Contemporary Poetry of Iran
alireza ghojezade
Abstract
Literary Legacy of Abd al-Majid Tabrizi(Persian Poet of Azerbaijan in the 8th/14thcentury)Alireza GhojezadehAssistant Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature,Islamic Azad University, Varamin-Pishva Branch, Tehran, Iran.E-mail Address: alirezaghojezade@yahoo.comAbstractAbdolmajid Tabrizi, ...
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Literary Legacy of Abd al-Majid Tabrizi(Persian Poet of Azerbaijan in the 8th/14thcentury)Alireza GhojezadehAssistant Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature,Islamic Azad University, Varamin-Pishva Branch, Tehran, Iran.E-mail Address: alirezaghojezade@yahoo.comAbstractAbdolmajid Tabrizi, a less well-known poet of the 8th century AD. Is. Thereis not much information about him. About 699 AH. He was born in Tabriz andprobably between 757 and 768 AH. In the past, what is his poem is that hewas engaged in farming and at the age of 55 he went over to Hajj, and afterreturning from the pilgrimage of the house of God, he went to Shiraz and spentsome time there. In various forms of poetry, such as poetry, sonnets,compositions, pieces, masnavi and quatrains, they have experimented withvarious concepts and subjects, including the prayer of God, the promise of theHoly Prophet (s), the exhortation of the rulers, love, mysticism, counsel andWisdom forms the theme of his poems. In the chanting, followers of suchpoets as Elementary, Anvari, Zahir Faryabi, and in Ghazalsarai, are the metatags of Saadi's lyrics. His contemporary poets like Hafez have also beeninfluenced by his poems.Keywords: Abd al-Majid Tabrizi, Tabriz, Persian poetry, Al-e Jalayer36 Persian Language and Literature, Vol. 71, Issue 238, Fall & Winter 2018- 2019Abd al-Majid Tabrizi is a less known poet of the 8th/14thcentury. Thereis little information available on his life. We know that he was born in699/1300 in Tabriz, and probably died around 757/1356 to 768/1367. Itis understood from his poems that he was engaged in agriculture, madea pilgrimage to Mecca when he was 55 years old, and stayed in Shirazfor a while on his return. He was a devout and pious Sunni Muslim, andthere are signs of his deep devotion to the Prophet Muhammad and hishousehold in his poetry.He has attempted with different poetic forms such as odes (qasidah),sonnets (ghazal), refrained verse (tarkib band), couplets (mathnavi),and quatrains (ruba’i). Praising God, describing virtues of the Prophet,eulogizing statesmen, love, mysticism, admonitions, and morals formthe main themes of his poetry.Abd al-Majid’s collection of poems (Diwan) consists of 4405 verses(bayts) of poetry in various poetic forms of ode, sonnet, refrained verse,fragments, couplets, quatrains, and simple distiches (mufradat). Hisodes are mostly of panegyric nature written in high praise ofdistinguished personalities and statesmen, but some of them eulogizevirtues of the Prophet Muhammad and his greatness as the Noblest ofall Creatures. There are only 22 odes among the 666 bayts in his extantcollection of poems though, according to Abd al-Majid himself, he hadwritten greater number of odes.There is a 98-bayt refrained verse in his collection of poems which dealswith the virtues of the Prophet. His fragments also deal with variousthemes such as giving up writing poetry, complaining aboutineffectiveness of his poems on ordinary people, disapproving of theworldly life and its ephemeral nature, self-glorifying, praising SheikhUways and Rukn al-Din and others, speaking about his occupation,describing the sites and landscapes of Tabriz, lamenting the ruins,remembering God, describing stages of pilgrimage to Mecca, practicingcontentment, describing horses, and the like.Abd al-Majid’s couplets (mathnavis) also deal with various themes. Thefirst mathnavi in his collection is about the invasion of Tabriz by MalekAshraf and Yaghibasti in 743 and the destruction and murder of itsLiterary Legacy of Abd al-Majid Tabrizi 37people. The second mathnavi recounts the poet’s pilgrimage to Meccain 754/1353 when he was 55 years old, and his return home duringwhich he saw the fantastic sites of KuhLur, Shul, and Kurd, and stayedin Shiraz for a while. The third mathnavi describes the serenity andverdurous nature of Tabriz, the poet’s hometown, when he is old. Thefourth, fifth, sixth and ninth mathnavis deal with the theme of blamingthe arrogant self, repentance of past deeds, complaining about the oldage, and seeking God’s asylum. The seventh mathnavi describes theHouse of God clad with black curtains, and the eighth mathnaviaddresses the month of spring and separation from the beloved.Sixty two quatrains (ruba’i) and single distiches (bayt) have come downto us from Abd al-Majid that also deal with the separation from andreunion with the beloved, blaming the arrogant self, disapproval ofworldly life, description of the beauty of the beloved, complainingabout the old age, praising God, longing to return to Tabriz from Shirazand the like.He followed poets like Unsuri, Anwari, Zahir Faryabi in his odes, andimitated Sa’di in his sonnets (ghazal). Contemporary poets like Hafizwere influenced by his poetry. He wrote his odes in eloquent languagefull of figurative devices and new poetic imagery. The most frequentlyused literary device in his poems is simile. His sonnets (ghazal), likethat of his contemporaries, mostly deal with the subject of love with atouch of mysticism.Although Abd al-Majid has praised several statesmen, commanders,and scholars of his time including Muiz al-Din Uways (739-776/1338-1374), Rukn al-Din Ala al-Dulah Simnani, and Delshad Khatun, hedoes not consider himself a panegyrist and believes that his poems dealmostly with morals and moral lessons.Abd al-Majid was born and brought up in Tabriz and he does not hidehis attachment to the city and its fantastic landscape with its high-risepalaces and mansions. He calls Tabriz dar al-aman (House of Safety)and dar al-Islam (House of Islam) in his poems and beautifullydescribes its natural geography for his readers.38 Persian Language and Literature, Vol. 71, Issue 238, Fall & Winter 2018- 2019His life, especially when he was 36, coincided with the decline of theMongol Ilkhanid rule and their appointed rulers in Iran. Heeyewitnessed many of the events that happened in Azerbaijan,especially in Tabriz and recounted them in his verse which are highlycreditable.There are three known manuscripts of Abd al-Majid’s Diwan:1. Manuscript of the Mellat Library in Istanbul. It was copied inthe first half of 9th/15thcentury and consists of 22 odes, 286sonnets, 1 refrained verse, 8 mathnavis, and 47 quatrains.2. Manuscript of the Halat Effendi Library in Istanbul in thecollection of Diwans kept under no. 699. It was copied in950/1543 by Murshid Amir Sheikh Katib Shirazi and consistsof 302 sonnets, 5 mathnavis, 53 quatrains, and 1 distich.3. Manuscript of the Library of Istanbul University in thecollection of Diwans kept under no. 485. It was copied in1307/1890 by Ibad Mirza Aqakhan Kirmani and consists of 303sonnets, 4 mathnavis, 53 quatrains, and 1 distich.In addition to these manuscripts, some of Abd al-Majid’s poems havebeen recorded in literary and historical sources including collection no.280 kept in the Chalabi Abdullah Library in Istanbul, Iskandar Mirza’sJung (Literary Anthology) kept in the British Library under no. 27261,and Majmu'ah-'i litafat va manzumah-'i zirafat kept in Cambridgeuniversity Library under no. 657.
