مجله آینه میراث
سال یازدهم شماره 3 (پیاپی 53، پاییز و زمستان 1392)

At the Majlis Library there is a manuscript under no.13415 the first part of which is on story-telling (naqqali). Its author is Javad Isfahani and, based on a reference in the text, this critique appears to have been written during the reign of the Qajar Muzaffar al-Din Shah. Unique and extremely interesting of its kind, its subject matter is criticism and censure of naqqali (in the broad sense of narration). The author, on the basis of certain reasons, has set to denounce the art of narration at a time when it was enjoying one of its most flourishing phases. In the present article the text of the first section of Javad Isfahani's treatise is redacted, and then some of the significant points and references in the text, regarding story-telling, are highlighted and examined. Such things as the reasons for the author's disapproval of story-telling, the description of one of the story-tellers of the Qajarid times, the development of story-telling from Moaviyeh's days on, the passion of audiences for stories and their interest in story-teller's personalities, the reason for leaving a story unfinished in narrating practice, the daily income of one of the story-tellers of the city of Sabzevar in the Qajarid times, the significance of the phrase “Cheragh Allah” (the lamp/light of God) in the jargon of story-tellers, and finally the tale of Abu al-Qasem Gorgani and Firdowsi.

Emending old texts is one of the most challenging and yet most important scholarly undertakings, especially that of those texts which, due to their literary as well as paraliterary values, are considered to be seminal and of great importance. Tarikh-e Beyhaqi (the Beyhaqi History) is one of such texts whose enormous significance shows itself in different ways. Hence it has been redacted several times. Recently, a noteworthy edition of this book, emended by Mohammad-Jafar Yahaqqi and Mahdi Sayyedi, has been published. Based on a large number of manuscripts, the new redaction has removed very many of the problems found in the previous editions. Nonetheless, despite its many merits, the new edition suffers some problems, especially in its explanatory notes. This article attempts to look at a number of these problems, hoping that it will help resolve some of them.

The gradual course of changes made in the area of religion following the disintegration of Baghdad's Caliphate made the Islamic lands face new approaches in this area the result of which was the growing of certain intellectual and religious persuasions. This greatly influenced politics of the time and caused politicians to adjust their religious inclinations to those changes. Under such conditions, due to the requirements of the time and the need to comply to and cooperate with Sufism, Shiism had managed to exert immense influence on the desperate and oppressed people, thus securing itself a standing as one of the predominant creeds from the mid-8th to 10th centuries A.H. (14-16 CE) and persuading men of power, such as the Timurid rulers to take account of the Shii elements in their political behaviors and lead them in the direction of safeguarding their interests.

A careful review and examination of collections of poetry and anthologies can lead to a more complete redaction of some of the poetry of known poets and their newly discovered verses, as well as to making access to the poetic productions of certain unknown Persian poets possible. Having introduced a manuscript known as Safine-ye Sadollahi and its compiler, this writer has revised and edited the verses of a number of other old Kermani poets found in that manuscript, which is kept at the Library of the Islamic Consultative Assembly. He has then made a comparison between these verses and those already found and published in another study, trying to present a fuller version of the life stories of several 6th-7th century poets of Kerman.

Shahnameh was in fact an attempt to rediscover the Iranian ancient history and Identity, which had been threatened by alien invaders. In the present article, through a statistical study of Ferdowsi's understanding of Iran expressed here and there in the Shahnameh, the writer has endeavored to present a definition of Iran and the Iranian identity from the perspective of this national epic as well as in different periods. It is argued that the concept of Iran that is not yet recognized in the mythological part of the Shahnameh gradually becomes clear in later times, going through certain transformations, which are elaborated in some detail and substantiated by exemplary quotations in this article.

