Numerous medieval tezkirs (records), various anthologies compiled after the death of Nizami Ganjavi did not fully illuminate all the details of his biography. They give only a description of his work. Modern researchers of the history of literature have made a lot of efforts to find out the nationality of Nizami, but to this day they have not been able to develop a more or less reliable version.

Nizami wrote in Persian, for this language in his time was widespread in the East. The poet did not leave a description of his life. The scant data that scientists use is extracted from his works.

Information about some details of Nizami’s biography can be found in the works of such writers and scientists as Dowlat Shah Samarkand*! (“Chronicle”), Ravandi (“Rahas al-Sudur”), Aufi (“Lubal albab”), Yakut (“Geographical Dictionary”), al-Qazwini (“Asar al-bilad”), Hamdullah (“Tarihi-Guzida "), Jami ("Baharistan"), Tagi Kufi ("Khulasat al-Ashar"), Amin ("Haft Iklim"), Lutf Ali-bek ("Atesh-Kade") and others.

The poet's full name is presented differently in different works. For example, in F. Kocharli’s book “Literature of the Azerbaijani Turks” the name appears: Sheikh Abu-Muhammad Ilyas ibn Yusif.ibn Muayyad Nizami. M. Terbiyat in the book “Danishmandi-Azerbaijan” gives another version of this name: Nizami Abu-Muhammad Nizamaddin Ilyas ibn Yusif ibn Muayyad Ganjavi In the preface to Nizami Ganjavi’s book “Leili and Majnun”, published in 1956 by the Moscow Goslitizdat A. Rustamov claims that the poet's real name is: Ilyas son of Yusuf son of Muayad. A. Bakikhanov in the book “Gulistan-Irem” writes that the poet’s name was Abu-Muhammad Nizamaddin Ilyas ibn Yusif ibn Muayyad.

In my opinion, only the name of the poet is reliable, which is indicated on his tombstone, namely: “This is the tomb

I This refers to the State of Caucasian Albania.

His Serene Highness Sheikh Nizamaddin Maul Abu Mohammed ibn Ilyas ibn Yusuf ibn Zeki."

From the above examples it is clear that before the name Ilyas Abu-Muhammad appears three times, Abu-Muhammad Nizamaddin twice, Muayyad four times and Zeki twice. Who are Abu Mohammed, Abu Mohammed Nizamaddin, Muayyad and Zeki? So far, there is no convincing answer to this question.

One of the controversial details of Nizami Ganjavi’s biography is his place of birth. Some claim that the poet was born in the Iranian city of Qom, others say that his homeland is the medieval Shirvan city of Qom (now in the Kakh region of the Azerbaijan SSR). Still others reject these versions and put forward their own - they say Nizami was born in the city of Ganja. The bulk of literary scholars refer to the following lines from Nizami’s poem “Iskander Name”:

Hey, Nizami, open the treasure gates,
How long will you protect the treasure?
Although I, like a pearl, am lost in Ganja,
My motherland - mountainous region Qom city.

Based on this, it is argued that if a poet was born in Iranian Qom, then he is a Persian poet.

Nowadays, many Soviet literary scholars reject both Versions and believe that the above verses were inserted into the poet’s poem after his death. Therefore, he was born in the city of Ganja, therefore, he is an Azerbaijani poet of Turkic origin.

Such disputes indicate that to this day scientists have not established the real birthplace of Nizami Ganjavi. It is also not known what his nationality was.

None of the literary scholars denies that Nizami’s mother came from a noble Kurdish family. The poet himself testifies to this in the poem “Leili and Majnun”:

After all, my mother is from a Kurdish village
She died. All earthly generations
Must pass. All mothers will die
And calling her back is a waste of time.

His maternal uncle's name was Hadji Omar. The prominent writer M. Ordubadi, in the historical novel “The Sword and the Pen,” dedicated to the life of the young Nizami, testifies that three of his uncles were the heads of the caliph’s bodyguards and came from a Kurdish family.

The poet’s maternal uncles were wealthy and influential people, otherwise Nizami would not have been able to receive an excellent education and would not have had access to the book depositories of noble people, where he became acquainted with unique ancient manuscripts.

