Niani Mansa Mamadu
Niani Mansa Mamadu (Mansa Mahmud) (Mansa Mamadou III) (Mali Mansa Mamadou) (d. c. 1610). Last ruler of the Mali Empire. Mali had reached its zenith in the 14th century and afterwards lost much of its territory to Songhay. Traditions of the ruling Keita clan identify Niani Mansa Mamadu as the last king of Mali before its breakup into numerous small chiefdoms (kafu). He was probably the same person as Mansa Mahmud, who the Ta’rikh al-Sudan says attempted to take the city of Jenne from the Moroccans in 1599. The attack failed, largely because he could no longer compel Mali’s former vassal states to ally with him. The event marked the last mention of Mali in the Arabic records, as the empire ceased to be an important political entity. It was probably during Niani Mansa Mamadu’s reign that Mali lost the goldfields of Bambuk, sometime between 1590 and 1600.
Mamadu, Niani Mansa see Niani Mansa Mamadu
Mansa Mahmud see Niani Mansa Mamadu
Mahmud, Mansa see Niani Mansa Mamadu
Mansa Mamadou III see Niani Mansa Mamadu
Mali Mansa Mamadou see Niani Mansa Mamadu
Mamadou, Mali Mansa see Niani Mansa Mamadu
Niani Mansa Mamadu (Mansa Mahmud) (Mansa Mamadou III) (Mali Mansa Mamadou) (d. c. 1610). Last ruler of the Mali Empire. Mali had reached its zenith in the 14th century and afterwards lost much of its territory to Songhay. Traditions of the ruling Keita clan identify Niani Mansa Mamadu as the last king of Mali before its breakup into numerous small chiefdoms (kafu). He was probably the same person as Mansa Mahmud, who the Ta’rikh al-Sudan says attempted to take the city of Jenne from the Moroccans in 1599. The attack failed, largely because he could no longer compel Mali’s former vassal states to ally with him. The event marked the last mention of Mali in the Arabic records, as the empire ceased to be an important political entity. It was probably during Niani Mansa Mamadu’s reign that Mali lost the goldfields of Bambuk, sometime between 1590 and 1600.
Mamadu, Niani Mansa see Niani Mansa Mamadu
Mansa Mahmud see Niani Mansa Mamadu
Mahmud, Mansa see Niani Mansa Mamadu
Mansa Mamadou III see Niani Mansa Mamadu
Mali Mansa Mamadou see Niani Mansa Mamadu
Mamadou, Mali Mansa see Niani Mansa Mamadu
Niffari, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Jabbar al-
Niffari, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Jabbar al- (Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Jabbar al-Niffari) (d.965). Mystic. His most characteristic contribution to mysticism is his doctrine of waqfa, a term which implies a condition in the mystic which is accompanied by direct divine audition, and perhaps even automatic writing.
Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Jabbar al-Niffari see Niffari, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Jabbar al-
Niffari, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Jabbar al- (Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Jabbar al-Niffari) (d.965). Mystic. His most characteristic contribution to mysticism is his doctrine of waqfa, a term which implies a condition in the mystic which is accompanied by direct divine audition, and perhaps even automatic writing.
Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Jabbar al-Niffari see Niffari, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Jabbar al-
Ni‘mat Allah ibn Ahmad
Ni‘mat Allah ibn Ahmad (Khalil Sufi) (d.1561). Author of an important Persian-Turkish dictionary.
Ibn Ahmad, Ni'mat Allah see Ni‘mat Allah ibn Ahmad
Khalil Sufi see Ni‘mat Allah ibn Ahmad
Sufi, Khalil see Ni‘mat Allah ibn Ahmad
Ni‘mat Allah ibn Ahmad (Khalil Sufi) (d.1561). Author of an important Persian-Turkish dictionary.
Ibn Ahmad, Ni'mat Allah see Ni‘mat Allah ibn Ahmad
Khalil Sufi see Ni‘mat Allah ibn Ahmad
Sufi, Khalil see Ni‘mat Allah ibn Ahmad
Ni‘mat Allah ibn Habib Allah Harawi
Ni‘mat Allah ibn Habib Allah Harawi (Ni'mat Allah al-Harawi) (fl. 1613-1630). Seventeenth century Persian historian. His work deals with the history of the Afghans, especially that of the Lodi and Suri sultans of Delhi.
