'Obeyd-e Zakani The Ethics of the Aristocrats and Other Satirical Works, translated by Hasan Javadi

Nezam al-Din 'Obeyd-e Zakani is one of the most remarkable poets, satirists and social critics of Iran, whose works have not received proper attention in the past. Often old fashioned scholars have dismissed him as a writer of bawdy stories and obscene verses, and it is only in the last few decades that he has been seriously noticed. Of his life we know very little. He was born in Qazvin around the year 1300, and his family was originally from an Arab tribe called Zakanian, which after coming to Iran settled down near that city. It seems that the family lived in one of the villages near Qazvin, because a contemporary of 'Obeyd, the historian Hamd Allah Mostofi, refers to him with great respect as "the exalted master Nezam al-Din 'Obeyd Allah Zakani," and adds that he has "excellent poems and matchless works of prose." Mostofi adds that the poet was descended from Arabs of the Banu Khafaja tribe who had settled in Qazvin long before this time. Also according to the same source, the family members were notable in two areas: one theology and scholarship and the other high government service. Mostofi's Tarikh-e Guzida, which provides us with this information, was written around the year 1330. Since 'Obeyd was well known and respected at this date, his editor, 'Abbas Iqbal, deduces that he must have been born around the turn of the century.1 Because of his title "the exalted master," some scholars believe that 'Obeyd held a high official position, but there is no evidence to support this assumption. In a poem written in 1366 or 1367, and addressed to his patron Shah Shoja', 'Obeyd states: 

I have always been endeared by the kings;

From the time of youth until this day and age.

As we shall see, this was a few years before his death. After running away from the father of the same king and several years of wandering in various cities, he had joined the court of Shah Shoja'. There is a story, however, in the Tazkirat al-Shu'ara (Biographies of the Poets) of Dawlat-shah (written in 1487) that does not agree with 'Obeyd's statement about his life-long endearment by the kings. Dawlatshah writes: "It has been related that he had composed a treatise on Rhetoric in the name of Shah Abu Ishaq that he desired to present to the king. But he was told that the king is busy with his jester (and had no time for him). 'Obeyd was astonished and wondered if the king's most intimate society could be accessible through jesting and ribaldry, and the jesters become his favourites and courtiers, whereas the men of accomplishment and learning be deprived of his favors, why should one trouble himself and bother his brain with the smoke of the lamp of the school? Without attaining an audience with the king he returned and wrote this wonderful quatrain: 

In the arts and learning be not proficient like me,

 Lest by the great you will be despised like me. 

If you desire favors from the masters of our time 

Beg shamelessly, play lute and be a libertine." 

A friend criticized him, saying:'In spite of your accomplishments and talents, to abandon learning and virtue in favor of ribaldry and lewd utterances does not seem logical.' 'Obeyd recited this poem for him: 

Keep clear of learning, sir, if so you may, 

Lest you should lose your pittance for the day. 

Play buffoon and learn the fiddler's skill: 

On great and small you may then work your will!"

