Afzal ad-Din Maragi Kashani ( fa, افضل‌الدین مَرَقی کاشانی) also known as Baba Afzal ( fa, بابا افضل‌) was a

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

.William Chittick. Encyclopedia Iranica, "BĀBĀ AFŻAL-AL-DĪN"
/ref> Several dates have been suggested for his death, with the best estimate being around 1213/1214.

Life

The information on his life is scanty and few. His writing portray a disdain for officials of his time and he is said to have once been imprisoned by the local governor on trumped-up charges of practicing sorcery. His tomb located in the village Maraq, forty-two km northwest of

Kashan Kashan ( fa, ; Qashan; Cassan; also romanized as Kāshān) is a city in the northern part of Isfahan province, Iran. At the 2017 census, its population was 396,987 in 90,828 families. Some etymologists argue that the city name comes from ...

, is still a place of pilgrimage. The bestHeart of Islamic Philosophy: The Quest for Self-Knowledge in the Teachings of Afdal al-Din Kashani. By William C. Chittick. New York: Oxford University (2001) . pg 309: "For the best summary in Persian of what is known about Baba Afdal's life and work, see 'Abbas Zaryab, "Baba Afdal," Dainshnama-yi Jahan-i Islam (Tehran: Bunyat-i Da'irat al-Ma'arif-i Islami, 1369/1980)." summary of Persian of what is known about Baba Afza's life and work, is written in the World Encyclopedia of Islam (Danishnama-i Jahan-i Islam) by the late

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

Abbas Zaryab Khoei.

Works

His most universally recognized contribution to

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

culture lies in the field of

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

. In poetry he has been considered one of the two or three greatest masters of the robāʿī(quatrains), while in philosophical prose only Suhrawardi stands on the same level. Similar to

Avicenna Ibn Sina ( fa, ابن سینا; 980 – June 1037 CE), commonly known in the West as Avicenna (), was a Persian polymath who is regarded as one of the most significant physicians, astronomers, philosophers, and writers of the Islamic G ...

(in his work Daneshnameyeh 'Alai), Baba Afzal employs a great deal of

vocabulary where others would have used

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

, but unlike

he chooses only attractive and mellifluous terms. His works from the viewpoint of literary tradition is a delight to read nor does he neglect to employ the corresponding Arabic terms where clarity demands them. His influence on later thinkers has not been investigated however his works which are clearly and beautifully written were probably a source of inspirtation for philosophical writings in both Arabic and Persian. For his part, he follows the philosophical and logical terminology of

while most his works evoke a visionary aura in spite of their philosophical and logical exactitude. Besides his poetry, 54 works of prose in varying length have survived.

Poetry

Around 500

quatrains A quatrain is a type of stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four lines. Existing in a variety of forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Persia, Ancient India, Ancient Greec ...

are ascribed to him. Some of the themes include warnings about the futility of involvement with the things of the corporeal world, the correspondence between microcosm and macrocosm, and self-knowledge as the goal of human existence. Some of his quatrains are also recorded in the book Nozhat al-Majales. He is considered by some to be the greatest poet among the outstanding philosophers of Islam.Seyyed Hossein Nasr(1984), "Afdal al-Din Kashani and the Philosophical World of Khwaja Nasir al-Din Tusi", in Michael E. Marmura, "Islamic Theology and Philosophy: Studies in Honor of George F. Hourani", State University of New York: Albany Press" The themes of these quatrains include warnings about the futility of involvement with the things of the corporeal world, the correspondence between microcosm and macrocosm, and autology (self-knowledge) as the goal of human existence.

ʿArż-nāma

This is considered his magnum opus. It is the longest and most complete exposition of his philosophy that brings together all topics related to the perfection of the soul. It is divided into four “displays” (ʿarż) arranged in an ascending order according to the four kinds of things in the universe: corporeal bodies (ajsām), which are acted upon (kardahā); agents or souls, which do the acting (konandahā); concepts or known things (dānestahā); and knowers (dānandagān).

Javedan-nama

This comprehensive work is his most specifically

Islamic Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the mai ...

treatment of his favorite themes; it is the only work of certain ascription to him outside the letters that quotes and comments on

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...

and

Hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...

(Prophetic Sayings).

Other works

* Madarej al-Kamal ( fa, مدارج الکمال) * Rahanjām-nāma - ( fa, راه انجام نامه) In three discourses this work explains self-knowledge as the road to human perfection. * Resāla dar ʿelm o noṭq ( fa, رساله در علم و نطق) * Sāz o pīrāya-ye šāhān-e pormāya ( fa, ساز و پیرایه شاهان پرمایه) * Mabādī-e mawjūdāt-e nafsānī * Āyāt al-ṣaṇʿa fi’l-kašf ʿan maṭāleb elāhīya sabʿa - Brief discussion in Arabic of the intellect, soul and the body.

Philosophy

He wrote during a period when several figures were bridging the gaps between

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

and

sufism Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...

. His major concern is to explain the salvific power of true knowledge, i.e., self-knowledge, or knowledge of the Self (ḏāt or howwīyat, God Himself viewed as the center of man’s being). His philosophy is an autology ( fa, خودشناسی)(Persian: ḵhod-šenāsī). That is: "To know oneself is to know the everlasting reality that is consciousness, and to know it is to be it.". His ontology is interconnected simultaneously with his

epistemology Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Episte ...

, because according to him, full actualization of the potentialities of the universe can only take place through the self-awareness of human beings. This ontology can only be realized by the training of the human soul, or education in the widest sense of the term. His view of the structure of the reality is succinctly explained in the beginning of his work Rahanjām-nāma.

Sample Poetry

A quatrain: ''Suppose you run the world as you like, then what?''
''You read life's book to the end, then what?''
''You have your way for hundred years---''
''then a hundred more, then What?''

References and notes

Sources

*The Heart of Islamic Philosophy: The Quest for Self-Knowledge in the Teachings of Afdal al-Din Kashani. By William C. Chittick. New York: Oxford University (2001)