Nasir Khusraw This article or section needs a complete rewrite for the reasons listed on the talk page . Nasir Khusraw ( 1004 - 1088 ) , also written as Nasir Khusrao or Nasir-i-Khusraw , was a scholar , Persian poet and an Ismaili Pir or theologian , who was especially well-known in the northern areas of Pakistan , parts of China , Afghanistan and Central Asia . He was born in 1004 , in Qubadiyan , Afghanistan/ Tajikistan . He died in 1088 and was buried in Yumgan , Afghanistan . His nom de plume was Hujjat . Naser Khosrow comemmorated on 1975 Iranian stamp . Life The first forty-two years of his life are obscure ; we learn from incidental remarks of his that he was a Sunnite , probably according to the Hanifite rite , well versed in all the branches of natural science , in medicine , mathematics , astronomy and astrology , in Greek philosophy , and the interpretation of the Koran ; that he was much addicted to worldly pleasures , especially to excessive wine drinking . He had studied Arabic , Turkish , Greek , the vernacular languages of India and Sind , and perhaps even Hebrew ; he had visited Multn and Lahore , and the splendid Ghaznavid court under Sultan Mahmud , Firdousi 's patron . Later on he chose Merv for his residence , and was the owner of a house and garden there . In A.H. 437 ( CE 1045 ) he appears as financial secretary and revenue collector of the Seljuk sultan Toghrul Beg , or rather of his brother Jaghir Beg , the emir of Khorasan , who had conquered Merv in 1037 . About this time , inspired by a heavenly voice ( which he pretends to have heard in a dream ) , he abjured all the luxuries of life , and resolved upon a pilgrimage to the holy shrines of Mecca and Medina , hoping to find there the solution of all his religious doubts . The graphic description of this journey is contained in the Safarnama , which possesses a special value among books of travel , since it contains the most authentic account of the state of the Muslim world in the middle of the 11th century . The minute sketches of Jerusalem and its environs are even now of practical value . During the seven years of his journey ( CE 1045-1052 ) Nasir visited Mecca four times , and performed all the rites and observances of a zealous pilgrim ; but he was far more attracted by Cairo , the capital of Egypt , and the residence of the Fatimid sultan Mostansir billah , the great champion of the Shi'a , and the spiritual as well as political head of the house of Ali , which was just then waging a deadly war against the Abbasid caliph of Baghdad , and the great defender of the Sunnite creed , Toghrul Beg the Seljuk . At the very time of Nasir 's visit to Cairo , the power of the Egyptian Fatimites was in its zenith ; Syria , the Hejaz , Africa , and Sicily obeyed Mostanir 's sway , and the utmost order , security and prosperity reigned in Egypt . At Cairo he became thoroughly imbued with Shi'a doctrines , and their introduction into his native country was henceforth the sole object of his life . The hostility he encountered in the propagation of these new religious ideas after his return to Khorasan in 1052 and Sunnite fanaticism compelled him at last to flee , and after many wanderings he found a refuge in Yumgan ( about 1060 ) in the mountains of Badakshan , where he spent as a hermit the last decades of his life , and gathered round him a considerable number of devoted adherents , who have handed down his doctrines to succeeding generations . Most of Nasir 's lyrical poems were composed in his retirement , and their chief topics are an enthusiastic praise of Ali , his descendants , and Mostansir in particular ; passionate outcries against Khorasan and its rulers , who had driven him from house and home ; the highest satisfaction with the quiet solitude of Yumgan ; and utter despondency again in seeing himself despised by his former associates and for ever excluded from participation in the glorious contest of life . But scattered through all these alternate outbursts of hope and despair we find precious lessons of purest 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 . It is the same strain which runs , although in a somewhat lower key , through his two larger mathnawis or double-rhymed poems , the Rushaiiainama , or Book of enlightenment , and the Saadatnama , or Book of felicity . The former is divided into two sections : the first , of a metaphysical character , contains a sort of practical cosmography , chiell based on Avicenna 's theories , but frequently intermixed both wit the freer speculations of the well-known philosophical brotherhood of Basra , the Ikhwan-es-safgi , and purely Shi'ite or Ismailite ideas ; the second , or ethical section of the poem , abounds in moral maxims and ingenious thoughts on mans good and bad qualities , on the necessity of shunning the company of fools and double-faced friends , on the deceptive allurements of the world and the secret snares of ambitious craving for rank and wealth . It concludes with an imaginary vision of a beautiful work of spirits