Ansari, Abu Ismail Abdallah ibn Muhammad Heravi

Ansari, Abu Ismail Abdallah ibn Muhammad Heravi 

Born 1006, in Herat; died 1088. Iranian prose writer and Sufi poet. Wrote in Persian and Arabic.

None of the three divans ascribed to Ansari has been completely preserved. His munajat (prayers consisting of hymns and poetry) in Persian—pathetic appeals to god—are highly artistic in form. He translated into the Herat dialect (from Arabic) and supplemented the biographical writings of Sulami (died 1021), Categories of Sufis, which influenced the subsequent hagiographic Sufist literature. Ansari also treated the subject of Yusuf and Zulaykha as well as some theological compositions of Sufist nature.

REFERENCES

Bertel’s E. E. Istoriia persidsko-tadzhikskoi literatury, Izbr. trudy, vol. 1. Moscow, 1960.
Malik-al-Shuara Bahar. Sabk-shenasi, vol. 2, 2nd ed. Tehran, 1337 A.H. (A.D. 1958).
Dĕjiny perské a tádžické literatury. Edited by J. Rypka, 2nd ed. Prague, 1963.

M. I. ZAND