Jamila

Jamila Isfahani (fl. 17^th century), a poetess with the noms de plume Jamila and Fasiha. Her birth place is mentioned as Isfahan, Herat, and Yazd by biographers, but Taqi al-Din Awhadi Kermani, a companion of hers, records Isfahan as her birth place, saying: ‘Indeed, she is the greatest of women in terms of understanding, talkativeness, and elegance.’ She married Khwaja Habib Allah Turk in her youth. After her husband’s death, she lived in Isfahan for awhile, but later departed for India under Akbar Shah. Then, she returned to Isfahan and aquired some capital and began trading. She apparently married Isma’il ibn Khwaja Mirak Jan (Khan). The following couplets are by her:

The rends of the arena of love drink wine to the dregs,

They are free from sparkling red wine and the beloved with a flowery face.

Without any toils, they soar into Paradise,

Entrapped, they are free from fowlers.

Nothing but thorns grew in the orchard of our fate,

They pierced our rent hearts.

I’ll sleep in grief rather than in madness,

I’ll sleep because of this caked in blood heart.

Thy languid eyes have so impeded my rest,

That I’m in perplexity how I will rest in the grave.

Asar-afarinan (2/ 209); Farhang-i Sha’iran-i Zaban-i Parsi az Aghaz ta Imruz (1/ 147).