← Explore on the interactive map

Jami

Type Figure Region Persia Time 1414–1492 Also known as Nur al-Din Abd al-Rahman Jami

Jami (1414–1492), a fifteenth-century Persian poet, scholar, and Naqshbandi Sufi, is hailed as the last great master of classical Persian literature.…

Timeline

  1. 1414–1425Jam · KhurasanJami was born in Kharjird; his father Nizam al-Din was a judge and Sufi. A few years later the whole family moved to Jam, where he studied Persian and Arabic fundamentals under his father and local scholars, becoming known for his precocity and later adopting the pen name Jami. This period coincided with Shah Rukh's establishment of Herat as capital and the flourishing of Timurid culture.
  2. 1425–1435Herat · AfghanistanAround the age of eleven he moved to Herat and entered the Nizamiyya madrasa to study theology, logic, philosophy, Arabic grammar, and literature, displaying remarkable memory. Herat under Shah Rukh was then a centre of Persian literature and art; Jami's contact with the Timurid court scholarly circle laid the foundation for his later career as a polymath and poet.
  3. 1435–1492Samarkand · UzbekistanIn his twenties Jami went to Samarkand for advanced studies, coming into contact with the scholarly circle of Ulugh Beg's observatory. He entered the Naqshbandi order in the 1450s; between 1450 and 1492 he composed masterpieces such as Haft Awrang, Yusuf and Zulaykha, and Nafahat al-Uns, served as a scholar at the Herat court, and died in Herat on 9 November 1492.

Sources