A lamentation for Azartash Azarnoush / Ali Bahramian

11/16/2021 12:22

It was as early as the middle of the first century AH that an Arab high-ranking general and ruler of Kufa said to an Iranian: Your language is Arabic, yet you have Iranian intellect.

It was as early as the middle of the first century AH that an Arab high-ranking general and ruler of Kufa said to an Iranian: Your language is Arabic, yet you have Iranian intellect. The texts of Arabic poetry and prose from the first centuries AH are full of traces of Iranian culture; as the Arab general said sarcastically. Searching for and researching those traces was the prominent work of our late professor, Dr. Azartash Azarnoush for half a century and more. He attempted to go beyond the rare words or idioms in verses by poets like Bohtari, Abu Tammam, Abu Nuwas Ahwazi or a line from Jahiz and Abu Hayyan Tawhidi, and tried to find a way to develop a deeper understanding of the glorious past of Iran for his contemporaries. From the story of Ibn Muqaffa, the Iranian intellect of the first centuries AH, to the horse-riding and polo of the Iranian knights whose fame had spread to the Islamic lands; in all of these, Azarnoush exquisitely extracted and narrated the traces of Iranian culture and civilization from the depth of the early Islamic centuries. Throughout his life, he tried to transform the teaching of the Arabic language into a means for increasing the familiarity of Iranians, particularly young people, with Iranian culture and civilization. He taught Arabic for many years at the Faculty of Theology, University of Tehran, and his book on this subject is one of his most significant works. However, Azarnoush never stopped writing and translating, and creating valuable works. It must be mentioned that some of his published works have gone far beyond the conventional translation and can be considered as research works, such as al-Musiqa al-Kabir of Abu Nasr Farabi and the translation of Histoire de la littérature arabe by Régis Blachère, which was an example of his considerable fluency in the French language. Dr. Azarnoush was fond of the Persian language, and the signs of his deep acquaintance with the ancient texts of Persian literature can be seen in his writings. He was a member of CGIE since its foundation, and during his around thirty years’ career as the director of the Arabic Literature Department, he authored many noteworthy articles on the writers and poets of the early Islamic centuries.

Dr. Azarnoush was thoroughly committed to teaching and research. He did not hesitate to guide interested young people, even he took the initiative and supervised the research work of his students with deep benevolence. Therefore, the contribution he made to his native culture in upbringing a number of young researchers is not less outstanding than his worthy articles and books. His absence is such a loss to the Iranian culture. May his fond memory be eternal and may his soul be blessed.