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Nakhchivani
Mohammad ibn Hindushah ibn Sanjar ibn Abdullah al-Girani
an-Nakhchivani
(approximately 1293, Nakhchivan - 1376) – a scientist,
statesman, confessor. He belongs to the famous scientists’
generation and continued his father’s way, Hindushah
Nakhchivani. He got excellent education, had good command of
Arabic, Farsi and Turkish languages and learned the different
sciences of that time. During the 20th of the XIV
century he came to Tabriz and worked in the financial section of
Hulakis palace. He worked as a secretary and art person of
Qiyasaddin Mohammad Rashidi, who was the son of F. Rashidadin
and the grand vizier afterwards and got the pseudonym “Shamsi
munshi an-Nakhchivani” for his abilities. He got acquainted with
the ruler of Elkhani, Sultan Abu Said Bahadir khan (1316-1335)
with the help of Qiyasaddin Mohammad Rashidi and began to write
a special work dedicated to the state ruing and construction
system, but he could finish it after many years (1366). The
second part of his life coincides with the ruling of Chobanis
and Jalaris in Azerbaijan. These years he became famous on
religious issues and even for a while as a head confessor of the
state during Jalaris dynasty. Nakhchivani’s social-political
views are same with those of Nizam al-mulk, Rashidaddin and his
son Qiyasaddin, as well as Vessaf, Hamdullah Qazvi and other
outstanding thinkers. As his ancestors he supported the monarchy
system and centralized strong government in the state system.
Two works from his scientific collection survived till the
present time. “Sihah al-fors”, completed in 1328, is a
dictionary of 2300 words used in Farsi language and the
explanation of phrases. The work consists of the author’s
introduction, 25 parts and 431 chapters. The author used the
experience of his ancestors and a lot of other materials of
other languages like Azerbaijan and Turkish languages in the
explanation of Farsi words. There are ethnographic materials
indicating the living conditions of Azerbaijani people. Here you
can see the pieces of poems of a lot of masters, as well as his
father Hindushah Nakhchivani. The author also gives an
explanation to the lexicology and phonetics of the Farsi
language. The following years the dictionary compilers used this
work as a source. The copies of 4 his manuscripts are known.
A.Taati in Tehran published them in 1962.
His
second work dedicated to Sheikh Uveys, the ruler of Jalaris and
completed in 1366, is “Dastur al-katib fi tayin al-maratib”
(“The Instructions for the secretaries to determine the
degrees”), consisting of two parts. Here the examples of
official documents are attached. But these were not only as an
example, but also reflected a lot of real facts about the
socio-economic, political, cultural and religious life of that
period. The work covers the information about the forms of land
property, the rules of land use, taxes and obligations, military
construction, military and religious courts, urban life,
mastership and trade, the problems of sedentary and nomad
agriculture, the miserable condition of the people and their
struggle, the explanation of the all positions of feudal
hierarchy and about a lot of scientists, statesmen, masters and
so on. In his explanation of the position appointments of the
ruling system of those times, he cited the factual documents as
an example. Here he mentions the names of real historical
figures and places. More than 100 historical terms are indicated
and the author gives explanation to some of them. The work is
estimated on the same level of Nizam al-mulk’s “Siyasatname”,
Rashidadin’s “Jami at-tavarikh” and many other works. The copies
of his 6 manuscripts are kept in the world libraries. Their
scientific-critical text is prepared by academician A.A.Alizadeh
(on the basis of the copies of all manuscripts) and was
published in 2 editions in Moscow during 1964-1976. |