakr.""
(Encyclopedia Iranica, "Eskandar Nama" by Francois De Blois)

And with regards to the Eqbal-Nama:

"A third group of manuscripts has the (genuine) dedication to Nosrat-al-Dln in the

prologue, but the (spurious) dedication to Ezz-al-Dln in the epilogue, evidently

combining material from two different master copies"

(Encyclopedia Iranica, "Eskandar Nama" by Francois De Blois)

Third, the Shirwanshahs, Eldiguzids, Ahmadilis, Seljuqs, Rulers of Ahar Menjukadis
(Fakhr ad-din Bahramshah) were Persianized and Iranianized in culture and language.
That was the common unifying culture. There is not a single verse of Turkish from the
courts of any of these rulers. So none of these can be considered Turkic culturally. That
is why they patronized Persian poetry. Be that it may, one can see what kind of poor
arguments are made by ethno-nationalists to detach Nezami Ganjavi from Iranian
civilization. If anything, we should note that the two works of Persian origin,
Bahramnama (Haft Paykar) and Khusraw o Shirin were chosen by Nezami himself and
are grounded firmly in Iranian culture and have nothing to with Turkic culture (like all
the other works of Nezami) are patronized by Turkic kings.

Finally, the diversity of dedications shows that Nezami did not necessarily prefer any
ruler although he does entrust his son to the son of Shirwanshah. At the same time, many
of these rulers for example Eldiguzids, Ahmadilis and Shirwanshahs were rivals.
Specially, the Eldiguzids were rivals of Ahmadilis and Shirwanshahs. Nezami dedicated
his later works to these rulers as it was common practice to do so. That is dedication of a
work to a ruler brought not only the poet fame, but also perhaps ensured the preservation
of his work. Nezami despite not being a court poet (much like Ferdowsi and unlike
Khaqani who was a court poet) was following the common practice set by many other
Persian poets in dedicating his work to the rulers of his own time. The only difference is
that Nezami dedicated his work to rival rulers who fought bitterly and in our opinion, this
shows that he really was not devoted to any ruler of his time.

Invalid Argument: Court poetry and official language was in Persian and that
is why Nezami wrote in Persian to get paid

A person has written:

"Azerbaijani Turkic kings of Azerbaijan in 12th century used Persian language as lingua
franca, just like Russian aristocracy at the end of 18th century used French, and
encouraged court poet Nizami to compose poetry in it"

The argument and sentence is invalid because of many reasons, but the author is trying to
imply that Nezami wrote in Persian because of the court. First the Eldiguzids were not
"Azerbaijani"(not used as an ethnic name then) in the ethnic sense. They were Qipchaq

350

Turks and they ruled areas such as part of Arran, parts of Azerbaijan (the historical one)
and even extended far as Jabal and Ray. So they did not speak Oghuz Turkish. They
were obviously of Turkic lineage but culturally they were Persianized.

However, the most important reason for the argument to be invalid is that Nezami
Ganjavi was not a court poet. He did not serve in any of the courts. Indeed, it was the
Eldiguzids, and Ahmadilis who commissioned him and he was free to choose whatever
story and language he wished. Obviously he chose his stories based on Persian Sassanid
stories (Khusraw and Shirin, Haft Paykar) for these two rulers and he wrote in Persian,
which was the common language of the area. The comparison with Russian aristocracy
is also invalid as there are many Russian texts from the end of 18 th century, but there is
not a single verse of Turkish from Nezami Ganjavi or any other writer or poet from that
era. Also the Russian aristocracy ruled a Russian speaking country, where as the newly
Persianate Turkic dynasties ruled a predominantly Christian and Iranian Muslim region.
They are given the title rulers of Persia/Iran by Nezami.

Also a major rebuttal to the argument above is the book Nozhat al-Majales. We will
again mention some important points from this book:

NOZHAT AL-MAJALES, an anthology of some 4,000 quatrains (roba /; a total of 4,139
quatrains, 54 of which have been repeated in the text) by some 300 poets of the 5th to
7th/l 1th- 13th centuries, compiled around the middle of the 7th/13th century by the
Persian poet Jamal-al-Din Kalil Sarvani. The book is arranged by subject in 17 chapters
(babs) divided into 96 different sections (namat). The anthology also includes 179
quatrains and an ode (qasida) of 50 distiches written by the author himself, who is also
credited with one lyric (gazal) in Mohammad Jajarmi's Mo nes al-ahrar.

As stated in Jamal-al-Din's own ode at the end of the book, he compiled his anthology in
the name of Ala-al-Din Sarvansah Fariborz III (r. 1225-51), son of Gostasb and
dedicated it to him. It has reached us in a unique manuscript copied by Esmail b.
Esfandiar b. Mohammad b. Esfandiar Abhari on 25 Sawwal 731/31 July 1331, and is
presently bound together in one volume with the divan of Fakr-al-Din 'Eraqi at the
Suleymaniye Library in Turkey (no. 1667) among Wali-al-Din Jar- Allah's collection. This
manuscript embraces some 77 leaves (fols. 4 la- 118a), each page having 27 lines. The
first few leaves of the book, which had probably embodied a preface in prose, have been
lost. Fritz Meier (p. 117) and Christian Rempis (1935, p. 179) have erroneously taken
Esmail b. Esfandiar, the copyist, to be the author of the book.

The most significant merit of Nozhat al-majales, as regards the history of Persian
literature, is that it embraces the works of some 115 poets from the northwestern
Iran (Arran, Sarvan, Azerbaijan; including 24 poets from Ganja alone), where, due
to the change of language, the heritage of Persian literature in that region has
almost entirely vanished. The fact that numerous quatrains of some poets (e.g. Amir
Sams-al-Din As ad of Ganja, Aziz Sarvani, Sams Sojasi, Amir Najib-al-Din Omar

351

of Ganja, Badr Teflisi, Kama I Maragi, Saraf Saleh Baylaqani, Borhan Ganjai,
Ely as Ganja i, Baktiar Sarvani) are mentioned together like a series tends to suggest
the author was in possession of their collected works. Nozhat al-majales is thus a
mirror of the social conditions at the time, reflecting the full spread of Persian
language and the culture of Iran throughout that region, clearly evidenced by the
common use of spoken idioms in poems as well as the professions of the some of the
poets (see below). The influence of the northwestern Pahlavi language, for example,
which had been the spoken dialect of the region, is clearly observed in the poems
contained in this anthology.

In contrast to poets from other parts of Persia, who mostly belonged to higher
echelons of society such as scholars, bureaucrats, and secretaries, a good number of
poets in the northwestern areas rose from among the common people with working
class backgrounds, and they frequently used colloquial expressions in their poetry.
They are referred to as water carrier (saqqa ), sparrow dealer ( osfori), saddler
(sarraj), bodyguard (jandar), oculist (kahhal), blanket maker {lehafi), etc., which
illustrates the overall use of Persian in that region. Chapter eleven of the anthology
contains interesting details about the everyday life of the common people, their
clothing, the cosmetics used by women, the games people played and their usual
recreational practices such as pigeon fancying (kabutar-bazi; p. 444), even-or-odd
game (taqyajoft bazi; p. 446), exercising with a sledgehammer (potk zadan; p. 443),
and archery (tir-andazi; p. 444). There are also descriptions of the various kinds of
musical instruments such as da/ (tambourine; see DAF[F] and DAYERA), ney (reed
pipe), and cang (harp), besides details of how these instruments were held by the
performers (pp. 150-63). One even finds in this anthology details of people's
everyday living practices such as using a pumice (sang-epa) to scrub the sole of
their feet and gel-e sarsur to wash their hair (pp. 440-41).

Nozhat al-majales suffers from certain structural shortcomings. The overriding concern
of the author has been to arrange the quatrains strictly according to their contents,
therefore paying little heed to the names of the poets of the verses. This has occasionally
led to the attribution of a particular quatrain to two different persons. The scribe has not
been very careful in doing his work either. He has apparently transcribed all of the
available poetry first and then added the names of their poets so haphazardly that the
name of a poet is sometimes mentioned either further down or further up than the place
where his quatrains are located. Some of the errors and oversights have been identified in
the edited version, and, following the publication of the text, Sayyed Ali Mir-Afzali
pointed out a number of other errors missed by the editor (see bibliography).

(Mohammad Amin Riyahi, "Nozhat al-Majales" in Encyclopedia Iranica).

Thus many everyday people from Ganja have used Persian during the era of Nezami
Ganjavi, but not a single Turkish verse has been found. It is obvious that blanket makers,

352

water carriers, sparrow dealers, saddlers, occultists and etc. were not affiliated with the
court. Neither were the women poets mentioned in this anthology. As mentioned by
different sources, the urban areas of Arran and Sherwan at that time were not Turkish
speaking. Example of everyday usage of Persian in the area is given in the Nozhat al-
Majales with its own peculiar dialect and Fahlavi features. In other words, as mentioned
by one author; Stephen P. Blake, "Shahjahanabad: The Sovereign City in Mughal India, 1639-
1739". Cambridge University Press, 1991. pg 123: "For the Seljuks and Il-Khanids in Iran it was
the rulers rather than the conquered who were "Persianized and Islamicized".

Also the Quatrains, Ghazals and etc. of Nezami were not for the court and not a single
quatrain, ghazal or etc. exists in Turkic from the region by any writer or poet at the time
of Nezami Ganjavi. Obviously these did not have any monetary value.

Furthermore, Nezami did not write for money as he had another job (which we believe
since he was from the Dehqan class, he was caretaker of some villages). However, to
disprove the argument about money, we note that Nezami Ganjavi writes in the
Sharafnama (one of the last epics to be composed by Nezami in his life):

CjljuuI^ jL^juUU ,J^juULC UUjJoS <JjO U<^>

If I hold told this story for Gold

How could have pierced shells and brought pearls then?

It was love that brought this magnificent work

Love had a lot of people who did not seek Gold and Silver.

Also we can see this with Layli o Majnoon were the author says "if it was not for other
works, this would have finished in two weeks". Thus Nezami Ganjavi had other sources
of income. Also he did not get paid for his ghazals, qasida, quatrains which are all in
Persian. Thus such arguments are just ideological-nationalistic arguments in order to
disconnect Nezami Ganjavi from his Iranian heritage and use him for local nation
building consumption.

Sunni and Shi'i!

The author found the following quote from Bertels whom was mentioned earlier and
(unfortunate since USSR ideology pervaded over scholarship):

"the fact that, unlike the Shia Iranians, "Nizami was righteous Sunni" [Bertels E.E.
Selected Works. Nizami and Fizuli. M. ? ""Oriental literature, 1962, p. 109];

This means by the same criterion Sa'adi, Hafez, Sanai and etc. were not Iranians! ! Such
absurd arguments/sentences show the degree of compliancy that USSR scholars were
forced to undergo in order to achieve the desired political outcomes. Also Kurds who are
an Iranic group are overwhelmingly Sunni as are Tajiks, Baluchis and etc. Indeed Iran

353

was predominantly Sunni before the rise of the Safavids in 1501. But all these were
ignored due to politicization of Nezami, political pressure and Stalinist nation building.

This means by the same criterion Sa'adi, Hafez, Sanai, Jami and etc. were not
Persians/Iranians! ! Such absurd arguments/sentences show the degree of compliancy that
USSR scholars were forced to undergo in order to achieve the desired political outcomes.
Also Kurds who are mainly Shafi'ite Sunnis are an Iranian people. Thus one sees
nonsensical comments in the USSR literature for the purpose of nation building and
robbing Nezami Ganjavi of his heritage, literature, language and culture.

Conclusion of invalid arguments

In Conclusion, many poor arguments, misinterpretation of verses and even forging of
verses were made in order to detach Nizami Ganjavi from the Iranian civilization. Lies
were made that Nizami Ganjavi was forced to write in Persian. Lies were made-up that
Nizami Ganjavi considered his father upon father to be Turks and as wise as a wolf.
More than 30,000+ verses of Persian poetry (against zero verses of Turkish poetry) were
ignored when examining Nizami Ganjavi 's cultural heritage and the background of his
work, for the purpose of nation building. Nizami' s connection to other Persian poets was
ignored and the study of other Persian poets for understanding of Nizami Ganjavi was
ignored. As we showed, there is absolutely no proof that Nizami' s father was of a Turkic
background, but the fact is that Nizami 's father's background, whom he was orphaned
from early has no bearing on the fact that Nizami contributed to the Persian culture and
civilization and was raised by his Kurdish maternal uncle. In the next chapter, we show
that there is enough proof to show that Nizami' s background was fully Iranian and his
culture was also Iranian.

A Tajik friend from the Internet, who was educated in the USSR era but was in the eighth
grade when the USSR started breaking up, told me:

When I was in school, up until the seventh grade, all the teachers that I had for Persian
Literature taught us that Nezamee Ganjavee was anAzeri Turk, who had just happened
to write in Persian. We were taught that he is the national poet of Azerbaijan. This was
even written in our textbooks, which were published during Soviet Era. However, from
the very beginning I was told by my mother that he is not a Turk, and that it is a lie. This
is widely known in the academic circles in Tajikistan, but, especially during Soviet times
it was politically incorrect to say that he is not a Turk. When I came to eighth grade to
another school, I had a different literature teacher, who always told us that Nezamee is
not a Turk.

Indeed currently, Nizami Ganjavi is not detached from Iranian civilization in Tajikistan
anymore, although the USSR had planned otherwise.

354

Nizami's Iranian Background, Culture
and Contribution to the Persian
Language, Culture and Civilization

As shown the last chapter, the only thing that the proponents of connecting Nizami
Ganjavi to Turkic civilization utilize is misinterpretation of some verses, as well as
creation of false verses, in order to push the invalid claim that Nizami Ganjavi' s father
might have been a Turk. Whereas Nizami 's culture, the fact that he was raised by his
Kurdish maternal uncle, his dependence on Ferdowsi, his vision of himself as the
successor of Ferdowsi, all his works being in Persian and the basis of his stories which is
Persian/Iranian folklore has all been ignored. These are all more critical factors when
connecting a person to a particular civilization. A poet belongs to the language he creates
his art in and the poetry is completely dependent upon the language. All the cultural
relics left by Nezami are in Persian. In this chapter, we discuss Nizami' s Iranian
background, his culture and his contribution to the Persian language, culture and
civilization.

Although there is no doubt about the Kurdish background of Nizami 's mother and his
maternal uncle who raised him, much less is known about Nizami' s father. We have
already discussed Nizami' s mother's background and his uncle in the introduction.
Indeed, on Nizami' s personal life, not much can be known and later biographers have
even confused him with other poets. But it should be noted, that prior to the 20 th century
and the USSR politicization of Nizami, he was assigned universally to Iranian civilization
and culture. Indeed what we show in this chapter is that even if Nizami's father was a
Zangi (and Nizami says his nature is cheerful like that of a Zangi!), he would still be part
of Iranian civilization by the fact that he contributed more than 30000+ Persian verses
based on Persian folklore to the Iranian civilization where-as he did not contribute a
single verse in Turkish/Zangi. Nizami due to his culture, his revival of Sassanian
folklore/stories and his fundamental and direct contribution to Persian literature, will
always be considered part of Iranian civilization and speculation about his father's origin
cannot change this simple fact. Without the study of Ferdowsi, Sanai, Asadi Tusi one
cannot understand Nizami as well. Nizami by expressing and enriching Persian literature
is a Persian poet and not a Turkic poet. Indeed, Nizami Ganjavi lives through the Persian
language and the Persian language lives through him. Without the Persian language there
is no Nizami Ganjavi and without Nizami Ganjavi, the Persian language is not as rich.
Just like the Persian language would not be as rich without Hafez or Sa'adi. We do not
mention Ferdowsi with this regard, since Ferdowsi' s Kaakh-e-Boland was the
fundamental groundwork which latter poets thrived in, decorated and built upon and one
can argue without Ferdowsi' s work, the Persian language would have lost its place
among the world's great literary languages. Nizami Ganjavi also considered himself a
successor of Ferdowsi and directly mentions his Persian poetry, thus making him a
Persian poet regardless of his background.

355

But before delving into Nizami's culture, we bring strong proofs that his father was also
of Iranian and at least non-Turkic background. Although we are discussing the paternal
line of someone from the 12* century, and due to lack of a time machine, there might
have been other ancestries in his line (Semitic, Greek, Georgian...). Thus, what is most
important with regards to Nizami's ethnic/cultural background is Nizami's culture, which
is Iranian and his claim of being a successor of Ferdowsi.

Iranian background and some statements from scholars

As mentioned, we already discussed the Kurdish background of Nizami's mother as well
his maternal uncle Khwaja Umar. We now discuss some sources by different scholars on
Nizami's ethnic background. We do not mention hundreds of scholars who have called
Nizami Ganjavi as a "Persian poet" since it can be argued that they are describing
Nizami's culture and contribution to Persian civilization (which we believe is the most
important ethnic/cultural identifier of a poet) rather than specific ethnicity. On the other
hand, we already showed that "Azerbaijan poet" does not mean a "Turkic poet" since we
already know Nizami was at least half Kurdish, he did not write in Turkic nor can he be
considered part of the Oghuz Turkic civilization, nor was there an Azerbaijani Turkic
ethnicity or language existent at the time of Nezami. Rather, "Azeri or Azerbaijani
Azerbaijan" simply denotes geographical region of today's country of Azerbaijan and can
even encompass Iranian speakers like Kurds, Talysh and Tats. Also we are not looking to
randomly quote scholars (where many more quotes can be brought); rather we mention
quotes that give a clear verdict on Nezami' s background.

His mother was an Iranian Kurd and it is possible that his father had the same ethnic

origin, though he is claimed also by Turkish Azerbaijanis as being of their stock.

(Ian Philip McGreal , "Great Literature of the Eastern World", Published 1996, p. 505).

We note that the above claims seem valid for different reasons. But we shall expand upon
each point in different sections. Let us also recall the quote by the eminent scholar
Vladimir Minorsky:

"The author of the collection of documents relating to Arran Mas'ud b. Namdar (c. 1 100)
claims Kurdish nationality. The mother of the poet Nizami of Ganja was Kurdish (see
autobiographical digression in the introduction of Layli wa Majnun). In the 16 th century
there was a group of 24 septs of Kurds in Qarabagh, see Sharaf-nama, I, 323. Even now
the Kurds of the USSR are chiefly grouped south of Ganja. Many place-names composed
with Kurd are found on both banks of the Kur"

Nizami's mother, named Raisa, was of a high birth. She might have been a daughter of
important Kurdish figure as some scholars have indicated. Usually, by probability, if a
women was not given as a slave (like Nizami's first wife who was slave sent as a gift and
was later married to Nizami), then they would most likely marry the person of the same
ethnicity. That is, an average Kurd is married to an average Kurd and an average
German is married to an average German.

356

As noted, Gary a was the capital of the Shaddadids who controlled Arran. Nizami 's
father's background predates the Seljuqid capture of Ganja.

Sunni Kurds (as well as western other Persianate/Iranian people like Sunni Tats, Sunni
Talysh, Sunni Persian speakers in Fars province) overwhelmingly in history have been
followers of Shafi'ite rite of Sunnism. As we show, Nizami Ganjavi was also most
likely follower of Shafi'ite rite. Turks on the other hand, have overwhelmingly been
followers of Hanafism. This is especially true with regards to Oghuz Turks. We shall
discuss this in a separate section.

We now recall another scholar, I.M. Diakonoff who is world famous for his study of
human history. He had a great knowledge of the history of the Caucasus and Iran and
thus his word has weight on the topic of Nizami Ganjavi. As already quoted (with the
original Russian):

I.M. Dyakonoff. (1915- 1999)

Publisher: (European House), Sank Petersburg, Russia, 1995, pg 730-731

And it was planned an anniversary of the great poet Nizami celebration in Azerbaijan.
There were slight problems with Nizami -first of all he was not Azeri but Persian
(Iranian) poet, and though he lived in presently Azerbaijani city of Ganja,
which, like many cities in the region, had Iranian population in Middle
Ages.

Thus Diakonov does not consider Nizami Ganjavi ethnically as Turk and does not
consider him as part of Turkic civilization. In terms of Diakonof states about the cities
in the region, the Nozhat al-Majales and Safinaye Tabriz provide the most elegant proof.
Diakonov criticizes the USSR national building policy ("there was a slight problem")
but at that time, he was not free enough to counter Stalin's verdict (as mentioned and
published in the USSR newspaper:

In a talk with the Ukrainian writer, Mikola Bazhan, Stalin referred to Nizami as 'the great
poet of our brotherly Azerbaidzhani people 'who must not be surrendered to Iranian
literature, despite having written most of his poems in Persian.

The important observation about Diakonov' s point is that the cities had Iranian
population. That is the Turkic nomads who slowly arrived with the Seljuqs and then came
in much larger numbers during the Khwarazmid/Mongol era were not city dwellers but
rather lived a nomadic lifestyle. Nizami Ganjavi, as we have shown already and we will
illustrate again, refers to the nomadic lifestyle of Turks. Nizami Ganjavi was a product of
a long sedentary civilization and his ancestry pre-dates the nomadic arrival of Seljuqs and
Oghuz tribes. His cultural background and sources were Ferdowsi, Asadi Tusi, Sanai, and
Fakhr al-Din Gorgani amongst other Persian poets.

357

For example as noted by Francois de Blois:

"Nizami Ganja'i, whose personal name was Ilyas, is the most celebrated native poet of
the Persians after Firdausi. His nisbah designates him as a native of Ganja (Elizavetpol,
Kirovabad) in Azerbaijan, then still a country with an Iranian population, and he
spent the whole of his life in Transcaucasia; the verse in some of his poetic works which
makes him a native of the hinterland of Qom is a spurious interpolation."
C. A. (Charles Ambrose) Storey and Frango de Blois (2004), "Persian Literature - A
Biobibliographical Survey: Volume V Poetry of the Pre-Mongol Period.",
RoutledgeCurzon; 2nd revised edition (June 21, 2004). ISBN-10: 0947593470. (Pg 363)
Another important indicator is also the fact that in the lineage of Nizami Ganjavi, one
does not see any Turkic names, but in the lineage of the Seljuqs, Eldiguzids and the
Atabekan-e-Maragheh (also called Ahmadilis), one can see Turkish names. These
Turkish names of these rulers were in the time of Nizami and also in the lineage of these
Turkish rulers. For example Togrul, Arsalan, Aq-Sonqor, Ildegoz, Karpa/Korpa Arsalan,
Qizil Arsalan, Ozbek and so on were the names of Seljuq, Eldiguzid and Ahmadili rulers
of Nizami 's lifetime. We shall discuss this issue further.

Finally, there are some sources about Nizami Ganjavi 's father line being from the city of
Qom. Although the issue is not hundred percent provable due to the fact that the verses in
relation with Qom is not mentioned in all manuscripts.

Vladimir Minorsky writes

Whether Nizami was born in Qom or in Ganja is not quite clear. The verse (quoted on p.

14): "I am lost as a pearl in the sea of Ganja, yet I am from the Qohestan of the city of

Qom" does not expressly mean that he was born in Qom. On the other hand, Nizami' s

mother was of Kurdish origin, and this might point to Ganja where the Kurdish

dynasty of Shaddad ruled down to AH. 468; even now Kurds are found to the south

of Ganja.

(C. H. Darab, Makhzan al-Asrar, 1945, pp. 55-61 (reviewed by Minorsky, BSOAS.,

1948, xii/2, 441-5))

Professor Julia Scott Meysami also states the same:

"His father, who had migrated to Ganja from Qom in north central Iran, may have been a

civil servant; his mother was a daughter of a Kurdish chieftain; having lost both

parents early in his life, Nizami was brought up by an uncle. He was married three times,

and in his poems laments the death of each of his wives, as well as proffering advice to

his son Muhammad."

(Nizami Ganjavi, A. The Haft Paykar: A Medieval Persian Romance. Translated with

introduction and notes by Julia Scott Meysami. Oxford and New York: Oxford

University Press, 1995.)

We make some quick remarks about this and will discuss it later. One interesting fact
about Nizami Ganjavi is that he was entrusted with his Kurdish maternal uncle after the
passing away of his parents. Usually, in the traditional Islamic and patriarchal societies,
rather than the maternal side, it is the paternal side that takes custodianship of a son. Also

358

Nizami Ganjavi as we shall show when discussing the possible origin from Qom section
refers to himself as a prisoner in Ganja. According to Gholam Hussein Darab Khan:

"I believe that he was compelled to remain in Ganjeh for some reason unknown at
present, and I doubt if it ever will be known. He continually refers to his being im-
prisoned in Ganjeh and forbidden to go out; he never mentions the cause. His great
sanctity would have prevented his being imprisoned in Ganjeh. In the conclusion of
Makhzanol Asrar he says, he lowered his head and from his lips he scattered pearls, and
brought the Treasury of Mysteries to completion. He gives thanks to God that he has
finished the Makhzanol Asrar, and further, he tells us the important fact that most of his
life has come to an end."
(G.H. Darab, "The Treasury of Mysteries"(Makhzan al-Asrar of Nizami Ganjavi)).

On the other hand, the Qom paternal line is not in every manuscript of the Sharafnama.
Whether genuine or not, it can never be known 100% since there is a village by the name
"Ta" near Qom and there are local people who claim to be related to Nizami' s family.

Thus we have assumed "possible origin from Qom" noting the fact that not Nizami
himself necessarily, but his ancestry may possibly be from Qom. We believe the fact that
Nezami is entrusted to his maternal uncle rather than father-side shows that his father's
family might not have been from Ganja. If his ancestry from the paternal line was from
Ganja, it would go back to the Shaddadid times (before the Seljuqs). Anyhow, the Arabic
names Yusuf, Zaki, Mua'yyad has pointed some scholars to claim an Arabic or even
Jewish or possibly other Semitic (like Assyrian Christian) for Nizami' s ancestry. Even
due to the large Armenian population of the area (which used Semitic names), such
theories are brought up. We believe that this simply shows Nizami Ganjavi's family was
Muslim for many generations and furthermore, his view of Layli o Majnoon as a foreign
story whereas his favorite story is Khusraw o Shirin (by his own admission) discounts
any Semitic origin for his paternal line. However, Semitic names have been used by
Iranians, Armenians and of course Semites, as well later on Turks who entered the area
and shed away their tribal names for Islamic names.

Nezami's reference to himself as the Persian Dehqan

The Dehqan as already mentioned were a noble class of Iranians who were the main
proponents and repository of Iranian and Persian culture during the Islamic era.

The term dehqan was used in the late Sasanian period to designate a class of landed
magnates (Mojmal, ed. Bahar, p. 420) considered inferior in rank to azadan, bozorgan
(qq.v.; Zandi Wahman Yasn 4.7, 4.54), and kadag-xwadayan "householders" (Arda
Wiraz-namag 15.10, where dahigan should be read for dadagan)

The origin of the dehqan class is usually attributed in both Zoroastrian Pahlavi books of
the 9th century and early Islamic sources to Wekard/t, brother ofHosang, the legendary
Iranian king (Denkard, ed. Madan, pp. 438, 594, 688; BTrunT, Atar, pp. 220-21; Mas udi,
ed. Pellat, I, sec. 662; Christensen, pp. 68, 134, 151, 156). In some sources the

359

innovation is credited to Manucehr (Ta alebi, p. 6; Tabari, I, p. 434; Bal anil, ed. Bahar,
p. 345; Ebn al-Balki, p. 37). Nevertheless, as the term dehgan is not attested in early
Sasanian documents but is sometimes mentioned in the Pahlavi books and frequently
occurs in descriptions of late Sasanian administration in early Islamic sources, it is
admissible to suppose that dehqans emerged as a social class as a result of land reforms
in the time ofKosrow I (531-79). He is reported to have admonished future kings that
they should protect the dehqans, just as they would protect kingship, because they were
like brothers (Ta alebi, Gorar, p. 6).

After the defeat of the Persian army and the gradual disappearance of the nobles who
administered the country, the local gentry, that is, the dehqans, assumed a more
important political and social role in their districts, towns, and villages.

Aside from their political and social significance, the dehqans played an important
cultural role. Many participated in the courts of caliphs or governors, and after the
establishment of the Persian dynasties in the east they served kings, princes, and amirs as
learned men who were well informed on the history and culture of ancient Iran. Bayhaqi
(p. 299) reported that Zlad b. Abihi (d. 56/675), while still governor of Basra, had in his
service three dehqans, who told him stories of Sasanian grandeur and pomp, causing him
to think Arab rule much inferior. In the Tarik-e Sistan (p. 106) a number of wise sayings,
similar to the Pahlavi andarz (q.v.), are attributed to a certain Zoroastrian dehqan
named Rostam b. Hormazd, who reportedly uttered them at the request of Abd-al- 'Aziz
b. Abd- Allah, an Omayyad governor of Sistan (cf Sah-nama, ed. Moscow, IX, p. 211 vv.
3380-83). The 9th-century author J ahez (1385/1965, I, p. 115, II, p. 125) also quoted
some pieces of folklore from dehqans. In both Arabic and Persian sources the names of
many learned persons and men of letters, including theologians, who were dehqans or
decendants of dehqan families are mentioned (Ebn Fondoq, pp. 116, 149). Some were
patrons of Islamic religious scholars; for example, Ebn Fondoq (p. 185) mentioned a
wealthy dehqan from Sabzavar who, in 418/1027, founded a religious school for a Koran
commentator named Ebn Tayyeb. The majority of dehqans favored Persian culture,
however, and some were patrons of renowned Persian poets. Rudaki (p. 458) related that
the dehqans gave him money and riding animals. Farroki in his youth served a dehqan in
Sistan and received an annual pension from him. According to one tradition, Ferdowsi
himself was a dehqan (Cahar Maqala, ed. Qazvini, text, pp. 58, 75).

Most of the credit for preservation of the stories in the national epic, the Sah-nama; pre-
Islamic historical traditions; and the romances of ancient Iran belongs to the dehqans.
Abu Mansur Ma man (q.v.), who compiled the prose Sah-nama-ye abu-mansuri
(346/957), now lost, wrote in his preface, which does survive, that in gathering his
material he summoned a number of dehqans from various cities of Khorasan (pp. 34-35).
Ferdowsi often cited dehqans as sources, apparently oral ones, for his narratives (e.g.,
Sah-nama, ed. Moscow, I, p. 28 v. 1, II, p. 170 v. 15, III, pp. 6-7 vv. 8, 19, IV, p. 302 vv.
19-20, VI, p. 167 v. 25). Other poets, too, referred to traditions from the dehqans (e.g.,
Asadi, p. 21 v. 1; Iransah, p. 17; Nezami, pp. 436, 508). The term dehqan thus also came
to be defined as u historian, versed in history" (Borhan-e qate \ ed. Mo in, II, p. 905). The

360

profound attachment of the dehqans to the culture of ancient Iran also lent to the word
dehqan the sense of "Persian, " especially "Persian of noble blood, " in contrast to
Arabs, Turks, and Romans in particular.

(Tafazzoli, Ahmad. "Dehqan"in Encyclopedia Iranica)

In the story of Leyli o Majnoon, Nezami Ganjavi as some scholars have mentioned has
called himself the Dehqan (Iranian) and Parsi-Zad (Persian).

In the verses which start in the section:

The visit of Majnoon' s dad to visit his son:

The Fasih (eloquent) Persian Dehqan
Recounts the situation of Arabs as such:
That Old man who lost his son to the wind
That Jacob who was separated from Joseph

There are some points to note here. The word Fasih from Arabic z^ak and another form it
c^L^k (eloquence) is used to describe Nezami. For example in the letter of Sherwanshah
versified by Nezami and in reality his poetic interpretation of the letter:

In the Arena of the Wondrous Words

Exhibit the eloquence( ^ ^L^ J that you possess

Thus in the same story, Nezami is called a possessor of eloquence. He also calles himself
Fasih elsewhere in the Lili o Majnoon as in the famous verse when he complains those
that are jealous of him and want bad for him:

/XjoLoJ OLl^ <j3uuU j^LjuJ j±

/XjOU CjljujS ^-JUlC- C lJ^jlj

1_$sJ%jl^S j\ yOJuj jjljuJlO^juJ

361

Note both "Sehr" (magic) was also mentioned in the part about reason for writing this
book where he is called Jadooyeh Sokhan (magical words). Here in the above verses,
again Nezami mentions himself as Fasih.

We note that the story of Leyli o Majnoon would not be a Persian story known by the
Dehqans who were repositories of ancient Iranian lores. Furthermore, as Nezami pointed
out, before him other poets did not touch the story and the story lacked the elements to
make it eloquent. Indeed according to these scholars, Nizami was part of the land
owning Dehqan class and he refers to himself as the Persian Dehqan.

For example Dr. Behruz Servatiyan also provides commentary on the above verse where
Nezami Ganjavi calls himself the Persian Dehqan:

kSV^lS ^jvjolbu !^lj ^jv-juujI^ guu^S uLq.q^

9I jJcJ 9 UC^iCfcjOiv j£.

jS^IjuJ 9 CjljuuI <3J_juuIjI i^SvLS ^jOilyiO^J ^ c L0d3* U^JCfcjO 9 ^jJLJ lSIqjJuU jlcl^-JuU -OljuuI^U

OJuol ^3VJ>C uUj <\J 9 ^jJL^I uLljuuL j± \j CJLJUU9I ^cp* jl [Jjjszj qjI <& AJiSLajO OjLuul ^jLSJU

■ GjljuuI

j\$j^>jj ^^vjoLtu jbl 9 ^jSajj j± ^jJbti Q-Jj^J j^j jl ^jvjIj-juu Qj CjuloJ^I jl 36 Juu J9I CjuU

9 CjljuuI 0^£J «uIq_Qj^» <& \j ±£> ^JvX^ljOui-vl Cju^C^O 9 J^-JuU >cLuU c ^uj\ Ol 9 CjljuuI

Qj$£s>uJb 9 <3J_jJuL uLj Qj.jj&j ^ tJuoLujo «0^lj L >juujl r ;» \j ±p> <& 9I ^IjJ yjjJszLoJb

j± /XjuUUuU OjS uL)Lq.Ij^ ^JNJjjjItP < JfciiL:*J U 9 CjljuUUJ V-jJLkbO 9 CjuU ^Ll^) ju kSJUujJ
t$± jjb \j 9 « L >_JuUjl r J» OUj U CjljuuI «^_5\jl - >jl» 9I j-bu Ul <& "^JV-juUjL/' ^JV-juUj^J 9 ubfcjUjil

.^^^SjjO jISljJuI ^cLuU ^^V^LoO^I CjuS&$A 9 ol*J> jl LSlg-fcJLKp

(Servatiyan, Behruz. "Lili o Majnoon", criticial edition and commentary. Amir Kabir
publishers, 2008. Pg 424)

Dr. Servatiyan mentions that in each section of Lili o Majnoon, Nezami hints at Nezami' s
source. Here there is no doubt that he is mentioning himself and the word Parsi-Zaadeh
and Dehqan is a reference to his lineage.

We also note that he uses Parsi-Zadegaan for Persian in another verse in Haft Paykar:

qjS 9 Cju\Jg Jlqj^ \j ubjb

(j^uU CjuQJjj)

Furthermore, Nezami was awarded a village by the name Hamdooniyan (an Iranian
name) for the Khusraw and Shirin. This leads further credence that he was already a
minor land owner from the Dehqan class and indeed it were the Dehqans like Ferdowsi
and Nezami who kept the Iranian traditions alive. This could also explain why he as
constantly referred to himself as "Shahrband" (someone that cannot leave the area) as he
had personal responsibilities.

362

We have already overviewed the Iranian land-owning class of Dehqans in the section on
Qatran Tabrizi. All three poets, Qatran Tabrizi, Nizami Ganjavi and Ferdowsi Tusi were
also inheritors of ancient Persian history, culture and myths, and it was the Dehqan class
who preserved much of this history. It is natural for Nezami to for example consider the
story of Khusraw and Shirin the sweetest story in existence and naturally choose such a
story. Or his voluntary choosing of the story of Haft Paykar or his attachment to
Ferdowsi and the Shahnameh. All of this in our opinion is due to the fact that he
belonged to the noble Iranian Dehqan class and of course he already had few lands
around Ganja and came from a well off family which means he was not just a descendant
of this class but rather this class was still present at that time.

Nizami 's reference to his wife and another proof of non-Turkic
background for Nizami

It is well known that Nizami Ganjavi was greatly influenced by the Shahnameh and he
has alluded to the greatness of Ferdowsi and Shahnameh in the Haft Paykar,
Eskandarnama, Khusraw o Shirin and in Layli o Majnoon, where he also advised the son
of the Shirwanshah to read the Shahnameh. In the Shahnameh, the term "Tork-zaad"
(born of a Turk) is used with reference to a person who is born of Iranian father line and
Turkish mother. Specifically, it is used with reference of Hormozd-e-Torkzaad, the son of
Anushirawan the Just. Anushirawan the Just has been mentioned several times by Nizami
and we have already brought a story from Makhzan al-Asrar. In the Shahnameh
specifically we noted the designation of Hormozd:

CjljuUUJ jlglj^uU O^ljSjJ <Jjl ^5

CjljuuuJ j\X)y> \j 9I fjjjS ^jvj^Luu Qj

CjljuUj^IjO V$Z> jI-XJ^ 9 \JU Qj
CjljuuIjJ> <Jjl \jJ jJQ \juuJ <JJJ O9J0

Bahram Azar-Mahan complains to Sima Borzin in front of Hormozd:

This prince who was born of a Turk(Torkzaadeh) is not worthy of the throne

No one is supportive of his kingship,

He of the blood of the Khaqan and of evil nature,

His form and stature is like that of his mother,

You said that Hormozd is fitting for this kingship,

Well this is the reward you 've received from that worthy man,

That is why I have spoken against you and cursed you.

363

Bahram Azar-Mahan told Hormoz:

±Lsu£ j\ qj lS^Ijj olsL> 9J

7^w are born of a Turkish woman,

And you can never be sated with bloodshed

Your ancestry is from the Khaqan not Kay-Qobaad

Even through Khusraw (Anushirawan) bestowed upon you this crown

±\}j ul ^Lo qjloj jJul ^

Yalan-Sineh (a commander of Bahram Chubin) states to Gordiyeh, the sister of Bahram
Chubin, who advises Bahram Chubin not to go against Hormoz:

Enough talk of the Turkish-born (Torkzaad) Hormoz
May such a lineage/race never exist

This is also mentioned with regards to other characters who were half Turk in the
Shahnameh:

CjljuUC*J jl IjjO 0\jjlI ^b 9_)u
CjljuUC*J Uj ^JVJCX^ U\SjJ j Qj jS$

j_x^ jl 9 j^Lo jl 9J ^IjJ

j^joU /X^ 9 jl-)L>b QjoJb

^jjjgJo OjISuOuLjuu £uuuy ^1^ 0^-^

u^9^ 9 <3^ 9 j^uJ o^l fij\* u-° ^

jl qjo ^jJu \j 9I pJlsS \jJ

/5uS QjO ^JJUy CjljuUjUj^-juU 9I jS
puS> j^J j JJ^S O9S QJjJ

oLh^ &lj 9^? O^lj^^J <_SvSu

0U-juU Olj Cjl9jSj ^95 jJJjJ

ubjj^S ^jol^^i* j /xJu-u
ubj \j oUjuu ^jb wiul puo

364

jLuuu5><p jJ ±$J uuj >H^ °^

Similarly, in the story of Forud, who was half Iranian, Jarireh tells his son that his father
would not have married a Turk had Piran not offered her to him. Tus, who was
responsible for the ultimate perishing of Forud, calls him a Tork-Zaad (Born of Turkish
Women). Note the word "Tork-Zad" needs to be understood in the context of Persian
literature.

