Nezami

Infobox Writer
name = Nezami

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imagesize = 180px
caption = 20th century Artistic rendition of Nezami
pseudonym =
birthdate = 1141
birthplace = Ganja
deathdate = 1209
deathplace =
occupation = Persian Poetry
nationality =
period =
genre = Romantic Epic Poetry, Wisdom Literature
subject =
movement =
notableworks = The Five Jewels (Khamseh, Panj Ganj)
influences = Ferdowsi, Fakhruddin As'ad Gurgani, Sanai
influenced = Amir Khusro, Khwaju Kermani, Jami, Vahshi Bafqi, Maktabi Shirazi, Ali-Shir Nava'i, Fuzûlî, Ehmedê Xanî
website =

Nezāmi-ye Ganjavi (PerB|نظامی گنجوی; _ku. Nîzamî Gencewî, نیزامی گه‌نجه‌وی; _az. Nizami Gəncəvi, نظامی گنجوی ;‎ 1141 – 1209), or Nezāmi (PerB|نظامی), whose full name was "Nizām ad-Dīn Abū Muhammad Ilyās ibn-Yusūf ibn-Zakī ibn-Mu'ayyad", is considered the greatest romantic epic poet in Persian literature, who brought a colloquial and realistic style to the Persian epic.Encyclopædia Britannica, [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9055636 "Nezami"] ] Dr. Julie Scott Meisami, "The Haft Paykar: A Medieval Persian Romance (Oxford World's Classics)", Oxford University Pr. (T), 1995, ISBN 0-19-283184-4, [http://www.azargoshnasp.net/famous/nezami/nezamijuliascott.htm extract] ] His heritage is widely appreciated and shared by Azerbaijan, Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Nezami is also pronounced as "Nizami" in some Western literature, Russian, Azerbaijani Turkish, Kurdish and some Persian dialects.

Life

Little is known about Nizami's life,Jan Rypka (Rypka, Jan. ‘Poets and Prose Writers of the Late Saljuq and Mongol Periods’, in The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 5, The Saljuq and Mongol Periods, ed., Published January 1968. pg 578:As the scene of the greatest flowering of the panegyrical qasida, southern Caucasia occupies a prominent place in New Persian literary history. Hakim Jamal al-din Abu Muhammad Ilyas b. Yusuf b. Zaki b. Mu’ayyad Nizami a native of Ganja in Azarbaijan, is an unrivalled master of thoughts and words, a poet whose freshness and vigour all the succeeding centuries have been unable to dull. Little is known of his life, the only source being his own works, which in many cases provided no reliable information. We can only deduce that he was born between 535 and 540 (1140-46) and that his background was urban. ..... the poet himself calling her Ra’isa and describing her as Kurdish.] the only source being his own work, which does not provide much information on his personal life. He was born of an urban background and it is believed that he lived all of his life in Ganja.

Parents

Nezami was orphaned] early and was raised by his maternal uncle Khwaja Umar who took responsibility for him and afforded him an excellent education. His mother, named "Ra'isa", was of a Kurdish [V. Minorsky, Studies in Caucasian History, Cambridge University Press, 1957. pg 34:“The author of the collection of documents relating to Arran Mas’ud b. Namdar (c. 1100) claims Kurdish nationality. The mother of the poet Nizami of Ganja was Kurdish (see autobiographical digression in the introduction of Layli wa Majnun). In the 16th century there was a group of 24 septs of Kurds in Qarabagh, see Sharaf-nama, I, 323. Even now the Kurds of the USSR are chiefly grouped south of Ganja. Many place-names composed with Kurd are found on both banks of the Kur”] V.Minorsky: "review of G. H. Darab translation of Makhzan al-Asrar" 1945 Minorsky, BSOAS., 1948, xii/2, 441-5):"Whether Nizami was born in Qom or in Ganja is not quite clear. The verse (quoted on p. 14): “I am lost as a pearl in the sea of Ganja, yet I am from the Qohestan of the city of Qom “, does not expressly mean that he was born in Qom. On the other hand, Nizami’s mother was of Kurdish origin, and this might point to Ganja where the Kurdish dynasty of Shaddad ruled down to AH. 468; even now Kurds are found to the south of Ganja."] background. His father, whose name was "Yusuf" is mentioned once by Nezami in his poetry. In the same verse, Nezami mentions his grandfather's name as "Zakki" and his great grandfather's name as "Mu'ayyad". Some sources have stated that his father might be possibly from Qom.