If the poet’s mother comes from such an influential family, then she should have been given in marriage to a noble person.

We must not forget that the poet’s grandfather Muayyad Zeki, a native of the city of Qom, was also a noble man. This is indicated by his pseudonym - Smart, Helping. Being a wealthy man, Muayyad Zeki married his son Yusuf (Nizami's father) to the sister of the noble Kurd Haji-Omar from Ganja.

It is appropriate to recall that in 955 Ganja was conquered by Muhammad ibn Shaddad, a Kurd by origin (B. Bertels, “Nizami”, Moscow, 3956, p. 27). And before him, a small Kurdish principality not far from Ganja was first created by the Kurd Mihran. The famous commander Javanshir also came from the Kurdish family of the Mikhranids.

The Kurds around Ganja are undoubtedly an alien element. But someone lived on these lands before the Kurds! What kind of people were these and what language did they speak? Academician A. Krymsky claims that the population on both banks of the Kura River spoke their own ancient special language - Arran. This language belonged to the eastern group of North Caucasian languages. Researchers of North Caucasian linguistics have argued that to our times the Arran language itself has retained direct descendants in the Avar-Andean speech and the Samur speech, while the related speech of the present-day Udinians in Nukha comes not from the Albanian language itself, but from one of its dialects. Since the 5th century, there has been a written language in the Arran (Agvan) language; there were liturgical Christian books and other works of the church in this language.

Further, Academician A. Krymsky notes: “As for the presence of the Turkic element, Shirvan itself of the 12th century, apparently, did not know the Turks at all on its territory near Ganja. In the rest of Azerbaijan, Turkic settlements were insignificant in the 12th century, but they still existed.” (A. Krymsky. “Nizami and his contemporaries”. Baku, 1981, pp. 390-391).

The convincing arguments of A. Krymsky are opposed by some Azerbaijani literary scholars who falsify and manipulate the facts. For example, A. Safarli and X. Yusufov in the book “Azerbaijani Literature of Ancient and Middle Ages” (Baku, 1982, p. 79) try to prove that the verse inserted into “Iokander-name” about the origin of Nizami was, they say, interpreted incorrectly and that supposedly it should be read not “Kurd”, but “kord”, that is, “hero” in Persian. Why is this being done if it has been proven that these lines were not written by Nizami?

Some literary scholars claim that Nizami married three times and allegedly his first wife was the Kipchak slave Afag. They claim that it was allegedly given to the poet by the Emir of Derbent Baybars ibn Muzaffar for the poem “Treasury of Secrets.” It should be noted that, firstly, this poem

was dedicated to the ruler of Erzincan, in Asia Minor, Fakhratdin Bahram Shah ibn Daoud. And only then did it fall into the hands of the Derbent emir. Secondly, some Nizami scholars are of the opinion that the said poem did not reach the addressee and only the Seljuk historian Ibn Bibi claims that the ruler gave the poet five thousand gold dinars, five horses with decorations, five mules and an expensive dress with gems for this poem .

It is also unconvincing that Nizami, who came from a wealthy family and wrote the didactic-philosophical poem “Treasury of Secrets,” could marry a slave given to him, who had been in the harem of the Derbent ruler. Neither the rank of the poet, nor religion, nor the environment, nor his environment allowed Nizami to make such a dubious choice.

However, Nizami could have married a girl from the villages of Kipchak or Gaptsakh - the first is located in the Kakh region of Azerb. SSR, and the second in the Magaramkent district of Dag. SSR.

Now about the allegedly Turkic origin of Nizami. At the same time, some unscrupulous researchers appeal to the poet’s verses from the poem “Leili and Majnun”.

Whether Arab or Persian veil
decorate the beauty of the newlywed,
But the court is not involved in Turkic morals,
Turkic conversation is indecent for us.

Since we are noble and high in rank,
Even in the speeches of high experts.

The point is that Shirvan Shah, to whom the poem “Leili and Majnun” was dedicated, considered himself to come from the Persian aristocracy. Therefore, he convinces the poet that his court is not involved in Turkic morals and that he cannot break his promise, as the Turk once did, Sultan Mahmud Ghaznevi, who did not pay the great Ferdowsi a penny for the poem “Shah-name”, although he promised unprecedented hitherto fee.