Nizami Ganjavi was married three times in his life. He was not polygamous, but per the
saying of Islam: "Marriage is half of the religion", he fulfilled his Islamic duty by
marrying every time a wife of his passed away. On this matter, Nizami provides a
chronology of his wives in The Book of Alexander.

pjS oLiJjSIj^uJj ulS _U£ ul j±
/xJL>Luu ^jvjcxi^ fjjjjLJuJ <S$1j> <^>

juuJU ^JsuuJ^jS^ JljuU U<^> JjJ UQjS

^jjjg^C o^ JJl ^' £)* ^ °^ /xjIjJ
jjjulu QJuljujuj OgJul />jU jl Qj

Here Nizami Ganjavi alludes to the fact that he lost one wife when writing the story of
Khusraw o Shirin, another wife when he enclosed the treasure of Layli o Majnoon and
gave up another jewel. Finally before the story of Eskandarnama, he gives away another
wife.

At the end of the story of Khusraw o Shirin, Nizami Ganjavi mentions his first wife, who
was sent as a gift to him from the ruler of Darband.

uJulj wijuul CjLJuULbj^uu qjLuoSl fJJj±
^jvjlSjJj pS ul <£ ul pSs> Pj

365

^L^jo j£$^ i5^uj v-juuoS ul5>i ^5>r

v^sJb ^j I,) /a :>!>£>/ UIjl^

Nizami Ganjavi was married three times in his life. His first wife was a Turkish slave
sent by the ruler of Darband (Nizami calls him the Daaraa (Darius) of Darband). She
passed away during the time when Nizami was writing Khusraw o Shirin. According to
some scholars, Nizami wrote the Khusraw o Shirin as a memorial for his first wife. Some
scholars, (starting probably with Vahid Dastgerdi) have called her name Afaq due to the
above verse. But much more correct, as pointed out by Said Nafisi, is that Afaq is to be
taken here as horizon and not a personal name. This author agrees with Said Nafisi, the
word Afaq appears many times in Nizami' s poetry and it simply means horizon. For
example when praising a ruler of his, Nizami Ganjavi mentions:

Calling the king, King of Kings of Afaq. Indeed one would feel that it would be rare for
Nizami to call Alexander or the Ildeguzids, the king or ruler of the personal name of his
wife. Thus we do not know the names of any of the wives of Nizami Ganjavi. Of course
in terms of scholarship, it is more romantic for Afaq to have been a personal name,
however from a scientific point of view, there is no proof of this. Thus Nizami is
alluding to the fact that she was her horizon (what he saw all around).

Nevertheless, some USSR scholars have even gone further and without zero proof, made-
up the wrong argument that since Arabic does not have any "p" ? her original name was
Apaq (snow white or very white!) and later manuscripts changed c p' to T! They forget
that Nizami wrote in Persian and Persian has 4 p' and Nizami uses many words with 4 p\
Also Nizami Ganjavi, mentions his wife as an "Idol of Qipchaq", so it is very possible
that she was a Qipchaq. In general, idols of Qipchaq, Taraz, and Khotan were referred to
as the beloved in Persian poetry.

By marrying Nizami, she also was obliged to convert to the religion of Islam. Since she
was also given to him as a present and was originally taken as a captive, she was
originally of a non-Muslim background.

366

After describing the beauty of his first wife, Nizami Ganjavi writes:

£ti2u0 £$£ \S$Mf V-juuUlS <j\SjJ $&

Translation:

Since like the Turks, it became necessity that she migrates

In Turkish manner, she plundered my belongings

If my Turk disappears from the tent

O God, about my Turkish-born, you know (best)

The first two verses indicate some observable facts. That Turks were associated with
nomadic lifestyles and we examine this more in the next section. We note that in the
second line, that Nizami Ganjavi uses the word plunder with respect to Turkish
actions/manners. This has been used by countless Persian poets. Just two examples from
Khwaja Abdullah Ansaari and Jaami are sufficient to demonstrate this point:

Translation:

Love came and plundered the heart

Oh heart, give this good news to life

Love is a strange Turk, do you know?

Because plundering is not strange of a Turk

v_Svjl^ ,J^juULC CjljuuI K-xJZlC> <S^jJ

LoJ CjljuoSuI 9 Oj^-juU iSj5)j\jJ$ 9 kSjS)J>\j\j Qj OL^> J-y^>l ul^jJ <& vIjlqS ul^J v_SVJO QjljjLu

.^9_juU v_svjO ^UiiS ^sSjb viljj» lSjSjjLc 9 /5C>L^J 3j v-SV-juUjIS ubj j^ ^ S?j9-^>

j\uJ-iSjJ Q^b\LuU OLoj j± 9 CjljuuI 0^£J OjJJ uI^cIjJu jl ^J^Su ^ l5^°L> uLoJ>jJI_LlC ^^i^

ICjljuuI 0^9jjuU Ij j^LjuU jjjl < c UljuUUJ ^JsJQ

U9^> CjUL^> L^jZ59 K^fSjJ °0 V_SV^-JUUJUJLJUU LSI

9 CjljuUUJ gljb 9 OjLc bfcjl <£ .ticlg U Cjl&S

CjLJuULgj ul £J9^ j JljuUU >JAj LLqS i v_sO Cjl&S

CjljuU^ gljb 9 OjLc jl ^£J Qj£ 9jAjlS

Translation:

//av£ yow heard the story when a Turk heard about Heaven

He told the religious preacher if there is plunder and pillage in there

367

The preacher said: No, and the Turk responded this is worst than Hell
Because the hand is cut off from pillage and plunder in Heaven

(Note Jaami was using common simile here, since he was very close friends with Navai
and is praised by him.)

And also by Nizami the words Gharat, Taraaj which mean plunder are used with the word
Turk in order to create similes:

CjljuuI puJ 9^ /xJlc 9I p\j kS-kjJj j
CjljuuI /XJ/> 9^ \j 9I ^JvSu \j /JLC Q$

(in praise of the Eldiguzid ruler called Mohammad)

From jealousy of him, 'Alam is in two (in reference to the spelling of ^)

The word 'Alam has only one Mim, but his name has two Mims

The pen like (an army) of Turks, writes his name without revoking the permission to

plunder

His first Mim bestows sash/waistband, the second bestows the crown

Jjl9^ QJjjljuJ jJ CjLJuul<ptJjO {JJJjS

JJuLjuu ^SvS^j jl OjLc ^JvS^j Qj

He was looking for a horse to follow towards Shirin

In a Turkish manner (Turk being used as plunder,), sought Plunder from a Turk (being

used as a beautiful)

jjjoS CjljuU^ j^-juUU 9_)ul& Qj Cjl^j

No one has plundered Turks

No one has given up his belongings to a Hindu

(using common imagery about Turks taking plunder and Hindus as thief/beggars)

QjO [JjJui-t \j <-S9 j <Sj-f. ul CjLflSj

QjOCfc-il l5V SLLjuJjB -XjLu

j\jSjj ul gljb <£ /xJu-u

jb CjljuuI^ u^> pie. juuj jl \j 9J

(In the story of Archimedes with the Chini (Turkish) servant):

Bring forth that fairy face near me

And to the group too

It is time to see how the plunder of that Turkish-attacker

Kept you away from knowledge.

368

Thus the nomadic lifestyle, which in many ways leads to the plunder of sedentary
civilization, was a common theme in Persian literature. Here Nizami Ganjavi is
comparing the plundering of his belongings (and metaphorically his heart) by his wife in
the Turkish manner, with the way his Turkish wife "migrated" (passed away).

The third line again like the first line, points to the nomadic lifestyle of Turks. Tents or
Khargah (o\Zy> in Persian), is associated with Turks in the third line. Finally in the fourth
line, Nizami Ganjavi, like the Shahnameh before him, refers to his son not as a Turk, but
as a Turkzaad. That is a person born of a Turkish woman and Iranian father. Had Nizami
Ganjavi been Turkish, then there would be no reason for him to constantly and explicitly
distinguish his wife ethnically as a Turk and his son as Tork-zaad (meaning born of a
Turkish mother and Iranian father as followed in the Shahnameh and other classical
texts). Thus, in our opinion, the above is sufficient to show that Nizami Ganjavi himself
was not a Turk.

Other Indicators of Nizami Ganjavi 's Father line

Lack of Turkish names unlike Turkish dynasties and groups

Besides the above, we mention several other facts about Nizami Ganjavi which makes a
Turkic father line for him extremely unlikely. The first issue is that of the name of his
ancestors. The Seljuqs, Eldiguzids and Ahmadilis all had names with Turkish ancestry.
On the other hand, Nizami' s ancestry goes back prior to the Seljuq takeover of Ganja. In
the father lineage of Nizami Ganjavi, one does not see any Turkish names, but in the
lineage of the Seljuqs, Eldiguzids and the Atabekan-e-Maragheh (also called Ahmadilis),
one can see Turkish names (in the time of Nizami) and also in the lineage of these
Turkish rulers. For example Togrul, Arsalan, Aq-Sonqor, Ildegoz, Karpa/Korpa Arsalan,
Qizil Arsalan, Ozbek and so on were the names of Seljuq, Eldiguzid and Ahmadili rulers
of Nizami's lifetime. Nizami's ancestry is Yusuf , Zakki and Mu'ayyad. All of these are
Semitic names. The fact that these dynasties were Turkic makes it natural that they had
Turkic names. Thus the fact that none of the dynasties lack Turkic names also indicates
that their ancestry was Turkic. One can surmise that the Turkic nomads who arrived with
the Saljuqs and the greater bulk who arrived with the Mongols (either as a push of the
Mongols or they were part of the Mongol army), had Turkic names. Slowly after
merging into the local culture, Semitic and less so, but often Iranian names would
become prominent. Based on these Semitic names (Yusuf, Zakki, Mu'ayyad), some
authors have mentioned possible Jewish or Christian ancestry. Although there was a
large number of Armenian Christians in the area, it is our belief that the Iranic culture of
Nezami makes this less likely.

Urban background

The second indicator is the fact that Nizami's background was urban, where-as the Turkic
nomads with their tribal affiliation were migratory tribes. Nizami and other poets have

369

alluded to this fact. For example Nizami Ganjavi explicitly mentions the nomadic
lifestyle of the migratory Turks:

gL-^jO g^S LSg-JuU QJLjujS OlSjJ <^>

As mentioned by Diakonov, the region of Arran, "like many cities in the region,
had Iranian population in Middle Ages". Indeed the name Ganja pre-dates the
Saljuq invasion and is a clear Iranian name. We can get a glimpse of the everyday
Muslim culture through the book Nozhat al-Majales. The fact is like almost any city, the
original founders of it would have named it from their own language. The Oghuz Turkish
nomads, who migrated to the region during the Saljuq of era, were not city dwellers.
After many generations of nomadic lifestyle, they would still not be city dwellers, but
would settle down in villages and live of farming. Thus the process of going from a
nomadic lifestyle to city dwelling is a process that takes many centuries, unless nomads
are forcefully settled like the modern era. Further evidence of Nizami 's sedentary
background is that Nizami advises his son to become either a religious doctor of law
(faqih) or a physician (tabib) or to undertake both professions. However, he advises his
son:

Be a lawyer who concentrates on the worship of God and not a lawyer who teaches

deception.

Be a physician as capable as Jesus, not a physician who ends man 's life.

Again, there are professions that are part of the sedentary and city dwelling civilizations.
Thus Nizami 's lack of any Turkic name and his urban background (born probably in the
city of Ganja with an Iranian name), is an indicator of his non-Turkic background.

Shafiite Madhab

Another indicator is Nizami Ganjavi's Madhab. He was very likely a Shafi'i Muslim
where-as the Turkic nomads who adopted Islam were overwhelmingly Hanafi Muslims.
Indeed today, all the Turkic people of Central Asia are Hanafis. In Turkey, the major
difference between Kurds and Turkic speakers is also the fact that Kurds are followers of
Shafi'ite rite. The Sunni Talysh, Tat, Persian (Larestani) and Kurdish speakers of
Western Iran are all Shafi'ites and major cities in Azerbaijan before their Turkification
and Shi'ification were Shafi'ite.

370

That Turkic groups association with Hanafism is well known in Islamic history. For
example, we already quoted Bosworth who quotes the Iranian historian Rawandi:
"Saljuqs achieved some prestige in the eyes of the Orthodox by overthrowing Shi'i Buyid
rule in Western Iran. Sunni writes even came to give an ideological justification for the
Turks' political and military domination of the Middle East. The Iranian historian of the
Saljuqs, Rawandi, dedicated his Rahat al-sudur to one of the Saljuq Sultans of Rum,
Ghiyath al-Din Kay Khusraw, and speaks of a hatif, a hidden, supernatural voice, which
spoke from the Ka'ba in Mecca to the Imam Abu Hanifa and promised him that as long
as the sword remained in the hands of the Turks, his faith (that of the Hanafi law school,
which was followed par excellence by Turks) would not perish. Rawandi himself adds
the pious doxology, "Praise be to God, He is exalted, that the defenders of Islam are
mighty and that the followers of the Hanafi rite are happy and In the lands of the
Arabs, Persians, Byzantines and Russians, the sword is in the hand of the Turks, and
fear of their sword is firmly implanted in all hearts T"

Rawandi lived during the time of Nizami Ganjavi.

Another testament to this is from traveler Ibn Batuttah who lived in the 14 th century. On
Turks, he provides some description of their religion:

"..After eating their food, they drink the yogurt/milk of mare called Qumiz. The Turks
are followers of Hanafism and consider eating Nabidh (Alcoholic beverage) as Halal
(lawful in Islam)."
(Ibn Batuttah, translated by Dr. Ali Muvahid, Tehran, Bongaah Publishers, 1969).

Qumiz or Kumis is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented mare's milk. It is still
drunk by some Central Asian Turkic people like Kirgiz and Kazakhs. Nabidh (a Persian
or possibly Semitic word) is a mild fermented beverage originally made from raisins or
barley or dates. By the time of Ibn Battutah, it generally meant different types of
alcoholic liquor.

It should not be surprising that many Hanafis, especially Turks, actually drank Kumis and
Nabidh. They did not consider it as unlawful in the sense of Islamic law. Hanafite and
Shafi'ite schools of law had a conflicting viewpoint on alcoholic beverages. Accordingly:
"Thus if a Shaf ite sees a Hanafi drinking such liquor, he has no business forbidding him,
whereas if a Hanafi sees a Shaf ite doing so, he should indeed forbid him.
(M.A. Cook, "Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought",
Cambridge University Press, 2000. pg 214)

(Also according to the same book: "For conflicting attitudes of Shafi'ites and Hanafis to
this of liquor, see: Marghinani (d. 593/1197) , Hidaya, Beirut, 1990, 3-4:450")

Besides these classical sources, like Rawandi and Ibn Battutah, the history of Hanafism
with Turks is well known.

"The Turkmens who entered Anatolia no doubt brought with them vestiges of the pre-
Islamic inner Asian shamanistic past but eventually became in considerable measure firm
adherents of the near-universal Islamic madhab for the Turks, the Hanafi one"

371

(Mohamed Taher, "Encyclopedic Survey of Islamic Culture", Anmol Publication PVT,
1998. Turkey: Pg 983).

"There have sometimes been forcible and wholesale removals from one "rite" to another,
generally for political reasons; as when the Ottoman Turks, having gained power in Iraq
and the Hijaz in the sixteenth century, compelled the Shafi'ite Qadis either to change to
the Hanafi "rite" to which they (the Turks) belonged, or to relinquish office."
(Reuben Levy, "Social Structure of Islam", Taylor and Francis, 2000. Pg 183).

"Unlike the Sunni Turks, who follow the Hanafi school of Islamic law, the Sunni Kurds

follow the Shafi'i school"

(Federal Research Div Staff, Turkey: A Country Study, Kessinger Publishers, 2004. pg

141).

"Hanafism was founded by a Persian, Imam Abu Hanifa, who was a student of Imam
Ja'far Al-Sadeq, ... His school held great attraction from the beginning for Turks as well
as Muslims of the Indian subcontinent. Today the Hanafi school has the largest number
of follows in the Sunni world, including most Sunni Turks, the Turkic people of
Caucasus, and Central Asia, European Muslims, and the Muslims of Indian subcontinent

WW

(Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. "The Heart of Islam: Enduring Values for Humanity".
HarperColins, 2004. Pg 68).

"On the other hand, because the Turkish rulers were so devoted to Islamic beliefs, they
had accepted Hanafism with a great vigor and conviction"

(Mehmed Fuad Koprulu's , Early Mystics in Turkish Literature, Translated by Gary
Leiser and Robert Dankoff , Routledge, 2006, pg 8).

As mentioned, the Sunni Talysh, Tat, Persian (Larestani) and Kurdish speakers of
Western Iran are all Shafi'ites and major cities in Azerbaijan before their Turkification
and Shi'ification were Shafi'ite. For example the Safmayeh Tabriz shows that Shafi'ism
was the main faith in Tabriz in the 13 th century. Or Hamdullah Mostowfi mentions the
province of Goshtasfi in the Caucasus in the Ilkhanid era. According to Mostowfi, this
Caucasus region lying between the rivers Aras and Kur and the adjoining Caspian Sea
spoke Pahlavi close to Jilani (Gilaki) and were followers of Imam Shafi'i. Actual quote:

<-S>£J 9 OJ>LuU Ij Ol V^jljuuIj^J <JJ <*_jljuU LljuoS <& CjljulH ^JViLuU LljuoS CjU^ Uj^ V^ J^ jl

.<^->LuU ulgl^ lSI^j^ ul jJ 9 QJLjJj\±jJ I&lS^t ul jl 9 CjljuuIoJu^j jjjUjI 9 j£ vl jl ^yy.
p\sA <^jl&Juo jj 9 JJ I Oj-^r JuJLuu jjojuo^jo ^£j O^ojo 9 c KjlLi *Saj\ iQJjJ tOls- ( jojJL^>b>

jl [JjJuU v 3jLuU Olol jJ [JjJuJIQjS ij)QSL> .CjljuuIcLJljuiJU JU L 5vj\JlofcJ lS^JL^ OLuUUUj. ^Jn^SLuU

Ju^ulj 9 j\j& 0Jc*jfc 9 _L^> uc^l 9 CjljuuIo^^j uloj qjI 0L09J _L^> JJjuuloS J^slo cJg^ j^p-b

(Mostowfi, Hamdallah. "Nozhat al-Qolub ". Edit by Muhammad Dabir Sayyaqi. Tahuri
publishers, 1957.)

372

Besides its strictness against alcoholic/fermented drinks relative to Hanafism, there is
another distinguishing marker of Shafi'ism. Shafi'ites accept Abu Bakr, Umar and
Uthman as rightly guided caliphs and the companion of the Prophet, but many of them
put the first Shi'ite Imam, Ali ibn Abi-Talib (AS) above these three.

Imam Shafi'i has a famous poem:

The Family of the Prophet are my intermediary to him! (wasilati)

Through them I hope to be given my record with the right hand.

and:

O Family of Allah 's Messenger! To love you is an obligation

Which Allah ordained and revealed in the Qur 'an.

It is enough proof of your immense glory that

Whoever invokes not blessings upon you, his prayer is invalid.

Now there are important indications on why Nizami Ganjavi was a Shafi'ite:

A)

Nizami's Kurdish background has already been discussed. Shafi'ites and Hanafites rarely

married at that time. Unless there was a compelling reason to marry (for example if two

dynasties wanted to strengthen their relation), marriage between these two sects rarely

took place. Indeed, theological arguments between these two rites have led to bloodshed

in Islamic history. Here are some examples.

Imam Shaafi in "Tabaqat al Kubra" writes:

"I have read Abu Hanifa Numan 's books andNuman and his followers proclaim that
we believe in the Qur' an and Allah (swt) but they are opposed to it".

In "Jazeel al Muwahib fi Ikhtilaab al Madhaib" by Suyuti page 184:

Suyuti said:

"The most praised Madhab is Shaafi due to its precautions. Due to this whoever reads
Shafi'i Salaat will feel confident. Whoever reads Hanafi Salaat will be confused
because it is questionable, on account of the following:

1. He considers it permissible to perform ablution with alcohol fermented by dates.

2. You can wear dog leather in Salaat

B)

373

Nizami brings the name of Ali first before the three other Caliphs and praises him first
and considers his love for him more than Omar although admits that he is not empty of
adoration for the second caliph (This position is consistent with Shafi'ism, specially in
and around the Mongol era):

puJ p£s>LO c l^> - p ^jJLc j^JQ <\J
puJ K _sJ\j> j-J jJO^C ^juULC j

fjj^ uLouLc 9 CjLJuJLgjpLJuj ^Su^jI

C)

"Nizami lived a secluded life and even his royal patrons respected the poet's lifestyle.
When Qizil Arslan invited Nizami to his banquet, he ordered the servants to remove the
wine, to cancel the music and to stop the dancers out of respect for the poet". (Ali Asghar
Seyed-Gohrab, Madness and Mystic Longing, Dr. Ali Asghar Seyed-Gohrab, Brill
Studies in Middle Eastern literature, Jun 2003, pg 28).

In the Khusraw o Shirin, this episode is mention in detail:

CjljuuIJl^Su QjO jJ QjO Jl&J O^SljuU

CjLJuub OJS j± Jl&Ij <& ^jvjO^juuy ulj QJ

qJlS^S jJ ^JVJO OLjO jl S^OjSU

qJlS^S jJ ^jy IjjO L5ljlju0

JJu j^ CjLjJub Ij uLsLuu OuoJd* Qj

JQK-kjJ U j9j wAj (JjlS ±jS OjLuuI

/)b> jl 9 ^9j jl /xj9_juu \j ^jvjoLbu
v - JLJuU ' ^9 J J j^-^S^> 9 1 yoJ^u LSlgj

CjljuuI ^9j-juU 9 1 LSLpJ^S juuJXjuuJ

/XjJLU juuJ O^U j Juol y^C> <^>

/XjjU y^C> \j ^J^Jjj vl Q&

It is not surprising that Qizil Arsalan drank wine at his court. After all, the Hanafi
Madhab was lax on this issue, especially with regards to Turkic Hanafism. On the other
hand, Nizami 's shunning away from Nabidh and other alcoholic beverage is indeed part
of his Shafi'ite rite.

In the Eskandarnama, Nizami Ganjavi desires the wine (the spiritual wine) that is lawful
in the four Sunni Madhabs:

lj vlfp* c ^-f > juU jl lJ^L^ Uj

A OJuol J\Jj vl 9S ^J^°

374

Which Vahid Dastgerdi correctly interprets as:

\j QJS*LI vl>^ JljJjU l3 vJ ^Jl> V^-^ Tj^Uo <^S jlg-^ Ol jl ^JvSu CjJljuU Jj^I ^jU^JuO jlg^> j^

.CjljuuI J\L> ^jl^juo jlg^> ^ j^ <-S^>jI 0JLC9 o^U ^9 jjb ^jvjo J\L>

Thus, these proofs are strong indicators that Nizami Ganjavi was a Shafi'ite like the bulk
of Iranian speakers [Kurds (his mother, his guardian maternal uncle), Persian/Persian
dialect speakers, Talysh, Tats] of western Iran while the bulk of the nomadic Turkic
speakers who had arrived in the area (during the Seljuq era) followed Hanafism.
Shafi'ites and Hanafis would rarely marry since they followed different rites. Much like
Shi'ite and Sunnis would not generally marry at that time. This is another strong
indicator of the Iranian father line of Nizami Ganjavi.

Qom theory

There are some sources about Nizami Ganjavi 's father line being from the city of Qom.
Although the issue is not hundred percent provable due to the fact that the verses in
relation with Qom is not mentioned in all manuscripts. But there are also two other verses
that compare Araq (central Iran) with Ganja. If Nizami 's ancestry from the paternal line
was from Ganja, it would go back to the Shaddadid times. Anyhow, the Arabic names
Yusuf, Zaki, Mua'yyad has pointed some scholars to claim an Arabic or even Jewish or
possibly other Semitic (like Assyrian Christian) for Nizami' s ancestry. We believe that
this simply shows Nizami Ganjavi 's family was Muslim for many generation and
furthermore, his view of Layli o Majnoon as a foreign story whereas his favorite story is
Khusraw o Shirin (by his own admission), lends credence to this.

Vladimir Minorsky writes:

Whether Nizami was born in Qom or in Ganja is not quite clear. The verse (quoted on p.
14): "I am lost as a pearl in the sea of Ganja, yet I am from the Qohestan of the city of
Qom", does not expressly mean that he was born in Qom. On the other hand, Nizami' s
mother was of Kurdish origin, and this might point to Ganja where the Kurdish
dynasty of Shaddad ruled down to AH. 468 ; even now Kurds are found to the south
of Ganja. (C. H. Darab, Makhzan al-Asrar, 1945, pp. 55-61 (reviewed by Minorsky,
BSOAS., 1948, xii/2, 441-5))

Professor Julia Scott Meysami also states the same:

"His father, who had migrated to Ganja from Qom in north central Iran, may have been a
civil servant; his mother was a daughter of a Kurdish chieftain; having lost both
parents early in his life, Nizami was brought up by an uncle. He was married three times,
and in his poems laments the death of each of his wives, as well as proffering advice to
his son Muhammad."(Nizami Ganjavi, A. The Haft Paykar: A Medieval Persian
Romance. Translated with introduction and notes by Julia Scott Meysami. Oxford and
New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.)

375

As mentioned, one interesting fact about Nizami Ganjavi is that he was entrusted with his
Kurdish maternal uncle after the passing away of his parents. Usually, in the traditional
Islamic and patriarchal societies, rather than the maternal side, it is the paternal side that
takes custodianship of a son, rather than the maternal side.

On the other hand, the line about Qom, Tafresh and Taa is not in every manuscript of the
Sharafnama. It is in more recent manuscripts. But some medieval biographers have also
mentioned the Qom origin. Whether genuine or not, it can never be known 100%. Unlike
what some authors originally thought (Said Nafisi for example), there is a local district by
the name "Ta" near Qom and there are local people who claim to be related to Nizami' s
family (the author read this in an Iranian journal). Noting the fact that not Nizami himself
necessarily, but his ancestry may possibly be from Qom, the idea is worth investigating.
Certainly, we do not know what city Nizami Ganjavi 's father was born.

Yet his Islamic name and Nizami Ganjavi 's urban background can only point to the fact
that his father line were from Ganja prior to the Saljuq era or they migrated from Western
Iran, whose Sunni population was overwhelmingly Shafiite. It seems that deeply rooted
scholarly and sedentary lineage is indicated. Might the rule of the Buyids, with their
strong adherence to Shi'ism, forced some of the Sunnis (as mentioned by C.E. Wilson) to
move to other regions? Specially a region that was under Shafi'i control like the
Shaddadid Arran? All these are plausible. The fact that Nizami is entrusted to his
maternal uncle rather than fathers-side shows that his father might not have been from
Ganja and perhaps his father's family was not present in that city.

According to G.H. Darab:

I believe that he was compelled to remain in Ganjeh for some reason unknown at present,
and I doubt if it ever will be known. He continually refers to his being imprisoned in
Ganjeh and forbidden to go out; he never mentions the cause. His great sanctity would
have prevented his being imprisoned in Ganjeh. In the conclusion of Makhzanol Asrar he
says, he lowered his head and from his lips he scattered pearls, and brought the Treasury
of Mysteries to completion. He gives thanks to God that he has finished the Makhzanol
Asrar, and further, he tells us the important fact that most of his life has come to an end."
(G.H. Darab, "The Treasury of Mysteries" (Makhzan al-Asrar of Nizami Ganjavi)).

Nizami does refer to being stuck in Ganja and besides the reference to Tafresh, Ta and
Qom found in some manuscripts, he refers to Persian Iraq (which Qom/Tafresh/Ta are
part of) twice when comparing his situation in Ganja:

<jjo uLrp 0^j5 OjS QszlS
qjo Cm <J?I>£ QjS ^jvjSyp ,^jsj

376

lSLuoSu <U%Jif> JuU^jJ-juU jl v^j

lSLuoSu ci^eJui lSjL >h^ uIjlC

On the verse which occurs at the end of the Makhzan al-Asrar where he:

Vahid Dastgerdi mentions:

<J)luuuj| jlfl-bl JUujU >OCfc£. <J)I>£ ^5 yjJJJ^ [JJj\jJ\ JflLJbuUUP g ^JL^I u-^3 °M v -*-* J v>?' .P
<\^LfS jJ^MJ V-jljuUUUD uT ^1 vJsjC^juU 9 0>^ gu£> OgJU v3'>^ ^JpttA^ ^5 Ol U v>A| JLa5 v^O

■ V-juujI 0^j£ 0^ 3 JJLil vJJD 0\jUj£ CU \j $&>

Translation (per Dastgerdi):

In this verse, Nizami is referring to his original homeland and place of origin, and shows
his great love for the place. He says although the treasures ofAraq without any
knots/twists and hardship is in my hands, the city ofGanja, has taken me by the neck and
tied a knot upon me.

On the verse:

CjljuU^ <J& j^ ^JvSl^ JlQJ [J-uS>

lSLuoSu <*s*lL>. lSjL jjljJj uIjlC

Vahid Dastgerdi mentions:

9^ <\J CjljuuI ^JvSl^ ^JVjoLbu /XaSl> U£-> 9 0^£J J-iuoJI V>-^ V$$J <SU 9 Oj^uJ j$ ^jvSl^ AiLi

.JuoLujo ^jvSl^ JlqJ \j ±p> o^uuu y^uuLuo
Overall, Vahid Dastgerdi writes:

<Jjl>C j± <&j\ b CjljuuI QszlS j&jJj uIoiSj ^jvjoLtu p§j 9 :>lj bl <^ v-jJLLbo qjI oLul l5I > j»

/xJLuuuo LS9 C09J Ju^>\JI ^jvSl^ Lol tCjLJuul OJljuu jJc^Lo q^*Jif> _p <& AJjISJujo uLuuugj O^Sjj
O^sLuuuo 9 Jjl>£ jlju^ <3j OjI^xxiSj 9 <j2ujIljuu Ij Jjl>£ L> Qjxfb j± <^ JJ^ G^-^ -Q^jujI

:(179 ^ jI^juuYH UJJ*jo) CjljuuI cdLoJ> ul jl 9 CjljuuI 6±j5 k3^jJJ jlgJol V9-^ U^-^

,jjo ol <Jjl>c guf> ^jvjjypLu
377

S/>l_xS ^jvjoLbu tCjLJuul ;ol_xS CL^iS

:(361 ^ c^.j*-^ 9 s> j ^ > )

CjljuuI^j OuU qjI <Jjl>£ OJii5il Qj

(53 l ^>)cijoLs > jJu

JJuoc>jI :>U js^Sl J^ Jjl>£

JjJL JljJu 9I jl JjoS ^jvjfcjlgl ciS

i(29) ,j^) <3joULsI jl Cjljuuuj 9^ qjI uLuuugj O^SjJ ^jJ ^jvjoLtu C09J ^j^-jJu^iu 9 ^jvjcxS J-J^

/XjCXS >£-JuU OLljuUL^S jl ^jJs
9I />U U CjljuUL& ^JVJ^ jjlljJiJ cu

<pr/>b OJljJu b*jl jl ^jvjoLbu

j± Lol tCjLJuul Obj OLcX^ Obj J9 ^jb /)U Cjl^L^juU AJS>jJb ^JVjoLbu oLjl 3j CjuJ 9^ <Jjl

v-jJLkbo U ^jv-bLujI <*5 CjljuuI OJljuu gslg ^jvjbr j± 6$\[sl> <CjljuuuJ 9^ qjI Lo JLuU \J$$ £j-juuu

uSl&_ulsl l5-u^> ^1 jl o^jj
:(29<j^ cloULsI) ^sUju^I ^30^ j$\ q5 ^bj

ciS JuI-Xjjo /xJLuu Jjg:> ul>Ld 9 Ajjb pJb \j \j ^jv-tiaJ 9 iS^JSLO -blujl JLcx^ Cjujg^ <jjI
^jvjoLbu O^^j ^jvSl^ ciSLilu jjjuy «CjljuuuJ Cjuj 9^ qjI uLjo j± pS 9 jjoj^-aJ Cjuj 9^ l5L>

^jVjuU^Jij 9 ^JVJCXS^J ^JvJjCXjuUUO JJ^ Jjl&^J /X<4lC <Jjl>£ J^l ,jaJulSLj 9 j_J^ 9 CjljuuI /xJLuUUO

u-£^ £uuuu j^ 0^9-u 9 ulSuo ^jljuuLu /)JlC JJ^ cb Cjuu 9^ qjI 9 Cjljuuuj CjljuuI j2> ^Sg CO£J

«JljJuIj ^bdl JuLJu JLuU

(Zanjani, Barat. "Ahwal o Athar o SharH Makhzan olAsraar Nezami Ganjavi", Tehran

U niversity Publications, 2005.)

Thus Nizami's feeling of imprisonment in Ganja, and his praise and feeling of belonging
to Persian Araq in the same verse where he feels imprisoned in Ganja, lends some
credence to the Qom theory. The fact will remain that we will not even know for 100%
what Islamic city Nizami's father line came from. We should mention though that both
Ganja and Arak were considered part of Persia and Persian lands by Nezami as he states
himself. Indeed Nezami Ganjavi himself praises the Eldiguzids as the King of the
Persian lands which obviously shows that the area was associated with Persian people
and culture:

<joJuli> CLljuoS OJjJ p^> kS^->.

378

0L0 Jul u Ij v>^ &J-! l5^

oLuu ubgb* Ij pc%£. kSJjq ^jvSu

/n £/^ day that they bestowed mercy upon all,

Two great ones were given the name Muhammad,

One who 's pure essence was the seal of prophecy,

The other who is the Kingdom 's Seal, in his own days

One whose house/zodiac is moon of the Arabs

The other who is the everlasting Shah of Realm of Persians

In praising the rulers of Shirwan (who sometimes extended their rule beyond Shirwan),
Nizami again mentions:

This book is better to be written

A young peacock is better to have a mate

Specially for a king like the Shah of Shirwan

Not only Shirwan, but the Shahriyar (Prince, Ruler) of all Iran

Nizami Ganjavi calls upon the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH &HP):

<*_jljuU jjAjljuJ 9 OJul J9j O^jj

Do not stay in Arabia, come to Persia
Here are the light steeds of night and day

So the area at that time was considered part of the Iranian/Persian ethnic and cultural
region.

Intermarriage was rare between Western Iranians and Turks due to both
religious and ethnic factors

We have already mentioned that Shafi'ism of Western Iranians contrasted with Hanafism
which was the religion of Turks.

We also noted that the physical features of Turks which were seen as beautiful by Persian
poets since at least Rudaki, Ferdowsi and Qatran distinguished them from the

379

Mediterranean Iranian look. It should be noted the bulk population was not Turkified just
like Safina Tabriz shows in the case of Tabriz or Anatolia was mainly Greek/ Armenian at
the time.

An average person at that time with a high probability would have had both parents from
the same ethnic background and religion. There was rare exceptions of course, for
example royal dynasties, even those of both Muslims and Christians of the area had
intermarriages among the royal class. Also if a slave was given as a gift (like Nezami's
first wife), then marriages were consummated. We already pointed out that due to this
rare situation, Nezami explicitly mentions his wife as a Turk and his son as a Turk-Zad.
As a rule, the average class of Iranians and Turks did not intermarry due to different
physical features, religious sect (Shafiite vs Hanafism) and also culture.

There was indeed some hostility between Iranians and Turks (like many neighboring
groups in the world) although the common Islamic religion helped to heal these divisions.

"Intermarriage between Turk and Tajik were unusual during the Qaraqoynlu and
Aqqoyunlu periods" (Andrew J. Newman, "Safavid Iran", Published by I.B.Tauris,
2006. Pg 167)

"Bartold, Schineye, pg 460, describes tensions between them during the period of
the Khorezmshahs. At the time when there were both Turkish and Iranian
commanders, in reply to a proposal from the Turkish commander that they can
cooperate, the Gurid command is said to have replied: "We are Gurids and you are
Turks. We cannot live together". Likewise, when the (Turkic) Khorezmshahs
proposed an alliance with Mazandaran, his advisors warned: "The paths are dark
between Turk and Tajik" and "The Tajik will never trust a Turk"
(Paul Bergne, "The Birth of Tajikistan", Published by I.B.Tauris, 2007. Pg 136.)

The Artukids, Atabaks of Diyarbakir, several times came into conflict with the Kurds
(Abu 1-Fida 5 , iii, 583; Usama, i, 321). The Abbasid caliphs, freeing themselves from the
tutelage of their protectors, negotiated with the Kurds (cf. the case of 4 Isa Khumaydi in
528/1 134, and Kamil , xi, 7, 188) and sought to weaken the Turks. In 581/1185 under
the caliph al-Nasir, a minor incident resulted in a war between the Kurds and the
Turkomans ( Kamil , iii, 342) which extended over a vast area (Syria, Diyarbakir,
Djazira, Mawsil, Shahrizur, Khilat and Adharbaydjan). Two years later the rivals
stopped fighting in order to join against the Christians of Armenia, Assyria,
Mesopotamia, Syria and Cappadocia, but new feuds soon broke out between the Kurds
and Turkomans. After many fierce battles, the Kurds fought their way back into Cilicia.
The Turks practically exterminated the Kurds of Cilicia and Syria. As the Kurds on
leaving their old homes had entrusted their goods to their Christian neighbours, and as the
Christians concealed some Kurds, the Turks finally fell upon the Christians at
Thelmuzen(?) and Arabthil (= Arabgir?) (Michael the Syrian, in Recueil, doc. armen.,
395)(Encyclopedia of Islam, "Kurds"( Bois, Th.; Minorsky, V.; Bois, Th.; Bois, Th.;
MacKenzie, D.N.; Bois, Th. "Kurds, Kurdistan." Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P.

380

Bearman , Th. Bianquis , C.E. Bosworth , E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2008.
Brill Online.)

"It was a great merit of Saladin's policy to keep his Muslim warriors in proper balance,
for we never hear of considerable clashesh between his Turkish and Kurdish
supporters. (Footnote 3: What danger was thereby conjured up is clear from Ibn Athir's
record (XI, 342) of the events of 581/1 185. A trivial incident started a terrible carnage
between the Turkmans and the Kurds which lasted several years in a vast areas from
Azarbayjan to Upper Mesopotamia, see in great detail Michel le Syrien, Recueil,
Documents armenians pg 395. End of footnopte.) The fact that there was a possibility of
tension among them is supported by the letter which was addressed to Saladin in July
1 192 by the governor of Jerusalem Abul-Hayja al-Hadhabani (a Kurd). He wrote that
after the disastrous fall of 4 Akka the garrison of Jerusalem was hesitant about the defence
of the Holy City: "so send us someone of your family round whom we shall rally
otherwise the Kurds will not believe in the Turks nor the Turks in the Kurds.'"
(Minorsky, Vladimir. "Studies in Caucasusn history", Cambridge University Press,
1957. Pg 138.)

All these indicators (plus Nozhat al-Majales and what will follow in the next chapter)
are sufficient proofs in our view that Nizami Ganjavi did not have a Turkic father line.
Furthermore, the falsification of the verse relating Wolves to Nizami 's father shows that
there is no valid proof for any Turkic father line for Nizami Ganjavi. Else there would be
no need to create such a false verse. Also the verses we brought: 1) where he references
himself as Persian Dehqan, 2) distinguishes clearly the race of his first wife (given to
him as a gift by the ruler of Darband) and calls his son as born of Turkish women, 3) the
fact that the urban population of the area were Iranians, 4) the fact that his ancestry
predates the Seljuq takeover of the area, 5) the fact that unlike all the Turkish dynasties of
the area he has no Turkish name in his genealogy, 6) the fact that as a Western Iranian he
followed Shafi'ism where-as Turks overwhelmingly have been Hanafites, 7) and the fact
of racial and cultural differences between Iranians (Persians/Kurds) and Turkic groups at
the time are all in our opinion sufficient indicators for Nezami's fathers background.

