“Ḥazīn,” Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, Šayḫ/Šayḫ Muḥammad ʿAlī Ḥazīn d. 1180/1766

Memoirist

One of the more accomplished writers of his time on account of his Taẕkiraħ al-aḥvāl, Muḥammad ʿAlī b. Abū Ṭālib, known by the name Šayḫ ʿAlī Ḥazīn, was born in Iṣfahān in 1103/1692. Ḥazīn took an early interest in scholarly pursuit. With the Afghān invasion of Iran in 1135/1722 Ḥazīn was forced to sell most of his possessions, including 2000 volumes of his library, and escape the upheaval in disguise. He spent the next eleven years of his life in wandering, during which he traveled to Mecca, Baghdād and then on to Persia. Along the way he remained intellectually active: he met with scholars, composed poetry and other writings and occasionally took to teaching. However, military and political events led him to settle in India in 1146/1734. In 1154/1741-2 Ḥazīn completed Taẕkiraħ al-aḥvāl in Delhi. Ḥazīn was to reside in India for the remainder of his life even however he held a general distaste for that country: he devoted only 2 of the 48 chapters of his Taẕkiraħ al-aḥvāl to India. For much of his later life he cherished hopes of returning to Persia but never did. Šayḫ Muḥammad ʿAlī Ḥazīn died in 1180/1766 “esteemed by Muslims, Hindus, and British alike”.

Works

Taẕkiraħ al-aḥvāl     Memorial of the Times

Completed 1154/1741-2.

Taẕkiraħ al-aḥvāl is the memoirs of Šayḫ Muḥammad ʿAlī Ḥazīn. It includes both an account of his life and a great deal of historical information related to some of the major political events in Persia at the time, such as: accounts of Afghan and Turkish invasions, local insurrections and the rise of Nadīr Šāh.