Nov 9, 2025
Jamal ad-Dīn Abū Muḥammad Ilyās ibn-Yūsuf ibn-Zakkī better known as Nizami is considered the greatest romantic epic poet in Persian literature. His love story of Layla and Majnun inspired the Eric Clapton hit record of 1970, “Layla” and there are monuments of Nizami as far as Beijing and Rome.
- Nizami was born in the modern-day Republic of Azerbaijan around 1141CE and lived at the same time as Attar, the subject of our previous episode. What more can we say about his socio-political and cultural context?
- Like many of the poets we have examined, details of Nizami’s life is sketchy. We learn his mother was Kurdish. He was married three times. What more can we say about his personal biography?
- Nizami’s main works are five which are collectively called the Khamsa or Panj Ganj (Five Treasures). Let’s talk about them.
- What translations and secondary resources would you recommend on Nizami?
- And finally let’s end with a sample and translation.
Further Reading:
Layli and Majnun (translated by Dick Davis)
Khosrow and Shirin (translated by Dick Davis)
Haft Paykar: A Medieval Persian Romance (translated by Julie Scott Meisami)
The Treasury of Mysteries (translated by Gholam Hosein Darab)
Ali Hammoud:
https://alihammoud7.substack.com/
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