We have not yet looked at the most important part of Nezami when analyzing his
background. That is Nezami's culture since Nezami's culture by itself proves his own
identity and background. Let us now concentrate on Nezami's culture, since scientist
today are of increasing belief that all humans come from the same origin (much like the
holy books mention Adam and Eve or in Zoroastrian text Mashi and Mashyoi) and race is
more a social construct and culture is the ultimate indicator of the a person's identity and
background.

Nizami Ganjavi's Culture

381

ijjju qJljuuijSP* JL^^> -^JJ^

One way of distinguishing which civilization Nizami Ganjavi belongs to (Turkic or
Iranian) is to simply review his culture background, folklore, myths and his cultural
orientation and contribution. Culture after all is the ultimate indicator of modern
ethnicities. We note that unlike a scientist who writes in Latin or English, a poet is
closely tied to the culture he grew up in, learns from and contributes to. Specially, if the
poet's material is based upon the culture he contributes to. With this regard, none of the
five jewels of Nizami Ganjavi have anything to do with Turkic/Oghuz civilization. These
jewels are based on Iranian cultural materials. Ultimately, Nizami's legacy is based upon
his work, as he himself has claimed so many times. It has nothing to do with his father
(who we showed was most certainly Iranian) who he lost early in his life and was raised
by his Kurdish maternal uncle. Poetry unlike scientific works or many novels is tied
eternally to the language it is composed in and language is the major difference between
various cultures.

If the only thing that justifies calling Nezami Ganjavi a "Turkic poet" rather than Iranian
poet of Iranian civilization is the wrongfully alleged (and as we showed in this article
without any basis) ethnicity of his father whom he lost very early in his life, then that
reasoning does not hold at all with regards to Nizami Ganjavi' s culture. We should note
for example that three Azerbaijani-Turkic poets were not of Oghuz father line ancestry.
That is Nasimi, Ismail I of Safavids and Shahriyar are not Azerbaijani-Turkic poets
because of their lineage but rather because of their culture.

Else both Nasimi and Shahriyar are Seyyeds which means their father line goes back to
the Prophet Muhammad, but no one would classify them as "Arab poets". The same is
true of Esmail I, the founder of Safavids, whose lineage is traced back to Shaykh Safi al-
Din Ardabili and from there to Piruz Shah Zarin Kolah the Kurd of Sanjan. Oldest
preserved manuscript about Shaykh Safi al-Din Ardabili dating prior to the Safavid
control of Iran clearly states his ancestry as Kurdish. But by no means this makes Ismail
I a "Kurdish poet". The same is true of the Russian poet Pushkin, whose father line was
Ethiopian, but no one has called him an "Ethiopian poet". However these cases are
different than Nezami since Nezami had Iranian ancestry on both sides. However, while
it is certain that Nezami Ganjavi was Iranian from both sides, it is not the reason why he
is an Iranian cultural icon and Persian poet. Nizami Ganjavi is Iranian Persian poet and
part of Iranian civilization because of culture, his impact on Persian poetry and the
untranslatable language of poetry he used. Cultural contribution is the major indicator of
the poet's heritage and why he is known universally as a Persian poet in non-political
academic writings.

Viewpoints of Navai and a perspective upon culture

In his very informative book "The Turkish State and History: Clio Meets the Grey
Wolf "(1991), Professor Speros Vyrona takes issue with history writing of some
nationalist Turkish authors who claim Iranian scientists such as Avicenna, Ghazali and

382

others as Turkic. We note that both Ghazali Tusi (same city as Ferdowsi) and Avicenna
have also very important works in Persian. Besides the fact that Avicenna has mentioned
that the only languages he knows are Persian and Arabic, and besides the fact that in one
of his works, he says that Turks and Blacks of his time, due to living in far away and
harsh climates, are far away from knowledge and logic and are meant to serve the people
of the city of knowledge:

j^ ^loiO <w>U J± Cjljul^I oLoJu^bO QJ^JuCXgjO ULjuJ jl ASLt CjuCxSl> j$ oS oljLuul ^JlS j± \LajO

jl jjjul«-juu Ajjjjo ^3y>C jl Juuo olSul </)uj|jujo Lo oS ^jvjlgjuj j^» iJu^SLoo ljuul oS JujLo^-Qj

uUj jSI 9 «CjljuUUJ V > &*j3* >:> ^ -^tH L-U-' lj °jU^ CH^ 9 ^j9Il3^° -J^LjJu ^J^juUjIS uUj

.AJJ^uJQ <U^S> uUj ul j± \-jJlSudQ QJuJ\ CjljuUuIJujO pJb J5L)±

(Llhuu ^^vlr^l Ia.-?*^ <^joLoaJ)

Thus Ibn Sina states: "In the languages we know ... in Arabic it is La-shayy .. and in
Persian it is Hich Nist". Thus if Ibn Sina knew any other languages, he would have
mentioned it.

qjuJuoJI Jj^I cloJu> v-sJ^ 0$jjuZj \Jg_& O9SU ul ^^jSzjS t[ jjj\jJ\ O^joAiej jjjuU qjo Ju\J Qj\ g»

vlljjJI JjLi t^LJU A^C p^B <^JLyioLaJI v_sviiJb ^ T_Us^ <jjuUI qjo ulS qjo dJU_X^ 9 <qJL2>laJI

L^sLiuu ul IgJI^I jJlSI v-S^JI cLaj^H^uJI /xJlsl >+£ v-SvB IgLiju qjJJI ciLocsJIj 9 tgjjJIg

JlQ^I^v-SVJO UhuU <Jjl <*S CjljuuI v_sOaX) J-^>L> .«JgJisdl 9 gyl^iiJI <\2ejS*L^> <^>Jjo\JI CUjuUO

j^ <*5 v-SOLuUL^ 9 JuulSjv_S\jO jLoouUU OJuU 9 Ju-l£ IsL^b ^S j^£k£. ul uLSLij 9 ulS^j ±).$%J

j\ JuuOv-SVJO v_SOAJj «CjljuUUJ yOuJLuU JgJLC 9 gu.>..^> c l^tJ - )S 0JJj9^ CO jlSjLuUU LSLpJujOj^-JuU

.JuljuuIjv_svjo clLdL9 ^JuO J^l CjuOJl> Qj j^jSza 9 1Jj$$ CjJLudfllS

Avicenna in the book of "The Healing: (Ash-Shifa) in Chapter 5 {Concerning the caliph
and Imam: the necessity of obeying them. Remarks on politics, transactions and morals)
states:

" ...As for the enemies of those who oppose his laws, the legislator must decree waging
war against them and destroying them, after calling on them to accept the truth. Their
property and women must be declared free for the spoil. For when such property and
women are not administered according to the constitution of the virtuous city, they will
not bring about the good for which the property and women are sought. Rather, these
would contribute to corruption and evil. Since some men have to serve others, such
people must be forced to serve the people of the just city. The same applies to people not
very capable of acquiring virtue. For these are slaves by nature as, for example, the
Turks and Zinjis and in general those who do not grow up in noble climes where the
condition for the most part are such that nations of good temperament, innate
intelligence and sound minds thrive "(Chris Brown, Terry Nardin, Nicholas J. Rengger,

383

"(International Relations in Political Thought: Texts from the Ancient Greeks to the First
World War", Published by Cambridge University Press, 2002, pg 156-157).

Despite these clear proofs, Professor Vyrona does not bother with racial argument and
puts the emphasis on culture.

Professor Vyrona states:

Even if one were to assume that all three of these philosophers had been Turks by origin
one still could not say either: (a) That their cultural heritage and proclivity were due to
their alleged ethnic affiliation. They came to know Islamic philosophy, science, medicine
within a Muslim and Arab o -Persian cultural milieu and in the Arabic language. Their
ethnicity, whatever it might or might not have been, is irrelevant in this matter; or (b),
one could not say that the particular careers of these three men within philosophy had
any effect on the mass of Turks entering the Islamic world and Anatolia in the eleventh
and twelfth centuries, since they were by and large nomads, illiterate and without any
widespread tradition of written culture in the Turkish language.

Indeed without the Sassanid civilization, an Islamic milieu would have been impossible.
Many works were translated from Pahlavi and many authors wrote scientific works in
Persian and Arabic. Yet the culture of the Oghuz/Turkic nomads had absolutely no
influence either on Nizami or the Islamic-Iranian Golden age of culture. Turkish
dynasties like the Seljuqs and Ghaznavids were rapidly Iranified.

For example:

Here one might bear in mind that non-Persian dynasties such as the Ghaznavids, Saljuqs
and Ilkhanids were rapidly to adopt the Persian language and have their origins traced
back to the ancient kings of Persia rather than to Turkish heroes or Muslim saints
(Amir-Moezzi, M.A "Shahrbanu", Encyclopaedia Iranica.).

Not a single work in Turkish was produced in Iran or Caucasus under these two and
similar Turkic dynasties up to at least the Mongol era. We have already brought examples
from Seljuqs. On the Ghaznavids one does not have to look what these scholars say
(David Christian, "A History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia", Blackwell
Publishing, 1998. pg 370: "Though Turkic in origin and, apparently in speech, Alp Tegin,
Sebuk Tegin and Mahmud were all thoroughly Persianized"). With this regard, we can
also point to one of the earliest "Turkish nationalists". That is Alisher Navai, who wrote
an interesting (from the point of view of classical Turkish nationalism although he was
not a linguist) book in order to try to prove that the "Turkish" language is superior to
Persian. The book was the last work written by Navai.

Robert Devereux (tr.), "Judgment of Two Languages; Muhakamat Al-Lughatain By Mir
c Ali Shir Nawai"; Introduction, Translation and Notes: Leiden (E.J. Brill), 1966.

"He (Nawai) found Chagatai an unrefined language of tribesmen and he left it a language
recognized and accepted as a suitable medium for literature. This contribution was not by

384

happenstance. Nawa'i was a strong Turkish patriot and nationalist, which sentiments
expressed themselves as linguistic chauvinism. As he grew older Nawa'i came to feel that
real Turkish sovereignty would arrive only when Turkish (Chagatai) was used as the state
language and when its literature was written in that idiom. His dream had perhaps not
been fully realized by the time of his death, but a good start had been made and, in later
years, thanks to his contribution, Chagatai did ascend to the heights he believed it
deserved.

In the first half, Nawa'i proclaims in extravagant terms that Turkish - he never uses the
term Chagatai - is not only a proper literary language but is actually superior to Persian
for that purpose. He then devotes the remainder of the essay to a glowing - modesty is not
one of his virtues - account of his own literary works, designed to convince the reader
that his view of the comparative merits of Turkish and Persian stemmed from a profound
knowledge of both languages and not merely from prejudice inspired by his Turkish
background. Any linguist of today who reads the essay will inevitably conclude that
Nawa'i argued his case poorly, for his principal argument is that the Turkish lexicon
contained many words for which the Persians had no exact equivalents and that Persian-
speakers had therefore to use the Turkish words. This is a weak reed on which to lean, for
it is the rare language indeed that contains no loan words. In any case, the beauty of a
language and its merit as a literary medium depend less on size of vocabulary and purity
of etymology than on the euphony, expressiveness and malleability of those words that its
lexicon does include. Moreover, even if Nawa'i' s thesis were to be accepted as valid, he
destroyed his own case by the lavish use, no doubt unknowingly, of non-Turkish words
even while ridiculing the Persians for their need to borrow Turkish words. The present
writer has not made a word count of Nawa'i' s text, but he would estimate conservatively
that at least one-half of the words used by Nawa'i in the essay are Arabic or Persian in
origin."

(Robert Devereux (tr.), "Judgment of Two Languages; Muhakamat Al-Lughatain By Mir
c Ali Shir Nawai"; Introduction, Translation and Notes: Leiden (E.J. Brill, 1966)

Thus Nawai' s book is highly nationalistic for its own time, when modern nationalism
based on the European model was not developed yet. It is really a classical form of
'Assabbiyya which the Iranian Shu'abbiyah movement can be called an example of. But
the Shu'abbiyah movement was widely popular and took many forms including
important revolts, where-as the ideas of Nawai seemed not to have the same mass appeal
during his own time.

Navai mentions:

He [Nuh] made Sam, whom they call the Father of the Persians, the ruler of the lands of
Iran and Turan, and he sent Ham, who is called the Father of the Hindus, to Hindistan.
The children of these three sons of the Prophet spread and multiplied in the places named.
The son of Yafith was the progenitor of the Turks.

Interestingly enough, Navai who was aware of Turkic folklore, differentiates between the
origin of Turks and the lands of Turan. Only in the last 100 years, by studying Avesta and

385

Pahlavi, have scholars realized that the Turanians of Shahnameh have no relation to
Turks. In words of Bosworth:

"Hence as Kowalski has pointed out, a Turcologist seeking for information in the
Shahnama on the primitive culture of the Turks would definitely be disappointed."
(Bosworth, C. E. "Barbarian Incursions: The Coming of the Turks into the Islamic
World." In Islamic Civilization . Edited by D. S. Richards. Oxford, 1973.)

This issue is also discussed in the Appendix. Navai believed adamantly in the superiority
of his language (just like many nationalists believe in the superiority of their language):
"Turkish is much superior to Persian as regards the formation of words and expressions
and contains nuances and eloquences which, God willing, shall be explained at the proper
place. "(Robert Devereux (tr.), "Judgment of Two Languages; Muhakamat Al-Lughatain,
Pg5)

Thus Navai was truly a Turkish nationalist for his day and age. Nevertheless, what is
interesting is that he considers Seljuqs of Persian ethnicity and of course he considers
Nizami/Ferdowsi and many others as Persian poets (here in the ethnic sense since he
mentions even the Seljuqs as Persian rulers).

"Then Persian rulers won independence in some climes and territories, whereupon
Persian poets appeared: Khaqani and Anwari and Kamal Isma'il and Zahir and Salman
for qasidas; Firdawsi (Master of Knowledge), Nizami (the Incomparable) and Mir
Khusraw (Sorcerer

of India) for mathnawis; and Sa'di (Inventor of Time) and Hafiz (Non-pareil of the
Century) for ghazals. All of them have already been discussed and their qualities noted,
so there is no need to extend my words, which men of learning would not find seemly.
Amongst Persian rulers also there have been great and worthy rulers and high-
ranking commanders of vast armies, such as Sultan Tughrul and Shah Shuja', who
wrote brilliant couplets and beautiful ghazals that were famous in their day and known
throughout the world. Then the land passed from the Arab and Persian rulers to Turkish
khans. From the time of Hulagu to the end of the reign of Timur and his son and
successor, Shahrukh, many Turkish poets appeared, and from amongst the sons and
grandsons of these rulers came sultans of gentle temperaments. The poets were al-
Sakkaki and Haydar Khwarazmi and Atayi and Muqimi and Amir and Yaqini and
Gadayi. But none of them was comparable to the Persian poets I have named."
(Robert Devereux (tr.), "Judgment of Two Languages; Muhakamat Al-Lughatain, pg 40-
41)

Thus for Navai, culture was the differentiating factor than possible ethnicity which had
became more convoluted as Muslims intermarried. The Seljuqs who considered
themselves descendants of Sassanid kings and adopted Persian language and married
within Iranian families were Persianized enough to be considered Persians by Navai. I
believe that the way Navai saw ethnicity in his own era is similar or the same as that of
the era of Nezami. That is ethnicity was defined by language and culture foremost.

The question of which civilization, Turkic or Iranian does Nizami Ganjavi belong to, is
really not a serious question. The answer is obvious, even if the biggest superpower like

386

the USSR tried to falsify history and attempted to detach Nizami Ganjavi from Iranian
literature and civilization. All one has to do is actually read Nizami Ganjavi, in his
original language, and read his masterpieces like Haft Paykar or Khusraw o Shirin. They
have nothing to do with Turkic civilization and are parts of the culture of Sassanid Iran,
originally expanded upon by Ferdowsi and then other later poets. Despite the obvious
answer to this simple question, we shall provide a short review of these works.

Nizami and the inheritance of Ferdowsi's throne

As we mentioned already, Nizami Ganjavi advises the son of Shirwanshah to read the
Shahnameh, has praised Ferdowsi, has used Shahnameh as his main source for different
romantic epics, considered himself as successor to Ferdowsi and according to some
scholars: "it seems that Nizami 's favorite pastime was reading Firdawsi's monumental
epic Shahnameh (The book 6>/^mgs)"(Chelkowsi).

Nezami Ganjavi has taken verses from the Shahnameh as well or has slightly modified
them. For a famous example:

lS^JljuoSJ I j^ CjljuuI {JjSJ 9^ 9^>

L _$y9j ^jvJLjuULQi C U> jib lSI i^s^ yojljj
^JVJ^J ^jVJLjuULQi ci^ejl JuuLjuuuJ CLcxi^

Nizami Ganjavi considered himself a successor and inheritor of Ferdowsi:

387

yj$$ olS 9^ jl jLcxjJu Cjj\$ 9^

QJSuuU j^ IjjO 9 bauuu j^ Ij 9J
Cjljuul^j JljuuU O^bb ^ ^jvjolg <\j

CjljuUj^ Jul vl»jl9 jl Cj}\$ ij&>
Cjl&Su <jjoS OL^cJI OS p\<MS& Ol QJO

vIjlQ-pJ ul£u j^J Ol ^ q5 ul 9J

The meaning of these four verses is as follows.

From the wine cup ofNizami, take a cup and drink in the manner of the Kayanid
(Achaemenid) Kings. Listen to these eloquent words which refresh the memory of
Ferdowsi. Seek the rights ofFerdowsifrom Mahmud, and give it to me (Nizami), since I
am the inheritor of Ferdowsi and you are the inheritor of Mahmud. And what Mahmud
has not given to Ferdowsi, his successor will give to the successor of Ferdowsi.

A relatively Turkic nationalist view is mentioned here:
http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ail42 folder/142 articles/142 koroghlu

why.html
(Betty Blair, Why Hajibeyov wrote the Opera Koroghlu, Azerbaijan International,
Summer 2006)

(i The original opera had been based on "Kaveh, the Blacksmith". However, such a plot
would absolutely have jeopardized their lives. First of all, it was based on a foreign tale:
Kaveh was a mythical figure of ancient Persia, memorialized by 10th century Ferdowsi in
Persian verse in the u Shahnameh " (Book of the Kings) "

Thus the Shahnameh in reality has nothing to do with Turkic civilization and it is
considered a foreign tale for Turkic-minded nationalists. Turkish folklore, like Oghuz-
Nama, Dede Qorqod and etc., has no relationship with the Shahnameh. The Shahnameh
is a statement of Iranian patriotism, a product of the Shu'ubbiya movement and a
testament of Iranian civilization. It glorifies Iran and it is centered on Iran. The epics of
Shahnameh are grounded in the Iranian civilization and are obviously not part of Turkic-
Oghuz culture. Indeed after the era of modern Turkic nationalism, many Turkish
nationalists looked towards the Shahnameh with enmity. Among them, one can mention
the Varliq magazine which has many times criticized Ferdowsi while attempting to
detach Nizami Ganjavi from Iranian civilization and attach him into Turkic civilization.
Or one can simply check recent pictures where some Persian books were burned by some
pro-Turkist nationalists in Iran. This author believes that any sort of ethnic nationalism is
very dangerous, where-as feeling of patriotism on the style of George Washington is
defensive. Ferdowsi' s Shahnameh was also defensive and patriotic in the sense that for
him, Iran was being overrun by non-Iranian invaders.

Nizami Ganjavi also is completely influenced and absorbed by the Shahnameh. There is
absolutely no mention of any Turkic folklore or tales by Nizami Ganjavi. He has
mentioned Ferdowsi and his Shahnameh in four of his five books/stories.

\ijjjj^jj 9 9>-»aJ> JJx&Sjj j_Lil

388

CjljuJ^^P £jJO OLuUUjI ,J^juULC CjUJO

^jOlSjJj (jloLi^l Cju£Lj>Jj j^ ^>

^jOl^^- CjljuUUuJ jl jjjJ^U9l OuJl>-

jJjJJuljuUU Juol CjljuUUuJ CO j^> ^JvJLjuULC CJj

( jjjJuuo^9_juj JuoLj <jJLftS jjj^uuj

jlcl jl CjlgS lib c^^ /xJLfiii

jb lj cuaS o>J^ CjLJuUL tS' C>9 ^

Nizami calls Ferdowsi, sage (Hakim) and Daanaa (wise, the knowledgeable). He also
mentions that since Ferdowsi was in his sixties, he did not expand upon the romantic
nature of the story (since at that age romance did not suit him), where-as Nizami will
expand upon it. Khusraw the Sassanid King and his Christian wife Shirin (note the
monotheism of Shirin throughout the whole story as well as the fact that the historical
Shirin was a Christian) have no relationship with Turkish folklore and culture. Nizami
Ganjavi mentions:

CjljuUUJ Olpj QJjjljuJ 9 9 - >-juUL> CjU_)L>

uljLjujb ,Jpdl jJujjjLjjj ulj9

Thus Nizami Ganjavi considers the story of Khusraw and Shirin to be the sweetest story
he knows. If Nizami Ganjavi had derived any influence from Turkic civilization, he
would have chosen one of his stories based on themes of that civilization. But as we see,
this was not so and he considers the Iranian folkloric story of Khusraw and Shirin to be
the most beloved story of his civilization. He chose a Sassanid based story and he has
given us great detail about Iran's ancient culture.

In his Eskandarnama, Nizami again mentions Ferdowsi:

^jLftS cUjljJuuu <3bb < 3szj\ *S$5Lo

CjlQ-juJ ^Ij9_juJ 9^ JuLjijU j± j± <l5

We note again, Nizami uses the term "Daanaa" (Wise, knowledgeable) for Ferdowsi.
And again he mentions Ferdowsi as the "great wise discourse-writer who decorated
words like a new bride".

CJLJUJ9I p\j> j± co* lJ^ <-S9>j«juc> Ol jl

ijjjqjo LSub cLJl^juuuj iScpJdfc-juu

U jj^j£. U9^> o^*-*^ ^S^J ^J-^ljl °&

Julj cuAjuj >^9^ ulS cloU ul j±

JuLo CULftSU ^S\^juuJS ^JOuUU

uLljujU jl ^JuJljJuu <\J> jSb jS\

uljLjujb <3Juol j\j± ^jvJLftSu

^9-u [ JjjjjAj. V-^j c ^ e Jl ^J-ft^J

^9-u jjjj^jS ^9 jS CjLftS uLcx^

±j$ cjj OLjuJ9^ ^j jl .p^

^j^> CjljuuuLJuu IgJJ cu l9Jb> co*

JuljJjS jsb£ cliLaJjj j± Q$ ^jvjoLbu

389

±j£ ojb 9_)u 1^ \j$S ^j.-^>

As previously mentioned, according to Professor Chelkowsi:
It seems that Nizami's favorite pastime was reading Firdawsi's monumental epic
Shahnameh (The book of Kings). Firdawsi's treatment of Alexander in this great heroic
poem was by no means negligible, but in Nizami's opinion it was not complete and he
wanted to write a poetic supplement to it. After several years of research he gave up this
idea and decided that the subject called for a new and independent work. He still,
however, acknowledged his indebtedness to his great master, Firdawsi, and considered
himself a respectful follower of that literary pioneer. He, therefore, chose for the book of
Alexander one heroic epic verse known as Mutaqarib, which Firdawsi employed in his
Shahnameh. (Chelkowski, P. "Nizami's Iskandarnameh:"in Colloquio sul poeta
persiano Nizami e la leggenda iranica di Alessandro magno, Roma, 1977).

In the Haft Paykar, again Nizami mentions Ferdowsi and praises him:

CjLJuUlifcJ OJuljuJj ^JV^JuUUAjl ^Sj\S>

^p ^jviid Ojjj J^J ulj OJuLo
^j5 l5jj^> <^>\jS ulj ^jSj jjfc

Translation:

All chronicles of king of yore

Were gathered in one book lore

Already one of the keenest minds

Had ordered its verse refined

From that, some Ruby dust remained

Shards from which others sometimes feigned

Finally in the Layli o Majnoon, despite its Arabic origin (although the story has been
mentioned since the time of Rudaki in Persian), Nizami Ganjavi again alludes to the
Shahnameh:

After paying homage to the son of Shirvanshah,

"the relationship between Shirwanshah and his son, Manuchihr, is mentioned in chapter
eight. Nizami advises the king's son to read Firdausi's Shahnama and to remember the
pithy sayings of the wise. Nizami overtly refers to the didactic aspect of his poem. He
promises the prince that in his poem there is a "treasure concealed in a casket." He

390

considers the poem as his daughter, a beautiful maiden, whom he presents to the royal
family. He adds that even if the prince does not have any regard for her father, he might
look with kindness on her brother, that is, on Nizami' s son. In this subtle way, Nizami not
only entrusts his son to prince Manuchihr, he also draws the prince's attention to the
poem's didactic nature".

(Seyed-Gohrab, Ali Asghar, Layli and Majnun: Madness and Mystic Longing , Brill
Studies in Middle Eastern literature, Jun 2003, pg 276).

The only other work which Nizami Ganjavi does not mention Ferdowsi has ample
enough stories about ancient Persian Kings, and uses Shahnameh imagery and also
Nizami Ganjavi mentions the Persian poet Sanai in it.

According to Peter Chelkowsi:

He was looking for universal justice, and is trying to protect the poor and humble people
and to put under scrutiny the excesses of the powerful of the world. The guidelines for
people in the poem are accompanied by warnings of the transitory nature of life.
Makhzan al-Asrar is an emulation of Sanai 's Hadikat al-Hakika, and Nizami
acknowledges this but stresses his own superiority. The similarities between Sanai 's
poem and Nizami 's are in the ethico-philosophical genre, but Nizami used a different
metre and organised the whole poem in a different way.
(Encyclopedia of Islam, "Nizami ", P. Chelkowski).

Among the multitude of references and symbolism from the Shahnameh, one can
mention the more famous characters and concepts of the Shahnameh. For example:

Farr(*j*),

For example on Farr, the eminent Professor Gheraldo Gnoli writes:

"FARR(AH),X V AR3NAH, literally, "glory," according to the most likely etymology
and the semantic function reconstructed from its occurrence in various contexts and
phases of the Iranian languages. In all Iranian dialects the form had initial/-, except
Avestan and Pahlavi, in which we find initial x v - (hu-): x v ar9nah- and xwarrah (cf. NPers.
korra, below).
(Encyclopedia Iranica, "Farr(ah)", Gherado Gnoli)

Each of these names and concepts has a deeply rooted historical or philosophical
meaning in Iranian civilization and are mentioned in Nezami's work:

Simorgh (Mythical Iranian bird mentioned in A vesta),

Rustam (The most famous Iranian Hero in Shahnameh) ,
Fariborz (The son of Rustam)

Darafsh Kawiyaani (The flag of Kaveh, symbol of Iranian nation),
Fereydun(legendary ancestor of Iranians),
Anushirawan (Famous Sassanid King),

Esfandyaar (Great legendary Hero of Avesta and Shahnameh, see also the section
under Nezami's mother where we delved into a verse of Nezami),

Zand/A vesta (Zoroastrian holy texts attributed to Zoroaster),

391

Zahak (Bivarasb the villian in Shahnameh),
Zardosht(Prophet),
Siyavash(Iranian Martyr),

Sikandar( Alexander mentioned extensively in the Shahnameh),
Siamak (The son of Kayumarth who was killed by Deamons/Divs) ,
Div ("Demons"),

Bahram Gur (celebrated Sassanid King),
Bahram Chubin (Celebrated Sassanid General),

Afrasiyab (Famous villain in the Shahnameh of Turanian origin (an Iranian tribe),
he is also mentioned in the A vesta),

Zaal (the father of Rustam who was abandoned by Saam but saved by the Simorgh
and later on reclaimed by Saam),
Saam(the Father of Zaal),

Shirin (Armenian/Christian princess according to later poets but also mentioned in
the Shahnameh as a beloved of Khusraw and a historical figure in Sassanid court),
Farhad (a legend both in the Shahnameh and in Iranian history from the Sassanid
time who falls in love with Shirin),
Kayanids (Royal Iranian dynasty),
Parviz(victorious and another name of Khusraw),

Nard (Backgammon whose history is given in the Shahnameh and is considered to
be of Iranian origin),
Magi (Zoroastrian Priest),
Kisra/Khusraw (Sassanid Kings),

Kayumarth(the Adam of Zoroastrianism and the first King in Shahnameh),
Kay-Qubad (first Kayanid King),

Kay-Khusraw(great mystic/hero/king of the Shahnameh),
Kay-Kavus(father of Siyavash and a Kayanid King),
Jamshid(great mythical King in the Shahnameh and Zoroastrian texts),
Iraj (Father of Iranians in Shahnameh and one of the sons of Fereydun.),
Giv(a famous hero in the Shahnameh),
Gushtasp(famous hero and legendary ancestor of Rustam),
Dehqan (Iranian),

Darius/Dara (name of several Kayanid/Achaemenid kings),
Bistun(the famous point in Kermanshah),

Bahman (Zoroastrian and Shahnameh King and son of Esfandyar),
Artang (the art work of Mani), Ardeshir Babakan (founder of Sassanids),
Arash (famous Iranian Hero and archer who gave up life for Iran),
Barbad (famous Sassanid musician),
Nakisa (famous Sassanid musician),

Kalila o Demna (famous stories brought by the Vizir of Anushirawan from India
and expanded by Persian stories).

Indeed, without the Shahnameh and its symbolism, one would simply not understand the
poetry of Nizami Ganjavi. Neither would there have been a Nizami Ganjavi without
previous Persian poets like Ferdowsi, Khaqani, Sanai, Asadi Tusi and etc. It is clear that

392

Nizami continued upon the traditions of Iranian civilization and culture. Besides his
praise of the Shahnameh and Ferdowsi, an important note should be mentioned with
regards to the general view of the Shahnameh at the time. The Shahnameh among
religious orthodox Muslims, even of Iranian background, was sometimes belittled due to
it being in praise of Iranian-Zoroastrian lore.

In the next section, we point to the fact that Nizami Ganjavi is criticized by his friend for
reviving the stories of Zoroastrians. As Professor Julia Meysami has pointed out:
"The Haft Paykar blends historical and legendary materials concerning the pre-Islamic
Iranian past with the Islamic beliefs of esoteric symbolism. Over a century earlier,
Firdawsi had in his Shahnama ('Book of Kings'; c 1010) chronicled the history of Iranian
monarchy from its mythical beginnings to the defeat of the Sassanians by the Muslim
Arabs in 637, incorporating materials drawn from popular legend and saga as well as
panegyrics in which he presented the poem's dedicatee, Mahmud of Ghazna (r. 997-
1030), as embodying both Iranian and Islamic kingship. But Mahmud received the work
coolly; and both historians and panegyrists of this and early Seljuk period speak
slightingly of the 'false' and fabulous history represented by the Shahnama. Nizami both
recuperates and reworks Firdawsi' s treatment of the Iranian past to create a different sort
of poem, one that reflects the concern of his age."
(Haft Paykar by Julia Meysami pg XXIII).

Indeed Ferdowsi was not buried in a Muslim cemetery on the account of being a Shi'i
(Rafidhi), composing Zoroastrian stories and praising Zoroastrians. The Muslim Imam
according to the popular folklore refused to say prayer on his dead body before his burial
when he passed away. Some Sunni and even Shi'i (despite Ferdowsi being Shi'i)
authorities considered his book which was based on the Irano-Zoroastrian culture as the
false stories of Zoroastrians, without use and something to be avoided.

±j$x> tOSjZ u\^jjS jjiuuljLjuJ sS^joX ciS J-J^ o^' °^ Ij <*S^*JS±j9 <v_s\jljuj 9 QS2±jjJ uLoJLc jl lSjLjuuu I&ASLj

sS^^fc 708 JLjj _p v_soJjIS ^> JuUL:>, <3+jjj -s5jju 9 _u9 gujfc O9JU jCjljujI oI^jI oI^jI 9I LSl^j.jj^b j\jS Cjuo\Lo

I kLksS OjU <Jjl j±

ul^ifcjo jb*jo o^oQ >juoj LS\
ul GJul£> j j-bdl j-bdl

cLob <1jS fjjj ^9j qS ^U
\J\j pJLjuJj CjuJO v-SvJ^S Juu>

Jb*jo £9^ 0^9_£jj 9 <*-jSz}
gIj^jljujI J^l 9 o\jjS ^S

GuloJLuuuo jj 9J v.sOlcp* _)Uu>

Despite the fact that there is no doubt today that Ferdowsi was a Muslim, he was
chastised severely for revival of Zoroastrian/Iranian/Sassanid stories which today forms
the major pillar of the Iranian identity. With this regard, Nizami Ganjavi advises others
to read the Shahnameh, has praised the Shahnameh, has praised Ferdowsi and has
considered himself a successor of Ferdowsi. Thus the deep connection between Nizami
Ganjavi 's culture/work and the Shahnameh/Ferdowsi again puts Nizami Ganjavi squarely

393

in the Iranian cultural world and not in the Turco-Oghuz cultural world. Indeed one feels
Ferdowsi had people like Nizami in mind when he stated:

±y> U ±j&> jJul <^> jib 9I jl

Cultural Content of the works of Nizami Ganjavi

Although the cultural content of Nizami Ganjavi's work is well known to its readers in
the original Persian, it is sufficient to briefly review them to show again that they are part
of the Iranian cultural world. Besides his Ghazals and other form of poetry which are all
in Persian, Nizami Ganjavi is mainly known for his five epics. Indeed one of the
arguments for those who try to appropriate Nizami Ganjavi to Turkish civilization is that
the Persian language was a custom of the day. Although there is absolutely nothing to
connect Nizami Ganjavi directly to Turkish civilization with the exception of the fact that
some proponents of such theory misinterpret some verses in order to show that Nizami
Ganjavi's father, whom Nizami was orphaned from, "might have been possibly Turkic".

This is indeed a very weak argument and we have already shown that Nizami Ganjavi's
ancestors from both sides were most likely Iranian. They also forget that none of the story
of Nizami Ganjavi's stories had anything to do with Turkish culture/civilization. They are
part of the Iranian culture and civilization came about through Iranian civilization/culture
(Nizami being influenced greatly by previous Persian poets) and thus Nizami Ganjavi not
only wrote in Persian, but also popularized Persian culture. He coined many new Persian
phrases which again show his fundamental contribution to the Iranian civilization. Thus
the case of Nizami Ganjavi cannot be compared to say someone like Einstein who is of
Jewish background but wrote his scientific papers in English or German. Nizami Ganjavi
is alive through his poetry, which is alive through the Persian language.

He explicitly mentions that what is left from humans is Sokhan (discourses/words) and
all these discourses are in Persian and tied with Persian literature and mythology. In other
words, Nizami Ganjavi would not exist without the Persian language. A scientific paper
can be translated to any language, but poetry is tied and dependent on the language.
Actually if there was no Einstein, another person would have eventually discovered
relativity. But the poetry of Nizami Ganjavi was not just any poetry, it was Persian epic
poetry in the sense that the stories and themes expounded upon by Nizami Ganjavi were
from Iranian civilization. And poetry from a seminal poet will not be repeated again. No
one would say that the theory of relatively comes from English civilization. It is a
scientific theory, which can be explained in any language. But the stories of Nizami
Ganjavi are directly from Iranian civilization, Persian folklore and based upon the
predecessors of Nizami who were also Iranians (Ferdowsi, Sanai, Gorgani, Khaqani and
Asadi Tusi) and part of the Iranian civilization.

394

The first work of Nizami Ganjavi is a moral/ethical work called the Makhzan al-Asrar
(Treasury of Secrets) and it was inspired by another great Persian poet: Sanai.
The poems in Makhzan al-Asrar (The Treasury of Secrets) (570/ 1 174-5) are mystic-
didactic and an artistic imitation of Sana'i's Hadiqat al-Haqiqa (=Garden of Truth)
(Gohrab, Layli and Majnun: Love, Madness and Mystic Longing).

According to Professor Chelkowsi:

To Nizami, truth was the very essence of poetry. On this principle, he attacks the court
poets who sell their integrity and talents for earthly returns. The Islamic law served as the
loom on which the philosophy of his Makhzan al-Asrar was woven in intricate patterns.
He was looking for universal justice, and is trying to protect the poor and humble people
and to put under scrutiny the excesses of the powerful of the world. The guidelines for
people in the poem are accompanied by warnings of the transitory nature of life.
Makhzan al-Asrar is an emulation of Sanai' s Hadikat al-Hakika, and Nizami
acknowledges this but stresses his own superiority. The similarities between Sanai' s
poem and Nizami 's are in the ethico-philosophical genre, but Nizami used a different
metre and organised the whole poem in a different way.
(Nizami Ganjavi in Encyclopedia of Islam)

Thus Nizami Ganjavi' s first work is a continuation of the Persian tradition established by
his predecessors. Indeed a culture/civilization does not produce Nizami Ganjavi or Sanai
or etc. overnight. Nizami Ganjavi builds upon the stories of the civilization he belongs to,
is inspired by the poetic forms of previous Persian poets and offers his own genius for the
next generation to build upon.

The next great epic poem of Nizami Ganjavi was Khusraw o Shirin. This, according to
many, alongside the Haft Paykar, is Nizami Ganjavi' s greatest masterpiece. Nizami
Ganjavi considers the story of Khusraw and Shirin as the sweetest story that existed in
the world and according to him, no story is sweeter than this story:

CjljuUUJ OLpJ QJjjljuJ 9 $j-iuJu> CjU_)l>
CjljuUUJ OLLajuI^ ,Jp*JI jjuJjj^juJ Olj9

Indeed, Nizami Ganjavi chose the story himself (unlike Layli o Majnoon where the poet
complains of the stories foreignness) (Rypka: 'When the Iraqi Saljuq Toghril II
requested a love epic from the poet without specifying the subject further, Nizami picked
on the story of lovers Khusraw o Shirin, a theme set in his own region and based on at
least partly historical facts, through an aura of legend already surrounded if'). By
choosing this Iranian story from his own Iranian culture and civilization, Nizami Ganjavi
clearly shows that he is a part of the Iranian civilization and hundreds of Stalins can't
change the course of history (a lie will eventually vanish, even if it takes one thousand
years or more). The story is a well known part of Sassanid folklore. Shirin was a
Christian princess (some sources mention her as Armenian and others Aramean) who in
the Khusraw o Shirin of Nizami also has Christian virtues (No intercourse before
marriage, monotheism and etc). Nizami Ganjavi, as mentioned already, alludes to the

395

Shahnameh and Ferdowsi in this work. One of his friends chastises him for reviving
Zoroastrianism by writing Khusraw o Shirin. The critique tells Nizami Ganjavi:

His friend tells Nizami:

Speak of the unity of God, which thou are well known for,

Why have you renewed the customs of the magians,

The people who appreciate words would consider your heart to be dead,

Although those that read the Zoroastrian texts would consider it alive

Nezami answer the critique, by reading some of the poem and his friend was intoxicated
by the beauty of the poem. The fact that the story is a Persian-Zoroastrian story is well
known and again falls within the realm of the Iranian civilization and culture. The story
might have upset some very orthodox Muslim (although Nizami like Ferdowsi was a
Muslim but he also appreciated his pre-Islamic Iranian heritage), but Nizami persevered
just like Ferdowsi.

