Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl Eṣfahānī

Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl Eṣfahānī, a poet of the 6^th–7^th/12^th-13^th centuries, was known by the teknonym Abul-Faḍl and was among the distinguished Persian poets of the era of the Kh^warazmian* dynasty.

He was the son of the well-known poet Abū Muhammad Abdullāh b. ‛Abd al-Razzāq Eṣfahānī.¹ The exact date of his birth is unknown; however, in an elegy he composed mourning his father, Jamāl al-Dīn* (d. 1192/588), he stated that he was nearly “twenty” years old.² Therefore, his approximate birth year may be considered around 1172/568.³ From the indications found in Jamāl al-Dīn’s poetry, it appears that he had four children⁴ including Kamāl al-Dīn; Kamāl al-Dīn himself, too, in an ode composed after his father’s death and addressed to his patron, mentioned that his father had “four” children.⁵

Kamāl al-Dīn had a virtuous and scholarly brother named Mu‛īn al-Dīn ‛Abd al-Karīm, who was younger than him and died in his youth.⁶ There are some verses in Kamāl’s divan that most probably belong to an elegy written for this brother.⁷ Considering that Dawlat-shāh Samarqandī⁸ regarded Rafī‛ al-Dīn Lunbānī, the famous poet of that period, as one of Jamāl al-Dīn’s contemporaries, and that Avḥadī Balyānī⁹ introduced Rafī‛ al-Dīn as Jamāl al-Dīn’s nephew, it is likely that most of the members of his family were people of poetry and literature.

It seems that Kamāl al-Dīn married rather late. In an ode composed in praise of Rukn al-Dīn Ṣā‛ed, he refers to his celibacy and complains that after long years of service he had been neglected.¹⁰ Then, in another ode with the refrain “sweetness” (wedding joy) in which he asks for “sugar” (wedding gift) from his patron for his wedding ceremony, he announces the end of his bachelorhood.¹¹ A year after that, he had a son,¹² and he entrusted the naming of the child to his patron, Rukn al-Dīn Ṣā‛ed.¹³

There is no precise information about the birth dates of his other children. Apparently, he too had four children,¹⁴ one of whose sons was named Ali and was also engaged in poetry. Kamāl inserted a quatrain composed by him in one of his own pieces.¹⁵ As can be understood from this verse of Kamāl:

“They, my dear companions, returned from the journey;

I am distressed—why did they return without that son?”

Hamrahān-e nāzanīnam az safar bāz āmadand /

Badgumānam tā cherā bī ān pesar bāz āmadand

his son went on a journey with his friends, but drowned in water.¹⁶ Based on newly found quatrains, Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl lost another child in the same week he lost this son.¹⁷ Although he has heart-rending poems mourning his son, he composed a piece, out of dissatisfaction, on the birth of a daughter, in which he even wished death for the newborn girl.¹⁸ From this piece it seems that Kamāl had two daughters; and considering this and the death of his two children within a week, it should be concluded that he had two daughters and two sons, and both sons died young.¹⁹

There is no complete and independent information about Kamāl’s occupation and means of livelihood. Although he occasionally refers in his poems to being engaged in administrative service and to his dismissal from it,²⁰ his main profession was poetry and panegyric.²¹

Kamāl al-Dīn composed most of his odes in praise of the cultured and poetry-loving Ṣā‛edīyye family of Isfahan, who at that time held the office of judiciary and the leadership of the Ḥanafīs in Isfahan; among them were Abū al-‛Alā’ Rukn al-Dīn Ṣā‛ed,²² and his sons Neẓām al-Eslām Rukn al-Dīn Mas‛ūd²³ and Jalāl al-Eslām.²⁴ Besides them, he also praised many others, such as: ‛Alā’ al-Dīn Takesh Kh^wārazm-shāh;²⁵ Jalāl al-Dīn Kh^wārazm ²⁶and his brother Ghīyāth al-Dīn Pīrshāh;²⁷ Nāṣer al-Dīn Neẓām al-Mulk,²⁸ the vizier of Muhammad Kh^wārazm-shah; Sharaf al-Dīn Mu‛īn al-Eslām,²⁹ vizier of Jalāl al-Dīn Mankubernī in Iraq; Nūr al-Dīn Munshī,³⁰ secretary of Jalāl al-Dīn Mankubernī; Sa‛d Zangī³¹ and Abū Bakr, the Salghurid Atabakān of Fars;³² ‛Amīd al-Dīn Pārsī, vizier of Atabag Sa‛d;³³ Muẓaffar al-Dīn Muhammad b. Mubārez,³⁴ the ruler of Shabānkāre; Espahbud Ḥesām al-Dawla Ardeshīr³⁵ and his son Hasan b. Ḥesām al-Dawla, from the Āl-e Bāvand rulers in Māzandarān;³⁶ Shahāb al-Dīn Sāvujī, Mustavfī of Isfahan (financial comptroller of Isfahan);³⁷ Ṣadr al-Dīn ‛Umar Khujandī³⁸ and his brother ‛Emād al-Eslām Khujandī, leaders of the Shāfe‛ī in Isfahan;³⁹ and Shams al-Dīn Āyghatmash⁴⁰ and Nāṣer al-Dīn Mungulī, among the Atabakān of Azerbaijan.⁴¹

In the tārīkh-e jahāngushāy-e Juveynī,⁴² Kamāl al-Dīn’s ode in praise of Jalāl al-Dīn Mankubernī is mentioned, and elsewhere in the same work⁴³ a quatrain by Kamāl in praise of Nūr al-Dīn Munshī is also cited, which indicates the significance of Kamāl al-Dīn’s poetry. From his poems it appears that he was repeatedly deprived of the favor of his patrons and fell into hardship and affliction.⁴⁴ Apparently, the slander of courtiers often caused him trouble,⁴⁵ to the extent that Rukn al-Dīn Ṣā‛ed dismissed him from his administrative post,⁴⁶ or the backbiting of someone called Mūsh (the Mouse)⁴⁷ led Shahāb al-Dīn Sāvujī, the financial comptroller of Isfahan, to confiscate his property.⁴⁸

Kamāl al-Dīn traveled to Kh^warazm,⁴⁹ Ṭabarestān,⁵⁰ and apparently to Neyshabūr.⁵¹ and Rey⁵²,⁵³ but the only journey about which one can speak with certainty regarding its reason is his trip to Kh^warazm, which he undertook to gain closer favor with one of his patrons, Amīr Sepah-sālār Mu’ayyed al-Dīn, though unfortunately it brought him no success.⁵⁴ Apart from these hardships, severe illnesses also made his life even more bitter.⁵⁵

In the last years of his life, he apparently inclined to Sufism and withdrew into seclusion.⁵⁶ The final moments of his life and the manner of his death have also been narrated in different ways. Among these accounts, the report of Dawlat-shah has gained greater acceptance: in 1238/635, at the time of the Mongol conquest of Isfahan, the sixty-seven-year-old Kamāl al-Dīn was engaged in ascetic devotion in a corner of seclusion. The bow of a child belonging to one of the Turkic soldiers fell into a well; when he went down into the well, many belongings were found there. The Turkic soldier, assuming that these belongings belonged to Kamāl al-Dīn, demanded the rest of the supposed property from him. Eventually, he died under torture.⁵⁷ However, what is certain is that he was killed during the Mongol domination over Isfahan.⁵⁸

Today the tomb of this poet is located in Kamāl Street in Jūbāre*, one of the historical quarters of Isfahan, and it is probably close to the area where he lived. In the Qajar period, Mīrzā Hāshem, the Friday prayer Imam of Isfahan, sold the structure of his tomb to the Jews for a small sum, and they turned a large part of it into a synagogue while leaving the tomb and the small surrounding space untouched.⁵⁹ In 1926/1305, Vaḥīd Dastgerdī*, through field investigations and clues he found in Chardin’s travelogue account, succeeded in locating Kamāl’s tomb. He devoted efforts to rebuilding it and, after many ups and downs, finally restored it in 1930/1309.⁶⁰ Today, due to its adjacency to the synagogue and the lack of attention to it, this tomb is in no way worthy of the poet’s name, and many lovers of poetry are unaware of its burial place. Another street in Isfahan is also named “Kamāl Esmā‛īl,” located along the northern bank of the Zāyande-rūd*, stretching from the Sī-va-se Pul* to the Kh^wājū Bridge*.

