Abbasid History Podcast

A prolific poet, Jami, is the embodiment of the photo-Ottoman Bengal-to-Balkans cosmopolitan Sufi intellectual. Jami was born in 1414 near the border of modern day Iran and Afghanistan during the tail end of the era of the shadow Abbasid caliphs before the Ottoman claim to the Caliphate. He worked for the local Timurid court. And at the end of his life, Islamic rule ended in the Iberian peninsula and a sea voyager called Columbus set out to find a better route to India. He appears to come from a scholarly Sunni family and had a specific interest in the teachings of Ibn Arabi. What more do we know about his life? His works are many and some appear influenced by Nizami whom we covered in episode 62. Tell us about them. What translations and secondary resources would you recommend on Jami? And finally let's end with a sample and translation.    Further reading Jami by Hamid Algar The Persian Mystics: Jami by F. Hadland Davis  Yusuf and Zulaikha: A Poem by Jami by Ralph T.H. Griffith   Ali Hammoud: https://alihammoud7.substack.com/    We are sponsored by IHRC bookshop. Listeners get a 15% discount on all purchases. Visit IHRC bookshop at shop.ihrc.org and use discount code AHP15 at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. Contact IHRC bookshop for details. 

Regarded as the pinnacle of Persian literature, his works are a household item for Persian-speaking families and read during the Yalda winter solstice festival and Nowruz spring equinox festival. He was also widely known amongst European intellectuals, with even Engels mentioning him to Marx in a letter.   Hafez lived in Shiraz under the waning Mongol Ilkhanate and at his death in 1390, the region was being incorporated into Timur's empire. What more do we know about Hafez's socio-political and cultural context? There are many mythical tales about Hafez. What can we know about his life? The influence of Hafez can't be underestimated. Tell us about his works. And what translations and secondary resources do you recommend? It should be pointed out that there are wonderful illustrated versions including one owned by the Cartier family of jewellers. And finally let's end with a sample and translation.    Further reading Hafez and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry. Edited by Leonard Lewioshn. Faces of Love: Hafez and the Poets of Shiraz by Dick Davis(partial) Poems from the Divan of Hafiz by Gertrude Bell (partial) The Divan-I Hafiz by Wilberforce Clarke (complete translation)   Ali Hammoud: https://alihammoud7.substack.com/    We are sponsored by IHRC bookshop. Listeners get a 15% discount on all purchases. Visit IHRC bookshop at shop.ihrc.org and use discount code AHP15 at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. Contact IHRC bookshop for details. 

Abū Muḥammad Musharrif al-Dīn Muṣliḥ b. ʿAbd-Allāh, better known as Saadi is called simply as the Master in Persian for his place in classical Persian poetry. His Bustan and Gulistan takes pride of place in the canon of Islamic literary creations. Saadi was born in Shiraz 1210CE. He was alive during the Mongol sack of Baghdad in 1258 who took over his homeland. What more can we say about his socio-political and cultural context? Saadi appears to have travelled extensively: Baghdad, India, Syria. What more can we say about his personal biography? Saadi's Bustan and Gulistan are well-known. Give us a guide to reading those works and tell us about his other works. He also has an elergy to the fallen caliphate. What translations and secondary resources would you recommend on Saadi? And finally let's end with a sample and translation.    Further Reading: Sa'di: The Poet of Life, Love and Compassion by Homa Katouzian Gulistan (translated by Wheeler Thackston Bustan (translated by G.M. Wickens)   Ali Hammoud: https://alihammoud7.substack.com/    We are sponsored by IHRC bookshop. Listeners get a 15% discount on all purchases. Visit IHRC bookshop at shop.ihrc.org and use discount code AHP15 at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. Contact IHRC bookshop for details. 

Jamal ad-Dīn Abū Muḥammad Ilyās ibn-Yūsuf ibn-Zakkī better known as Nizami is considered the greatest romantic epic poet in Persian literature. His love story of Layla and Majnun inspired the Eric Clapton hit record of 1970, "Layla" and there are monuments of Nizami as far as Beijing and Rome.     Nizami was born in the modern-day Republic of Azerbaijan around 1141CE and lived at the same time as Attar, the subject of our previous episode. What more can we say about his socio-political and cultural context? Like many of the poets we have examined, details of Nizami's life is sketchy. We learn his mother was Kurdish. He was married three times. What more can we say about his personal biography? Nizami's main works are five which are collectively called the Khamsa or Panj Ganj (Five Treasures). Let's talk about them. What translations and secondary resources would you recommend on Nizami? And finally let's end with a sample and translation.   Further Reading: Layli and Majnun (translated by Dick Davis) Khosrow and Shirin (translated by Dick Davis) Haft Paykar: A Medieval Persian Romance (translated by Julie Scott Meisami) The Treasury of Mysteries (translated by Gholam Hosein Darab)   Ali Hammoud: https://alihammoud7.substack.com/    We are sponsored by IHRC bookshop. Listeners get a 15% discount on all purchases. Visit IHRC bookshop at shop.ihrc.org and use discount code AHP15 at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. Contact IHRC bookshop for details. 

Farīd al-Dīn Abū Ḥamid Muḥammad ʿAṭṭār lived and died in Nishapur. Though he was little known beyond his city as a poet, his enduring legacy can perhaps be summarised by Rumi: Attar has roamed through the seven cities of love while we have barely turned down the first street. (1) Attar was born in Nishapur around 1145CE during the reign of Abbasid caliph al-Muqtafī who finally succeeded in asserting the caliphate militarily against their supposed Sunni Seljuk Turkic vassals. Ghazzali had passed away in the conveniently memorable 1111CE leaving his enduring influence upon Sunni-Sufi high culture. What more can we say about his socio-political and cultural context? (2) Attar seemed to have been little known beyond his city. His family business appears to be a pharmacy. What more can we say about his personal biography? (3) Attar is best known for his Conference of the Birds. Give us a guide to reading that work, and tell us about his other works. (4) What translations and secondary resources would you recommend on Attar? (5) And finally let's end with a sample and translation.   Further Reading The Conference of the Birds (translated by Afkham Darbandi and Dick Davis) Religion of Love: Sufism and Self-Transformation in the Poetic Imagination of ʿAṭṭār by Cyrus Ali Zargar Ali Hammoud: https://alihammoud7.substack.com/  We are sponsored by IHRC bookshop. Listeners get a 15% discount on all purchases. Visit IHRC bookshop at shop.ihrc.org and use discount code AHP15 at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. Contact IHRC bookshop for details.