Fazli Namengani's Majmouat al-Sho'ara and its Significance in the Anthology of Farsi Poetry in Transoxiana

When Amir Omar Khan was ruling (1225-1238 AH/1810-1822 AD), Khoqand experienced one of the most productive historical period in the 19th century. During the ruling of this poet Amir and his poet wife Nadereh (1792-1842AD), all the literary and cultural aspects not only in Bukhara and Samarqand, but also in Khoqand improved, and a large number of poets from different areas of Transoxiana and the neighboring regions moved to the new cultural capital. These changes could be traced in Fazli Namangani's Majmouat al-Sho'ara, the poet of the Khoqand's court.
Research method, background and

The main problem of this research is to investigate the role of Fazli Namagani and his biography in the anthology of Persian poetry in Khoqand and the neighboring regions. The assumption is that he was one of the court's poets in the 13th century AH/19th century AD, who could revive the declining Persian poetry after the poet Amir and the ministers supported him to write the first bilingual biography in poetry. Despite all the problems, Majmouat al-Sho'ara is a unique source in the Persian-Turkish/ Uzbak anthology which illustrates the literary environment in Khoqand in late 18th and early 19th centuries, and gives suggestions for later biographers in Transoxiana.This study uses a descriptive-analytical method for introducing Fazli Namangani and his biography. It, then, categorizes the critical views of the biographer into four sections: historical-interpretative, moral, political-sociological, and rhetorical-aesthetic.

Abdolkarim Fazli Namangani (Death after 1822 AD), known as Fazli, is a poet, historian, and bilingual biographer of Namangan. After his education in his hometown, he traveled to Khoqand, the capital of Farghaneh Khans, and became an affiliate of Omar Khan, the art lover and bilingual poet of Farghaneh. After a while, he became the great poet of the court. However, when his supporter died, he came back to Namangan and passed away there in 1822 AD. There is no clear evidence of his dates of birth and death. In addition to some references in the anthologies and collection of poems, there is a Persian-Turkish/ Uzbek Divan attributed to him in some Uzbek, Tajik, and Persian resources. The most important work of Fazli, the biography of Majmouat al-Sho'ara in poetry, provides a short poetic review and 93 sample poems of the court poet, Amir Omar Khan Khoqandi, through a series of verses. Majmouat al-Sho'ara is a biography in poetry, written in Persian and Turkish/ Uzbek by Fazli after Amir Omar Khan asked for it. This biography is the first biography in poetry in which the names and sample poems of different scientists and poets of the Khoqand's literary environment are mentioned. It also gives reliable information regarding some related regions such as Afghanistan, Bukhara, and Khawrazm in the first half of the 13th century AH. Fazli's biography could be divided into two sections based on the content, selection, and gradation of the poets and the sample poems: introduction, and the main text including Bahr-e Tavil, ode, sonnet, fivefold, chronogram, among others. The language of Fazli in Majmouat al-Sho'ara is Farsi (as the poet claims), despite the fact that there are Transoxianaic accent permeating the phonological, lexical, and syntactical levels. In comparison with the other Farsi biographies in the region, Fazli's biography has a less critical feature because of its affiliation with the court and absolute imitation, condensed materials, and poetry genre.

Fazli Namangani wrote the first bilingual, Farsi and Turkish/ Uzbek, biography in poetry in Transoxiana in the third decade of the 13th century due to Amir Omar Khan's order. There are short poetry reviews on the life and sample poems of 93 poets in the literary environment of Khoqand and the neighboring regions. The biography should be considered the only research work regarding the literary changes of the region in that time. Fazli's critical perspectives in the biography gives an opportunity to the traditional literary criticism researchers to categorize his evaluations into four sections: historical-interpretative, moral, political-sociological, and rhetorical-aesthetic. This can shed light on the character of the great poet. Although the biography is written according to the Amir's mentality, many aspects could be found regarding the poetry anthology and Persian language in the region. This can help us sketch out the literary changes of Persian literature in the region.