Hamdallah Mustawfi

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Hamdallah Mustawfi
Bust of Hamdallah Mustawfi in Qazvin. His mausoleum lies in the background
Bust of Hamdallah Mustawfi in Qazvin. His mausoleum lies in the background
Born1281
Qazvin, Ilkhanate
Diedafter 1339/40
Qazvin, Chobanid Amirate
Notable worksTarikh-i guzida
Zafarnamah
Nuzhat al-Qulub
RelativesAmin al-Din Nasr (great-grandfather)
Zayn al-Din (brother)
Fakhr al-Din Mustawfi (cousin)

Hamdallah Mustawfi Qazvini

Persian[2][3][4] official, historian, geographer and poet. He lived during the last era of the Mongol Ilkhanate
, and the interregnum that followed.

A native of Qazvin, Mustawfi belonged to family of mustawfis (financial accountants), thus his name. He was a close associate of the prominent vizier and historian Rashid al-Din Hamadani, who inspired him to write historical and geographical works. Mustawfi is the author of three works; Tarikh-i guzida ("Excerpt History"), Zafarnamah ("Book of Victory") and Nuzhat al-Qulub ("Hearts' Bliss"), respectively. A highly influential figure, Mustawfi's way of conceptualizing the history and geography of Iran has been emulated by other historians since the 13th-century.

He is buried in a dome-shaped mausoleum in his native Qazvin, Iran.

Biography

Map of Persian Iraq and its surroundings. Mustawfi's hometown of Qazvin is located in the northwest, close to the Caspian Sea

Mustawfi was born in 1281 in the town of

Mongol invasion of Iran.[1]

Regardless, Mustawfi's family still greatly served the Mongols and even rose to further prominence during this period; his older cousin

Khurasanis, particularly between the Mustawfis and the Juvayni family, which is evident in Mustawfi's work, where mention of the Juvaynis are omitted in some cases.[5][6] Mustawfi followed in the footsteps of his family, being in 1311 appointed as the financial accountant of his native Qazvin, as well as other neighbouring districts, including Abhar, Zanjan and Tarumayn.[1][2]

Map showing the political situation in the Middle East in 1345, ten years after the fall of the Ilkhanate

He had been appointed to this post by Rashid al-Din, who made him gain an interest in history, inspiring him to start writing the Zafarnamah ("Book of Victory") in 1320, as a continuation of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh ("Book of Kings").[1][2] He completed the work in 1334, consisting of 75,000 verses, reporting the history of the Islamic era up until the Ilkhanate era.[1][2] Before that, he had also written a similar chronicle; the Tarikh-i guzida ("Excerpt History") in 1330, which was his first work.[1][2] The chronicle, made for Rashid al-Din's son Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad, was a world history, narrating the events of the prophets, the pre-Islamic kings of Iran, and the Islamic world.[1] Nothing is known of Mustawfi's life during the end of the Ilkhanate, except that he travelled between Tabriz and Baghdad.[1]

In the summer of 1339, Mustawfi was at

Injuid ruler Amir Mas'ud Shah (r. 1338–1342).[1]

Nevertheless, he remained there for ten months more, until he chose to leave due to the chaos that ensued during the Injuid dynastic struggle for the throne.[1] He returned up north, where he was well received in Awa, Sawa, Kashan and Isfahan, finally returning to Qazvin at the end of 1340. He mentions the turmoil he went through during this period in several of his poems, and also went through illness (or possibly boredom), until he recouped after gaining sympathy from an unknown patron, possibly Hasan Buzurg. It was around this time that Mustawfi completed his cosmographical and geographical work Nuzhat al-Qulub ("Hearts' Bliss").[1][2] He died sometime after 1339/40 in Qazvin,[2][5] where he was buried in a dome-shaped mausoleum.[1]

