Mulla Nooruddin Abdur Rahman Jami biography and peoetry

Mulla Nooruddin Abdur-Rahman took the takhallus “Jami”, after his hometown of Jam, in Khorasan province (now Western Afghanistan.), where he was born in 1414. His writings are extensive, and cover a variety of Islamic issues, including the Quran; proof of Muhammads prophethood, Arabic Grammar, and many more non-religious issues such as music and poetry. He also composed seven masnavis, which include poems on Laila and Majnun, and Yusuf and Zuleikha.

By his contemporaries, he was recognised as the greatest genius of the age. The King Babur, founder of the Mughal dynasty, noted that Jami was “too exalted for there to be any need for praising him.” The Prince Saam Mirza notes that Jami was such an elevated genius that “there is no need to describe his condition or set forth any account of him, since the rays of his virtues have reached from the East to the uttermost parts of the West, while the bountiful table of his excellencies is spread from shore to shore.”

Jami is noteworthy for his refusal to bow before the rich and powerful or compose large numbers of meaningless qasidas for them like his contemporary poets. However he was a Sufi, and showed great veneration and respect for his spiritual teachers.

E.G. Browne says of him: “In Jami the mystical and pantheistic thought of Persia may be said to find its most complete and vivid expression; while, though he may be surpassed by others in each of the numerous realms of literature which he cultivated, no other Persian poet or writer has been so successful in so many different fields, and the enthusiastic admiration of his more eminent contemporaries is justified by his prolific and many sided genius.”

Ghazals

Khooban hazar o az hama maqsude man yakist
Nasim as-sobhi zur minni rubba najdin wa qabbilha
Tarafe bagh o labe juy o labe jamast inja