Throughout his life, Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl maintained correspondence and friendship with several notable figures and poets. In the Sufi path, he followed Shahāb al-Dīn ‛Umar Suhravardī and praised him in admonitory odes.⁶¹ Moreover, a letter from Suhravardī to Kamāl al-Dīn has survived, in which he advises him to acquire virtues and avoid vices, and asks him to convey these counsels to other seekers as well.⁶² He also engaged in poetic exchanges with Athīr Ūmānī, who had apparently come to Isfahan in his early youth for study,⁶³ and in response to Athīr’s ode, Kamāl composed an ode in the same meter and rhyme.⁶⁴ Their relationship remained friendly until the end of Kamāl al-Dīn’s life, and Athīr composed an elegy mourning him.⁶⁵ Rukn al-Dīn Da‛vī-dār Qumī composed a lāmīyya ode] a classical Arabic–Persian ode in which all the verses end with the consonant “lām (l)” as the final rhyme letter [ in praise of Kamāl al-Dīn, and Kamāl replied to it in the same meter and rhyme.⁶⁶ Muẓaffar al-Dīn Muhammad b. Mubārez, the ruler of Shabānkāre, who was himself a man of poetry, upon hearing of Kamāl’s poetic fame, sent him a quatrain, and Kamāl answered him likewise with a quatrain.⁶⁷ He also corresponded with ‛Ezz al-Dīn Ali Shīrān Bābūye, one of the rulers of Hamadān.⁶⁸ He composed an ode in praise of his fellow townsman Qavām al-Dīn Fatḥ b. Ali Bundārī, the translator of Ferdavsī’s Shāhnāme into Arabic, and sent it to Damascus.⁶⁹ In addition to these, a Persian letter from him responding to Ṣafī al-Mulk Abū al-Makārem Yazdī, vizier of the Atabakān of Yazd, has also survived,⁷⁰ and this seems to be the only remaining specimen of Kamāl al-Dīn’s Persian ornate prose.

Another prose work of him is the resālat al-qaws, written in Arabic in praise and description of the bow, which he composed in response to the resālat al-qaws of Qāḍī Neẓām al-Dīn Eṣfahānī; Ebn al-Fuwaṭī⁷¹ regarded it as unparalleled. This treatise was first published in maṭāle‛ al-budūr fī manāzel al-surūr.⁷² It was later printed in 1969/1348 in dīvān-e khalāq al-ma‛ānī under the care of Hussein Baḥr al-‛Ulūmī,⁷³ and afterward, in 2007/1386, it was published in the first volume of nuṣūṣ wa rasā’el men turāth Eṣfahān al-‛elmī al-khāled under the supervision of Majīd Hādīzāde by Hastī-Namā Publisher.⁷⁴

Kamāl al-Dīn was called khallāq al-ma‛ānī (Creator of Meanings). Some attribute this title to the subtle and profound meanings hidden in his poetry, which can only be fully grasped after several readings.⁷⁵ However, it may also be due to Kamāl’s effort to create fresh themes and new poetic concepts, an effort that intensified in poetry of wuqū‛ (realistic love poetry based on actual experience) and later reached its peak in the Indian (Eṣfahānī) style. For this reason, he has been regarded as one of the forerunners of the Indian poetic style.⁷⁶

Before him, most poets devoted their efforts to reworking and refining the meanings of their predecessors, or were preoccupied with artistic display and exhibiting their secondary skills and knowledge in poetry. While Kamāl, in his odes, has no hesitation in showing his technical ability—for example, in one ode he binds himself to the repeated use of the word “mū” (hair) or “naẓar” (gaze),⁷⁷ and in several odes he tests his poetic talent with difficult nominal refrains such as “parde” (curtain), “chashm” (eye), “shekūfe” (blossom), and “barf” (snow)⁷⁸—at the same time he is constantly seeking to create fresh points and to surprise the reader.

Kamāl al-Dīn experimented with various poetic forms; he showed more inclination to the ode, poetic piece, and quatrain than other forms, and comparatively little to the mathnavī. He was as skilled in panegyric as he was proficient in satire. At times he satirized figures such as Ḍīyā’ al-Dīn Mazdaqānī or Shahāb al-Dīn ‛Umar Lunbānī,⁷⁹ and sometimes, when his requests were not fulfilled, he would threaten others with satire.⁸⁰ According to Sheblī Nu‛mānī,⁸¹ satire, which through the verses of Suzanī Samarqandī and Anvarī Abīvardī had turned into the language of vulgarity, gained delicacy and pleasant wit in Kamāl al-Dīn’s poetry. Among the finest examples of his satire is the following delicate piece:

“If the lord had spoken ill of us,
we would not have torn our faces in grief;
we would speak nothing but good of him—
so that both of us would not be lying.”⁸²
Gar kh^wāje ze bahre mā badī guft / Mā chehre ze gham nemī-kharāshīm
Mā gheyr-e nekūyī-ash nagu’īm / Tā har du durūgh gufte bāshīm

Another prevailing theme in Kamāl al-Dīn’s poetry is lamentation and complaint about misfortune, deprivation, the neglect of patrons, and the stagnation and dullness of the poetic scene.⁸³ Request and petition are also so frequent in his poetry that Mīrzā Hussein Kāshefī Sabzevārī, in badāye‛ al-afkār, cited his poetry as an example under the heading ebrām al-su’āl [submitting requests].⁸⁴ The poet’s requests are highly varied: from asking for buildings and the improvement of property and water for land, to horses, robes of honor, cloaks, turbans, flour for making soup, the price of poetry paper, straw, barley, wine, and money for candles.⁸⁵

At times his poetry also depicts the turbulent social and economic conditions of Isfahan in the final years of the Kh^warazmian period and during the Mongol invasion.⁸⁶ Apart from that, Kamāl lived in a time when Isfahan was burning in the fire of fanaticism and hostility between the Ḥanafīs (led by the Ṣā‛ed family*) and the Shāfe‛īs (led by the Khujand family*). From Kamāl’s poems it is understood that he was not a man of sectarian bigotry and that he was distressed by those circumstances.⁸⁷ In 1189/585, the Ḥanafīs were defeated in this sectarian conflict, and the Shāfe‛īs set Rukn al-Dīn Ṣā‛ed’s house on fire, forcing him to leave Isfahan; however, he returned to Isfahan after some time. In an ode, Kamāl al-Dīn, while praising him, speaks of the chaotic situation of Isfahan during his absence.⁸⁸
The peace that was later established, during the time of Rukn al-Dīn Mas‛ūd, between the Ḥanafī and Shāfe‛ī of Isfahan brought joy to Kamāl Esmā‛īl, was reflected in his poetry,⁸⁹ and shows his social concerns.