This is why the above verses cannot serve as proof that . He came from places where Lezgin-speaking peoples lived from time immemorial, and therefore, it seems that Academician A. Krymsky was right after all, calling on his colleagues to carefully handle the facts and not falsify them under any pretext.

It only remains to add that Nizami Ganjavi did not write a single word in either Azerbaijani or Lezgin. His works were created in Persian.

Zabit Rizvanov

Brief biography of the poet, basic facts of life and work:

NIZAMI GANJEVI (1141-1209)

Nizami Ganjavi (real name Nizamaddin maul Abu-Muhammad ibn-Ilyas ibn-Yusuf ibn-Zeka), the greatest Azerbaijani romantic poet, was born, lived and died in the city of Ganja, which is why he received the nickname Ganjavi. In the 12th century, Ganja was an important hub on the Great trade route. Two years before the birth of the poet, the city was destroyed by a strong earthquake, and the remaining inhabitants were killed or taken into slavery by the troops of the Georgian king Demetrius. Ganja was restored for many years, which is why the poet’s childhood and youth were spent in sad ruins.

Little information has been preserved about Nizami’s life. The poet led a secluded life; researchers of his work often call Nizami the great Ganjavi hermit. It is assumed that Nizami engaged in trade to feed his family, but devoted most of his time to poetry and science. Most likely, in his youth, Nizami studied at the Ganja madrasah. In any case, we can say that the poet knew the Arabic language and Arabic literature perfectly, was familiar with the Georgian and Armenian languages, understood Christian literature - he quoted the Gospel, studied deeply eastern philosophy, read the works of Greek philosophers. Nizami's knowledge in astronomy, mathematics and medicine was extensive.

There are medieval sources claiming that Nizami was a member of the secret order of the Ahi - a religious Sufi brotherhood common in the Middle Ages in the Near and Middle East. It united mainly urban artisans and traders. As military force Ahi protected the townspeople from the tyranny of feudal lords and Mongol governors. The Akhs were bound by rituals and regulations. During the Crusades, holy orders of the Crusaders were formed on the model of the Ahi Order. Since the 16th century, the Ahi were renamed the Bektashi Order. Over time, it became the main order of the Janissaries.

Members of the Ahi order helped the needy and weak and secretly punished rapists and villains.

Nizami’s greatest creation was “Khamse”, or “Five” - five romantic poems. The Khamsa includes: “Treasury of Secrets” (between 1173-1180), “Khosrow and Shirin” (1181), “Leili and Majnun” (1188), “Seven Beauties” (1197), “Iskander -name" (about 1203). All poems are recognized as classic works of Iranian-language literature in Farsi.

It should be noted that Azerbaijani scientists claim that Nizami dreamed all his life of writing only in the Azerbaijani language. There is even evidence that the poem “Leili and Majnun” should have been written in the poet’s native language. But the official court language of Ganja in those days was Farsi, and the conditions of survival forced Nizami to create to please strong of the world this.

Many facts indicate that, in addition to “Khamsa,” Nizami created up to twenty thousand beits, qaside, gazelle, kyt’e and rubai, but all of them were lost by descendants.

It is possible to trace the poet’s life more or less clearly only thanks to “Khamsa”. Another poem - and Nizami emerges from the darkness of mystery and again retreats into the unknown.

The poet created the “Treasury of Secrets” in adulthood, he was well over thirty. He's still single. Nizami is in the care of his mother and younger brothers. The father died almost penniless, and the family was in dire poverty. By creating the poem, Nizami clearly counted on recognition at the court of some ruler and reward.

The title of the poem comes from an ancient legend about Muhammad. One day the prophet ascended to heaven and saw a locked door under the heavenly throne. Muhammad turned to the Archangel Jabrail (Gabriel): “What is there?” “This is a treasury of thoughts,” answered the archangel, “and the languages ​​of the poets are the keys to it.”

“Treasury of Secrets” is a collection of twenty conversations about the meaning of life and its purpose. Each conversation ends with a parable explaining the meaning of what is being discussed.