Family

Nezami was married three times. His first wife, "Afaq", a Kipchak slave girl, was sent to him by Fakhr al-Din Bahramshah, the ruler of Darband, as a part of a larger gift. She became Nezami's first and most beloved wife. His only son "Mohammad" was from Afaq. Afaq died after "Khosrow and Shirin" was completed. Mohammad was seven at the time. Strangely enough, Nezami's other wives, too, died prematurely - the death of each coinciding with the completion of an epic, prompting the poet to say, "God, why is it that for every mathnavi I must sacrifice a wife!" [Iraj Bashiri, [http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/bashiri/Teahouse/Figures.html#Nizami "The Teahouse at a Glance" - Nizami's Life and Works] , 2000]

Education

Often referred to by the honorific Hakim("the Sage"), Nezami is both a learned poet and master of a lyrical and sensuous style. About Nezami's prodigious learning there is no doubt. Poets were expected to be well versed in many subjects; but Nezami seems to have been exceptionally so. His poems show that not only he was fully acquainted with Arabic and Persian literatures and with oral and written popular and local traditions, but was also familiar with such diverse fields as mathematics, astronomy, astrology, alchemy, medicine, botany, [Christine van Ruymbeke. Science and Poetry in Medieval Persia: The Botany of Nizami's Khamsa . University of Cambridge Press.] Koranic exegesis, Islamic theory and law, history, ethics, philosophy and esoteric thought, music, and the visual arts.

Influences and Literary Scene

The earliest extant example of Persian poetry from the area is that of Qatran Tabrizi who served in the courts of the Shaddadid and Rawadid dynasties. Qatran Tabrizi, is credited with what some scholars in the last century have termed as the founder of the "Azerbaijan" or "Trans-Cacausian" school [Rypka, Jan. “Poets and Prose Writers of the Late Saljuq and Mongol Periods”, The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 5, The Saljuq and Mongol Periods, ed., Published January 1968. Excerpt: "The school, which begins with Qatran (d. 1072), formed a well defined group of teachers and pupils of whom two, Khaqani and Nezami, were to exert a lasting development of their respective genre: Khaqani being the greatest exponent of the qasida and Nezami the most brilliant writer of romantic epics”. ] of Persian poetry. This school produced a distinctive style of poetry in Persian, which contrasted with "Khurasani" ("Eastern") style in its rhetorical sophistication, its innovative use of metaphor and its use of technical terminology and Christian imagery. The Seljuqs took control of Ganja from the Shaddadids in 1075 A.D. and spread Persian literary westwards to their courts. In the middle of the twelfth century, the Seljuks control of the region weakened and their provincial governors, virtually autonomous local princes, further encouraged Persian poetry in their courts. Nezami was patronized by different rulers and dedicated his epics to various rival dynasties including the Seljuqs, Eldiguzids, Shirvanshahs and Ahmadilis (Atabekan-e-Maragheh). Although he enjoyed the patronage of various rulers and princes, he avoided the court life and is generally believed to have lived a secluded life.