Kamāl was both influential within and influenced by the Persian poetic tradition. In some of his poems he engaged in poetic imitation and response to poets such as Ẓahīr al-Dīn Fāryābī,⁹⁰ Mukhtārī Ghaznavī,⁹¹ Shahāb Mu’ayyad,⁹² and Athīr Akhsīkatī,⁹³ and he also incorporated single verses from Mas‛ūd Sa‛d,⁹⁴ ‛Emādī Shahrīyārī,⁹⁵ and Abū Shukūr Balkhī⁹⁶ into his own poetry.⁹⁷

The widespread fame and far-reaching influence of Kamāl’s poetry were already evident during his own lifetime. In addition to his frequent references to his universal renown,⁹⁸ there is evidence that substantiates this claim. Among his contemporaries, Kh^wāje Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī⁹⁹ in me‛yār al-ash‛ār and Shams Qeys Rāzī¹⁰⁰ in al-mu‛jam fī ma‛āyīr ash‛ār al-‛ajam cited his poetry, and his poetic style was admired and followed by Rukn al-Dīn Da‛vīdār.¹⁰¹ Kamāl attained such a status in poetry that others longed to follow his poetic manner and style. The popularity of his verses is so great that in the anthology of quatrains nuzhat al-majāles, compiled in the 7th/13th century, the largest share of quatrains—283 in number—belongs to him.¹⁰²

The influence of Kamāl’s poetry on later poets is also evident. Salmān Sāvujī, when afflicted with an eye disease, composed a poem in response to an ode that Kamāl had written about his own eye pain,¹⁰³ and beyond that, he has verses in which the traces of Kamāl’s poetry are clearly visible.¹⁰⁴ Amīr Khusru Dehlavī, the Indo-Persian poet, composed numerous responsive odes, modeled on those of Kamāl.¹⁰⁵ Perhaps as a result of the request of Sheikh Neẓām al-Dīn Dehlavī, who had asked him to “compose in the style of the Eṣfahānīān.”¹⁰⁶ Ḥāfeẓ, in addition to being influenced by Kamāl’s themes, expressions, refrains, and rhymes,¹⁰⁷ in one of his lyric poems (ghazal) quotes a verse of Kamāl—explicitly mentioning his name.¹⁰⁸ Although this verse originally belongs to Mas‛ūd Sa‛d Salmān,¹⁰⁹ Ḥāfeẓ cites it in the same form in which Kamāl had recorded it in his own poetry; this shows that, for Ḥāfeẓ and in his time, Kamāl al-Dīn’s fame and prestige were greater than those of Mas‛ūd Sa‛d.

Two centuries after Kamāl’s death, even a great poet such as Jāmī composed one of his lyric poems “in the manner of Kamāl”¹¹⁰  or elsewhere described himself as merely tasting the flavor of Kamāl’s poetry. With the passage of time, Kamāl’s poetry outshone that of his father, and at least from the 10th/16th century onward, not only was his poetry regarded as superior to his father’s,¹¹¹ but some even placed him above poets such as Khāqānī and Ẓahīr Fāryābī, and regarded him as the equal of Anvarī.¹¹² The popularity of his poetry reached the point that when the name of Shah ‛Abbās* was raised for kingship, people sought an omen regarding his future from Kamāl’s divan.¹¹³ The circulation and fame of his poetry continued at least until the 12th/18th century, when majma‛ al-nafāyes was compiled,¹¹⁴ though it is not entirely clear from what point onward the poet’s name began to fade in the world of poetry and literature.¹¹⁵

Littérateurs and critics have examined Kamāl’s poetry from various perspectives. Kh^wāje Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī, in me‛yār al-ash‛ār, cites his poetry as an example of an acceptable and subtle innovation in altering the refrain (radīf).¹¹⁶ Shams Qeys Rāzī, although he praises Kamāl Esmā‛īl’s delicate metaphors and elegant puns (īhām) and quotes one of his quatrains as a model of fine quatrains,¹¹⁷ nevertheless cites some of his verses to illustrate such flaws as shāygān, (rhyming on plural suffixes such as -ān/-īn,) an unsuitable opening line, excessive hyperbole in praise, and the mixing of refrains.¹¹⁸ Jāmī, also, in his treatise on rhyme titled, resāla-ye qāfīye, draws most of his examples from Kamāl’s poetry,¹¹⁹ yet in bahārestān he criticizes Kamāl’s overindulgence in refining meanings and expressions, believing that it deprives his poetry of smoothness and flow.¹²⁰ Likewise, the author of tadhkerat ‛arafāt al-‛āsheqīn praises Kamāl’s fresh manner of expressing meanings and his “novel, non-repetitive similes and mature metaphors.”¹²¹

The total number of verses in Kamāl al-Dīn’s divan has been estimated at as many as twenty thousand.¹²² His poems, like those of many other poets, have also been confused with the works of others and transmitted under their names. For example, the ode beginning:

I travelled through the world and saw totally the horizons in their entirety;

whenever I saw a trace of humanity, it was from (true) humanity itself.

Jahān begashtam va āfāq sar be sar dīdam /

Be mardumī ke gar az mardumī asar dīdam

is printed in the collected works of Sa‛dī in the editions of Muhammad Ali Furūghī and Bahā al-Dīn Khurramshāhī, whereas it actually belongs to Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl. Likewise, the famous quatrain:

Rise up and do not grieve over this passing world;

sit down and let the world go by in joy.

If there were any fidelity in the nature of the world,

your turn would never have come after others.

Barkhīz va makhur gham-e jahān-e guzārān /

Benshīn va jahān be shādmānī gudharān /

Dar ṭab‛-e jahān agar vafā’ī būdī /

Nubat be tu khud nayāmadī az degarān

which many consider to be by Khayyām, is in fact composed by Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl.¹²³

The divan of Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl has had at least two early editions: it was first published as a lithograph in Bombay in 1890/1307 (later reprinted in offset by Rūzane Press), and later as another lithographic edition by Malek al-Kuttāb. Neither of these editions, however, is of reliable scholarly value according to modern standards of critical text editing. In 1969/1348, Hossein Bahrul‛Ulūmī published a more complete edition of Kamāl’s divan (around fifteen thousand verses) through Dehkhudā Publisher, which marked a major step forward in editing his works. Nearly fifty years later, in 2017/1396, Mahdi Ṭabāṭabā’ī once again produced a full critical edition of the divan, addressing a number of textual difficulties; it was published in two volumes by Khāmūsh Publisher. In 2020/1399, Muhammad-Reza Ḍīyā published the section of lyric poems and quatrains (in Sukkan Press and the Afshār Endowment Foundation); this edition included nearly three hundred newly discovered quatrains. Its second edition, published in 2023/1402, added another one hundred newly found quatrains, also edited by Ḍīyā.

/Muhammad-Reza Ziya & Ali Kiyani/

Bibliography

Ādhar Bīgdelī, Luṭf-Ali b. Āqākhān. ātashkade-ye āzdhr. Edited by Ja‛far Shahīdī. Tehran: Mu’assese-ye Nashr-e Ketāb, 1958/1337.

Ansārī Kāzerūnī, Abū al-Qāsem b. Abī Ḥāmed. selmu al-samāwāt. Edited by ‛Abdullāh Nūrānī. Tehran: Mīrāth-e Maktūb, 2007/1386.

Athīr Ūmanī, ‛Abdullāh. divan. Edited by Umīd Surūrī and ‛Abbās Begjānī. Tehran: Ketābkhāne, Mūze va Markaz-e Asnād-e Majles-e Shurā-ye Eslāmī, 2012/1391.

Avḥadī Balyānī, Taqī al-Dīn Muhammad b. Muhammad. tadhkerat ‛arafāt al-‛āsheqīn va ‛arṣāt al-‛ārefīn. Edited by Zabīḥullāh Ṣāḥebkārī and Āmene Fakhr Aḥmad. Tehran: Mīrāth-e Maktūb, 2010/1389.

Āzād Belgerāmī, Mīr Ghulām-Ali b. Nūḥ. khazānatun ‛āmera. Edited by Nāṣer Nīkūbakht and Shakīl Aslam-Beyg. Tehran: Pazhūheshgāh-e ‛Ulūm-e Ensānī va Muṭāle‛āt-e Farhangī, 2011/1390.

Bābāṣafarī, Ali -Aṣghar, and Farahnāk Jahrumī, Zeynab. “barresī va taḥlīl-e darkh^wāst va taqāḍā dar ash‛ār-e Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl Eṣfahānī.” Pazhūhesh-Nāmeh-ye Adabīyyāt-e Ta‛līmī, no. 4, Winter 2010/1388.