Today the poem is unconditionally recognized as a masterpiece. But then no one even wanted to read it. Each ruler had his own staff of court poets; they had nothing to do with the unknown merchant from Ganja. The poem was assigned to the ruler of Erzincan (now an administrative unit in northeastern Turkey) named Fakhr ad-Din Behramshah ibn Daoud. A dedication was written to the Shah, and the poem set off on a long journey.

There is a legend that Ibn Daoud was delighted with the poem and sent the richest gifts to Ganja. However, Nizami did not receive them. The poet was happy about something else: the poem was nevertheless read and appreciated, people started talking about it, it became famous.

I read the poem and the Derbend atabek. He was delighted and pointed out to his court poets Nizami’s creation as the pinnacle of modern poetry. And the poets agreed. And then it turned out that Nizami sent the “Treasury of Secrets” to Derbend and intended to dedicate it to the atabek, but the poem was not shown to the ruler. In great anger, the ruler dispersed all the Derbend poets, and Nizami sent a young beautiful slave, a Polovtsian by birth, as a gift.

Nizami fell in love at first sight with Afak, that was the name of the slave, and almost immediately married her. The Polovtsian woman became the muse of the great poet. With her appearance, Nizami’s work changed dramatically - he began to glorify woman and love. According to literary scholars, the most striking female characters in “Khamsa” were written by the poet under the influence of his love for Afak. In 1180, Afak died unexpectedly, leaving Nizami with her little son Muhammad in her arms.

In the same 1180, Nizami received an order from Isfahan itself from the young Seljuk Sultan Togrul (the boy was only 10 years old that year). Nizami was asked to write a poem for the Sultan. The death of his wife turned out to be a great shock for the poet: in less than a year he created an unsurpassed masterpiece of Iranian-language literature - the poem “Khosrow and Shirin”. The plot was taken from Ferdowsi's Shahnameh. The heroes of the poem were the last pre-Muslim Shah of Iran, Khosrow Parviz and his main wife Shirin.

When the poem was finished, the Sultan did not even send for it, much less he was not going to pay. The manuscript lay motionless for many years. Nizami made a second dedication to her - to Pakhlavan, atabek of Ganja. But the ruler, under pressure from the court poets, refused to accept the dedication. In 1186 Pakhlavan died. The brother of the deceased, Kyzyl-Arslan, ascended the throne of Ganja. Suddenly the new atabek remembered Nizami and called to him. At the meeting, he hugged the poet and invited him to a conversation. At the end of the meeting, Nizami was presented with a magnificent robe and assigned to him the run-down village of Hamdunian, which, since it was on the border, was regularly robbed by robbers. Once again, the poet did not receive any remuneration for his work, but the poem began to be rewritten and distributed throughout the East.

The fate of Nizami seems strange in these years. He married a second time. The second wife died in 1188, and at the same time the Shirvanshah of Shamakhi invited Nizami to move to his capital and commissioned a new poem - based on the legend of the unhappy love of Leyla and Majnun. Disappointed with the previous order, living in constant poverty, depressed by the death of his wife, Nizami intended to refuse the Shirvanshah. But he was persuaded by his son Muhammad, who asked him to write about him in the poem. Nizami included a whole chapter in his masterpiece with a request to the heir to the Shamakhi throne to take Muhammad to court.

The new poem shocked the entire educated East. She gave birth to a whole literary wave - more than forty poems “Leili and Majnun” were written in imitation of Nizami. However, the poet himself was not paid for his creation, and his son was not brought closer to the court of the heir of Shirvan.

Another eight years passed. It is known that during these years the poet married for the third time. In 1195, from the ruler of the city of Maragha Ala ad-Din Korp Arslan Nizami received an order to write a poem on a topic chosen by the poet himself. Nizami was approaching the age of sixty. Life was coming to an end, but lack of money still overwhelmed him. And Nizami gets to work. He writes a mischievous fairy-tale poem “Seven Beauties” - about the adventures and love affairs of the Sasanian king Behram Gur.

