Mu'in al-Din Ali Husayni Sarabi Tabrizi, commonly known by his
laqab (honorific title) of Qasim-i Anvar (Persian: قاسم انوار; 1356 – 1433) was a Sufi mystic, poet, and a leading da'i (preacher) of the Safavid order.[1]
Biography
Mu'in al-Din Ali was born in 1356 in
Fahlavi.[2] Mu'in al-Din Ali preferred to use Persian, which he was fluent in.[3] He grew up in the neighbouring city of Tabriz, where he received his education.[4] In his mid-teens,[4] he became a disciple of Sadr al-Din Musa (died 1391), who was the head of the Safavid order.[1]
Due to a vision seen by Mu'in al-Din Ali, he was given the
laqab (honorific title) Qasim-i Anvar ("Distributor of Lights") by Sadr al-Din Musa. Following his completion of his training at the city of Ardabil, Qasim-i Anvar given the khirqa by Sadr al-Din Musa. This cloak granted Qasim-i Anvar the right to convert others to his faith and offer spiritual teaching. Qasim-i Anvar later stayed in Gilan for some time as a missionary, and then went to Khurasan.[1] He initially stayed at Nishapur, but was forced to move to Herat due to facing hostility from the ulama (clergy).[1] According to his own writings, Qasim-i Anvar had established himself at Herat by 1377/78, and would stay there until his banishment in 1426/27.[1]
Following his banishment from Herat, Qasim-i Anvar went to the city of Samarkand, where he stayed at the court of Shahrukh's son, Ulugh Beg (died 1449). A few years later, Qasim-i Anvar went back to Khurasan, where he died at Kharjird in October/November 1433.[1]
Works
Qasim-i Anvar composed several mystical treatises,
ruba'is, and mathnawis.[1] The vast majority of his poems were in Persian.[2] Some of them were in Azeri Turkish and Gilaki.[1] His poems in Azeri Turkish may have only been written during his stay in Khurasan, in order to promote the Safavid order, and due to both Turkic and Persian experiencing a "literary renaissance."[2] However, it may also indicate the rise of bilingualism in Qasim-i Anvar's birth region, where Fahlavi and Turkic speakers started to get in touch with each other.[5]
Lewisohn, Leonard (2019). "Sufism in Late Mongol and Early Timurid Persia, from 'Ala' al-Dawla Simnānī (d. 736/1326) to Shāh Qāsim Anvār (d. 837/1434)". In
Contemporary Persian and Classical Persian are the same language, but writers since 1900 are classified as contemporary. At one time, Persian was a common cultural language of much of the non-Arabic Islamic world. Today it is the official language of Iran, Tajikistan and one of the two official languages of Afghanistan.
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