Bahā’ī, Ali b. ‛Abdullāh. maṭāle‛ al-bodūr fī manāzel al-surūr. Cairo: al-Maktaba al-Thaqāfīyya al-Dīnīyya, 2000/1419.

Baḥrul-‛Ulūmī, Hussein. “nāme’ī az Shahāb al-Dīn Suhravardī be Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl Eṣfahānī.” Journal of the Faculty of Letters and Humanities, University of Tehran, 14/2 (December 1966/Ādhar 1345).

Dawlatshāh Samarqandī. tadhkerat al-shu‛arā. Edited by Edward Browne. Leiden: Brill, 1901/1319.–Dey 1305).

Ebn Fuwatī. majma‛ al-ādāb fī mu‛jam al-alqāb. Edited by Muhammad Kāẓem. Tehran: Vezārat-e Farhang va Ershād-e Eslāmī, 1995/1416.

Eghbāl Āshtīyānī, ‛Abbās. “tārīkh-e vafāt-e kamāl al-dīn esmā‛īl.” Armaghān, vol. 14, no. 1, March 1933/ Farvardīn 1312.

Eskandar Munshī. tārīkh-e ‛ālam-ārā-ye ‛abbāsī. Tehran: Amīr Kabīr, 1971/1350.

Futūḥī, Maḥmūd. naqd-e adabī dar sabk-e Hendī. Tehran: Sukhan, 2006/1385.

Ḥāfeẓ, Shams al-Dīn Muhammad. divan. Edited by Muhammad Qazvīnī and Qāsem Ghanī. Tehran: Asāṭīr, 1992/1371.

Hazīn Lāhījī, Muhammad-Ali b. Abī Ṭāleb. tārīkh-e Hazīn. Isfahan: Ketābfurūshī-ye Ta’yīd, 1953/1332.

Jamāl al-Dīn Eṣfahānī, Muhammad b. ‛Abd al-Razzāq. divan. Edited by Hasan Vaḥīd Dastgerdī. Tehran: Vezārat-e Farhang, 1941/1320.

Jāmī, ‛Abd al-Raḥmān b. Aḥmad. bahārestān va rasāel-e Jāmī. Edited by A‛lākhān Afṣaḥzād, Muhammad-Jān Umr-uf, and Abūbakr Ẓuhūr al-Dīn. Tehran: Mīrāth-e Maktūb, 2000/1379.

Jāmī, ‛Abd al-Raḥmān b. Aḥmad. divan. Edited by A‛lākhān Afṣaḥzād. Tehran: Mīrāth-e Maktūb, 1999/1378.

Juvaynī, ‛Aṭā’al-Mulk b. Muhammad. tārīkh-e jahāngushāy-e Juvaynī. Edited by Muhammad b. ‛Abd al-Wahhāb Qazvīnī. Leiden: Brill, 1911–1937.

Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, Esmā‛īl b. Muhammad. “yek maktūb az ustād Kamāl al-Dīn.” Armaghān, 11/8 (November 1930/Ābān 1309).

Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, Esmā‛īl b. Muhammad. divan-e Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl Eṣfahānī (ghazalīyāt va rubā‛īyāt). Edited by Muhammad-Reza Ziya. Tehran: Sukhan / Bunyād-e Mawqūfāt-e Afshār, 2020/1399.

Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, Esmā‛īl b. Muhammad. divan-e Khallāq al-Ma‛ānī Abū al-Faẓl Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl Eṣfahānī. Edited by Hussein Baḥral-‛Ulūmī. Tehran: Dehkhudā, 1969/1348.

Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, Esmā‛īl b. Muhammad. jān-e ma‛nī: zendegī va she‛r-e Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl. Edited by Muhammad Mahyār. Qum: Sherkat-e Bāvar-dārān, 1999/1378.

Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, Esmā‛īl b. Muhammad. kullīyāt-e khallāq al-ma‛ānī Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl Eṣfahānī. Edited by Mahdī Ṭabāṭabā’ī. Tehran: Nashr-e Khāmūsh, 2017/1396.

Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, Esmā‛īl b. Muhammad. resālat al-qaws. Edited by Muhammad-Reza Ebn al-Rasūl, in nuṣūṣ va rasā’elī az turāth-e Isfahan-e al-‛elmī-ye al-khāled, supervised by Majīd Hādīzāde. Tehran: Hastī-Namā, 2007/1386.

Kāshefī Sabzevārī, Hussein b. Ali. badāye‛ al-afkār fī ṣanāye‛ al-ash‛ār. Edited by Mīr Jalāl al-Dīn Kazzāzī. Tehran: Nashr-e Markaz, 1991/1369.

Khān-e Ārezū, Serāj al-Dīn Ali b. Ḥesām al-Dīn. tadhkere-ye majma‛ al-nafāyes, vol. 3. Edited by Muhammad Sarfarāz Ẓafar and Zīb al-Nesā‛ Ali Khan. Islamabad: Markaz-e Taḥqīqāt-e Fārsī-ye Iran va Pakistan, 2006/1385.

“Malek Muẓaffar va Kamāl al-Dīn Eṣfahānī.” Yaghmā, 3/2 (May 1950/ Urdībehesht 1329).

Masrūr, Hussein. “sharḥ-e ḥāl-e Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl.” Armaghān, new series 7/2–3 (May–June 1926/Urdībehesht-Khurdād 1305).

Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī, Muhammad b. Muhammad. me‛yār al-ash‛ār dar ‛elm-e ‛arūḍ va qāfīye. Edited by Muhammad Feshārekī. Tehran: Mīrāth-e Maktūb, 2010/1389.

nuzhat al-majāles: chahār hezār rubā‛ī barguzīde az sī-sad shā‛er. Edited by Muhammad-Amīn Rīyāḥī. Tehran: ‛Elmī, 1996/1375.

Salmān Sāvujī, Salmān b. Muhammad. divan. Edited by Manṣūr Mushfeq. Tehran: Ṣafī-Ali-shāh, 1957/1336.

Shajare, Mas‛ūd. “maqbare-ye Khallāq al-Ma‛ānī Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl.” Armaghān, 11/7 (October 1930/Mehr 1309).

Shams Qeys Rāzī, Muhammad b. Qeys. al-mu‛jam fī ma‛āyīr ash‛ār al-‛ajam. Edited by Sīrūs Shamīsa. Tehran: Nashr-e ‛Elm, 2009/1388.

Sheblī Nu‛mānī. she‛ru al-‛ajam. Translated into Persian by Muhammad-Taqī Fakhr Dā‛ī Gīlānī. Tehran: Dunyā-ye Ketāb, 1984/1363.

Vaḥīd Dastgerdī, Hasan. “maqbare-ye jadīd-e ustād Kamāl al-Dīn, yekī az mafākher-e buzurg-e ‛aṣr-e Pahlavī.” Armaghān, 11/9 (December 1930/ Ādhar 1309).

Vaḥīd Dastgerdī, Hasan. “maqbare-ye Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl dar Isfahan.” Armaghān, new series 7/9–10 (December 1926–January 1927/ Ādhar

1. Ebn Fuwatī, vol. 4, p. 129.[↩]
2. Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, p. 136.[↩]
3. Ibid., Introduction of Baḥr al-‛Ulūmī, p. 5.[↩]
4. Jamāl al-Dīn Eṣfahānī, p. 289.[↩]
5. Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, p. 142; Introduction of Baḥr al-‛Ulūmī, p. 4.[↩]
6. Dawlatshāh Samarqandī, pp. 148–149.[↩]
7. “How can I joyfully take flight in the meadow, when time has cut the wings of my bird of delight? // Two branches, both sprung from a single root in one place, the sword of wrath cut our fate apart from one another. // Death cut short the branch of his life in youth, though it was not the custom to cut a fresh branch. // Although our station in the journey was the same, the one who was young was taken away sooner.

