Rereading and Criticizing Three Propositions from the Tazkirat al-Awliya by Attar of Nishabouri

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Department of Persian Literature and Language. University of Tehran.

10.29252/kavosh.2026.23112.3698

Abstract

Among Attar's works, the book Tazkirat al-Awliya has a lot of literary and historical value. Ignoring the introduction to Mukhtarnameh, Attar Nishaburi's collection of quatrains, Tazkirat al-Awliya can be considered the only remaining prose work of this famous poet. The last famous and critical edition of these two works, along with other works of Attar, was published by Shafi’i Kadkani as the editor mentioned in some of the introductions of these works. Research on Attar is still at the beginning of its journey. This article aims to make Attar's works as efficient as possible by discussing three points in the margin of Tazkirat al-Awliya. First, a detailed discussion is presented about Junayd al-Baghdadi being a Thawri creed follower. Then, it is proved that the possibility of Junayd Baghdadi’s being a follower of Sufyan Thawri's school is not acceptable; he was originally a follower and Mofti of the school of Abu Thawr Kalbi (d. 240 AH). Next, the story of Ahmad Kharaqani's murder is brought up. Also, it is reminded that Muhammad bin Al-Hussain, who is mentioned in Kharaqani's stories, is not Abu Abd al-Rahman Sulami (died 412 AH).

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References

Books
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Tabatabayi, Sayyed Mahdi. (2020). Reflection on the Meaning of a Few Words and Interpretations in Tazkerat al-Awliya. Journal of Research on Mystical Literature. 14(1). 17-28. doi: 10.22108/jpll.2020.124238.1516. [in Persian].
Tabatabayi, Sayyed Mahdi. (2020). Critique of the Correction of Tazkerat al-Awliya by Mohammad Reza Shafiei Kadkani. Texual Criticism of Persian Literature. 13(1). 79-98. doi: 10.22108/rpll.2020.124712.1764. [in Persian].
Tayefi, Shirzad. (2015). An introduction to the critical recognition of the historical propositions of Tazkira al-Awliya. The 8th Persian Language and Literature Research Conference, February 2016, pp. 1383-1388. [in Persian].
 
Journal of Kavoshnameh in Persian Language and Literature
Volume 26, Issue 67 - Serial Number 67
January 2026
Pages 121-142

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