Fakhr al-Din Iraqi
Fakhr al-Din Iraqi was a Persian Sufi poet of the 13th century. He is principally known for his mixed prose and poetry work, the Lama'at, as well as his divan, most of which were written in the form of a ghazal.
Born to a religious and well-read family, during his youth, Iraqi joined a group of qalandars in search for spiritual knowledge. They eventually reached Multan in India, where Iraqi later became a disciple of Baha al-Din Zakariyya, the leader of the Multani branch of the Suhrawardiyya, a Sufi order. After the latter's death in 1262, Iraqi briefly became his successor, but was forced to leave due to the envy of his former master's son Sadr al-Din Arif and some of his disciples.
Following a pilgrimage to Mecca, Iraqi settled in Konya in Anatolia, where he became acquainted with many figures, such as his new patron, Mu'in al-Din Parwana, an administrator of the Mongol Ilkhanate. Following his patron's disgrace and execution in 1277, Iraqi was accused of collaborating with him, and thus forced to flee. After a brief stay at Sinope, Iraqi moved to Cairo for a few years, and then eventually to Damascus, where he died in 1289.
By successfully combining two mystical schools, the Arabic-speaking Sufism of the Andalusian mystic Ibn Arabi, and the Persian poetic style of Sufism, Iraqi managed to give his writings rich and expressive imagery, a feat which had a permanent impact on Iranian spirituality.
Historiography
The anonymous Muqaddima of Iraqi's divan is the main source for his life. Although it was written in same style of Iraqi's era, the American historian William Chittick argues that it may have been composed as late as the 15th century. Another historian, Ève Feuillebois, adds that if this hypothesis is correct, the oldest source that mentions Iraqi would be the Tarikh-i guzida, composed by the historian and geographer Hamdallah Mustawfi in 1330. Context for Iraqi's ghazals are provided by the stories in the Muqaddima, but they have little value in terms of historicity. They focus a lot on Iraqi's shahidbazi, a Sufi custom of staring at young males in order to witness the image of the divine witness.The Muqaddima served as the main source for later accounts of Iraqi's biography. These sources include the Nafahat al-uns composed between 1476 and 1478 by the poet and hagiographer Jami, and the Habib al-siyar by the historian Khvandamir.
Biography
Of Persian stock, Iraqi was born in 1213/14 in the village of Komjan, close to Hamadan, one of the major cities of Persian Iraq. He was the son of a certain Buzurgmihr ibn Abd al-Ghaffar Jawaliqi, and belonged to a religious and well-read family. By the age of six, Iraqi had reportedly memorized the Quran. He was then educated in religious sciences, and was by the age of seventeen a teacher in a madrasa in Hamadan. During one time when Iraqi, still at a young age, was teaching tafsir, a group of qalandars attended his teaching session. They convinced him to abandon his teachings and join them in search for spiritual knowledge.They eventually went to the city of Multan in India, where Iraqi met Baha al-Din Zakariyya, the leader of the Multani branch of the Suhrawardiyya, a Sufi order. Iraqi first became his disciple two years later, after wandering in India. He continued to stay as Baha al-Din's disciple for 25 years, eventually marrying the latter's daughter and having a son named Kabir al-Din. Following Baha al-Din's death in 1262, Iraqi succeeded him as the head of the order. However, due to the envy of Baha al-Din's son, Sadr al-Din Arif, and some of his disciples, he was shortly afterwards forced to leave Multan.
Along with a group of loyal companions, Iraqi made a pilgrimage to Mecca. While they were on their way in Hijaz, the sultan of Oman unsuccessfully attempted to hold Iraqi back. After the pilgrimage, Iraqi went to the city of Konya in Anatolia. There he started studying with Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi, the most prominent disciple of the Andalusian mystic Ibn Arabi. It was during this period that Iraqi started writing the Lama'at, a book which Sadr al-Din highly admired. Iraqi watched the sama sessions that the prominent Persian poet Rumi organized. He also reportedly attended Rumi's funeral.
Another figure who attended Rumi's sessions was Mu'in al-Din Parwana, an administrator of the Mongol Ilkhanate. He became a follower of Iraqi and had a khanaqah constructed in Duqat for him and his students. Iraqi also became acquainted with Shams al-Din Juvayni, who served as the minister of the Ilkhanate rulers from 1262 to 1284. Following the disgrace and execution of Parwana, Iraqi was accused of having hidden state property for Parwana, and thus forced to flee. With the help of Shams al-Din Juvayni, Iraqi escaped to the city of Sinope, which was ruled by Parwana's son Mu'in al-Din Muhammad, who was known for his support of Sufis. Iraqi then went to the city of Cairo, where he stayed for some years and gained the support of its ruler, the Mamluk sultan Qalawun.
Along with his son Kabir al-Din, Iraqi later went to the city of Damascus, where he died at the age of 78. He was buried next to Ibn Arabi in the cemetery of the Salihiyya district of Damascus, but nothing of his tomb remains today.
Works
The divan of Iraqi is mostly written in the form of ghazals and encompasses 4,500 double verses. It includes twenty qasidas about religious and mystical material; a commendation of his teachers Baha al-Din Zakariyya and Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi, as well as the Islamic prophet Muhammad ; seven strophic poems regarding mystical philosophy, and around 200 rubaʿis regarding love, spirituality, and disruptive Sufism, the latter of which is most likely mostly forgery. 300 mystical/love ghazals that were written during his stay in India make up the majority of his poetry. Some of the poems also show influence from philosophy of Ibn Arabi, which demonstrates that they were written after Iraqi met Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi.Iraqi's famous Lama'at is mixed prose and poetry and consists of 27, or perhaps 28 chapters, as early texts suggest that one of the chapters is two chapters, similar to Ibn Arabi's Fusus al-Hikam. Despite the fact that the work is based on Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi's understanding of Ibn Arabi's works, it is not just a commentary, as it combines Ibn Arabi's philosophy with Persian love-mysticism, thus making it comprehensible and welcomed by the Persians. In the introduction of the work, Iraqi says that he was encouraged by the love treatise Sawanih al-ʿushshaq of the prominent Persian mystic, writer, and preacher Ahmad Ghazali.
Iraqi has been credited with the writing of the Istilahat, a short book about Sufi terminology. However, it is in reality a variant of the Rashf al-alhaz fi kashf al-alfaz by another Sufi, the 14th-century writer Sharaf al-Din Husayn ibn Ulfati Tabrizi.
Iraqi was also originally considered the author of the Ushshaq-nama, also known as Dah-nama, a masnavi filled with some ghazals. However, the modern historian J. Baldick has argued that it was in reality written roughly thirty years later by one of his admirers, Ata'i. This suggestion has received support by other historians.
Legacy and assessment
By successfully combining two mystical schools, the Arabic-speaking Sufism of Ibn Arabi, and the Persian poetic style of Sufism, Iraqi managed to give his writings rich and expressive imagery, a feat which had a permanent impact on Iranian spirituality.Iraqi is highly regarded by scholars on Persian literature, such as Saeed Nafisi, who regarded his "bold exposition of love mysteries to be unparalleled in all Persian poetry."