Having barely finished “Seven Beauties,” Nizami began to create his largest poem, “Iskander-name” (“Book of Alexander”). It consists of two volumes. The first is called “Sharaf-name” (“Book of Glory”), the second is “Iqbal-name” (“Book of Happiness”). He is already nearly seventy. The years take their toll, my strength is no longer what it used to be. Friends and relatives pass away. Died in 1200 last wife poet. Loneliness and the premonition of the approaching end brought sad thoughts to Nizami.

The first book describes the life, wars and heroic deeds of Alexander the Great invented by the poet. In the second book, Alexander is presented as a philosopher king and prophet. He must go around the world and teach people the truth. At the end of the journey, the king reaches the borders of a beautiful country in which there is no power, no poor and rich, no oppressors and oppressed, no theft and lies. People there don’t get sick, they only die from old age.

* * *
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Copyright: biographies of the lives of great poets

Nizami Ganjavi ( full name- Nizami Abu Muhammad Ilyas Yusuf) is a famous Azerbaijani poet and thinker who worked under the literary pseudonym Nizami. What was his life path, little is known, since only from his works can one glean any information about him. A huge number of legends are associated with his name - the fruits of the efforts of later biographers. It is not known exactly when the poet was born, but it is traditionally accepted that the year of his birth was 1141, the period between August 17 and 22. There is no complete certainty regarding Nizami’s place of birth. There is a version that this is the city of Qom (central Iran), but already in the Middle Ages, most of the poet’s biographers named the city of Ganja as his birthplace. Today it is generally accepted that Nizami’s father was born in Qom, and he himself is a native of Ganja.

His family was not rich. Some biographers believe that embroidery was the family craft, but Nizami abandoned the continuation of traditions for the sake of literary creativity. At the same time, there is evidence that the poet’s father, Yusuf ibn Zaki, could have been an official, and his mother was supposedly the daughter of a Kurdish leader. After the death of his parents, who died early, Nizami was raised by his mother’s brother.

Nizami was an excellently educated man. Poets of that time were required to have a good understanding of many scientific disciplines, but even against their background, Nizami stood out favorably. The texts of his poems convincingly indicate that he had knowledge not only of Persian and Arabic literature, but also of medicine, theology, Christianity, Islamic law, Judaism, Iranian mythology, philosophy, esotericism, music, fine arts, astronomy, etc. He began writing poetry in his youth.

Nizami’s biography is entirely connected with his native Ganja. He did not consider it possible for himself to become a court poet, not wanting to part with freedom of creativity, but at the same time, according to tradition, he dedicated his works to the feudal rulers, receiving small allowances for this. Nizami was a very respected person and received many honors. For example, according to legend, he received more than a dozen villages and 5,000 dinars from the atabek, although he refused to be at his court.

Nizami was married three times. His first, beloved wife was a slave of Turkic origin, who was given to him around 1170 by the ruler of Derbent. Nizami freed the slave and married her, dedicated many inspired lines to her; they had a son. Soon his beloved Afak died; premature death also overtook the poet's two other wives.

Five poems written by Nizami - “Treasury of Secrets”, “Leyla and Majnun”, “Seven Beauties”, “Iskander-name”, “Khosrov and Shirin” were included in the treasury of Azerbaijani poetry. His creative heritage also includes a sofa; 116 gazelles, 30 rubai, and several qasidas and kits have survived to this day. Nizami's literary heritage, mainly his poems, left a huge imprint on the further development of literature in the Middle East and Central Asia during the Middle Ages.

Data also differ regarding the death of the great poet; researchers give figures with a range of 37 years. All that is known for sure is that he died in the 13th century. in his native Ganja.

Nizami Ganjavi
Born: Around 1141.
Died: Around 1209.

Biography

Abu Muhammad Ilyas ibn Yusuf, known under the pseudonym Nizami Ganjavi, is a classic of Persian poetry, one of the greatest poets of the medieval East, the greatest romantic poet in Persian epic literature, who introduced Persian epic poetry colloquial speech and realistic style. Using themes from traditional oral folk art and written historical chronicles, Nizami united pre-Islamic and Islamic Iran with his poems. Over the following centuries, Nizami's heroic-romantic poetry continued to influence the entire Persian-speaking world and inspired young poets, writers and playwrights who tried to imitate him for many subsequent generations, not only in Persia itself, but throughout the entire region, including the cultures of such modern countries, like Azerbaijan, Armenia, Afghanistan, Georgia, India, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan. His work influenced such great poets as Hafiz Shirazi , Jalaluddin Rumi and Saadi. His five masnavi (long poems) (Khamsa) explore and explore a variety of topics from various fields of knowledge and have gained immense fame, as indicated by big number surviving lists of his works. The heroes of his poems - Khosrow and Shirin, Leili and Majnun, Iskander - still remain well-known both throughout the Islamic world and in other countries. 1991 was declared by UNESCO as the Year of Nizami in honor of the 850th anniversary of the poet.