   ”Chegūne dar chaman-e khushdelī kunam parvāz / ke murgh-e ‛eysh-e marā ruzegār par beburīd // Du shākh, har du ze yek asl ruste bar yek jāy / be tīgh-e qahr-e ajal-mān ze yekdegār beburīd // Be nujavānī beburīd shākh-e ‛umrash marg / agarche rasm nabūdast shākh-e tar beburīd // Agarche manzel-e mā dar safar barābar būd / valīk ān-ke javān būd zudtar beburīd (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, p. 434; Introduction of Baḥr al-‛Ulūmī, p. 4).[↩]

8. Dawlatshāh Samarqandī, p. 155.[↩]
9. Avḥadī Balyānī, vol. 3, p. 1515.[↩]
10. “My purpose in Isfahan is you, otherwise for me in this city, there is neither a house, nor property, nor a wife.” Murād-e man ze Sepāhān tu’ī, va gar-na marā / na khāne ast dar īn shahr va na ḍīyā‛ va na zan (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, p. 178; Introduction of Baḥr al-‛Ulūmī, p. 85).[↩]
11. “Through your grace, o lord, a small job has begun, the job in which sweetness is inevitable… // But the short-sighted speak only outwardly saying: ‘We ourselves tasted no sweetness from that wedding feast.’ // I am obliged to thank you and your sweetness will come to me, albeit; I ask sweetness from you, and from me others shall receive sweetness.” kārakī pīsh gereftast be farr-e tu rahī / ke dar ān kār buvad nāguzarān shīrīnī … // līke qāṣer-naẓarān az rah-e ṣūrat gūyand / ke nakhurdīm khud az ‛urs-e fulān shīrīnī // shukr-e tu bar man va bar man shekar-e tu bārī / az tu khāham man va az man degarān shīrīnī (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, p. 296; Introduction of Baḥr al-‛Ulūmī, p. 85).[↩]
12. “Your servant was hungry two years before this year; last year he married, and this year has a child.” Bande-at gurusne būd pīrār / pār zan kard va bache zād emsāl (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, p. 614).[↩]
13. “Among a hundred thousand virgin girls, last night a boy showed his face. // Quickly arrange his name and his bread (livelihood), since you have found a new child and the number is added.” Bar sar-e ṣad hezār dukhtar-e bekr / pesarī dūsh rūy benemūdast // Zūd tartīb-e nām va nānash kun /kat vushāqī ze nu dar-afzūdast (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, p. 480; Introduction of Baḥr al-‛Ulūmī, p. 86).[↩]
14. “I am a poet, content, occupied with myself— myself, and a household, and four children.”
    Shā‛erī qāne‛am be khud mashghūl / khud va khalqī ‛eyāl va ṭefl chahār (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, p. 360). “If I am nailed down by my own four children, what happened to him that he shows not even a sign like this?”
    Gar man ze chār ṭefl-e khudam dar chahār mīkh / ū-rā che shud ke bārī az īn sān padīd nīst? (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, p. 263).[↩]
15. “Your servant’s son, Ali Esmāʿīl, hopes for his yearly stipend. // And this double-couplet speaks his state of mind,
    and because of this he is anxious and troubled: // ‘Perhaps that promise was not worthy of fulfilment?
    Or perhaps the servant was not deserving of the gift? // Perhaps the permit for that portion was in error?
    Or perhaps the amount was more than was fitting for us?’ // The fame of your generosity makes even the voiceless
    raise such a request… // With your bounty, it is not far from being realized, that which he dreams of in his imagination.”

    Bande-zāde Ali Esmāʿīl / ṭama’-e rasm-e sāl mīdārad // vīn du-beytī zabān-e ḥālash guft / zīn sabab ekhtelāl mīdārad // “Ān va‛de na dar-khur-e wafā būd magar / yā bande na lāyeq-e ‛aṭā būd magar // parvāne-ye ān juzv khaṭā būd magar / yā bīsh ze andāze-ye mā būd magar” // ṣeyt-e jūd-e tu bī-zabān-rā / īn chenīn bar suʾāl mīdārad … // nīst az kār dūr bā karam-at / ānche ū dar khīyāl mīdārad. (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, p. 506; Introduction of Baḥr al-‛Ulūmī, pp. 86–87; idem, 2017/1396, vol. 1, Introduction of Ṭabāṭabā’ī, p. 89).[↩]