Any discussion about signification or denotative aspect of poetry is generally at variance. Contrast between two viewpoints, one regarding signification or meaning as the pivotal element of poetry and the other, negating this standpoint completely, have led to the formation of two contrasting perspectives. The first perspective, associated with the proponents of pure or genuine poetry (art for art), views thought or the semantic content as a kind of experience that is outside the realm of art and, thus, is not an artistic entity. The other perspective deems that poetry cannot be void of ideas and messages. Using a descriptive-analytical method, the present inquiry seeks to study the ideas or semantic property of Taleb of Amol in his Rubaiyyat (Quatrains). To this end, the poetic form of Rubai and its potentiality as a vehicle for carrying meanings is first addressed; then the various dimensions of these meanings or "thoughts", if we may say so, are explored in Taleb's Rubaiyat. It will be shown that his Rubaiyat enjoy a special variety in term of significance or semantic content. Taleb's Quatrains should therefore be counted among the most colorful and varied in Persian Poetry. Our conclusion demonstrates that Taleb cannot be considered a pensive poet of Khayyamian type, nor can he be judged as a noble-minded enlightened man of Attar's kind; he can even hardly be regarded as a panegyrist like poets of the Khorasani Style. Nonetheless, he has utilized all their various topics merely as semantic contents if his Rubaiyat.

Tazkereh-ye Yakhchaliyyeh (Yakhchaliyyeh Anthology), by Mohammad-Ali Mozahheb of Esfahan (Penname, Bahar), is a successful parody of Azar Beygdeli's Tazkereh-ye Azar-e Beygdeli. Mozahheb's anthology was edited and published by A. Golchin-e Maani a few years ago. However, a number of biographies and verse citations have been dropped from this Tazkereh, greatly changing it from its true state. In this article, attempts have been made to demonstrate some the distortions and omissions made in Golchin Maani's edition as well as newly gleaned information from other manuscripts of the Tazkereh, thus justifying the necessity for a fresh edition of this fine and novel anthology.

Moezz al-Din Mohammad b. Al-Mirza Fakhra, known as Fetrat of Mashhad, with the penname Musavi, is one of the great 11th century A.H./17th CE poets. Of his collection of poetry there are three manuscripts at the Majles Library, which comprise the poet's Ghazals (lyrics), Mofradat (single-distich-verses), Rubaiyyat, and Qasideh-ha (odes) in praise of Imam Reza and Imam Ali, the total number of the verses adding up to 1,600. His is the Indian Style that prominently reveals itself in the poet's fine romantic sentiments, novel thematic contents, daily experiences, and the imagery typical of the literary milieu of his time. His Ghazals are imbued with wisdom and counsel, and his exceptional imagination depicts imagery most beautifully and in the most fascinating manner; this all is indicative of the poet's ideal world suffused with virtue, purity, faith and sincerity. It appears from his panegyrics, especially those eulogizing Imam Ali, that Fetrat was Shii, with great affection for the Prophet's house.

Kamel al-Tabir is one of the well-known works by Hobaysh-e Teflisi (Hobaysh of Tbilisi), which seems to have been written sometimes after 566 A.H./1171 CE. This work, of which no critical edition has been published as yet, contains a relatively large number of rare words some of which have been selected and examined by certain scholars. In the present inquiry several more words from the book will be presented and analyzed. These rare words are: angosht-e khodaykhan (the thumb), negareshi / engareshi kardan, shang, naam gormeh, kabutar-e banna.

Stylistics experts analyze literary works at three levels: linguistic, literary, and semantic, the third level being of immense importance. The present investigation seeks to ascertain Manuchehri's poetic style at its semantic level, demonstrate what ideas or thematic contents are present in the poetry of this poet that distinguish his poetry from that of others, and discover what the thematic characteristics in Manuchehri's poetry are more important. Amongst Manuchehri's ideas and motifs, those addressing gaiety and pleasure-seeking are of particular significance, which shape his other thoughts. Besides, the description of nature and her various manifestation, eulogy, wine-drinking, love, music, self-praise and boasting, making use of scientific knowledge, and displaying command of Arabic knowledge are of more prominence; this all, in turn, results in the poet's stylistic distinction.