On some controversial issues surrounding the origin and nationality of Nezami Ganjavi

Abstract

The paper deals with an important debatable issue in Oriental studies. In the 18th century, one of the poems by the world famous Azeri poet and philosopher Nezami Ganjavi was supplemented with lines in which Nezami allegedly mentioned that he came not from Azerbaijan but from the Iranian city of Qom. This fact led to an opinion that Nezami was of Iranian origin; since then, this opinion has been shared by Orientalists all over the world.
However, in the first half of the 20th century, Academician E.E. Bertels, a renowned Russian/Soviet expert in Oriental studies discovered that the aforementioned lines were not present in other manuscripts, including earlier versions. This pointed to the fact that these later insertions made by some ideologically motivated copyists were in fact a falsification. This discovery attracted the attention of other scholars, including those from Azerbaijan who supported and supplemented Bertels’ findings with their own research (e.g. Academician Y.N. Marr, Academician I.Y. Krachkovski, Academician A.Y. Krymski, author of the article on Nezami for The “Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopaedic Dictionary”, Azerbaijani scholars G. Arasly, J. Heyat, R. Aliev and others).
Following that, all prominent Soviet Orientalists, including those who had theretofore considered Nezami a Persian poet, changed their viewpoint and stated conclusively and unanimously that the poet came from Azerbaijan.
However, because the discussion took place shortly before World War II and only in the Russian-language press, up to now there has been no mention of Bertels’ great discovery in Western scientific publications. Therefore, Western sources continue to refer to Nezami as a Persian poet.
This paper discusses the abovementioned Qom hypothesis and its utmost refutation by the Soviet and Azerbaijani scholars. The arguments in favour of the poet’s Turkish and Azerbaijani origin are presented, including quotations from Nezami’s verses.

Keywords:

Bertels, Qom hypothesis, nationality of Nezami Ganjavi, Azerbaijan poets, Eastern philosophers, Orientalism