Razi al-Din Artimani

Mir Muhammad Razi Artimani, Mirza Razi, a Sufi poet (d. 1627) hailing from Artiman, a town in the district of Tu'isirkan. He went to Hamadan in the prime of his life, associating with poets from that town and its vicinity, such as Tu'isirkan and Nahavand. These poets included Mir Mughith Mahwi, Murshid Burujirdi, Rashki and Halaki. He may well have joined the circle of Mirza Ibrahim Hasani Hamadani, an early Sufi master of the region, indicating an inclination toward Sufi and mystical stations. Later, he traveled to Isfahan and joined the court of the Safavid Shah 'Abbas I as a member of the chancery. He even married a woman of the royal family. He returned to Artiman in his later years and assumed the office of the Chief Islamic Authority (Shaykh al-Islam) of Tu'isirkan and its outlying communities. His Divan, including more than 1500 couplets composed in the forms of ghazal and quatrain, was published in 1927. It includes qasidas (odes), ghazals (sonnets), qit'as (strophes), tarji'-bands (stanza-refrain poems), quatrains and a saqi-nama (‘Song of the Cupbearer’). His ghazals and quatrains are especially moving. His Saqi-nama, a mathnawi (couplet poem), runs to merely 175 couplets, shorter than the average couplet poem, but setting a standard for the this type of poem in the Sufi vein. This is famous as the classic Saqi-nama, being noted for its sensitivity of feelling. His son, Ibrahim Artimani, with the nom de plume of  Adham, was also a poet. Artimani’s poetry reflects his Sufi doctrinal views-+. He is known as the master of the circle of the most aware mystics, reputed for his spiritual cognition, his freedom from attachment to self and his profound gnosis, said to be well-versed in divine teachings, experiencing the highest spiritual degrees.

Asar-afarinan (3,24); Tarikh-i adabiyat dar Iran (5, 1069-1074).