Jami

Timeline

1. 1414–1440Kharjird (Jam county), near Herat · Timurid EmpireJami was born in Jam county in Khurasan into a devout religious family; his father was a scholar. As a child he moved with his family to Herat, attending a local madrasa where he studied Arabic grammar, Islamic theology (kalam), philosophy, and classical Persian poetry. He showed outstanding memory and literary talent, and displayed a keen interest in Sufi thought while still young.
2. c. 1440–1460Herat · Timurid EmpireAround the 1440s Jami entered the Naqshbandi Sufi order, studying under Sheikh Sa'd al-Din Kashghari and later becoming a spiritual companion of Khoja Ahrar, the core Naqshbandi leader in Herat. Within this batch's window (1451–1460) he had already established his reputation in Herat's literary circles through his refined Persian ghazals and masnavis, receiving court honours from the Timurid sultan Abu Sa'id. He had by then begun composing his characteristic Sufi allegorical poems, laying the foundation for his later title 'Khatim al-Shu'ara' (Seal of the Poets).
3. 1461–1492Herat · Timurid EmpireUnder the patronage of Sultan Husayn Bayqara and Grand Vizier Ali-Shir Nava'i, Jami spent his most creative later years in Herat. He completed the poetic collection Haft Awrang (containing seven narrative poems including Yusuf and Zulaykha), the prose work Baharistan (modelled on Sa'di's Gulistan), and the Sufi hagiography Nafahat al-Uns. Between 1472 and 1473 he made the pilgrimage to Mecca, passing through Tabriz and Istanbul, where he was warmly received by the Aq Qoyunlu and Ottoman courts. He died peacefully in Herat in 1492, revered by later ages as the last summit of the classical Persian poetic tradition.