As His childhood and early education. regards the first period of our author’s life very little is known, except from incidental references in the Lubáb and the Jawámi‘. The earliest mention of his childhood is made by himself in the Lubáb* and in the Jawámi‘ (D. f207a. III. v. 1588) (D. f187b. II. xxiv. 1524). As we know from the biography in the Lubáb* and from Taqí Awḥadí’s Tadhkira*, the person referred to in the passages cited from the Jawámi‘ is al-‘Awfí’s grandfather Sharafu’d-Dín Abú Ṭáhir Yaḥya b. Ṭáhir b. ‘Uthmán al-‘Awfí, but unfortunately the date of his death is not known; otherwise we could have had a definite point to start from. At any rate our author was still a child, as we find him later acquiring the rudiments of knowledge under great teachers like Ruknu’d-Dín* Mas‘úd Imámzádah of Bukhárá, in a school at Dar-i-Fárijak* (A. f215b. I, xvii, 984), and again we find him reading the Fá’iq of az-Zamakhsharí, under another eminent doctor of law and a notable of the Ál-i-Burhán called Táju’d-Dín* ‘Umar b. Mas‘úd, a contemporary of Qilij Ṭamgháj Ibráhím and his son referred to above, and later we find him also reading under Quṭbu’d-Dín* as-Sarakhsí the calligrapher, the transcriber of the Lughát-i-Azharí, and the Keeper of the Sarpul Bázárcha Library of Bukhárá, and giving a faint recollection of Shamsu’d-Dín* Muḥammad ad-Daqá’iqí al-Marwazí, and of Sharafu’d-Dín* b. Fakhru’d-Dín Mas‘údí, and of his early association with a contemporary* when they had both committed to memory the Jámi‘u’s-Ṣaghír of the Qádhí Fakhru’d-Dín Ján; and probably the last reference to his educational period occurs in the biography of the poet Ashrafí-i-Samarqandí, about whom he writes the following:
<Arabic>*The Itinerary period. instances cited above are quite different from the nature of those that will follow in the real period of his literary tour, as all of them conform to the requirement of a beginner, and to the foundation of his future literary greatness, which he laid in his native town, just before starting on his tour about 597 A. H. The literary tour of our author extends over a period of 20 years, 1200-1220 A. D. The first part of the Lubáb is in fact, from the autobiographic point of view, a faithful record of his activities* in Khurásán, and as Prof. Browne remarks*, “His Lubáb may fairly be regarded as the Kitábu’l-Aghání of Persia …. It contains notices of 122 royal and noble personages who occasionally condescended to write verse, and of about 163 poets by profession, of whom thirty belong to the Ṭáhirí, Ṣaffárí, and Sámání periods; twenty-nine to the Ghaznaví period; and fifty to the Saljúq period; while some fifty-four are, roughly speaking, the author’s contemporaries”. The information for the above he collected during this period of his life. A rough outline of his tour is sketched below, in order to show the various places and eminent persons he visited. Like most of the learned men of his day our author was also seeking during his journeys a suitable position for himself, as we shall notice presently.
At At Samarqand. first he tries the court of the Ílak Kháns of Samarqand, where he held for sometime an honorary secretaryship* and made important literary acquaintances of the circle of the court, like the Wazír of Samarqand Niẓámu’l-Mulk Ṣadru’d-Dín* Muḥammad b. Muḥammad, the four Shamsu’d-Díns, the poets of the same laqab, and other eminent scholars, viz., Sharafu’d-Dín* Ḥusám Muḥammad b. ‘Abí Bakr an-Nasafí, a contemporary of the poets Kháqání and ‘Umar Núqání, from whom he obtains permission for relating Traditions; and Ṣadru’d-Dín ‘Umar b. Muḥammad al-Khurramábádí*, a panegyrist of the Sultan ‘Alá’u’d-Dín Muḥammad Khwárazmsháh (reigned 596-617 A. H. = 1199-1220 A. D.). Although his maternal uncle Sharafu’z-Zamán Maju’d-Dín* Muḥammad b. ‘Adnán as-Surkhakatí and his cousin were serving in that court as state physicians, and our author seemed to be satisfied with the agreeable company of the Prince, yet we find that his stay here was not prolonged, and once more he was setting out on his travels.
After In Khwárazm. cultivating important acquaintances in Máwará’u’n-Nahr our author goes to Khwárazm. There is one important record of his stay in Khwárazm, which is found among the additional anecdotes, in the oldest Ms. of the Jawámi‘ (dated 699 A. H. = 1300 A. D.), which runs as follows: (A. f185b. I. xiii. 728)
<Arabic>*******
In His stay coincides with this event. the above passage the date is not given, but from the historical events related in the preceding and succeeding anecdotes it can be established with certainty by references to other sources. According to the Ta’ríkh-i-Jahángushá’-i-Juwayní*, the severest tension between the Sultan Mu‘ízzu’d-Dín Muḥammad (also called Shihábu’d-Dín) Ghúrí, (d. 602 A. H. = 1206 A. D.) and the Sultan ‘Alá’u’d-Dín Muḥammad Khwárazmsháh dates back to 598 A. H. = 1201/2 A. D.; and the latest phase of this struggle, when the Ghúrid Sultan was completely broken down, and gave up all hopes of Khwárazm and re-organised his defeated forces, and turned his thought finally towards India, occurs in 602 A. H., just before his death; and in the Ta’ríkh-i-Firishta* reference is made to one of the attacks on Khwárazm, in the following manner:
<Arabic> [Add. 18,875 Br. Mus.] ff83 = [Add. 6572 Br. Mus.] f60a.