Ni'mat Allah al-Harawi wrote a Persian epic on the history of the Afghans, at the court of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir. Often referred to as Makhzan-i-Afghani and The History of the Afghans, its full name is properly Tarikh-i-Khan Jahani Makhzan-i-Afghani, signifying that its patron was Khan Jahan Lodi, an Afghan general. There is a scholarly debate about whether the Tarikh is actually a different work, rather than a different recension of the same material.
The author was a librarian, then a waqia-navis (a kind of intelligence officer) at court. His work is dated circa 1612.
The material is part fictional, part historical. The book is a major source of tradition relating to the origins of the Pashtun. It also covers Afghan rulers in Bengal, contemporary events, and Afghan hagiography. It plays a large part in various theories which have been offered about the possibility that the Pashtun people might be descended from the Israelites, through the Ten Lost Tribes.
The Bani-Israelite theory about the origin of the Pashtuns is based on Pashtun oral traditions; the tradition itself was documented in the Makhzan-i-Afghani, which is the only written source addressing Pashtun origins.
The Makhzan traces the Pashtuns' origins from Abraham down to a king named King Talut (Saul). Makhzan to this point agrees with testimony provided by Muslim sources or Hebrew Scriptures, showing King Saul around 1092 B.C.T. in Palestine. It is beyond this point that the description comes under serious doubt.
Makhzan-i-Afghani maintains that Saul had a son Irmia (Jeremia) who again had a son called Afghana raised by King David upon the death of King Saul and later promoted to the chief command of the Army during the reign of King Solomon.
The description jumps to 6th century B.C.T. when Bakhtunnasar (Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon) attacked Judah and exiled Bani-Israel, the progeny of Afghana, to Ghor in Afghanistan. This is contradictory, as Nebuchadnezzar attacked the Kingdom of Judah and Benjamin, not the kingdom of Israel of the Ten Tribes. The main ambiguity here is whether Makhzan-i-Afghani is failing to differentiate between the Kingdom of Judah and the Kingdom of Israel. This may have crept in because Makhzan might have copied the tale of Jewish captivity from Muslim sources and Muslim sources were not well acquainted with Jewish history. Nebuchadnezzar brought Jews in captivity to Babylonia around 580 B.C.T. until Cyrus, the King of Persia, attacked Babylonia, freed the Jews, and allowed them to return to Jerusalem. So, Cyrus did not send the Jews as captives to Ghor but rather to Jerusalem.
However, Babylon did also conquer Assyria, where the Ten Tribes had been exiled to decades before. After that, Babylon was conquered by Cyrus of Persia. So if Babylon achieved jurisdiction over them that way, that would credibly explain how they were exiled originally by Assyrians. Nevertheless, the Pashtuns' story depicts them being ruled by Babylonians, and then by Cyrus of Persia.
The Assyrian king Shalmaneser is the one who raided the Kingdom of Israel in 721 B.C.T. and sent the ten tribes in exile to Media, the North-Western part of today's Iran. The Persian Empire did not exist at the time of first Jewish captivity (721 B.C.T.) and was founded later by Cyrus in 550 B.C.T. The ten exiled tribes might have mingled with the local population of Media or dispersed over to Russia and Eastern Europe. So the Jewish captives from the Kingdom of Judah were eventually sent to Jerusalem. These contradictions cast some doubts on the Makhzan account of Jewish captivity and so undermines its authenticity.
Israelites from the Kingdom of Israel might have been sent separately to a different area. The Bnei Menashe of India also have traditions which trace their wanderings as going originally from the Persian Empire to Afghanistan. In their case, they then went to China, where they encountered persecution, then pressed on to India and Southern Asia.
According to Nimat Allah, Qais was the ancestor of most of the existing Pashtun tribes. He met Muhammad and embraced Islam, receiving the Muslim name of Abdur Rashid. He had three sons, Ghourghusht, Sarban and Bitan (Baitan). Karlan, the fourth legendary ancestor, was a supposed adopted foundling.
