Jami of Herat- a portrait of an Afghan artist

As he was one of the most popular poets of the 15th century Persian literature, Nur ad-Din Abd ar-Rahman Jami, known as Jami, his spirit still haunts the landscapes of his homeland, now the state of Afghanistan. He was born in August 18, 1414 in a small village near Khorasan, nowadays in Ghor Province, Afghanistan, and only after a few years from his birth, his family moved to Herat. As a child, Jami learned Persian and Arabic from his father and pursued his intellectual fulfillment by attending the school from Samarkand, where he studied with the great Ghazi-zadeh Ruhm, one of the most famous scientists of his time. Returning to Herat, e followed his career, studying with Ala o-Din Ali Ghoshchi, which opened the young mind to philosophy and mathematics. He was the disciple of Khaja Saad o-Din Kashghari and one of his most brilliant students, as it is said that Saad o-din himself confessed to have been fascinated by the young Afghan.

In 1472, Jami started his first pilgrimage at Mecca, respecting the Islam tradition, although he was not a great traveler as Saadi, for example. One of his pilgrimages aimed at Meshed, other to Hejaz and other small trips involved Baghdad and Tabriz.

In his early years, this poet of Afghanistan entered in the slippery world of mysticism- a frequent phenomenon at that time, as most of the intellectuals of that day pursued this domain. The fact that he was a disciple of the one succeeding the great saint of the Sufis greatly influenced all his future works. He even developed a number of teachings meant to clarify and open the Sufi path to each person. Jami stated that love was the very essence of each thing and the very beginning of each spiritual journey. A story about this poet of Afghanistan says that when a student who claimed he had never loved approached him, Jami replied that he should first seek love and then follow his teachings.

His works can be considered some of the finest pieces of Persian literature and philosophy and placed next to the most loved Sufi authors. All his works are marked by the deep knowledge of Arabic literature, natural sciences, Islamic philosophy, and mathematics. Thus, there is a great complexity inside his work and a great subtlety in exploiting style and structure. He is well known for his poems, although he wrote prose too. The latter chapter is formed of stories like "Salaman and Absal", "Yusuf and Zulaikha", "Laila and Majnun", gathered in a generous volume named "The seven stars of the Great Bear". The stories, marked by the mysticism and the Sufi philosophy, are meant to be moral coordinates and important lessons for the pupils following the Sufi way. Further, he wrote the "Bahristan", and a compendium containing the lives of all Sufi saints. As many other Afghan poets, Jami must not be reduced to one aspect, but rather understood at different levels.

His poetry is mostly formed of three diwans, "Beginning of Youth", written in 1479, "Central Part of the Chain", in 1489, and "Close of life", which appeared in 1491. Pantheistic mysticism is usually the central theme in all Jami's poems and his style is full of freshness and grace, best reflected in his most famous work, "The seven thrones". It is said that many leaders of that time, in nowadays Afghanistan and outside it, tried to pursue the poet to join their courts- they offered him huge amounts of gold- but Jami refused and became irritated by their mediocrity. Other people tried to worship him and make him a hero, but Jami replied, "Ordinary human love is capable of raising man to the experience of real love".

The Afghan poet led a rather peaceful life in his chambers in Herat, focusing on introspection. Some exegetes state that in his later years, after he had written all his famous works, he became senile and eventually, insane. He died in Herat, in 1492, taking with his last breath, the last great Sufi poet and one of the greatest writers of the Afghan land.

Afghanistan is a land full of spirit and poetry Afghan poet Jami is one of the Sufi spirits, enchanted and enchanting this land.