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Ehmedê Xanî ئەحمەدێ خانی
A bust of Ehmedê Xanî in Kurdistan Region
Born	1650 Julamerk, Emirate of Hakkâri
Died	1707 (Bayazid), Ottoman Empire
Occupation(s)	Intellectual, scholar, poet, writer
Years active	17th century
Academic background
Influences	Melayê Cizîrî, Ali Hariri, Feqiyê Teyran
Academic work
Influenced	Abdurrahman Sharafkandi, Haji Qadir Koyi, Hemin Mukriyani

Ehmedê Xanî (Template:Lang-ku), was a Kurdish intellectual, scholar, mystic and poet who is considered the founder of Kurdish nationalism. He was born in the Hakkâri region in 1650 and died in Bayazid in 1707.

The most important work of Xanî is Mem and Zin which is considered the national epic of Kurds. Other important works include Nûbiharan Biçûkan and Eqîdeya Îmanê. These works were studied in Kurdish schools from the time of Kani towards the 1930s. Xanî admired Melayê Cizîrî and Feqiyê Teyran. Joyce Blau called him the spiritual son of Cizîrî, Teyran and Ali Hariri.

Early life and education

Xanî was born in the village of Khan near Hakkari in 1650 and began writing poetry at the age of fourteen. He became a clerical secretary at the Bayediz court at the age of twenty. He was known as "Ehmedê Xanî, Ahmed of Hani" because he was from the Hânî tribe, a branch of the Pinyanişi tribe.

Education

Ehmedê Xanî received his primary education in the family and received fiqh lessons from his father who was named Sheikh İlyas. Then he attends to Muradiye Madrasa in Doğubayazıt. Later, he studied at Ahlat and Bitlis madrasas. He also lived his student life for many years in the madrasas of Baghdad, Damascus, Aleppo and Qom. Xanî learned Ancient Greek philosophy, especially in Syrian madrasas, and Islamic philosophy, astronomy, poetry and art techniques in Anatolian and Iranian madrasas.

It is clearly seen in the content of his work that Xanî circumambulated the Kaaba and went to Egypt. He searches for famous scholars everywhere and tries to give education at the Muradiye Madrasa in Doğubayazit after receiving his diploma with them in order to further advance knowledge and science.

Xanî was a good instructor and linguist. It is understood that he assimilated the philosophical, theological and literary knowledge of the period well and became competent in this aspect. He also has deep knowledge on the history of philosophy, history of religions, Kurdish literature, folklore and history. It is also known that he is fluent in Arabic, Persian and Ottoman Turkish, as well as Kurdish. The deep cultural knowledge and knowledge in his poems are at an admirable level. In his basic work called Mem and Zin, he deals with every event in a deep analysis form.

In order to provide religious education to the public in a very easy way, he develops very practical and understandable methods in both Arabic and Kurdish. Xanî writes the book Nûbihara Biçukan especially for children. As a matter of fact, he stated in his work, "Ne ji boy sahib rewacan, may ji boy piçûkên Kurmancan." In other words, he says he wrote the work for little Kurdish (Kurmanji) children.

Xanî recited a prayer in 1674 while the foundations of Ishak Pasha Palace were being laid. Later, he served as imam at Muradiye Mosque in Doğubayazit. He served as the council clerk of Doğubayazit Bey Mir Muhammed. He expressed his closeness to her and his love for her in a poem and documented his sadness about her death. He signed the decision taken with the Iranian Border Serdar on behalf of Mir.

Nationalism

Xanî is considered the founder of Kurdish nationalism and supported an independent Kurdistan. In a mathnawi from 1694, he chose not to devote parts of the introduction to praise the rulers of his time, which was typical in classical Oriental literature. Instead, the preface of the mathnawi was dedicated to his opinions on Kurdish nationalism. He explained the subjugation of Kurds by the Ottomans and the Safavids, and their occupation of Kurdistan which he argued had become a reality because of the lack of a Kurdish monarch who could rule Kurdistan. Such a ruler could liberate Kurds from the 'vile'. He also believed that an independent Kurdistan could safeguard the Kurdish language for scientific and intellectual purposes.

In the epic Mem and Zin, he wrote:

If we had unity amongst ourselves,
If we all, together, obeyed one another,
The Turks, the Arabs and the Persians,
Would one and all be in our servitude.

— Ehmedê Xanî

Works

• Mem û Zîn (Mem and Zin)
• Eqîdeya Îmanê (The Path of Faith)
• Eqîdeya Îslamê (Basics of Islam)
• Nûbihara Biçûkan (The Spring of Children)
• Erdê Xweda (Astronomy and Geography book)
• Dîwana Helbestan

References

1. ^ Shakely, F. (2002). "AḤMAD-E ḴĀNI". Encyclopedia Iranica.
2. Ahmadzadeh, Hashem (2018). Gunter, Michael M. (ed.). Classical and modern Kurdish literature. Routledge. p. 92. ISBN 9781317237983.
3. Blau, Joyce (1995). Malmîsanij (ed.). "Jiyan û berhemên Ehmedê Xanî (1650-1707)". Çira (in Kurdish): 7.
4. Korangy, Alireza (2020). Kurdish Art and Identity: Verbal Art, Self-definition and Recent History. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 41. ISBN 9783110599626.
5. ^ Borg & Moor 2001. sfn error: no target: CITEREFBorgMoor2001 (help)
6. ^ Allen 2012, p. 67. sfn error: no target: CITEREFAllen2012 (help)
7. ^ Allen 2012, p. 68. sfn error: no target: CITEREFAllen2012 (help)
8. "Ehmede Xani (Ahmed-i Hani) Eserleri | idefix". web.archive.org. 2 June 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
9. ^ Olson, Robert. "Kurds". The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020. Retrieved 30 April 2021.

Further reading

• Badawi, Muhammad Mustafa, ed. (1970). An Anthology of Modern Arabic Verse. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-920032-0.
• Jayyusi, Salma Khadra, ed. (1987). Modern Arabic Poetry: An Anthology. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-23-105273-1.

External links

• Works by Ehmedê Xanî at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• Ahmad Khani, Kurdish Academy of Language KAL
• Our Trouble by Ehmedê Xanî, Noahs Ark Holidays

• 1650 births
• 1707 deaths
• Kurdish poets
• Kurdish-language poets
• Kurdish-language writers
• Kurdish scholars
• Kurdish nationalists
• Kurdish philosophers
• Kurdish historians
• Kurdish people from the Ottoman Empire
• Lexicographers
• People from Hakkâri Province
• 17th-century Kurdish people
• 18th-century Kurdish people