Nasir Khusraw (; 1004 – between 1072–1088) was a Persian Isma'ili poet, philosopher, traveler, and missionary ( and later Ḥujjah of Imam al-Mustansir Billah) for the Isma'ili Fatimid Caliphate.
He was a prominent Isma'ili philosopher and theologian of the Fatimids, authoring numerous philosophical works. He is widely recognized as a poet and writer who composed his works in his native Persian language. This was an uncommon practice in the Isma'ili literature of the Fatimids, which primarily relied on Arabic.
Nasir played a key role in the spread of Isma'ilism in Central Asia. He is known as "Pir" or "Shah Sayyid Nasir" among the Isma'ili community of Badakhshan (split between Afghanistan and Tajikistan) and their branches in northern Pakistan, who consider him their founder.
Name
Nasir Khusraw's full name was Abu Mu'in Hamid al-Din Nasir ibn Khusraw ibn Harith al-Qubadiyani al-Marvazi, which he would generally refer to himself by in his prose philosophical works. In his book Safarnama, he mostly calls himself "Nasir", and in his poetry he mostly uses the pen-name "Hujjat", a title meaning "proof", which he had received by the Isma'ili missionary organisation in Cairo. In his poetry he also sometimes use the names of "Nasir" and "Khusraw", the latter being a Persian name, which according to historian Dr C. Alice Hunsberger "would certainly have been a point of great pride to this defender of Persian culture and language." His name is also transliterated as Nasir-i Khusraw and Naser-e Khosrow.
Life
Nasir is the subject of many tales, including a fake autobiography that bears his name and has been passed around between Isma'ilis and non-Isma'ilis for many centuries. The writings of Nasir that are still in existence offer insightful information about his life and philosophy. Yet, it appears that the majority of these manuscripts were censored to remove any references to Isma'ilism by antagonistic Sunni scribes. A native Persian, Nasir was from a family of government bureaucrats and landowners. He most likely adhered to the Twelver Shi'ism form of Islam before his conversion to Isma'ilism. He was born in 1004 in Qubadiyan, a neighborhood of the city of Balkh, which was part of the Marw province in the Khurasan region. The area was then controlled by the Ghaznavids, a culturally Persianised dynasty of Turkic slave origin.
Nasir supposedly started his career as a scribe before moving to the city of Marw to work as a financial administrator. He was allowed entry to the court at Balkh until 1040, when Khurasan was conquered by the Seljuks. He retained his office under the Seljuks, whose co-founder Chaghri Beg ruled Khurasan. Around the age of 41, Nasir underwent a tremendous and sudden change in his spirituality, which drastically altered the direction of his life. According to Nasir, the incident had the characteristics of a dream. He subsequently resigned from his office and converted to Isma'ilism.
In December 1045, Nasir decided to embark on a prolonged journey with the ultimate goal of performing a pilgrimage to Mecca. In March 1046, along with his brother Abu Sa'id and an Indian attendant, he started his journey, which would first end after nearly seven years. From Khurasan, he travelled west, passing through northern and western Iran, Armenia, and Asia Minor. He then descended to Syria, Palestine, and then Arabia, where he performed his pilgrimage. On August 1047, he went to Cairo in Egypt, which served as the capital of the Isma'ili Fatimid Caliphate. In Cairo, Nasir was taught Isma'ili teachings, law, and administration by prominent scholars. He met al-Mu'ayyad fi'l-Din al-Shirazi (died 1087), who was by then the chief Fatimid Da'i. He became Nasir's teacher, instructing him in enigmatic Isma'ili concepts and philosophy.
Nasir was raised to the position of dā‘ī "missionary", and appointed as Hujjat Khorasan, though the hostility he encountered in the propagation of these new religious ideas after his return to Greater Khorasan in 1052 A.D. and Sunnite fanaticism compelled him at last to flee. After wandering from place to place, he found refuge in Yamgan (about 1060 A.D.) in the mountains of Badakhshan, where he spent the last decades of his life, gathering a considerable number of devoted adherents, who have handed down his doctrines to succeeding generations.
Nasir-i Khusraw explained that through revelation (tanzil), intellectual matters were transformed into a state that could be understood by humankind. Esoteric interpretation (ta’wil) is necessary to revert them to their original intellectual state. He also said that one must not be satisfied with the exoteric form but look for the person who can explain the original esoteric meaning to them. In saying this he alluded to the Imam of the Time.
He died in Yamagan in present-day northern Afghanistan. He was buried in a small mausoleum on a small hill in the present-day village of Hadrat-i Sayyid (also called Hadrat-i Sa'id), on the eastern side of the Koksha Valley in present-day Afghanistan. According to an engraved inscription on the structure, it was renovated in 1697.
Works
- Safarnama ()
Safarnama (The Book of Travels) is his most famous work. He visited dozens of cities in about seven years (March 6, 1046 – October 23, 1052) and wrote comprehensively about them, including details about colleges, caravanserais, mosques, scientists, kings, the public, the population, the area of the cities, and, of course, his interesting memories. After 1000 years, his Safarnama is still readable for Persian-speaking people.
- Diwan ()
Among his other works, most of the lyrical poems in his Diwan were composed in his retirement. Their chief topics are an enthusiastic praise of Ali, his descendants, and al-Mustansir in particular, along with passionate outcries against Khorasan and its rulers, who had driven him from his home. It also explores his immense satisfaction with the quiet solitude of Yumgan, and his utter despondency again in seeing himself despised by his former associates and excluded from participation in the glorious contest of life. Scattered through all these alternating outbursts of hope and despair, there are lessons of morality, and solemn warnings against the tricks and perfidy of the world, the vanity of all earthly splendour and greatness, the folly and injustice of men, and the hypocrisy, frivolity, and viciousness of fashionable society and princely courts in particular.
When the Prophets shared the story of a six-day creation of the physical universe, it was meant for the people to understand that God was saying that six prophets would come into this world and command people to work. When the seventh day came, God would not command in this manner, but would rather reward them for their hard work. His use of the Persian language was a practical choice tied directly to his role as a missionary (da'i), allowing him to effectively communicate and spread Isma'ilism among the Persian-speaking populations of Khorasan and Central Asia.
Nasir was a key figure in the spread of Isma'ilism in Central Asia. He is known as "Pir" or "Shah Sayyid Nasir" among the Isma'ili community of Badakhshan (split between Afghanistan and Tajikistan) and their branches in northern Pakistan, who consider him their founder. Devotees visiting his mausoleum refer to him by titles such as shāh (king), shāh-i buzurgvār (great king), mawlā (guardian), shīd-i Yumgān (sun of Yumgan), and uqāb-i Yumgān (eagle of Yumgan). The latter title references a moral poem by Nasir about an eagle brought down by an arrow fletched with its own feathers, which originated the Persian proverb az māst ki bar māst ("what comes from us returns to us").