JOURNAL OF THE FACULTY OF LETTERS AND HUMANITIES (TEHRAN)
Year:2007 | Volume:58 | Issue:183-2|Papers Count:12

Nour al-Dīn Mohammad Zohouri Torshīzī was born around 944 after Hegira, in Jomand region of Torshīz.Being educated in  Khorasan, he set forth into Yazd and there found his way to the court of Amīr Ghīāth aī-Dīn Mohammad Mīr Mīran and he got acquainted and consorted with Vahshī-ye Bāfqi, the infamous poet of the 10th century.After a while, he went to Shiraz and got acquainted with Molana Darvīsh Hussain, one of the poets, painters and illuminators of the time. In 988 after Hegira he went to India and presented his infamous 4500-line drinking song ('sākināmeh') to Borhan Nezāmshāh II. Following the death of this King, Zohourī went to Bijarpur and was honored with poet laureate in the court of Ebrāhim Adelshāh II. Eventually, in 1025 after Hegira, he died in Bijarpur and was buried in the vicinity of Malek Qomī. Zohourī's odes are composed in the style of Khāqāni, and his couplet, return-tie and composite-tie poems follow great poets' style such as Sa'adi. His numerous ghazals are pellucid and fluent and accompanied by simple and dulcet imagination, all of which indicate his mastery over language and its syntax.

Mesopotamian mythology, due to its narrative diversity and polychromy of characters is one of world's richest sources of mythology; therefore, has a particular position in interdisciplinary issues tackling the mutual relationship of myth and drama. Due to the profound effect of Mesopotamian mythology on the beliefs and ethics in Iran, this discussion can also gain more prominence in relation to Iranian culture and art.However, despite this prominence, the mutual relationship of Mesopotamian mythology and play in Iran has been only tackled in a few sporadic articles and writings, being mentioned very briefly if at all. The present article with the aim of bridging this gap, tries to approach, diachronically from the point of the effect of a phenomenon in history, the link between Mesopotamian mythology and play in Iran.Theoretically the article is based on this premise that Mesopotamian mythology has diachronically had a profound effect on the most important types of traditional play in Iran.

Grammar in all of its aspects, i.e. syntax, etymology, phonetics, and semantics, is the key to gain a true understanding of language and literature in all times. In some living languages of the world, structural understanding is the prerequisite for language learning and research while in some others, it has been ignored. Therefore, the secrets of engaging with and understanding the text as it is deserved, has not been explored.This article tries to investigate syntactically the ghazals of Sa'adi of Shiraz, so that, through structural analysis the perspective of his language mastery will be introduced to researchers and enthusiasts.

The issues of defending the Devil, praising him as the greatest Monotheist of the world and juxtaposing him with Prophet Mohammad as the two very fine exemplars of manliness, and the image of the Devil's black light in contrast to the light of Mohammad are among the perilous issues in the history of Islamic Sufism. From among a mass of Sophies, great or peripheral, who have expressed diverse mysterious and Sha'th-like words and remarks, only a few of the prominent figures of sufism had defended him, while others have been either silent in this matter or have viewed him as the followers of Islamic shari'ah do. In this article we have explained this issue and tackled this dual impression.

The girls in Qajar era were trained and grew up in a traditional religious society. In childhood they were educated in traditional schools or maktab-khāneh, and were married off as soon as they reach maturity. Wives at home were the manager of their husbands and participated in social activities alongside them. The Harem of Qajar Kings though had various privileges, they suffered several agonies and deprivations. In this era, using the scant educational possibilities, infamous women were ascended. Furthermore, the role of women in political, religious and social movements of the time cannot be denied.

