Jami

Lore & Background

Jami was born in Kharjerd, Khorasan to a Persian family. His father Nizām al-Dīn Ahmad b. Shams al-Dīn Muhammad had come from Dasht, a small town in the district of Isfahan. A few years after his birth, his family migrated to Herat, where he studied Peripateticism, mathematics, Persian literature, natural sciences, Arabic language, logic, rhetoric, and Islamic philosophy at the Nizamiyya. His father, also a Sufi, became his first teacher. While in Herat, Jami held an important position at the Timurid court. Because his father was from Dasht, his early pen name was Dashti, but he later chose Jami, writing: 'My birthplace is Jam, and my pen / Has drunk from (knowledge of) Sheikh-ul-Islam (Ahmad) Jam / Hence in the books of poetry / My pen name is Jami for these two reasons.' Jami was a mentor and friend of the Turkic poet Alisher Navoi, as evidenced by his poem: 'Though he was a Turk, and I am Tajik, / We were close to each other.' He went to Samarkand, completed his studies there, and embarked on a pilgrimage that greatly enhanced his reputation. Jami had a brother called Molana Mohammad, a learned man and master in music, and Jami wrote a poem lamenting his death. Jami fathered four sons; three died before reaching their first year. The surviving son was Zia-ol-din Yusef, for whom Jami wrote his Baharestan. At the end of his life he was living in Herat. His epitaph reads: 'When your face is hidden from me, like the moon hidden on a dark night, I shed stars of tears and yet my night remains dark in spite of all those shining stars.' His funeral was conducted by the prince of Herat and attended by great numbers of people, demonstrating his profound impact.

Reader's Guide

In his role as Sufi shaykh, which began in 1453, Jami expounded teachings regarding following the Sufi path. He created a distinction between two types of Sufis, now referred to as the 'prophetic' and the 'mystic' spirit. Jami remained a staunch Sunni on his path toward Sufism and developed images of earthly love to depict the spiritual passion of the seeker of God. He began taking interest in Sufism at an earlier age when he received a blessing from Khwaja Mohammad Parsa. He sought guidance from Sa'd-alDin Kasgari based on a dream where he was told to take God and become his companion. Jami followed Kasagari and the two became tied together upon Jami's marriage to Kasgari's granddaughter. He was engaged in the school of Ibn Arabi, greatly enriching, analyzing, and changing it. Jami wrote about his feeling that God was everywhere and inherently in everything. He defined key terms related to Sufism including the meaning of sainthood, the saint, the difference between the Sufi and the one still striving, the seekers of blame, various levels of tawhid, and the charismatic feats of the saints. Oftentimes Jami's methodology did not follow the school of Ibn Arabi; on the issue of mutual dependence between God and his creatures Jami stated: 'We and Thou are not separate from each other, but we need Thee, whereas Thou dost not need us.' Jami created an all-embracing unity emphasized in a unity with the lover, beloved, and the love one. In his view, love for Muhammad was the fundamental stepping stone for starting on the spiritual journey. To a student who claimed never to have loved anyone, he said: 'Go and love first, then come to me and I will show you the way.' Jami wrote approximately 87 books and letters. His works range from prose to poetry, and from the mundane to the religious. He also wrote works of history and science. In Herat, his manual of irrigation design included advanced drawings and calculations and is still a key reference for the irrigation department. His poetry has been inspired by the ghazals of Hafiz, and his famous divan Haft Awrang (Seven Thrones) is, by his own admission, influenced by the works of Nizami. The Haft Awrang is a collection of seven poems, each discussing a different story such as Salaman va Absal, which tells the story of a carnal attraction of a prince for his wet-nurse. Jami uses allegorical symbolism within the tale to depict key stages of the Sufi path such as repentance. Another composition is Kherad-name, composed in the tradition of the Alexander Romance, completed perhaps around 1485. Jami is also known for three collections of lyric poems: Fatihat al-shabab (The Beginning of Youth), Wasitat al-'ikd (The Central Pearl in the Necklace), and Khatimat al-hayat (The Conclusion of Life). One of his most profound ideas was the mystical and philosophical explanations of the nature of divine mercy, which was a result of his commentary on other works.

Did You Know?

• Jami's early pen name was Dashti because his father was from Dasht, a small town in the district of Isfahan.
• Jami fathered four sons, but three died before reaching their first year; his surviving son was Zia-ol-din Yusef, for whom he wrote Baharestan.
• Jami wrote a manual of irrigation design that included advanced drawings and calculations, still a key reference for the irrigation department in Herat.
• Jami's funeral was conducted by the prince of Herat and attended by great numbers of people, demonstrating his profound impact.
• Jami told a student who claimed never to have loved anyone: 'Go and love first, then come to me and I will show you the way.'