Comparative Study of Ascensions of Nizami's Khamsa with an Insight on Kitab Al-Maeraj, Maeraj Al-Nabi and Al Isra a va Al-Maeraj

Nizami Ganjavi was a great Masnavi writer of the 6th century (AH.) and one of the founders of Persian poetic fiction. One of the attractions of Nizami’s Masnavi is blessing، litany، and ascensions that are seen in the beginning of each of his verses، which have been highly regarded by his followers due to their beauty and unutterable imagination. The current paper intends to make a comparative study of Nizami’s Khamsa (or five poems) and three Arabic ascensions before it; i. e. Kitab al-Maeraj of Qashiri، Maeraj al Nabi of Ibn Abbas and Al Isra’a va al Maeraj of Ibn Hajar Esghalani and Sayouti that have shown similarities and differences in structure and content. Hence، it is concluded that in spite of distinguishing features، Nizami has been much influenced by the aforementioned works in performing his ascensions. To this end، the literature of Nizami was matched with the evidences acquired from the above ascensions so that similarities become more apparent and obvious.