Ibn Habib Allah Hawawi, Ni'mat Allah see Ni‘mat Allah ibn Habib Allah Harawi
Harawi, Ni'mat Allah ibn Habib Allah see Ni‘mat Allah ibn Habib Allah Harawi
Ni'mat Allah al-Harawi see Ni‘mat Allah ibn Habib Allah Harawi
Harawi, Ni'mat Allah al- see Ni‘mat Allah ibn Habib Allah Harawi
Ni‘mat Allah ibn Habib Allah Harawi (Ni'mat Allah al-Harawi) (fl. 1613-1630). Seventeenth century Persian historian. His work deals with the history of the Afghans, especially that of the Lodi and Suri sultans of Delhi.
Ni'mat Allah al-Harawi wrote a Persian epic on the history of the Afghans, at the court of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir. Often referred to as Makhzan-i-Afghani and The History of the Afghans, its full name is properly Tarikh-i-Khan Jahani Makhzan-i-Afghani, signifying that its patron was Khan Jahan Lodi, an Afghan general. There is a scholarly debate about whether the Tarikh is actually a different work, rather than a different recension of the same material.
The author was a librarian, then a waqia-navis (a kind of intelligence officer) at court. His work is dated circa 1612.
The material is part fictional, part historical. The book is a major source of tradition relating to the origins of the Pashtun. It also covers Afghan rulers in Bengal, contemporary events, and Afghan hagiography. It plays a large part in various theories which have been offered about the possibility that the Pashtun people might be descended from the Israelites, through the Ten Lost Tribes.
The Bani-Israelite theory about the origin of the Pashtuns is based on Pashtun oral traditions; the tradition itself was documented in the Makhzan-i-Afghani, which is the only written source addressing Pashtun origins.
The Makhzan traces the Pashtuns' origins from Abraham down to a king named King Talut (Saul). Makhzan to this point agrees with testimony provided by Muslim sources or Hebrew Scriptures, showing King Saul around 1092 B.C.T. in Palestine. It is beyond this point that the description comes under serious doubt.
Makhzan-i-Afghani maintains that Saul had a son Irmia (Jeremia) who again had a son called Afghana raised by King David upon the death of King Saul and later promoted to the chief command of the Army during the reign of King Solomon.
The description jumps to 6th century B.C.T. when Bakhtunnasar (Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon) attacked Judah and exiled Bani-Israel, the progeny of Afghana, to Ghor in Afghanistan. This is contradictory, as Nebuchadnezzar attacked the Kingdom of Judah and Benjamin, not the kingdom of Israel of the Ten Tribes. The main ambiguity here is whether Makhzan-i-Afghani is failing to differentiate between the Kingdom of Judah and the Kingdom of Israel. This may have crept in because Makhzan might have copied the tale of Jewish captivity from Muslim sources and Muslim sources were not well acquainted with Jewish history. Nebuchadnezzar brought Jews in captivity to Babylonia around 580 B.C.T. until Cyrus, the King of Persia, attacked Babylonia, freed the Jews, and allowed them to return to Jerusalem. So, Cyrus did not send the Jews as captives to Ghor but rather to Jerusalem.
However, Babylon did also conquer Assyria, where the Ten Tribes had been exiled to decades before. After that, Babylon was conquered by Cyrus of Persia. So if Babylon achieved jurisdiction over them that way, that would credibly explain how they were exiled originally by Assyrians. Nevertheless, the Pashtuns' story depicts them being ruled by Babylonians, and then by Cyrus of Persia.
The Assyrian king Shalmaneser is the one who raided the Kingdom of Israel in 721 B.C.T. and sent the ten tribes in exile to Media, the North-Western part of today's Iran. The Persian Empire did not exist at the time of first Jewish captivity (721 B.C.T.) and was founded later by Cyrus in 550 B.C.T. The ten exiled tribes might have mingled with the local population of Media or dispersed over to Russia and Eastern Europe. So the Jewish captives from the Kingdom of Judah were eventually sent to Jerusalem. These contradictions cast some doubts on the Makhzan account of Jewish captivity and so undermines its authenticity.
Israelites from the Kingdom of Israel might have been sent separately to a different area. The Bnei Menashe of India also have traditions which trace their wanderings as going originally from the Persian Empire to Afghanistan. In their case, they then went to China, where they encountered persecution, then pressed on to India and Southern Asia.
