A Study of the Didactic Trainings in Mohammad ibn Mahmud Fars' Treatise, Anis al-Tālibeen

Didactic prose and poetry are the most widespread and common genre of Persian literature. The treatise of Anis al-Tālibin by Muhammad ibn Mahmud Fars is a literary work replete with the didactic lessons. Being written in the eleventh century AH, this treatise is among the valuable Persian moral-doctrinal texts. Nevertheless, it has remained anonymous so far. The treatise contains many didactic and doctrinal themes and meanings that the author has used based upon the context. The authors of this study intend to introduce the treatise of Anis al-Talebin briefly and examine the effect of the moral trainings used in this treatise on the minds of the audience. The results of the research indicate that the author is a knowledgeable person who is familiar with psychological principles and therefore, depending on the situation has used various techniques such as encouragement, persuasion, anecdote and allegory, reasoning, etc.