Sadr al-Afazel Khwarazmi

Sadr al-Afazel Qasem b. Hosayn Khwarazmi, one of the great Iranian scholars and literary men is the author of the Ketab al-Yomni fi sharhe al-Yamini.. He was killed in 617 A.H/1220 CE. at the time of Mongol invasion of Iran. As far as we know, the only person who has given an account of Sadr al-Afazel’s life and works is Yaqut in his Mo’jam al- Odaba. Not only does the Ketab al-Yamini contain the history of an important period of the Ghaznavid rule, it is also one of the significant literary sources from the 5th/11th century, and until several centuries, men of letters devoted themselves to expounding the book and writing commentaries on it. One of the first to have written a commentary on Al-Yamini in a special way was Sadr al-Afazel Khwarazmi. He set forth a number of the words and expressions used in the Al-Yamini in simple and fluently prose according to the order adopted by Jowhari’s Sehah Dictionary, referring to the divergences and misprints of the book as well. This article includes an account of the life and works of Sadr alAfazel and a description of his personality and the literary and historical standing of the Al-Yomni, one of his less known books in the field of literature, history and geography of Iran and some other parts of the Moslem world.