16. My dear companions returned from the journey; anxiously I wondered why they returned without that son… // They cast into the water a jewel whose worth was a soul, and for the sake of saving a handful of trifling goods they returned… // Where are you, my son?! My soul has gone due to waiting— do not you return? while the others came back from the journey.” Hamrahān-e nāzanīnam az safar bāz āmadand / bad-gumānam tā cherā bī ān pesar bāz āmadand … // Guharī ke-ash jān bahā būd andar āb andākhtand / vaz barāye ḥefẓ-e rakht-e mukhtaṣar bāz āmadand … // To kujā’ī ey pesar?! Jānam beraft az enteẓār / to nemī-āyī? Degarhā az safar bāz āmadand (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, pp. 429–432).[↩]
17. “O my companions! What happened to you so suddenly, that one after another you departed at dawn? // If the moon rises once every two weeks, I saw that in a single week two moons sank (were lost).” Yārān-e manā! che būdetān az nāgāh / kandar pey-e yekdegar beraftīd pegāh? // Māhī be du hafte gar bar-āyad har māh / dīdam ke be yek hafte furū raft du māh (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 2020/1399, p. 324; Introduction of Ziya, pp. 24–25).[↩]
18. “Another daughter has come to me, and at once, she took away the brightness of joy and drained the water of life. // If, besides this fourth one, the next child too is a girl, it would be best that blessings carry her to non-existence. // God created daughters for the bier, from the very moment the heavens began to move. // Among noble deeds is always the burial of daughters, whether they are alive or dying.”
    Resīd dukhtar-e digar marā, va yekbāreh / beburd runaq-e ‛eysh va beraft āb-e ḥayāt // Agar nabāshad juz rābe‛eh duvvum dukhtar / chenān behast ke sūy-e ‛adam barad barakāt // Banāt-rā ze pey-e na‛sh āfarīd khudāy / ze badv-e ān-ke sepehr āmadast dar ḥarakāt //Ze makrumāt buvad dafn-e dukhtarān hame vaght / agar be ḥāl-e ḥayāt-ast va gar be ḥāl-e mamāt (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, p. 589).[↩]
19. Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 2020/1399, Introduction of Ẓīyā, p. 26.[↩]
20. “You gave me an office and then immediately dismissed me; this truly is a kind of jest.” ‛Amal dādī va pas ma‛zūl kardī / marā bar fur va īn nav‛ī ze hazl ast (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, p. 597). “Spill my blood, but do not spill my honor; by your life, I cannot endure cruelty. // If there is crookedness in my work, it stems from the straightness of yours; if I have no office, then let it not be. // If your pleasure lies in dismissing me, then shame upon the office, for with your displeasure no blessed life exists.” Berīz khūn-e man va āb-rūy-e man be-marīz / be jān-e tu ke marā tāqat-e jafā nabuvad // Kajī-ye kār-e man az rāstīst bar kār-at / marā agar nabuvad shughl, balk-e tā nabuvad // Agar rezā-ye tu ‛azl ast, khāk bar sar-e shughl / ke bā kerāhat-e tu ‛eysh bā navā nabuvad (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, p. 240). “Since both dismissal and office come from you, each is an honor; yet come and see where I am standing.” ‛Azl va ‛amal chu az tu buvad, har du manṣab ast / līkan bīyā bebīn ke kujā īstāde’am. (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, p. 579). “If the lord gave an office to someone lesser than me, it is fitting that my hopes increase a hundredfold… // I have hope, and I know it is not far from happening, that he will appoint none but me as his special deputy; // For wherever someone like him can perform my duty, a greater office in the world may belong to me.” Agar be kam ze manī dād shughl kh^wāje / ravā buvad ke marā sad umīd befzāyad // Umīd dāram va dānam ke nīst dūr az kār / ke juz neyābat-e khāṣṣ khudam nafarmāyad // Ke harkujā ke chu vey shughl-e man tavānad kard / buzurgtar ‛amalī dar jahān marā shāyad (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, p. 601).[↩]
21. “Since I am fit for no other occupation, then by your command, I shall keep your praise alive, reviving my father’s name.” Chu hīch shughl-e degar rā nemī-sazam, bārī / kunam be-farmān-e madīḥ-e tu zende nām-e pedar
    (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, p. 142). “I am not empty of artistic skills, and I possess knowledge of the sciences of the world; I have a foundation in the sharī‛a, even though among poets I have a flourishing reputation.”
    Az funūn-e hunar nīm khālī / vaz ‛ulūm-e jahān kunam akhbār // Māye az shar‛ dāram, ar-che marā / hast dar ṣaff-e shā‛erān bāzār (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, p. 360).[↩]
22. Ibid., pp. 89–122.[↩]
23. Ibid., pp. 224–238.[↩]
24. Ibid., pp. 194–196, 299–300.[↩]
25. Ibid., pp. 33–34.[↩]
26. Ibid., pp. 34–38.[↩]
27. Ibid., pp. 38–42.[↩]
28. Ibid., pp. 74–77; see also: idem, 2017/1396, vol. 1, Introduction by Ṭabāṭabāʾī, pp. 98–100.[↩]
29. Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, pp. 81–88.[↩]
30. Ibid., pp. 379–381; Juvaynī, vol. 2, p. 153.[↩]
31. Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, pp. 42–48.[↩]
32. Ibid., pp. 49–52, 52–55.[↩]
33. Ibid., pp. 339–345, 647.[↩]
34. Ibid., pp. 55–58.[↩]
35. Ibid., pp. 69–72.[↩]
36. Ibid., pp. 64–67.[↩]
37. Ibid., pp. 359–371.[↩]
38. Ibid., pp. 301–305.[↩]
39. Ibid., pp. 305–313.[↩]
40. Ibid., pp. 510–511.[↩]
41. Ibid., pp. 570–571; for the complete list of the persons praised by Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, see: Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, Introduction of Baḥr al-‛Ulūmī, pp. 11–56; idem, 2017/1396, vol. 1, Introduction of Ṭabāṭabāʾī, pp. 96–136.[↩]
42. Juvaynī, vol. 2, pp. 165–167.[↩]
43. Ibid., vol. 2, p. 153.[↩]
44. “There is neither a generous patron to set right my ruined affairs, nor a great man to resolve the hardship of my deprivation”. na karīmī ke kunad kār-e parīshānam rāst / na buzurgī ke kunad mushkel-e ḥermānam ḥall (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmāʿīl, 1970/1348., p. 374). “Though I, your servant, because of the traces of your neglect, am now deprived of every office and duty …For two years he has been chewing the cud of deprivation, longing for the blessing he once enjoyed in the world.” agarche bande ze āthār-e bī-‛enāyat-e tu / ze harche shughl va ‛amal būd īn zamān fard ast … du sāl shud ke ze ḥermān hamī zanad nushkh^wār / ze ne‛matī keh az īn pīsh dar jahān khurd ast. (ibid., p. 499)[↩]
45. “For the slanderer and the mischief-maker, I have pledged a surety, yet they have bound me amidst such uproar and tumult.” barā-ye mufsed va ghamāz baste-am geravī / ke baste-and marā dar chenīn gharīvu gharang (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmāʿīl, 1970/1348., p. 371; see also pp. 449, 552).[↩]
46. ibid., pp. 190, 204.[↩]
47. ibid., p. 449.[↩]
48. “No one should justly torment a heart like mine; do not you, too, permit such sorrow. What gain can a treasury ever find from two or three worn-out cloaks and turbans? My name already stands in the registers of largesse,
    in the ledgers of the great dignitaries; yet when they inscribe my name in these accounts, under confiscations and forced levies, surely a wise patron, acting with reason, would never approve such conduct!
    bī-sabab ranj-e khāṭer-e chu manī / kas nadārad ravā, tu nīz madār, khud che kār khazīne rāst shavad / az du se kuhne jubbe va dastār. nām-e man dar jarīde-ye ṣalat ast / dar davāvīn-e kh^wājegān-e kebār. chun nevīsand andar īn dīvān / dar vujūh-e muṣāderāt va qarār. hemmat-e ṣāḥebī ze rū-ye kherad / na hamānā pasandad īn kerdār (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmāʿīl, 1970/1348., p. 361; see also pp. 369–371)[↩]
49. Ibid., pp. 472–473.[↩]
50. Idem, 2020/1442, p. 27.[↩]
51. Idem, 1969/1389, pp. 199–201.[↩]
52. Ibid., pp. 441, 457.[↩]
53. Ibid., Baḥral‛Ulūmī’s explanatory notes, pp. 1043–1044.[↩]
54. Ibid., pp. 472–473.[↩]