According to Nimat Allah, Qais was the ancestor of most of the existing Pashtun tribes. He met Muhammad and embraced Islam, receiving the Muslim name of Abdur Rashid. He had three sons, Ghourghusht, Sarban and Bitan (Baitan). Karlan, the fourth legendary ancestor, was a supposed adopted foundling.
Ibn Habib Allah Hawawi, Ni'mat Allah see Ni‘mat Allah ibn Habib Allah Harawi
Harawi, Ni'mat Allah ibn Habib Allah see Ni‘mat Allah ibn Habib Allah Harawi
Ni'mat Allah al-Harawi see Ni‘mat Allah ibn Habib Allah Harawi
Harawi, Ni'mat Allah al- see Ni‘mat Allah ibn Habib Allah Harawi
Ni‘mat Allah Wali
Ni‘mat Allah Wali (Shāh Ni'matullāh-i Walī) (Ne'matollah) (Ni'matallah) (Ni'mat Allah) (1329/1330-1431). Persian mystic and eponym of the Ni‘mat-Allahiyya order. He was a descendant of Muhammad ibn ‘Ali Zayn al-‘Abidin (al-Baqir), the fifth Imam of the Shi‘a. He is highly esteemed in Iran as a great saint and wonder-worker, and his tomb at Mahan near Kirman is a popular place of pilgrimage. The order was reintroduced into Persia in the late eighteenth century and became the most widely spread Sufi order in the country.
Ni'mat Allah was an Islamic scholar and a Sufi poet from the 14th and 15th centuries. Descended from Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, Ni'matullah was the Qutb of a Sufi order after his master Sheikh Abd-allah Yafae. Today there is a Sufi order Nimatullahi that considers him its founder.
Ni'matullah was born in Aleppo, Syria. He travelled widely through the Muslim world, learning the philosophies of many masters, but not at first finding a personal teacher to whom he could dedicate himself. During this time, Ni'matullah also studied the writings of the great Sufi philosopher and mystic Ibn Arabi.
Ni'matullah met Abdollah Yafe'i in Mecca and became his disciple. He studied intensely with his teacher for seven years until, spiritually transformed, he was sent out for a second round of travels, this time as a realized teacher.
Ni'matullah temporarily resided near Samarkand, along the great Central Asian Silk Road. It was here that he met the conqueror Tamerlane (Timur), but to avoid conflict with the worldly ruler, he soon left and eventually settled in the Persian region of Kerman. His shrine is in nearby Mahan.
By the time Ni'matullah died, his fame had spread throughout Persia and India, and it is said he initiated hundreds of thousands of followers in the path now known by his name.
Shah N'imatullah Wali left a Persian Language Diwan (poetry).This contained predictions about the events which would occur on-wards in the world.
Wali, Ni'mat Allah see Ni‘mat Allah Wali
Shāh Ni'matullāh-i Walī see Ni‘mat Allah Wali
Wali, Shāh Ni'matullāh-i see Ni‘mat Allah Wali
Ne'matollah see Ni‘mat Allah Wali
Ni'matallah see Ni‘mat Allah Wali
Ni'mat Allah see Ni‘mat Allah Wali
Ni‘mat Allah Wali (Shāh Ni'matullāh-i Walī) (Ne'matollah) (Ni'matallah) (Ni'mat Allah) (1329/1330-1431). Persian mystic and eponym of the Ni‘mat-Allahiyya order. He was a descendant of Muhammad ibn ‘Ali Zayn al-‘Abidin (al-Baqir), the fifth Imam of the Shi‘a. He is highly esteemed in Iran as a great saint and wonder-worker, and his tomb at Mahan near Kirman is a popular place of pilgrimage. The order was reintroduced into Persia in the late eighteenth century and became the most widely spread Sufi order in the country.
Ni'mat Allah was an Islamic scholar and a Sufi poet from the 14th and 15th centuries. Descended from Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, Ni'matullah was the Qutb of a Sufi order after his master Sheikh Abd-allah Yafae. Today there is a Sufi order Nimatullahi that considers him its founder.
