The True Identity of Attār Tooni
Author
10.22081/jap.2020.69521
Abstract
Despite numerous critiques and debates about counterfeit poems attributed to Attar Nishapur (627 AH), the true identities of the original poets have not yet been identified. Among these poems, two poems Mazāher al-Ajāeb and Lesān Al-Ghayb are written by a Shiite poet from the ninth century AH, who we know as Attar Tooni to distinguish him from Attar Nishapur. In this article, his true identity has been identified according to the two manuscripts found in his handwriting (National Library, the library of Dehkhoda Lexicon Institute, No. 6). Nezamoddin Ahmad bin Hossein bin Muhammad Shah Ghaffari Tooni lived in the 9th century and traces his lineage to Abudhar Ghaffari. In compiling the two aforementioned manuscripts, he presented important and significant information about his biography, the details of which have been carefully examined and evaluated in the article.
Ghaffari was sentenced to death in 883 AH in Samarkand for writing a copy of Mazāher al-Ajāeb which talked of the superiority of Ali (AS) over his companions; however, he escaped death through the mediation of Khaje Obaidullah Ahrar and Sheikh al-Islam. In this incident, the book Mazāher al-Ajāeb was burned in Sultan Alagh Beig School in Samarkand. Afterwards, he travelled from Samarkand to Harat and made several trips, so he was in Samarkand in 883 AH, in Harat in 884 AH, in Cairo in 894 AH, in Maragheh and Tabriz in 896 AH, and in Kashan in 899 AH. He built and dedicated a Naqareh Khane in Hilla, and a place for the residence of the poor and travelers in Maragheh named Ghaffaria. This information is the only definitive and inviolable information about Ghaffari's life, and his poems in this regard cannot be cited in most cases.
Due to the fact that the attribution of Mazāher al-Ajāeb to Attar caused widespread controversy about Attar's religion during the Safavid period, and even cast doubt on the attribution of Tazkirat al-Awliya, these controversies are reported below. At the end of the article, other works attributed to Attar are classified, and the possible date of composition of some of them is examined.
Ghaffari was sentenced to death in 883 AH in Samarkand for writing a copy of Mazāher al-Ajāeb which talked of the superiority of Ali (AS) over his companions; however, he escaped death through the mediation of Khaje Obaidullah Ahrar and Sheikh al-Islam. In this incident, the book Mazāher al-Ajāeb was burned in Sultan Alagh Beig School in Samarkand. Afterwards, he travelled from Samarkand to Harat and made several trips, so he was in Samarkand in 883 AH, in Harat in 884 AH, in Cairo in 894 AH, in Maragheh and Tabriz in 896 AH, and in Kashan in 899 AH. He built and dedicated a Naqareh Khane in Hilla, and a place for the residence of the poor and travelers in Maragheh named Ghaffaria. This information is the only definitive and inviolable information about Ghaffari's life, and his poems in this regard cannot be cited in most cases.
Due to the fact that the attribution of Mazāher al-Ajāeb to Attar caused widespread controversy about Attar's religion during the Safavid period, and even cast doubt on the attribution of Tazkirat al-Awliya, these controversies are reported below. At the end of the article, other works attributed to Attar are classified, and the possible date of composition of some of them is examined.
Keywords
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