Historical and cultural background

From 1135/1136 to 1225 parts of the historical regions of Azerbaijan (now for the most part Iranian Azerbaijan) and Arran as Great Atabeks of the Seljuk Sultans of Persian Iraq ruled by the Ildegizid dynasty. This dynasty was founded by Shamseddin Ildegiz, a Kipchak (Cuman) by origin, a freed ghulam (slave soldier) of the Seljuk Sultan of Persian Iraq (Western Iran). The Ildegizids were atabeks of Azerbaijan (that is, regents of the heirs to the throne of the Seljuk sultans), as the Seljuk empire collapsed, from 1181 they became local rulers and remained so until 1225, when their territory, previously captured by the Georgians, was conquered by Jalal ad-Din. Shams ad-Din Ildegiz probably achieved control over part of Azerbaijan only in 1153 after the death of Kass Beg Arslan, the last favorite of Sultan Masud ibn Muhammad (1133-1152).

In Shirvan, neighboring Azerbaijan and Arran, the State of the Shirvanshahs was located, which was ruled by the Kesranid dynasty. Although the dynasty was of Arab origin, by the 11th century the Kesranids were Persianized and claimed to be descendants of the ancient Persian Sasanian kings.

By the time of Nizami’s birth, a century had already passed since the invasion of Iran and Transcaucasia by the Seljuk Turks. According to the French historian Rene Grousset, the Seljuk sultans, themselves being Turkomans, having become the Sultans of Persia, did not Turkize Persia, but on the contrary, they “voluntarily became Persians and, like the ancient great Sasanian kings, defended the Iranian population” from the raids of nomads and saved Iranian culture from the Turkoman threats.

In the last quarter of the 12th century, when Nizami began to work on the poems that were included in the book “Khamse” (“Five”), the supreme power of the Seljuks was in decline, and political unrest and social unrest were growing. However, Persian culture flourished precisely when political power was dispersed rather than centralized, and Persian remained the main language. This also applied to Ganja, the Caucasian city - a remote Persian outpost where Nizami lived, a city that at that time had a predominantly Iranian population, as evidenced by Nizami’s contemporary, the Armenian historian Kirakos Gandzaketsi (c. 1200-1271), who also like Nizami Ganjavi (Nizami from Ganja) was a resident of Ganja. It should be noted that in the Middle Ages, the Armenians called all Iranian-speaking people “Parsik” - Persians, which is reflected in the translation of the same passage into English language. During Nizami’s lifetime, Ganja was one of the centers of Iranian culture, as evidenced by the collection of only one anthology of Persian poetry of the 13th century. Nuzhat ol-Majalis poems by 24 Persian poets who lived and worked in Ganja in the 11th-12th centuries. Among the Iranian-speaking population of Ganja in the 11th-12th centuries. It should also be noted that the Kurds, whose significant presence in the city and its environs was facilitated by the rule of representatives of the Sheddadid dynasty, which is of Kurdish origin. It is precisely the privileged position of the Kurds in Ganja that some researchers explain the move of Nizami’s father from Qom and the settlement of Nizami’s parents in Ganja, since Nizami’s mother was Kurdish.

The Persian historian Hamdallah Qazvini, who lived about a hundred years after Nizami, described the "treasure-filled" Ganja in Arran as one of the richest and most prosperous cities in Iran.

Azerbaijan, Arran and Shirvan then became the new center of Persian culture after Khorasan. In the “Khorasan” style of Persian poetry, experts highlight the Western - “Azerbaijani” school, which is otherwise called “Tabriz” or “Shirvan” or “Transcaucasian”, as prone to complicated metaphors and philosophy, to the use of images taken from the Christian tradition. Nizami is considered one of the most prominent representatives of this Western school of Persian poetry.