Nizami also praises Zoroastrian sense of justice and virtue and abhors the lack of
justice/virtue in his own time:

Jjjj^jjj <^>\jB Juu j

<3jLuu ^Lxil ul 9 J_)lC ul b*S

<Sj\j <JSj uLuj ,jjI jl ^JjjB b co*

pj$i UUC> JUuJ ^jOLjuJ^jJ 1 jjUuI j ulg_>

Pj-vJ \jJ ^jOLoJLuuuo <jjj bu CO

CjljujI p\j jjS 9I Lo puJ LoJLuUUO
GjljujI ^oljO ^jO LoJLuUUO <-S>p <Jjl >S

ju 9_juj cuLuulSI^^-juj jj ^jvjoUoj
3I3I Juol £ub \j Juu £>x> Q$

He writes

"Look at the politics/governance of the past,
And the justice that did not even escape the beloved son of King.
Nowadays, if they spill the blood of hundred poor people,
no justice will be met.

What happened to the justice and virtue of those Sassanid Kings?
The World became so warm (full of justice/prosperous) from the fire -worshippers,
That thou should be ashamed of this Islam.
We are Muslims and they Zoroastrians.
But if they are Zoroastrians, then what is a Muslim?
Oh Nezami go back to telling myth/stories

396

Since Bird of Advice has a bitter song"

In other words, Nizami Ganjavi is saying that the Zoroastrians had followed the true
ideals of Islam. These are strong words, even in the modern Islamic Republic of Iran, let
alone 800 years ago. Once again we sense the feeling and appreciation that Nizami
Ganjavi had for his pre-Islamic Iranian heritage. For example, Barbad is a famous
musician of the Sassanid era and the stuff of legends. Nizami Ganjavi has done a great
service by mentioning the thirty airs composed by Barbad.

According to the late Tafazzoli:

Barbad was a poet-musician of panegyric as well as elegy. He used to compose verses
and sing them to his own accompaniment on various occasions, e.g., in the great Iranian
festivals, especially Nowruz and Mehragan, at state banquets, etc. He also versified
victories and current events. He is related to have composed, at the request of the
workmen, a melody called Bagh-e-Nakhjiran "garden of the game" on the occasion of the
completion of the great gardens at Qasr-e Shirin. Nezami (Khosrow o Shirin, pp. 190-94)
mentions the name of the thirty airs composed by Barbad for each day of the month.
(Tafazzoli, Ahmad. "Barbad"in Encyclopedia Iranica).

Here is a sample of that portion:

(iS$ s* j£ \suolhJ yjjjuuJ $ $juu4> uLuu/h j± Xfjb ijzd \s^juj)

Cjljuuuo J-Jj 0§2r. JujU Juol j±

jLuJ j± $$J \j 9I Q$ OLljuJ^ _L^> j

ijjj^j Ocp>r O-^ l^-*^ Olju ^^OCfcJ ^jvj j

ui»9^ i^sjuljuuu <& 9 <3^b J^ ^s^S
-^9! :>U q& J9I-

iSAj\j ^9! ±\j Q& jl ±[j$Z>

<3jjLuul9 i^szjS jjjuuJ lS^U jjb j

- 9I5 guS p$±-

^uljujI^j ^5^^ \j 9IS guS 9^>

guS /x& 9 9IS pJb 0+°J ^-SJuLuoSl^jj

— c lJL>9_»jJ £tlo jo$-uj-

o\j ^5\Jl>Ljj 0§2* cu>9_*jj guS j

ol \j £uS _L^ ^_5vjL>9_juj ^^vjo^p j

Juj^^jO O^j^Ljj pjV^y-

kS^SLjuJ JJj\^jX> CO ^JJiS [JjJuJ

kS±£ jLuj ^jouuujJJlb Cju^J 9^>
\SSj5 jb _p l^slb jl CjljJxjj

~^sSjj$\ 9 L _50uJ99U p> i Q fr> 9 ^/O^juUUuJ-

jLuj <3^j ^J^^l 9 t_S^-*j^99li 9^
3I3 1 jl <jjj99U 0$2* *Sj$j\ <3Jl_*Jj

397

^5^b jjjj^j \j 9I <3\IIS ^SLjJj
j$jS\ ijuuubfcjo j$jj>jJ ^jJjS 9^

~JJ±JUJ J$ j-*- JUU ' J&^^j-*-*^ -

iSJujo^ ^>j Oj-ljuj ^jj ^y j
<Sjj jl 9 ^09^ jl guS J-ft9 <3^Lii£

-OULjuJ9 - )-juJ ^O^^jJU -

l _50Ljuj_xS u ULjuj9^-juj OuLajj^ ^>j 93*

^_S^I^ jLuj lj ^jv-p-juj 9>juj >S 9
<3^b jb ii> 09^ <\j jjl»9 -H uj ^sv-p-juu

^JVJLjuUlSLjuJ <Jj*juJ9J O^U j\j^>

-ub> <juUUolj /x^Jj^j^-

CUI9J lj ub> ^huuoIj iS±j5 9^>

cuLoj lS^>S Ia9 ub> JJjjo\j j

-JSJ& jL^ L< 39^ jli /x^^j9J-

j9j9-J jli «-SJl^juulS O^j j^ 93*

j9j ul CjJ9^ ^jvjLjuuuuuu <3j9j9j cu

-CI mS iVi n OuLjuUUU -

^jJLo V-SljuUUO ^^^ c U9SljulJUO jJ $Z>

^jJb* vijuUUO^jJ <3JljuJ 9SljuUUO cLcx^

-^^OlS^j-pjO ;OvSu 9 CjljuULU -

^jOlS^gjo L5I9J lS^>S 9J 9^>
^jOb^gjo jl ,Jyb>- ^9^ **S±j-lJ

~<SjJ kS\$j£> >09^ 9 CjljuUUJ -

JI9 ^jOl>IjjI «^Lj ^19^ jj ^>

JLuJ ul ^^^ <3Juol vij cuxii

- jjJuljuJ OQ_juJ Q *■" * ■■'■'"
^JuljuJ Olj ^jVJiS^p ^>J JjljuJ j^ §Z>

jju> k^jSj i3\S>\ cdLoJ> <^SJJJl_*Jj

~(^j$ JjljuJ ^OjLpj> 9 CjljuULU -
<3JuJJ jjjoS ^^jljJj jJ6AJJ>jS ul jl

^^S 01 -^ JSJ tj9 ^U U^-)^ 9^

398

~^Sj^ *^-£ C '-^C /^juuuuj 9
~U^ j 9tH ,jJ Ot~ < puLjuULd> 9 v — IlJuJl **!~

jU kS±jJJ 9J £^1 ,JjS Ij ulgj>
jU^p-JuJ \j {jJj+juJ £u l3^p 9^>

jjSj\ (jdUUolj uLuuuuJu ^jvJl&lc^J

CjJS 3j j\j jS> AJj\j CjLftSu

GjloS Oj jUJb^ v jjJ9 - >-juUL> Ouj

j9ju0 j_)U Ol /XjuJj Ju OUu>

j$j ul Cjl^I^Ju 9I <^ 6±jj. jjb <\j

j9j ul CjL^I^j j±± kS^xj$ v-SJLo

^jvjI^J ^j ^>j 9I cvS 0^ ^ <\j

^j\j3 j£>$S jl ^ jjjj^I^ ^SJLo

^OLjuJ^ <\j QJjj ^_S^j lJ v -*-^ lJ^J
JuJuljuuu CU ^jjj ^- , - M u u9-^ u-!.P
JuJuu ^9 u^S cb <jjuo^juuu i_?£>j

jljuuj O-^p jl Ojjib ^\j^>

J9^ ^ OJU^ \j gX)i ^SJuljuJ^ cu

j9joI _p i*S^\jj$ OjkS <jjo 0£3> j
^jJbLjuJ cb /)Ju^uuc^j £u5 <jjJuJ> ciS

/>±j£ CjljujIj \j <JJ>UuJ ^Sj-! **->

/>±j£ CjljujI^j^ ,jjo cU 9 ^b 9I QJ
\j Olpj> ^O^^ jJ ClS ,jjUU ^jjI I^X)

\j OlS 9 Uj^ /)Juuj Cjucxaj ,^9

These provide invaluable data on ancient Iranian music. Thus Nezami's poetry is
invaluable for the study of the history of Persian/Iranian music.

According to Peter Chelkowsi:

Khusraw wa Shirin is the second poem of Nizami's Khamsa and the first of his romantic

epics. Its protagonists are Khusraw II (590-628), the last great Sasanid monarch, known

399

as Parwiz [q.v.], the Victorious, and his mistress Shirin. Their love was recorded by many
subsequent Islamic writers, and Firdawsi devoted more than 4,000 couplets to Khusraw
IPs reign in his Shah-nama. It was Nizami, however, who gave the story a real structural
unity. Infusing it with his own profound experience of love and expanding it with his
thoughts on religion, philosophy, and government, he created a romance of great
dramatic intensity. The story has a constant forward drive with exposition, challenge,
mystery, crisis, climax, resolution, and finally, catastrophe. The action increases in
complexity as the protagonists face mounting complications. Khusraw and Shirin are not
able to meet for a long time, despite their untiring efforts and the help of their confidant.
Then, after they do meet, they are forced apart by the political marriage of Khusraw and
Maryam. When Khusraw promises Shirin to Farhad as a prize for completing a feat of
daring and endurance, the story nearly comes to a premature conclusion.

After the death of Maryam and the murder-suicide of Farhad, it seems that all obstacles
are removed and the lovers will be united. But Nizami introduces an affair between
Khusraw and a girl from Isfahan that further complicates and delays his union with
Shirin. Finally, on the lovers' wedding night, Nizami creates a bizarre episode, a
humorous entr'acte that gives the reader or listener a chance to take a deep breath before
the epic's tragic climax. Khusraw gets drunk and Shirin replaces her presence in the
nuptial chamber with that of a knotty, wizened old crone. Through these dramatic
devices, Nizami makes a powerful commentary on human behaviour.

Nizami 's deep understanding of women is strongly expressed in Khusraw wa Shirin .
Shirin is the central character and there is no question that she is a poetic tribute to
Nizami' s wife Afak. She is well educated, independent, fearless, resourceful,
imaginative, erotic and humorous. Her loyalty knows no bounds. That she is a queen
rather than a commoner, as is the case in Firdawsi 's Shah-nama, gives the story a stately
quality. Her association with Armenia is, perhaps, a reflection of its geographical
proximity to Gandja, and she is, like the Byzantine Maryam, a Christian; Nizami was a
pious Muslim, but he tolerated and respected other religions.

Shirin' s sense of justice is so great that she forswears Khusraw' s love until he should
regain his throne, thus fulfilling his responsibility to his people. Even after they are
married, she continues to exert a strong influence on Khusraw, educating him as always
through example and love; as a result, the country flourished, justice was observed and
strengthened, and science, religion and philosophy thrived.

The tension between the strength of Shirin and the weakness of Khusraw is enhanced
dramatically by Nizami' s tight control of plot and setting, and in his development of the
towering figure of Farhad. Episodes of meeting and of missing, of searching and of
waiting, are richly entwined with scenes of the barren desert and of luxurious court life;
asceticism vies with sensuality.

Nizami' s use of allegories, parables and words with double meaning raised the Persian
language to a new height. The poem is written in the light, flowing, graceful hazadj

400

musaddas maksur metre, deliberately imitating that used by Gurgani in Vis u Ramin.
There are about 6,500 couplets.
(Encyclopedia of Islam, "Nizami Ganjavi").

Professor. Dick Davis also mentions this point about Vis o Ramin:

The poem (Vis o Ramin) had an immense influence on Nezami, who takes the bases for
most of his plots from Ferdowsi but the basis for his rhetoric from Gorgani. This is
especially noticeable in his Khusraw o Shirin, which imitates a major scene (that of the
lovers arguing in the snow) from Vis o Ramin, as well as being in the same meter (hazaj)
as Gorgani's poem. Nezami's concern with astrology also has a precedent in an elaborate
astrological description of the night sky in Vis o Ramin. Given Nezami's own paramount
influence on the romance tradition, Gorgani can be said to have initiated much of the
distinctive rhetoric and poetic atmosphere of this tradition, with the exception of its Sufi
preoccupations, which are quite absent from his poem.
(Encyclopedia Iranica, "Vis o Ramin")

Thus Nizami Ganjavi is greatly influenced by the Shahnameh and Vis u Ramin. The story
of Khusraw and Shirin is part of the Iranian-Zoroastrian lore and is not related to the
Turkic-Oghuz civilization. Nizami Ganjavi also does not mention any Turkic sources for
this work. Thus this story like that of Makhzan al-Asrar is part and parcel of Iranian
civilization and from there, it has influenced many neighboring people. The story of
Khusraw o Shirin and Farhad today is probably the most prevalent amongst Kurds.

The story of Layli and Majnoon, although originally of Arabic origin, was well known to
Persian poets and Persian versions of the story would have existed(it was as mentioned
king of stories by Nizami through the mouth the Shirvanshah). For example Rudaki, one
of the earliest Persian poets:

(See Zanjani for this verse from Rudaki)

According to Ali Asghar Seyed-Gohrab, who has written a detailed study of Layli o
Majnoon:

Compared to Nizami' s other romances, the textual organization of Layli and Majnun is
not very complicated. Prior to Nizami' s era, the legend of Majnun circulated in anecdotal
forms. It was Nizami who threaded the scattered pearls of anecdotes about Majnun' s love
and made a solid narrative of it. Nizami Persianises the legend by adding certain Persian
elements to it. Persian romances are almost always about royal personages, and people
from other social ranks are simple and shadowy characters in the plot. As in a Persian
romance, the narrator in Layil and Majnun portrays the lovers as royal personalities; he
civilizes the plot of this Bedouin legend to suit the taste and temperament of his Persian
reader. Unlike the Arabic sources in which Majnun meets Layli in the desert amongst the
camels, in Nizami' s poem, he meets Layli at school. Nizami integrates many anecdotes
and several details of the Arabic legend into his romance.

401

(Ali Asghar Seyed-Gohrab, Madness and Mystic Longing, 56).

If Nizami's reference to the dihqan as a source is taken at face value, that is, that a dihqan
really reported the story to him, it indicates the popularity of the legend of Majnun in the
Iranian world. Several references to the legend can be found in Persian literary works
before Nizami. A.H. Zarrinkub does not exclude the possibility of a Persian source, yet
he rightly maintains that the authority behind the source cannot be identified.
(Ali Asghar Seyed-Gohrab, Madness and Mystic Longing, pg 57).

When Shirwanshah Abul-Muzaffar Akhsitan commissioned Nizami to versify Majnun' s
tragic love story, the poet found himself in a quandary. The writer of love-stories about
the pompous and powerful pre-Islamic Iranian kings such as Khusrau Parwiz II is
suddenly ordered to write a romance about a distraught and naked Arab boy. Nizami
skillfully uses the sad nature of the legend to whet the reader's curiosity about how he
will narrate this tragic but simple romance. Grief, as M.J. Toolan notes, is perhaps the
most "powerful trigger," and strangeness, an element which attracts the reader to know
the unknown. The poet refers frequently to the Arab traditions and way of life to remind
us of the story's foreign origin. Moreover, he promises the reader that despite the thin
plot of the story, he will bring his poem to a dramatic perfection so that "unpierced
pearls" will flow from the reader's eyes (5:64-5). With his profound knowledge of the
human psyche, Nizami knows how to draw emotional effect by reshaping this strange and
shallow story. Nizami was at first reluctant to versify this tale. It was his fourteen-years-
old son Muhammad, who encouraged his father to undertake the task:
When you composed Khusrau and Shirin,
You cheered the hearts of the people.

You have to compose Layli and Majnun so that the precious pearl has a pair.
This book is better to be written,
A young peacock is better to have a mate. (. . .)

Wherever love -tales are to be read, this tale will serve as salt for them. (11. 43-5, 71)
Although Majnun was to some extent a popular figure before Nizami's time, his
popularity increased dramatically after the appearance of Nizami's romance. By
collecting information from both secular and mystical sources about Majnun, Nizami
portrayed such a vivid picture of this legendary lover that all subsequent poets were
inspired by him, many of them imitated him and wrote their own versions of the
romance. As we shall see in the following chapters, the poet uses various characteristics
deriving from 'Udhrite love poetry and weaves them into his own Persian culture. In
other words, Nizami Persianises the poem by adding several techniques borrowed from
the Persian epic tradition, such as the portrayal of characters, the relationship between
characters, description of time and setting, etc.
(Ali Asghar Seyed-Gohrab, Madness and Mystic Longing, 77-78).

Thus although the story was originally of Arabic origin, it was relatively known prior to
Nizami Ganjavi. But it was really Nizami Ganjavi who popularized it tremendously and
the story became the most famous romance of the Islamic world. It should be noted that
Nizami Ganjavi did not choose the story himself (like he did with the Persian/Iranian-

402

origin Khusraw o Shirin and Haft Paykar) and was aware of the stories foreign origin.
This is another important factor that shows Nizami Ganjavi is part and parcel of the
Iranian civilization.

The fourth or last great work of Nizami Ganjavi is Haft Paykar. The recent Encyclopedia
Iranica entries on Eskardanama and Haft Paykar argue for the Haft Paykar to be Nizami
Ganjavi's last work. This author is also convinced by the arguments given in that article.
Anyhow, it is considered Nizami Ganjavi's greatest work by many authorities. It is a
story about the life of the Sassanid emperor Bahram Gur (Bahram V) and it is again
based upon Iranian history. This great King is greatly admired in Persian literature and
was already popular prior to Nizami Ganjavi. But Nizami Ganjavi brought the romantic
side of Bahram Gur (and Persian epic romance) to great new heights by describing seven
princesses who were married to Bahram, the central figure of the story.

According to Professor Chelkowsi:

Haft Paykar is the fourth and the most intricate poem of Nizami's Khamsa . It is a
bedazzling exploration of the pleasures of love. At the same time, it can be interpreted as
mystical. The seven stories told by the seven princesses can be interpreted as the seven
stations of human life, or the seven aspects of human destiny, or the seven stages of the
mystic way. In fact, the title of the story can be translated as the "Seven Portraits", the
"Seven Effigies", as well as the "Seven Princesses". The poem is also known as the Haft
Gunbad or "Seven Domes".

In Islamic cosmology, the earth was placed in the centre of the seven planets: the Moon,
Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. These were considered agents of
God, and in their motion influenced beings and events on earth. Nizami firmly believed
as well that the unity of the world could be perceived through arithmetical, geometrical,
and musical relations. Numbers were the key to the one interconnected universe; for
through numbers multiplicity becomes unity and discordance, harmony. Hence Nizami
used seven, the number that has always been pre-eminent among the people of the East,
as the major motif of Haft Paykar, for in Islam, seven is considered as the first perfect
number.

In Haft Paykar, the phantasmagoric movement of its hero, Bahram Gur, as he visits each
princess, covers a symbolic path between black, or the hidden majesty of the Divine, and
white, or purity and unity. The princesses and their pavilions are manifestations of
specific planets, specific climes, colours, and days. The pavilions are domed, representing
the structure of the heavens. Nizami illustrates the harmony of the universe, the affinity
of the sacred and the profane, and the concordance of ancient and Islamic Iran.
(Nizami Ganjavi in Encyclopedia of Islam, Chelkowski).

Again what is important with regard to Nizami Ganjavi's culture and civilization is the
concordance of ancient Iran and Islamic Iran. Furthermore, Nizami Ganjavi himself
chose this story voluntarily unlike the story of Layli o Majnoon (Rypka comments on the
Bahram Nameh: It is dedicated to the Aq-Sunqurid Ala 'al-Din Korp Arsalan, the Prince
of Maragheh, who had commissioned it without specifying a theme). The fact that Nizami
Ganjavi chose these two stories voluntarily (Haft Paykar and Khusraw and Shirin) shows

403

that he considered himself part of the Iranian civilization, the civilization which he also
made his contributions into.

Finally, the Eskandarnama is traditionally considered to be Nizami' s last work (although
again we believe based on the recent Encyclopedia Iranica entries, the Haft Paykar was
his last work).

According to the Encyclopedia of Islam (Iskandar-Nama):

In the Shahnama, Firdawsi already makes Iskandar an exemplary figure, whom the
companionship of Aristotle helps to rise still higher, by the path of wisdom and
moderation, in the direction of abstinence and contempt for this world. And Firdwasi laid
stress on the defeat of Dara (the Darius of the Greeks) as something desired by "the
rotation of the Heavens".

At the time of Nizami, however, Islam is from then onwards well established in Iran, and
it is the prophetic and ecumenical aspect of his destiny that the poet makes evident in his
hero. As a learned Iranian poet, Nizami, who demonstrates his eclecticism in the
information he gives (he says, "I have taken from everything just what suited me and I
have borrowed from recent histories, Christian, Pahlavi and Jewish ... and of them I have
made a whole"), locates the story of his hero principally in Iran. He makes him the
image of the Iranian "knight", peace-loving and moderate, courteous and always ready
for any noble action. Like all Nizami's heroes, he conquers the passions of the flesh, and
devotes his attention to his undertakings and his friendships. These features appear in the
account, which follows ancient tradition, of his conduct towards the women of the family
of Darius, in his brotherly attitude on the death of that ruler, in his behaviour towards
queen Nushaba (the Kaydaf of Firdawsi, the Kandake of the pseudo-Callisthenes) whom
he defends against the Russians. (Abel, A.; Ed(s). "Iskandar Nama." Encyclopaedia of
Islam. Edited by: P. Bearman , Th. Bianquis , C.E. Bosworth , E. van Donzel and W.P.
Heinrichs. Brill, 2007.)

We have already quoted Professor Peter Chelkowski and the relation of this story with
regards to Iranian civilization and culture. Professor Peter Chelkowsi, who is an authority
on the Eskandarnama of Nizami:

Robert Hartle opens his article entitled "The image of Alexander the Great in
Seventeenth Century France" with a statement: 'When Alexander the Great had
conquered Persia he began to adopt Persian ways; it should be no surprise that when he
conquered seventeenth century France he began to act like a Frenchman'

Alexander was glorified by the Muslims as a divine agent, a prophet-king and the blessed
conqueror of the lands that were to become the stronghold of Islam. To some Muslims,
Islam was a realization of Alexander's "koine"- a commonwealth where people could
live in harmony and in peace of heart and mind. In this atmosphere attempts were made
to make out Alexander not only a Muslim but a Persian as well.

404

The great Muslim historian Tabari (9 th /10 th century A.D.) [we note: also of Iranian origin]
gives several accounts of Alexander based on various sources. In his presentation of the
Persian origin of Alexander, he describes Darius the Third as an oppressive ruler [we
note: Alexander actually praises Darius before Darius dies and asks for advice from
Darius]. Tabari' s description of Alexander's refusal to pay tribute to Darius, the war of
Alexander with Darius and the death of Darius, reappear in Nizami's account.
Similarities between Tabari and Nizami are also to be found in the description of
Alexander's treatment of knowledge, science, philosophy, and Alexander's journeys to
India, China, Tibet and the "Land of Darkness".

However, it was not Tabari directly, but Ferdowsi who was Nizami's source of
inspiration and material in composing Iskandarnameh. Nizami constantly alludes to the
Shahnameh in his writing, especially in the prologue to the Iskandarnameh. It seems that
he was always fascinated by the work of Firdawsi and made it a goal of his life to write
an heroic epic of the same stature. And so, for his last masnavi Nizami chose as a theme
the story of Alexander, which is recounted in Firdawsi' s Shahnameh. Even without the
Psuedo-Callisthenes model, Firdawsi had been able to look for the continuity of Iranian
spirit from prehistoric times and was able to consider Alexander as a great hero in the
history of Persian civilization. Persia was the only country which had preserved not only
her language after the Arab-Muslim invasion but also many aspects of her national
identity and character.

In fact, although Alexander conquered Iran, he was soon conquered by Persian customs
and ways of life. In many aspects he was so overwhelmed by Persian civilization that he
became more Persian than the Persians. He tried to make a blend of the Greek and
Persian civilizations - even genetically, when he sponsored mass marriages between his
troops and Persian women. He himself married Roxane [Rowshanak] the daughter of
Sogdian [we note: Sogdians are another Iranian people] prince — not the daughter of
Darius the Third, as both Firdawsi and Nizami believed.

Like Alexander, Arabs, Turks, Mongols and other people who overran the Iranian plateau
also came under the spell of Persian culture. Foreign invaders remained to become
contributors and patrons of Persian art and culture. To give one example, some of
Nizami's benefactors were of Turkic stock.

As previously mentioned, it seems that Nizami's favorite pastime was reading Firdawsi' s
monumental epic Shahnameh (The book of Kings). Firdawsi' s treatment of Alexander in
this great heroic poem was by no means negligible, but in Nizami's opinion it was not
complete and he wanted to write a poetic supplement to it. After several years of research
he gave up this idea and decided that the subject called for a new and independent work.
He still, however, acknowledged his indebtedness to his great master, Firdawsi, and
considered himself a respectful follower of that literary pioneer. He, therefore, chose for
the book of Alexander one heroic epic verse known as Mutaqarib, which Firdawsi
employed in his Shahnameh. (Chelkowski, P. "Nizami's Iskandarnameh: "in Colloquio
sul poeta persiano Nizami e la leggenda iranica di Alessandro magno, Roma, 1977).

405

Thus the themes of Nizami 's story are Iranian and have to do with the Iranian culture and
civilization. There is no trace of Turkic folklore and civilization or sources in Nizami
Ganjavi's work. Indeed, he chose the Sassanid stories of Haft Paykar and Khusraw o
Shirin voluntarily, which shows his attachment to the Iranian civilization. The main
influences on Nezami were foremost Ferdowsi, then Gorgani, Asadi Tusi, Sanai Tusi and
Khaqani (see appendix).

Nizami Ganjavi's attachment to Iran

Nizami praises Iran and considers the kings that ruled around his era to be Kings of Iran
and the Persian lands. Thus this very important fact again shows the Muslims of the area
were at that time mainly Iranians These praises for the land of Iran and the rulers as the
Kings of Persia are direct. What is interesting is that at least three different and rival
dynasties are praised as rulers of Iran/Persia and their land is considered as part of
Persia/Iran. This shows that despite the fact that there was not a unifying force through
these lands (the Seljuqs ruling nominally), there was a unifying cultural force which was
that of the Irano-Islamic civilization.

In the Haft Paykar, Nizami Ganjavi, when addressing the Ahmadili ruler (known as
Atabakan-e-Maragheh in later history where Maragheh is a city in the Iranian province of
East Azarbaijan), he praises the land of Iran as the best land in the World:

Oljjl 9 CjljuuI fJJ /xJLc QjQJb
JljJuU CH^J ^ uljjl <£ U9^>

jjjb uIj^jo ^ Cju\Js ulj

The World's a body, Iran its heart
No shame to him who says such a word
Iran, the world's most precious heart,
Excels the body, there is no doubt
Among the realms the kings posses
The best domain goes to the best
(Translation by Professor Julia Meysami).

Note the similarity with that of the Avestan concept where the land of Iran was the center
of the seven lands and the one blessed by Ahura Mazda.

In the Khusraw o Shirin, Nizami Ganjavi, when addressing the ruler Shams al-Din
Muhammad Ildigoz (the dynasty being later known as the Atabakan-e- Azerbaijan and
ruling parts of Arran and Azerbaijan and extending further in Western Persia as its
height), mentions:

406

Ju^S />b Jucx^jo \j ^jl>L^ 9^

<jajuli> CLljuoS OJjJ >0u^> l5^^

0L0 Jul b Ij v>^ £>J l3^

oLuu ubsbr Ij /x<*ic ^SJLo ^jSj

In that day that they bestowed mercy upon all,

Two great ones were given the name Muhammad,

One who 's pure essence was the seal of prophecy,

The other who is the Kingdom 's Seal, in his own days

One whose house/zodiac is moon of the Arabs

The other who is the everlasting Shah of Realm of Persians

In praising the rulers of Shirwan (who sometimes extended their rule beyond Shirwan),
Nizami again mentions:

0\jj\ j\jj^jjj <£ Q^r 0\$juJJ

This book is better to be written

A young peacock is better to have a mate

Specially for a king like the Shah of Shirwan

Not only Shirwan, but the Shahriyar (Prince, Ruler) of all Iran

Nizami Ganjavi calls upon the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH &HP):

<*_jljuU JjAjljuJ 3 OJul J9j &^jj

ij5 Ojb uLp-> 9 <-Sljl>J ^SJLo
u^ °jbl jl H U ulpj> 9^>^

Do not stay in Arabia, come to Persia
Here are the light steeds of night and day

Conclusion

Stalin, as noted, claimed that: "Nizami must not be surrendered to Iranian/Persian
literature " and Nizami Ganjavi according to the USSR was: li a victim of Persian

407

oppression of minorities" . As ridiculous as these claims sound, they were taken as
official USSR policy by some of its researchers. The ultimate aim was not only to detach
Nizami Ganjavi from Iranian civilization, but even to claim that Ferdowsi did not belong
to Persian literature either, but belonged to Tajik literature (See the section of the book of
Kolarz on Tajikistan). Note the term "Tajiki" for the Persian language is a 20 th century
invention and the speakers have always called it Farsi/Parsi/Parsi-Dari/Dari (Persian).
The term Tajiki for the Persian language was created in order to further de-Iranify the
cultural heritage of the Iranian civilization and fragment it.

A Tajik friend from the Internet, who was educated in the USSR era but was in the eighth
grade when the USSR started breaking up, told me:

When I was in school, up until the seventh grade, all the teachers that I had for Persian
Literature taught us that Nezamee Ganjavee was anAzeri Turk, who had just happened
to write in Persian. We were taught that he is the national poet of Azerbaijan . This was
even written in our textbooks, which were published during Soviet Era. However, from
the very beginning I was told by my mother that he is not a Turk, and that it is a lie. This
is widely known in the academic circles in Tajikistan, but, especially during Soviet times
it was politically incorrect to say that he is not a Turk. When I came to eighth grade to
another school, I had a different literature teacher, who always told us that Nezamee is
not a Turk.

And he recalled at the start of that school year:

/ remember when I just started school, they told us in Lit. class in Tajikistan:
Nezamee Ganjavee is an Azerbaijani (Turk) poet, but he wrote some things (that's funny
how they said some things) in Persian. However, a few years later, since we were
independent, we could say that he was not a Turk.

Indeed currently, Nizami Ganjavi is not detached from Iranian civilization in Tajikistan
anymore, although the USSR had planned otherwise. He is considered a part and parcel
of Iranian civilization. Modern nation and countries that have been affected by Iranian
civilization (and are part of the Iranian world) are not only Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan,
and Kurdish people, but also the people of the Republic of Azerbaijan who also share in
this same heritage. Of course later Turkmens had influence on the culture of Republic of
Azerbaijan, but the ratio of these two factors (pre-Turkmen elements and Iranians
elements) is something for scholars to study. But at the time of Nizami Ganjavi the ethno
genesis of the Azerbaijanis was not started and the term was not used as designation for
Turkic-speaking people. Thus the only reason to attach him to Turkic civilization were
verses (some even falsified but rampant over the Internet) that allegedly claimed his
father (who he was orphaned from early and was raised by his Kurdish maternal uncle) to
be of a Turkic origin. We showed that there is no proof of this and all indicators are that
Nizami Ganjavi was of Iranian background from both sides. In the end, even if some
want to endlessly argue that his father might have been "Turkic" or even forge verses
towards that end, it will bear no fruit, since culture, which poetry is its eloquent and

408

highest point, is a key to a poet's heritage/identity and the assignment of a poet to a
particular civilization. We believe that the answer to question we asked in the beginning
is clear. Nizami Ganjavi is part of the Iranian civilization. From ethnic background, to
cultural orientation, to cultural legacy, myth, folklore and language, Nizami Ganjavi is an
eternal and inseparable part of Iranian civilization. The Nozhat al-Majales (24 poets from
Ganja alone) shows the peak of Persian civilization in Arran and Sherwan and is a
complete mirror of the Iranian culture of the region at that time before its Turkifcation.
Of course, it will take time for the modern republic of Azerbaijan to put away bias and
study its history without any ideological leaning and accept the fact that Persian heritage
is also part of the heritage of the people there. The current approach has been to sideline
Persian heritage or to makeup claims that one or two important figures were forced! to
create masterpieces.

All these political attempts at detachment of Nizami Ganjavi from Iranian civilization
will not bear fruit (in the long term of course, since once in a while there is a super power
like USSR which has many resources), since the works of Nizami Ganjavi are part and
parcel of Iranian civilization and history cannot be changed. Nizami Ganjavi wrote
exclusively in Persian, about ancient Persia and followed the paths of other Persian poets.
He expanded, decorated and versified Persian folklore and contributed to Iranian
civilization. A poet that draws from the culture of the language is different than a scientist
who uses a language as part of a scientific purpose. He is indeed even different than poets
that use a particular language to express various ideas. Since Nizami Ganjavi delved
deeply into the heart of folklore of Iranian civilization, myths, history and from there he
created some of the greatest masterpieces in Persian literature. The poet lives through the
language and Nizami Ganjavi as a phenomenon of Persian literature would not exist
without the Persian language, Shahnameh and myths/folklore. In the case of Nizami
Ganjavi, he not only lives through the language, but his work and themes are based upon
Iranian civilization and previous Persian poets. He even advises others to read the
Shahnama and is proud of this monumental work of Iranian civilization, which is one of
its ultimate monuments and an indicator of its identity. The culture that Nizami Ganjavi
belongs to is the same culture that Ferdowsi belongs to, Nizami Ganjavi was a successor
of Ferdowsi as he himself has claimed. So it is important for future Iranians and Persian
speakers (Afghans, Tajiks, Bukharians/Samarqandis, Iranians..) to keep the Persian
language alive and read the Shahnameh, Vis o Ramin, Garshaspnama, Panj Ganj ,
Mathnawi, Diwan-e-Hafez and other wonderful blessings bestowed upon the Persian
language and Iranian civilization. They should strive to understand these jewels better.

Specially, the two grand works of Nozhat al-Majales and Safina-ye Tabriz which even
contain Iranian dialects of the region will pave the way for better understanding of some
of the poetic symbols common at the time. There are indeed many hidden treasures of
culture and subtleties built in Persian literature and Iranians should be thankful to God for
this blessing and delve into them. No amount of TV. programs, cinema, video games,
modern music and art can really take the place of these jewels in this author's opinion.

^JLJUJ

jLgj uLx> I-^Ij 9^ 0I9J

409

Bibliography

• Abel, A.; Ed(s). "Iskandar Nama." Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P. Bearman , Th. Bianquis , C.E.
Bosworth , E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2007.

• Afifi, Rahim. "Farhangnama-I Shi 'iri: bar asas-I athaar-I Sha 'iran-I qarn-I sivvum taa yazdahum-I Hijri:
shamil-I tarikbat, kinayat, istilahat' '(T erminologies and symbols of Persian poetry) / ta'llf-i Rahim 'Afifi,
Tehran: Surush, 1376 (3 volumes in Persian)

• Aghajanian, Sergei. "Panjahomin Saaldgardyek TahrifTarikhi" '(The fifthiet anniversary of a historical
distortion), Iranshenasi, 4 th year, Volume 1, 1992-1993. (in Persian)

• Al Mas'udi, "Kitab al-Tanbih wa-l-Ishraf\ De Goeje, MJ. (ed.), Leiden, Brill, 1894. (in Arabic)

• Al-Muqaddasi, "The Best Divisions for Knowledge of the Regions ', a translation of his Ahsan at-taqasimfi
Ma'rifat al-Aqalim "by B.A. Collins, Centre for Muslim Contribution to Civilization, Garnet Publishing
Limited, 1994.

• Amir-Moezzi, M.A, "Shahrbanu", Encyclopaedia Iranica.

• Andrews, Walter G. Black, Najaat, Kalpakli, Mehmet. "Ottoman Lyric Poetry", Published by University
of Washington, 2006.

• Anvar, Iraj. " Divan Shams Tabrizi, Fourthy Eight Ghazals", Translated by Iraj Anvar", Semar Publishers
Sri, 2002.

• Ayadlu, Sajad. "Nokhostin Sanad Adabi Ertebaat-i Azerbaijan va Shahnameh "(The first source of contact
between the literature of Azerbaijan and Shahnameh), Iranshenasi Magazine, al Year 17, also available
here: http://www.azargoshnasp.net/languages/Persian/shahnamehqatran.pdf , accessed Dec, 2007.

• Azada, R. Nezami, Elm Publishers, 1981, English translation: 1991 (Baku).

• Babinger, Franz (2008). Nesimi, Seyyid 'Imad al-Din Encyclopaedia of Islam. Brill Online.

• BakiKhanuf, "Gulistan-i Iram ", matn-I 'ilm - intiqadi bi say va ihtimam: Abd al-Karim Ali-zadah [va
digaran],Bakku: Idarah-i intisharat-i "Ilm", 1970.

• Barthold, W., C.E. Bosworth "Shirwan Shah, Sharwan Shah. "Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P.
Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2nd edition.

• Blake, Stephen P., "Shahjahanabad: The Sovereign City in Mughal India, 1639-1739". Cambridge
University Press, 1991.

• Blois, Francois de. "Haft Paykar "in Encyclopedia Iranica, accessed in 2007.

• Blois, Francois de. "Eskandar Nama "in Encyclopedia Iranica, accessed in 2007.

• Bois, Th.; Minorsky, V.; Bois, Th.; Bois, Th.; MacKenzie, D.N.; Bois, Th. "Kurds, Kurdistan."
Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P. Bearman , Th. Bianquis , C.E. Bosworth , E. van Donzel and W.P.
Heinrichs. Brill, 2007.)

• Bolukbashi, Susha, 'Nation building in Azerbaijan: The Soviet Legacy and the Impact of the Karabakh
Conflict' in Van Schendel, Willem(Editor) . Identity Politics in Central Asia and the Muslim World:
Nationalism, Ethnicity and Labour in the Twentieth Century. London , GBR: I. B. Tauris & Company,
Limited, 2001.

• Bosworth, Clifford Edmund. "The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual",
Columbia University, 1996.

• Bosworth, C.E.; Hillenbrand, R.; Rogers, J.M.; Blois, F.C. de; Bosworth, C.E.; Darley-Doran, R.E.
"Saldjukids. "Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P. Bearman , Th. Bianquis , C.E. Bosworth , E. van
Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2007. Brill Online.

• Bosworth, Clifford Edmund, "The political and dynastic history of the Iranian world (AD 1000-1217) ", in
J.A. Boyle (ed.), The Cambridge History of Iran. V. The Saljuqs and Mongol Periods, Cambridge, 1968.

• Bosworth, Clifford Edmund , "Azerbaijan: Islamic history to 1941 ", Encyclopedia Iranica, 2007.

• Bosworth, Clifford Edmund, "Ajam", Encyclopedia Iranica

• Bosworth, C. E. "Barbarian Incursions: The Coming of the Turks into the Islamic World, "in Islamic
Civilization . Edited by D. S. Richards. Oxford, 1973.

410

Bosworth, Clifford Edmund, "Turkish expansion towards the west", in UNESCO HISTORY OF

HUMANITY, Volume IV: From the Seventh to the Sixteenth Century, UNESCO Publishing / Routledge,

Bosworth, Clifford Edmund, "Ganjah"'m Encyclopedia Iranica.

Bosworth, Clifford Edmund, "Barda"in Encyclopedia Iranica.

Bournoutian, George . "History of Qarabagh: An Annotated Translation of Mirza Jamal Javanshir

Qarabaghi's Tarikh-e Qarabagh." Mazda Publishers, 1994.