Due to the richness of the content and the variety of the topics proposed in the Holy Qurā'n, ranging from individual matters to social, religious, and moral ones, this holy book has always been a center of attention to poets and writers, greatly impressing their works. The second book, the impression of which on Persian prose and poerty is abvious, is Nahj al-Balāgheh.Saadi's full knowledge of the Holy Qurā'n and Nahj al-Bālagheh has resulted in the deep impression of these two great sources to be manifested in all his works, especially the introduction to Bustan, in the form of allusion.The present article attempts to study a part of Saadi's introduction to Gulestan on the exaltation of God, regarding the manifestation of the impression of the Holy Qurā'n and Nahj al-Bālagheh in it.

Emād Kāteb-e EsfahānI is considered one of the greatest literati, scribes and historians of the Islamic Word in the 6th century after Hegira. Besides his expansive activities in court, Emād has several publications on history, poetry, and literary history; "Kharidat al- Ghasr and Jaridat Ahl al-Asr" being his masterpiece. Kharidat literary selection is on the literary history of the 6th century and, to some extent, the late 5th century. This literary anthology contains a selection of Arabic poems and works of poets and the literati of the era.Emād in Kharidat depicts some of his own literary views (of criticism-eloquence) following some of these literary works. These views are in accordance with the prevalent criticism and eloquence criteria of that era.This article aims at brief introduction and honorific analysis of "Kharidat al-Ghasr" of Emad Esfāhanī, based on some of his views included in this invaluable selection.

rank as Junayd, Shiblī and Bāyzīd Bastāmī,The concepts of Faith and Islam have been of great concern in Persian literature on mysticism for long; so the author of the present article was also motivated to begin a research in this regard ipso facto. The first step was to examine the mystics' view reflected in Persian literature; then, considering the preponderance of the reflection of the views of the three Muslim sects, i.e. Ash'aris, Mo'tazilah and Shiite in Persian prose and poetry concerning the two concepts, the viewpoints of all the three sects were examined. Based on the results, it can be concluded that most of the Ash' aris consider confirmation as the pillars of Faith; Mo'tazilah emphasize obedience and practice,; they do not consider those who commit cardinal sins as believers; while Shiite consider the confession of Faith as the condition of Islam, and deep belief and well-doing as the means of Faith. In the Shiite view a true believer is the one who is faithful both on and under the surface, and who is observant to the essentials of Islam; one who merely accentuates the surface is out of Faith.

As it is acknowledged by everybody, the great poet and intellectual of Tous, has revitalized pure Iranian Culture and ancient history of pre-Islamic Iran by writing poems of Shāhnāmeh, his everlasting masterpiece. Without Ferdowsi or Shāhnāmeh, modem Iran and Iranians would never enjoy either liberty or pride. Without doubt, it is obvious for researchers and lovers of the Persian language and literature when and in which period Ferdowsi had lived and what his main motivations in writing Shāhnāmeh were, so there is no need for redundancy. However, since his personality, life and celebrated character have been undergone drastic changes after his death by a number of royal poets and biographers and mixed with fabricated stories and statements, this article attempts to tackle these issues in order to find out whether these statements are based on reason, impartiality, and wisdom or they are written out of ignorance, imprudence and partiality.

This article, though very briefly, tries to look at the biography of Amir Khosru and his master, Nezām al-Din Oliā, glimpse the living environment of Amir Khoru from a musical aspect, investigate his role in the link between Persian and Indian music, measure the musical characteristics of his poetry based on Persian prosody so as to reveal his mastery in poetry.

One of the appealing methods in traditional criticism is bio-criticism. In this type of criticism, the critic tries to revitalize the life and ideas of a poet or writer according to the indications and signs of his life and ideas traced in his works. Not only in this type of criticism the author's biography is not separated from the work itself, but also each of them can be used for the interpretation of the other.By using the ideas of prominent critics of this type of criticism such as Wilfred Gorin, David Ditches, Dr. Samuel Johnson and others, the present article tries to investigate the poem collection of the infamous poet of the 6th century, Jamal al-Dīn Esfahānī, and illuminate some of the important issues of his life by making use of certain evidences from his poems.