The 599-600 A. H. as the year of his stay. attack of the Ghúrid Sultan and the clever defence of the city of Khwárazm referred to in the anecdote must have happened before 600 A. H. From this it can be concluded that al-‘Awfí was in Khwárazm at about this time, as it is in conformity with the stages of his tour shown above — that is to say, after leaving Samarqand he comes back to Bukhárá and goes to Khwárazm — and also because it corroborates the coming events, as he is seen in Shahr-i-Naw and Nasá in 600 A. H. Besides this, we find him attending some of the meetings of the famous disciple of Najmu’d-Dín Kubrá, the Shaykh Majdu’d-Dín* Sharaf ibnu’l-Muayyad al-Baghdádí (of Khwárazm), (whose death is placed in 606; 607; 613; 616; A. H.), and narrating the personal relations of the Shaykh with Shihábu’d-Dín Abú Sa‘d b. ‘Umar al-Khíwaqí, the Wakíl of the Sultan ‘Alá’u’d-Dín Muḥammad Khwárazmsháh, on his own authority in the Jawámi‘ (D. f4b. IV. i. 1792) <Arabic>*); and again in the same town he gets in touch with the Shaykhu’l-Islám ‘Alá’u’d-Dín* al-Ḥárithí from whom he obtains permission for relating Traditions. In spite of the fact that there is a notice of the Sultan Muḥammad* Khwárazmsháh and also of Bahá’u’d-Dín* Muḥammad ibnu’l-Muayyad al-Baghdádí in the Lubáb, we cannot say with certainty that our author was given a chance to appear at the court.
At At Shahr-i-Naw, while on his way to Khurásán. any rate we find him in Shahr-i-Naw, the seat of the prince Nuṣratu’d-Dín* Kabúd Jáma (put to death by Khwárazmsháh circa 600 A. H.) and trying to get an audience of the said prince, and complaining of the losses he had incurred in his travels (probably robbed by the Ghuzz while returning from Khwárazm). The prince being busy with his enjoyments sends word that he has no time for listening to sermons, and at his request* supplies him with a horse and assures him of reward in the future. Our author seems to have been disappointed in this journey, and appears in Khurásán for the first time at Nasá* in 600 A. H. From this point actually begins his tour throughout this province. Here, we find him meeting Muḥammad* b. Badí‘ an-Nasawí, Majdu’d-Dín* Muḥammad al-Páyizí, the panegyrist of the Sultan Muḥammad Khwárazmsháh, who was preparing a Sháhinsháhnáma of the Khwárazmsháhs when ‘al-Awfí met him in Nasá, and Ẓahíru’d-Dín* an-Nasawí called Walí, all famous poets of his day.
At In Níshápúr district. a time when Níshápúr was flourishing under the rule of the Sultan ‘Alá’u’d-Dín Muḥammad Khwárazmsháh, and was celebrated for the great literary men that rose from its soil, our author is seen in this galaxy. In 603 A. H., according to his own statement in the Jawámi‘ (D. f93b. IV. xxiv. 2068) he saw in Khúján (Khabúshán) at the school of Zaynu’d-Dín* Ṣá‘id, an ostrich which was with the Wakíl of Khwárazmsháh. At about the same time he goes to Isfaráín, where he teaches the son of the famous secretary of the Sultan Khwárazmsháh, ‘Imádu’d-Dín* Muayyad b. Aḥmad al-Isfaráíní. Then, he comes down to the city itself, and from several references to Níshápúr, it appears that al-‘Awfí stayed here for a considerable period, and probably it was the culminating point of his literary friendships. The different persons he saw at Níshápúr were either eminent state-officials or teachers or poets, as follows.
Occasionally, His contemporaries in Níshápúr. as he says, he paid visits to Ṣadru’d-Dín* an-Níshápúrí, the Ṣáḥib-i-Díwán-i-Istífá of the Sultan Khwárazmsháh, the history of whose dynasty he had composed; and again in the same place, he studies the important treatise on the art of writing called the Ruqyatu’l-Qalam* (?), the composition of the secretary of the Sultan Sanjar, Muntajibu’d-Dín Badí‘ Atábek al-Juwayní; and enters into conversation with the eminent Jamálu’d-Dín* ‘Alí Láhúrí; the secretary of Malik Muayyad, about the famous Ghúrid secretary Farídu’d-Dín (also Shamsu’d-Dín) Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-Káfí. At the same time he was preaching and trying his poetical skill in Arabic and Persian, as he referrs to his own sermons and to Fakhru’d-Dín Muḥammad as-Sarakhsí, against whose verses he matched his own in Níshápúr*. Amongst others with whom he was intimate, were the humourist Abu’l-Fadhl ‘Uthmán* b. Aḥmad al-Harawí, nicknamed Kargas; and Abú ‘Alí* b. al-Ḥusayn al-Marwazí, the panegyrist of Khwárazmsháh; and the Amír Qiwámí* al-Khwáfí; and lastly Niẓámu’d-Dín* al-Jámí al-Kátib, who acquired prominence later at the court of Muḥammad Khwárazmsháh. Unfortunately he does not say anything about his relations with Farídu’d-Dín* ‘Aṭṭár, who was also a contemporary and a native of Níshápúr.