Mu’ini Juvayni

Mu’in Juwayni, Mawlana Mu’in al-Din Muhammad (d. 1379 or 1381), litterateur, Sufi, and poet with the nom de plume Mu’in. His nom de plume and appellation hav been attested in some biographical works. He was born in Andada in Juwayn, Khurasan. A taented poet, he composed qasidas in praise God with a scholarly turn of mind and his ghazals abound in mystical themes. He had mastery in Sufism, didactic poetry, wise counsels, and delicacies of hadith and Qur’anic exegesis. He studied under Mawlana Fakhr al-Din Khalidi Isfarayini, the author of the commentary on Fa’iz, and became a disciple of the revered Shaykh Sa’d al-din Yusuf Hamawi. Having traveled to Iraq and Azerbaijan, he obtained the patronage of Khwaja Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad Fazl Allah and settled in Hamadan. Then, he departed for Baghdad, Mecca, and Medina and returned to Khurasan. He died in Juwayn and was laid to rest there. His works include Nigaristan, composed on the model of Sa’di’s Gulistan, under the Mongol Sultan Abu Sa’id, which he dedicated to the vizier Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad. He wrote the book in 1334 in seven chapters: 1. On Nobels; 2. On Piety and Self-Restraint; 3. On Good Disposition; 4. On Love and Affection; 5. On Wise Counsel; 6. On Virtues and Graciousness; 7. Miscellaneous Counsels. The chapters, interspersed with anecdotes intertwining prose and poetry, are modeled on Sa’di’s style in Gulistan; although he lack’s Sa’di’s vigor and mastery in brevity and eloquence, but he has been able to succeed in following the vigorous master to some extent. Mu’in al-Din’s diction is often simple and eloquent, rarely intertwined with unfamiliar Arabic vocabulary. He has included Arabic and Persian verses in his treatment of social, moral, mystical, and historical themes. Besides his copious verses in Nigaristan, he has also composed qasidas and ghazals. Taqi al-Din Kashi has included about 1,000 couplets of Mu’in al-Din’s ghazals and qasidas in his Khulasat al-Ash’ar. His works also include Ahsan al-Qisas; a commentary on the Qu’anic chapter Yusuf; the tale of Yusuf wa Zulaykha.

Tarikh-i Adabiyyat dar Iran (3, 1041-1045, 1268-1269).