55. “My life has reached its limit from the torment of eye-pain; O Lord, what vision can I hope for from this aching eye… Jānam ze darde chashm be jān āmad az ‘azāb / yā rab che dīd khāham az īn chashm-e dard-yāb … (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmāʿīl, 1969/1389, pp. 403–405). “My body has become a mountain of affliction from the torment of scabies; poor me, who is trying to dig a mountain with fingernails!” Kūh-e balā shudast ze ranj-e jarab tanam /bīchāreh man ke kūh be nākhun hamī kanam. (Ibid., p. 405; see also Masrūr, pp. 111–115; Kamāl al-Dīn Esmāʿīl, 1969/1389, Baḥral‛Ulūmī’s Introduction, pp. 84–85)[↩]
56. Avḥadī Balyānī, vol. 6, p. 3520; Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 2017/1396, vol. 1, Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s Introduction, pp. 92–94.[↩]
57. Avhadī Balyānī, vol. 6, p. 3520; Dawlatshāh Samarqandī, pp. 152–153.[↩]
58. See: Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 2017/1396, vol. 1, Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s Introduction, pp. 94–95; idem, 2020/1399, pp. 78–80; Eghbāl Āshtīyānī, pp. 8–13.[↩]
59. Vaḥīd Dastgerdī, 1930/1309, p. 641.[↩]
60. Idem, 1926/1305, pp. 546–547; Shajare, pp. 488–493; Vaḥīd Dastgerdī, 1930/1309, pp. 644–646.[↩]
61. Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, pp. 20–21, 29–33.[↩]
62. Baḥral‛Ulūmī, pp. 110–112; Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 2017/1396, vol. 1, Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s Introduction, p. 145.[↩]
63. Ādhar Bīgdelī, p. 260.[↩]
64. Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, pp. 390–391; Athīr Ūmanī, pp. 483–485.[↩]
65. Athīr Ūmanī, pp. 429–430.[↩]
66. Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 2017/1396, vol. 1, Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s Introduction, pp. 139–142; Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, pp. 388–390.[↩]
67. Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, p. 964; “Malek Muẓaffar va Kamāl al-Dīn Eṣfahānī,” p. 112.[↩]
68. Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, pp. 525–526; Baḥral‛Ulūmī’s Introduction, p. 62.[↩]
69. Kamāl al-Dīn Esmāʿīl, 1969/1348, pp. 557–558; cf. Kamāl al-Dīn Esmāʿīl, 2017/1396, vol. 1, Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s Introduction, p. 147[↩]
70. Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1930/1309, pp. 561–563; Idem, 1969/1348, BaḥralʿUlūmī’s Introduction, pp. 100–101; Idem, 2017/1396, vol. 1, Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s Introduction, pp. 148–152. It is also probable that the piece “Javāb-nāmeh-ye Ṣadr Ṣafī al-Dīn Yazdī” was likewise composed on the occasion of receiving a letter from this same person (Idem, 1969/1348, p. 692).[↩]
71. Ebn Fuwātī, vol. 4, p. 129; see also: Kamāl al-Dīn Esmāʿīl, 2017/1396, vol. 1, Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s Introduction, p. 153.[↩]
72. Bahāʾī, vol. 2, pp. 484–489.[↩]
73. Kamāl al-Dīn Esmāʿīl, 1969/1348, Baḥral‛Ulūmī’s Introduction, pp. 103–113.[↩]
74. Kamāl al-Dīn Esmāʿīl, 2017/1396, vol. 1, Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s Introduction, p. 153.[↩]
75. Dawlat-shāh Samarqandī, p. 149; Jāmī, 2000/1379, p. 146.[↩]
76. Futūḥī, p. 306.[↩]
77. Kamāl al-Dīn Esmāʿīl, 1969/1348, pp. 280–284, 269–272.[↩]
78. Idem, pp. 105–108, 112–115, 233–238, 407–410.[↩]
79. Idem, pp. 434–438, 449–450, 450–456.[↩]
80. Idem, pp. 440–441.[↩]
81. Sheblī Nu‛mānī, vol. 2, p. 15.[↩]
82. Kamāl al-Dīn Esmāʿīl, 1969/1348, p. 668.[↩]
83. Idem, pp. 188–191, 392–393, 496–497.[↩]
84. Kāshefī Sabzevārī, p. 174.[↩]
85. Kamāl al-Dīn Esmāʿīl, 1969/1348, pp. 348–349, 441, 489, 548, 600–601, 622, 630, 645, 663, 682; see also: Bābāsafarī and Farahnāk Jahrumī, pp. 45–68.[↩]
86. “…Caring for the family and the heavy expenses, the fear of thieves and the dread of enemies— with all this endless grief and suffering, I have a homeland that feels like Hell itself. … tīmār-e ‘eyāl va kharj-e besyār / andīshe-ye duzd va bīm-e kāfar // bā īn gham va ranj-e bī-nahāyat / dāram vaṭanī be duzakh-andar. (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmāʿīl, 1969/1348, pp. 677–678)[↩]
87. “…until he turns its plain into a wilderness, and makes streams of blood flow from Jūbāre; he will multiply the number of both sides, and shatter each one into a hundred fragments.”… tā ke darsht rā chu dasht kunad /jūy-e khūn rānād ū ze Jūbāre // ‛adad-e har-du shān bīyafzāyad / har-yekī rā kunad be sad pare. (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmāʿīl, 1969/1348, p. 693)[↩]
88. “It would not be strange, given the events in Isfahan, if the rosebud’s heart became bloody, and the narcissus lost its soul; for so many bright eyes of youths were buried in the dust, that the narcissus overflowed its bounds and rose crying from every side…” Ze vāqe‛āt-e Sepāhān ‛ajab nabāshad agar / chu ghunche gardad khūnīn del va ravān-e narges // ze bas ke cheshm-e javānān kafīde shud dar khāk / ze hadd beraft va bar-āmad ze har karān narges … (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmāʿīl, 1969/1348, pp. 103–104).[↩]
89. “If Isfahan once was like Hell from the fire of sedition, now, praise be to God, it has become like a joyful garden;a jewel cannot show itself in the market next to a sword, for the fame of your peace has spread until it reached Isfahan…” Sepāhān gar chu duzakh bud ān-gāh ze ātash-e fetneh / kunūn bārī be ḥamd-ellāh chu khurram būstān āmad // guhar bā tīgh dar bāzār mī-peydā nayārad shud / ze ṣeyt-e ṣulḥ-etān āvāze tā dar Eṣfahān āmad …(Kamāl al-Dīn Esmāʿīl, 1969/1348, pp. 274–279).[↩]
90. Ẓahīr composed an ode whose opening line says: “A thousand repentances have been shattered by his luxuriant curls; how could the brokenness of my state ever appear before his eyes?” (Hezār tawba shekaste ast zulf-e pur-shekanash / kujā be chashm dar-āyad shekaste-ye hāl-e manash). In response, Kamāl composed an ode beginning: “Surely the brokenness of my state has now truly become complete, since his luxuriant curls have shattered it even further,” (Durust gasht hamānā shekastegī-ye manash / ke nīk az ān beshekast zulf-e pur-shekanash) and, in order not to be accused of stealing Ẓahīr’s poem, he wrote: “Perhaps it was merely a coincidence that such an opening occurred; therefore do not ascribe any fault to him on this account. Though Zahīr is indeed an assayer of poetic value, do not think that this servant has counterfeited his verse,” (Tavārudī magar uftāde būd dar mațla‛ / bedīn sabab raqamī az qusūr bar-mazanash // Ẓahīr agarche ke ṣarrāf-e naqde ash‛ār ast / gumān mabar ke zanad bande qalb bar sukhanash) (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmāʿīl, 1969/1348, pp. 346–348; BaḥralʿUlūmī’s notes, p. 1027).[↩]
91. Mukhtārī Ghaznavī composed an ode that begins: “I seek to purchase the loyalty of great men; it befits me that my creed be nothing but fidelity,” (Man az wafā-ye buzurgān kunam kharīdārī / sezad ke madhhab-e man nīst juz wafādārī). Kamāl responded to it with an ode opening: “I saw you, yet you have no intention of such fair dealing, for you cannot withdraw your hand from oppression even for a moment,” (Bedīdamat na sar-e ān mu‛āmalat dārī / ke dast bāz keshī yek-dam az setamkārī), and he remarked: “Though he may unwillingly follow me, Mukhtārī’s very spirit would do so if he were to read this ode,” (Agarche peyravī-ye man be eḍṭerār kunad / gar īn qaṣīde bekhānad ravān-e Mukhtārī) (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmāʿīl, 1969/1348, pp. 339–343; Idem, 2017/1396, vol. 1, Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s Introduction, p. 174).[↩]
92. The closing couplet of Kamāl’s ode states: “This too is composed in the same meter as Shahāb Muʾayyad’s poem: ‘The face of the earth was hidden beneath scattered fragments of camphor,’” (Īn ham be vazn-e she‛r-e Shahāb Muʾayyad ast: rū-ye zamīn ze khurde-ye kāfūr shud nahān’), while the opening of Shahāb Muʾayyad Nasafī Samarqandī’s ode is: “The face of the earth was hidden beneath fragments of camphor, and from the smoke of aloeswood the sky veiled its face,” (Rū-ye zamīn ze khurde-ye kāfūr shud nahān / vaz dūd-e ‛ūd rūy bepūshīd ās̱emān) (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmāʿīl, 1969/1348, pp. 185–188; BaḥralʿUlūmī’s Introduction, pp. 71–72).[↩]