Ni'matullah was born in Aleppo, Syria. He travelled widely through the Muslim world, learning the philosophies of many masters, but not at first finding a personal teacher to whom he could dedicate himself. During this time, Ni'matullah also studied the writings of the great Sufi philosopher and mystic Ibn Arabi.
Ni'matullah met Abdollah Yafe'i in Mecca and became his disciple. He studied intensely with his teacher for seven years until, spiritually transformed, he was sent out for a second round of travels, this time as a realized teacher.
Ni'matullah temporarily resided near Samarkand, along the great Central Asian Silk Road. It was here that he met the conqueror Tamerlane (Timur), but to avoid conflict with the worldly ruler, he soon left and eventually settled in the Persian region of Kerman. His shrine is in nearby Mahan.
By the time Ni'matullah died, his fame had spread throughout Persia and India, and it is said he initiated hundreds of thousands of followers in the path now known by his name.
Shah N'imatullah Wali left a Persian Language Diwan (poetry).This contained predictions about the events which would occur on-wards in the world.
Wali, Ni'mat Allah see Ni‘mat Allah Wali
Shāh Ni'matullāh-i Walī see Ni‘mat Allah Wali
Wali, Shāh Ni'matullāh-i see Ni‘mat Allah Wali
Ne'matollah see Ni‘mat Allah Wali
Ni'matallah see Ni‘mat Allah Wali
Ni'mat Allah see Ni‘mat Allah Wali
Ni‘matullahiyah
Ni‘matullahiyah. Beginning as a Sunni Sufi order in the fourteenth century in southeastern Iran, the Ni‘matullahiyah became Shi‘a in the fifteenth century. It established itself in India in the same century, returned to Iran in the eighteenth, and after the mid-1970s spread into the West.
The Ni‘matullahiyah took its name from Nur al-Din Ni‘mat Allah al-Kirmani, better known as Shah Ni‘mat Allah Wali, a Sufi and prolific author born around the year 1331. At the age of twenty-four Ni‘mat Allah met his shaykh, ‘Abd Allah ibn As‘ad al-Yafi‘i (d. 1367). Yafi‘i’s main lineage goes back to Ahmad al-Ghazzali (d. 1126), passes through Ma‘ruf al-Karkhi (d. 815), and ultimately derives from ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib (d. 661). Shah Ni ‘mat Allah, a Sunni, lived most of his life in Iran in the region of Kirman (Kerman). After guiding his followers for nearly sixty years with teachings steeped in the thought of Ibn al-‘Arabi (d. 1240), he died in 1430/1431. His domed tomb in Mahan continues to be a pilgrimage site and is one of the marvels of Islamic art and architecture.
Soon after the passing of Shah Ni‘mat Allah,while Iran was still under Timurid rule, his son and successor Khalil Allah (d. 1456) moved the base of the order to India. During the rule of the Safavids, by which time the order had become Shi‘a, the Ni‘matullahiyah gradually died out in Iran. It returned, however, in 1775, when the ecstatic Ma‘sum ‘Ali Shah began gathering disciples. This Sufi activity was seen as a threat by the Shi‘a establishment, and in 1797/1798 Ma‘sum ‘Ali and subsequently his follower Nur ‘Ali Shah-i Isfahani were killed by Shi‘a religious authorities.
Throughout the Qajar period, the mutual dislike between Ni‘matullahis and the Shi‘a authorities gradually lessened. The order flourished, but after Majdhub ‘Ali Shah (d. 1823) it divided into a number of branches. In the early 1990s, the two most significant branches were known as the Gunabadi order and the Ni‘matullahi Sufi order. The Gunabadi order, characterized by an emphasis on shari‘a based practice, has as its current shaykh Riza ‘Ali Shah Sultan Husayn Tabandah, who is known internationally for his A Muslim Commentary on the Declaration of Human Rights. The Ni‘matullahi Sufi order, otherwise known as the Khaniqahi Ni‘matullahi, the branch of Dhu al-Riyasatayn, or the Mu‘nisiyah order, emphasizes the universal, spiritual, and ethical aspects of Sufism and Islam while still following the shari‘a. Its membership has traditionally come from all strata of Iranian society, with the middle class being dominant. Since 1974, the order has expanded beyond its base in Iran into the United States, Europe, and Africa. Outside of Iran the membership of the order consists of both expatriate Iranians and converts to Islam.
