FARĪDES FARĀYENĪ (or Eṣfahānī), Malek-al-Šoʿarāʾ Ḵᵛāja FARĪD-AL-DĪN AḤWAL (the squint-eyed), 13th-century Persian poet, whose dates of birth and death are not known (d. after 663/1264). After receiving the traditional education of the time, he left his home town for Isfahan, where he entered the service of the Āl-e Ṣāʿed (see ṢĀʿEDĪĀN), the leaders of the Hanafites of Isfahan, and composed panegyrics about them. He later went to Shiraz and joined the court of Salghurid Moẓaffar-al-Dīn Abū Bakr Saʿd b. Zangī (623-58/1226-60, q.v.); he belonged in particular to the circle of Atābak’s son, Saʿd b. Abī Bakr (d. 658/1259), who was a generous patron of literature and whom he panegyrized in many poems. After the latter’s death, Aḥwal stayed at the Salghurid court, writing poetry in praise of Moḥammadšāh (r. 660-61/1262-63), Saljūqšāh (r. 661-63/1262-63), and Ābeš Ḵātūn (r. 663-68/1265-70, q.v.).
Aḥwal left a Dīvān of over 3,000 verses. Much of his poetry is characterized by the use of difficult rhymes and refrains (radīf) and the preponderance of embellished rhetorical devices, particularly in his qaṣīdas, many of which are in emulation of former masters of the genre. He demonstrates special talent in poetic description of objects, which includes masterful pieces describing a mirror, a candle, a rooster, the sun, spring, the sky, sphere, etc. The language of his poetry is dignified and is in the other style of the poets of the end of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th century.
Bibliography:
Ātaškada, p. 970.
Awfī, Lobāb, ed. Nafīsī, pp. 762-63.
Dawlatšāh, Taḏkerat al-šoʿarāʾ, Tehran, 1338 Š./1959, pp. 128-29.
Majmaʿ al-foṣaḥāʾ, ed. Moṣafā, II, pp. 938-43.
Nafīsī, Naẓm o naṯr, p. 166.
Moḥammad-Moẓaffar Ḥosayn Ṣabā, Rūz-e rowšan, Tehran, 1343 Š./1964, p. 623.
Ṣafā Adabīyāt III/1, pp. 408-15.
(Ḏabīḥ-Allāh Ṣafā)
Originally Published: December 15, 1999
Last Updated: December 15, 1999
