{"collection":"Texts of Islam","full_text_available":false,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/sacred_texts_v1_isl_saab_saab02_htm/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/sacred_texts_v1_isl_saab_saab02_htm","id":"sacred_texts_v1_isl_saab_saab02_htm","license":"unknown_pending_legal_review","rights_basis":"sacred_texts_v1_preview_gate_primary_text_only; acquisition-method/ToS and compilation-copyright questions still open, not resolved by this gate","source":"sacred_texts_v1","source_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/isl/saab/saab02.htm","summary":"This is the biographical preface to Edward FitzGerald's 1904 English translation of *Salaman and Absal*, a Persian poem by the 15th-century Sufi poet J\u00e1mi (1414\u20131492). The piece draws heavily on Rosenzweig's German-language biographical notes compiled from J\u00e1mi's own writings and contemporary commentators, tracing the poet's life from his boyhood in Khoras\u00e1n through his education in Her\u00e1t and Samarcand, his Sufi initiation under a master of the Nakhsbend order, and his eventual fame across the Islamic world. A significant portion follows J\u00e1mi's 1472 pilgrimage to Mecca and his encounters with rival dynastic rulers \u2014 including Hasan Beg of Mesopotamia and Sultan Husein of Her\u00e1t \u2014 who competed to honor him even while warring with one another, illustrating poetry's unique political neutrality in the Persian world. The text is notably anecdotal and colorful, dwelling on J\u00e1mi's miraculous reputation as a saint (enemies who wronged him died grotesquely soon after), his prolific output of up to 99 volumes, and his lifelong self-identification as a Dervish despite lavish royal patronage. FitzGerald's editorial voice is wry and digressive \u2014 he apologizes for the preface's length while clearly relishing the material \u2014 making this as much a portrait of Orientalist enthusiasm as of J\u00e1mi himself. It will appeal most to readers interested in Persian literary history, Sufism, or the Victorian translation tradition.","tags":[],"text":null,"title":"Salaman and Absal: Life of J\u00e1mi","tradition":"Texts of Islam","translated_text":null,"word_count":2607}