According to Professor Chelkowski: "It seems that Nezami’s favorite pastime was reading Firdawsi’s monumental epic Shahnameh (The book of Kings)". [(Chelkowski, P. “Nezami’s Iskandarnameh:”in Colloquio sul poeta persiano Nizami e la leggenda iranica di Alessandro magno, Roma,1977).] Nezami has mentioned Ferdowsi as the Sage (Hakim) and Knower/Wise (daanaa) and the great master of discourse: "who has decorated words like new bride". Nezami advises the son of the Shirvanshah to read the Shah-nama and to remember the meaningful sayings of the wise. [Dr. Ali Asghar Seyed Gohrab. "Layli and Majnun: Love, Madness and Mystic Longing", Brill Studies in Middle Eastern literature, Jun 2003. pg 276.] Nizami has used the Shahnameh as a source in his three epics "Haft Paykar", "Khosrow and Shirin" and "Eskandar-nameh".

The story of "Vis and Ramin" also had a immense influence on Nezami. Although Nezami takes the bases for most of his plots from Ferdowsi, but the basis for his rhetoric comes from Gorgani.Dick Davis (January 6 2005), [http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/ot_grp6/ot_vis_o_ramin_20050106.html "Vis o Rāmin"] , in: "Encyclopaedia Iranica Online Edition". Accessed on April 25, 2008.] This is especially noticeable in the Khosrow and Shirin, which is of the same meter and imitates some scenes from "Vis and Ramin". Nezami's concern with astrology also has a precedent in an elaborate astrological description of the night sky in "Vis and Ramin". Nezami had a paramount influence on the romantic tradition, and Gorgani can be said to have initiated much of the distintive rhetoric and poetic atmosphere of this tradition, with the absence of the Sufi influences, which are seen in Nezami's epic poetry.

The first monumental work of Nezami, the Makhzan al-Asrar is influenced by Sanai’s "Hadikat al-Hakika".Chelkowski, P. “Nizami Gandjawi , jamal al-Din Abu Muhammad Ilyas b. Yusuf b. Zaki Muayyad .”Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P. Bearman , Th. Bianquis , C.E. Bosworth , E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2008. Brill Online.] Nezami acknowledges this but considers his work to be superior. The main similarities between Sanai’s poem and Nezami’s are in its ethico-philosophical genre, although Nezami utilizies a different metre and organized the whole work in a different fashion.

Works

Nezami lived in an age of both political instability and intense intellectual activity, which his poems reflect; but little is known about his life, his relations with his patrons, or the precise dates of his works, as the many legends built up around the poet color the accounts of his later biographers. Only a small corpus of his lyric poetry, mainly qaṣīdahs (“odes”) and ghazals (“lyrics”) have survived.

Nezami is best known for his five long narrative poems, which have been preserved. He dedicated his poems to various rulers of the region as was custom of that time for great poets, but avoided court life.

Nezami was a master of the "Masnavi" style (double-rhymed verses). He wrote poetical works; the main one is the "Panj Ganj" (Persian: Five Jewels) "Quinary", also known by the Persian pronunciation of the same word in Arabic, "Khamse". The "Quinary" includes the five Persian books of Nezami:

*Makhzan al-Asrar "The Storehouse of Mysteries" (1163) (some put it at 1176)::Persian: مخزن الاسرار:: The ethico-philosophical poems of about 2,250 Persian distichs was dedicated to Fakhr al-Din Bahramshah, the ruler of Erzinjan. The story deals with such esoteric subjects as philosophy and theology. The story contains twenty discourses, each of them portraying an exemplary story on religious and ethical topics. The stories which discuss spiritual and practical concerns enjoin kingly justice, riddance of hypocrisy, warning of vanity of this world and the need to prepare for the after-life. Not a romantic epic, the "The Treasury of Mysteries" was translated into English by Gholam H. Darab in 1945.