93. Akhsīkatī composed an ode beginning with the line: “The banner of truth has been raised high, and the hand of falsehood has been turned back; Alp Arsalān the Second, the king Arsalān-Ṭughrul,” (Be-farākht rāyat-e ḥaqq, bartar tāft dast-e bāṭel / Alp Arsalān-e thānī, Shah-e Arsalān Ṭughrul). In response to him, Kamāl al-Dīn composed an ode whose opening reads: “O you in whose ocean of love the point of my heart is bewildered, and by the radiance of whose face the very center of the rose has become delighted,” (Ey dar muḥīṭ-e ‛eshqat sargashte nuqṭe-ye del / vey az furūgh-e rūyat khush gashte markaz-e gul) (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmāʿīl, 1969/1348, pp. 97–100; BaḥralʿUlūmī’s Introduction, p. 71).[↩]
94. Mas‛ūd-e Sa‛d, in one of his odes, says: “If I tear my heart away from you and remove from you my love, to whom shall I cast that love, and where shall I take this heart?” — “gar barkanam del az tu va bargīram az tu mehr / ān mehr bar ke afkanam, ān del kujā kunam?”. Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl reproduces this verse in a poem with the refrain baram and slightly reshapes its wording while preserving the idea: “If I tear my heart away from you and lift from you my love, to whom shall I cast that love, and where shall I carry this heart?” — “gar barkanam del az tu va bardāram az tu mehr / ān mehr bar ke afkanam, ān del kujā baram?” (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmāʿīl, 1969/1348, BaḥralʿUlūmī’s Introduction, pp. 79–80). Moreover, in an ode composed in praise of Ṣadr-e Khujandī, Kamāl seems again to respond to one of Mas‛ūd-e Sa‛d’s odes when he declares: “No man has remained in the field of excellence who, like me, would dare to challenge you with such audacity; and if this person dares to stand before the dust of your feet, know that it is not by the path of Mas‛ūd-e Sa‛d-e Salmān” — “namānd mard be meydān-e faḍl tā chu manī / be ḥaḍrat-e tu taḥaddī kunad bedīn hadhyān // be khāk-e pāy-e tu gar īn kas eḥtemāl kunad / na az rahī ke ze Mas‛ūd-e Sa‛d-e ben Salmān” (ibid., pp. 301–305).[↩]
95. “I once heard a verse most fitting to your condition—very subtle and delightful—from ‘Emādī: ‘It is only the honor of (King) Tughra‘l’s patronage; otherwise, I would have said: the Qur’an gains no higher rank merely by being bound in gold.’ tashrīf-e Ṭughrulīst va gar-na beguftamī /muṣḥaf ze band-e zar nashavad martabat-fazāy(Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, p. 325).[↩]
96. He says: “From the sayings of the ancients, hear a verse from somehow—gracefully embroidered in the style of a standard poetry: ‘Do not demand courtesy, nor eloquence, nor poetry from me; for I am not stranger, and you are the gracious host of strangers.’” ze gufte-ye qudama beytī az rahī beshnu / ke hast taẓmīn bar āstīn-e she‛r ṭarāz, adab magīr va faṣāḥat magīr va she‛r magīr / na man gharībam va tu ṣāḥeb-e gharīb-navāz. (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmāʿīl, 1969/1348, pp. 76–77; Introduction of Baḥr al-ʿUlūmī, p. 71).[↩]
97. For further examples of his literary borrowings and influences, see: Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, Introduction of Baḥr al-‛Ulūmī, pp. 70–73; idem, 2017/1396, vol. 1, Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s Introduction, pp. 173–176.[↩]
98. “My words have encompassed the entire world, my poetry is as famous as my father (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmāʿīl, 1969/1348, p. 249), yet I utter them with sorrow upon my lips (idem, p. 648); The world is filled to the brim with my renown, even though in your eyes I am despised and insignificant…Why then am I deprived of your gracious generosity, while in all the realms of the king there is none like me?” (idem, p. 368). Varche sar-tā-sar-e ‘ālam begereft / she‘r-e man bande chu sīt-e pedaram (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, p. 249);[↩]
99. Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī, pp. 121–122.[↩]
100. Shams-e Qeys, pp. 251, 257, 282, 337.[↩]
101. Anṣārī Kāzerūnī, p. 280.[↩]
102. nuzhat al-majāles, pp. 168, 202, 305, 417, 525, 627, 664; Introduction by Rīyāḥī, pp. 19, 121.[↩]
103. Salmān Sāvujī, pp. 291–294; Masrūr, pp. 113–114.[↩]
104. Salmān Sāvujī, pp. 67–68, 159–162; he himself also acknowledges his attention to this poet in the couplet, “If the reciter should perform this poem in Isfahan, the spirit of Kamāl will pray to God for the speaker,” rāvī agar navāzad īn she‛r dar Sepāhān / rūḥ-e Kamāl kh^wānad le-llāh dar qāʾel (ibid., p. 131; Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 2017/1396, vol. 1, Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s Introduction, pp. 179–180; see also Idem, 1999/1378, pp. 37–42).[↩]
105. For example, Kamāl composed an ode that opens with the following lines: “Ah, how the moist hyacinth has drawn the curtain over the tulip, and upon the heavens the radiance of your visage has pitched a pavilion.” zehī ze sunbul-e tar karde lāle-rā parde / bar āsemān zade ‛aks-e rukhat sarāparde. In response to this poem, Amīr Khusru Dehlavī wrote an ode in imitation of it, beginning with: “Do not draw a veil of that heart-captivating down upon your face, for no one ever veils the sun with the darkness of night.” makash be gerd-e rukhat az khaṭṭ-e delrubā parde / ke kas ze shab nakunad āftāb-rā parde. (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1999/1378, pp. 42–43).[↩]
106. Āzād Belgrāmī, p. 295.[↩]
107. See Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 1969/1348, Introduction of Baḥr al-‛Ulūmī, pp. 79–80; idem, 2017/1396, vol. 1, Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s Introduction, pp. 177–178; idem, 1999/1378, pp. 43–47. For example, Ḥāfeẓ in the lyric poem “Ṣūfī bīyā ke kherqe-ye sālūs barkeshīm / vīn naqsh-e zarq rā khaṭṭ-e buṭlān be sar keshīm” (p. 298) follows the model of Kamāl al-Dīn’s lyric poem “Khīzīd tā g̱harīv be ‛ayūq barkeshīm / faryād-e dard-nāk ze sūz-e jegar keshīm” (Kamāl al-Dīn Esmāʿīl, 1999/1378, pp. 44–45).[↩]
108. “If you will not believe this account from your servant, I shall bring evidence from the words of Kamāl. And if I tear my heart away from you and take back my love from you, on whom shall I cast that love? And where shall I take this heart?” (Ḥāfeẓ, p. 271). Var bāvar-at namī-kunad az bande īn ḥadīth /Az gufte-ye Kamāl dalīlī bī-yāvaram
     gar barkanam del az tu va bardāram az tu mehr / Ān mehr bar ke afkanam? Ān del kujā baram?[↩]
109. See the preceding lines.[↩]
110. “This lyric poem of Jāmī was wholly in the style of Kamāl; It is only fitting that his name be counted among the ranks of Kamāl.” būd be ṭūr-e Kamāl īn ghazal ze gufte-ye Jāmī / sazad ke nām-e vey az zumre-ye Kamāl bar-āyad. Jāmī, 1999/1378, vol. 2, pp. 537–538.[↩]
111. “His poetry attained a distinctive perfection only after it had taken a flavor from the verses of Kamāl.” yāft kamālī sukhanash tā gereft / chāshnī’ī az sukhanān-e Kamāl. (Jāmī, 1999/1378, vol. 1, p. 554).[↩]
112. Dawlatshāh Samarqandī, pp. 141–142; Ḥazīn Lāhījī, pp. 36–39.[↩]
113. Anṣārī, Kāzerūnī, p. 297.[↩]
114. Eskandar Munshī, vol. 1, pp. 278–279.[↩]
115. Khān-e Ārezū, vol. 3, p. 1343.[↩]
116. Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī, pp. 121–122.[↩]
117. Shams-e Qeys, pp. 375, 420.[↩]
118. Ibid, pp. 257, 337, 372.[↩]
119. Jāmī, 2000/1379, pp. 297–299, 303.[↩]
120. Ibid, p. 146.[↩]
121. Avḥadī Balīyānī, vol. 6, p. 3519.[↩]
122. Ebn al-Fuwaṭī (vol. 4, p. 129) states that Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl’s divan comprised twenty thousand verses. Uvḥadī Balīyānī likewise notes that he himself “repeatedly copied” Kamāl’s divan in his own handwriting and “collected nearly seventeen thousand verses,” adding that “I know there are even more than this; perhaps they may yet be found” (vol. 6, p. 3520).[↩]
123. For further examples, see: Kamāl al-Dīn Esmā‛īl, 2020/1399, pp. 54–76.[↩]