Amir Khusrow Dehlavi

A poet, historian and Sufi of Turkish descent who lived in India; a disciple of the Chishti shaykh Nizam al-Din Awliya. His full name is Abu'l-Hasan Amir Khusraw b. Amir Sayf al-Din Mahmud Dihlawi.

He was born in 651 (1253) in the town of Mu'minpur (Mu'minabad) north of Delhi. His father Sayf al-Din Mahmud, of a Turkish tribe called Lachin living in Transoxiana, had migrated first to Kesh, then to Balkh, and then to India fleeing the oppression of Genghis Khan. Entering the service of the Delhi sultan Shams al-Din Iltutmish (1211-1236), Sayf al-Din settled in Mu'minpur, granted to him as an iqta', and married the daughter of the famous amir 'Imad al-Mulk; Amir Khusraw is one of the three sons born of this marriage. As a child he attracted notice by his outstanding intelligence, and began composing poetry during his madrasa years. When he lost his father at seven or eight he came under the protection of his grandfather 'Imad al-Mulk and grew up listening to the literary and learned gatherings held in his presence; these also awakened his interest in music. He probably met Nizam al-Din Awliya in these years. By twelve he had reached a certain level as a poet, and at nineteen he compiled his first diwan, Tuhfat al-sighar.

After his grandfather's death (671/1273 [?]) he joined the retinue of the Turkish amir Kishli Khan. In these gatherings he caught the attention of Bughra Khan, younger son of Sultan Balban, and entered his service. He took part with Balban in the Bengal campaign and presented him, as his first prose work, a fathnama on Lakhnawti. When Bughra Khan was appointed governor of Bengal he went with him, but unable to bear separation from his family he returned to Delhi. He then joined the companions of Prince Muhammad Qa'an Malik of Multan, who was drawn to Sufism; in Multan he met the poet Hasan Dihlawi. When the Mongols entered Multan and killed Qa'an Malik, he was taken captive together with Hasan Dihlawi (1285).

After his release he lived in Mu'minabad until Balban's death (686/1287). The appointment of Hatim Khan as governor of Awadh took him away from Delhi once more; on returning to Delhi (687/1288) he accepted the court's offer and was given the title of court poet. Under Firuz Shah Khalji (1290-1296) he served at court as keeper of the Qur'an. He spent his most productive years under Sultan 'Ala' al-Din Khalji (1296-1316); though he suffered material hardship under this sultan, indifferent to poets, he found ample time to write. Qutb al-Din Mubarak Shah's (1316-1320) interest in poetry and music restored his former standing at court; when the sultan and his shaykh fell out, he kept up his ties with Nizam al-Din Awliya despite the court's ban. He took part in the Bengal campaign under Sultan Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq (1324).

In 713 (1313) he became a formal disciple of Nizam al-Din Awliya, whose lodge he had visited as a child and whom he had met from time to time in later years.

On hearing of his shaykh's death (1325) he returned to Delhi and withdrew for a while in seclusion at his grave in Ghiyathpur. A short time later, on 8 Shawwal 725 (17 September 1325), he died and was buried near the grave of Nizam al-Din Awliya.

His Circle of Influence — His excellent command of the Indian language and literature, alongside Turkish, Arabic and Persian, spread his fame further. He is regarded as the founder of the Indo-Muslim musical tradition. Turkish divan poets counted him among the great masters and fell under his influence, following his path especially in masnavis on Layla and Majnun. His historical masnavis serve as a source for the history of the Delhi Sultanate. In his memory national and international congresses were held in 1975 in India, Pakistan and the Soviet Union.

His Poetry and Sufi Line — He produced work in all the developed poetic genres of Persian literature, from the qasidas of Khaqani of Shirwan to the khamsa of Nizami of Ganja, and contributed to the development of the ghazal, until then little used in India. Writing historical events in masnavi form is one of his most important features. He took pride in his Turkishness. His diwans open, after the munajat and na't, with qasidas praising Nizam al-Din Awliya; in the preface to Wasat al-hayat he says that his tongue was loosened by his shaykh's spiritual favour. According to the Chishtiyya article, although connected with the order he wrote no work directly on Sufism; yet some of his poems contain verses that shed light on the Sufi tendencies of his age.

His Works — He left many works in Persian verse and prose, and is one of the rare authors able to collect and arrange them in his lifetime. Diwans: ① Tuhfat al-sighar, poems from age sixteen to nineteen, completed around 670 (1272). ② Wasat al-hayat, poems from twenty to thirty-three; 8441 couplets. ③ Ghurrat al-kamal, arranged in 693 (1294); at its end stand the 221-couplet "Mir'at al-safa" for the Prophet and the 218-couplet "Darya-yi Abrar" addressed to Nizam al-Din Awliya. ④ Baqiyya-yi naqiyya, completed in 716 (1316). ⑤ Nihayat al-kamal, completed in his last days. Sa'id Nafisi published 1726 of his ghazals, while Iqbal Salah al-Din's edition contains 1981. Historical masnavis: Qiran al-sa'dayn; Miftah al-futuh, completed in 690 (1291); 'Ashiqa, of 4519 couplets, completed in Dhu'l-Qa'da 715 (1316); Nuh Sipihr, in nine "spheres"; Tughluqnama. Khamsa: in emulation of Nizami, Matla' al-anwar, Shirin u Khusraw, Majnun u Layla, Hasht Bihisht and A'ina-yi Iskandari. Prose works: I'jaz-i Khusrawi, treatises on language, style, epistolography and music together with his letters; Afdal al-fawa'id, from notes he took at his master's gatherings between 1313-1319; Khaza'in al-futuh, on the reign of 'Ala' al-Din Khalji.

His Tomb and Complex — He lies near the grave of Nizam al-Din Awliya; the tombs of his shaykh and of himself are among the most important places of visitation in Delhi.