Poet of moral values Hakeem Nezami, advocating ‘public diplomacy’ through literature: Ehsan Khazaei

ISLAMABAD, Mar 7 (APP): Cultural Counsellor, Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ehsan Khazaei on Tuesday said the famous and celebrated Persian poet Hakeem Nezami Ganjavi was the poet of moral values and ethics who advocated public diplomacy through Persian art and literature.

He was addressing a special ceremony jointly organised by the Cultural Consulate of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Department of Languages, National University of the Modern Languages (NUML) on the occasion of Nezami Week celebrated in Iran from March 5-12.

The Urdu book of Professor Muzzafir Ali Kashmiri, who translated the Persian book of Qadir Fazli titled “Jabar o Ikhtiar and Qaza o Qadr” in the light of Masnavi of Moulana Rumi was also launched.

Ehsan Khazaei said, “Today’s event was important as it coincided with Shab-e-Baraat (the night of forgiveness—Holy night in the Islamic calendar) and Hakeem Nezami’s week.”

He added that the Cultural Consulate’s public diplomacy had a special focus to convene people of different areas and schools of thought together for healthy discourse, exchange of ideas and get acquainted with each other.

“The great literary personalities are beyond borders and had a key role in highlighting the culture and traditions of a region. Hakeem Nezami through his hard work has achieved great stature in the literature, whereas his works in Persian language and literature had a great role in highlighting Iranian culture,” he said.

Nezami was a great storyteller and poet who had helped in achieving this task very well, whereas such seminars were celebrated to make people acquainted with Nezami, Khazaei added.

The Cultural Counsellor added that his works were translated into French and English languages. He said his works highlighted purity of character and moral values, whereas not a single verse and word of obscene or foul language could be found in his poetic works.

“East India Company used Nezami books to teach Persian to its workers, including Mohsin ul Asrar, Sikander e Nezami and others. He was a Sufi and religious poet and a master of poetry focused on religion and a great Muslim leader,” he said.

He was a capable and learned religious scholar of his time who highlighted moral values and ethics through his works, Khazaei highlighted.
“I have visited the tomb of Nezami many times and really loved the Persian verses written on his tombstone.”

The cultural counsellor welcomed any joint venture, support and cooperation from the people of Pakistan to work on composing literary works on Nezami’s works to familiarize the youth with him.

He added that the Iranian Embassy was ready to send researchers and learners working on Nezami to Iran for conducting research on his works.

Dean NUML, Department of Persian, Dr Amber Yaseen also addressed the gathering and paid tribute to Hakeem Nezami and appreciated the efforts of the Cultural Consulate of the Embassy of Iran in promoting the Persian language.

An Iranian University Delegate Ameer-e-Amini also paid tribute to Hakeem Nezami and said there were very few if any who did not know Nezami but despite that, there were still many characteristics of Nezami that went neglected.

Amir Khusroo Dehlavi of the subcontinent also wrote on Nezami. “Khusroo is the first poet who embraced Nezami and recognised him as a great poet. He replicated the famous Laila-Majnu characters of Nezamani and comparison in both of their poetry highlights the influence of Nezami on Khusroo,” he added.

Nezami succeeded in creating Laila Majnu after collecting many distorted instances as there was no such tale in Arab literature and created these characters in real environment, where both the characters did not get the chance to meet but get messages through allusions. However, Nezami presented the characters in a limited environment where both could not meet but Khusroo created the characters in a wider environment and picturized it in a more open milieu.

Syed Tanveer Haider recited his verses on Nezami.

Deputy Director-General, Department for Estate and Logistics, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Iran said Nezami was a great poet who created great works based on moral values and ethics.
His literary works were the tool of public diplomacy. When the countries were engaged in wars and conflicts, Nezami’s works could serve as a good option to start peaceful public diplomacy, he added.

Author of the Book, Prof. Muzaffar Ali Kashmiri gave an overview of his book and presented insights into the works of Hakeem Nezami’s works.

Khazaei after launching the book said it was a great effort by Prof. Kashmiri and was on a complex topic that had been a disputed matter between Muslim scholars.

“This book focuses on Maulana Rumi’s verses in the light of the Holy Quran and discusses important issues of qaza and qadr,” he added.

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