Adib Sabir

Biography

Adib-i Sabir-i Tirmidhi, Shihab al-Din Sabir ibn Isma'il Tirmidhi (executed between 1143-1147), Persian poet with nom de plumes Sabir and Adib who composed panegyrics for the Seljuk Sanjar and the Khwarazmshahid Atsiz. He was born to a family of scholars and belletrists and his father was also known as Adib-i Isma'il. According to some sources, he was a Shi'i from Bukhara or Tirmidh. We traveled to study in Herat in his early youth. Then he departed for Nayshabur and became a companion of Abu al-Qasim 'Ali ibn Ja'far, a chief (naqib) in Tirmidh and eulogized him in his poetry. He mainly lived in Khurasan and entered the service of Majd al-Din Abu Ja'far 'Ali ibn Husayn Musavi, the ruler of Khurasan and at his suggestion he became Sultan Sanjar's panegyrist. He established friendly relations with all poets, e.g. 'Abd al-Wasi' Jibilli, Rashid al-Din Watwat, Anvari, Suzani, and Futuhi Marvazi, and entered into poetical debates with them. Some these poets eulogized to him. Sabir departed for Khwarazm in his last years and composed panegyrics for the Khwarazmshah Atsiz. When Atsiz appointed two Isma'ili devotees to take the life of Sultan Sanjar with their daggers, Adib informed the sultan; as a consequence, Atsiz had his hands and feet tied and drowned him into the River Jayhun. He is regarded as a follower of Farrukhi in composing inimitable poetry and his poetry has been likened to that of Farrukhi in employing inimitably complicated figurative devices. His Divan, running to 3,200 couplets, includes qasidas, ghazals, quatrains, and tarkib-bands. His Divan has been published in Tehran by 'Ali Qawim and Muhammad 'Ali Nasih in 1955 and 1964 respectively. Adib composed poetry in the Khurasani style. His poetry of the poets flourishing in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, in Khurasan. His knowledge of fundamentals of mathematics and philosophy and his mastery Arabic language and literature are reflected in his poetry. In his poetry, he alludes to distinguished Arab poets, e.g. Akhtal, A'sha, 'Ajjaj, Abu Tammam, and even grammarians like Zajjaj, Akhfash, and Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali, and notable figures like Khasib and Ahnaf. He also composed a poem inspired by one by Mutanabbi. Adib's poetry may be likened to Farrukhi in terms of form and subject, except for the fact that it loses its delicacy owing to complicated adornments, e.g. emission of alif and coordination of lengthy and almost unbefitting radifs. He also composed qasidas on the models of Manuchihri, 'Unsuri, Mas'ud Sa'd, Anvari, and Mu'izzi. He has regarded Mu'izzi and Mas'ud superior to himself.

Asar-afarinan (1, 220); Da'irat al-Ma'arif-i Farsi (1, 77); Sukhan va Sukhan-varan (240243).