Jami of Herat

(Nur al-Din ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Ahmad al-Jami)

(1414–1492)

   Known as the last great Persian classical poet, Jami was a Sufi mystic and saint in the tradition of SA’DI and HAFEZ. He was born at Jam, near the city of Herat, in what is now Afghanistan. He was said to have been well educated, but legend has it that he was disliked by other poets of his time because of his lack of humility. He was a member of a mystical order of dervishes, but was also attached to the court of the Timurid (the dynasty descended from Tamerlane) ruler of Heart, where he had a good friend in the vizier. His influence was significant, and he wrote in a variety of literary genres, both poetry and prose, as well as commentaries on the KORAN and treatises on rhetoric, grammar, music, and Sufism. Some 40 extant texts are attributed to him with some degree of confidence. He is best known for his Haft Aurang (The seven thrones, the Persian name for the constellation Ursa Major). These are poems of epic length with romantic plots that are frequently ALLEGORIES of mystical themes. One of the best-known tales from The Seven Thrones is his allegory of sacred and profane love called Salaman and Absal, a text that became well known in Europe through Edward FitzGerald’s 19th-century translation. He also retells the story of the lovers Layla and Majnun, the Persian Romeo and Juliet made famous by the 12th-century poet Nizami. But the best-known tale from The Seven Thrones is the story of Yusuf and Zuleika. This is a retelling of the familiar story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife, in which Zuleika, daughter of the king of Mauretania, falls in love with Joseph in a dream before she ever sees him. She travels to Egypt and marries Potiphar, but declares her passion for Joseph when he comes into her service.He flees from her, and she ultimately repents. In the end of the story, she is betrothed to Joseph. In addition to The Seven Thrones, some of Jami’s better-known works include Bhararistan (The abode of spring), a collection of stories, and Nafahat al-Uns (Zephyrs of tranquility), a Sufi biographical dictionary.He has at times been faulted for the use of elaborate figures of speech or rhetorical flourishes, but his style was influential on Persian literature for centuries.

   Bibliography

   ■ FitzGerald, Edward, trans. Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and the Salaman and Absal of Jami: Rendered into English Verse. London: Bernard Quaritch, 1879.

   ■ Pendlebury,David, ed. and trans. Yusuf and Zulaikha: An Allegorical Romance. London: Octagon Press, 1980.

   ■ Yohannan, John D., ed. Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife in World Literature: An Anthology of the Story of the Chaste Youth and the Lustful Stepmother. New York: New Directions, 1968.