ʿABD-AL-RAZZĀQ BEG B. NAJAF-QOLĪ KHAN DONBOLĪ (1176-1243/1762-63 to 1827-28), literary biographer, poet, and historian of the early Qajar period. ʿAbd-al-Razzāq came of a family of turkicized Kurds, the Donbolī, who had long been dominant in the region of Ḵoy and Salmās in iran. His father Naǰaf-qolī served in Nāder Shah’s army and was appointed governor general (beglerbegī) of Tabrīz on his return to Azerbaijan in 1155/1742. During his campaign of 1176/1763 Karīm xhan Zand reappointed Naǰaf-qolī to Tabrīz, and two years later returned to Šīrāz with Naǰaf-qolī’s nephew Šahbāz Khan and other hostages. ʿAbd-al-Razzāq was sent to join them in Šīrāz at the age of ten (Taǰreba I, intro. and pp. 87, 119; II, p. 41).
At Šīrāz ʿAbd-al-Razzāq was by his own account well treated, and like Karīm Khan’s other hostages was a respected member of the court with an adequate pension and comparative freedom of movement within and outside the capital. Here he remained for fourteen years. His chief biographical work, the Taǰrebat al-aḥrār wa taslīat al-abrār (see below) describes his adaptation to exile and his enjoyment of the wine, women, and poetry of the Zand capital in its heyday (I, pp. 119f.; II, pp. 43-58). Of course, he also has two romantic narrative with the names of Naz and Niaz, Salim and Salmi, and a historical masnavi with the name of Mukhtar Ibn Thaqfi among his works. In 1196/1781 ʿAlī Morād xhan Zand captured Šīrāz and took the hostages to his capital of Isfahan, and after 1199/1785, when the Qajars took Isfahan, ʿAbd-al-Razzāq was able to return to Tabrīz. During the reign of Fatḥ-ʿAlī Shah he entered the service of ʿAbbās Mīrzā, the heir apparent and governor general of Azerbaijan. Apart from making the pilgrimage to Mecca in 1241/1826, ʿAbd-al-Razzāq remained in Tabrīz as a civil servant and scholar until his death at the age of sixty-five.
He is the author of some sixteen works, including a dīvān of verse in both Persian and Arabic and several maṯnavīs, under the pen name of Maftūn (“Infatuated”). His prose compositions include a history of the early part of Fatḥ-ʿAlī’s reign, the Maʾāṯer-e solṭānīya (ed. Ḡolām Ḥosayn Ṣadrī-Afšār, Tehran, 1351 Š./1972; tr. Sir Harford Jones Brydges, The Dynasty of the Kajars, London, 1833). The rest of his output belongs in general to the taḏkera genre, being literary biographies of prominent poets and ʿolamāʾ illustrated with quotations from their own and the author’s verses. The most important of these is the Taǰrebat al-aḥrār wa taslīat al-abrār (ed. Ḥasan Qāżī Ṭabāṭabāʾī, 2 vols., Tabrīz, 1349-50 Š./1970-71). Also published is part of his Negārestān-e Dārā (ed. ʿAbd-al-Rasūl Ḵayyāmpūr, Tabrīz , 1342 Š./1963). ʿAbd-al-Razzāq’s style is quite lively and erudite, despite his deliberate Chronicle of the florid rhymed prose, replete with Arabic and Arabicisms, that was first popularized by Vaṣṣāf and revived in the 12th/18th century by Mīrzā Mahdī Astarābādī (see M. T. Bahār, Sabkšenāsī III, Tehran, 1338 Š./1959, pp. 319f.).
Bibliography:
Personal works:
Divan of poems by Abdul Razzaq Bey
- Salim and Salma, a romantic narrative work
- Naz and Niaz, a romantic and social narrative work
- Mokhtarnameh (Maftun), in the description of the life of Mukhtar Thaghafi
- Mathnawi Riyad al-Janah, containing the history of the Donbali dynasty, which he wrote at the end of his life in Bahr Ramel. This book contains unique anecdotes and novelties in the history of Donbali's ancestors and clan
Other works:
-Negārestān-e dārā, hāvi-ye šarh-e hāl-e šoarā-ye dowre-ye Fath’ališāh Qājār-o montaxab-e aš’ār-e ānhā ke dar sāl-e 1,241 ta’lif gardide-ast.
-Hadāeq al-janan ke šāmel-e sargozašt-e vey dar Širāz bude-vo dārā-ye tarājom-e ahvāl-e šoarā-vo fozalā-ye Širāz moāser-e u mibāšad-o šemme-i az ahvālāt-e karim-e Xān-e Zand rā tā zohur-e Āqāmohammadxān niz zekr šode-ast.
-tajziye al-ahrar o tasliye al-abrar. Abdorrazzāq pas az zekr-e moxtasar-i az hasb-e-vo nasab-e donabeleh tarājom-e ahvāl-e eddei az olamā-vo maārif-o šoarā-ye moāser-e xod-o qesmati az nazm-o nasr-e xod rā nevešte dar sāl-e 1,228 ketāb rā xāteme dāde-ast. Bahār-e in ketāb rā az šāhkārhā-ye qarn-e davāzdahom midānad.
-Maāser-e Soltāniye, in ketāb marja-e viže-i dar bāre-ye janghā-ye Irān-o Rusiye-ast. Mabni bar masere soltanat-e Fath’ališāh az zamān-e jolus-e vey tā sāl-e 1,241 ke dar hamān sāl dar Tabriz cāp šode-ast.
-rozato-o al-adaab va jannat al-bab, moštamel bar šarh-e hāl-e šoarā-ye Arab-o bayān-e navāder-e aš’ār-o aqvāl-e ānhā be zabān-e arabi ke dar sāl-e 1,224 negāreš-e ketāb be etmām resid.
-Tarjome (safarnāme krosineski), asl-e in ketāb be zabān-e romik ast ke yek nafar orupāi 26 sāl dar Esfahān eqāmat nemude-vo bā kamāl-e deqqat, zavāl-o enqerāz-e dowlat-e Safaviye rā dide-vo nevešte -ast tarjome-ye torki-ye ān dar Estānbol-o tarjome-ye fārsi ān dar zemn-e montazam Nāseri cāp šode-ast.
-Jāme-e Xāqāni, dar tārix-o maāser-e Fath’ališāh-ast šarh-e mašāer-e Mollāsadrā, nosxei az ān be xatt-e Abdorrazzāq beyg dar ketābxāne-ye majles-e mowjud-ast.
-Haqāyeq al-anvar, be zabān fārsi-st moštamel bar šarh-e hāl-e šoarā-ye Arab-o Ajam-o hall-e mo’zalāt-e nokāt-e aš’ār-e ānhā, in ketāb dar sāl-e 1,230 ta’lif šode-ast.
-Hadāeq al-odaba, fārsi-st moštamel bar 24 hadiqe motezammen-e monšaāt-e-vo matāreh-at šoarā-ye Arab-o Ajam-o fasāhat-o balāqat-e aqvāl-e ānān-o siyāsat-e moluk-o ādāb-e vozarā-vo osul-e din-o axlāq-o tavārix-o loqāt ke Abdorrazzāq-e beyg ān rā dar sāl-e 1,263-o benām-e Abbās-e mirzā nāyebossaltane ta’lif karde-ast.
Originally Published: December 15, 1982
Last Updated: July 14, 2011
J. R. Perry, “'Abd-Al-Razzaq Beg,” En.Ir, I/2, p. 154; an updated version /articles/abd-al-razzaq-beg-1762-63-to-1827-28-biographer-poet-and-historian (accessed on 16 January 2014).
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