ʿABD-AL-VĀSEʿ JABALĪ

 

ʿABD-AL-VĀSEʿ JABALĪ, full name EMĀM BADĪʿ-AL-ZAMĀN ʿABD-AL-VĀSEʿ B. ʿABD-AL-JĀMEʿ ḠARJESTĀNĪ JABALĪ, Persian poet, d. 555/1160. He was born to an ʿAlid family of Ḡarǰestān; to judge from his writing, he was well educated, especially in literature. He wrote panegyrics for Toğrel Takīn b. Moḥammad, who in 490/1097 gained control of Ḵᵛārazm, and Bahrāmšāh b. Masʿūd Ḡaznavī (512-47/1118-52) in whose court ʿAbd-al-Vāseʿ spent four years in the beginning of his career. When Bahrāmšāh sought help from Sultan Sanǰar, and Sanǰar brought his army to Ḡazna to help him, ʿAbd-al-Vāseʿ joined his entourage. He spent a while in Sanǰar’s court, who treated him with respect. ʿAbd-al-Vāseʿ also wrote in praise of other leaders and commanders, e.g. Arslānšāh b. Kermānšāh (494-536/1104-41) of Kermān.

ʿAbd-al-Vāseʿ was an important precursor of the change in literary style in the mid-6th/12th century. His Persian poetry approached the common dialect of the time. He used intricate and ornamental phrases and emphasized verbal embellishments at the expense of content. He stressed chiasmus, parallelism, internal rhyme, and similar rhetorical devices. ʿAwfī claimed that no one composed poetry in his style and declared some of his qaṣīdas to be unparalleled. ʿAbd-al-Vāseʿ also wrote Arabic poetry. In ʿAwfī’s words he was “master of both styles” (ḏu’l-balāḡatayn), and his dīvān does contain many lines written in a mixture of Persian and Arabic.

Bibliography:

ʿAwfī, Lobāb (Tehran), p. 320.

Dawlatšāh, Bombay, 1887, p. 44. Maǰmaʿ al-foṣaḥāʾ I, p. 185.

Haft eqlīm II, pp. 118-23.

Dehḵodā, s.v. Jabalī. Ẕ. Ṣafā, Adabīyāt II, pp. 650-56.

Dīvān-e ʿAbd-al-Vāseʿ Jabalī, ed. Ẕ. Ṣafā, Tehran, 1339-1340 Š./1960-61, pp. 683-721.

 

(Ẕ. Ṣafā)

Originally Published: December 15, 1982

Last Updated: July 15, 2011

This article is available in print.
Vol. I, Fasc. 2, pp. 171-172

Cite this entry:

Z. Safa, “Abd-Al-Vase Jabali,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/2, pp. 171-172; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/abd-al-vase-jabali-persian-poet-d-1160 (accessed on 17 January 2014).