Aesthetic aspects in the poetry of Mala-ye Jaziri

International Journal of Kurdish Studies, Jan, 2002 by Farhad Shakely

THE POET'S LIFE

The life of the Kurdish Sufi poet Mala-ye Jaziri has been a matter of dispute amongst the biographers and writers of Kurdish literary history since the mid-nineteenth century. The gap between the earliest and the latest dates given for the poet's birth and death is as wide as fully four and a half centuries.

It appears that in 1005/1596, when Sharaf-Khan Bidlisi (949-1012/1543-1604) wrote the first detailed and comprehensive history of the Kurds, The Sharafnamah, he did not know of a single Kurdish poet, at least one of importance, to include. The first mention of Jaziri was made exactly one century later by another Kurdish poet, Ahmad-i Khani (1061/1651-1119/1706-7). In the introductory sections of his epic, Mam u Zin (completed in 1105/1693-4), Khani mentions the names of three Kurdish poets: Mala-ye Jaziri, 'Ali Hariri, and Faqi(he) Tayran. Describing the wretched conditions among his people, Khani wishes that they had a king who would appreciate knowledge, art and poetry so that he could play the role of developing the Kurdish culture and reviving the Kurdish heritage. He could

      revive Mala-ye Jaziri
      resurrect 'Ali Hariri
      give Faqihe Tayran such delight,
      that he would remain filled with admiration forever.

Information about Jaziri's life is mainly scattered among various biographical sources. In his poetry there is also philological and factual evidence highlighting different periods and aspects of his life. The Mufti of Qamishli, Ahmad b. al-Mulla Muhammad al-Buhti al-Zivingi (1893-1971), published in 1959 a new edition of Jaziri's Diwan along with an Arabic translation and commentary. In his introduction, Zivingi discusses in detail Jaziri's life and time. He rejects fully all preceding opinions concerning the dates of his birth and death, and establishes new facts in the field. His evidence is both internal and external, literary and historical. After considering different indicators, Zivingi concludes that Jaziri was born at the end of the tenth century A.H., and lived probably until 1050 A.H., or perhaps even later. Zivingi's conclusions have had a strong influence on later biographers and editors. They have been used and repeated as facts or as the bases for elaborate discussions about Jaziri's life ever since. It seems that most of the researchers now accept 1570-1640 as the dates of the poet's birth and death.

Obviously most biographers of Jaziri have encountered difficulties of various kinds in presenting a convincing portrait of the poet's life. Their efforts reveal deficiencies of one kind or another. Although they have made use of both internal and external evidence, the problem has remained unsolved. The available material on Jaziri's life, especially the external evidence, is complicated and obscure and therefore provides ample space for different interpretations. The heart of the matter is that we don't find in Jaziri's poetry the slightest indication of the date of his birth or of his life as a whole. It is even difficult to find in his poetry clear signs of the precise time in which he lived.

A great many of the biographical studies on Jaziri provide detailed pictures of the poet's life based mainly on oral and anecdotal evidence. Over the course of time, they have become essential sources. A very small part of the available knowledge can be traced from his poems. In almost all of the sources Jaziri is described as a poet and a Sufi, although the two pictures are less than distinctive. An often repeated and essential theme in these stories is his love for the sister, or the daughter, of the prince of Botan. This was first recorded in Jaba's book. Jaba took his information from the Kurdish scholar Mala Mahmud Bayazidi. The princess is called Salma in most of the later sources because there are a number of Jaziri's poems in which Salma is mentioned, although not necessarily indicating a human beloved. In a few sources, Jaziri's beloved is the daughter of the prince of Hasankayf.

Efforts to compose a biography of Jaziri have concentrated only on a few aspects of his life, leaving essential questions unanswered concerning his studies, his path in Sufism, and the cultural, spiritual and social milieu in which his poetry was developed. Investigation into these areas may well result in much needed knowledge about his times and his poetry.

A review of the main theories and views regarding the life of Jaziri raises the question of whether it is possible to establish a chronology based upon scattered pieces of information in his poetry and biographies. Generally speaking, one can apply as a model the traditional pattern of the lives of many Oriental classical poets: the study of the Qur'an, the traditional system of education, the extensive travel to obtain knowledge, and the service in a mosque as a preacher or a court poet. Many of those who have written about Jaziri have taken this approach. On the other hand, the study of the formal, aesthetic and philosophical values in his poetry can provide us with a comprehensive picture of the rational and intellectual dimensions of his life as well.