EBN ḤOSĀM ḴᵛĀFĪ, MOḤAMMAD

 

EBN ḤOSĀM ḴᵛĀFĪ (or Ḵūsfī), MOḤAMMAD, a poet of the 9th/15th century. Living in the village of Ḵūsf, near Bīrjand, Ebn Ḥosām was a farmer by trade and remained unattached to any of the rulers and powerful men of his time. It appears from his works that he was a learned Shiʿite, well versed in literature, jurisprudence, and the biographies and traditions relating to major figures in Islam—an expertise that he put to good use in his qaṣīdas dedicated to them. He also knew Arabic language and literature and included a few Arabic bayts in his qaṣīdas. He is also the author of Ḵāvarān-nāma (or Ḵāvar-nāma), composed in the motaqāreb meter (comp. 830/1426-27), which is the oldest religious epic in Persian literature. Its theme, the hypothetical journey of ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭāleb to the land of Ḵāvarān and his exploits there, was borrowed, according to the author, from an Arabic source. Ebn Ḥosām died in 875/1470 (Dawlatšāh, ed. Browne, p. 438-39; Qāżī Nūr-Allāh, p. 509; the date 893/1488 given in Ḥabīb al-sīar IV, p. 336 is incorrect). His grave still stands in the village of Ḵūsf.

 

Bibliography: (For cited works not given in detail, see “Short References.”)

ʿAbd al-Razzāq Ḵᵛāfī, Bahārestān-e soḵan, Madras, 1958, pp. 376-77.

A. Aḥmadī Bīrjandī, “Ebn Ḥosām Ḵūsfī wa barḵ-ī az āṯār-aš,” MDAM 9, 1352 Š./1973, pp. 350-86.

Idem, “Jelwahā-ī az zendagī wa honar-e šāʿerī-e Moḥammad b. Ḥosām Ḵūsfī” in Farḵonda payām, Mašhad, 1359 Š./1981, pp. 504-20.

Ātaškada I, pp. 388-90. Haft eqlīm II, pp. 325-26.

Monzawī, Nosḵahā, IV, pp. 2777-78.

Nafīsī, Naẓm o naṯr, p. 302.

Qāżī Nūr-Allāh Šūštarī, Majāles al-moʾmenīn, Tabrīz, n.d., pp. 506-09.

Rieu, Persian Manuscripts II, pp. 642-43.

Mawlawī Moḥammad-Moẓaffar Ḥosayn Ṣabā, Taḏkera-ye rūz-e rowšan, ed. M.-Ḥ Roknzāda Ādamīyat, Tehran, 1343 Š./1964, pp. 17-18 (confused and containing inaccuracies).

Ḏ. Ṣafā, Ḥamāsa-sarāʾī dar Īrān, 5th repr., Tehran, 1369 Š./1990, pp. 377-79.

Idem, Adabīyāt IV, pp. 315-22.

E. Yār-e Sāṭer, Šeʿr-e fārsī dar ʿahd-e Šāhroḵ (nīma-ye awwal-e qarn-e nohom) yā āḡāz-e enḥeṭāṭ dar šeʿr-e fārsī, Tehran, 1334 Š./1955.

(Ḏabīḥ-Allāh Ṣafā )

Originally Published: December 15, 1997

Last Updated: December 6, 2011

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