NASIR KHUSRAW Ruby of Badakhshan. Nasir Khusraw is acknowledged as one of the foremost poets of the Persian language. Born in the Balkh district of Central Asia in 394/1004, Nasir was inspired from an early age by a tremendous thirst for knowledge. His intellectual abilities brought him much fame, a promising career in government service, and a life of ease and pleasure. But he was always dissatisfied by a lack of meaning and purpose in his life until one day, at the age of 42, he was dramatically transformed by a visionary dream. He converted to Ismailism, renounced his worldly life and embarked on his famous seven-year journey to Egypt. Nasir arrived in Cairo in 439/1047, where he stayed for three years and became acquainted with Ismaili dignitaries such as Al Muayyad Fi Din Al Shirazi. He was appointed to a high rank in the Fatimid dawa organization, and was later regarded as the hujjat of greater Khurasan. When he returned to Transoxania, Nasir established his residence at Balkh, from where he began to propogate the Ismaili faith in the surrounding provinces. But Nasirs success provoked the local people to burn down his house and compel him to seek refuge in Yumgan, a remote mountainous region of Badakhshan, today situated on both sides of the Oxus river in Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Nasir spent the remainder of his life there, writing his philosophical works and composing poetry until his death after 465/1072. He is venerated to this day in Central Asia as a great saint, poet and philosopher. The Candle of the Intellect By Nasir-i Khusraw Kindle the candle of intellect in your heart and hasten with it to the world of brightness; If you want to light a candle in your heart, make knowledge and goodness its wick and oil. In the path of the hereafter, one should not walk on foot but with the soul and the intellect, and for provisions, you must fill the tablecloth of your heart with obedience and knowledge. 0 son, your mind is the garden of intellect, turn it not into a furnace with fumes of wine; your heart is the blessed mine of knowledge, why have you planted a perverse hardness in it? Let your heart become soft because a shirt of dusky soft silk does not befit a heart of stone; cast away ignorance from your mind because celebration does not befit a house of lament. Comprehend well the wise poetry of the hujja, for it is elevated and powerful like Mount Qaran, and with the needle of reflection, prick his excellent words in your subtle heart and soul.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 19:47:18 +0000
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