A Study and Comparison of Qabousnameh and Anis-al-Naas (an imitation of Qabousnameh) (focusing on language change)

Qabousnameh is the prominent work of the second half of the 5th century A.H, and one of the masterpieces of didactic literature which includes many social customs and the ancient culture of Iran. Many works have been written since the time of Qabusnameh to recent times imitating this book; “Anis-al-Naas” written by a little-known author named “Shoja” in 830 A.H, during the Timurid era, and dedicated to Shahrokh’s library is one of these works which has been less studied. The study and comparison of the subjects and contents of these works, and the ways the author of Anisal-Naas was influenced by ʻUnsor-ol-Ma’lī , and also the extent to which linguistic elements changed during this time (Persian prose) are the most important subjects that were studied in this article. According to this study, Anis-al-Naas is “another writing of Qabousnameh” whose author’s imitative language is dead and static, whereas his original and narrative language is alive and dynamic.