Place · Persian scholarly city · Iran
Nishapur
Also known as Neyshabur, Nīshāpūr
The great Khorasani Persian scholarly city of Nishapur in northeastern Iran — a major centre of Persian Sufism, scholarship and poetry from the 9-century Tahirid dynasty onward. Nishapur was the home of Umar Khayyam (1048-1131, poet-mathematician), Attar of Nishapur (1145-1221, Sufi poet of the Mantiq-ut-Tayr) and Abu Said Abul Khayr (967-1049, foundational Khorasani Sufi master). Chishti tradition includes Nishapur among the key stops of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti's early travels (c.1160s-1180s), where he encountered the Khorasani Sufi tradition and the followers of Khwaja Usman Harvani (his eventual Chishti master at nearby Harvan). The 1221 Mongol destruction of Nishapur by Tolui Khan killed an estimated 1.75 million people. The surviving Attar mausoleum and Umar Khayyam tomb are major pilgrimages.
- Function
- Learning & scholarship
- Patron dynasty
- Tahirid · Samanid · Seljuk · Ghurid
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 36.214, 58.796
Connections (1)
- Life routeMuʿīnuddīn Chishtī
Nishapur in Khorasan was a major centre of Persian scholarship and Sufism, home of Attar of Nishapur, Umar Khayyam and the foundational Khorasani Sufi master Abu Said Abul Khayr. Chishti tradition associates Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti with the city during his travels in the 1170s, where he encountered the influential Sufi teachers and the broader Khorasani tradition that shaped his spiritual development. It was in the Khorasan region, probably at Harvan near Nishapur, that he met Khwaja Usman Harvani, who became his Chishti master and under whom he spent twenty years as a disciple before his westward journey to Baghdad and Mecca.
Sources
Chishti hagiographical tradition; standard reference on Khorasani cities.
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