who have stripped off the fetters of earthly cares and sorrows and revel in the pure light of divine wisdom and love . If we compare this with a similar allegory in Nasir 's diwan , which culminates in the praise of Motansir , we are fairly entitled to look upon it as a covert allusion to the eminent men who revealed to the poet in Cairo the secrets of the Ismailitic faith , and showed him what he considered the heavenly ladder to superior knowledge and spiritual bliss . The passage , thus interpreted , lends additional weight to the correctness of Dr. Ethb 's reconstruction of the date of the Rushaninuma , viz . A.H. 440 ( CE 1049 ) , which , notwithstanding M. Schefer 's objections , is warranted both by the astronomical details and by the metrical requirements of the respective verses . That of course does not exclude the possibility of the bulk of the poem having been composed at an earlier period ; it only ascribes its completion or perhaps final revision to Nasir 's sojourn in Egypt . A similar series of excellent teachings on practical wisdom and the blessings of a virtuous life , only of a severer and more uncompromising character , is contained in the Saadatnama ; and , judging from the extreme bitterness of tone manifested in the reproaches of kings and emirs , we should be inclined to consider it a protest against the vile aspersions poured out upon Nasir 's moral and religious attitude during those persecutions which drove him at last to Yungan . Of all the other works of our author mentioned by Oriental writers there has as yet been found only one , the Zddelmusafirin or travelling provisions of pilgrims ( in the private possession of M. Schefer , Paris ) , a theoretical description of his religious and philosophical principles ; and we can very well dismiss the rest as being probably just as apocryphal as Nasir 's famous autobiography ( found in several Persian tadhkiras or biographies of poets ) , a mere forgery of the most extravagant description , which is mainly responsible for the confusion in names and dates in older accounts of our author . Alternative version Naser Khosrow Qobadiani ( 1003 – 1088 ) , the Persian traveller , theologian and philosopher , was born to a rich family in the town of Qobadian , near the present day city of Balkh . He studied various sciences such as Koranic exegesis , mathematics , Greek philosophy , astronomy , geography and theology , and received a position in the “Justice Court” of the Seljuk Empire . Until 1046 , he was a senior secretary and a successful accountant , but a vision during the night changed his life . He sensed that he couldn’t stay home and decided to visit other lands and become acquainted with other peoples . Thus , Naser went to the capital city of Merv and resigned his job to pilgrimage to Mecca . He left Merv and started his 19000- kilometer journey through the Islamic World from Iran to Sudan . In Egypt he met the Fatimid Caliph Al-Mustansir ( ruled 1035 – 1085 ) and was respected for his science and intelligence . Al-Mustansir was an Ismaili and presented his sect to Naser Khosrow . Naser researched a lot about this Islamic denomination and finally converted to Ismailism . He came back as a missionary to convert people of Greater Khorasan to Ismailism . Naser was an eloquent man , an expert writer and his mission was too successful in the eyes of some Sunni clerics and the king , who opposed him . Naser had to leave his birthplace again and emigrated to Yamgan Valley near Badakhshan Mountains ( now in Afghanistan ) . He spent his last years there and wrote most of his books . Books Safarnameh ( The Itinerary ) is his most famous work . He visited tens of cities in about seven years ( 1046 , March 6 – 1052 , October 23 ) and wrote comprehensively about them : colleges , caravanserais , mosques , area , population , scientists , kings , usual people and his interesting memories . After 1000 years his “Safarnameh” is still readable for Persian-speaking people . Among his other books are : Divan ( the collection of odes and short poems ) Sa’adat Nameh ( The Book of Happiness ) Zaad al-Mosaferin , written in 1061 about Ismailism beliefs Vajh-e Din ( The face of religion ) References used E.G. Browne . Literary History of Persia . ( Four volumes , 2 , 256 pages , and twenty-five years in the writing ) . 1998 . ISBN 0-700-70406-X Jan Rypka , History of Iranian Literature . Reidel Publishing Company . ASIN B-000-6BXVT-K See also List of Persian poets and authors Persian literature External links Naser Khosrow in jazirehdanesh ( persian ) Millenary Celebrations of Nasir Khusraw Sayyidna Nasir Khusraw Nasir Khusraw : Yesterday , Today , Tomorrow Nasir Khusraw : The Ruby of Badakhshan Nasir Khusraw : Fatimid Intellectual This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition , a publication now in the public domain . Categories : Wikipedia articles needing rewrite | Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica | Arab people | 1004 births | 1089 deaths In other languages : Deutsch | فارسی 