´¡á¸¤M´¡¶Ù-E ´³Ä€²Ñ, in full ŠEHÄ€B-AL-DĪN ABŪ NAá¹¢R ´¡á¸¤M´¡¶Ù B. ABU’L-ḤASAN B. ´¡á¸¤M´¡¶Ù B. MOḤAMMAD NÄ€MAQĪ JÄ€MĪ, a Conservative Sufi with unreserved loyalty to the &³§³¦²¹°ù´Ç²Ô;²¹°ùÄ«Ê¿²¹ (b. 440/1049 in NÄmaq, near ToršÄ«z, Khorasan; d. 536/1141 in MaÊ¿addÄbÄd on the outskirts of JÄm, which today, thanks to his tomb, is called Torbat-e [Šayḵ-e] JÄm). Although he claimed descent from the line of JarÄ«r b. Ê¿AbdallÄh al-BaÇ°alÄ«, a companion of the Prophet, he had a distinctly non-Arab physiognomy (EI2 I, p. 283) and an unusually original and thoroughly native sounding quality to his Persian. The nickname ŽandapÄ«l, “the colossal elephant,” expressive of both his appearance and religio-social conduct and mentioned first by ḤamdallÄh MostawfÄ«, goes back to his own lifetime (BÅ«zÇ°ÄnÄ«, p. 26). In his youth Aḥmad enjoyed some formal schooling, and the claim to total lack of education forwarded by himself (²Ñ²¹±ç²¹³¾Äå³Ù, p. 357) and his biographer Moḥammad ḠaznavÄ« is meant to credit him with supernatural knowledge. At the age of twenty-two, while immersed in the pleasures of a loose life, Aḥmad experienced a miracle which led him to denounce worldly interests and spend the following eighteen years in the secluded mountains of NÄmaq and BÄ“zad, undergoing self-imposed hardships, meditating, and studying. At forty (?), ordered by God, he left the solitary life and embarked on a long career devoted to preaching, combating sin and irreligion, spreading orthodoxy, teaching Sufi followers, and writing books. He traveled to many nearby towns and villages including NÄ«šÄbÅ«r and Herat, and once made the ḥaÇ°Ç°.
As a Sufi Aḥmad stands rather alone, unrelated to any known order of his time. His ±èÄ«°ù, AbÅ« ṬÄher Kord, an otherwise unknown figure, appears in several stories of Aḥmad’s early period (repeated in the ±·²¹´Ú²¹á¸¥Ät of JÄmÄ« to fill a gap and is quickly abandoned. The attempt made by ḠaznavÄ« to present Aḥmad as the legitimate successor of AbÅ« SaÊ¿Ä«d Abi’l-Ḵayr is baseless. He built a mosque and a ḵÄn²¹±çÄå³ó in JÄm, his permanent residence. His contact was mostly with the local population and minor dignitaries, only rarely including a figure as distinguished as FaqÄ«h Moḥammad b. Manṣūr SaraḵsÄ«—revered by SanÄʾī—with whom Aḥmad clashed in a hostile conflict for personal recognition. Sultan SanÇ°ar was the one great exception: He allegedly had conceived a particular liking for Aḥmad who in turn devoted his Rawżat al-moá¸nebÄ«n to him. Two extant letters to SanÇ°ar, one defending JÄm’s inhabitants in a rather fearless tone and the other answering SanÇ°ar’s question about the “signs of God’s friends,” support this report (ḠaznavÄ«, ²Ñ²¹±çÄå³¾Äå³Ù, pp. 60, 337).
Aḥmad is portrayed by ḠaznavÄ« as meddling in everyone’s affairs, destroying vats of wine and musical instruments, and punishing sinners and forcing them to repent, but this does not correspond to the impression left by his books, where he appears gentle and ready to forgive a whole life of sin and corruption if only the last breath is taken in repentance. He constantly warns against hypocrites, who disguise themselves as Ê¿Äå±ô±ð³¾, ±çÄåżī, ³¾´Ç´Ú³ÙÄ«, ´Ú²¹±çÄ«³ó, Sufi, Koran reciter, etc. His discussions concern ordinary subjects of Sufi practice and religious morality, hardly ever touching on sophisticated questions of philosophy or theology. (For a listing of his more important topics, see Ê¿A. FÄżel’s introd. to Rawżat al-moá¸nebÄ«n, pp. 68-69.) Writing in the simple though penetrating style of sermons, he often repeats himself, even word for word, in his different books. He must have impressed certain simple believers with his religious zeal and demonstrations of power and authority; they in turn imagined the wild miracles recorded in the ²Ñ²¹±çÄå³¾Äå³Ù but practically unsupported by Aḥmad’s own writings. Unlike other famous mystics, his appeal to scholars and poets remained minimal; Ê¿Aá¹á¹Är never mentions him, though he practically followed in his footsteps and, one feels, should have sensed his presence in the air.