 Though this might have been a very true picture of the age of 'Obeyd, it does not seem to be historically in tune with the other facts of his life. Of course the possibility of such an incident cannot be entirely ruled out. However, since we know that 'Obeyd came from Qazvin to the court of Shiraz during the reign of Shah Abu Ishaq, at a time when he was a wellknown man, it is safe to safe to assume that such a treatment would have not been accorded to him, even if he did not have any official position. The history of Iran in the fourteenth century consists of a succession of wars and disruptions resulting in the rise and fall of numerous regional dynasties. In 1256 Hulagu, a grandson of the great Mongol conqueror Chengiz Khan, had led his expedition to the West and destroyed the Isma'ili strongholds in the Alborz mountains, and two years later had brought to an end more than five hundred years of rule by the 'Abbasid caliphs in Baghdad. The Il-Khanid dynasty, which had been founded by Hulagu, lasted until 1335. Though its history is accompanied by much bloodshed and atrocities, some of its kings, such as Ghazan Khan (1295-1304) and his brother Uljaitu (1305-1316), became patrons of literature and culture. Their capitals, Tabriz and Sultanieh, were prosperous metropolises where envoys and merchants from the East and West met. 'Obeyd's early life must have coincided with the reign of Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan (1316-1335), upon whose death the Il-Khanid empire became a bone of contention between various Mongol princes. It was not until the rise of another bloodthirsty Tartar conqueror, Tamarlane, that their fighting came to an end (between 1360 and 1387), in addition to the rule of many other princes. Of the dynasties that ruled over Iran and were more or less contemporary with 'Obeyd, the Houses of Inju and Muzaffar should be mentioned here, as the life and fortunes of our poet were related to them. Of these two dynasties an interesting account is given by Gertrude Bell in the introduction to her Poems from the Divan of Hafez (William Heinemann, 1928): About the time of the birth of Hafez, that is to say in the beginning of the fourteenth century, a certain Mahmud Shah Inju was governing the province of Fars, of which Shiraz is a capital, in the name of Abu Sa'id....On the death of Mahmud Shah, Abu Sa'id appointed Sheikh Hussein ibn Chuban to the governorship of Fars, a lucrative and much-coveted post. Sheikh Hussein took the precaution of ordering the three sons of Mahmud Shah to be seized and imprisoned; but while they were passing through the streets of Shiraz in the hands of their captors, their mother who accompanied them, lifted her veil and made a touching appeal to the people, calling upon them to remember the benefits they had received from their late ruler. Her words took instant effect; the inhabitants rose, released her and her sons, and drove Sheikh Hussein into exile. He, however returned with an army supplied by Abu Sa'id, and induced Shiraz to submit to his rule. In 1335, a year or two after these events, Abu Sa'id died, and the power of the house of Hulagu crumbled away. There followed a long period of anarchy, which was brought to an end when Uwais, another descendant of Hulagu, seized the throne. He and his son Ahmad reigned in Baghdad until Ahmad was driven out by the invading army of Timur. But during the years of anarchy the authority of the Sultan of Baghdad had been considerably curtailed. On Abu Sa'id's death, Abu Ishaq, one of the three sons of Mahmud Shah Inju who had so narrowly escaped from the hands of Sheikh Hussein, took possession of Shiraz and Isfahan, finally ousting his old enemy, while Mohammad ibn Muzaffar, who had earned a name for valour in the service of Abu Sa'id, made himself master of Yezd. 4 Abu Ishaq had not steered his bark into quiet waters. In 1340 Shiraz was besieged and taken by a rival Atabeg, and the son of Mahmud Shah was obliged to content himself with Isfahan. But in the following year he returned, captured Shiraz by a stratagem, and again established himself ruler over all Fars. The remaining years of his reign are chiefly occupied with military expeditions against Yezd, where Mohammad ibn Muzaffar and his sons were building up a formidable power. In 1352, determined to put an end to these attacks, Mohammad marched into Fars and laid siege to Shiraz. Abu Ishaq, whose life was one of perpetual dissipation, redoubled his orgies in the face of danger. Uncertain of the fidelity of the people of Shiraz, he put to death all the inhabitants of two quarters of the town, and contemplated insuring himself of a third quarter in a similar manner. But these measures did not lead to the desired results. The chief of the threatened quarter got wind of the king's design, and delivered up the keys of his gate to Shah Shuja', the son of Mohammad ibn Muzaffar, and Abu Ishaq was obliged to seek refuge a second time in Isfahan. Four years later, in 1357, he was given up to Mohammad, who sent him to Shiraz and, with a fine sense of dramatic fitness, had him beheaded before the ruins of Persepolis. 5 About the last forty years of the life of 'Obeyd coincided with the reigns of Abu Ishaq, Mubarez al-Din Mohammad (1313-1357) and his son Shah Shoja' (1357-1384). 'Obeyd often dedicated his non-satirical works to his contemporary kings or their ministers. Though the number of such works by 'Obeyd is small, a few of his poems shed some light on his life. One of his earliest works, entitled Nawader al-Mathal (Chosen Proverbs), which is a collection of wise sayings and proverbs in Arabic, is dedicated to Khajeh 'Ala al-Din Mohammad. He was a native of Farimad in Khorasan and a protege'of the well-known minister and historian Rashid al-Din Fazl Allah. 'Ala al-Din became the minister of Abu Sa'id for only six months in 1321 and then assumed another post in Khorasan, where he was killed in 1336. Since apparently 'Obeyd never went to Khorasan, the book must have been dedicated in the year 1321. This could account for the fact that, according to Hamd Allah Mostofi,'Obeyd was known as an author and scholar in 1330. Another minister to whom 'Obeyd dedicated a number of his poems is Rukn al-Din 'Amid al-Mulk, Abu Ishaq's minister in 1346. 'Obeyd in one poem addressed to this minister says: "It is now twelve years since my fortunate star brought me to your palace." In another poem he puts the date of his coming from his native Qazvin to Shiraz ten years earlier, so this must have been in the years 1334-46. Chronologically the first king to whom 'Obeyd dedicated any of his works is Abu Ishaq, who was also the patron and friend of the great poet Hafez (1326-1389). Apart from a number of panegyrics addressed to Abu Ishaq, 'Obeyd had dedicated his 'Ushshaq-Nama (The Book of Lovers) to him in 1350. The work is evidently written in emulation of a mathnavi by 'Iraqi (1211-1289) with the same name. It is a love story in some 750 couplets in the form of mathnavi interspersed with occasional ghazals. Whereas the poem of 'Iraqi celebrates mystical love, that of 'Obeyd treats a very human and passionate love. Abu Ishaq, because of his taste for poetry and learning as well as his generosity, had attracted a brilliant circle of poets and scholars, and 'Obeydin several of his poems celebrates the reign of Abu Ishaq and describes Shiraz as the center of culture and learning. In two poems he refers to a famous palace whose construction began by the order of Abu Ishaq in 1353 in Shiraz. The Arab traveller Ibn Batuta, who visited Shiraz between the years 1340 and 1350, related that during the construction of this palace the inhabitants of the city vied with each other to participate in the construction work; men of all ranks came out to do the work, putting on their best clothes and digging the foundations with silver spades.6 Before the palace, which was supposed to vie with the renowned Taq-e Kesra in Ctesiphon, could be completed, Abu Ishaq's life came to a sudden and tragic end. 'Obeyd in another poem, after describing the magnificent court of his patron, writes: 

But look what a game the world did play with him, 

And how calamity took the reins of his happiness. 

