Abu-Mansur Daqiqi

Who is Abu-Mansur Daqiqi?

Abu Mansur Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Daqiqi Tusi, sometimes referred to as Daqiqi, was an early Persian poet who is said to have been born in Tus in Iran; or in Balkh, located in modern-day Afghanistan; as well as in Samarqand or Bukhara, both in today's Uzbekistan and Marv in today's Turkmenistan.

Daqiqi supported the nationalistic tendencies in Persian literature and attempted to create an epic history of Iran which is begun by history of Zarathushtra and Gashtasb. Questions have been raised as to whether Daqiqi harbored some Zoroastrian beliefs, or was simply promoting Sassanian cultural trends in the wake of Samanid domination. Nevertheless, he is viewed to have been a Zoroastrian convert to Islam. A large number of couplets by him were included in the epic Shahname by the Persian epic poet Ferdowsi. Daqiqi was murdered by his favorite slave.

Some scholars speculate that Daqiqi wrote more, but the content was too controversial to be included in Shahname and later lost. Other poems by him have survived, published, among others, in Le premier poet Persan by G.Lazard.