Aḥmad’s works, over 850 years old, are more precious for their contribution to Persian literary history than for their teachings. His style is mostly conversational, clear, flawless, rich in rare obsolescences, abounding in parables and situational examples, beautiful and truly enjoyable to read. His books are 1. SerÄÇ° al-sÄʾerÄ«n, 3 vols. written in 513/1119; 2. MeftÄḥ al-naÇ°Ät, 522/1128 (pp. 65-69 unexpected significance attached to the figure seven); 3. Rawżat al-moá¸nebÄ«n, 526/1132; 4. Ons al-tÄʾebÄ«n, date unknown (2, 3, and half of 4, edited by Ê¿AlÄ« FÄżel, were published in Tehran by BonyÄd-e Farhang-e ĪrÄn in 1347 Š./1968, 1355 Š./1976 and 1350 Š./1971 respectively); 5. BeḥÄr al-ḥaqÄ«qa, 527/1133; 6. KonÅ«z al-ḥekma, 533/1139; 7. ResÄla-ye SamarqandÄ«ya, a collection of several letters in answer to questions (partly printed in ²Ñ²¹±çÄå³¾Äå³Ù, pp. 329-47). Of the remaining five books mentioned in sources, no mss. have been discovered. (M. T. DÄnešpažūh has given the headings of the chapters of the existing seven works with brief selections of important samples in FIZ 16, 1348 Š./1969, pp. 240-325). A »åÄ«±¹Äå²Ô of poems, mostly ḡa³ú²¹±ôs, with the pen name Aḥmad or AḥmadÄ« is attributed to him and has been lithographed several times in India. Aḥmad certainly wrote poems; the authenticity of the printed text, however, is at least partly questionable (see ²Ñ²¹±çÄå³¾Äå³Ù, introd., pp. 52-67).
Aḥmad married eight wives and was survived by fourteen sons, some of whom became famous, wrote books, and carried their father’s tradition ahead. A few generations later, his descendants were widely spread and numbered in the thousands. In 840/1436 about 1,000 of them were living in JÄm, NÄ«šÄbÅ«r, Herat, and some nearby places. They met with particular good fortune in India: HomÄyÅ«n’s mother as well as his wife, i.e., Akbar’s mother, to mention just two examples, belonged to the great JÄmÄ« family (²Ñ²¹±çÄå³¾Äå³Ù, introd., pp. 67-71). Rulers of the Ä€l-e Kart dynasty (8th/14th century) greatly respected them and entered into kinship with them by marriage. Numerous kings including TÄ«mÅ«r, ŠÄhroḵ, and Shah Ê¿AbbÄs are said to have visited Aḥmad’s grave and contributed to the complex of educational and religious buildings on its site. The family JÄmÄ« al-AḥmadÄ« is influential and respected to the present day, particularly in JÄm and Herat. Their true spiritual center, however, is Ḥawż-e KaryÄs near Herat where in 1968 I met their venerable shaikhs and the hierarchy’s “ḵa±ôÄ«´Ú²¹”. The living tradition and practices still need to be studied.
Bibliography:
See also SadÄ«d-al-dÄ«n Moḥammad ḠaznavÄ«, ²Ñ²¹±çÄå³¾Äå³Ù-e ŽandapÄ«l Aḥmad-e JÄm, ed. H. Moayyad, Tehran, 1341 Š./1962, 2nd enlarged ed. 1967.
Abu’l-Fatḥ Moḥammad b. Šams-al-dÄ«n Moá¹ahhar, ḤadÄ«qat al-ḥaqÄ«qa, ed. M. Ê¿A. Mowaḥḥed, Tehran, 1343 Š./1964.
Abu’l-MakÄrem b. Ê¿AlÄʾ-al-molk JÄmÄ«, ḴolÄá¹£at al-maqÄmÄt, QandahÄr, 1335/1956; incomplete text ed. W. Ivanow, JRAS, 1917, pp. 308-65.
DarvÄ«š Ê¿AlÄ« BÅ«zÇ°ÄnÄ«, Rawżat al-rayÄḥīn, written in 929/1523 on Aḥmad’s prominent descendants, ed. H. Moayyad, Tehran, 1345 Š./1966.
YÅ«sof-e Ahl, FarÄʾed-e ḠīÄṯī, 2 vols., ed. H. Moayyad, Tehran, 1977, 1979 (contains many letters from and to members of the JÄmÄ« family).
F. Meier, “Zur Biographie Aḥmad-i ÄžÄm’s und zur Quellenkunde von ÄžÄmÄ«’s ±·²¹´Ú²¹á¸¥Ätu’l-Uns,” ZDMG 97, 1943, pp. 47-67.
Idem, EI2 I, p. 283 (detailed bibliography).
M. T. DÄnešpažūh, “Dar bÄra-ye Šayḵ-e JÄm va ÄṯÄr-e Å«,” RÄhnemÄ-ye KetÄb 10, 1346, pp. 394-98 (valuable information on rare prints and mss.).
H. Moayyad, Die ²Ñ²¹±çÄå³¾Äå³Ù des Ä aznawÄ«, eine legendäre Vita Aḥmad-i ÄžÄm’s, genannt ŽandapÄ«l (dissertation), Frankfurt a. M., 1959.
Idem, introductions to above-mentioned editions.
Idem, “Eine wiedergefundene Schrift über Aḥmad-e ÄžÄm und seine Nachkommen,” AIUON 1964, pp. 255-86.
(H. Moayyad)
Originally Published: December 15, 1984
Last Updated: July 28, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. I, Fasc. 6, pp. 648-649
H. Moayyad, “´¡á¸¤M´¡¶Ù-E ´³Ä€²Ñ,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/6, pp. 648-649; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ahmad-e-jam (accessed on 19 March 2014).
