The Quatrains of Najm al-Dín Rází: An Assessment of their Place in the Tradition of Iranian Mystical Poetry

Brian A. Miller

In 1985 the collected quatrains of Shaykh Najm al-Dín Rází were published in Tehran, affording the opportunity to assess their literary value apart from their prose context, in which they functioned as adornment and emphasis for the Shaykh's ideas and instructions. This study compares these verses according to their style and theme with selected quatrains from the acknowledged masters of this literary form in mystical Persian poetry, including 'Abdu'lláh Ansárí, Jalál al-Dín Rúmí, Bábá Afdal, Abú Sa'íd ibn Abí al-Khayr, and Bábá Táhir. I conclude that the literary merit of Rází's quatrains has been overlooked.

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