Who Is Earlier? Safi Alishah Isfahani or Amman Samani

Mathnavi Ganjineh al-Asrar by Amman Samani is one of the masterpieces of mystical literature in the field of ‘ashuraie literature. This great Mathnavi، consisted of more than 800 verses in the form of hexameter، versifies mystically the events of Karbala. On the other hand، Mathnavi Zobdeh al-Asrar by Safi Alishah Isfahani which has 4500 verses and the same theme and rhythm، has been composed a little earlier than that work. Since Zobdeh al-Asrar was created earlier than Ganjineh al-Asrar and the latter is more valuable and permanent than all the other works of ‘ashuraie mysticism before and after its creation، by comparing the mystical view and thought of these two poets about the same subject، this article tries to prove that Amman Samani has been under the influence of Safi Alishah’s Zobdeh al-Asrar in creating his unique work. In representing each ‘ashuraie character he borrowed the general meaning from Safi Alishah and recreated it with a new language and the words which have a sense of elegy. This research also uses the evidence to show that Amman Samani، while narrating each character، cites directly the subject، verses or mystical thoughts present in Zobdeh al-Asrar and uses both form and meaning of Safi Alishah’s poems and thoughts.