ʿARABŠĀH, ʿEMĀD-AL-DĪN ʿARABŠĀH YAZDĪ, a poet and mystic of the 8th/14th century. He was a contemporary of Shah Yaḥyā, grandson of Mobārez-al-dīn Moẓaffar, founder of the Moẓaffarid dynasty, who ruled Yazd and was put to death by Tīmūr in 795/1392. Shah Yaḥyā and his two sons are eulogized by ʿArabšāh in the exordium of his narrative poem Moʾnes al-ʿoššāq. The poem runs to about 1000 verses in the Hazaǰ Mosaddas Aḵrab Makfūf Maḥdūf meter (the meter of Neẓāmī’s Leylī o Maǰnūn) and deals with the same subjects as the Persian prose work, also entitled Moʾnes al-ʿoššāq, by Šayḵ Šehāb-al-dīn Sohravardī (executed 587/1191 ) (see Īżāḥ al-maknūn II, col. 607). In the versified rendering, which was completed and dedicated to Shah Yaḥyā in 781/1379, ʿArabšāh has applied some fine poetic touches and added some literary ornamentation but has not in any way altered the original meaning.
The subjects of Sohravardī’s and accordingly of ʿArabšāh’s Moʾnes al-ʿoššāq are love and its incidence, sources, and stages. The ideas are conveyed through allegories and allusions. The work may therefore be placed in the category of expository story-writing.
Bibliography:
Esmāʿīl Pāšā Baḡdādī, Īżāḥ al-maknūn fi’l-ḏayl ʿalā kašf al-ẓonūn, 2 vols., Istanbul, 1945-47.
A more detailed account of ʿArabšāh and his Moʾnes al-ʿoššāq, with illustrative quotations, can be found in Ḏ. Ṣafā, Adabīyāt, 2nd ed., Tehran, 1355 Š./1976, III/2, pp. 1093-1105.
(Z. Safa)
Originally Published: December 15, 1986
Last Updated: August 10, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. II, Fasc. 3, p. 243
