Best Wishes for a Happy Eid ul Fitr with Amir Khusraw Dehlevi, and his Eschatological Tale of the Four Dervishes

Наилучшие пожелания счастливого Ид аль Фитр!

Rajo wanaagsan! Ciidul Fidriga Wanaagsan!

最良好的祝愿！開齋節快樂！

Ораза айт құтты болсын тілектер!

! عید سعید فطر مبارک ! بهترین آرزوهای

Mutlu bir Kurban Bayramı için en iyi dileklerimle!

Иң изге теләкләр белән! Бәхетле Ураза бәйрәме телим!

Die besten Wünsche für ein frohes Eid al Fitr!

! عيد الفطر السعيد

Oraza baýramyňyz gutly bolsun! Iň gowy arzuwlar!

Ən xoş arzular! Fitr bayramınız mübarək!

! عید الفطر مبارک ہو ! نیک خواہشات

Орзуҳои беҳтарин! Иди саиди Фитр муборак!

I migliori auguri per un Felice Eid al Fitr!

Мыкты каалоо! Орозо айт кут болсун!

Best wishes for a Happy Eid al Fitr!

Nicknamed as “the Parrot of Hindustan” (Tuti-e Hind), Amir Khusraw Dehlevi (: ‘of Delhi) is the greatest poet of Islamic Hindustan. Abu’l Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrau (as is his full name) was a very typical Hindustani of the 13th-14th c., being the son of a Turanian soldier and an Hindustani mother.

Well-versed in Farsi (the language of literature and culture), Turanian (the language of the army), Arabic (the language of the science), and Hindustani (the indigenous populations’ native language, i.e. an amalgamation of Turanian, Farsi and Prakrit, which is also called Urdu & Hindi nowadays), Amir Khusraw (1253-1325) was a great mystic, a leading scholar, a fascinating poet, and the inventor of the Qawwali mystical singing tradition, of the Tarana Classical Hindustani vocal music, and of the sitar musical instrument.

Amir Khusraw, who is not to be confused with Nasir Khusraw (1004-1074), an earlier Iranian Isma’ili mystic, scholar, poet and renowned traveler, was the disciple and friend of the illustrious spiritual master Nizamuddin Auliya (نظام الدین اولیاء; 1238-1325). He therefore belonged to the Chishti (چشتی) Tariqa (Order), the oldest of the four great Islamic schools of Spirituality that prevailed in Asia east of Tigris River (Iran, Central Asia, Hindustan and South Asia), namely the Chishti, the Qadiri, the Suhrawardi, and the Naqshbandi orders.

Although he mainly wrote in Farsi, Amir Khusraw is considered as the real father of Hindustani (or Hindavi or Urdu); so important his literary compositions were and so deeply they marked the development of that language. Along with Ferdowsi (940-1025) and Nizami Ganjavi (1141-1209), Amir Khusraw constitutes the most illustrious triad of transcendental Islamic epic poetry which goes beyond the limits of Time, and thanks to mystical symbolism, blends Cosmogony, Cosmology and Eschatology into an eternal, paradisiacal present.

Amir Khusraw’s quintets (Khamsa) take Nezami Ganjavi’s Khamsa to the next stage of human Soteriology; he therefore dedicated 4000 verses to Khusraw-e Shirin, an apocalyptic insight into the relationship between the Savior and the Faithful, before re-elaborating the same subject in reverse mode: Layla wa Majnun. Pathetic colonial scholarship persistently interpreted the topic as a love story, but this consists in a perverse distortion.

Furthermore, Amir Khusraw expands on the mystical deeds of Iskander dhu’l Qarnayn (Alexander), before coming up with his majestic opus Hasht Behesht (the Eight Paradises), which constitutes his ‘response’ to Nizami Ganjavi’s Haft Peykar (the Seven Beauties). The eschatological symbolism around Bahram Gur, i.e. the Iranian symbol of the Messiah (or Mahdi) par excellence, involves two dimensions in Amir Khusraw’s version of narration: material (the seven major nations of the End Times, symbolized as princesses, each in a separate pavilion that corresponds to one of the seven days of the week) and spiritual (the primordial meeting of Bahram Gur with Dilaram, the beautiful slave girl, who makes animals sleep or awaken with the sound of her music).

The Tale of the Four Dervishes (قصه چهار درویش; Qisah-ye Chahar Darvesh) is one of Amir Khusraw’s least studied and understood masterpieces. This ‘dastan’ (داستان‎) concerns the Quest of Immortality and the spiritual explorations of the Mahdi or Messiah at the End Times. The revelatory narrative is highly symbolic and revolves around the Savior and King, who is herewith named Azad Bakht (the names mean “free and lucky”). After listening to the instructive stories of four dervishes, the depressed (because of the fall of the Mankind) King Azad Bakht comes to know that one of his wives brought a son to life, and then he finds the courage to generate well balanced and harmonious couples among the surviving men and women, who thus achieve immortality in concord and peace. Quite interestingly, Amir Khusraw’s poetical prophecy and eschatological revelation informs us that the prince of China will be the luckiest of all at the End.