Biography
Nizam al-Din Abd al-Wasi‘ Shami was a Persian-language chronicler of the age of Timur and the author of the Zafarnama, the account of Amir Timur’s life and campaigns. Neither the year nor the place of his birth is recorded; his nisba (Shami, from Shanbi) points to Shanb-i Ghazani, a suburb of Tabriz, which is why that area is taken to be his home.
He bore the titles mawlana and va‘iz (preacher), which indicates a traditional religious education. He first served the Jalayirid ruler Shaykh Uways (1356–1374), and in 1366–1367 he translated from Arabic into Persian Ibn Zafar al-Siqilli’s work of advice for rulers, “Sulwan al-muta‘”.
By his own account, when Timur approached Baghdad in 1393, Shami was the first of the townspeople to come to him and submit. Around 1400, on his way to the Hejaz on pilgrimage, he was arrested by the authorities of Aleppo as a suspected spy for Timur; he witnessed the siege and surrender of the city, and after its capture was brought before Timur again and stayed in his entourage.
In 1401–1402 Timur ordered him to write the history of his reign in a plain style that any reader could follow. The chronicle reaches the end of March 1404 (the middle of Ramadan 806 AH) and was presented to Timur around April 1404. The title Zafarnama is attested in the second version, dedicated to Timur’s grandson Umar, governor of Azerbaijan. Shami did not go to Transoxiana with Timur and remained in Azerbaijan.
After Timur’s death in 1405 he probably served Umar. According to Hafiz-i Abru, Shami was dead by 1411–1412; other reports place his death before 1409. The year 1431 found in older reference works is not supported by modern scholarship.
The Zafarnama is the earliest surviving chronicle of Timur and the only one written in his lifetime and at his command. It was continued by Hafiz-i Abru and became the basis of Sharaf al-Din Ali Yazdi’s work of the same name, in which Yazdi named Shami among the best prose stylists of his age. Felix Tauer published the critical text (Prague, 1937), Necati Lugal an abridged Turkish translation (Ankara, 1949), and an Uzbek translation appeared in 1996.
Career
- Timurid EmpireChronicler at Timur’s court · 1400–1405
Life path
- 1356–1374Jalayirid service
Served at the court of the Jalayirid ruler Shaykh Uways.
- 1366–1367Translation of “Sulwan al-muta‘”
Translated Ibn Zafar al-Siqilli’s work from Arabic into Persian.
- 1393Submission to Timur
When Timur approached Baghdad, he was the first of the townspeople to come to him.
- 1400Arrest in Aleppo
On pilgrimage he was arrested in Aleppo on suspicion of spying and witnessed the siege and surrender of the city; he then remained in Timur’s entourage.
- 1401–1402Timur’s commission
Ordered to write the history of Timur’s reign in a plain style.
- 1404The Zafarnama presented
Presented Timur with a chronicle reaching the end of March 1404; he later dedicated a second version to Umar.
- After 1405In Azerbaijan
After Timur’s death he probably served Umar.
- By 1411–1412Death
According to Hafiz-i Abru, he was dead by this time.
Works
- “Zafarnama” (1404)Historical chronicle
The earliest surviving chronicle of Amir Timur’s life and campaigns, carried down to March 1404.
- Persian translation of “Sulwan al-muta‘” (1367)Translation
A Persian translation of Ibn Zafar al-Siqilli’s Arabic work of advice for rulers.
Legacy
The Zafarnama became the source for later chronicles of Timur: Hafiz-i Abru continued it, and Sharaf al-Din Ali Yazdi drew on it for his work of the same name. It remains one of the chief sources for the political history of the East in the late 14th and early 15th centuries.
Era: The Timurid age, late 14th – early 15th century- Timur enters Baghdad; Shami submits to him (1393)
- The Zafarnama is presented to Timur (1404)
- Hafiz-i Abru continues the chronicle with Timur’s last years (1412)
- Felix Tauer publishes the critical text in Prague (1937)
- Necati Lugal publishes an abridged Turkish translation (1949)
- An Uzbek translation of the Zafarnama is published (1996)