Chaumont, M.L., "Albania"'m Encyclopedia Iranica, accesed in 2007.

Chelkowski, P. "Nizami Gandjawi , jamal al-Din Abu Muhammad Ilyas b. Yusufb. Zaki Muayyad

. "Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P. Bearman , Th. Bianquis , C.E. Bosworth , E. van Donzel and W.P.

Heinrichs. Brill, 2008. Brill Online.

Chelkowski, P. "Nizami 's Iskandarnameh "in Colloquio sul poeta persiano Nizami e la leggenda iranica di

Alessandro magno, Roma, 1977.

Christian, David, "A History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia", Blackwell Publishing, 1998.

Cook, M.A., "Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought", Cambridge University

Press, 2000.

Cornell, Svante E. Small Nations and Great Powers: A Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict in the Caucasus .

Richmond, Surrey, GBR: Curzon Press Limited, 2000.

Darab, Gholam Hossein. Treasury of Mysteries, transalation of Makhzanol Asrar. (London:. Arthur

Probsthain, 1945).

Dastgerdi, Wahid. "Kolliyaat Nezami Ganjavi"(the 5 collections of Nizami Ganjav), Tehran, 1315 /1936,

Internet version: http://rira.ir/rir a/php/?page=view&mod=classicpoems&obj=poet&id=30

Dastgerdi, Wahid. "Resa'il Jaami' 'Aref Qarn Chaharom Hejri: Khwaja Abdullah Ansari", Forooghi

Publishers, 1349/1970, 2 nd edition.

de Laugier de Beaureceuil, S. "Abdallah Ansari" in Encyclopedia Iranica.

Davis, Dick. "Vis o Ramin", Encyclopedia Iranica.

Diakonov, I.M. , "Book of Memoirs", Publisher: (European House), Sankt

Petersburg, Russia, 1995. (in Russian).

Devereux, Robert. "Judgment of Two Languages; Muhakamat Al-Lughatain By Mir Ali Shir Nawai";

Introduction, Translation and Notes: Leiden (E.J. Brill), 1966. (originally in Chagatay).

Doerfer, Gerhard. "Azerbaijan: Azeri Turkish" in Encyclopedia Iranica.

Encyclopedia Britannica, "Nizami", 1911 edition.

Encyclopedic Dictionary Brockhaus and Efron, "Nizami", published between 1890-1906. (in Russian)

Ensafpur, Gholam Reza . "Tarikh o Tabar Zaban-i Azarbaijan" (The history and roots of the language of

Azarbaijan), Fekr-I Rooz Publishers, 1998 (1377). (in Persian)

(Estakhari, Abu Eshaq Ebrahim. Masalek va Mamalek. Bonyad Moqufat Dr. Afshar, Tehran, 1371 (1992-

1993))

Federal Research Div Staff, Turkey: A Country Study, Kessinger Publishers, 2004. (US government).

Floor, Willem. and Javadi, Hasan. i(2009), "The Heavenly Rose-Garden: A History of Shirvan &

Daghestan by Abbas Qoli Aqa Bakikhanov, Mage Publishers, 2009.

Fragner. B.G., "Soviet Nationalism ': An Ideological Legacy to the Independent Republics of Central

Asia"in: Willem van Schendel/Erik J. Zurcher (eds.), Identity Politics in Central Asia and the Muslim

World. Nationalism, Ethnicity and Labour in the Twentieth Century, London 2001.

Frye, Richard Nelson, "Peoples of Iran ", in Encyclopedia Iranica.

Gandjei, Tourkhan. "Turkish in Pre-Mongol Persian Poetry, "BSOAS 49, 1986, pp. 67-76

Gohrab, Ali Asghar Seyed. "Layli and Majnun: Madness and Mystic Longing" , Brill Studies in Middle

Eastern literature, Jun 2003.

Gohrab, Ali Asghar Seyed, "Leyli O Majnun" in Encyclopedia Iranica, 2009.

Gohrab, Ali Asghar Seyed, McGlinn, S. "The Treasury of Tabriz The Great il-Khanid Compendium",

Iranian Studies Series, Rozenberg Publishers, 2007

Golden, P.B. "An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples", Otto Harrosowitz, 1992.

Gnoli, Gheraldo. "Farr(ah)" in Encyclopedia Iranica

Grousset, Rene, "The Empire of the Steppes", (Rutgers University Press, 1991)

Hanaway, William L. "Eskandar Nama"in Encyclopedia Iranica.

411

• Hodgson, Marshall G.S., "The Venture of Islam", Volume 2: The Expansion of Islam in the Middle Periods
(Venture of Islam, Chicago, 1974.

• Ibn al-Athir (d. 1233), "Al-Kamilfi al-ta'rikh" (Beirut n.p., 1965)

• Ibn Howqal, "Surat al-Ardh". Translation and comments by: J. Shoar, Amir Kabir Publishers, Iran. 1981.
(in Persian)

• Ibn Nadeem, "Fihrist", Translated by Reza Tajaddod, Ibn Sina publishers, 1967. (Persian)

• Karang, Abdul Ali."Tati va Harzani, Do lahjeh az zabaan-i baastaan-i Azerbaijan "(Tati, Harzani, two
dialects from the ancient language of Azerbaijan), Tabriz, 1333. 1952. (in Persian)

• Karbalai Tabrizi, Hussein. "Rawdat al-jinan va Jannat al-Janan", Bungah-I Tarjumah va Nashr-i Kitab,
1344_49 (1965-1970), 2 volumes, (in Persian).

• Kafadar, Cemal. "In Between Two Worlds: Construction of the Ottoman states ", University of California
Press, 1995.

• Kapustin, Mikhail. Sovietkaya kultura (soviet culture) magazine, 27 of December, 1988.

• Kasravi, Ahmad. "Azari or the ancient language of Azerbaijan", Ibex Publisher, 1993. (Persian)

• Kasravi, Ahmad. Shahriaran-e Gomnam, Tehran: Amir Kabir, 1957. (Persian)

• Kotecha, Hema. "Islamic and Ethnic Identities in Azerbaijan: Emerging trends and tensions" , OSCE,
Baku, July 2006.

• Kolarz, Walter. "Russia and her Colonies", London: George Philip. 1952.

• Koprulu, Mehmed Fuad. "Early Mystics in Turkish Literature ", Translated by Gary Leiser and Robert
Dankoff , Routledge, 2006.

• Lang, David M. (1983), "Iran, Armenia and Georgia" , in Yarshater, Ehsan. Cambridge History of Iran,
Vol. 3.1., London: Cambridge UP, ppg 505-537.

• Lazard, Gilbert 1975, "The Rise of the New Persian Language" in Frye, R. N., The Cambridge History of
Iran, Vol. 4, pp. 595-632, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

• Levy, Reuben. "Social Structure of Islam ", Taylor and Francis, 2000.

• Light, Nathan. "Turkic literature and the politics of culture in the Islamic world"Chp 3. In Slippery Paths:
the Performance and Canonization of Turkic literature and Uyghur Muqam Song in Islam and modernity,
Thesis(Ph.D.), Indiana University, 1998.

• Luther, K. "Atabkan-e-Adarbayjan: Saljuq rulers of Azerbaijan", Encyclopedia Iranica

• Magerramov(Maherramov), Tahir. "Haft Pay kar", Moscow: idara-I Intisharat-I Danish, Shubah-y
Adabiyat- Khavar, 1987. (Persian)

• Marashi, Mehdi., « Persian Studies in North America: Studies in Honor of Mohammad Ali Jazayery", Ibex
Publishers, Inc, 1994.

• Matinijalal. "A solid proof on the Turkic roots ofNizami Ganjavi?!", Iranshenasi, Volume 4, 1371(1992-
1993). (in Persian)

• Matini, Jalal. "Daqiqi, Zaban-i Dari o Lahjeyeh Azari" (Daqiqi, the Dari language and the Azari dialect) in
Zaban-i Far si dar Azerbaijan, Gerdavari: Iraj Afshar, Tehran, Bonyaad Moqoofaat Dr. Mahmud Afshar,
(1371, volume 2, pg 405-41 8. (Persian)
http://www.azargoshnasp.net/languages/Azari/daghighizabandariazari.pdf

• McGreal, Ian Philip. "Great Literature of the Eastern World", Published 1996, p. 505.

• Meeker, Michael E. "A Nation of Empire: The Ottoman Legacy of Turkish Modernity", University of
California, Press, 2002.

• Meeker, Michael E. "The Dede Korkut Ethic", International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 24, No. 3
(Aug., 1992), 395-417.

• Meysami, Julia (Nizami Ganjavi). "The Haft Paykar: A Medieval Persian Romance", Translated with
introduction and notes by Julia Scott Meysami. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.

• Minorsky, Vladimir. "Studies in Caucasian history", Cambridge University Press, 1957.

• Minorsky, Vladimir. "A History ofSharvan and Darband in the lOth-llth Centuries", Cambridge, 1958.

• Minorsky, Vladimir. Review: G. H. Darab's translation of Makhzan ol Asrar. BSOAS., 1948, xii/2, 441-5.

• Minorsky, V.; Minorsky, V. "Adharbaydjan "Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P. Bearman , Th.
Bianquis , C.E. Bosworth , E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2007.

• Mortazavi, Manuchehr. "Zaban-e-Dirin Azerbaijan "(On the Old language of Azerbaijan). Bonyat
Moqoofaat Dr. Afshar. 2005(1384). (in Persian)

412

• Mostowfi, Hamdallah. "Nozhat al-Qolub". Edit by Muhammad Dabir Sayyaqi. Tahuri publishers, 1957.
(in Persian)

• Moayyad, Heshmar. "Badr Shirvani and his poetry" in Marashi, Mehdi., Persian Studies in North America:
Studies in Honor of Mohammad Ali Jazayery, Ibex Publishers, Inc, 1994.

• Muvahid, Ali. Safarnaameyeh Ibn Batuttah(Travels of Ibn Batuttah), translated by Dr. Ali Muvahid,
Tehran, Bongaah Publishers, 1969. (In Persian).

• Nasawi, Shahab al-Din, "The adventures of Jalal al-Din Mangubirti", Bongah Publishers, 1344 (1964).

• Narshaxi, Muhammad - The history of Bukhara. Translated by R.N. Frye. Cambridge, 1954.

• Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. "The Heart of Islam: Enduring Values for Humanity", HarperColins, 2004.

• Nezami - Khamsa- The Moscow-Baku edition, Hermes Publisher, 2006.

• Oguzdenli, O.G., "Nezami Qunavi" in Encylopedia Iranica.

• Olivier, Roy. "The new Central Asia", LB. Tauris, 2007.

• Omidsalar, Mahmud. "Esf and "in Encyclopedia Iranica, accessed 2007.

• Pellat, Ch.; Bruijn, J.T.P. de; Flemming, B.; Haywood, J. A. "Madjnun Layla." Encyclopaedia of Islam,
Second Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman , Th. Bianquis , C.E. Bosworth , E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs.
Brill 2009, Brill Online

• Perry, John. Iran & the Caucasus, Vol. 5, (2001), pp. 193-200. THE HISTORICAL ROLE OF TURKISH
IN RELATION TO PERSIAN OF IRAN

• Planhol, X.D. "Iran: Lands ofIran"m Encyclopedia Iranica, accessed 2007.

• Qatran Tabrizi, "Divan Hakim Qatran Tabrizi", corrected and edited by Mohammad Nakhjavani with
articles from Badi ol Zaman Foruzanfar, Zabillah Safa, and Hasan Taqizadeh, Qoqnus Publishers, 1983.

• Rezazadeh, Rahim Malak. "The Azari Dialect" (Guy esh-i Azari), Anjuman Farhang Iran Bastan publishers,
1352(1973).

• Riyahi, Mohammad Amin. "Molehaazi darbaareyeh Zabaan-I Kohan Azerbaijan "(Some observations on
the ancient language of Azerbaijan), 'Itilia'at Siyasi Magazine, volume 181-182. < j^l^^^ 'cdJ^ ^^

«1 8 1-1 82 l£ojI-<^ c^L^jjiJI - ^Ujuj CJl&!iy ;«jUJjjJj c j^£ jbj ^bjhj^ ^U^OU

• Riyahi, Mohammad. "Nozhat al-Majales" in Encyclopedia Iranica

• ROBINSON, S. "PERSIAN POETRY FOR ENGLISH READERS: BEING SPECIMENS OF SIX OF
THE GREATEST CLASSICAL POETS OF PERSIA: Ferdusi, Nizami, Sa'adi, Jelal al-Din Rumi, Hafez
and Jami", 1883. Printed for private circulatiuon. Google books: £11 (pages 140-145)

• Rybakov (editor), History of the East. 6 volumes, v. 2. "East during the Middle Ages: Chapter V., 2002. -
ISBN 5-02-017711-3. http://www.kulichki.com/~gumilev/HE2/he2103.htm)

• Rybakov, Rostislav Borisovich (editor), (History of the East. 6 volumes, v. 2. "East during the Middle
Ages: Chapter V., 2002. -ISBN 5-02-01771 1-3. http://gumilevica.kulichki.com/HE2/he25 10.htm )

• Rypka, Jan. "Poets and Prose Writers of the Late Saljuq and Mongol Periods" , The Cambridge History of
Iran, Volume 5, The Saljuq and Mongol Periods, ed., Published January 1968.

• Rypka, Jan. "History of Iranian Literature", Reidel Publishing Company. 1968

• Sadeqi, Ali Ashraf. "Ash 'ar-e mahalli-e Jamei al-han, "(Some of the local vernaculars in the Jami'i al-han)
Majalla-ye zaban-shenasi 9, 1371./1992, pp. 54-64.

• Sadeqi, Ali Ashraf. "ChandShe > beh Zaban-e Karaji, Tabrizi wa Ghayreh "(Some poems in the language
of Karaji and Tabrizi and others), Majalla-ye zaban-shenasi 9, 1379./2000, pp. 14-17.
http://www.azargoshnasp.net/languages/Azari/zabankarajitabrizi.pdf

• Sadeqi, Ali Ashraf, "New words from the Old Language ofArran, Shirvan and Azerbaijan" '(in Persian),
Iranian Journal of Linguistics, Vol. 17, No 1(33), pp 22-41, 1381/2002).

• Sadeqi, Al Asharf. "The conflict between Persian and Turkish in Arran and Shirvan" (in Persian), Iranian
lournal of Linguistics, Vol 18, No (35). Pages 1-12. ISSN 0259-9082

• Safa, Zabih Allah. "Tarikh Adabiyat dar Iran"(ThQ History of literature in Iran), Tehran, Intisharat-i
Firdaws, 1984-1989.

• Schimmel, Annemarie. "A Two-Colored Brocade: The Imagery of Persian Poetry: the imagery of Persian
poetry". Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, (pg 137-144).

• Schimmel, Annemarie. "Turk and Hindu; a literary symbol". Acta Iranica, 1, III, 1974, pp. 243-248.

• Schimmel, Annemarie. "Turk and Hindu: A Poetical Image and Its Application to Historical Fact "in
Speros Vryonis, Jr., ed., Islam and Cultural Change in the Middle Ages (Undena Publications, 1975).

413

• Schimmel, Annemarie. "The empire of the great Mughals: history, art and culture "translated by Corinne
Atwood ; edited by Burzine K. Waghmar ; with a foreword by Francis Robinson. London: Reaktion Books,
2004.

• Schimmel, Annemarie. "The Triumphal Sun. A Study of the Works of Jalaloddin Rumi" . Albany: SUNY
Press, 1993.

• Servartian, Behruz. "Nezami Ganjei", Daftar Pajoohesh Farhangi, Tehran, 2003.

• Shaw, Stanford Jay. "History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey", Cambridge University, 1977,
pgl41

• Shippmann,K. "Azerbaijan: Pre-Islamic History" , Encyclopedia Iranica

• Shirvani, Jamal Khalil. "Nozhat al-Majales", edited by Mohammad Amin Riyah, Tehran, 1366/1987.

• Shnirelman, Viktor A. Memory Wars: Myths, Identity and Politics in Transcaucasia. Moscow:
Academkniga, 2003 ISBN 5-9462-8118-6. (Russian)

• Slezkine, Yuri. "The Soviet Union as a Communal Apartment, "in Stalinism: New Directions. Ed. Sheila
Fitzpatrick, Routledge, New York, 2000. pages 330-335.

• Steblin-Kamensky, Ivan Mikhailovich"Oriental Department is ready to cooperate with the West", Saint
Petersburg University newspaper, JNs> 24—25 (3648^9), 1 November 2003".

http ://w w w . spbumag . nw.ru/2003/24/ 1 . shtml

• Swietochowski, Tadeusz. "AZERBAIJAN, REPUBLIC OF\., Vol. 3, Colliers Encyclopedia CD-ROM, 02-
28-1996.

• Swietochowski Tadeusz. Russia and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in Transition, Columbia University, 1995.

• Tabrizi, Hussein Karbalai. "Rawdat al-jinan va Jannat al-Janan", Bungah-I Tarjumah va Nashr-i Kitab,
1344-49 (1965-1970), 2 volumes.

• Tabrizi, Mohammad Ali Karim Zadeh. "The (supposed) Turkish Diwan ofNizami GanjavU", Iranshenasi,
Seventheeth year, Volume 3, 2005. (In Persian)

• Tafazzoli, Ahmad. "Barbad" in Encyclopedia Iranica.

• Taffazoli, Ahmad. "Fahlaviyyat"'m Encyclopedia Iranica.

• Tafazzoli, Ahmad. "Dehqan "in Encyclopedia Iranica.

• Talatoff Kamran, Clinton Jerome William. "The Poetry ofNizami Ganjavi: Knowledge, Love, and
Rethrotics",NY,2001.

• Taher, Mohammad. "Encyclopedic Survey of Islamic Culture", Anmol Publication PVT, 1998.

• Tamazshvilli A.O. "From the History of Study of Nezami-ye Ganjavi in the USSR:

Around the Anniversary - E.E. Bertels, J.V. Stalin, and others" in "Unknown pages of domestic oriental
studies" ( Editors: Naumlin VV, Romano va NG, Smilyanskaya IM), The Russian Academy of Sciences.
Oriental studies institute. 2004.

• Tamazshvili, A.O. Posleslovie (Afterword). Iranistika v Rossii i iranisty (Iranology in Russia and
Iranologists). Moscow, 2001 Russian Citation: TaMa3HniBHjiH A. O. nocjiecjiOBHe [k nyGjimcairHH
AOKjia^a B. H. 3axo#epa «E. 3. EepTejitc»]. — HpaHHcraica b Pocchh h HpaHHcra. M., 2001.

• Taymas, Abdullah Battal. "Divan Lagait- Turk TercumesV\ Turkiyat Mecmuasi, Cilt (XI), Istanbul. 1954.

• Thordarson, Fridrick, "Caucasus and Iran" in Encyclopedia Iranica

• Tiwari, J.G., "Muslims Under the Czars and the Soviets", AIRP, 1984.

• Turner, Colin, Layla and Majnun: The Classic Love Story of Persian Literature [ILLUSTRATED]
(Hardcover), "John Blake; illustrated edition edition (June 1, 1997)

• Tusi, M.A. Adib. "Fahlavyat-e Magrebi Tabrizi,"NDA Tabriz 8, 1335/1956

• Tusi, M.A. Adib. "Fahlawiyat-e- Mama Esmat wa Kashfi be-zaban Azari estelaah-e raayi yaa shahri",
NDA, Tabriz 8/3, 1335/1957, pp 242-57

• Vanly, Ismet Cheriff. "The Kurds in the Soviet Union", in: Philip G. Kreyenbroek & S. Sperl (eds.), The
Kurds: a contemporary overview (London: Routledge, 1992).

• Vryonis JR, Speros., "The Turkish State and History: Clio Meets the Grey Wolf", 2nd ed. (Thessaloniki and
New Rochelle, NYTnstitute for Balkan Studies and Aristide D. Caratzas, Publisher, 1993)

• Wassterman, Aryeh. "A Year of Rule by the Popular Front of Azerbaijan" in Yaacov Roi, "Muslim
Eurasia", Routeldge, 1995. pp 150-152.

• Windfuhr, Gemot. "Isoglosses: A Sketch on Persians and Parthians, Kurds and Medes "in Hommages et
Opera Minora, Monumentum H. S. Nyberg, Vol. 2., Acta Iranica 5. Tehran-Liege: Bibliotheque Pahlavi,
457-472.

414

• Yaqubi, Ahmad ibn Abi, Tarikh-i Yaqubi tarjamah-i Muhammad Ibrahim Ayati, Intirisharat Bungah-i
Tarjamah va Nashr-i Kitab, 1969.

• Yarshater, Ehsan. "Esfandyar"'m the Encyclopedia Iranica, accessed 2007.

• Yarshater, Ehsan. "Iran "in Encyclopedia Iranica, accessed 2007.

• Yarshater, Ehsan. "Azari, the Old Iranian Language of Azerbaijan", Encyclopaedia Iranica, op. cit, Vol.
III/2, 1987.

• Yazici, Tahsin. "Hibib Mirza Esfahani, "Encyclopedia Iranica, accessed 2007.

• Zanjani, Barat. "Layla va Majnun-I Nizami Ganjavi: matn-I Ilmi va intiqadi az ru-yi qadimtari nuskha-hayi
khatti-I qarn-I hashtum ba zikr-i ikhtilaf-i nusakh va ma'ani lughat va tarikbat va kashf al-bayat", Tehran,
Mu'assasah-I Chap va Intisharat-I Danishgah Tehran, 1369[1990]

• Zanjani, Barat. "Ahwal o Athar o SharH Makhzan olAsraar Nezami Ganjavi", Tehran University
Publications, 2005.

• Zaryab Khoi, Abbas, Ayandeh Magazine, Esfand Maah (February 21 -March 21), 1324 (1946), pages 780-
781.)

Appendix A: Modern scholastic sources

Mainstream modern scholastic sources have mentioned Nezami Ganjavi as a Persian
poet. This is a reference to his cultural heritage and/or his Iranian background (Persian
being reference for Iranian in general). These include major Encyclopedias such
Encyclopedia of Islam (Leiden), Encyclopedia Iranica and Encyclopedia Britannica.

Here we list some other English languages sources that we have encountered and found
among the many covering various topics in art, literature, Persian literature, history, novel
and fictions, science and etc. The range of dates cover mainly 2009-1989, however we
have included even some sources from the 19 th century. In the 19 th century we have not
found any usage of the anachronistic terms for Nezami 's designation and as shown in this
article, this was made in the 20 th century and mainly by the USSR nation building
concept. In the long term, it is our belief that Nezami Ganjavi has not been introduced to
the world in the fashion he deserves and obviously, the first step in introducing him is to
propagate the Persian language, because the most striking part of Nezami' s poetry is his
usage of this language. That is while the themes of Nezami Ganjavi are deeply rooted in
the Quran, Shahnameh, Iranian history and Islamic mystics, what makes them unique is
how presents the words that convey these concepts.

1)

John R. Haule, "Divine madness: archetypes of romantic love", Shambhala, 1990. Pg 301: "The Persian
poet, Nizami, collected most of the lovers' legends into a single poem, which mainly follows the life of
Majnun and observes how love transforms"

2)

Bill Beckley, David Shapiro, "Uncontrollable Beauty: Toward a New Aesthetics", Allworth
Communications, Inc., 2002. Excerpt from pg 132: "... and in the epic poems of the twelfth-century
Persian poet Nizami and in the fifteen century ..."

3)

415

Rudolf Gelpke, "The Story of Layla and Majnun", Translated by Rudolf Gelpke, Omega Publications,
1997. Excerpt from pg xi: "somewhere in the western half of the Arabic peninsula, about 500 years before
AD 1 188 (584 H), the year in which the Persian poet Nizami wrote his poem"

4)

Frank Tallis, "Love sick: love as a mental illness", Thunder's Mouth Press, 2005. Pg 90:". .are the
precursors of one of the most influential love stories ever written - the story of Layla and Majnun by the
twelfth-century Persian poet Nizami."

5)

V. I. Braginskii, "The comparative study of traditional Asian literatures: from reflective traditionalism to
neo-traditionalism", Routledge, 2001. Excerpt from Pg 119: "In the 12th century ideas very similar to
those expounded above were graphically expressed in the works of the great Persian poet Nizami,
especially in a chapter entitled the "Advantage of Strung Speech over Scattered Speech" in his mathnawi
the "Depository of Mysteries" (Makhzan al-Asrar)"

6)

Gholam-Reza Sabri-Tabrizi, "Iran: A Child's Story, a Man's Experience ", International Publishers Co,
1990. Excerpt from 197: "Nizami School was called after a great Persian poet — Nizami Ganjavi. Nizami
Ganjavi (his real name was Ilyas ibn-Yusuf), ..."

7)

Giilru Necipoglu, Julia Bailey, "Muqarnas: An Annual on the Visual Culture of the Islamic World",
BRILL, 2005. Pg 99: "Trying to emulate another great Persian poet, Nizami,Hatifi attempted to write a
Khamsa (Quintent) but only produced four works ..."

8)

Giusto Traina, "428 AD: An Ordinary Year at the End of the Roman Empire", Princeton University Press
(May 31, 2009) pg 118:"... in the poem Haft Paikar ("The Seven Beauties") by the Persian poet Nezami,
who lived from 1141 to 1209 in the Caucasian ..."

9)

Svatopluk Soucek, "A history of inner Asia ",Cambridge University Press, 2000 . pg 134: "..based on the

number five, translatable as "Quintet") is a cycle of five

lyrico-epic poems modeled on the work of the Persian poet Nizami (1 141-1203). . ."

10)

Barbara Brend, "Perspectives on Persian painting: illustrations to Amir Khusrau's Khamsah", Routledge,

2003. Back cover: "..composed between 1298 and 1302, follows the main lines of that of the Persian poet

Nizami.."

11)

Nagendra Kr Singh, Nagendra Kumar Singh, "International Encyclopedia of Islamic Dynasties", Anmol
Publications PVT. LTD., 2000. Pg 894: "in the fashion of the famous Persian poet Nizami [qv], with his
Khamsa, two well-known poets can be mentioned here"

12)

Julie Scott Meisami, Paul Starkeym, "Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature", Taylor & Francis, 1998. Pg
69: "In Arabic literature there has been no artistic elaboration of the story comparable to that undertaken by
the Persian poet Nizami "

13)

Philippe de Montebello , "The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide Revised Edition (Hardcover)",
Metropolitan Museum of Art; 2 edition (2000) page 338: "... hunter in the romantic epic Haft Paykar by

416

the twelfth-century Persian poet Nizami. This miniature exemplifies the classic style of Persian painting,

14)

Maria Rosa Menocal, "Shards of love: exile and the origins of the lyric", Duke University Press, 1994. Pg
143: ""In London he began reading the medieval Persian poet Nizami, author of a renowned version of a
story already famous in Arabic."

15) Amina Okada,"Indian miniatures of the Mughal court", H.N. Abrams, 1992. pg 226: "Nizami: An
anthology of five poems by the Persian poet Nizami (1 140-1202)."

16) Juvaynl, Ala al-Dln Ata Malik, 1226-1283 (1997). Genghis Khan: The History of the World-
Conqueror [Tarlkh-i jahangusha]. tr. John Andrew Boyle. Seattle: University of Washington Press. Pg 345-
346: "Their story forms the subject of an epic by the Persian poet Nizami"
17)

Francesca Orsini, "Love in South Asia" Cambridge University Press, 2006. Pg 1 16: "The poet's model was
clear from the start, namely the great Persian poet Nizami ..."

18)

Bernard Lewis, "Music of a distant drum", Princeton University Press, 2001. Pg 9: "The Persians went a
step further, creating authentic epic tradition comparables with those of Greece, Rome and the Vikings.
This too, became in time, a form of Persian national self definition. The most famous of Persian epic poets,
Firdawsi (940-1020) has been translated several times. An extract from the story of Farhad and Shirin, as
told by the twelfth century Persian poet Nizami, exmpelified another form of narrative"

19)

Bernard Lewis, "Race and Slavery in the Middle East: An Historical Enquirty", Oxford University Press
US, 1992. Pg 96-97: "In one picture, illustrating a manuscript of the book of Alexander by the Persian poet
Nizami, and painted in Qazvin towards the end of the sixteenth century, Alexandar (Iskandar) is seen
fighting the blacks"

20)

Howard R. Turner, "Science in medieval Islam", University of Texas Press, 1997.

pg 1 12:'Tn a celebrated romantic saga Khusraw and Shirin, written by the twelfth-century Persian poet

Nizami and based on a pre-Islamic legend, Khusrau, princely ruler of Sassanian empire, must endure many

trials before finally winning the hands of his love, the Armenian princess Shirin"

21)

Gunilla Lindberg-Wada, "Studying transcultural literary history", W. de Gruyter, 2006. Pg 237:"It was the
Persian poet Nizami (1 188) who achieved the major shift in both
language and genre"

22)

S. Wise Bauer, "The Middle Ages: From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of the Renaissance", Peace Hill
Press, 2003. pg 138: "This beautifully illustrated collection of tale is based on the epic by the twelfth-
century Persian poet Nizami"

23)

Anjaan Chakravery, "Indian Miniature Painting", Roli Books Private Limited, 2006. Pg 142: "The
poetical manuscripts, some of which were prepared for the emperor's personal delectation, comprise of
Gulistan (Rose Garden) of Sadi, Khamsa (The Five Poems) of Persian poet Nizami, Baharistan (The
Garden of Spring) by Jami and Divans (Collected Poems) of Hafiz and Anvari.

24)

417

David James Smith, "Hinduism and Modernity", Wiley-Blackwell, 2003. Pg 56: "One of the most splendid
commissions was the classical 'Quintent' of the twelfth-century Persian poet Nizami. The last part of this
text, the Iskandar Nama, is the Persian version of the deeds of Alexander the Great"

25) Guida Myrl Jackson-Laufer, Guida M. Jackson. "Encyclopedia of literary epics", ABC-CLIO, 1996.
Pg 269:"Persian poet Nizami composed five epics at the end of the twelfth century; one was based on ill-
starred lovers, Layli and her cousin Qays. Qays, distressed that he cannot marry his cousin, goes mad and
becomes known as Majnun"

26)

Maria Sutenly, "Visionary Rose: Methaphorical Application of Horticultural Practice in Persian Culture" in

Michel Conan and W. John Kress, "Botanical progress, horticultural information and cultural changes",

Dumbarton Oaks, 2007. Pg 12: "In a highly evocative tale he relates in the Makhzan al-Asrar ("Treasury

of Secrets"), the twelfth-century Persian poet, Nizami whose oeuvre is an acknowleged repository of

Iranian myths and legends, illustrates the way in which the rose was perceived in the Medieval Persian

imagination"

27)

Orhan Pamuk, "My name is Red" translated by Erdag M. Goknar, Vintage International, 2002. Pg 415: "c.
1141-1209: The Persian poet Nizami lived. He wrote the romantic epic the Quintet, comprised of the
following stories, all of which have inspired miniaturist"

28)

Percy Brown, "Indian Paintings", Read Books, 2007. Pg 49: "The adaptability of these Hindu craftsman
may be realised by the fact that their royal patron commissioned them to illustrate the works of the Persian
poet, Nizami, and other literary productions, normally foreign to theis genius",

29)

Walter G. Andrews, Mehmet Kalpakli, "The age of the beloved", Duke University Presspg 59:"This was to
be the fourth in a series of five mesnevi poems (a hamse or "pentad") intended to match the famed
thirteenth-century hamse of the Persian poet Nizami of Ganja"

30)

Encyclopedia Americana, Glorier incorporated. Pg 421 : "..a place named for his Armenian Christian
bride, his love for whom was immortalized by the 12th century Persian poet Nizami in Khosrow and
Shirin", Glorier, 1998, v.28.

3D

John R. Haule, "The ecstaties of St. Francis: The way of LadyPoverty", SteinerBooks, 2004. pg 66: "The

Persian poet Nizami collected them into an episodic novel-length poem right around the time of Francis.."

32)

Gene Santoro, "Dancing in your head", Oxford University Press, 1995. Pg 62: "At the same time, he

started to the read The Lay la and Majun, by the Persian poet Nizami".

33)

David Christian, Craig Benjamin, Macquarie University. Ancient History Documentary Research Centre,
Australasian Society for Inner Asian Studies. Conference, David Christian, Craig Benjamin, Macquarie
University. Ancient History Documentary Research Centre. "Worlds of the silk roads: ancient and modern
: proceedings from the Second Conference of the Australasian Society for Inner Asian Studies (A.S.I.A.S.),
Macquarie University, September 21-22, 1996", Brepols, 1998. Pg 258: "Formly and thematically he was
influenced by the pentalogies, especially that of the Persian poet Nizami (12th century),.."

34)

418

Francis Lenormant, "Chaldean Magic Its Origin and Development", Pg 159:"Later in the period of the
Sassanian dynasty, the Persian poet Nizami, author of the Haft-Paykar, describers this style as prevailing in
the place of the seven plants built by Bahram Gour or Varahan V."

35)

Lloyd. V. J. Ridgeon, "'Aziz Nasafi", Routledge, 1998. pg 159: "By the twelfth and thirteen century,
himma had become a technical of the Sufis. For example, the great Persian poet Nizami (b. 1 140) refers to
himma in his Makhzan al-Asrar (1 166) when he describes how Mahmud Ghazna (969-1030) fell sick while
besieging an Indian city"

36)

Gerhard Endress, Carole Hillenbrand, "Islam a historical Introduction", 2nd edition, Edinburgh University

Press, pg 2002. Pg 178:"Death of the Persian poet Nizami of Ganja, important author of romantic verse

epics."

37)

Mesrovb Jacob Seth, "Armenians in India, from the earliest times to the present day", Asian Educational
Service, 1992. pg 178: "In the preface to the Lahore edition of Sarmad's quatrains, it is stated that Sarmad
was born in Ganja, an important Armenian ciy in the Karabakh district, south of the Caucasus. The famous
Persian poet Nizami, was also born in that city"

38)

Ernst Robest Curtis, Williard Ropes Trask, "European literature and Latin Middle Ages" translated by
Williard Ropes Trask and Peter Godman, 7th edition, Princeton University Press, 1990. Pg 347: "Goethe
confuses the name with that of the Persian poet Nizami — in pious resignation puts it into the hands of God
himself ('Master of Love,' 'Beloved')"

39)

Slezkine, Yuri. "The Soviet Union as a Communal Apartment."in Stalinism: New Directions. Ed. Sheila
Fitzpatrick, Routledge, New York, 2000. pages 335: "The Azerbaijani delegate insisted that the Persian
poet Nizami was actually a classic of Azerbaijani literature because he was a "Turk from Giandzha" and
that Mirza Fath Ali Akhundov was not a gentry writer, as some proletarian critics had charged, but a "great
philosopher-playwright" whose "characters [were] as colorful, diverse and realistic as the characters of
Griboedov, Gogol' and Ostrovskii."

40)

Armando Maggi, "The Resurrection of the Body", University of Chicago Press, 2009. pg 187: "Pasolini
here blends two mythic sources: The Greek Orpheus and Alexandar the Great depicted as a prophetic figure
in The Book of Alexandar the Great by the twelfth-century Persian poet Nizami of Ganja"

41)

Edmund Herzig, Russian and CIS Programme (Royal Institute of International Affairs), Former Soviet
South Project, "Iran and the former Soviet South", Royal Institute of International Affairs, Russian and CIS
Programme, 1995. Pg 50: "It is not hard to understand why Iranians ridicule claims such as Azerbaijan's to
the Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi, or Uzbekistan's to the great Ibn Sina"

42)

Sheila Blair, Jonathan M. Bloom, Hood Museum of Art, Asia Society, "Images of Paradise in Iaslamic

Art", Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 1991. Pg 36: "and flying through the firmament are found

in manuscripts of several poetic texts, including the popular Khamsa (Five Poems) of the Persian poet

Nizami"

43)

D.A. Spelling, "Politics, Gender and Islamic Past: The legacy of ' Aisha bint Abi Bakr", Columbia
University, Press, 1996. Pg 215:"The Persian poet Nizami (d. 606/ 1 209) named one of his female
characters Fitna in his work the Khamsa."

419

44)

Diane Woklstein, "The first love stories: from Isis and Osiris to Tristan and Iseult

",HarperCollinsPublishers, 1991. Pg 266:"In the twelfth century C.E., Shirvanshah Akhsetan, a a Caucasian
ruler, commissioned the elegant Persian poet Nizami to write a Persian romance based on Arabic folk
legends, dating back .."

45)

Jean Bottero, Andre Finet, Bertrand Lafont, Antonia Nevill, "Everyday life in ancient Mesopatima", JHU
Press, 2001. Pg 159: "This was a romantic epic written by the Persian poet Nizami (twelfth century),
recounting the loves of the Sassanid King Khosroes II Parviz (590-628) and the Christian woman Shirin..''

46)

Geoffrey Wigoder, "Dictionary of Jewish biography", Simon & Schuster, 1991. Pg 40: "From 1867 he
attended the University of Budapest, receiving his doctorate for a thesis on the 12th- century Persian poet,
Nizami."

47)

Edgar Allan Poe, Thomas Ollive Mabbott, Eleanor D. Kewer, Maureen Cobb Mabbott, "Tales and
Sketches: 1831-1842", University of Illinois Press, 2000. Pg 636: "Retelling a traditional Arabian love
story from the version by the twelfth-century Persian poet Nizami"

48)

Luisa Passerini, "Europe in Love, Love in Europe: Imagination and Politics in Britian", I.B.Tauris, 1999.
Pg 22: "and Ibn Hazm al-Andalusi between the end of '900 and the beginning of the first century of our
millennium, in the work of the Persian poet Nizami, author of the 1 188 tale Lay la and Majnun"

49)

Mian Mohammad Sharif, "A history of Muslim philosophy: with short accounts of other disciplines and the
modern renaissance in Muslim lands", Low Price Pub, Vol 1. , 1999. Pg 22:"His version of the Khusrau wa
Shirin of the Persian poet Nizami is more than a mere translation"

50)

Emily. A. Haddad, "Orientalist poetics: the Islamic Middle East in nineteenth-century English and French
poetry", Ashgate, 2002. Pg 193:"Goethe's models are, Gautier asserts, Eastern ones in both form and
content; Goethe follows the example of the Persian poet Nizami rather than Shakespeare"

51)

John Renard, "101 Question and Answers on Islam", Paulist Press, 2005. pg 1 12: "A story told long ago

by the Persian Poet Nezami (d. 1209) in his splendid mystical epic, Seven Portraits, offers a solution"

52)

Sharon Kinoshita, "Medieval boundaries: rethinking difference in Old French literature", University of
Pennsylvania Press, 2006. Pg 255: "Compare Khamsa by the twelfth- century Persian poet Nizami, in
which a ten-year-old boy and girl who meet at Quranic school "embark on a chaste romance lasting the rest
of their lives'".

53)

Rudolf Steiner, Catherine E. Creeger, "An outline of Estoric Sciences", SteinerBooks, 1997. Pg 316:"A
story attributed to the Persian poet Nizami (1 141-1203), and adopted by Goethe for inclusion in his West-
ostlicher Divan", Quranic school "embark on a chaste romance lasting the rest of their lives'".

54)

Daniel Joseph Boorstin, "The Creators", Random House, 1992. Pg 196: "The Persian poet Nizami (c.H40-
c.1202) depicted an ancient competition at the court of Alexander the Great. One spring day while
Alexander was entertaining.."

