New Evidence of Musayyab-Nāmeh in Persian Epic Works

Musayyab-Nāmeh is one of the less well-known texts in the legacy of epic literature that not only has been concentrated on prose and verse manuscripts, but also focuses on the less investigated yet important characters in epic tradition. For the first time, this paper has tried to study Musayyab-Nāmeh in three parts. Firstly, it has a shortly introduction to the epic of Musayyab-Nāmeh. Secondly, it brings evidence of the role of Musayyab’s in the presentation of epic texts. Finally, it describes the impact of Musayyab-Nāmeh’s reports, in the end; the effectiveness of Musayyab-Nāmeh is described in other literary works like: Qirān -E- Habashi, Battāl-Nāmeh, and Imām Ali’s Jang-Nāmeh. This study is based on the descriptive analysis method which is based on the library research and the printed and manuscript references. The main theory of this essay is explaining the attention of the storytellers towards the personality and report on his case in Musayyab-Nāmeh & some other extensions in epic texts. For this purpose, nine epic texts including Abu Muslim-Nāmeh, Jang-Nāmeh Seyyed Jalāl -o- Alddin Ashraf, Zorair-Nāmeh, Zamji-Nāmeh, Mukhtār-Nāmeh, Ali-Nāmeh, Qirān -E- Habashi, Battāl-Nāmeh, and Jang-Nāmeh Imām Ali in Be’ro AL Elm are studied. Musayyab-Nāmeh is an epic that describes Musayyab’s rebellion and his battles against Yazid and his other Omavid and Marvannied commanders. The purpose of revenge Shi’a’s rebellion in Musayyab-Nāmeh is to get revenge from Yazid and to gain the freedom of Imam Zein -o- Alabedin and his family along with getting back the heads of Karbala’s Martyrs. So far, two large and small scripts of Musayyab-Nāmeh have been found. Musayyab-Nāmeh is the prologue of Abu Muslim-Nāmeh, as it begins by the event of Seyyed Joneid and Rashideh’s rebellion (Abu Muslim’s ancestors). On the other hand, the parents of many warriors and Ayyars in Abu Muslim-Nāmeh are present in Musayyab-Nāmeh. It is found that Abu Tahir Tarsusi and Muhammad Beghai Waris Bukhari have delivered two different stories about Musayyab in the sixth century AH.
Storytellers in narrations like Abu Muslim-Nāmeh, Jang-Nāmeh Seyyed Jalal -o- Alddin Ashraf, Zorair-Nāmeh, Zamji-Nāmeh, Mukhtār-Nāmeh, and Ali-Nāmeh have reminded many times about Musayyab and his fellowships, his rebellion, his ancestors, his behavior, his weapons, and his legacy for others to support Shi’a rebellion.
Muhammad Beghai Waris Bukhari in a large script of Musayyab-Nāmeh has used the main plot of some events in Qirān -E- Habashi, BattalNāmeh, and Imam Ali’s Jang-Nāmeh many times. These Adaptations sometimes are sometimes made by character’s Nāmehs, events, changing character’s Nāmeh, keeping events, and in many cases just by remembering important events. However, the major parts of these adaptations are related to Qirān -E- Habashi. The results of this study clearly indicated the importance of Musayyab-Nāmeh and its effect on other epic and fictional narratives of revenge literature. Meanwhile, Abu Muslim-Nāmeh, Zamji-Nāmeh, and Mukhtār-Nāmeh seem to be more effectiveness than other narrations. However, Beghāy Waris Adaptations from Qirān -E- Habashi, BattalNāmeh, and Imam Ali’s Jang-Nāmeh are other new findings of this research.