Innovations in the Poetry Form by Sheikh Sa'd od-Din Ahmad Ansari

AbstractSheikh Sa'd od-Din Ahmad ٠Ansari, the son of Mawlana Abd ol-Ghaffar Ibn Abd ol-Karim, is a mystic of the 12th and 13th centuries AH. Sa'd od-Din was born in Kabul in the village called Yahya Yahyaee in 1140 AH and died in the same place in 1225 AH (Ansari, 1374: 6). In his youth, he learned canonical law and theology from his father but was soon attracted to mysticism (Heravi, 1373, 43). After performing Hajj in between the years 1169-113 AH and getting permission to guide people from Naqshbandiyeh and Qaderiyeh mystic Sheikh Mohammad Saman Madani, he returned home and guided people untill the end of his life (Ansari, 1390: 3). Sheikh Sa'd od-Din was well learned in Islamic studies, Arabic language, rhetoric and sciences of his time. He was also familiar with the works of poets such as 'Attar, Rumi, Hafez, Ibn Arabi and other great names of mysticism. He was attached to Rumi and Hafez and has quoted them frequently in his works.Sheikh Sa'd od-Din wrote thirty six books and treatises including seven Divans and two Masnavis in Persian; He also wrote a book entitled The Mine of Unity and treatises such as "Greetings Noble Tatar", "Habl ol-Matin" and "The Elite" in Arabic. He composed some poems in Arabic as well.At least from 1174 AH Sheikh Sa'd od-Din started to bring changes to the ancient Persian poetry; thus his deconstruction made poetical form much similar to contemporary Persian poetry. However, due to political and cultural distance between Iran and Afghanistan, we did not have a chance to get familiar with his innovations.His innovations consist of the following:1.     Refrained Masnavi (masnavi tarjee'band): He changed masnavi in a way that we can call it refrained masnavi, a sample of which is included in the paper. It consists of fifteen stanzas: The first stanza with eight lines, the second stanza fifty four lines, the twelfth stanza eleven lines and the other stanzas having equal lines. The line between the first and the second stanza is different from other lines and each stanza is separated with two lines of masnavi. In addition, each stanza is artistically connected to the other.2.     Quatrain refrained masnavi (masnavi dobeiti tarjee'band): It has nine stanzas each separated with a quatrain.3.     Refrained tail-rhymed (mosammat mostazad trajee'band): Another one of his innovations is in refrained tail-rhymed poem. It has nine stanzas each rhyming but unrhymed with other stanzas. In each hemistich in between s