(AD 1140–1202; AH 535–95)
Born in Ganja in Azerbaijan, Nizami of Ganja or Ganjavi is the master of the romantic masnavi or epic. Though not strictly a Sufi poet like Fariduddin Attar and Jalaluddin Rumi, his influence on Sufi and Persian poetry has been enormous.
Nizami was undoubtedly one of the greatest poets of the Persian language, bringing a colloquial and realistic style to the Persian epic. He is renowned for his Khamsa (Quintet), five epic poems that served as models for numerous later poets: (1) Makhzan al-Asrar (The Treasury of Secrets), a series of discourses on ethical subjects composed c.1175; (2) Khusraw and Shirin (1180), the legend of the Sassanian monarch Khusraw II’s love for the princess Shirin; (3) Layla and Majnun (1188), a Bedouin love story and the most popular romance in Muslim literature; (4) the two-part Iskandar-nama (The Book of Alexander), telling the legend of Alexander the Great and composed in 1191 and c.1200; and, finally, Haft Paykar or The Seven Portraits (1197), recounting the legendary history of the Sassanian monarch Bahram Gur.
I have made a shrine out of the
Doorstep of the drinking tavern;
I have made my place of worship
In those beguiling eyes!
Goodbye to prayer and supplication;
Drunkenness and love of beauty I now own!
I have cast aside crown and throne
And put my head down at the Saqi’s feet.
Heaven, mosque and Kaaba I have forgotten.
I have adorned my abode with the Saqi’s face!
Nizami’s heart was full of fear of the path;
I sought refuge in the blessing of
The Wine-giver, the All-wise.
One night desperate Majnun prayed tearfully,
‘O Lord of mine who has abandoned me,
Why hast Thou “Majnun” called me?
Why hast Thou made a lover of Leila of me?
Thou hast made me a pillow of wild thorns,
Made me roam day and night without a home.
What dost Thou want from my imprisonment?
O Lord of mine, listen to my plea!’
The Lord replied, ‘O lost man,
With Leila’s love I have your heart filled;
Your Love of Leila is my will.
The Beauty of Leila that you see
Is just another reflection of me.’