420

55)

Anne Varichon, Toula Ballas, "Colors what they mean and how to make them", Abrams, 2007. Pg 183:"At
the end of the twelfth century Persian poet Nizami (c. 1 140-1209) wrote The Seven Beauties, which
describes the tales told to the Sassanian ruler"

56)

Tony Abboud, "Al-Kindi; the Father of Arab Philosophy", The Rosen Publishing Group, 2006 . pg 26:
"This sixteenth-century illustration from the Khamsa (Five Poems) by Persian poet Nizami portrays Caliph
al-Mamun being groomed by a barber and other"

57)

Meyer Waxman, "History of Jewish Literature Part 4", Kessinger Publishing, 2003. pg 567: "At the age of
twenty, he was awarded the doctor's degree by the University of Leipzig for his dissertation on the Persian
poet, Nizami."

58)

Stephen Farthing, Geoff Dyer, "1001 paintings you must see before you die", Universe, 2007. Pg 232:
"AThe painting once illustrated a copy of the Khamsa (Five Poems), by the twelfth century Persian poet
Nizami, which included popular narrative poems.."

59)

Mohan Lan Nigam, Anupama Bhatnagar, "Romance of Hyderabad culture", Deva Publications, 1997. Pg

64: "He calls himself the disciple of the famous Persian poet, Nizami"

60)

John William Seyller, "Workshop and patron in Mughal India: the Freer Ramayana and other illustrated
manuscripts of Abd al-Rahim", Artibus Asiae Publishers, 1999. Pg 344: Khamsa Quintet, a collection of
five epic romance written by the Persian Poet Nizami (1 141-1209)"

61)

Jennifer Doane Upton, Charles Upton, "Dark way to Paradise: Dante's Inferno in light of the Spiritual
Path", Sophia Perennis, 2005. Pg 15: The great Persian poet Nizami, writing of the lovers Layla and
Majnun, tells of how Majnun finds a piece of paper with his name and Layla's written on it"

62)

George Stephen Nestory , "Young Ukraine: the Brotherhood Saints Cyril and Methodius in Kiev",
University of Ottawa Press, 1991. Pg 74: "In his spare time he wrote learned treatises on the Georgian poet
Rustaveli, the Persian poet Nizami, and the relation of the Georgian language to .."

63)

Petra de Bruijin, Abdulhak Hamit, "The two worlds of E§ber: Western orientated verse drama and Ottoman
Turkish poetry by 'Abdulhakk Hamid (Tarhan)", Research School CNWS, 1997. Pg 279: "the metre used
by the Persian poet Nizami for his romantic mesnevi Leyla ve Mecnun and which was adopted by, amongst
others, the Ottoman Turkish poet"

64)

Edward Morgan Forster, Jeffrey M. Heath, "The creator as critic and other writings by E.M. Forster",
Dundurn Press, 2008. Pg 276: "While preparing this broadcast I've been looking at his edition of a
sixteenth-century manuscript of the Persian poet Nizami, and reminding myself of what.."

65)

Joseph T. Shipley, "Encyclopedia of Literature Vol. 1", READ BOOKS, 2007. Pg 504: "A love romance
on a theme fro Paykar (1660) and Sikandar Nama (1673), adaptations of two of the famous romances of the
Persian poet Nizami (ca. 1 141-1203);

421

66)

Paul Pearsall, "The Beethoven Factor: The New Positive Psychology of Hardiness, Happiness, Healing,

and Hope", Hampton Roads Pub. Co., 2003. Pg 219: "The paper had a statement by the Persian poet

Nizami, and it can serve as reminder to all of us about the importance of an optimistic explanatory style

and"

67)

Kevin Alan Brooks, "The Jews of Khazaria", Jason Aronson, 1999. Pg 253: "The Persian poet Nizami
(circa 1 141-1203) described in one of his poems how the Cumans worshipped their ancestors and
predecessors by kneeling down before.."

68)

Marie-Luise von Franz, "Individuation in fairy tales", Shambala, 1990. Pg 82: "Here the role of the
storytelling person is represented by an anima figure. In a famous twelfth -century story by the Persian poet
Nizami entitled, "The Seven Stories of the Seven Princess," against every night a princess tells the King a
beautiful fairy tale".

69)

David Comfort, "The First Pet History of the World", Simon & Schuster, 1994. Pg 38: "..A PARABLE

BY PERSIAN POET NIZAMI.."

70)

Tetsuo Nishio, Kokuritsu Minzokugaku Hakubutsuka, "Cultural change in the Arab world", National
Museum of Ethnology, 2001. Pg 148: "it seems that these "randomly strung pearls" of the tale of Majnun
were not restrung by a deliberate writer's hand (as the Persian poet Nizami would do.."

71)

Sadiq Naqvi, "The Iranian Afaquies Contribution to the Qutb Shahi and Adil Shahi Kingdoms", A.A.
Hussain Book Shop, 2003. Pg 109:" He started writing a Khamsa in the style of the famous Persian poet
Nizami. But he could write only four volumes. He believed that his works were better"

72)

Nathan Light, "Slippery paths: the performance and canonization of Turkic literature and Uyghur muqam
song in Islam and modernity", Indiana University, 1998. Pg 227:"and even suggested that Naval do a
nazira ('version') of the tradition of composing a Khamsa (Five Epics) begun by the Persian poet Nizami,
and reworked by Amir Khusrau and Jami himself

73)

Julian Baldick, "Imaginary Muslims: the Uwaysi Sufis of Central Asia", Imaginary Muslims: the Uwaysi
Sufis of Central Asia. Pg 27: "and has included the celebrated Persian poet Nizami"

74)

John Reeve, Karen Armstrong, Everett Fox, Colin F. Baker, F. E. Peters, British Library, "Sacred: books of
the three faiths : Judaism, Christianity, Islam", British Library, 2007. Pg 161: "the poems of the celebrated
Persian poet, Nizami. According to tradition, the face of the Prophet Muhammad has been whitened out"

75)

John Renard, "Responses to 101 questions on Islam", Paulists Press, 1998. Pg 1 12: "A story told long ago

by the Persian poet Nizami.."

76)

Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovskii, John Vrieze, Stichting De Nieuwe Kerk, "Earthly beauty, heavenly art: art
of Islam",De Nieuwe Kerk, 1999. Pg 135: ""A story told long ago by the Persian poet Nizami.."

77)

422

Wiebke Walther, "Women in Islam", M. Wiener Pub., 1993. Pg 44: "Also in his Haft Paykar, the hero of a
celebrated romance by the Persian poet Nizami, and of many other romances by Turkish imitators.."

78)

Wilhelm Geiger, "Civilization of the Eastern Irnians in Ancient Times: With an Introduction on the Avesta
Religion", BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2009. Pg 229:"Later, in the period of the Sassanian dynasty, the Persian
poet Nizami describes this style as prevailing in the ' Palace of the Seven Planets ' built by.."

79)

Sir Richard F. Burton (translator), "Arabian Nights, in 16 Volumes: Vol. V", Cosimo, Inc., 2008. Pg
254:"Much of the above is taken from the Sikandar-nameh (Alexander Book) of the great Persian poet,
Nizami, who flourished AH 515 — 597, between the days of

80)

Caitlin Matthews, Olwyn Whelan, "The Barefoot Book of Princesses", Barefoot Books, 2004. Pg 64: "The
Mountain Princess The story comes from the work of the twelfth-century Persian poet Nizami, one from a
series of delightful stories about seven"

81)

Barbara Brend, "The Emperor Akbar's Khamsa of Nizami", British Library, 1995. "a five -part work in
verse by the twelfth-century Persian poet Nizami; its stories are among the most famous in Persian
literature"

82)

Wilhem Baum, "Shirin: Christian, Queen, Myth of Love; a Women of late antiquity", Gorgias Press LLC,
2004. Pg 88: "Among the Persian poets whom Goethe was interested were Firdausi, Nizami and Hafis"
(note this book uses anachronistic term as well)

83)

R. Gelpke, "The story of the seven princesses", Cassirer, 1976. Pg 2: "Haft Paykar (the seven images) by
the Persian poet Nizami (1 141-1202) is a precious jewel of oriental narrative art, to be compared only with
the most beautiful stories out of Thousand and one nights"

84)

Francis Jacques Sypher, Sarah L. Prakken, Bessie Graham, Jack Alden Clarke, Hester Rosalyn Jacoby
Hoffman, "The Reader's Adviser: A Layman's Guide to Literature", Bowker, 1977, v.2 edition 12. Pg 638:
"a lyric poet with encyclopedic erudition, whose long poem "Iskender-name" continued the tradition of the
Alexander romance of the Persian poet Nizami.."

85)

Classical Arabic poetry: 162 poems from Imrulkais to Ma'arri , "Classical Arabic poetry: 162 poems from
Imrulkais to Ma'arri", KPI, 1985. "Five hundred years later, the subject was taken up by the Persian poet
Nizami and formed into an epic running to over 4000 distichs"

86)

Herbert Mason, "A legend of Alexander ; and, The merchant and the parrot: dramatic poems", University
of Notre Dame Press, 1986. Pg 3: "their mythical encounter to the twelfth-century Persian poet Nizami,
whose celebrated Khamsa includes among its "five epics""

87)

Janardan Prasad Singh, "Sir William Jones, his mind and art", S. Chand, 1982. Pg 217: "Of the longest
allegory in the collection, The Seven Fountains'. Jones said in his Preface that it was written in imitation
of the Persian poet Nizami."

88)

423

Henry George Raverty, "Selections from Pushto Poetry", al-Biruni, 1978. Pg 29: "and his mistress Layla
are the subject of one of the most celebrated mystic poems of the Persian poet Nizami, and famous
throughout the East"

89)

Joseph Reese Strayer, "Dictionary of the Middle Ages", v.5 , Scribner, 1985. Pg 418:"This famous
composition by the Persian poet Nizami also had a strong influence on.."

90)

Kolarz, Walter. "Russia and her Colonies", London: George Philip. 1952. Pg 245: "The attempt to 'annex'
an important part of Persian literature and to transform it into 'Azerbaidzhani literature' can be best
exemplified by the way in which the memory of the great Persian poet Nizami (1 141-1203) is exploited in
the Soviet Union."

91)

Claude Cahen, "Pre-Ottoman Turkey: a general survey of the material and spiritual culture and history c.
1071-1330", Sidgwick & Jackson, 1968. Pg 252: ". . .of the great Persian poet Nizami of Ganja (a town in
the extreme north-west of Iran), and it is possible that he was acquainted with another poet,.."

92)

Pepe Escobar, "Red Zone Blues", Nimble Books LLC, 2007. Pg 94: "And Eurasia is the would be nothing
but echoing the great 12th Century Persian poet Nezami, who in the famous Haft Paykar("The Seven
Portratins") wrote that "The world is the body and Iran is its heart"

93)

Felix J. Oinas, "Heroic Epic and Saga: An Introduction and Handbook to the World's Great Folk Epics",
Indiana University Press, 1978. Pg 324: "His model was the work of the great Iranian poet Nizami (1 152-
1205?). The following generations of Ottoman poets continued to develop the romance genre"

94)

Garth Fowden, "Qusayr' Amra: art and the Ummayad elite in the late antique Syria", University of
California Press, 2004. Pgl 1 1: "As by the twelfth-century Iranian poet Nizami continued to develop the
romance genre"

95)

Gregory Minissale, "Framing consciousness in Art: Transcultural Perspectives", Rodopi, 2009. Pg 304:
"The author of the original text in the twelfth century, the Iranian poet Nizami, who composed the poetic
imagery which the painting is meant to evoke"

96)

Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovskii, John Vrieze, Stichting De Nieuwe Kerk, "Earthly beauty, heavenly art: art
of Islam", De Nieuwe Kerk, 1999. Pg 140: "The Khamsa (Quintet) by the renowned Iranian poet Nizami
Ganjavi (1 141-1209) comprises five poems: The treasury of mysteries', 'Khusraw and Shirin'"

97)

Wilhelm Bacher, Samuel Robinson, "Memoir of the Life and Writings of the Persian Poet Nizami, and

Analysis of the Second Part of His Alexander-book", Williams & Norgate, 1873.

98)

Abraham Valentine Williams Jackson, "Persia Past and Present: A Book of Travel and Research, with
More Than Two Hundred Illustrations and a Map", The Macmillan Company, 1906. Pg 5: "Its chief claim
upon our interest perhaps is the fact that Ganjah was the home of the Persian poet Nizami, who died about
the year A.D. 1208."

99)

424

Friedrich Spiegel, Darab dastur Peshotan Sanjana, "Iranian Art", H. Frowde, 1886. Pg 2:"Later, in the
period of the Sassanian dynasty, the Persian poet Nizami describes this style as prevailing in the ' Palace of
the Seven Planets ' built by "

100)

William Alexander Clouston, Edward Rehatsek(Translator), "A Group of Eastern Romances and Stories
from the Persian, Tamil, and Urdu", Privately printed [W. Hodge & Co.], 1889. Pg 173: "Alexander the
Great, of whom Muslim writers relate many wonderful stories — especially the Persian poet Nizami, in his
famous Sikandar.."

101)

Jullia Scot Meisami, "Nizami c. 1 141-cl209: Persian Poet" in Encyclopedia of literary translation in

English, Olive Classe, Taylor & Francis, 2000. 2nd edition, pg 1005-1006.

102)

Chelkowski, P. "Nizami Gandjawi , jamal al-Din Abu Muhammad Ilyas b. Yusuf b. Zaki Muayyad

."Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P. Bearman , Th. Bianquis , C.E. Bosworth , E. van Donzel and W.P.

Heinrichs. Brill, 2008. Brill Online.

Excerpt: "Nizami Gandjawi, Djamal al-Din Abu Muhammad Ilyas b. Yusuf b. Zaki Mu'ayyad, one of the

greatest Persian poets and thinkers."

103)

A. Netzer, "BACHER, WILHELM" in Encyclopedia Iranica.

http://www. iranica.com/newsite/index. isc?Article=http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/unicode/v3f4/v

3f4a001.html

Excerpt: "In 1870 he earned his doctorate writing a dissertation on the life and poetry of the Persian poet

NezamI"

104)

Yo'av Karny, "Highlanders : A Journey to the Caucasus in Quest of Memory", Published by Macmillan,
2000. Pg 124: "In 1991 he published a translation into Khynalug of the famous medieval poet Nezami,
who is known as Persian but is claimed by Azeri nationalists as their own."

105)

Ronald Grigor Suny, Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies, American Association for the
Advancement of Slavic Studies. "Nationalism and Social Change: Essays in the History of Armenia,
Azerbaijan, and Georgia", University of Michigan Press, 1996. page 20. «. . .the great Persian poet Nizam
ud-Din Abu Muhammad Ilyas. . .»

106)

The Oxford Dictionary of Islam, John L. Esposito, Oxford University Press US, 2003 . page 235:
"Nizami, Jamal al-Din Abu Muhammad II- yas ibn Yusuf ibn Zaki Muayyad (d. ca. 1209) Persian poet.
Author of the Khamsa"

107)

Encyclopedia of Asian History: Vols 1-4. Ainslie Thomas Embree (Professor Emeritus of History
Columbia University), Robin Jeanne Lewis, Asia Society, Richard W. Bulliet. Scribner, 1988. page. 55:
"..five historical idylls (1299 — 1302) as a rejoinder to the Khamsa of the Persian poet Nizami. . ."

108)

425

Ali Akbar Husain, "Scent in the Islamic Garden: A Study of Deccani Urdu Literary Sources",

Oxford University Press, USA (March 8, 2001). page 29: "... Muhammad Quli acknowledges his debt to

the poetry of the Iranian poets, Nizami and Khaqani. . ."

109)

Dr. Julie Scott Meisami, "The Haft Paykar: A Medieval Persian Romance (Oxford World's Classics)",
Oxford University Press (T), 1995. Pg XXXV: "Nizami's imagery was the subject of a study by Hellmut
Ritter, who compared the Persian poet's style to that of Goethe, contrasting the vividness and immediacy of the
latter to Nizami's supposed 'metaphorical transformation' of physical phenomena which permits the
invention-of new relationships which have no basis in 'reality'."

110)

Dr. Colin Turner (translator and scholar), Layla and Majnun: The Classic Love Story of
Persian Literature [ILLUSTRATED] (Hardcover), "John Blake; illustrated edition edition
(June 1, 1997)". Page ix (Forward): "The Persian poet Nizami was commissioned to
write Lay la and Majnun by the Caucasian ruler, Shirvanshah in AD 1188."

Ill)

Camron Micheal Amin (Editor), Benjamin C. Fortna (Editor), Elizabeth B. Frierson (Editor),

"The Modern Middle East: A Sourcebook for History ", Oxford University Press, USA (November 24,

2007). Page 140: "composed by the twelfth-century Persian poet Nizami and first translated into Ottoman

in the fifteenth"

112)

Oxford Encyclopedia of World History, Oxford University Press, USA (April 8, 1999), excerpt page 18:
"In Persian sources, his search for knowledge takes precedence over world conquest. In the Iskandar-
namah (Book of Alexander) by the Persian poet Nizami, Alexander is depicted as the half-brother of the
conquered King"

113)

Edward G. Browne, "A literary History of Persia", Vol. 2 (London, 1906). Pg 403: "And if his genius has

a few rivals amongst the poets of Persia, his character has even fewer. He was genuinely pious, yet

singularly devoid of fanaticism and intolerance.." (Also quoted in

Mirror of the Invisible World: Tales from the Khamseh of Nizami, Peter J. Chelkowski, Metropolitan

Museum of Art, 1975, pg 5.)

114)

Frank Griffel, "Al-Ghazali's Philosophical Theology", Oxford University Press, USA (May 28, 2009). Pg

75: "Janza would become known as the home of the famous Persian poet Nizami (d. c. 604/1207)."

115)

Giampaolo Casati , "Alexander the Great: Conquerer", Thunder Bay Press (CA) (February 28, 2005). page
131: "Magog behind a wall of iron, while the famous Persian poet Nezami, in Iskander-name, makes the
conqueror into a just and wise ..."

116)

W. Ouyang , "New Perspectives On Arabian Nights", Routledge; 1 edition (September 22, 2005) .pg 46: "..

of the latter version in the first tale of the Persian poet Nezami's (died 1202) Haft peikar-e Bahram-Gur

and.."

117)

426

Afkham Darbandi, and Dick Davis, "Conference of the Birds" (Attar), Penguin Classics
(July 3, 1984). Pg 231: "on this story, the most famous being that of the Persian
poet Nezami. Majnoun's madness is a frequent symbol in Islamic mystical poetry"

118)

Nikolaj Serikoff, "Islamic Calligraphy from the Wellcome Library", Serindia Publications, Inc. (June 1,
2007). Pg 12: "...beings, animals, birds, trees, etc. For example the 12th century Iranian poet Nizami
Gandjawih described the master of the world, the Prophet Muhammad, ..."

119)

Gregory Minissale, "Framing Consciousness in Art: Transcultural Perspectives. (Consciousness, Literature
& the Arts)", Rodopi (May 5, 2009). page 304: "... author of the original text in the twelfth century, the
Iranian poet Nizami, who composed the poetic imagery which the painting is meant ..."

120)

New Encyclopedia of Islam: A Revised Edition of the Concise Encyclopedia of Islam. Cyril Glasse
(Columbia university),Huston Smith, Altamira, 2003. "Nizami (Abu Yusuf Muhammad Ilyas ibn Yusuf
Nizam ad-Din) (535-5981X 141 — 1202). A Persian poet and mystic, he was born in Ganja in Azerbaijan"

121)

Garth Fowden, "Qusayr Amra: Art and the Umayyad Elite in Late Antique Syria (Transformation of the

Classical Heritage)",

University of California Press; 1 edition (September 20, 2004) . page 1 1 l:"..As by the twelfth -century

Iranian poet Nizami, Haft paykar 25-26..."

122)

Kamran Talattof and Jerome W. Clinton, K. Allin Luthe. The Poetry of Nizami Ganjavi: Knowledge, Love,
and Rhetoric. Palgrave, 2001 .

Excerpt from Forward of book: "The work of Nezami Ganjavi, one of the great Persian poets, has achieved
enduring significance"

Excerpt from Pg 51: "Women are featured in the works of three major classical Persian poets, Nizami
Ganjavi (1140-1202), Abu al-Qasim Firdawsi (932-1020), and Abd al-Rahman Jami (1414-92)

123)

Seyyed Hossein Nasr, "The Garden of Truth: The Vision and Promise of Sufism, Islam's Mystical
Tradition", HarperOne; Reprint edition (September 2, 2008).

pg 67:"... on this story, but much elaborated, is by the twelfth-century Persian poet Nizami, who turned it
into one of the masterpieces of ..."

124)

A. A. Seyed-Gorhab, "Magic in classical Persian amatory literature", Iranian Studies, 1475-4819, Volume
32, Issue 1, 1999, Pages 71 - 97. Excerpts: "A meticulous description of Qays's demoniac had to wait till
the twelfth century when the Persian poet Nizami of Ganjah composed an artistic and refined story of
Majnun's legend. In recounting his version of the lives and love of Layla and Majnun, Nizami relies on a
popular folkloristic theme in which a young prince is smitten by love for a fairy."

125)

427

Richard N. Frye Reviewed work(s): The Turkic Languages and Literatures of Central Asia: A Bibliography
by Rudolf Loewenthal. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 21, (Dec, 1958), p. 186. excerpt: Many
works that appear in this bibliography have no proper place in it; for example, publications on the Persian
poet, Nizami (page 73), as well as articles on such political matters as pan-Turkism

126)

C. A. (Charles Ambrose) Storey and Franco de Blois (2004), "Persian Literature - A Biobibliographical
Survey: Volume V Poetry of the Pre-Mongol Period.", RoutledgeCurzon; 2nd revised edition (June 21,
2004). Pg 363: "Nizami Ganja'i, whose personal name was Ilyas, is the most celebrated native poet of the
Persians after Firdausi. His nisbah designates him as a native of Ganja (Elizavetpol, Kirovabad) in
Azerbaijan, then still a country with an Iranian population.."

127)

Annemarie Schimmel, "And Muhammad Is His Messenger: The Veneration of the Prophet in Islamic Piety
(Studies in Religion)", The University of North Carolina Press (November 30, 1985) . pg 18: "In Persian
sources, his search for knowledge takes precedence over world conquest. In the Iskandar-namah (Book of
Alexander) by the Persian poet Nizami, Alexander is depicted as the half-brother of the conquered King "

Corrected information

Despite the overwhelming number of sources in the previous section, we note that once
in a while wrong usage and information creeps in from the USSR. Unfortunately wrong
information from the USSR era has sometimes been looked at uncritically.

Here are three correspondences between this author and three Western writers. Dr. Van
Ruymbeke is a major Nezami scholar however in one of her books she has written:

Christine van Ruymbeke, "Science and Poetry in Medieval Persia: The Botany of
Nizami's Khamsa", University of Cambridge Oriental Publications (No. 65), 2008. pg 9:
"He might have been of Jewish background, or maybe Turkish." pg 18: "Before
submitting the tree imagery in the Khamsa to a scientific examination, we first need to
define closely as possible what is understood by "botanical knowledge", or more
precisely, by "knowledge about trees and fruit", when this is applied to a twelfth century
Persian poet." pg 236: "As a result, this study not only proposes a better understanding of
nature imagery in the work of a seminal Persian poet, but provides a useful insight into
the breadth and depth of education of Medieval poets and their readers."

I asked her about "Jewish background" and even maybe Turkish, and gave her some of

the sources from the article. This was her response:

f

Thank you for your email and your query on Nezami. I am grateful to you for writing to
me for clarification rather than jumping to conclusions. As you will notice from my book,
I am absolutely NOT taking position on Nezami 's origins, I am only mentioning - using
the conditional - opinions found in previous scholarly works, one of which {but this is so
far away I unfortunately cannot remember who the author might have been) must have
mentioned the possibility that Nezami came from a Jewish background. If I remember
correctly, no actual proof for this was given, except for his first name Ilyas son ofYusuf.
The point I was making was that we have no biographical details on Nezami' s origin,

428

family background and education and thus need to look at his verses to understand who
he was. I have not researched his background and all I can say is that no, there are no
known works in Hebrew written by him, nor any traces of ties to a Jewish community, nor
any mention by him that I know of that he was of Jewish origin.

As to the opinions you are quoting, I would like to remark that this is a dangerous and
pointless debate, as we have no biographical details about this or about most other
medieval authors who wrote in persian. There was no definition of political nationalities
in the large Saljuq Turkish Muslim empire in which Nezami was living. Nationalities, as
Soviet and present-day Azarbaijan or Iran refer to, is not a concept that is relevant for
those times. People who call Nezami a Persian poet are perfectly right, as the language
in which he chose to express himself was Persian, whatever his family background
might have been, and it was most probably Iranian. The area and town in which he
lived has become Azerbaijan nowadays, so Azerbaijan is perfectly correct in claiming
him as a local man - this might also be correct for the Soviet Union at one time. In my
eyes, this does not rob Persian culture from one of its greatest man either.

As to Medieval Jewish authors, I do not research this but my experience tells me that they
ought not to be too hard to locate, as I am sure their works or names would normally
advertise their origins in one way or another.. There was no reason to hide this in any
way.

I hope this is helpful and wish you success in your research.

C van Ruymbeke (Correspondence took place in March 2009)

Doing a search in google books (in the year 2009) under " Nezami Azeri poet", we did
not come across any serious source except one literature book. Here is the
correspondence with that author:

Finally we did mention that small number of writers have used anachronistic place names
and used modern geographical conventions without any ethnic designation.

An inquirer asked one academic writer who used this term:

In the book "Early Mongol Rule in Thirteenth-century Iran " on page 65 you wrote "The
renowned Azerbaijani poet, Nizami of... ".

What do you mean with "Azerbaijani poet Nizami" ? Ethnic, cultural, geographical or
other characteristic?

429

The Author of the book who used the term responded back:

geographical. The whole subject of nationalities is fraught with controversy since in
mediaeval times nation-states did not exist people could not so easily be labeled. Often
people were defined by their city, e.g. Samarqandi, Balkhi, though often by the region,
Rumi. Nizami has been claimed by the modern state of Azerbaijan though he continues
to be considered a Persian poet and for the student seeking further information
Azerbaijan could be a starting point for their research. You should not read too much
into such labels. George Lane

And here is another correspondence:

Dear Sir,

In your book "The Seven Beauties of Science Fiction", you have

written:

"The Haft Paykar (Seven Beauties), a mystical epic by the

twelfth-century Azeri Poet, Nizami, tells of a legendary King Bahram..."

Respone:

Dear Mr. Doostzadeh,

"thank you very much for your note on my anachronistic use of the term
"Azeri" for Nizami. I am usually reluctant to ascribe national/ethnic origins to any
writer, since it is ultimately the language that counts. I will make the appropriate
changes when and if a second edition comes out. For the record, I did note tin the
sentence you quoted hat the Seven Beauties is a _Persian_poem.

With best wishes,

Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Jr. "

Also noted should be an effort around the time of November 2008 where due to lobbying,
Encyclopedia Britannica had changed Nezami Ganjavi from a Persian poet to a "Persian
language poet" as a first step to rob him off his Iranian heritage. However, after
consulting with some scholars, they accepted the correct term Persian Poet.

In the long term these efforts will be futile (say 1000 years from now), but due to geo-
political maneuvering and active lobbying, and also lack of awareness of the historical
politicization of Nezami, as well as not everyone being able to dissect USSR propaganda,
it can be expected that in the near term, if nationalistic feelings flare-up and oil money is

430

poured in, there will be massive political efforts to rob Nezami Ganjavi of his Iranian
heritage (see some of the news item posted in the intro). But in the long term, without a
doubt, this effort is futile.

Appendix B: Response to two arguments
with regards to the population of Turks in
Caucasus

Do "Turkish" soldiers in Baghdad during the early Abbasid
period have anything to do with Caucasus and Azerbaijan

One critic has claimed that: there was a lot of Turks in Baghdad serving the caliphate, so
Azerbaijan and Caucasia had a large Turkic military population before the Seljuqs.
The argument is disconnected and lacks coherency. First what does Baghdad and Iraq
have to do with Azerbaijan and Caucasian Albania? Second why would Nezami' s father
line be related to mercenary soldiers in Baghdad? There is no evidence of any Turkic
culture in the area, especially in urban centers (see for example Nozhat al-Majales for a
clear example of Iranian culture). Furthermore, the Turkic military population in Iraq
was not large, but Turks being employed in various armies is like Berbers, Slavs, Iranians
(Soghdians specially) and etc. being employed in various armies. None of these show
evidence of any Turkish speaking cities and colonies in the Caucasus and Azerbaijan.
Indeed, there is no Turkish toponyms in both Eastern Southern Caucasus or Azerbaijan
before the Seljuqs, directly disproving any claim of any substantial Turkish population.
For example unlike the Iranian names such as Ganja, Baku, Sherwan, Darband, Barda',
Lahijan and etc., one would expect some Turkic names in the area. Also the area of
Azerbaijan and Caucasus were controlled by Medes, Achaemenids, Greeks, Parthians,
Sassanids and then Arabs (occasional Khazar incursions), then Sherwanshahs,
Rawwadids, Sajids, Justanids, Daylamites and Shaddadids and etc. Thus no real Turkic
rule was present until the Seljuqs. Again there is nothing

comparable to say Armenian writings or the Nozhat al-Majales (a complete picture of
Muslim Arran) and Safinaye Tabriz (a complete picture of Muslim Azerbaijan) that
shows any proof or evidence of Turkic culture.

Let us first see how many Turks were in Baghdad and was is meant by Turks. However,
the number of Turks in Iraq has nothing to do with Azerbaijan, Sherwan or Arran. But
we will quote a book which consider the number of "Turks" (generic demeanor as
explained by M.A. Shaban). "More difficult question surround the size of the Turkish
Guard. Ibn Tahribirdi's example indicates the problem of relying directly on the source:
"(al-Mu'taism) devoted himself to the purchase (of Turks) such that their number reached
8,000 mamluks. The number also reported as 18,000, which is the more widely known
(of these two numbers.". The sources, in other words, provide a range of figures. The
earliest references are those of al-Ya'qubi, who has 3000 Ghulams collected by al-
Mu'tasim during al-Ma'mun's reign; al-Mas'udi, who refers to 4000 Turks collected by

431

al-Mu'tasim; and al-Kindi who reports on the 4,000 strong force of Turks in Egypt with
al-Mu'tasim shortly before his rise to the caliphate. Michael the Syrian provides a
similar number. It is supriting, therefore, to find later authors such asl-Khatib al-
Baghdadi (50000), Nizam al-Mulk (70,000), and Yaqut al-Hamawi (70000) provide
numbers in the tens of thousands (of Turkish soldiers). Between the two pols lies a third
group of sources, which are content with a figure between 17000 and 20000.

Kennet's number (103,000) however., are considerably higher than those proposed by
Tollner, who argues for a maximum figure of 20,000 Turkish guardsmen. Kennet's
number seems excessive and until certain issues are better resolved, the lower figure is
probably to be preferred. "(Matthew S. Gordon, "The Breaking of a Thousand Swords: A
History of the Turkish Military of Sammara, State University of New York Press, 2001 .
Pg 72-73)

Thus a rough estimate from 4,000 (earliest sources) to 100,000 (one author) and the
consensus seems to be 20,000. However what should be pointed out is that "Turk" used
by these Arab authors was a generic term.

According to one modern source with regards to military personal in Baghdad:
"The name Turk was given to all these troops, despite the inclusion amongst them of
some elements of Iranian origin, Ferghana, Ushrusana, and Shash - places were in fact
the centers were the slave material was collected together"('Uthman Sayyid Ahmad
Isma'Tl BUT, "Prelude to the Generals", Published by Garnet & Ithaca Press, 2001.)
M. A. Shaban goes further:

"These new troops were the so-called "Turks". It must be said without hesitation that this
is the most misleading misnomer which has led some scholars to harp ad nauseam on
utterly unfounded interpretation of the following era, during which they unreasonably
ascribe all events to Turkish domination. In fact the great majority of these troops
were not Turks. It has been frequently pointed out that Arabic sources use the term
Turk in a very loose manner. The Hephthalites are referred to as Turks, so are the
peoples of Gurgan, Khwarizm and Sistan. Indeed, with the exception of the
Soghdians, Arabic sources refer to all peoples not subjects of the Sassanian empire
as Turks. In Samarra separate quarters were provided for new recruits from every
locality. The group from Farghana were called after their district, and the name
continued in usage because it was easy to pronounce. But such groups as the
Ishtakhanjiyya, the Isbijabbiya and groups from similar localities who were in small
numbers at first, were lumped together under the general term Turks, because of the
obvious difficulties the Arabs had in pronouncing such foreign names. The Khazars
who also came from small localities which could not even be identified, as they were
mostly nomads, were perhaps the only group that deserved to be called Turks on the
ground of racial affinity. However, other groups from Transcaucasia were classed
together with the Khazars under the general description."
(M.A. Shaban, "Islamic History", Cambridge University Press, v.2 1978. Page 63)

Note unlike what M.A. Shaban states, even Iranian Soghdians and Alans have been
counted as Turkish groups in some Arabic sources. The name Turk itself does not have
agreed etymology or even origin. Its identification firmly with Altaic speakers (although
now Mongols are not considered part of this language family by some linguists) is fairly

432

recent, since in old Islamic sources even Tibetians, Chinese (Nezami Ganjavi himself),
Mongols and etc. were all called Turks (besides Iranian peoples like Soghdians, Alans
and etc. that we have mentioned). One possible hypothesis is that the word is connected
to Turan and Turaj/Turag (Pahlavi), just like Iranian and Iran are connected to Iraj of the
Shahnameh. However this is a hypothesis and as Peter Golden has mentioned in the
introduction of his book(An introduction to the history of the Turkic peoples), there is no
agreed upon root for the word.

One Soghdian(Iranian) in particular who was mistaken for a Turk was the general Afshin.
That is while two old Arabic sources mention Afshin as a Turk, it is clear to modern
scholars he was a Soghdian and other sources have mentioned him as such.
Daniel Pipes states: "Although two classical sources claim him a Turk, he came from
Farghana, an Iranian cultural region and was not usually considered Turkish"( D. Pipes.
Turks in Early Muslim Service — JTS, 1978, 2, 85—96.)

Bernard Lewis also states: "Babak's Iranianizing Rebellion in Azerbaijan gave occasion
for sentiments at the capital to harden against men who were sympathetic to the more
explicitly Iranian tradition. Victor (837) over Babak was al-Afshin, who was the
hereditary Persian ruler of a district beyond the Oxus, but also a masterful general for the
caliph."( Bernard Lewis, "The Political Language of Islam", Published by University of
Chicago Press, 1991. Pg 482)
And J.H. Kramer states about Oshrusana:

"Under Mamun, the country had to be conquered again and a new expedition was
necessary in 207/822. On this last occasion, the Muslim army was guided by Haydar
(Khedar), the son of the Afshin Kawus, who on account of dynastic troubles had sought
refuge in Baghdad. This time the submission was complete; Kawus abdicated and Haydar
succeeded him, later to become one of the great nobles of the court of Baghdad under al-
Mutasim, where he was known as al- Afshin. His dynasty continued to reign until 280/893
(coin of the last ruler Sayr b. Abdallah of 279 [892] in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg);
after this date, the country became a province of the Samanids and ceased to have an
independent existence, while the Iranian element was eventually almost entirely replaced
by the Turkic. "( J.H. Kramers "Usrushana." Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P.
Bearman , Th. Bianquis , C.E. Bosworth , E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2007)
Thus modern scholars affirm Afshin was Iranian. However to Arab authors at the time,
the term "Turk" did not specifically mean Altaic speakers as much as a person from the
far away regions of Central Asia.

According C.E. Bosworth, "The Appearance of the Arabs in Central Asia under the
Umayyads and the establishment of Islam", in History of Civilizations of Central Asia,
Vol. IV: The Age of Achievement: AD 750 to the End of the Fifteenth Century, Part One:
The Historical, Social and Economic Setting, edited by M. S. Asimov and C. E.
Bosworth. Multiple History Series. Paris: UNESCO Publishing, 1998. excerpt from page
23: "Central Asia in the early seventh century, was ethnically, still largely an Iranian land
whose people used various Middle Iranian languages.

C. Edmund Bosworth: "In early Islamic times Persians tended to identify all the lands to
the northeast of Khorasan and lying beyond the Oxus with the region of Turan, which in
the Shahnama of Ferdowsi is regarded as the land allotted to Fereydun's son Tur. The

433

denizens of Turan were held to include the Turks, in the first four centuries of Islam
essentially those nomadizing beyond the Jaxartes, and behind them the Chinese (see
Kowalski; Minorsky, "Turan"). Turan thus became both an ethnic and a geographical
term, but always containing ambiguities and contradictions, arising from the fact that all
through Islamic times the lands immediately beyond the Oxus and along its lower reaches
were the homes not of Turks but of Iranian peoples, such as the Sogdians and
Khwarezmians."( C.E. Bosworth, "Central Asia: The Islamic period up to the Mongols"
in Encyclopedia Iranica).

Anyhow, besides pointing to generic term Turk, these Turks in Baghdad have no
relationship with actual large settlements of Turkic peoples in Azerbaijan and Caucasus.
As explained already by Golden:

Turkic penetration probably began in the Hunnic era and its aftermath. Steady pressure
from Turkic nomads was typical of the Khazar era, although there are no unambiguous
references to permanent settlements. These most certainly occurred with the arrival of
the Oguz in the 11th century. The Turkicization of much of Azarbayjan, according to
Soviet scholars, was completed largely during the Ilxanid period if not by late Seljuk
times. Sumer, placing a slightly different emphasis on the data (more correct in my view),
posts three periods which Turkicization took place: Seljuk, Mongol and Post-Mongol
(Qara Qoyunlu, Aq Qoyunlu and Safavid). In the first two, Oguz Turkic tribes advanced
or were driven to the western frontiers (Anatolia) and Northern Azarbaijan (Arran, the
Mugan steppe). In the last period, the Turkic elements in Iran (derived from Oguz, with
lesser admixture ofUygur, Qipchaq, Qaluq and other Turks brought to Iran during the
Chinggisid era, as well as Turkicized Mongols) were joined now by Anatolian Turks
migrating back to Iran. This marked the final stage of Turkicization. Although there is
some evidence for the presence of Qipchaqs among the Turkic tribes coming to this
region, there is little doubt that the critical mass which brought about this linguistic shift
was provided by the same Oguz-Turkmen tribes that had come to Anatolia. The Azeris of
today are an overwhelmingly sedentary, detribalized people. Anthropologically, they are
little distinguished from the Iranian neighbors.

In general as shown already, the urban population based on books such as Nozhat al-
Majales of Arran and Sherwan was Persian and there is no mention of Turkish language
in Arran by travelers (for example Estakhri clearly mentions Persian and Arabic as do
others).

References (note first name of Author is put first here):

• Matthew S. Gordon. "The Breaking of a Thousand Swords: A History of the Turkish Military of Sammara,
State University of New York Press, 2001.Narshaxi, Muhammad -

• Bernard Lewis, "The Political Language of Islam", Published by University of Chicago Press, 1991.

• Uthman Sayyid Ahmad Isma'Tl Bill, "Prelude to the Generals", Published by Garnet & Ithaca Press, 2001.

• Clifford Edmond Bosworth, "Barbarian Incursions: The Coming of the Turks into the Islamic World." In
Islamic Civilization, Edited by D. S. Richards. Oxford, 1973.

• C.E. Bosworth, "The Appearance of the Arabs in Central Asia under the Umayyads and the establishment
of Islam", in History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol. IV: The Age of Achievement: AD 750 to the
End of the Fifteenth Century, Part One: The Historical, Social and Economic Setting, edited by M. S.
Asimov and C. E. Bosworth. Multiple History Series. Paris: UNESCO Publishing, 1998.

