{{short description|Sufi mystic and poet}} {{Infobox writer | name = Qasim-i Anvar | image = Qasim al-Anwar (1433-4 AD); Diwan, probably Shiraz, 28 June 1492.jpg | caption = 1492 copy of Qasim-i Anvar's ''diwan''. Persian manuscript, probably made in Shiraz | birth_date = 1356 | birth_place = Sarab, Azerbaijan | death_date = October/November 1433 | death_place = Kharjird, Khurasan | occupation = | notable_works = | relatives = }} '''Mu'in al-Din Ali Husayni Sarabi Tabrizi''', commonly known by his ''laqab'' (honorific title) of '''Qasim-i Anvar''' ({{langx|fa|قاسم انوار}}; 1356 – 1433) was a Sufi mystic, poet, and a leading ''da'i'' (preacher) of the Safavid order.{{sfn|Savory|1978|p=721}}
== Biography == Mu'in al-Din Ali was born in 1356 in Sarab in the Azerbaijan region.{{sfn|Savory|1978|p=721}} According to the historians H. Javadi and K. Burrill / ''Encyclopædia Iranica'', he was a native speaker of Azeri Turkish, while the historians Siavash Lornejad and Ali Doostzadeh state that he was most likely a native speaker of Fahlavi.{{sfn|Lornejad|Doostzadeh|2012|p=151}} Mu'in al-Din Ali preferred to use Persian, which he was fluent in.{{sfn|Javadi|Burrill|1988|pp=251–255}} He grew up in the neighbouring city of Tabriz, where he received his education.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2019|p=190}} In his mid-teens,{{sfn|Lewisohn|2019|p=190}} he became a disciple of Sadr al-Din Musa (died 1391), who was the head of the Safavid order.{{sfn|Savory|1978|p=721}}
Due to a vision seen by Mu'in al-Din Ali, he was given the ''laqab'' (honorific title) Qasim-i Anvar ("Distributor of Lights") by Sadr al-Din Musa. Following his completion of his training at the city of Ardabil, Qasim-i Anvar given the ''khirqa'' by Sadr al-Din Musa. This cloak granted Qasim-i Anvar the right to convert others to his faith and offer spiritual teaching. Qasim-i Anvar later stayed in Gilan for some time as a missionary, and then went to Khurasan.{{sfn|Savory|1978|p=721}} He initially stayed at Nishapur, but was forced to move to Herat due to facing hostility from the ''ulama'' (clergy).{{sfn|Savory|1978|p=721}} According to his own writings, Qasim-i Anvar had established himself at Herat by 1377/78, and would stay there until his banishment in 1426/27.{{sfn|Savory|1978|p=721}}
Following his banishment from Herat, Qasim-i Anvar went to the city of Samarkand, where he stayed at the court of Shahrukh's son, Ulugh Beg (died 1449). A few years later, Qasim-i Anvar went back to Khurasan, where he died at Kharjird in October/November 1433.{{sfn|Savory|1978|p=721}}
== Works == Qasim-i Anvar composed several mystical treatises, ''ghazals'', ''ruba'is'', and ''mathnawis''.{{sfn|Savory|1978|p=721}} The vast majority of his poems were in Persian.{{sfn|Lornejad|Doostzadeh|2012|p=151}} Some of them were in Azeri Turkish and Gilaki.{{sfn|Savory|1978|p=721}} His poems in Azeri Turkish may have only been written during his stay in Khurasan, in order to promote the Safavid order, and due to both Turkic and Persian experiencing a "literary renaissance."{{sfn|Lornejad|Doostzadeh|2012|p=151}} However, it may also indicate the rise of bilingualism in Qasim-i Anvar's birth region, where Fahlavi and Turkic speakers started to get in touch with each other.{{sfn|Lornejad|Doostzadeh|2012|pp=151–152}}
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==Sources== * {{Encyclopaedia Iranica | volume=3 | fascicle=3 | title = Azerbaijan x. Azeri Turkish Literature | last= Javadi |first= H. | last2 = Burrill| first2 = K. | url = https://iranicaonline.org/articles/azerbaijan-x | pages = 251–255 }} * {{cite book |last=Lewisohn|first=Leonard|chapter=Sufism in Late Mongol and Early Timurid Persia, from ‘Ala’ al-Dawla Simnānī (d. 736/1326) to Shāh Qāsim Anvār (d. 837/1434)|editor-last=Babaie|editor-first=Sussan|editor-link=Sussan Babaie|year=2019|title=Iran After the Mongols |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|pages=177–211|isbn=978-1788315289}} * {{cite book |last1=Lornejad |first1=Siavash |last2=Doostzadeh |first2=Ali |editor1-last=Arakelova |editor1-first=Victoria |editor2-last=Asatrian |editor2-first=Garnik |title=On the modern politicization of the Persian poet Nezami Ganjavi |date=2012 |publisher=Caucasian Centre for Iranian Studies |url=https://persianpoetry.arizona.edu/sites/persianpoetry.sites.arizona.edu/files/POLITICIZATION%20OF%20NEZAMI_0.pdf |access-date=2022-05-04 |archive-date=2022-09-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220914063448/https://persianpoetry.arizona.edu/sites/persianpoetry.sites.arizona.edu/files/POLITICIZATION%20OF%20NEZAMI_0.pdf |url-status=dead }} * {{EI2|last=Savory|first=R.M.|volume=4|title=Ḳāsim-i Anwār|pages=721–722|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/kasim-i-anwar-SIM_3986}} {{Azerbaijani Turkic literature}} {{Persian literature}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Qasim-i Anvar}} Category:Azerbaijani-language poets Category:14th-century Persian-language poets Category:1433 deaths Category:1356 births Category:People from Sarab, East Azerbaijan Category:Poets from the Timurid Empire Category:15th-century Persian-language poets