Ni‘matullahiyah. Beginning as a Sunni Sufi order in the fourteenth century in southeastern Iran, the Ni‘matullahiyah became Shi‘a in the fifteenth century. It established itself in India in the same century, returned to Iran in the eighteenth, and after the mid-1970s spread into the West.
The Ni‘matullahiyah took its name from Nur al-Din Ni‘mat Allah al-Kirmani, better known as Shah Ni‘mat Allah Wali, a Sufi and prolific author born around the year 1331. At the age of twenty-four Ni‘mat Allah met his shaykh, ‘Abd Allah ibn As‘ad al-Yafi‘i (d. 1367). Yafi‘i’s main lineage goes back to Ahmad al-Ghazzali (d. 1126), passes through Ma‘ruf al-Karkhi (d. 815), and ultimately derives from ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib (d. 661). Shah Ni ‘mat Allah, a Sunni, lived most of his life in Iran in the region of Kirman (Kerman). After guiding his followers for nearly sixty years with teachings steeped in the thought of Ibn al-‘Arabi (d. 1240), he died in 1430/1431. His domed tomb in Mahan continues to be a pilgrimage site and is one of the marvels of Islamic art and architecture.
Soon after the passing of Shah Ni‘mat Allah,while Iran was still under Timurid rule, his son and successor Khalil Allah (d. 1456) moved the base of the order to India. During the rule of the Safavids, by which time the order had become Shi‘a, the Ni‘matullahiyah gradually died out in Iran. It returned, however, in 1775, when the ecstatic Ma‘sum ‘Ali Shah began gathering disciples. This Sufi activity was seen as a threat by the Shi‘a establishment, and in 1797/1798 Ma‘sum ‘Ali and subsequently his follower Nur ‘Ali Shah-i Isfahani were killed by Shi‘a religious authorities.
Throughout the Qajar period, the mutual dislike between Ni‘matullahis and the Shi‘a authorities gradually lessened. The order flourished, but after Majdhub ‘Ali Shah (d. 1823) it divided into a number of branches. In the early 1990s, the two most significant branches were known as the Gunabadi order and the Ni‘matullahi Sufi order. The Gunabadi order, characterized by an emphasis on shari‘a based practice, has as its current shaykh Riza ‘Ali Shah Sultan Husayn Tabandah, who is known internationally for his A Muslim Commentary on the Declaration of Human Rights. The Ni‘matullahi Sufi order, otherwise known as the Khaniqahi Ni‘matullahi, the branch of Dhu al-Riyasatayn, or the Mu‘nisiyah order, emphasizes the universal, spiritual, and ethical aspects of Sufism and Islam while still following the shari‘a. Its membership has traditionally come from all strata of Iranian society, with the middle class being dominant. Since 1974, the order has expanded beyond its base in Iran into the United States, Europe, and Africa. Outside of Iran the membership of the order consists of both expatriate Iranians and converts to Islam.
Nima Yushij
Nima Yushij (Nima) (Ali Esfandiari) (November 12, 1896 - January 6, 1960). Persian poet. His most important work is a long poem, entitled Myth, containing a dialogue between a dismayed lover and the Myth which consoles him. The poem may be said to have heralded the beginning of modernism in Persian poetry.
Nimā Yushij was a contemporary Tabarian and Persian poet who started the she’r-e no ("new poetry") also known as she’r-e nimaa'i ("Nimaic poetry") trend in Iran. He is considered to be the father of modern Persian poetry.
Nima Yushij died of pneumonia in Shemiran, in the northern part of Tehran and was buried in his native village of Yush, Nur County, Mazandaran, as he had willed.
Nima Yushij was the eldest son of Ibrahim Nuri of Yush (a village in Nur County, Mazandaran province of Iran). He was a Tabarian but also had Georgian roots. He grew up in Yush, mostly helping his father with the farm and taking care of the cattle. As a boy, he visited many local summer and winter camps and mingled with shepherds and itinerary workers. Life around the campfire, especially images emerging from the shepherds' simple and entertaining stories about village and tribal conflicts, impressed him greatly. These images, etched in the young poet's memory waited until his power of diction developed sufficiently to release them.
