Nizami Ganjavi Bust

Nezami was married three times. His first wife was Afagh who he deeply loved. His only son Mohammad was from Afagh. When Nezami was writing “Khosrow and Shirin”, Afagh died. After the death of Afagh, he married again. His second wife died when he was writing “Leyla and Majnoun”. He got married for the third time. His third wife died when he was writing the book of “Eghbalnameh.” Nezami surprisingly said, “It seems that with every book I write, I give a sacrifice.”

His son Mohammad was seven years old when Nezami wrote “Khosrow and Shirin”, fourteen years old when he wrote “Leyla and Majnoun”, and eighteen or nineteen when he wrote “Haft Peykar” (Seven Beauties). Nezami said that his son encouraged him to write “Leyla and Majnoun”. It is said that his son was very intelligent and familiar with poetry. Nezami sent his son to give his messages to King Malek Ezeddin as well as to deliver a copy of “Eghbalnameh” which Nezami wrote in the name of the king.

Nezami lived for 63 years. All his life, he never left Ganja and died there. It is said that he was good-natured and he believed that with pleasantness and cheerfulness one can combat the hardships of life. He was always studying science and art. He knew the science of astronomy and he used its terminology in his poetry skillfully.

He wrote about thirty thousands couplets in five Masnavi (poetry in rhymed couplets) poetry books of “Makhzan ol-Asrar”, “Khosrow and Shirin”, “Leyla and Majnoun”, “Haft Peykar”, “Eskandar Nameh” and he wrote one book which is not Masnavi. He gave each of his masnavi books as a gift to the kings of the time.

Among his works that have found their way to the West are “Haft Peykar” and “Leyla and Majnoun”. The “Seven Beauties” refer to seven paintings of seven daughters of kings from India to China to Kharazm. When Bahram, the Sassanian King sees the paintings he falls in love and marries all seven princesses.

“Layla and Majnoun” is considered a love story that reveals the path of the soul. It contains 4,000 couplets and was supposedly written in only four months.

Miserable is a heart that has no beloved.
It is difficult to be without a friend or a beloved.
These few moments which you can never find again,
If you have a heart, do not be without a beloved.