Works

Tarikh-i guzida

Mustawfi's first work was the Tarikh-i guzida ("Excerpt History"), a world history, narrating the events of the prophets, the pre-Islamic kings of Iran, and the Islamic world.[1] Based on the then-incomplete Zafarnamah, the work was based on earlier sources, which are in a thorough manner credited by Mustawfi.[1] Tarikh-i guzida contains important information after the death of the Ilkhanate monarch Ghazan in 1304. The political tale concludes in a positive tone, with Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad being appointed to vizierate of the Ilkhanate.[1] The penultimate chapter contains describes the lives of distinguished scholars and poets, whilst the last describes Qazvin and gives a reportage of its history.[1]

Zafarnamah

Mustawfi's second work was the Zafarnamah ("Book of Victory"), a continuation of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh ("Book of Kings").[1][2] Its name is a loan translation of the Middle Persian book Piruzinamak.[7] He completed the work in 1334, consisting of 75,000 verses, reporting the history of the Islamic era up until the Ilkhanate era.[1][2] Albeit the early part depends heavily on the work of Rashid al-Din (which Mustawfi also mentions), it is less noticeable compared to his Tarikh-i guzida.[1] The work also has aspects which resemble that of the contemporary verse narrative, the Shahnameh-ye Chengizi, by Shams al-Din Kashani. Regardless, the Zafarnamah is a unique primary source for the reign of the Ilkhanate monarch Öljaitü (r. 1304–1316) and that of his successor, Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan (r. 1316–1335). The importance of the work was acknowledged by the Timurid-era historian Hafiz-i Abru, who incorporated much of it in his Dhayl-e Jame al-tawarikh.[1] Like the Tarikh-i guzida, the Zafarnamah has a positive conclusion, with Abu Sai'd Bahadur Khan successfully quelling a revolt, followed by peace.[1] However, Mustawfi may have completed his work prematurely, possibly due to the chaotic events that followed during the disintegration of the Ilkhanate. This is supported by the fact he later composed a prose continuation of the Zafarnamah, which mentions Abu Sai'd Bahar Khan's death and the turmoil that followed in Iran.[1]

Nuzhat al-qulub

Map of the geography of Iran, based on a copy of the Nuzhat al-Qulub. Created in Safavid Iran on 18 October 1641

Mustawfi's most prominent work is the Nuzhat al-Qulub ("Hearts' Bliss"), which is virtually the only source to describe the geography and affairs of the Ilkhanate era. The source gives vital information about the government, commerce, economic life, sectarian conflicts, tax-collection and other similar topics.[2] Just like his Tarikh-i guzida and Zafarnamah, Mustawfi rejects to have expertise in the field, and states that he was encouraged by his friends to write the work. He also thought that an available source in Persian would be helpful, due to most geographical sources about Iran being in Arabic (such as the works of Abu Zayd al-Balkhi and Ibn Khordadbeh).[1][8]

The work is also considered a substantial contribution to the ethno-national history of Iran.

Gilan.[9] This way of conceptualizing the history and geography of Iran has been emulated by other historians since the 13th-century.[9]

Beliefs

Hamdallah was reportedly a "convinced

Shafi'ite, which was the predominant madhhab (school of thought) at the time in Qazvin, and also the school of thought of Rashid al-Din Hamadani.[1]

Notes

  1. ^ It is uncertain whether his name was Hamd or Hamdallah. Humayun-Farrukh calls him "Homad".[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab Melville 2003, pp. 631–634.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Spuler 1971, p. 122.
  3. ^ Hillenbrand 2007, p. 97.
  4. ^ Komaroff 2012, p. 94.
  5. ^ a b Lane 2014, p. 190.
  6. ^ Jackson 2017, p. 275.
  7. ^ Kamola 2019, p. 166.
  8. ^ Melville 2012, p. 165.
  9. ^ a b c d e Ashraf 2006, pp. 507–522.
  10. ^ a b c Melville 2019, p. 42.
  11. ^ Melville 2012, p. 166.
  12. ^ a b Jackson 2017, p. 325.

Sources

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Further reading
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