Nima's early education took place in a maktab. A truant student, the mullah (teacher) had to seek him out in the streets, drag him to school, and punish him. At the age of twelve, Nima was taken to Tehran and registered at the St. Louis School. The atmosphere at the Roman Catholic school did not change Nima's ways, but the instructions of a thoughtful teacher did. Nezam Vafa, a major poet himself, took the budding poet under his wing and nurtured his poetic talent.
Instruction at the Catholic school was in direct contrast to instruction at the maktab. Similarly, living among the urban people was at variance with life among the tribal and rural peoples of the north. In addition, both these lifestyles differed greatly from the description of the lifestyle about which he read in his books or listened to in class. Although it did not change his attachment to tradition, the difference set fire to young Nima's imagination. Even though Nima continued to write poetry in the tradition of Saadi and Hafez, for quite some time his expression was being affected gradually and steadily. Eventually, a time came when the impact of the new became too overwhelming. It overpowered the tenacity of tradition and led Nima down a new path. Consequently, Nima began to replace the familiar devices that he felt were impeding the free flow of ideas with innovative, even though less familiar, devices that enhanced a free flow of concepts. "Ay Shab" (O Night) and "Afsaneh" (Myth) belong to this transitional period in the poet's life.
In general, Nima manipulated rhythm and rhyme and allowed the length of the line to be determined by the depth of the thought being expressed rather than by the conventional Persian meters that had dictated the length of a bayt (verse) since the early days of Persian poetry. Furthermore, he emphasized current issues, especially nuances of oppression and suffering, at the expense of the beloved's moon face or the ever-growing conflict between the lovers, the beloved, and the rival. Nima realized that while some readers were enthused by the charms of the lover and the coquettish ways of the beloved, the majority preferred heroes with whom they could identify. Furthermore, Nima enhanced his images with personifications that were very different from the "frozen" imagery of the moon, the rose garden, and the tavern. His unconventional poetic diction took poetry out of the rituals of the court and placed it squarely among the masses. The natural speech of the masses necessarily added local color and flavor to his compositions. Lastly, and by far Nima's most dramatic element was the application of symbolism. His use of symbols was different from the masters in that he based the structural integrity of his creations on the steady development of the symbols incorporated. In this sense, Nima's poetry could be read as a dialog among two or three symbolic references building up into a cohesive semantic unit. In the past only Hafiz had attempted such creations in his Sufic ghazals. The basic device he employed, however, was thematic, rather than symbolic unity. Symbolism, although the avenue to the resolution of the most enigmatic of his ghazals, plays a secondary role in the structural makeup of the composition.
The venues in which Nima published his works are noteworthy. In the early years when the presses were controlled by certain adverse powers, his poetry, deemed below the established norm, was not allowed publication. For this reason, many of Nima's early poems did not reach the public until the late 1930s. After the fall of Reza Shah, Nima became a member of the editorial board of the "Music" magazine. Working with Sadeq Hedayat, he published many of his poems in that magazine. Only on two occasions, he published his works at his own expense: "The Pale Story" and "The Soldier's Family."
The closing of "Music" coincided with the formation of the Tudeh Party and the appearance of a number of leftist publications. Radical in nature, Nima was attracted to the new papers and published many of his groundbreaking compositions in them.
Ahmad Zia Hashtroudy and Abul Ghasem Janati Atayi are among the first scholars to have worked on Nima's life and works. The former included Nima's works in an anthology entitled "Contemporary Writers and Poets" (1923). The selections presented were: "Afsaneh," (Myth) "Ay Shab" (O Night), "Mahbass" (Prison), and four short stories.
Yushij, Nima see Nima Yushij
Nima see Nima Yushij
Ali Esfandiari see Nima Yushij
Esfandiari, Ali see Nima Yushij
Nimā Yushij was a contemporary Tabarian and Persian poet who started the she’r-e no ("new poetry") also known as she’r-e nimaa'i ("Nimaic poetry") trend in Iran. He is considered to be the father of modern Persian poetry.
Nima Yushij died of pneumonia in Shemiran, in the northern part of Tehran and was buried in his native village of Yush, Nur County, Mazandaran, as he had willed.
