Fakhr al-Din Iraqi

Fakhr al-Din Iraqi (1213 - 1289) was a Persian Sufi poet, philosopher and mystic from Komjan near Hamadan ¹. He became a disciple of Baha al-Din Zakariya, leader of the Multani branch of the Suhrawardiyya, and studied in Konya with Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi ¹. The Arabic article likewise attests his discipleship under Qunawi, his place as a murid in the Suhrawardi line, and his discipleship under Zakariya at Multan ². He is best known for the Lama'at, the "Divine Flashes" ¹.

He was born in 1213/14 at Komjan, a village near Hamadan in Persian Iraq ¹. The Urdu article gives a birth around 600 AH, roughly 1203-1204, a variant preserved in the record and not followed ³. As a youth he joined a band of qalandars and travelled with them to Multan ¹.

At Multan he became a disciple of Baha al-Din Zakariya and stayed as his disciple for twenty-five years, eventually marrying his master's daughter ¹. After Zakariya's death in 1262 he briefly succeeded him, before being forced out by Zakariya's son ¹. He then made the pilgrimage to Mecca ¹.

He settled in Konya, where he studied with Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi and composed the Lama'at under the patronage of Mu'in al-Din Parwana ¹. After Parwana's execution in 1277 he fled to Sinop, spent time in Cairo, and finally settled in Damascus ¹. He died at Damascus in 1289, the Arabic article giving 688 AH ^{1 2}. The English article cautions that the Muqaddima, the main source for his life, may have been composed as late as the 15th century ¹.