• C.E. Bosworth, ", "CENTRAL ASIA: The Islamic period up to the Mongols" in Encyclopedia Iranica

434

• D. Pipes. Turks in Early Muslim Service — JTS, 1978, 2, 85—96.

• J.H. Kramers "Usrushana." Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P. Bearman , Th. Bianquis , C.E. Bosworth ,
E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2007

• M.A. Shaban, "Islamic History", Cambridge University Press, v.2 1978.

Akbar Kitab al-Tijan: The Arab folklore Kitab al-Tijan and fight
between mythical Yemenese Kings and Turanians/Turks in
Azerbaijan has no historical validity. On the background of
Turanians.

The writer saw this posed in a forum: "At the time of the Arab conquest there was a
large Turkish population in Iranian Azerbaijan and it is possible to find these in Arab
sources. Arab sources refer to the collision of Yemeni raiders in Azerbaijan and a victory
by the Yemenese and taking the children of the Turks as captive. Ibn Hisham describes
to the Omayyad Caliph Mua'wiyyah about the question of Azerbaijan and Turks that
originally Turks lived in Azerbaijan. To sum up the message of Arab authors was that
Turks were majority in Azerbaijan"

Such statements stem from nationalistic considerations rather than close examinations of
the books attributed to Ibn Hisham. We believe the author is referring to the book al-
Tijan (the book of crowns) by Wahb b. Munabbih which appears in recension of Ibn
Hisham. Ibn Hisham (died 833 A.D.) himself lived much later than the Ummayad Caliph
Mua'wiyah (602-680 A.D.). The other book is Akhbar 'Ubayd (the history, poetry and
genealogy of Yemen) again both published in 1928 based on the Hyderabad manuscript
that is a copy of a 1622 lost manuscript. And also one cannot "sum up" based on a
mythical story anything about Turks being majority in Azerbaijan where there is not a
single reference from Arab travelers to the area (like Istakhri) and clear manuscripts like
Safinaye Tabriz and Nozhat al-Majales which shows that there was no Turkish urban
culture present in the area even during the time of the Seljuqids. It seems the author who
made this statement has not read the works of al-Tijan and Akhbar 'Ubayd and has
referenced another nationalist writer who has taken a certain quote out of the context of
the story. Finally to make a generalization based on a legendary source shows complete
disregard of methodology of history writing as well scientific observations.

Although the legendary nature of the works of Akhbar 'Ubayd and Kitab al-Tijan are
well known and have been already dismissed by Ibn Khaldun(and before him by Al-
Masu'di) before being subsequently dismissed by Western scholars, we shall delve into
this argument in more detail by bringing primary sources. Before we do so, we should
note before the Seljuqs, Arab and Persian travelers mention the language of the Caucasus
as Persian and Arabic, and not Turkish. Qatran Tabrizi's poetry shows that the Oghuz
who made a minor incursion in Azerbaijan during the Ghaznavid era (before being driven
out) were foreigners. Similarly, all dynasties before the Seljuqs ruling these areas were
not Turkic (only Khazars and Ummayads skirmished for 100 years were the Khazars
occasionally raided the Southern Caucasus and the 'Ummayads the Northern Caucasus.
However in the end, the boundary of both empires remained the same as that of the

435

Sassanids and Khazars). Dynasties such as Sajids (of Soghdian origin), Sherwanshahs,
Shaddadids, Rawwadids, Justanids, and etc. have already been discussed and none of
these were Turkish. Before the Arab invaders, Caucasian Albania and Azerbaijan were
ruled also by Iranian dynasties such as Sassanids and sometimes minor dynasties under
Sassanids such as the Mehranids and Parthian dynasties of Albania. Before that the area
was ruled by the Parthians, and before that it was the Romans and Greeks in Caucasia
Albania and Atropates Persian dynasty in Azerbaijan. And before the Romans and
Greeks, we have the Achaemenids, and then Iranian Medes. Thus there was no interval
for large numbers of Turks to inhabit Azerbaijan and displace the original Iranians of the
area. The toponyms such as Ganja, Azerbaijan, Baku, Sherwan,Ardabil, Tabriz and etc.
are not Turkic and one cannot find one reliable Turkic toponym from this area before the
Seljuqs. And we have already brought examples of the pre-Turkish language of
Azerbaijan which has been references by both Islamic authors, manuscripts (such as
Safinayeh Tabriz and Nozhat al-Majales, Homam Tabrizi and etc.). Also the book
Nozhat al-Majales shows the everyday Persian culture of the Caucasus and uses many
local idioms and words. This book was also discussed as well as the fact there does not
exist a single verse of Turkish from the area even after 100 years when Nezami passed
away.

All of these and more were described in such sections and subsections of the article.

As well as quotes brought on the formation of Azerbaijani people from Golden, History
of the East and other sources and authors. Consequently, such manuscripts as the
Nozhat al-Majales using everyday Persian idioms from the Caucasus, and describing the
cultural life of the area (the terms of everyday cultural life being Persian not Turkish),
showing everyday average people (not related to courts) using Persian is sufficient proof
that the culture of urban centers and the area of the Caucasus even during the Seljuqid era
was not Turkish. Only with the Mongol invasions were large number of Turkmen/Oghuz
tribes pushed in the area and it took many centuries onward (even up to the 19th century
as noted by Bakikhanov Baku was still predominantly Persian) to finally linguistically
Turkify the area. The tipping point as we mentioned was probably the Safavid era.

Given these well known facts which are agreed upon by Western scholars (and Russian
ones such as History of the East), there is no reason to delve into Yemenese legends of
Akhbar 'Ubayd and Kitab al-Tijan. However we do so to show that these legends really
have nothing to do with Turks (speakers of Altaic speakers) but have to do with
Turanians (mythical Iranian group). The Yemenese components of these legends have
been dismissed by Ibn Khaldun(and before him by al-Masu'di) long before modern
scholars began examining the Kitab al-Tijan and Akhbar 'Ubayd.

Before we bring translations of Ibn Hisham who quotes 'Ubyad (also written as 4 Abid),
we should first mention who/what are Ibn Hisham, 'Ubayd, Muaw'iya, Kitab al-Tijan
and Akhbar 'Ubayd. The Kitab al-Tijan is a book that is ascribed to Ibn Hisham which
has many Himyarite (name for Yemen) legends. As will be shown the Kitab al-Tijan is a
legendary composite work with its oldest manuscript dating from 1622 A.D. and with
many interpolations. It is ascribed to Ibn Hisham and it quotes a certain 'Ubayd who is

436

thought of as a legendary figure. The stuff attributed to 'Ubayd is remotely related to the
question of the existence of a historical 'Ubayd at the court of the Ummayad Caliph
Mua'wiyah. Furthermore, the Himyarite Kings quoted with regards to their attack on
Azerbaijan are all legendary and existed during the time of ancient legendary Iranian
Kings (like Manuchehr).

First we quote an entry on Ibn Hisham:

IbnHisham(d. 218/833)

Abu Muhammad ' Abd al-Malik ibn Hisham was an Egyptian scholar of south Arabian
origin, best known for edition of the Sir a, or life (of the Prophet Muhammad), of ibn
Ishaq (d. 150/767).

Ibn Hisham's edition of the Sira was based on the Kufan recension of al-Bakka'i (d. 183/
799), extensive quotations from which were used by al-Azraqi (d. c.250/865), al-Tabari
(d. 310/923) and others, and provide a basis for assessing how Ibn Hisham proceeded.
The most significant change was the suppression of much of the Mubtada' section of the
work, which dealt with the pre-Islamic background of Muhammad's life and contained
much legendary material to which some authorities objected. Ibn Hisham also reduced
the amount of poetry, and added many remarks, clearly separated from the main text by
the introductory phrase gala, 'Ibn Hisham said, 'to explain obscure allusions to
individuals, define unusual words, provide variants, or elaborate when he felt he had
relevant material to offer. In this new form the Sira of Ibn Ishaq was very popular and
rapidly became the authoritative interpretation of the life of Muhammad.

Also extant from Ibn Hisham's pen is his Kilab al-Tljanfi rnuluk Himyar wa-al-Yaman
(Book of Crowns, concerning the Kings of Himyar and Yemen), a book of Biblical and
ancient Arabian lore based on an earlier collection of such materials by Wahb ibn
Munabbih. The work begins with Creation of Adam and Eve, and the early patriarchs; all
this is made to lead to the history of Yemen and the southern Arabs. The rest of the book
stays with this subject, relating early folklore about the glories and achievements of the
Yemenites, most particularly the exploits of al-Sa'b Dhu al-Qarnayn. Legends pertaining
to the Quraysh are also introduced, and the work ends with tales about Sayf ibn Dhl
Yazan. The Kitab al-Tijan is clearly a composite work that had not stabilized even in the
time of Ibn Hisham, but nevertheless reflects a type of early material that was becoming
increasingly marginalized as scholars excluded it from their more formal studies.

Kitab al-Tijan, Fritz Krenkw (ed.), Hyderabad, 1928.

(L.I. Conrad, "ibn Hisham" in Julie Scott Meisami, Paul Starkeym, "Encyclopedia of
Arabic Literature", Taylor & Francis, 1998. Page 335.)

Before delving into these Yemenese legends, we should know more about Wahb B.
Munabbih. According to the Encyclopedia of Islam:

WAHB B. MUNABBIH, ABU ' ABD ALLAH, Yemeni narrator and author-transmitter
from South Arabia. He was of Persian origin, having been born at Dhimar, two days'

437

march from Sana' in the year 34/654-5. Information about his conversion to Islam in the
year 10 A.H. is unreliable. More probably the details concerned his father Munabbih, of
whom it was said that "he converted to Islam at the time of the Prophet and that he was a
good Muslim" (Ibn Hadjar, Tahdhib, xi, 167). He lived with his five brothers at Sana',
and Hammam was the eldest of them. The most reasonable date for the brother's death
seems to be 101 or 102/719-20, and the least probable is 132, when compared with that of
Wahb (see below). He left a Sahifa with almost 140 translations and commentaries; these
were published by R.F. 'Abd al-Muttalib in 1406/1986, following a manuscript from the
Dar al-Kutub in Cairo, which corrects and expands the edition by Hamfdullah, who
followed mss. from Berlin and Damascus.

Alongside the biblical section, which all these titles denote, is another which concerns the
pre-Islamic Arab period; this established a true bridge between the biblical world and the
Yemeni Arab past. It is the K. al-Muluk al-mutawwacha min Himyar wa-akhbarihim wa
kishasihim wa-kuburihim wa-asha 'rihirn, and according to Ibn Khallikan, Wafayat, iii,
671]. Ibn Kutayba is said to have seen a version of it himself. In any case, the presence
of material on the same theme was attested by the Kitab al-Tidjan of Ibn Hisham, who
referred to Wahb as his primary source, through the intermediary of the same grandson,
and from him Asad b. Musa [q.v. in Suppl]. He found it in the library of the judge of
Egypt, who received him and opened his house to him as a disciple (see Khoury, Asad b.
Musa, 23). In the first part of this book Wahb is found everywhere as the only authority;
these are the pages containing the beginning of the biblical world, where the indication
of names and dates, etc. points to certain, detailed knowledge; and it was to this world
that the author wanted to connect Yemen, with a view to enhancing the worth of this
country to the bosom of Islam, to Meccan and then to North Arabian roots, and to the
centre of rivalries which had built up between north and south.

In the second part of Ibn Hisham 1 s book it is noticeable that the name of Wahb is
mentioned increasingly less often, eventually disappearing altogether in the last
part. The global tone which dominates this book resides in its distinctively biblical
character, and this distinguishes it entirely from the book of cAbid (or cUbayd) b.
Sharya [see IBN SHARYA] , Akhbdr cAbid b. Sharyaifi akhbaral-Yaman wa-
ashariha wa-ansabiha (ed., with Ibn Hisham's K. al-Tidjan, Haydarabad 1347/1928-
9). In that book we are dealing with a story-teller who becomes the
stf/ra>(=/egend/story teller) of Mu f awiya in Damascus, and fills out his stories
mainly with poetry. This becomes the dominant element and confirms historical
narrations (on this subject see Khoury, Katif, Geschichte undDichtung, esp. 213 ff.).

As for later authors, they often altered certain traditions which they attached to his name,
which means that not all of the alterations may have come from him. In any case, in his
Kitab al-Tidjan he showed a real knowledge of the Bible, even if this was not extensive,

438

in certain citations from the text (see Khoury, Quelques reflexions., 553 ff., esp. 555-6).
What was circulated with these biblical and extra-biblical studies was a common Semitic
reservoir of great antiquity, and this was often disseminated orally, especially outside
the Judaeo-Christian dogmatic centres; this has been very ably noted by H. Schwarzbaum
in his book on biblical and extra-biblical stories (see BibL). In short, Wahb is an
important representative of the expansion of the historical perspective. His writings
embodied a truly universal vision of history, comprising: 1. Ancient biblical history; 2.
pre-Islamic Yemeni history; 3. Islamic history of the prophet; and 4. history of the
caliphate.

(R.G. Khoury, "Wahb b. Munabbih", Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P. Bearman ,
Th. Bianquis , C.E. Bosworth , E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2007. (2nd
edition-online version)).

We should also know about 'Ubayd ibn Sharya who is mentioned in the Kitab al-Tijan
being the main story teller of Mua'wiya. The Encyclopedia of Islam article by Rosenthal
has an article on 'Ubayd.

SHARYA. Abid^Ubayd AL-Djurhumi, sage and antiquary, frequently cited as a relater
of quasi-historical traditions. The form of his name is not certain. The manuscripts
appear to vacillate between c Abid and e Ubayd. 'Umayr occurs by mistake (Ibn al-Athir,
Usd al-ghaba, Bulak 1286, iii, 351; Ibn Hadjar, Isaba, Calcutta 1856-73, iii, 201). The
form Sharya is confirmed by the metre (cf. O. Lofgren, Ein Hamdani-Fund, Uppsala
Universitets Arsskrifl, vii (1935), 24; al-Hamdani, Iklil, ed. 0. Lofgren, Uppsala 1954,6).
However, Ibn Hadjar advocates the pronunciation Shariyya. Sariya, Sariyya, and Shu-
bruma(?) also occur (Ibn c Asakir, Tarikh Dimashk; Yakut, Udaba' v, 10; Usd).
Strong attempts have been made in recent years to defend the historical existence of
Ibn Sharya (cf., for instance, N. Abbott, Studies in Arabic literary papyri, i, Chicago
1957, 9 ff.), but his historicity as a scholar and author remains entirely conjectural.
According to the sources, Mu c awiya called him to his court in order to hear him tell
stories of the past. He died at the age of over 220, 240, or 300 years during the reign
of f Abd al-Malik. In the first half of the 3rd/9th century, Abu Hatim al-Sidjistani
(Mu'ammarun, ed. Goldziher, Abk. z. arab. Phil., ii. 40-3) knew him as along-lived
sage. Al-D]ahiz((Bukhala', Cairo 1948, 40, trans. Pellat, 67, 337) already seems to refer
to him as an authority on the great South Arabian past, and so does Ibn Hisham in the
Kitab al-Tijan r Haydarabad 1347, 66, 209).

Later in that century, Ibn Kutayba (Ta'will mukhtalif al-hadith, Cairo 1386/1966, 283,
trans. Lecomte, Damascus 1964, 313) knew him as a genealogist, apparently in
connection with South Arabian history. The early historians usually do not mention him
by name. Al-Mas'udi (Murudi, iv, 89) is inclined to discount his reports on South
Arabian history as fiction.

He is credited with a collection of proverbs, which is not preserved (Fihrist, 89; al-Bakri,
Fasl

al-malakut, Khartum 1958; R. Sellheim, Die klassischarabischen

Sprichwortersammlungen, The Hague r954, 45, 89, 149). His famous "Book of the kings
and history of the past" (Fihrist, 89) was already quoted by al-Mascudi (Murudi, iii, 173-
5, 275 ff., iv, 89; A. v. Kremer, Uber die sudarabische Sage, Leipzig 1866, 46 ff.).

439

According to a somewhat corrupt passage in Ibn Hadjar, Isaba, iii, 202, al-Hamdani
mentioned that in the 4th/10th century a great number of different recensions of the work
were in circulation. One of those recensions has been preserved in an incomplete form. It
has been published under the title of Akhbdr al-Yaman wa ash 'aruha wa-ansabuha,
togheter with Kitab al-Tidjan, Haydarabad, 1347, 311-487.

The quotations in al-Mas'udi are sufficiently similar to the published text (cf. Murudi, iii,
275 ff. = 483 if. of the ed.) to prove the general identity. The published text has later
additions; it refers often to Abd Allah b. al- c Abbas as a cousin of Mucawiya; it has an
allusion to the expected South Arabian Mahdi (478, cf. also the verses quoted in
Nashwan, Shams al-'ulum, GMS, xxiv, 103) and one to the Berber 'Alid (which may be a
later, Fatimid-period addition, 323); and it mentions the Daylam and Turks (476).
The available data would seem to indicate that the use of the figure of Ibn Sharya as
an historical narrator does not antedate the early 3rd/9th century, after the figure of
the sage had become securely established. The author of the "Book of kings" may not
have been a South Arabian patriot, but rather some Baghdad antiquarian who tried to
profit from the fashionable interest in South Arabian antiquity. Whether the work
contains many reflexions of genuine South Arabian folklore, as v. Kremer maintained, is
another question, though great scepticism would seem to be indicated.(F. Rosenthal, "Ibn
Sharya", Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P. Bearman , Th. Bianquis , C.E. Bosworth ,
E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2007. (2nd edition-online version)).

According to Norris:

Both Umayyad and Abbasid story-tellers could draw upon a fund of heroic themes. At an
early date there were numerous legends of Muslim martyrs and warriors, but non-Muslim
models were also provided by the flourishing Yemeni school of authors who gloried in
the pre-lslamic past of the Himyarites; the material contained in such works as Wahb b.
Munabbih's (d. 110/728 or 114/732) Kitab al-Tijan (in the recension of Ibn Hisham, d.
218/833) and al-Hamdani's (d. 334/945). Iklil is no less genuinely South Arabian in
stamp for all its borrowings from the Alexander Romance and from Persian tales and
epics. The portrait of a Yemeni hero borrowed from Alexander stories can already be
seen in a poem attributed to the pre-lslamic poet Imru al-Qays:

Have I not told you that destiny slays by guile,

A slayer most treacherous indeed, it consumes men's sons.

It banished Dhu Riyash from lordly citadels.

When he had ruled the lowlands and the mountains.

He was a valiant king; by revelation he sundered the horizons.

He drove his vanguards to their eastern edges,

And, where the sun climbs, barred the hills to Gog and Magog.

(H.T. Norris, "Fables and Legends" in Jula Ashtiany, T.M. Johnstone, J.D. Latham, R.B.
Serjeant and G. Rex Smith (editors) in "The Cambridge History of Arabic Lietrautre:
'Abbasid Belles-Lettres", Cambridge University Press, 1990. pp. "138-139")

440

According to Crosby who has written an excellent book on the legends of Yemen:

"Islamic scholars have debated both the author and his work. Modern scholars question
'Abids existence as well as the attribution of the Akhbar to him. Fritz Krenkow, in
particular, the editor of Tijan and Akhbar, cast doubt on 'Abid's existence, his authorship
of the work, and the historical validity of the material in Akhbar, which he dismissed as
merely "Arabic Folklore ".

(Elise W. Crosby, "The history, poetry, and genealogy of Yemen", Gorgias Press LLC,
2007. Page 1)

Crosby has done a detailed study on the oldest manuscripts of Al-Tijan and Akhbar
'Ubayd. There exists only three manuscripts (Hyderabad, London and Germany) and the
oldest extant manuscript of Al-Tijan is copied from a manuscript of 1622-1625 A.D. and
as mentioned(Elise W. Crosby, "The history, poetry, and genealogy of Yemen", Gorgias
Press LLC, 2007. Pages 61-65). We should note that in the book al-Tijan and Akhbar
'Ubayd, the first Shi'i Imam is given the salutation ('May God be Pleased with him)
when he is quoted. However history tells us that Mu'awiya had declared public cursing
of the first Shi'i Imam in Friday sermons and after him, this was the case with
Ummayads until the Ummayad caliph Aziz ibn Umar. This is one of the many reasons
for the inconsistency of the book.

Thus we have these two books containing old Himyarite (Yemenese legend) which is
attributed to Ibn Hisham (d. 833 A.D.) who collected its material from an alleged existing
work of Wahb b. Munabbih (d. 728-732) and it contains much legendary information
from a legendary 'Ubayd who supposedly was the story teller in Mua'wiyya's court (d.
680). The Encyclopedia of Islam casts doubt on 'Ubayd's existence and if there was
indeed an 'Ubayd in Muaw'iya's court, the dialogue with the Caliph as preserved in the
Akhbar 'Ubayd are to be separated from any such historical figure. Islamic scholars such
as Ibn Khaldun have already dismissed much of the historicity of the Yemenese legends
especially with regards to the raid of Yemenese to Mosul, Azerbaijan, China, India and
etc. Before we bring what Ibn Khaldun states, we should first mention some details
about these Yemenese myths. According to Kitab al-Tijan, the following were the lines
of the Himyarite Kings (note we do not differentiate here between the two h and t sounds
in Arabic when transliterating it into English):

Qahtan

Ya'rub b. Qahtan

Yashjub b. Ya'rub

c Abd Shams Saba' b. Yashjub

Himyar b. Saba'

Wa'il b. Himyar

as-Saksakb. Wa'il

Yu'fir b. as-Saksak

Baran b. c Awf b. Himyar (a usurper)

Amir Dhu Rayish b. Baran b. c Awf b. Himyar

441

an-Nu'man al-Ma'afir b. Yu'fir b. as-Saksak

Shaddad b. 'Ad b. Miltat (a descendant of Wa'il b. Himyar)

Luqman b. ' Ad (brother of Shaddad)

Dhu Shadad al-Hammal b. 'Ad (brother of Shaddad)

Dhu Marathid al-Harith b. al-Hammal ar-Raish

As-Sa'ab Dhu al-Qarnayn b. al-Harith

Abraha Dhu al-Manar as-Sa'ab

Ifrqis Dhu al-Ashrar al-' Abd b. Abraha

Dhu al-Idh'ar 'Amr b. Abraha (brother of Dh al-Ashrar)

(at Ma'rib) Sharahbil b. 'Amr b. Ghalib (a descendant of Yu'fir b. Saksak)

al-Hadhad b. Sharahbil

Bilqis bint al-Hadhad (Note this is the Islamic/Hebrew Equivalent to Queen of Sheba

who appears in the Prophet Solomon's court)

Nashir an-Na'im Malik b. 'Amr b. Yu'fir (a descendant of Wa'il b. Himyar)

Shammar Yar'ash b. Nashir an-Ni'am

Sayfi b. Shammar Yar'ash

(at Ma'arib) 'Amr b. 'Amir b. Muzayqiya'

Rabi'a b. Nasr b. Malik

(interregnum before and after Abu Karib)

'As'ad Abu Karib ar-Raish b. ' Adi b. Sayfi

Hassan b. As' ad Abu Karib

'Amr b. As'ad Abu Karib (brother of Hassan)

' Abd Kalil b. Yanuf

Tubba' b. Hassan b. As'ad Abu Karib (the last Tubba')

Rabia b. Marthad b. 'Abd Khalil

Hassan 'Amr b. Tubba'

Abraha b. as-Sabbah

Lukhay'a b. Yanuf

Dhu Nuwas Zur'a (the last king of Himyar)

Most of these Kings also occur in the Akhbar 'Ubayd.

Some of these Yemenese myths also occur in combination with other Semitic and Indo-
Iranian myths in the books of Tabari, Miskawayah Dinavari and later historians.

Before bringing the relevant passages from the Akhbar which we believe the nationalistic
writer is referencing, an overview of this book is in order. In Tabari and Miskawayah the
Yemenese myth is joined with Iranian myth (and note Wahb was himself Persian) where
Manuchehr the mythical Persian King defeats the mythical Turanian fiend Afrasiyab.
While the original Turanians of Avesta have nothing to do with Altaic speakers, in the
Islamic era and possibly late Sassanid era, the term Turk and Turanian applied to any
group from Central Asia. Thus by the time of Tabari and Ibn Hisham, these terms were
used interchangeably.

Overall, the book of Al-Tijan and Akhbar trace back of Himyar from Dhu Nuwas Zur'a
all the way back to Adam. We will go over some of the myths and the Kings associated

442

with them in this book in order to give general feel for the reader. One of these Kings for
example who allegedly made a raid into Azerbaijan is al-Harith b. al-Hammal ar-Raish.
Who is the son of Dhu Shaddad as given in the table above.

According to the book al-Tijan and Akhbar, he was called Ar-Raish (Dhu Marathid al-
Harith b. al-Hammal ar-Raish) because he made Yemen prosper through plunder he
amassed (rasha) from his raids during his long rule. According to the book al-Tijan,
which quotes the legendary 'Ubayd, he lived for 225 years. And o his rule was before
King Solomon and Queen of Sheba. In Tabari, his rule is the same time as Manuchehr
and that of the Prophet Moses. With regards to his raids outside of Yemen, it is said that
he first raided India and ordered his kinsmen Yu'fir b. 'Amr b. Sharahbil to remain
behind and build a city. The city in India was named ar-Raish in the honor of ar-Raish.
Ar-Raish also invaded Azarbayjan, Mosul and Anbar. In Azarybayjan, he met the Turks,
defeated them and put them to flight (note this is the portion of the passage that the
Turkish nationalist user is referencing). In Azarbayjan, after defeating the Turks, and
taking their children captive, he celebrated his journey by inscribing in two rocks his
exploits. According to the legendary Akhbar of ' Abid the rocks still existed during his
own time (no specification of what language but it is read in Arabic!).

Anyhow as the reader can see, all of these are in the realm of myth and legends. We will
also bring Tabari and etc. later and try to find at least some historical roots with legend
through the Iranian Scythians (which were confused with Turanians probably after much
myth sizing of history).

Going back to al-Tijan, after Raish, his son As-Sa'ab Dhu al-Qarnayn b. al-Harith. He is
identified with the Dhu al-Qarnayn of the Qur'an. However, most Muslims historians of
the classical era have identified Dhu al-Qarnayn with Alexander the Great. Taking into
account more detailed history, some modern Muslim historians have discounted the
Alexander the Great connection and have opted for Cyrus the Great. Be that it may, the
Dhu al-Qarnayn in al-Tijan conquers Ethiopia, Sudan, East and West and blocks the path
of the Gog and Magog. A good portion of al-Tijan deals with the exploits of Dhu al-
Qarnayn (which is before the Kingdom of Solomon in the books chronology).

After Dhu al-Qarnayn, the Kingdom if Himyar according to Akhbar and al-Tijan is ruled
by Abraha Dhu al-Manar. Abaraha, who ruled for 180 years had a son name al-'Abd,
whose mother was a jinn (almost equivalent to a daemon in Western culture but also can
be friendly like the Genie bottle) called al- 4 Ayuf. The father and son together raided the
West, while Ifriqis another son, remained in Yemen to rule. Abraha was also called Dhu
al-Manar ("he of the lighthouses"), because he ordered lighthouses build and fires ignited
in them to guide his armies from their raids. Al ' Abd was given the title "Dhu al-Idhar"
because he brought terror and fear to the prisoners that were captured by his father. But it
was Ifriqis who ruled Yemen and he ruled for 164 years. He colonized the Berbers of the
West. After him Dhu al-Idhar rules for 25 years.

443

Later on in the story, al-Hadhad b. Sharahbil the father of Bilqis (the queen of Sheba and
also mentioned in the Qura'n) takes over the throne. Many legends and stories with
regards to Solomon and Bilqis (the Queen of Sheba) are described in the book.

Probably an interesting character in the Akhbar is the King Shamar Yar'ash who ruled for
160 years. He travelled to Iraq, China and Iran. According to the book he fought the
Soghdians, destroyed their capital. Later on the local population build the city Shammar-
Kand for him which is today called Samarqand( In reality, the name SamarKand means
stone-fortress and Asmar/Samar is Old Iranian for stone and Kanth is Old Iranian for
fortress/city). Of course the book contains many such legends with place names. While
trying to conquer China, he was tricked, but 30000 of his troops go to Tibet and 'Ubayd
mentions to Mua'wiya that their descendants are still there, and they dress like Arabs and
acknowledge they are Arabs ! In the Akhbar, he is involved in a fight with the legendary
Iranian mythical King KayKavus (called Kay'Qaus). Kayqa'us is called the King of
Babylon. Shammar fought him, defeated him and took him as prisoner according to the
Akhbar. But his daughter Su'da pleads with his father (Shammar) to release him and
Shammar releases him on condition that Babylon pays its annual tribute to Yemen.

Another King after him Shammar according to the Akhbar is Tubba' al-Aqran Dhu al-
Qarnayn. The Akhbar identifies him as Dhul Qarnayn and he lived for 153 years because
he did not reach the water of life. Another king after him was Tubba ar-Ra'id, who is the
son of Dhu al-Qarnayn.

He wanted to settle a revolt among the Turks and Khazar, but they killed in his
ambassador. He had no choice but revenge, and took over Mosul and Anbar, and then
met the Turks and routed them out from Azerbaijan and pillaged their lands and took
their children. With this regard, in the Akhbar, the tale goes that Muawiya asks what is
the Turk and Azerbaijan and 'Ubayd responds those were their lands (under their
control). Ubayd reports that that he himself participated in a raid in that region to ask
the Persians about the events to have taken place under Ra'id. The pseudo- 4 Ubayd
expresses the opinion that certainty on the matter can be gained only by asking about it.
When it is a dimly remembered event of the past, the witnesses are dead, what really
happens is no longer evident.

Ra'id comes back to Yemen and ruled for 163 years. Because of his victory over the
Turks, the Persians and non-Arab kings feared him greatly. He received presents of silk,
linen, porcelain, musk, and other products from China. He asked the Indian ambassador
that if it is true all these products come from India and China and the Indian ambassador
confirmed it to him. So Ra'id decides to take military expedition into China. His
journey, takes him seven years and ten months and takes him through Khorasan. He
finishes his plundering of China, and leaves a deputy there by the name of Barid b. an-
Nabt. He does not leave a Persian or non-Arab land without leaving a garrison there.
The troops he leaves in China still claim Arab origin and have a house which they
circumambulate seven times and to which they bring sacrifices.

444

After Ra'id, several other Kings rule Yemen. One of them was Abu Karib who rules for
320 years. He combines astrological knowledge with experience in warfare. He would
not undertake a raid without consulting astrologers. He wrote poems describing his
journey and battles. He led raids to Persia, Syria, and North Arabia. Into every land that
was plundered by previous Himyarite kings, he would go and plunder again. A number
of poems describing the lands he conquered are said to be composed by him. He took
expeditions to Iraq and found what he thought was a luxurious life. He prepared a march
against the Persian King Qubadh. The Persians assembled at Babil while Abu Karib and
his troops assembled near Kufa. Abu Karib got lost for a while and due to being lost, he
found the city called Hira (popular etymology "lost"). He founded himself and his troop,
then he proceeded towards Babil and defeated the army of Qubadh (legendary
Shahnameh character). They fled to Rayy (near modern Tehran), his nephew Shammar
pursued the Persian King and killed the Qubadh in Rayy. Abu Karib returned to Hira
after his victory. Abu Karib next went to Khorasan. Abu Karib wanted to convert the
people of Himyar to Judaism, but they revolted and installed his son Hassan at his
request. They killed Abu Karib but not before he gave some instructions to his son
Hassan to go to a certain mountain. Hassan appointed his brother as caretaker and went
to the mountain his father instructed him. A woman met him there and asked him to take
a seat. He refused because of the worms he saw on his bed and pillow. She next
presented him with several human heads and asked Hassan to eat them. He refused. She
offered him a drink from a vessel filled with blood and he declined. The woman
chastised Hassan for refusing to obey his father's wishes that he do whatever is asked of
him in the mountain. She told him if he wants to live, he should kill his father's
murderers and that his reign will be short. Hassan returns home and told his mother what
happened. She tells him that his reign would have been long and easy if he had sat down
on the worms; that Yemen and the Bedouins would have obeyed him if he had eaten the
heads; and that he would have become able to spill blood of the people of the earth if he
had drunk the vessel full of blood.

It is at this point that the manuscript of Akhbar breaks and excerpts from Ibn Athir's al-
Kamil (d. 1373) completes the story (thus probably dating the manuscript at most from
1373).

Thus as we can see both the Akhbar of 'Ubayd and Kitab al-Tijan whose oldest
manuscript is supposed to be based on a copy of a 1622 A.D. manuscript are seen as
legendary works, and the figure of 'Ubayd is highly suspect. The portion that the Turkish
nationalist writer is referencing has to do with the mythical figure Rayish who lived
before Solomon at the time of Moses (according to Tabari) and ruled for 225 years. The
other portion has to do with Ra'ed who ruled for 163 years. Both of these encounter
Turks and defeat them in Azerbaijan and route them out. However these stories unlike
what the Turkish nationalist author wrote is not taking place during the time of
Ummayads (where there was actually a Khazar - Ummayad war) but in the realm of
myth. Both books are simply Himyarite legends. Obviously an Ummayad caliph that
ruled over an area would know where Azerbaijan is and the stories of 'Ubayd in Akhbar
are a legend. Also the fact is that in these mythical stories, the "Turks" are routed from
Azerbaijan and are seen as conquered in some respect.

445

Let us cross reference these stories with Tabari. Tabari writes:

The Children of Israel

The sons of Isaac were lions when they gilded themselves with the sword belts of death,
clothed in armor, And when they claimed descent they numbered al-Sibahbadh to be of
them and Chosroes, and they counted Hurmuzan and Caesar. Scripture and prophecy
were among them, and they were kings of Istakhr and Tustar. There unites us and the
noble ones, sons of Faris, a father after whom it matters not to us who comes later. Our
forefather is the Friend of Allah, and Allah is our Lord.
We are pleased with what God has bestowed and has decreed.

I was informed by Hisham b. Muhammad: Between themselves Tuj and Sarm ruled the
earth for three hundred years after they had slain their brother iraj. Then Manushihr b.
Iraj b. Afridhun ruled for one hundred and twenty years. Then a son of the son of Tuj the
Turk pounced upon Manushihr, exiling him from the land of Iraq for twelve years.
Manushihr, in turn, replaced him, exiled him from his land, and returned to his rule,
reigning for an additional twenty-eight years.

Manushihr was described as just and generous. He was the first who dug trenches and
collected weapons of war, and the first who set up dihqans, imposing a dihqan over each
village, making its inhabitants his chattels and slaves, clothing them in garments of
submission, and ordering them to obey him.

It is said that Moses the Prophet appeared in the sixtieth year of his reign. It has been
mentioned by someone other than Hisham that, when Manushihr became king, he was
crowned with the royal crown, and he said on the day of his enthronement, "We will
strengthen our fighting force and promise them to take vengeance for our forefathers and
drive the enemy from our land." Then he journeyed to the land of the Turks, seeking to
avenge the blood of his grandfather Iraj b. Afridhun. He slew Tuj b. Afridhun and his
brother Salm, achieving his revenge; then he left.

He also mentioned Frasiyab b. Fashanj b. Rustam b. Turk (from whom the Turks claim
descent) b. Shahrasb (or, as some say, the son of Arshasb) b. Tuj b. Afridhun the king,
(Fashak is also called Fashanj b. Zashamin). [Frasiyab] did battle with Manushihr sixty
years after the latter had slain Tuj and Salm, and [he] besieged him in Tabaristan. Then
Manushihr and Frasiyab reached an agreement that they would set a boundary between
their two kingdoms at the distance of an arrow shot by a man from among Manushihr's
companions named Arishshibatir (but sometimes one shortens his name and calls him
Irash): Wherever his arrow fell from the place where it was shot, adjacent to the land of
the Turks, would be the boundary between them, which neither of them was to cross to
the other side. Arishshibatir drew an arrow in his bow, then released it. He was given
strength and power so that his shot reached from Tabaristan to the river of Balkh.
Because the arrow fell there, the river of Balkh became the boundary between the Turks
and the children of Tuj, and the children of Iraj and the region of the Persians. In this
way, through Arishshibatir shot, wars were ended between Frasiyab and Manushihr.

446

They have mentioned that Manushihr derived mighty rivers from al-Sarat, the Tigris, and
the river of Balkh. It is said that he was the one who dug the great Euphrates and
commanded the people to plow and to cultivate the earth. He added archery to the art of
warfare and gave leadership in archery to Arishshibatir, owing to the shooting he had
performed.

They say that, after thirty-five years of Manushihr' s reign had passed, the Turks seized
some of his outlying districts. He reproached his people and said to them: "O people! Not
all those you have sired are people, for people are only truly people so long as they
defend themselves and repel the enemy from them, but the Turks have seized a part of
your outlying districts. That is only because you abandoned warfare against your enemy
and you lacked concern. But God has granted us dominion as a test of whether we will be
grateful, and He will increase us, or will disbelieve and He will punish us, though we
belong to a family of renown, for the source of rule belongs to God. When tomorrow
comes, be present! "' They said they would and sought forgiveness.

He dismissed them, and when the next day came, he sent for those possessing royalty and
the noblest commanders. He invited them and made the leaders of the people enter: he
invited the Chief Magus, who was seated on a chair opposite his throne. Then Manushihr
rose on his throne, with the nobles of the royal family and the noblest commanders rising
to their feet. He said: "Be seated! I stood up only to let you hear my words ". They sat
down, and he continued:

O people! All creatures belong to the Creator; gratitude belongs to the One Who grants
favors, as does submission to the Ail-Powerful. What exists is inescapable, for there is
none weaker than a creature, whether he seeks or is sought; there is no one more
powerful than a creator or anyone more powerful than He who has what He seeks
[already] in His hand or one weaker than one who is in the hand of His seeker. Verily,
contemplation is light, while forgetfulness is darkness, ignorance is misguidance. The
first has come, and the last must join the first. Before us there came principles of which
we are derivative — and what kind of continued existence can a derivative have after its
purpose disappears?

Verily God has given us this dominion, and to Him belongs praise. We ask Him to inspire
us with integrity, truth, and certainty. For the king has a claim on his subjects, and his
subjects have a claim on him, whereas their obligation to the ruler is that they obey him,
give him good counsel, and fight his enemy, the king's obligation to them is to provide
them with their sustenance in its proper times, for they cannot rely on anything else, and
that is their commerce. The king's obligation to his subjects is that he take care of them,
treat them kindly, and not impose on them what they cannot do. If a calamity befalls them
and diminishes their gains because a heavenly or earthly evil comes upon them, he
should deduct from the land tax that which was diminished. If a calamity ruins them
altogether, he should give them what they need to strengthen their rebuilding. Afterward,
he may take from them to the extent that he does not harm them, for a year or two years.
The relationship of the army to the king is of the same status as the two wings of a bird,
for they are the wings of the king. Whenever a feather is cut off from a wing, that is a
blemish in it. Likewise in the case of the king, for he is equally dependent on his wings
and feathers. Moreover, the king must possess three qualities: first, that he be truthful
and not lie, that he be bountiful and not be miserly, and that he be in control of himself in
anger, for he is given power with his hand outstretched and the land tax coming to him.