The sea of misfortune surged suddenly forth, 

Engulfing his kingdom, his treasure and his son. 

Or perhaps the tears and pain, the fire of sighs 

That palace had caused, enkindled the great house... 

That garden of pleasure whose fragrance and hue 

Inspired the sacred gardens of heaven now is such 

That the nightingale no longer graces its perch, 

For the black-hearted crow has there made his nest. 

The palace from whose prosperity Fortune itself sought a share, 

Became a nest for the owl and a breeding place for dogs. 

'Obeyd, of the works of time and the transience of the world 

A thousand hints can be gleaned. 

The reign of Mubarez al-Din Mohammad did not last very long after the death of his rival Abu Ishaq. Mohammad was such a pitiless and harsh man that his own son Shah Shoja' blinded him in 1358 and imprisoned him in Qa'la-ye Sifid in Fars, and a few years later he died in Bam. Mubarez al-Din has been described as "brave and devout, but at the same time cruel, bloodthirsty, and treacherous."8 It has been reported that Shah Shoja' once asked him if he had killed a thousand men with his own hands. Mubarez al-Din thought for a while and said: "Just over eight hundred, to be exact."9 On another occasion, two prisoners were brought to Mubarez al-Din while he was saying his prayers. Between two prayers, he took his sword, cut off their heads, and returned to his devotions undisturbed.10 This particular incident very much resembles a passage in 'Obeyd's Mush u Gorba (The Mouse and the Cat) where the cat kills and eats a mouse and then goes to the mosque and devoutly performs his prayers. 'Obeyd was not alone in writing against Mubarez al-Din Mohammad's religious hypocrisy. The wits of Shiraz nicknamed him "Muhtasib" (Chief of Police) when he closed the taverns and forbade wine drinking. Hafez refers to those days of repressive restrictions in one of his ghazals: 

Though wine gives delight and the wind distills the perfume of the rose, 

Drink not wine to the strains of the harp, for the constable [muhtasib] is alert. 

Hide the goblet in the sleeve of the patch-work cloak, 

For the time, like the eye of the decanter, pours forth blood. 

Wash the wine-stain from your dervish-cloak with tears, 

For it is the season of piety and the time of abstinence." 

Looking with nostalgia to the by-gone years, Hafez in another poem hopes that at least asceticism will not be synonymous with hypocrisy: 

They have closed the doors of the wine-taverns; O God, suffer not 

That they should open the doors of the house of deceit and hypocrisy! 

If they have closed them for the sake of the heart of the self-righteous zealot, 

Be of good heart, for they will reopen them for God's sake!

 'Obeyd more than Hafez could not tolerate the rule of Mubarez al-Din and in 1357 fled Shiraz and went to the court of Sultan Uwais Ilkani (b. 1337, d. 1374). In a beautiful ghazal 'Obeyd describes his plight and says that though his "heart bleeds" for leaving his beloved city, being "in danger" leaves him no other choice.13 Apparently because of his liberal views he was afraid of being accused of heresy. For five years 'Obeyd stayed in Baghdad. Shah Shoja', who had succeeded his father, was tricked and ousted from Shiraz by his brother Mahmud. Shah Shoja' went to Kerman and ruled that province for some years until in 1365 he managed to take back Shiraz. Mahmud took refuge in Isfahan and once with the help of the troops of Sultan Uwais fought with Shah Shoja', but neither side had any victory. It was in 1375 that both Mahmud and Sultan Uwais died, then Shah Shoja' not only occupied Isfahan but also held sway from Tabriz to Baghdad, and for a while became the master of the greater part of Iran. It seems that about the years 1362—63 'Obeyd decided to return to Shiraz, but not liking Mahmud he went to the court of Shah Shoja' in Kerman, and two years later accompanied him to his beloved city Shiraz. At the court of Baghdad 'Obeyd met Salman-e Sawaji, who was the poet laureate of Sultan Uwais. Their relation at first was anything but cordial. Salman in a quatrain had called him a "damnable satirist," noted for his "obnoxiousness and heresy," who "is in truth only an ignorant country oaf from Qazvin."14 According to Dawlatshah, 'Obeyd arrived in Baghdad and found Salmon on the banks of the Tigris, occupied with pleasure and diversion in the company of some learned men. 'Obeyd delighted the court poet by extemporaneously completing a hemistich that had been composed on the river. Salman, not knowing him, asked him where he was from. "From Qazvin," 'Obeyd replied. Here is the rest of this story in the translation of E.G. Browne: "In the course of the ensuing conversation Salman asked him whether his name was known or any of his verse familiar in Qazvin, or not. 'Obeyd replied, 'The following fragment of his poetry is very well-known: 

"A frequenter of taverns am I, and a lover of wine, 

Besotted with drink and desire at the Magians' shrine. 