*Khusraw o Shirin "Khosrow and Shirin" (1177-1180)::Persian: خسرو و شیرین:: A story of Persian origin which is found in the great epico-historical poems of Shahnameh and is based on a true story that was further romanticized by Persian poets. The story chosen by Nezami, was commissioned and dedicated to the Seljuk Sultan Toghril II , the Atabek Muhammad ibn Eldiguz Jahan Pahlavan and his brother Qizil Arsalan. It contains about 6,500 distichs in length, the story depicts the love of Sassanian Khosrow II Parviz towards his ArmenianEncyclopædia Iranica, [http://www.iranica.com/articles/v8f6/v8f645.html "Eskandar-Nama of Nezami"] , François de Blois] (or Caucasian Albanian [M.Shaginyan, “Studies/sketches about Nizami”, 1955/1981, pg 23,62-63.] ) princess, Shirin. Khosrow and Shirin recounts the story of King Khosrow’s courtship of Princess Shirin, and vanquishing of his love-rival, Farhad. Shirin eventually consents to marry Khosrow after several romantic and heroic episodes, including his rescue of her from a lion by killing the animal with his bare hands.

An excerpt from "The Labors of Farhad" [Charles F. Horne, ed., The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East, (New York: Parke, Austin, & Lipscomb, 1917), Vol. VIII: Medieval Persia, pp. 103-107.]

quotation|The Labors of Farhad
On lofty Beysitoun the lingering sun
looks down on ceaseless labors, long begun:
The mountain trembles to the echoing sound
Of falling rocks, that from her sides rebound.
Each day all respite, all repose denied---
No truce, no pause, the thundering strokes are plied;
The mist of night around her summit coils,
But still Farhad, the lover-artist, toils,
And still---the flashes of his axe between---
He sighs to ev'ry wind, "Alas! Shireen!
Alas! Shireen!---my task is well-nigh done,
The goal in view for which I strive alone.
Love grants me powers that Nature might deny;
And, whatsoe'er my doom, the world shall tell,
Thy lover gave to immortality
Her name he loved---so fatally---so well!
A hundred arms were weak one block to move
Of thousands, molded by the hand of Love
Into fantastic shapes and forms of grace,
Which crowd each nook of that majestic place.
The piles give way, the rocky peaks divide,
The stream comes gushing on---a foaming tide!
A mighty work, for ages to remain,
The token of his passion and his pain.
As flows the milky flood from Allah's throne
Rushes the torrent from the yielding stone;
And sculptured there, amazed, stern Khosru stands,
And sees, with frowns, obeyed his harsh commands:
While she, the fair beloved, with being rife,
Awakes the glowing marble into life.
Ah! hapless youth; ah! toil repaid by woe---
A king thy rival and the world thy foe!
Will she wealth, splendor, pomp for thee resign---
And only genius, truth, and passion thine!
Around the pair, lo! groups of courtiers wait,
And slaves and pages crowd in solemn state;
From columns imaged wreaths their garlands throw,
And fretted roofs with stars appear to glow!
Fresh leaves and blossoms seem around to spring,
And feathered throngs their loves are murmuring;
The hands of Peris might have wrought those stems,
Where dewdrops hang their fragile diadems;
And strings of pearl and sharp-cut diamonds shine,
New from the wave, or recent from the mine.
"Alas! Shireen!" at every stroke he cries;
At every stroke fresh miracles arise:
"For thee these glories and these wonders all,
For thee I triumph, or for thee I fall;
For thee my life one ceaseless toil has been,
Inspire my soul anew: Alas! Shireen!"
What raven note disturbs his musing mood?
What form comes stealing on his solitude?
Ungentle messenger, whose word of ill
All the warm feelings of his soul can chill!
"Cease, idle youth, to waste thy days," she said,
"By empty hopes a visionary made;
Why in vain toil thy fleeting life consume
To frame a palace?---rather hew a tomb.
Even like sere leaves that autumn winds have shed,
Perish thy labors, for---Shireen is dead!"
He heard the fatal news---no word, no groan;
He spoke not, moved not, stood transfixed to stone.
Then, with a frenzied start, he raised on high
His arms, and wildly tossed them toward the sky;
Far in the wide expanse his axe he flung
And from the precipice at once he sprung.
The rocks, the sculptured caves, the valleys green,
Sent back his dying cry--- "Alas! Shireen!"