447

He must not appropriate to himself what belongs to his troops and his subjects. He must
be liberal in pardon, for there is no king more long-lasting than a king who pardons or
one more doomed to perish than one who punishes. Moreover, a man who errs regarding
pardon and pardons is better than one who errs in punishing. It is necessary that a king
be cautious in a matter involving the killing of a person and his ruin. If a matter
requiring punishment is brought to him regarding one of his officials, he must not show
him favor. Let him bring him together with the complainant, and, if the claim of the
wronged one is proved right against him, the sum is transferred from the official to him.
But, if [the official] is unable to [pay], then the king should pay the sum for him and then
return the official to his position, requiring that he make restitution for what he extorted.
So much for my obligation to you. However, I will not pardon one who sheds blood
wrongfully or cuts off a hand without right, unless the aggrieved one pardons. Therefore
accept this from me [as my right]. The Turks have coveted you, so protect us and you
will only protect yourselves. I have commanded arms and provisions for you. I am your
partner in this matter, for I can only call myself king as long as I have obedience from
you. Indeed, a king is a king only if he is obeyed. For if he is contradicted, he is ruled and
is not a ruler. Whenever we are informed of disobedience, we will not accept it from the
informer until we have verified it. If the report is true, so be it; if not, we will treat the
informer as a disobedient one. Is not the finest act in the face of misfortune the accept-
ance of patience and rejoicing in the comfort of certainty? Whoever is slain in battle with
the enemy, I hope for him the attainment of God's pleasure. The best of things is the sub-
mission to God's command, a rejoicing in certainty, and satisfaction in His judgment.
Where is sanctuary from what exists? One can only squirm in the hand of the seeker. This
world is only a journey for its inhabitants; they cannot loosen the knots of the saddle
except in the other [world], and their self-sufficiency is in borrowed things. How good is
gratitude toward the Benefactor and submission to the One to Whom judgment belongs!
Who owes submission more to One above him than he who has no refuge except in Him,
or any reliance except on Him! So trust in victory if your determination is that succor is
from God. Be

confident of achieving the goal if your intent is sincere. Know that this dominion will not
stand except through brightness and good obedience, suppression of the enemy,
blocking the frontiers, justice to the subjects, and just treatment of the oppressed. Your
healing is within you ; the remedy in which there is no illness is uprightness, commanding
good and forbidding evil. For there is no power except in

God. Look to the subjects, for they are your food and drink. Whenever you deal justly
with them, they desire prosperity, which will increase your land-tax revenues and will be
made evident in the growth of your wealth. But, if you wrong the subjects, they will
abandon cultivation and leave most of the land idle. This will decrease your land-tax
revenues, and it will be made evident in the decrease of your wealth. Pledge yourself to
deal justly with your subjects. Whatever rivers or overflows there are, of which the cost
[of repair] is the ruler's, hurry to take care of it before it increases. But whatever is owed
by the subjects of which they are unable to take care, lend it to them from the treasury of
the land taxes. When the times of their taxes come due, take it back with their produce tax
to the extent that it will not harm them: a quarter [of it] each year, or a third, or a half,
so that it will not cause them distress.

448

This is my speech and my command, O Chief Magus ! Adhere to these words, and hold
onto what you have heard this day. Have you heard, O people?They said, "Yes! You have
spoken well, and we will act, God willing" Then he ordered the food, and it was placed
before them. They ate and drank, then left, thankful to him. His rule lasted one hundred
and twenty years.

Hisham b. al-Kalbi claimed — in what has been transmitted to me from him — that al-
Ra 3 ish b. Qays b. Sayfi b. Saba b. Yashjub b. Ya c rub b. Joktan (Qahtan) was one of the
kings of Yemen after Ya c rub b. Joktan b. Eber b. Shelah and his brothers, and that the
reign of al-Ra'ish in Yemen was during the days of Manushihr. He was only called al-
Raish, although his name was al-Harith b. Abi Sadad, because of the booty he had
plundered from people he raided and had taken to Yemen,- therefore he was called al-
Ra'ish. He raided India, slaying there, taking captives, and plundering wealth; then he re-
turned to Yemen. He traveled from there and attacked the two mountains of Tayyi then
al-Anbar, then Mosul. He sent out his cavalry from Mosul under the command of one of
his companions, a man called Shimr b. al-Ataf. He fought against the Turks of the land
of Adharbaijan, which was in their hand. He slew the fighters and took their children
captive. He engraved on two stones, which are known in Adharbaijan, what had
happened on his campaign.

Imru al-Qays said about this:

Did he not inform you that Time is a demon, traitor to a pact, gobbling up men? He
caused the "feathered one" to cease his banquets, though he had already ruled plains and
mountains, And he attached Dhu Manar to the claws and set snares for the strangles.

Dhu Manar, whom the poet mentioned, is Dhu Manar b. Radish, the king after his father,
and his name was Abrahah b. al-Radish. He was called Dhu Manar only because he
raided the lands of the west and penetrated them by land and by sea. He feared that his
troops might lose their way on their return journey, so he built a lighthouse tower
(manar) with which to guide them. The people of Yemen claimed that he sent his son, al-
c Abd b. Abrahah on his raid to the area of the most distant lands of the west, where he
plundered and seized their wealth. He brought back to [his father] some ndsnas, which
had wild and abominable faces. People were frightened of them and called him Dhu al-
Adh c ar (possessor of frightening things). He said further: Abrahah was one of their kings
who penetrated deeply in the earth. I have mentioned the King of Yemen because I
remembered the word of one who claimed al-Ra'ish was ruler in Yemen in the days of
Manushir that the kings of Yemen were governors for the kings of Persia, which was
their dominion before them.

(William M. Brinner, "The history of Al-Tabari: volume III: The Children of Israel",
translated an annotated by William M. Brinner, (Editorial board: Ishan Abbas, C.E.
Bosworth, Jacob Lassner, Franz Rosenthan, Ehsan Yarshater (general editor)). State
University of New York Press, 1991. pp 22-29)

449

We bring the original Arabic of the last portion as well (accessible through various
internet sites including www.alwaraq.net):

/>LI o j0 ^^ ^SJLo ulS ^jiuul^JI 0I9 t<XJ<£>\$ £jJLjj ,jj ^jLc ,jj uILl*9 ,jj y~>jsu. 1sl> qj&jJ\ dJ^JLo ,jjo ulS uILl*9

pJb\j£. />$9 ,jjo L^joJlC cLo^aJ - ^Juuj v_syl ,jj OjLaJI cUxjuj^ - ijuuul^l v_s\jcxjuj LojI ^[9 ij^juJ^jjo dJJLo

jLuj /xj o j0 ^-" ^S^\ &^JS "Jl^^l P^S kJ^-^S \-Q~! J-*-Q-9 JuLpJI l>£ CUI9 tjjiuul^l dJUjJ v.svjo^juuiS i^jjoJI Igiiols

^jjo Jj>j Lp-JLc9 ciJLj^ Igjuo <^>9 CUI9 tJu^^xxJI ^jJLc pij ij\jj\i\ ^jJLc />J Csss^ 3 st^^^U^ lJ^-c £>*9 <lgJuo

cdbLaxJI JjLa9 <A1x>9j /x^jJuI v_sv9 v_s^9 ubtupl ^J dl^JI ^jdn Jj>_X9 t^llagJI ,jj > xxjJj ;cj JUj <cob*^l
9^1 u"9-aj dJJS v_svS9 ! Jls .ubtj-rpl ^\Lj ul^^ao lcx£9 njjjzzz> ^sS Ojjljujjz ,jjo ulS Lo jjj$ t<*jji)\ L 5y^uJ9

\Jb>>JI pJtih. Jl^sJI j9i> ... J9X: ^jJI ul ^>c*j />JI

\JLpJI9 cJ^-juuJI dULo A99 ... u^bj li gjLxoJI o^ <Jljl

\Jlc%JI v-ju^J A9 ^l - )>U9 ... jLuo IS vJI^°JI s^ v^u^

^jvjcxjuj L0JI9 t^iuul^ll <jj cL5y>jl CL00UJI9 t^jjl _Vs*j dULoJI t^jiuulj <>J J^ 9-^ 9-^ >CuJijJI 0j5i sSJJI jLuo 9^9 : Jl9

l9_)uL^J jLuoJI ^jvJui t^J^jis jjlC J\LoJI coJulpt ^jJLc ^L>9 J>*J9 1^ 1#j3 Jx$9 v>^°JI ^-! l>^ ^-^ j^ l^>

^\L v_sv-^L9l ,jjo ^>b ^jJI 0_L& <XJ§')£. \s3 G&y\ ,jj _Usdl cJJul <3j>9 ulS cul o j0 ^' J-^' P^-J-f.S ■ L -"^ -^

IS 09jo^juul9 t/x^Juo jjjjLJI ^CA9 tO^jiuo CU-JJU09 ^3JL> /xpj jjjjLljuuuu 3jJLc >o_X99 \ILo ^»L^l9 /xia9 t^jSioJ\

LoJ gJo^xJI l-Ld^ ^s3 CH ^-" ^9JLo qjo O^SS ,jjo O^SS LoJ 9 '^ybj^JI ^S \$Lc$j o^-^" /x^9JLo Jol <*&jj\s \J\s
jjjjjb dl9JLoJ \ILoX l^jlS o j0 ^-" ^9Jjo 0I9 ij^jjJ^Lo p\j qjcxJIj ISJLo ulS jjiuul^l ul /xCj qjo J99 qjo O^S

In another portion of Tabari we read:

"The account of the Kings of Yaman in the Days of Qabus, and After him, the age of
Bahman. B. Isfandyar"

Abu Ja far says: As reported previously, some assert that Qabus lived in the age of
Solomon the son of David. We have also mentioned the kings of the Yaman in the age of
Solomon, and the story of Bilqis, the daughter of Ilsharah.

According to Hisham b. Muhammad al-Kalbi: After Bilqis, kingship over the Yaman
went to Yasir b. Amr b. Ya fur who was called Yasir An'am. He was named Yasir
An am (the Gracious) because of the gifts he bestowed upon them, which strengthened
their realm and their loyalty.

The people of the Yaman assert that he conducted raids westward until he reached a dried
out river bed fwadi) called Wadi al-Raml which had never been reached by anybody
before him. Once there, he found no passage beyond it, so abundant was the sand (rami).
However, while staying there, the sand opened up. He then ordered a man of his house,
Amr by name,

After him ruled a king {tubba'), that is, Tiban As' ad, the father of Karib b. Malki Karib
Tubba' b. Zayd b. Amr b. Tubba', that is, Dhu al-Adhar, the son of Abrahah Tubba' Dhi
al-Manar b. al-Ra'ish b. Qays b. Sayfi b. Saba'. He was called al-Ra'id.

450

This king lived in the days of Bishtasb and Ardashir Bahman b. Isfandiyar b. Bishtasb.
He emerged from the Yaman on the road taken by al-Ra'ish (and travelled) until he
reached two mountains of the Tayyi'. He then marched toward al-Anbar, but when he
reached al-Hirah — this was at night — he became confused [taHayyara) and stopped, and
that place was named al-Hirah. He left some men there of the tribes of the Azd, Lakhm
Judham, Amilah, and Quda'ah. They built it up and remained there. Later they were
joined by people from the tribes of the Tayyi', Kalb, Sakkun, BalHarith b. Kacb and lyad.
The king advanced to al-Anbar, then to Mosul, and then to Adharbayjan, where he
encountered the Turks. He put them to flight, slaying their fighting men and capturing the
children. Following this, he returned to the Yaman where he spent many years; the kings
held him in awe and respect, and they brought him gifts.

A messenger of the king of India came to him with gifts and presents of silk, musk, aloe
and other precious products of In-dia. He saw things the like of which he had not seen
before, and said, "My, is all that I see found in your country?" The messenger replied,
"Bless you, some of what you see is available in our country; most of it is from China".
The messenger then described China to the king: its vastness, fertility, and the extent of
its borders. The king swore to conquer it. He set out at the head of the Himyar along the
coast, until he reached al-Raka'ik and the wearers of black headgear. He sent one of his
men — a man called Thabit — with a large force to China. However, Thabit was wounded;
so the king (himself) proceeded until he entered China. He killed its defenders and
plundered what he found there. They assert that his expedition to China, his stay there,
and the return took seven years, and that he left in Tibet twelve thousand horsemen from
Himyar. They are the people of Tibet, and assert nowadays that they are Arabs. They are
Arabs in constitution and pigmentation.. According to Abdallah b. Ahmad al-
Marwazi — his father — Sulayman — Abdallah — Ishaq b. Yahya — Musa b. Talhah: A king
[tubba'] set out with a few Arabs until they lost their way outside (what is now) Kufah. It
became one of the stations where some infirm men remained. It was called Hirah because
they had lost their way [taHayyur). The king proceeded on his way but later returned to
them. In the meantime, they had built up the place as a permanent settlement. The king
left for the Yaman but they stayed on, and among them were people from all the Arab
tribes such as Banu Lihyan, Hudhayl, Tamim, Ju'fl, Tayyf, and Kalb.

(Moshe Perlmann (trans), The History of Al-Tabari. Vol IV. The Ancient Kingdoms.
(Editorial board: Ishan Abbas, C.E. Bosworth, Jacob Lassner, Franz Rosenthan, Ehsan
Yarshater (general editor)), State University of New York Press, Albany, 1989

Ba'lami also sees this myth during the era of Manuchehr and Afrasiyab (legendary
Iranian mythical characters of the Shahnameh), the era before the Prophet Moses.
Manuchehr and Afrasiyab make peace, however after the death of Afrasiyab, the Turks
cross Jeyhun and occupy some Iranain lands.

The Persian Muslim historian Ahmad ibn Mihammad Ibn Miskawayah (d. 1030 A.D)
also states in his Kitab Tajarib al-Umam (here we just bring the translation):

Manuchehr and Rayish ibn Qays

451

And in his [Manuchehr' s] days, Alrayish bin Qays bin Sifi bin Yashjub bin Ya'rub bin
Qahtaan, who was a king from Yemen, started a military campaign. And the name of
Alrayish was Alhaarith. He invaded India, and he collected great booty. He gave
authority to a man of his circle, who was known as Shamar ben Alattaaf. Then he
entered against the Turks from Azerbaijan, which was during that time in the
hands of Turks, and he killed and enslaved and collected booty. And after him,
DhuManaar ben Alrayish started a campaign. He was called DhuManaar (lit. "he of the
Minaret") because he invaded the lands of the Maghreb(West) and he extended in it by
land and sea, and he worried about his army from destruction after his return, so he built
a Minaret (i.e. light-house) to guide them. Then he sent his son to the furthest parts of
the Maghreb, where he collected booty and got some riches and enslaved some people
with ugly distasteful looks — that some people where horrified and called him
DhuAlAthaar ("he of the horrors"). I only mentioned them here because of the
connection with the mention of Manuchehr. The Persians claim that the kings of Yemen
were subordinated to the kings of Persia, and that Alrayish was invading the Turks and
others on the behalf of Manuchehr. And the Arabs deny this, and claim that their king
was no subordinate to any one.

The coming of Moses in the era of Manuchehr

And in the era of Manuchehr, there appeared Moses (peace be upon him). . .

(Ahmad ibn Muhammad Ibn Miskawayah, "Kitab Tajarib al-Umam", Baghdad, yuTlab

min Maktabat al-Muthanna, 1965.)

Thus as we can see, these stories have no historical basis and are in the realm of myth
making. Ibn Khaldun states with regards to Himyar myths: All this information is
remote from the truth. It is rooted in baseless and erroneous assumptions. It is
more like fiction of story tellers.

Before we mention the whole statement by Ibn Khaldun, since Tabari and ibn
Miskawayah mentioned the Turanians and Al-Tijan mentions that fictional 'Ubayd heard
these stories from the Persians, we should mention something about the Turanians. One
reason to do so is the fact that the Turanians were an Iranic group themselves and thus
these Himyarite myths as well as the Avesta Turanians have nothing to do with Turks
(Altaic) speakers.

Herodotus mentions Scythians attacking Media (Azerbaijan and Kurdistan and Tehran,
Isfahan) before the Achaemenid era. And it is known that the Achaemenids also fought
the Scythians. The Scythians are well known to be of Iranian origin:

452

"...of Indo-European stock belonging to... the Iranian group, often called the
Scythian group of peoples... they were akin to the ancient Medes, Parthians and
Persians. Their language was related to that of the Avesta..."
[Tadesuz Sulimirski, The Sarmatians, London: Thames & Hudson, 1970, p. 22]

A people called Turanian are mentioned in Avesta and some scholars have claimed that
the episodes between Turanians and Arya tribe in the Avesta parallel the battles of
Scythians and Medes/Achaemenids. That is they have related the Turanians with the
Scythians. Chief among these are the Ossetian scholar Vasily Abaev.

Professor C.E. Boseworth explains:

"In early Islamic times Persians tended to identify all the lands to the northeast of
Khorasan and lying beyond the Oxus with the region of Turan, which in the Shahnama
of Ferdowsi is regarded as the land allotted to Fereydun's son Tur. The denizens of
Turan were held to include the Turks, in the first four centuries of Islam essentially
those nomadizing beyond the Jaxartes, and behind them the Chinese (see Kowalski;
Minorsky, "Turan"). Turan thus became both an ethnic and a geographical term, but
always containing ambiguities and contradictions, arising from the fact that all through
Islamic times the lands immediately beyond the Oxus and along its lower reaches were
the homes not of Turks but of Iranian peoples, such as the Sogdians and
Khwarezmians." (Encyclopaedia Iranica, "CENTRAL ASIA: The Islamic period up to
the mongols", C. Edmund Bosworth)

Professor Edward A. Allworth, Emeritus Professor of Turco-Soviet Studies at Columbia
University remarks:"The Iranian tribes (Massagetae and others) east and northeast of
the Persian empire, who disappeared without leaving a trace, were nomadic, as were
originally most, if not all, of the Iranian people as well as those known as Soghdians,
Khwarazmians, and Sakai. They were generally called, in the Persian national tradition,
"Turan," as opposed to Iran, and were always considered enemies of the sedentary
Persians. After the arrival of the Turks in those areas, the term Turan was ascribed by
the Persians to them also, as the Turks played the same dangerous, often disastrous,
historical role as had the Iranian nomadic tribes."

(Edward A Allworth, "Central Asia: A Historical Overview ",Duke University Press,
1994. pp 86.)

Prof. Gherado Gnloli: "Iranian tribes that also keep on recurring in the Yasht, Airyas,
Tuiryas, Sairimas, Sainus and Dahis". (G. Gnoli, Zoroaster's time and homeland,
Naples 1980).

According to Prof. Mary Boyce, in the Farvardin Yasht "In it (verses 143-144) are
praised the fravashis of righteous men and women not only among the Aryas (as the
"Avestan" people called themselves), but also among the Turiyas, Sairimas, Sainus and
Dahis; and the personal names, like those of the people, all seem Iranian character". (M.
Boyce, History of Zoroastrianism. 3V. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1991. (Handbuch Der
Orientalistik/B. Spuler)).

453

And again according to Bosworth who quotes a Shahnameh scholar:
"Hence as Kowalski has pointed out, a Turkologist seeking for information in the
Shahnama on the primitive culture of the Turks would definitely be disappointed."
(C.E. Bosworth, "Barbarian Incursions: The Coming of the Turks into the Islamic
World." In Islamic Civilization, Edited by D. S. Richards. Oxford, 1973. pg 2)

The name Turk itself might be related to Turanian. However Altaic speaking Turks are
distinct from the Avesta and Shahnameh (itself based on Avesta and Pahlavi myths)
Turanians.

"It is possible that in Islamic times the Turks were really equated with a Tur people of an
earlier age, since the designation 'Turk' is probably a plural Tur-k, with the word 'Tur'
designating some totem among the Ur-Turks of Central Asia. Hence Turkic Tur-k would
equal Iranian Tur-an, also plural. The history of the word 'Tur an ', Scanty though it is,
however, must be investigated. Although the Tura in the Avestan Age were most probably
Iranian, perhaps the memory of the struggles with aborigines played a part in the
development of the epic. Later, of course, the Turks conveniently took the role of the
great enemies of Iran. The extent of the influence of the Iranian epic is shown by the
Turks who accepted it as their own history as well as that of Iran... "
(R.N. Frye, The Heritage of Persia: The pre -Islamic History of One of the World's Great
Civilizations, World Publishing Company, New York, 1963. Pg 40-41)

Thus Kashgari who mentions Alp-Tongra and equates to the Avesta Afrasiyab is actually
trying to equate Iranian myths with possibly those of Turks. However, scholars are clear
that the Avesta/Shahnameh Turanians are not Turks (Altaic speakers) but Iranians:

The Shahnameh scholar Ogla M. Davidson also states:

The Turanians, the prime enemies of the Iranians in the Shahnama, are themselves
paradoxically Iranians from the standpoint of Avesta. As the studies of Nyberg have
shown the institutions represented as Turanians in the Avesta are thoroughly Iranian, but
they are distinct in both form and content from the institutions represented as orthodox
Iranians. Pictured in the Avesta as barbaric and predatory nomads, the Turanians seem to
have idiosyncratic cult, especially of vayu, the wind-god warriors, and Anahita, the river-
goddess of fertility.

(Olga M. Davidson, "The Crown-Bestower in the Iranian Book of Kings", Brill Archive,
1985. Pg83).

Igor M. Diakonoff also connects the Turanians with Iranian Scythians. He states about
the Avesta legends:

"Aryoshana was lated conquered by a chief of the Tura nomad (Turanians, one of the
Scythian-Sacae tribes, also Iranians, perhaps Khoresmians?), called Frangrasyan (12).

454

Note 12: In later legends he is called Afrasyab. The usage, widespread even in the
twentiewth century , of applying the demonination "Turanian" to Turkic-speaking people,
is an older error"

(Igor Mikhailovich Diakonov (translated by Alexandar Kirjanov), "Early antiquity",
University of Chicago Press, 1991. Pg 383)

And as mentioned by Dr. Yarshater

The names of Turanian heroes leaves no doubt that the Turanians also were an Aryan
people. In post-Avestan tradition they were thought to inhabit the region north of the
Oxus, the river separating them from the Iranians. Their presence, and their incessant
wars with the Iranians, help to define the latter as a distinct nation, proud of their land
and ready to spill their blood in its defence.

The continuation of nomadic invasions on the north-eastern borders in historical time
kept the memory of the Turanians alive. After the 6 th century, when the Turks, who had
been pushed westward by other tribes, became neighbors of Iran and invaded Iranian
lands, they were identified with the Turanians. Hence the confusion of the two in Islamic
sources, including Shah-nama, and the frequent reference to Afrasiyab as "king of
Turks". Concern for the safety of the Iranian borders and the continuation of the
kingdom finds eloquent expression in the national history and is unifying element in epic
cycles.

(Ehsan Yarshater, "Iranian National History," in The Cambridge History of Iran
3(1)(1983), 408-409)

And all the Avesta Turanian names as well virtually all the Turanian Shahnameh names
of Turanians have clear Iranian etymology. And a detailed etymology of the Iranic
Turanian names have been given Professor Mayrhofer.(M. Mayrhofer, Die avestischen
NamenJPNB I/l(Vienna 1977))

Thus it is possible as Abaev has stated, that the Scythians and Massagatae and other East
Iranian tribes are to be identified with the Avesta Turanians. Memories of the fight
between Achaemenids/Medes vs. the Scythians/Massagatae might have been mythified as
the form in these stories, if we are able to take anything from these legends.

But the Yemenese interjections into these myths are from the early centuries of Islam
(probably from 9 { century if not later) where rivalry between Iranians and Arabs was
taking its height (Shuabbiyah) and various myths were intermixed in order to prove
superiority of one group over the other (Shuabbiyah movement).

Here we bring the whole quote from Ibn Khaldun (original Arabic is readily available on
the internet) who has already rejected any possibility of warriors from Yemens coming
into Iranians lands such Azerbaijan or Soghd (note by the time of Ibn Khaldun Soghdians
were almost extinct and here he makes a minor mistake since Altaic Turks had replaced
Soghdians during his time):

455

The history of the Tubba's, the king of the Yemen and of the Arabian Peninsula, as it is
generally transmitted, is another example of silly statements by historians. It is said that
from their homes in the Yemen, the Tubba's used to raid Ifriqiyah and the Berbers of the
Maghrib. Afriqus b. Qays b. Sayfi, one of their great early kings who lived in the time of
Moses or somewhat earlier, is said to have raided Ifriqiyah. He caused a great slaughter
among the Berbers. He gave them the name of Berbers when he head their jargon and
asked what that barbarah was. This gave them the name which has remained with them
since that time. When he left Maghrib, he is said to have concentrated some Himyar
tribes there. They remained there and mixed with the native population. Their
descentants are the Sinahaj and the Jutamah. This lead at-Tabari, al-Mas'udi, and other
to make the statement that the Sinhajah and the Kutamah belong to the Himyar. The
Berber genealogists do not admit this, and they are right. Al-Mas'udi also mentions that
one of the Himyar kings after Afriqus, Dhu 1-Adh'ar, who lived in the time of Solomon,
raided the Maghrib and forced it into submission. Something similar is mentioned by al-
Mas'udi concerning his son and successor, Yasir. He is said to have reached the Sand
River in the Maghrib and to have been unable to find passage through it because of the
great mass of sand. Therefore, he returned.

Likewise, it is said that the last Tubba', As 'ad Abu Karib, who lived in the time of the
Persian Kayyanid king Yastasb, rulved Mosul and Azerbaijan. He is said to have met
and routed the Turks and to have caused a great slaughter among them. Then he raided
them again a second and a third time. After that, he is said to have sent three of his sons
on raids, (one) against the country of Fars, one against the country of Soghdians, one of
the Turkish nations of Transoxania, and one against the country of Rum (Byzantines).
The first brother took possession of the country up to Samarkand and crossed the desert
into China. There, he found his second brother who had raided the Soghdians and had
arrived in China before him. The two together caused a great slaughter in China and
returned together with their booty. They left some Himyar tribes in Tibet. They have
been there down to this time. The third brother is said to have reached Constantinople.
He laid siege to it and forced the country of the Rum into submission. Then, he found his
second brother who raided the Soghdians and had arrived in China before him. The two
together caused a great slaughter in China and returned together with their booty. They
left some Himyar tribes in Tibet. They have been there down to this time. The third
brother is said to have reached Constantinople. He laid siege to it and forced the country
of the Rum into submission. Then, he returned.

All this information is remote from the truth. It is rooted in baseless and erroneous
assumptions. It is more like fiction of story tellers. The realm of Tubba's was
restricted to the Arabian peninsula. Their home and seat was San' a' in the Yemen. The
Arabian Peninsula is surrounded by the ocean on three sides: the Indian Ocean on the
south, the Persian Gulf jutting out of the Indian to Basrah on the east, and the Red Sea
jutting out of the Indian Ocean to Suez in Egypt on the west. This can be seen on the
map. There is no way from the Yement to the Maghrib except via Suez. The distance
between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean is two days' journey or less. It is unlikely
that the distance could be traversed by a great ruler with a large army unless he controlled
that region. This, as a rule, is impossible. In the region there were the Amalekites and

456

Canaan in Syria, and, in Egypt, the Copts. Later on, the Amalekites took position of
Egypt, and the Israelites of Syria. There is, however, no report that the Tubba's ever
fought against one of these nations or they had possession of any part the region.
Furthermore, the distance from the Yemen to the Maghrib is great, and an army requires
much food and doffer. Soldiers travelling in regions other than their own have to
requisition grain and livestock and to plunder the countries they pass through. As a rule,
such a procedure does not yield enough food and fodder. On the other hand, if they
attempted to take along enough provisions from their own region, they would not have
enough animals for transportation. So, their whole line of march necessarily takes them
through regions they must take possession of and force into submission in order to obtain
provisions from them. Again, it would be most unlikely and impossible assumption that
such an army could pass through all those nations without disturbing them, obtain its
provisions by peaceful negotiations. This shows that all such information is silly or
fictitious.

Mention of the allegedly impassable Sand River has never been heard in the Maghrib,
although the Maghrib has often been crossed and its roads have been explored by
travelers and raiders at all times and in every direction. Because of the unusual character
of the story, there is much eagerness to pass it on.

With regard to the supposed raid of the Tubba's against the countries of the East and the
land of the Turks, it must be admitted that the line of march in this case is wider than the
(narrow) passage at Suez. The distance, however, is greater, and the Persian and
Byzantine nations are interposed on the way to the Turks. There is no report that the
Tubba's ever took possession of the countries of the Persians and Byzantines. They
merely fought the Persians on the border of the 'Iraq and of the Arab countries between
al-Bahrayn (Bahrain) and al-Hirah, which were border regions common to both nations.
It would, however, ordinarily have been impossible for the Tubba's to traverse the land of
the Persians on their way to raid the countries of the Turks and Tibets, because of the
nations that are interposed on the way to the Turks, because of the need for food and
fodder, as well as the great distance mentioned before. All information to this effect is
silly and fictitious. Even if the way this information is transmitted were sound, the points
mentioned would cast suspicion upon it. All the more then must the information be
suspect since the manner in which it has been transmitted is not sound. In connection
with Yathrib (Medina) and the Aws and Khazraj, Ibn Ishaq says the last Tubba' travelled
eastward to the 'Iraq and Persia, but a raid by the Tubba's against the countries of the
Turks and Tibet is in no way confirmed by the established facts. Assertion to this effect
should not be trusted; all such information should be investigated and checked with
sound norms. The results will be that it will be most beautifully be demolished.
(Ibn Khaldun, "The Muqaddimah an introduction to History", Translated by Franz
Rosenthan; Edited by N.J. Dawood. Princeton University Press, 1989. )

So to conclude. We have two books in three manuscript, the oldest being a copy of a
1622 A.D. manuscript called the Akhbar 'Ubayd and Kitab al-Tijan. They talk about
mythical Yemenese Kings battling China, Persia, Iran, Turks and etc. One of the books
called Akhbar 'Ubayd has a fictional dialogue between Mua'wiyah and 'Ubayd about
Yemenese Kings who ruled for 225 years named Ra'esh. Ra'esh does battle against

457

Turks in Azerbaijan and defeats them and 'Ubayd in the story states that he heard it from
the Persians. The characters Ra'esh lived before the Prophet Solomon and that of Ra'ed
during the time of Qobad (in Tabari during the time around Bahman Ibn Esfandyar both
Qobad and Bahman the son of Isfandyar being mythical characters). Scholars today
agree that both these books Akhbar 'Ubayd and Kitab al-Tijan are myths and we know at
the time of Solomon for example, there was no Altaic speakers in the area. Looking at
Persian sources (which the fictional 'Ubayd of Akhbar 'Ubayd said he heard from), the
events of Ra'esh and Ra'ed occur during the time of pre-historic/mythical Shahnameh
characters. They are connected to the Turanians, who if historical, are to be identified
with the Iranian Scythians. As shown, there were never any Yemenese warriors in NW
Iran fighting Turks and all these stories are fictional as noted by Ibn Khaldun. The actual
history of the region goes from Iranian Medes, to Achamenids, Seleucids, Parthians and
Sassanids. Then the area becomes part of the caliphate (with occasional intrusions by
Khazars which did not have any significant impact). One the area was stable, it comes
under various Arab and Iranic dynasties such as the Caliphate, Sajids, Shaddadids,
Shirwanshahs and etc. It is only with the Seljuq era that Altaic Turks start settling the
area in a noticeable number, however the real influx of Turks occurs during the Mongol
invasion where either large number of Turks were pushed in the area by fleeing the
Mongols or became part of the Mongol army whose bulk was Turkic. By the mid
Safavid era, it appears that most of the area was Turkified. Scholars who want to study
the actual history of the area during the time of Nezami Ganjavi can consult this article
and the magnificent Nozhat al-Majales which is a clear mirror of the culture of that time.

References (note first name of Author is put first here):

• Ibn Munabahh, Wahb. Kitab al-Tijan Fi Muluk Himyar, San' a, 1979

• L.L Conrad, "ibn Hisham" in Julie Scott Meisami, Paul Starkeym, "Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature",
Taylor & Francis, 1998.

• R.G. Khoury, "Wahb b. Munabbih", Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P. Bearman , Th. Bianquis , C.E.
Bosworth , E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2007. (2nd edition-online version

• H.T. Norris, "Fables and Legends" in Jula Ashtiany, T.M. Johnstone, J.D. Latham, R.B. Serjeant and G.
Rex Smith (editors) in "The Cambridge History of Arabic Lietrautre: 'Abbasid Belles-Lettres", Cambridge
University Press, 1990.

• E.W. Crosby, "The history, poetry, and genealogy of Yemen", Gorgias Press LLC, 2007.

• W. M. Brinner, "The history of Al-Tabari: volume III: The Children of Israel", translated an annotated by
William M. Brinner, (Editorial board: Ishan Abbas, C.E. Bosworth, Jacob Lassner, Franz Rosenthan, Ehsan
Yarshater (general editor)). State University of New York Press, 1991.

• M.Perlmann (trans), The History of Al-Tabari. Vol IV. The Ancient Kingdoms. (Editorial board: Ishan
Abbas, C.E. Bosworth, Jacob Lassner, Franz Rosenthan, Ehsan Yarshater (general editor)), State University
of New York Press, Albany, 1989

• Ahmad ibn Muhammad Ibn Miskawayah, "Kitab Tajarib al-Umam", Baghdad, yuTlab min Maktabat al-
Muthanna, 1965.

• T. Sulimirski, The Sarmatians, London: Thames & Hudson, 1970

• J. Channon & Robert Hudson, Penguin Historical Atlas of Russia, 1995

• C.E. Bosworth, "CENTRAL ASIA: The Islamic period up to the mongols" in Encyclopedia Iranica

• E.A. Allworth, "Central Asia: A Historical Overview", Duke University Press, 1994

• G. Gnoli, Zoroaster's time and homeland, Naples 1980

• M. Boyce, History of Zoroastrianism. 3V. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1991. (Handbuch Der Orientalistik/B . Spuler)

• C. E. Bosworth, "Barbarian Incursions: The Coming of the Turks into the Islamic World." In Islamic
Civilization, Edited by D. S. Richards. Oxford, 1973.

• O.M. Davidson, "The Crown-Bestower in the Iranian Book of Kings", Brill Archive, 1985.

458

• I.M. Diakonov (translated by Alexandar Kirjanov), "Early antiquity", University of Chicago Press, 1991

• R.N. Frye, The Heritage of Persia: The pre-Islamic History of One of the World's Great Civilizations,
World Publishing Company, New York, 1963.

• E. Yarshater, "Iranian National History," in The Cambridge History of Iran 3(1)(1983)

• M. Mayrhofer, Die avestischen NamenJPNB 1/1 (Vienna 1977).

Appendix C: Some important neglected
sources in the study of Nezami Ganjavi

We have mentioned the fact that Persian poets and sources help each other in mutual
understanding.

For example, the Nozhat al-Majales:

We have already discussed this book in this article. However the book is important for
several reasons for the study of Nezami and Khaqani and other authors. One is the fact
quatrains from 24 poets from Ganja alone are brought about in this book. The quatrains
of Nezami Ganjavi in this book has not been analyzed in detail.

The second is that while some authors claim there is not much about Nezami Ganjavi 's
biography, this book can easily fill lots of the gap. Because of its sections on the cultural
life, games, music and overall cultura of the area, this book provides a complete mirror of
the cultura which nezami Ganjavi thrived in. Similarly is the case of the book Safina of
Tabriz which is written about 1 century after Nezami but provides a detailed view of the
Iranian cultural life of the area.

Without a doubt, Khaqani Sherwani and Nezami Ganjavi are two poets tht use imagery
and symbolic language more than other poets. We have used Khaqani for example to
elucidate some of Nezami Ganjavi' s verses and bring the meaning of the words into their
context.

The Encyclopedia Iranica states:

"Influence and Reception of Kaqani. Kaqani 's literary background consisted both of
classical Arabic poetry (e.g. in the autobiographical passage in the Tohfat al- Eraqayn
(p. 219) already referred to, he mentions al-Ma arri's (973-1058) Saqt al-zand) and the
great Ghazanavid poets (especially, Onsori, Mas ud-e Sa d-e Salman and Sana i). His
own poetry, in particular his daring imagery, was to have a momentous influence, first of
all on his younger fellow countryman Nezami Ganjavi, and through the latter on Persian
poetry in general. His qasidas influenced both those of poets of the late 12th and early
13 th century, such as Sams-al-Din Tabasi (Introduction, pp. xxxii-xxxiii) and Sayfal-Din
Esfarangi (Introduction, pp. 46-47) and later on, in the 16th century, with the new
flowering of the qasida in Indo-Persian poetry, those of poets such as Fayzi and Orfi.
This influence appears, amongst others, in the qasidas many of these poets wrote in
response (jawab) to his poems (see also above). Moreover, the inclusion of many of
Kaqani' s qasidas in a large number of anthologies from the centuries after his death
proves that they were still read, although, as we may gather from the number of qasidas

459

included, he was not as popular as his contemporary Anwari (d. not long after 1164-65)
who also excelled in this verse-form. Given their rich vocabulary and ingenuous images,
KaqanVs poems proved, from early on, a challenge to their readers, and hence required
commentaries for their elucidation "(Anna Livia Beelaert, "Khaqani Sherwani" in
Encyclopedia Iranica). There are of course many other sources including Qur'an, Hadeeth,
books on princely advices, Kalila o Demna and etc. However, it is unfortunate that
Nozhat al-Majales, and the poets mentioned (Khaqani, Asadi Tusi, Ferdowsi, Gorgani,
Sanai) and others have been neglected. Khaqani himself as noted had a momentous
influence on Nezami and and at the same time, he was influenced by Ghaznavid era poets
and Sanai. Or for example, Asadi Tusi provides diaologues between the hero Garshasp
and the Greek/Indian and other sages (sometimes very similar topics as Eskandarnama
and in the same fashion were a hero tries to learn from the sages). With the advent of
digital tools and computers, one can easily search for similar words and phrases in the
database of all these poets and mutually understand them better. For example, there is no
doubt that Nezami Ganjavi had a great knowledge of the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi and
influenced by the Shahnameh. So a Shahnameh scholar needs to study Nezami Ganjavi,
Pahlavi manuscripts, Avesta, etc. and a Nezami Ganjavi scholar needs to study Khaqani,
Nozhat al-Majales and Shahnameh.

Appendix D: On the etymology of the
name Axsartan

The etymology of Axsartan, Aghsartan, Axsetan (Persiamu^^ ) had not been properly
studied by scholars until recently. However Minorsky had pointed out the name is
probably of Ossetian origin. Recent advances in philology seems to have confirmed
Minorsky' s theory and shown the Old Iranian origin of this title/name.
(Agusti Alemany, Sources on the Alans, Brill Academic Publishers, 2000.)

9,9. AgsarVun

PN [m,] S A&sarVan Q 308-328 (B 189-206), etc. — P Name of
two kings of Kaxei 4 i T Agsarfan 1 (1058-84) & Agsart'an II
(1 102-5), as well as of other persons (cf. NB 12: Arm. Asxart*an y
Arab. Aijsartfui). — I From an Olran. *x$a8ra- > Oss.D* cexsarte L
lt xsar "bravery* victory, power" + Olran. suffix *-ana-; cf.
among others the names EapGavos (Tanais HIP) and "Eapiaixog
(Olbia), as well as Oss.D, j£xsa>rta>g I. **Xs&rt&g < Olran.
*x$a8raka^ the name of a Nart hero (03 III 80; NB 12; Slaw I
143, 172-174, 191; OX& I 188-189; Ocu. 309; PN 122; Abaev
1956:441; Minorsky 1943-46:560; 1958:67; Penhanian 1966:24
n. 10; Sarm. 94; H3CQ8 IV 224-225, 229-230).

My God's blessing be upon his Prophets, Saints and Angels.

460