Husayn Masrur

Masrur Isfahani, Husayn Sukhanyar (1890-1968), son of Muhammad Jawad Tajir Kupa’i. A writer, translator, and poet with the nom de plume Masrur. Born in the village of Kupa, Isfahan, he studied Arabic grammar, rhetoric, logic, jurisprudence, principles of jurisprudence, and philosophy and later furthered his studies in modern schools. He departed for Tehran and taught at the Dar al-Funun and the Military College. He studied the disciplines of poetry under Fursat al-Dawla Shirazi and Dihqan Samani. He knew Arabic, French, and English and was also acquainted with the Pahlavi (Middle Persian) language. He won a poetical contest attended by fifty poets and held by the Iran Literary Society in 1973 for his versification of the themes of the Persepolis inscriptions and also won the first prize in the poetry compitition for the inauguration of the Mausoleum of Firdawsi. Further, he was a skillful prose stylist and was well-versed in music and calligraphy. He also directed the radio programs Iran dar A’ina-yi Zaman (Iran in the Mirror of Time) and Shahr-i Sukhan (The Land of Poetry). He died in Tehran and was laid to rest at the Zahir al-Dawla Cemetery. His works include Amsal-i Sa’ira; Khwaju Kirmani; Dastan-i Tarikhi-yi Mahmud-i Afghan; Dah Nafar Qizilbash; Farhang-i Zaban; Sarguzasht-i Lutf’ali Khan Zand; Niyzan-i Biyaban; Hunarnama; Dastan-i Tarikhi-yi Mahmud-i Afghan; a collection of poetry published posthumously under the title Yadigar-i Sukhanyar (1968), originally entitled Raz-i Ilham (1959).

Asar-afarinan (5, 231); Sukhanwaran-i Nami-yi Mu’asir (5, 3277-3284).