Name and pseudonym

The poet's personal name is Ilyas, his father's name was Yusuf, his grandfather's name was Zaki; after the birth of his son Muhammad, the latter's name also became part of the poet's full name, which thus began to sound: Abu Muhammad Ilias ibn Yusuf ibn Zaki Mu'ayad, and as a literary pseudonym ("laqab") he chose the name "Nizami", which some medieval authors " tadhirat" (otherwise transliterated as "tazkirat"), that is, "biographies", is explained by the fact that the craft of embroidery was the work of his family, which Nizami abandoned in order to write poetic works, on which he worked with the patience of an embroiderer. His official name is Nizam ad-Din Abu Muhammad Ilyas ibn Yusuf ibn Zaki ibn Mu'ayad. Jan Rypka gives another form of his official name, Hakim Jamal ad-Din Abu Muhammad Ilyas ibn Yusuf ibn Zaki ibn Muayad Nizami.

Parents and relatives

Nizami's father, Yusuf ibn Zaki, who migrated to Ganja from Qom (Central Iran), may have been an official, and his mother, Ra'isa, was of Iranian origin, according to Nizami himself, was a Kurdish woman, probably the daughter of a Kurdish tribal leader, and, according to some assumptions, it was connected with the Kurdish Sheddadid dynasty, which ruled Ganja before the Atabeks.

The poet's parents died early. After the death of his father, Ilyas was raised by his mother, and after the death of the latter, by his mother’s brother Khoja Umar.

Dowlatshah of Samarkandi (1438-1491) in his treatise “Tazkirat osh-shoara” (“Note on poets”) (finished in 1487) mentions Nizami’s brother named Kivami Mutarrizi, who was also a poet.

Education

Nizami was brilliantly educated by the standards of his time. Poets were then expected to be well versed in many disciplines. However, even with such requirements for poets, Nizami stood out for his scholarship: his poems testify not only to his excellent knowledge of Arabic and Persian literature, oral and written traditions, but also mathematics, astronomy, astrology, alchemy, medicine, botany, theology, interpretations of the Koran , Islamic law, Christianity, Judaism, Iranian myths and legends, history, ethics, philosophy, esotericism, music and fine arts.

Although Nizami is often called "Hakim" (sage), he was not a philosopher like Al-Farabi, Avicenna and Suhrawardi, or an expositor of Sufist theory like Ibn Arabi or Abdurrazzaq al-Kashani. However, he is considered a philosopher and Gnostic who was well versed in various areas of Islamic philosophical thought, which he integrated and generalized in a manner reminiscent of the traditions of later sages such as Qutbuddin al-Shirazi and Baba Afzal Kashani, who, being specialists in various fields of knowledge, attempted to unite various traditions in philosophy, gnosis and theology.

Creation

The culture of Persia during the Nizami era is famous for its deep-rooted tradition, splendor and luxury. In pre-Islamic times it developed extremely rich and unmistakable means of expression in music, architecture and literature, although Iran, its center, was constantly subject to raids by invading armies and immigrants, this tradition was able to absorb, transform and completely overcome the penetration of a foreign element . Alexander the Great was only one of many conquerors who were captivated by the Persian way of life. Nizami was a typical product of Iranian culture. He created a bridge between Islamic and pre-Islamic Iran, and between Iran and the entire ancient world. Although Nizami Ganjavi lived in the Caucasus - on the periphery of Persia, in his work he demonstrated a centripetal tendency that is manifested in all Persian literature, both in terms of the unity of its language and content, and in the sense of civil unity, and in the poem “Seven Beauties” wrote that Iran is the “heart of the world” (in Russian translation “soul of the world”)

Abu Muhammad Ilyas ibn Yusuf, known under the pseudonym Nizami Ganjavi(Persian, Kurdish Nzam Gencew, ; about 1141, Ganja, State of Ildegizids (in modern times - a city in modern Azerbaijan) - about 1209, ibid.) - classic of Persian poetry, one of the largest poets of the medieval East, the largest poet -romanticist in Persian epic literature, who introduced colloquial speech and realistic style into Persian epic poetry.

