Naziri Nishapuri

Biography

Naziri Nishaburi, Mirza Muhammad Husayn (d. 1612 or 1614), a poet with the nom de plume Naziri. He was originally from Nishabur though he has been regarded as hailing from Juwayn. He took up his studies of literature and further disciplines in his early youth when he embarked upon his poetical career. He studied Arabic under Shaykh Ghawthi Manduwi, the author of Gulzar-i Adab, and learned hadith and Qur’anic exegesis from Mawlana Husayn Jawhari. He departed from Khurasan in his early youth as a merchant. He traveled to Kashan in 1584 where he made the acquaintance of distinguished poets like Taqi al-Din Awhadi, Mawlana Hatam, Fahmi, and Maqsud Khwarda, and attended their poetical circles. He traveled to Iraq, Azerbaijan, and India. He joined audience of Mirza ‘Abd al-Rahim Khan-i Khanan (b. 1652) in Agra and eulogized him and became his companion. It was at the suggestion of Khan-i Khanan that he entered the court of Akbar Shah to whom he composed eulogies. He sent a qasida to the author of Khulasat al-Ash’ar in 1592 and later sent his divan to him, in 4,000 couplets, in different forms. He went on pilgrimage to Mecca in 1593 and on his return he traveled to Ahmadabad, Gujarat, where he settled and composed eulogies to Prince Murad. Then, he attached himself to the court of Jahangir Shah (1605-1627). Naziri was active as a merchant and a eulogist all his life. He was a twelver Shi’i and poets like Zuhuri, Malik Qummi, and ‘Urfi were in disagreement with him. A contemporary of Amin Ahmad Razi, he had friendly relations with Thana’i Mashhadi and Shakibi Isfahani.

Naziri died in Ahmadabad, Gujarat, and was laid to rest in the Tajpura neighborhood. His works include his Divan of poetry, including 10,000 couplets in the forms of qasida, tarkib-band, ghazal, qit’a, and quatrain. Similar to distinguished poets of the fourteeth and fifteenth centuries, Naziri composed some of his qasidas on the models of his distinguished predecessors. His poetical compositions are vigorous and flawless. His eloquence is exquisite and his diction is appealing, elegant, vigorous, and imbued with novel and numerous metaphors and themes, reflected in all his verses, particularly in his ghazals. He employs his novel and elegant themes in expressing his thoughts and feelings. He has mastery of creating delicate and imaginative themes, though the vigor and dignity of his diction is not affected by his imaginative themes. He is also competent in creating sensual, intellectual, and imaginative imagery, metaphors, and similes and elegantly employs proverbs in his compositions. His depictions of characters and feelings are quite powerful. He has mastery in composing qasidas and delicate, imaginative, consistent, and exquisitely elegant ghazals. Similar to his contemporaries, inspired by the ghazals of Sa’di and Hafiz, he composed signature poems. However, some of his ghazals are innovative the majority of which reflect his novel ideas and diction. His poetry is imbued by Sufi themes which reflect themselves in lyrical guise and also in his expressions of mystical thoughts accompanied by a kind of freed thinking.

Asar-afarinan (6/ 57); Tarikh-i Adabiyyat dar Iran (5/ 897-916); Da’irat al-Ma’arif-i Farsi (2/ 3040-3041).