*Layli o Majnun "Layla and Majnun" (1192)::Persian: لیلی و مجنون::A story Of Arabic origin, the poem of 4,700 distichs was dedicated, in 1192, to Abu al-Muzaffar Shirvanshah, a descendant of Bahram Chubin, the Sassanid general, whose exploits are reflected in Nezami's "Seven Beauties." The poem is based on the popular Arab legend of ill-starred lovers: the poet Qays falls in love with his cousin Layla, but is prevented from marrying her, and goes mad (Hence called Majnun meaning mad and possessed in Arabic). Majnun abandons society and family and moves to the desert and composes poems for his love Layli, who has been married to another. Although they were never united in life, when the lovers pass away, they are buried in the same grave. "The Story of Layla and Majnun by Nizami", was translated and edited by Dr. Rudolf Gelpke into a English version in collaboration with E. Mattin and G. Hill Omega Publications and published in 1966. The Story of Layla and Majnun, by Nizami. Translated Dr. Rudolf. Gelpke in collaboration with E. Mattin and G. Hill, Omega Publications, 1966, ISBN #0-930872-52-5. (see http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0930872525/202-4922643-7900611?v=glance&n=266239] Amazon)] . :: A comprehensive analysis containing partial translations of Nezami's romance Layla and Majnun examining key themes such as chastity, constancy and suffering through an analysis of the main characters was recently accomplished by Prof. Ali Gohrab. [Layli and Majnun: Love, Madness and Mystic Longing, Dr. Ali Asghar Seyed-Gohrab, Brill Studies in Middle Eastern literature, Jun 2003, ISBN 90-04-12942-1 (see [http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/9004129421] Amazon) ]

*Haft Paykar "The Seven Beauties" (1196)::Persian: هفت پیکر::A story of Persian origin, it was dedicated to the ruler of Maragha, 'Ala' Al-Din korp Arslan. It is the story of Bahram V, the Sassanid king, who is born to Yazdegerd after twenty years of childlessness and supplication to Ahura Mazda for a child. The Haft Paykar is a romanticized biography of the Sasanian Persian empire ruler Bahram-e Gur. His adventurous life had already been treated in by Ferdowsi in the Shahnama, to which fact Nezami alludes a number of times. In general, his method is to omit those episodes that the earlier poet had treated, or to touch on them only very briefly, and to concentrate in new material. [Encyclopædia Iranica, [http://www.iranica.com/articles/v11f5/v11f5015.html "Haft Peykar"] , François de Blois] :: The story was translated to English in 1924 by Charles Edward Wilson. [The Haft paikar [engl.] , Wilson, Charles Edward, London: Probsthain. 1924. (Probsthain's oriental series.). ISBN 0-85382-017-1 (see [http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0853820171 Amazon] ).] A newer English rendering based on more complete manuscripts was accomplished by Professor Julia Scott Meysami.

Original Persian:
quotation
گوهر نیک را ز عقد مریز وآنکه بد گوهرست ازو بگریز

بدگهر با کسی وفا نکند اصل بد در خطا خطا نکند

اصل بد با تو چون شود معطی آن نخواندی که اصل لایخطی

کژدم از راه آنکه بدگهرست ماندنش عیب و کشتنش هنرست

هنرآموز کز هنرمندی در گشائی کنی نه در بندی

هرکه ز آموختن ندارد ننگ در برآرد ز آب و لعل از سنگ

وانکه دانش نباشدش روزی ننگ دارد ز دانش‌آموزی

ای بسا تیز طبع کاهل کوش که شد از کاهلی سفال فروش

وای بسا کور دل که از تعلیم گشت قاضی‌القضات هفت اقلیم

English translation by Wilson:quotation|Take not apart the good pearl from the string; from him who is of evil nature flee.
An evil nature acts consistently: have you not heard that "Nature does not err"?
The evil-natured man keeps faith with none; the erring nature does not fail to err.
The scorpion since it is by nature bad—to let it live’s a fault, to kill it, good.
Seek knowledge, for through knowledge you effect that doors to you be opened and not closed.
He who shames not at learning can draw forth pearls from the water, rubies from the rock.
Whilst he to whom no knowledge is assigned—that person (you will find) ashamed to learn.
How many, keen of mind, in effort slack, sell pottery from lack of pearls (to sell)!
How many a dullard, through his being taught, becomes the chief judge of the Seven Climes!