Using themes from traditional oral folk art and written historical chronicles, Nizami united pre-Islamic and Islamic Iran with his poems. Nizami's heroic-romantic poetry continued to influence the entire Persian-speaking world over the following centuries and inspired young poets, writers and playwrights who tried to imitate him for many subsequent generations, not only in Persia itself, but throughout the region, including the cultures of such modern countries as like Azerbaijan, Armenia, Afghanistan, Georgia, India, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan. His work influenced such great poets as Hafiz Shirazi, Jalaluddin Rumi and Saadi. His five masnavi (long poems) (Khamsa) explore and explore a variety of themes from various fields of knowledge and have achieved enormous fame, as evidenced by the large number of surviving copies of his works. The heroes of his poems - Khosrow and Shirin, Leili and Majnun, Iskander - still remain well-known both throughout the Islamic world and in other countries.

1991 was declared by UNESCO as the Year of Nizami in honor of the 850th anniversary of the poet.

Historical and cultural background

From 1135/1136 to 1225, parts of the historical regions of Azerbaijan (now mostly Iranian Azerbaijan) and Arran were ruled by the Ildegizid dynasty as the Great Atabeks of the Seljuk Sultans of Persian Iraq. This dynasty was founded by Shamseddin Ildegiz, a Kipchak (Cuman) by origin, a freed ghulam (slave soldier) of the Seljuk Sultan of Persian Iraq (Western Iran). The Ildegizids were atabeks of Azerbaijan (that is, regents of the heirs to the throne of the Seljuk sultans), as the Seljuk empire collapsed, from 1181 they became local rulers and remained so until 1225, when their territory, previously captured by the Georgians, was conquered by Jalal ad-Din. Shams ad-Din Ildegiz probably achieved control over part of Azerbaijan only in 1153 after the death of Kass Beg Arslan, the last favorite of Sultan Masud ibn Muhammad (1133-1152).

In Shirvan, neighboring Azerbaijan and Arran, the State of the Shirvanshahs was located, which was ruled by the Kesranid dynasty. Although the dynasty was of Arab origin, by the 11th century the Kesranids were Persianized and claimed to be descendants of the ancient Persian Sasanian kings.

By the time of Nizami’s birth, a century had already passed since the invasion of Iran and Transcaucasia by the Seljuk Turks. According to the French historian Rene Grousset, the Seljuk sultans, themselves being Turkomans, having become the Sultans of Persia, did not Turkize Persia, but on the contrary, they “voluntarily became Persians and, like the ancient great Sasanian kings, defended the Iranian population” from the raids of nomads and saved Iranian culture from the Turkoman threats.

In the last quarter of the 12th century, when Nizami began to work on the poems that were included in the book “Khamse” (“Five”), the supreme power of the Seljuks was in decline, and political unrest and social unrest were growing. However, Persian culture flourished precisely when political power was dispersed rather than centralized and Persian remained the primary language. This also applied to Ganja, the Caucasian city - a remote Persian outpost where Nizami lived, a city that at that time had a predominantly Iranian population, as evidenced by Nizami’s contemporary, the Armenian historian Kirakos Gandzaketsi (c. 1200-1271), who also like Nizami Ganjavi (Nizami from Ganja) was a resident of Ganja. It should be noted that in the Middle Ages, the Armenians called all Iranian speakers “Parsik” - Persians, which is reflected in the translation of the same passage into English. During Nizami’s lifetime, Ganja was one of the centers of Iranian culture, as evidenced by the collection of only one anthology of Persian poetry of the 13th century. Nuzhat ol-Majalis poems by 24 Persian poets who lived and worked in Ganja in the 11th-12th centuries. Among the Iranian-speaking population of Ganja in the 11th-12th centuries. It should also be noted that the Kurds, whose significant presence in the city and its environs was facilitated by the rule of representatives of the Sheddadid dynasty, which is of Kurdish origin. It is precisely the privileged position of the Kurds in Ganja that some researchers explain the move of Nizami’s father from Qom and the settlement of Nizami’s parents in Ganja, since Nizami’s mother was Kurdish.