Nima Yushij was the eldest son of Ibrahim Nuri of Yush (a village in Nur County, Mazandaran province of Iran). He was a Tabarian but also had Georgian roots. He grew up in Yush, mostly helping his father with the farm and taking care of the cattle. As a boy, he visited many local summer and winter camps and mingled with shepherds and itinerary workers. Life around the campfire, especially images emerging from the shepherds' simple and entertaining stories about village and tribal conflicts, impressed him greatly. These images, etched in the young poet's memory waited until his power of diction developed sufficiently to release them.
Nima's early education took place in a maktab. A truant student, the mullah (teacher) had to seek him out in the streets, drag him to school, and punish him. At the age of twelve, Nima was taken to Tehran and registered at the St. Louis School. The atmosphere at the Roman Catholic school did not change Nima's ways, but the instructions of a thoughtful teacher did. Nezam Vafa, a major poet himself, took the budding poet under his wing and nurtured his poetic talent.
Instruction at the Catholic school was in direct contrast to instruction at the maktab. Similarly, living among the urban people was at variance with life among the tribal and rural peoples of the north. In addition, both these lifestyles differed greatly from the description of the lifestyle about which he read in his books or listened to in class. Although it did not change his attachment to tradition, the difference set fire to young Nima's imagination. Even though Nima continued to write poetry in the tradition of Saadi and Hafez, for quite some time his expression was being affected gradually and steadily. Eventually, a time came when the impact of the new became too overwhelming. It overpowered the tenacity of tradition and led Nima down a new path. Consequently, Nima began to replace the familiar devices that he felt were impeding the free flow of ideas with innovative, even though less familiar, devices that enhanced a free flow of concepts. "Ay Shab" (O Night) and "Afsaneh" (Myth) belong to this transitional period in the poet's life.
In general, Nima manipulated rhythm and rhyme and allowed the length of the line to be determined by the depth of the thought being expressed rather than by the conventional Persian meters that had dictated the length of a bayt (verse) since the early days of Persian poetry. Furthermore, he emphasized current issues, especially nuances of oppression and suffering, at the expense of the beloved's moon face or the ever-growing conflict between the lovers, the beloved, and the rival. Nima realized that while some readers were enthused by the charms of the lover and the coquettish ways of the beloved, the majority preferred heroes with whom they could identify. Furthermore, Nima enhanced his images with personifications that were very different from the "frozen" imagery of the moon, the rose garden, and the tavern. His unconventional poetic diction took poetry out of the rituals of the court and placed it squarely among the masses. The natural speech of the masses necessarily added local color and flavor to his compositions. Lastly, and by far Nima's most dramatic element was the application of symbolism. His use of symbols was different from the masters in that he based the structural integrity of his creations on the steady development of the symbols incorporated. In this sense, Nima's poetry could be read as a dialog among two or three symbolic references building up into a cohesive semantic unit. In the past only Hafiz had attempted such creations in his Sufic ghazals. The basic device he employed, however, was thematic, rather than symbolic unity. Symbolism, although the avenue to the resolution of the most enigmatic of his ghazals, plays a secondary role in the structural makeup of the composition.
The venues in which Nima published his works are noteworthy. In the early years when the presses were controlled by certain adverse powers, his poetry, deemed below the established norm, was not allowed publication. For this reason, many of Nima's early poems did not reach the public until the late 1930s. After the fall of Reza Shah, Nima became a member of the editorial board of the "Music" magazine. Working with Sadeq Hedayat, he published many of his poems in that magazine. Only on two occasions, he published his works at his own expense: "The Pale Story" and "The Soldier's Family."
The closing of "Music" coincided with the formation of the Tudeh Party and the appearance of a number of leftist publications. Radical in nature, Nima was attracted to the new papers and published many of his groundbreaking compositions in them.
Ahmad Zia Hashtroudy and Abul Ghasem Janati Atayi are among the first scholars to have worked on Nima's life and works. The former included Nima's works in an anthology entitled "Contemporary Writers and Poets" (1923). The selections presented were: "Afsaneh," (Myth) "Ay Shab" (O Night), "Mahbass" (Prison), and four short stories.
Yushij, Nima see Nima Yushij
Nima see Nima Yushij
Ali Esfandiari see Nima Yushij
Esfandiari, Ali see Nima Yushij
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