*Eskandar-nameh "The Book of Alexander" (1196-1202)::Persian: اسکندرنامه::The Romance of Alexander the Great" contains 10,500 distichs. The names of its dedicatees are uncertain. The story is based on Islamic myths developed about Alexander the Great, which derive from Qur'anic references to the Dhu'l-Qarnayn as well as from the Greek Alexander romance of Pseudo-Callisthenes. It consists of two books, Sharaf-nameh and Iqbal-nameh. The Iqbal-nameh is a description of Alexander's personal growth into the ideal ruler on a model ultimately derived, through Islamic intermediaries, from Plato's Republic. An English translation of the book by H. Wilberfore Clarke was published in 1881.

Influence and Legacy

The legacy of Nezami is widely felt in the Islamic world and his poetry has influenced the development of Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Kurdish and Urdu poetry amongst many other languages. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica: "Nezami is admired in Persian-speaking lands for his originality and clarity of style, though his love of language for its own sake and of philosophical and scientific learning makes his work difficult for the average reader". Amongst the many notable poets who have taken the Five Treasures of Nezami as their model may be mentioned Amir Khusro, Jalal Farahani, Khwaju Kermani, Mohammad Katebi Tarr-Shirini, Abdul Rahman Jami, Hatefi Jami, Vahshi Bafqi, Maktabi Shirazi, Ali-Shir Nava'i, Abdul Qader-e Bedel Dehlavi, Fuzûlî, Hashemi Kermani, Fayzi and Ehmedê Xanî. Not only poets, but historians such as Rawandi were also influenced by Nezami's poetry and used his poem in rendering history. Besides these, scores of poets have started their composition with the first line of the Makhzan al-Asrar.

According to Dr. Rudolf Gelpke: "Many later poets have imitated Nizami's work, even if they could not equal and certainly not surpass it; Persians, Turks, Indians, to name only the most important ones. The Persian scholar Hekmat has listed not less than forty Persians and thirteen Turkish versions" of Layli and Majnun.

According to Vahid Dastgerdi, "If one would search all existing libraries, one would probably find more than 1000 versions of Layli and Majnun".

Jami in his Nafahatol Ons remarks that: "Although most of Nezami's work on the surface appear to be romance, in reality they are a mask for the essential truths and for the explanation of divine knowledge".

Jami in his Baharestan mentions that: "Nezami’s excellence is more manifest than the sun and has no need of description". Hashemi of Kerman remarks: "The empire of poetry obtained its law and order from Nezami's beautiful verses" and "To present words before Nezami's silent speech is a waste of time".

Amir Khusro writes:
"The ruler of the kingdom of words, famed hero,
Scholar and poet, his goblet [glass] toasts.
In it - pure wine, it's drunkingly sweet,
Yet in goblet [glass] beside us - only muddy setting."

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe writes:
"A gentle, highly gifted spirit, who, when Ferdowsi had completed the collected heroic traditions, chose for the material of his poems the sweetest encounters of the deepest love. Majnun and Layli, Khusraw and Shirin, lovers he presented; meant for one another by premonition, destiny, nature, habit, inclination, passion staunchly devoted to each other; but divided by mad ideas, stubbornness, chance, necessity, and force, then miraculously reunited, yet in the end again in one way or another torn apart and separated from each other."

Nezami's story of Layla and Majnun also provided the namesake for a hit single by Eric Clapton, also called Layla. Recorded with Derek and the Dominos, Layla was released on the 1970 album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. The album was highly influenced by Nezami and his poetry of unrequited love. The fifth song of Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, "I Am Yours," was in fact a Nezami composition, set to music by Clapton.

