Muhammad ‘Ali Nasih

Nasih, Muhammad ‘Ali (1898-1986), son of Hajj Muhammad Sadiq Isfahani. Born in Tehran, his father was a tradesman. Having received his education at modern schools, he studied traditional disciplines. He studied Arabic grammar, ma’ani, bayan, badi’ (branches of rhetoric), logic, jurisprudence and its principles, and philosophy under distinguished masters, like Sayyid Mansur and Wahid Dastgirdi, Mirza Riza Na’ini, Habib Allah Muzaffari, and Mirza Abu al-Hasan Sha’rani and became acquainted with Arabic and French. He found employment at the Education Ministry in 1921 and taught at high schools for which he received a medal of the First Degree. He was an active member of the Iranian Literary Society whose sessions had been held under the direction and at the home of Muhammad Hashim Mirza Afsar, but Nasih succeeded him as the director of the society and the sessions were held at his home in Tehran till his last days. His most significant works include the translation of Sira-yi Jalali by Dhu ‘l-Bayanayn Muhammad Zaydari, the author of Nafthat al-Samad and the personal secretary of the Khwarazmshah Sultan Jalal al-Din the events of his life were the subject of Sira-yi Jalali; a treatise on the biographical accounts of Khaqani; editions of the Divans of Abu al-Faraj Runi and Adib Sabir Tirmidhi; a prose commentary on Sa’di’s Bustan; a translation of Ibn Sa’id’s Andarz (Counsels). Nasih was a contemporary poet of vigor and renown who paved the way for young poets at the Iranian Literary Society.

Sukhanwaran-i Nami-yi Mu’asir-i Iran (6/ 3559-3564).