Like a wine-jar from shoulder to shoulder amongst them I pass, 

And go from one hand to another like goblet or glass." ' 

" 'Now although Salman is an accomplished man,' added 'Obeyd, 'and these verses may perhaps be truly ascribed to him, yet in my opinion they were most probably composed by his wife.' "Salman perceived from this witty speech that this was no one other than 'Obeyd himself, whereupon he made much of him, apologized for his satire, and so long as 'Obeyd remained in Baghdad, fell short in no service which he could render him. And 'Obeyd used often to say to him, 'O Salman, fortune favoured you in that you so speedily made your peace with me, and so escaped from the malice of my tongue!"15 This story of Dawlatshah , as quoted here by Browne, seems to be a fabrication, because the poem extemporaneously completed by 'Obeyd is to be found in the recently published Divan of Naser Bokharai, a fourteenth century poet.(See Parviz Natel Khanlari in Sokhan Vol. 4., No. 6. (1953). However, the story reflects the manner in which 'Obeyd was regarded as a wit and sharp-tongued satirist with access to leading figures of his day. With the rule of Shah Shoja' the oppressive restrictions, which had been imposed by his father, were relaxed. The taverns were reopened and the sound of music could be heard again. Hafez says: 

The harp began to clamour 'Where is the objector?' 

The cup began to laugh 'Where is the forbidden?"

 In another poem he further celebrates the return of his patron to Shiraz: 

At early dawn good tidings reached my ear from the Unseen Voice: 

'It is the era of Shah Shoja': drink wine boldly!' 

That time is gone when men of insight went apart 

With a thousand words in the mouth but their lips silent. 

'Obeyd himself voices his own happiness with the reign of Shah Shoja' and in a long panegyric to him says: 

'Obeyd will not bewail the injustices of this time 

As good fortune threw him to this auspicious threshold. 

He was engulfed in the surging sea of sorrow, 

But your favors cast him on the shore of security. 

Obeyd was with Shah Shoja' when the latter conquered Isfahan in 1366, and in a poem he congratulated him on his victory. In another poem, dedicated to Shah Shoja', a few years later in 1370, 'Obeyd talks of his old age and the heartwarming patronage of the king. His death has been put in 1370 or 1371. It is definite that in 1371 'Obeyd was not alive, and his son, at the back of a book that had been transcribed by the poet, states that it has passed to him from his father by the right of inheritance.19 Turning to the social conditions of the period in which 'Obeyd lived, one finds it to be an age of moral depravity and social degradation. Some historians consider the Mongol invasion with its incredible bloodshed and destruction the major cause of this decline. Of course, there is no denying that this was one of the major factors, but the absence of a stable government for a relatively long period of time and the continuance of fighting between various local emirs who took possession of one or more provinces of the country created a chaotic situation in which no one was safe from rapid changes of fortune. In 1295 Ghazan Khan was converted to Islam and until the death of Abu Sa'id in 1335 some measure of normalcy returned, though occasional atrocities were committed by the Mongol emirs. The collapse of U-Khanid rule ushered in a period of bloodshed, murder and court intrigues, which is most graphically described by 'Obeyd in his "Ethics of the Aristocrats." "These great and sagacious men whose existence honors the face of the earth"—as 'Obeyd mockingly calls them— "believe neither in the human soul nor in the world hereafter." Interestingly enough 'Obeyd quotes even the verses of the Koran out of context in order to demonstrate their points of view. For them "the supposed joys of heaven and the sufferings of hell exist in this world." "It is because of this belief that for the life, the property and the honor of the people they have not the least consideration." For them "a cup of fire-colored wine/is dearer than the blood of one hundred brothers." 'Obeyd continues to describe in his piquant humor the beliefs and manners of the aristocracy of his time, and very often what he says is hardly an overstatement. He gives a vivid picture of the moral degradation of his time, which reminds one of the Satires of Juvenal at the time of Rome's decadence. 'Abbas Iqbal, the historian of the Mongol period and 'Obeyd's editor, writes of this age: "The mother of one of the kings was known for prostitution and promiscuity; the wife of another killed her husband in the most hideous way in the bed, since he had imprisoned her lover; another wife in the hope of getting married to her brother-in-law urged him to depose his brother; another king blinded his father with his own hands and committed adultery with his mother; and a fourth monarch forced his emirs to divorce their wives so that he could woo them and write love songs for them."20 Therefore, it is no wonder that 'Obeyd in his "Definitions" thus describes the ruling class of his time: 

Nothing: Their existence. 

Hollow: Their civility. 

Vanity and Folly: Their talk. Disapproval, Greed, Malice and Envy: Their characteristics. 

The Anqa of the West: Justice and Humanity 

Roguery, Violence, Hypocrisy, Dissimulation and Falsehood: 

   The ways of the great men. 

Lust: their ailment. 

'Obeyd's satirical works more than anything else in Persian literature illustrate the social conditions of this period. It is true that some other poets such as Saif-e Farghani (d. circa 1347) and Awhadi of Maragha (1270—1337-8) vehemently attacked corruption and social injustices in their poems, but the wit and insight of 'Obeyd give his works a special character. 'Obeyd looks upon this world of extravagant indulgence and corruption with the censorious eye of a Juvenal and portrays it with the cynicism and wit of a Voltaire and the hilarious grotesqueness of a Rabelais. Underneath his cheerful irresponsibility and nonchalance there lie a sadness and a bitterness. Seeing this scene of deceit, greed, lust, sycophancy, perversion, scorn of the old values and virtues, extremes of wealth and poverty, violence and bloodshed, he expresses his indignation in the form of scathing stories and sardonic maxims. He says: "Engage in ribaldry, cuckoldry, gossip, ingratitude, false testimony, selling heaven for the world, and playing the tambourine, so that you may become dear to the great and enjoy your life." Though 'Obeyd expresses his religious sentiments and devotion in several of his poems, he has no time for the men who use religion in order to reach their worldly aims. With grinning irreverence he dismisses the claims to piety of sheikhs and preachers. He says: "Don't believe the sermons of the clerics, lest you go astray and end up in hell." For him a Haji is a person who goes on pilgrimage to Mecca once and for the rest of his life swears falsely by the Ka'ba. In his "Definitions" a Sufi is called a "freeloader," and 'Obeyd has nothing but scorn for the hypocritical Sufis of his time. A Sufi is asked by a man if he wants to sell his patchwork cloak. A bystander says: "If a fisherman sells his net, how is he going to fish?" In two letters, which are full of obscure and ridiculous terminology, 'Obeyd lampoons the high flown esoteric style of the Sufis, their claims of communion with the divine, and their state of spiritual expansion and contraction. By contrast with ostentatious and sham-pious clerics and Sufis, 'Obeyd favors the true mystics whom he calls rends and qalandars. He says: "If you want salvation, attach yourself to the service of the all-sacrificing and pure-hearted rends in order to be saved." As is explained in the notes to this volume, qalandar has similarities to the Malamatiyya dervishes, who were somewhat like the hippies of today on account of their unconventional dress, behavior and way of life. They only performed very essential prayers and acts of devotion and laid a great emphasis on "purity of heart" rather than pretentious acts of piety and excessive asceticism. The difference between a Malamati and a qalandar is that while the former keeps his acts of devotion secret and even goes to the extent of pretending to be impious, the latter does not care for his outward appearance, nor does he conform with popular beliefs and manners only because everyone follows them. Rend, also a very difficult term to translate, originally meant something like a "rogue," and gradually came to mean a "liberal-minded man," a "lover of truth," a "social rebel," or a true Sufi." Rend in the poetry of Hafez has special significance:it stands for all the high and humane ideals that he talks about in his Divan. In short, it sometimes comes to mean the "perfect man." 'Obeyd in a poem defines a "true Sufi" as "one who with pure wine has a pure heart." In another ghazal he describes himself as one "of a band of qalandars," withdrawn from the world and their hearts set on poverty, "in whose purse or hand there is no one's golden coin, nor in their hearts is there the sign of any coinage." Free from any writ, even free from the fear of non-existence, they are"the sultans of their time, though they have neither drums nor flags,[and] ....under any circumstances they are reluctant to harm anyone." Then 'Obeyd asks: "Is it right to harm them?"21 'Obeyd seems to present himself not so much as a "true Sufi" or a qalandar as to use these terms to criticize the men of the cloak whom he describes with their rosaries as "asses, bells hanging from their necks." His advice is: "Make yourself free from their hypocrisy and deceit. Sit with fair ones and drink wine." While not being a practicing dervish of the Qalandariyya order, 'Obeyd favored their tenets, and contrasted their idea of the "purity of the heart'' and their candor with the hypocrisy and the corruption of the people of his time. Now let us turn to the works of 'Obeyd and describe them briefly . As was mentioned earlier, the number of his non-satirical works is not very great, and it is amazing that a poet of his talents should produce relatively few such poems. However, he is a great and remarkable poet, especially in his ghazals, which are both charming and beautiful and present an interesting contrast with his satirical works. A.J. Arberry notes in his Classical Persian Literature (George Allen & Unwin, 1958, pp. 298-9): "These poems deserve study not only for their own sake, but because they reveal their author as bridging the gap between Sa'di and Hafez, and introducing into the ghazal innovations that must assuredly have exercised influence on his junior contemporary who attended the same court circles." Two of 'Obeyd's ghazals are translated by Arberry, but they lose so much in translation that I have decided against including some of them in this volume. Of "Ethics of the Aristocrats," written in 1340, some account was given earlier but a few more words should be added here. It is quite obvious that the title was inspired by a work of the great philosopher and statesman Nasir al-Din Tusi (1210—1274) entitled A wsaf al-Ashraf (Description of the Aristocrats). This latter work, which describes the Sufis, could also be titled ' 'Characteristics of the Chosen Ones." Though the title of Obeyd is very similar to this one, it is the famous Akhlaq-e Naseri (Nasirian Ethics) by the same author, as well as other books on ethics with their high flown and pompous style, that 'Obeyd is parodying. He mockingly agrees with the great men of his age who have rejected the manners and beliefs of the old and started new ones. He writes: "As the nature of our great men has been refined ... they have concentrated their undivided attention on the affairs of this world as well as the next, and in the eye of their judgement the customs and practices of the ancients seemed unfounded and contemptible." This is why 'Obeyd subdivides the chapters of his book into "The Abrogated Practice" and "The Adopted Practice." The former deals with traditional views on subjects such as justice, virtue, generosity, and the like, which every book on ethics highly recommends. The latter is 'Obeyd's satirical addition, and it sets forth the practices and beliefs of the ruling class of the time, which are of course exactly the opposite of the "abrogated" ideas. Thus they believe that "justice bequeaths misfortune," and chastity, fidelity, generosity and courage are frowned upon as the characteristics of naive and foolheaded men who don't know how to enjoy their lives. 'Obeyd concludes that he has written this "short treatise on the ethical principles of the ancients, now called abrogated, as well as some accounts of the practices and character of the great men of our time, now considered adopted, for the benefit of the students of this science and the novices of this path!" In the treatise entitled "One Hundred Maxims" 'Obeyd treats satirically the practice of writing "Books of Councils" which was done ad nauseam. By stating that he follows the examples of Plato's maxims to Aristotle (as reported by Nasir al-Din Tusi) or those of Anushiravan to his vizier, 'Obeyd assumes an air of dignity, which before long is broken by his sarcastic pieces of advice. He ridicules the monitors of public morality by making the most self-evident statements such as "Do not waste your time," "Do not spoil a good day" or"At any rate, avoid death because it has been disliked since the days of old." Then suddenly he takes up subjects that are shocking and sometimes obscene. "Sow your seeds unlawfully so that your children will become theologians, sheikhs and favorites of the king," or "As far as possible refrain from speaking the truth, so that you may not become a bore to other people, and so that they may not be annoyed by you for no obvious reason." At the end Obeyd with his usual humor adds: "These are the sayings that have reached us from our masters and from great men, (and we have mentioned them)...so that those ready and well disposed might benefit from them." In his "Definitions" 'Obeyd finds another ingenious way to satirize the vices of the society. In this brief and pungent work, which somewhat resembles The Devil's Dictionary of Ambrose Bierce, 'Obeyd gives under ten different headings a cross section of different people and professions and his views on them. It is the epigrammatical quality and sharp sarcasm of the "Definitions" that make them so memorable. He says: "The Judge: He who is cursed by everyone"; "Justice: never to say the truth"; or "The Lady: She who has many lovers"; "The Housewife: She who has a few; The Virgin: A name denoting nothing." In the original the number of these definitions is greater than what has been here translated for two reasons . First, in some humor is so closely associated with wordplay that it can not be rendered properly in English; second, the medieval openness of the language of 'Obeyd sometimes defies translation. "Risala-ye Delgosha" is a collection of 93 Arabic and 266 Persian anecdotes that have served as vehicles of social and political satire in the hands of our poet. The latter group can be divided into three main categories. First, there are stories that were already popular in 'Obeyd's time. He often weaves a satirical message into such stories, or they are by themselves satirical. Some of the stories are about Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna and his jester Talhak, as well as those related of Juha (or Juhi) the jester, are of this kind. The second category consists of stories related by 'Obeyd about the personalities who were more or less contemporary with him. Some of these men were forced to play clown and express their criticism in the form of witticism. Sultan Abu Sa'id, being drunk, forces the great theologian 'Azud al-Dinn Iji to dance in front of him. Someone remarks: "O, Mawlana, you are not dancing according to the rules," 'Azd al-Din retorts: "I dance by decree, not by the rules." In another story the tyrant Atebek Solghur Shah every year transcribes a Koran and sends it to Mecca. The poet Majd Hamgar tells him: "You are doing well. You don't even read it. You send it to the house of its Lord!" The third category of satirical anecdotes is composed of stories concerned with the tyranny and corruption of society in a more straightforward way. For example, someone asks the same 'Azud al-Din: "How is it that in the time of the caliphs people would often claim to be God or a prophet, and now they don't?" He says: "These days people are so oppressed by tyranny and hunger that they think neither of God nor of the prophets!" These stories thus graphically depict the social conditions of the time and are among the most remarkable works of 'Obeyd. Whether preexisting or invented by him they expose the conditions of the age more accurately than any formal history. Some of the anecdotes may have been of popular origin, representing the injustice that people had experienced. Thus they constitute a then-contemporary folklore much like that which was evolving during the reign of the Mohammad Reza Shah and still is evolving in Iran today. 'Obeyd displayed a remarkable originality in the forms of satire that he wrote. So far we have seen him using "definitions," "maxims" and "short anecdotes" as vehicles of his satire. In Mush u Gorba (The Mouse and the Cat, which in this volume appears as "Rats against Cats" in Masoud Farzad's translation), 'Obeyd writes a political satire in the form of an animal fable that is at the same time a mock heroic imitation of the Shah-nama. Once more in "The Ethics of the Aristocrats"'Obeyd goes back to the well known epic of Ferdausi in order to portray the moral laxity of the gentry of his time engages Rustam and Human in a friendly homosexual match. The episode, which is part of chapter three, "On Chastity," is impossible to translate because of his very ingenious parody of the style of Ferdausi and the language he uses to describe the scene. Now we should turn to the best known work of 'Obeyd, which is most certainly "The Mouse and the Cat." For many years scholars have discussed the political and historical meaning of this ingenious fable, but it is hard to say with certainty who were the butts of 'Obeyd's satire. Both Masoud Farzad and 'Abbas Iqbal agree that in many ways the cat resembles the hypocritical and tyrannical Mubarez al-Din Muhammad. His closing of taverns, his pretentious religiosity and his recognition of the authority of the successor to the 'Abbasid caliphs in Egypt all might have induced 'Obeyd to make him the villain of the poem. Further research reveals that this theory can be more firmly established. Many characteristics of the cat interestingly enough match those of Mubarez al-Din Muhammad. He was a bully and physically an extraordinarily big man. The historian Hafez Abru (d. 1430) writes: "Amir Mubarez al-Din was very ill-natured, wrathful, foul-mouthed and abusive, and would utter obscenities which even muleteers would be ashamed of uttering ."22 In the fable the cat swears obscenely in Turkish at the mouse whom he has caught behind a wine vat in the tavern, and calls him a "Musulman" in contempt. The cat also swears at the king of the mice, who has asked him to come to his capital. It seems that the use of Turkish is also significant as we know that the mother of Mubarez al-Din was a Turkish princess. R. Homayun Farroukh, who has made a lengthy study of Hafez, has found some other interesting references to the "cat."23 According to another history of the period, Matla' al-Sa'dain, Mubarez al-Din had no high regard for the valour of his son Shah Shoja' and would call him "a worthless cat."24 Apparently this was one of the idiosyncratic phrases used by Mubarez al-Din. Furthermore, when he was the governor of Yazd in 1319, he fought with a Turkish tribe in Kerman called "Nowruzi." In a battle scene, which resembles that of the fable, the horse of Mubarez al-Din is hamstrung, and he is only saved from being captured by one of his friends. Mubarez al-Din kills one of the tribal chiefs and captures another. Strangely enough the latter is nicknamed "the cat" (gorba). He is placed in an iron cage, and, while the head of his slain friend hangs from his neck, he is sent to the Il-Khan Abu Sa'id.25 To continue historical references to the "cat." mention should be made of a poem by Hafez. Describing a hypocritical sheikh who has laid a trap for people, he says: 

O gracefully-moving partridge who walkest with so pretty an air, 

Be not deceived because the cat of the ascetic hath said its prayer. 

It has been reported that a contemporary poet, 'Imad Faqih, had taught his cat to follow him in its genuflections when he performed his prayers.27 The story of the "sanctimonious cat" brings to mind the cat of 'Obeyd. The cat eats up the mice and then like a true "mulla" feels penitent and vows that he will never eat another mouse. Even in his prayers to God he "opens the door of deception and falsehood until he starts weeping." AH this reminds us of Mubarez al-Din. As was mentioned earlier, he cut off the heads of two prisoners and went on with his prayers as if nothing had happened. Before he fought some Turkish tribes in Kerman, he first declared them "heretics" and himself a ghazi or defender of Islam. Earlier in life he drank wine, but in 1351 repented and became extremely devout. With all these points, we may safely say that 'Obeyd modeled his cat after Mubarez al-Din. To extend this analogy one step further, we know that his allegedly heretical foes were three Kara-Khatai tribes between Yazd and Kerman called Oumani, Jermai and Nowruzi. These are apparently the mice who, because of the tyranny of the cat, take their cases to the king of the mice. Historically, they complain to Abu Ishaq, who sends two thousand horsemen to fight Mubarez al-Din. The battle is inconclusive, and Abu Ishaq sends an "old and well spoken" envoy, who was 'Imad al-Din Mahmud, a wise minister and a patron of Hafez, to negotiate a peace treaty. Thus these tribes once more are left at the mercy of Mubarez al-Din. It is in an earlier encounter with these tribes that his horse is hamstrung and he is taken captive. But he is saved by one of his generals, Taj al-Din 'Ali Shah, and eventually the tribesmen are defeated. In the poem of 'Obeyd the "cat's army marches by the way of the desert" and that of the mice comes from Isfahan, and they meet in the plains of Fars. It seems that Obeyd makes these two battles and possibly the last encounter with Abu Ishaq into one battle in which the oppressed come close to victory, but alas it fails them. - To complete the list of 'Obeyd's writings, mention should be made of three works that are not included in the present volume. Two of them are Fal-nama-ye Buruj (Augury-book of Zodiac Signs) and Fal-nama-ye Wuhush va Tuyur (Augury-book of Animals and Birds). Both are satirical treatments of those who believe in divination of the future and who try to achieve this through different means. The third work is entitled Rish-nama (The Book of the Beard), which is a fantastic dialogue between 'Obeyd and the beard considered as the destroyer of youthful beauty. It is written in a style reminiscent of the Gulistan of Sa'di — an almost rhyming prose interspersed with lines of poetry. The style of Obeyd is both beautiful and skillful, but because of various Koranic verses and references to cultural peculiarities it loses its beauties in translation. "The Book of the Beard" mainly dwells on the subject of homosexuality and the fact that young and handsome boys had many lovers. In Persian literature the subject has been treated by many poets from Suzani to Sa'di among the classical poets, and from Qa'ani to Iraj Mirza in the times nearer to us. Everybody was aware of it, but no one made an issue out of it. Sa'di typifies the general attitude. He writes in the Gulistan: "When young, as it happens and you know, I had an affair with a handsome boy." The love of Mahmud of Ghazna for his favorite slave Ayaz became proverbial, and the attachment of Naser al-Din Shah to his young courtier Malijak inspired many stories. 'Obeyd with his usual openness and biting humor gives a vivid picture of sexual life in his age. He voices the practice of the age when he says: "Buy young Turkish slaves at whatever price, when they are beardless, but sell them at whatever price when their beards begin to appear." Similarly the twelfth century Ziarid prince 'Unsur al-Ma'ali in the Qabus-nama advises his son how to buy slaves of both sexes and when to make love to them. Not only slaves, who had no choice but to submit to the passion of their masters, but many handsome boys vied with each other in getting more lovers. It seems that "The Book of the Beard" is a light-hearted and witty treatment of the subject, and 'Obeyd's recommendation is: "before the calamity of the beard" strikes, make the best use of your time. In his other works 'Obeyd takes a much more critical view of the subject. He is heterosexual and he is very open about it, but what he can not tolerate is the attitude of the people who do what they sactimoniously rebuke others for. Hafez writes: 

Preachers who on the pulpit such righteousness display, 

When in private another game do play. 

Ask this question of the scholar in his teaching bent; 

Those who preach repentence, pray why do they not repent? 

It is as if they do not believe in the Judgement Day 

That in the work of God they cheat and play. 

 The other ''game'' they play does not necessarily mean homosexuality; rather it could be any act that is condemned by hypocritical teachers of morality. 'Obeyd is full of sarcasm when he says: "When young do not withhold your sexual favors from friends and foes so that in old age you can attain the status of a sheikh, a preacher or a man of fame." Again Hafez says: 

I am a drinker of wine, a rend and lover of beauties, 

Who is not like me in this city? Show me one.

But the way 'Obeyd puts the same point is very different. A preacher in Kashan says that on the Day of Judgement, 'Ali, the cousin of the Prophet, will be in charge of the heavenly well of Kowthar and will give its water to the person who has not slept with a homosexual. A Kashani gets up and leaving the mosque says: "O my friend, surely he has to put the water in the pitcher and drink it all himself!" Even the inhabitants of the holy city of Qom are not spared by 'Obeyd. Two old gays from the town, after making love at the top of a minaret—of all places—are talking. One says: "This city of ours is full of corruption." The other answers: "What do you expect from a city where we are the blessed old men? " Men of the cloak are great butts for 'Obeyd. A preacher is asked, "What is Islam?" He says: "I am a preacher, I have nothing to do with Islam." In another story a preacher's son, who has seen his father having intercourse with their donkey, comes in during a Friday sermon, and innocently asks: "Father, will you service the donkey or shall I take her to graze?" Lastly a few words should be said about my translation. As I said earlier the language of 'Obeyd has a medieval bluntness that in its archaic style does not seem to be offensive. But finding exact English equivalents for some Persian expressions is often impossible. For instance, the expression " service the donkey" in the story above is not as expressive as its Persian original. At the same time some English expressions would have an exaggerated force or undue flavors of class or period. This has been the main problem in the translation. Furthermore, 'Obeyd often plays with words in ways that are impossible to reproduce in English. In a story he writes, "There was a very tyrannical governor in Mazandaran called 'Ala. One year there was no rain and people went out to say prayers asking for rain. At the end of his sermon the preacher said: "O God, take from us the calamity, cholera and 'Ala." In the original the last three words (bala, vaba and 'Ala." rhyme and create an effectiveness that is lost in translation. Of "The Mouse and the Cat" of 'Obeyd there are several translations available. That by the late Masoud Farzad (London, 1946) is reproduced here. It is a somewhat free but graceful rendering, more exact translations of the original verses in a more recent and authentic edition are noted in the bibliography. Apart from some translations by E.G. Browne {A Literary History of Persia, Cambridge University Press, 1920, pp. 244-257) the other writings of'Obeyd have never appeared in English. It is hoped that, inspite of being only a selection, the present volume may stimulate interest in the works of this talented and ingenious poet and satirist.