The Soviet ballet produced a film, "Leili and Medjnun", named after a poem by Nizami Gandjevi. [Tatiana Egorova "Soviet Film Music: An Historical Survey", p.186]

A minor planet 3770 Nizami, discovered by Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Chernykh in 1974 is named after him.

Museum of Literature and mausoleum

The Nizami Museum of Literature is located in Baku, Azerbaijan. Nezami's mausoleum is located in Ganja. The monument was built on Nezami's grave in 1947, and replaced a similar obelisk dating from the early 1900s. The mausoleum is an elegant marble covered structure about 20 m tall. Behind it there is an open area with a display of scenes from Nezami's books, sculpted in metal. Monuments to Nezami are found in many cities of Azerbaijan, as well as in Tabriz (Iran), Moscow, St. Petersburg and Udmurtiya (Russia), Kiev (Ukraine), Tashkent (Uzbekistan), Marneuli (Georgia), Chişinău (Moldova).

ee also

*List of Persian poets and authors
*Persian literature

Notes

References

* E.G. Browne. "Literary History of Persia". (Four volumes, 2,256 pages, and twenty-five years in the writing). 1998. ISBN 0-7007-0406-X
* Jan Rypka, "History of Iranian Literature". Reidel Publishing Company. 1968 OCLC|460598. ISBN 90-277-0143-1
* [http://www.azargoshnasp.net/famous/nezami/nezamijuliascott.htm Biography of Nizami Dr. Julie S. Meisami of Oxford University]
* Christine van Ruymbeke. [http://www3.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521873642 "Science and Poetry in Medieval Persia: The Botany of Nizami's Khamsa ". University of Cambridge Press (forthcoming).]
* Christine van Ruymbeke. “General entry on Nezami Ganjavi”, Encyclopaedia Iranica 2007 (forthcoming)
* Christine van Ruymbeke. "Nezâmî’s Poetry vs. Scientific Knowledge : the case of the pomegranate", "The Poetry of Nizami Ganjavi. Knowledge, love, and rhetoric", J. Clinton & K. Talattof eds., Festschrift in honor of Prof. Martin Luther, Princeton University, (16 pp., St Martin’s Press, New York)
* Christine van Ruymbeke. "From culinary recipe to pharmacological secret for a successful wedding night: the scientific background of two images related to fruit in the Xamse of Nezâmi Ganjavi", "Festschrift in honour of Professor J.T.P. de Bruijn", "Persica", Annual of the Dutch-Iranian Society, (Leiden), 2002, pp. 127-136
* "The Poetry of Nizami Ganjavi: Knowledge, Love, and Rhetoric". K Talattof, JW Clinton - New York, 2001
* “Nizami’s Unlikely Heroines: A Study of the Characterizations of Women in Classical Persian Literature” by Kamran Talattof.
* "Mirror of the Invisible World: Tales from the Khamseh of Nizami". PJ Chelkowski, N Ganjavī - 1975 - Metropolitan Museum of Art
* "Haft Paykar: A Medieval Persian Romance". N Ganjavi, JS Meisami (translator) New York: Oxford University Press, 1995

External links

* [http://www.azargoshnasp.net/famous/nezami/nezamijuliascott.htm Biography of Nezami Ganjavi by Professor Julia Scott Meysami]
* [http://www.farhangsara.com/nezami_ganjavi.htm Bio: Nezami Ganjavi]
* [http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/bashiri/Teahouse/Figures.html#Nizami Nizami, Jamal al-Din Ilyas] . A biography by Prof. Iraj Bashiri, University of Minnesota.
* [http://rira.ir/rira/php/?page=view&mod=classicpoems&obj=poet&id=30 Nezami's works in original Persian] at RiRa—The Persian Digital Library
* [http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/63_folder/63_articles/63_legendleyli.html The Legend of Leyli and Majnun]
* [http://www.1902encyclopedia.com/N/NIZ/nizami.html Encyclopedia Britannica Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition]