Celebrating the Legacy of Great Nizami Ganjavi
Ismail Serageldin,
Director Library of Alexandrina,
Librarian of Alexandria
Executive Director World Digital Library
Manuscripts and illustrations of the great works of the
legendary sage and poet deserve to be celebrated again and again.
Nine centuries have not dimmed the light that his great works shine
upon the world, nor have they blunted the endless inspiration that
they continue to give generations of poets and artists from all
cultures. Another nine centuries from now, other mortals shall
gather to celebrate him; for his work has joined that of the
immortals from Homer to Shakespeare.
Molded by the indigenous Azerbaijani tradition, he showed how
genius can go from the specific to the universal, and how culture
specific writing and characters can appeal to all humanity. Nizami
knew and understood the great myths and works of literature in both
Arabic and Persian, and had a profound appreciation of local
popular traditions. But he transcended that and produced a body of
work of universal import. The works invite reflection and repay it.
Nizami has distilled the experience of the ages, if only we have
the eyes to see it and the mind to absorb it.
But Nizami the sage was also a poet. His language was not only
suited to the drums of war, the clash of weapons and the blood of
battle, but also exquisitely crafted for the intimate whisper of a
lover, or the sad lament of reflective regret. From his work,
especially the Khamsa, we recognize his knowledge of human
character and emotion. The wisdom in his works - except perhaps for
Makhzan al Asrar where it was more prominent - tended to be hidden
behind the sweeping epic flow of his language. He was a master
craftsman of poetic language, of meter and of rhyme. And like all
great work, the flow seems effortless, hiding the meticulous
precision and the mastery that went into its creation.
Nizami is both an end and a beginning. An end in that he brought
the classic tradition that he mastered and the local, frequently
oral traditions that he loved, and created something special...
something that would mark a turning point in the history of Persian
letters and remains a pinnacle of Azerbaijani and global
achievement. But it was a beginning for all poets and writers and
artists after him, for they would now have this treasure that he
created to draw upon and be inspired by.
So let us celebrate the great Nizami Ganjevi, for the many gifts he
has given us, for the inspiration he has bequeathed to the artists
of the world, for the wisdom that is buried in his multi-layered
works and for the profound humanity that calls to the better angels
of our nature through the centuries and into the future.