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Hasan Fasihi Shirazi

Hasan Fasihi Shirazi (Ehsan)

1911 - 2004

Master Hasan Fasihi, Poetic name "Ehsan" (goodness) was born in 1911 in Shiraz / Iran in a famous literary family. His mother's name was "Esmatolmolook", and his father's "Mohammad Taghi" Shourideh Shirazi, with the title of "Fasiholmolk" (The Eloquent of the Land), one of Iran's greatest poets of 19th and the beginning of 20th century.

In one of his poems, Ehsan introduces himself thus:

From cradle till youth, Ehsan was under the direction and auspices of his celebrated father, and besides his normal studies at Shiraz schools, he learnt Farsi and Arabic literatures as well as literary techniques from his father to the extent that he himself became a sweet tongued stripling of the Farsi poetry and literature.

In addition to poetry and poetics, Ehsan learnt the art of Persian Calligraphy in Nasta'ligh and Shekasteh Nasta'ligh styles in early childhood from Master Mirza Alinaghi Khoshnevees who was a prominent calligrapher and scribe of the time, and it did not take long before Ehsan was able to write not only his own poems in beautiful Persian calligraphy, but also the wonderful poetry of his blind father, Shourideh.

Ehsan is a direct descent from generations of eminent poets and literary men such as his own father Shourideh, and Ahli-e Shirazi who lived during the reign of Safavid dynasty (1501 – 1722) and is famous for his book of poetry entitled "Masnavi Sehre Halal / Pure Magic Masnavi".

Ehsan was also very interested in music from early life. He studied the principles of Iranian classical music by playing the Tar (a popular Iranian string instrument) under the supervision of the then master musicians as well as his own father who possessed a melodious and charming voice and could play several musical instruments such as the Piano and the Tar. After a few years of practice and dedication to his music, he became an accomplished Tar player as well.

Like his father, Ehsan possessed a very strong memory and knew tens of thousands of lines of poetry by heart whether they be odes, ghazals, ghat'as etc. written by great Persian poets. Very often he recited these poems together with telling charming stories, wisecracks and anecdotes to audiences in different gatherings, which created many memorable and enjoyable moments for the audience. Being the life and soul of most get-togethers, he was often asked to write a poem for the occasion. Without any hesitation he would put together a poem extemporaneously and recite it; thereby creating a warm and enjoyable atmosphere for everyone present. One could say that he was also unequalled in the art of Persian "Moshaereh" or Capping Verses, a poetical contest in which a competitor starts the game with reciting a verse and when he finishes, his opponent must begin his poem with the last letter of the alphabet his competitor's poem ended. This process is carried on back and forth up to the point one of the competitors fails to respond to his opponent. Ehsan was able to win not only one, but several competitors against him, as he astonishingly had retained several thousand verses in his memory alphabetically!

Ehsan was a lover of nature and outdoors and whenever possible he went to the wilderness on foot or on the horseback.

He was only 15 when he lost his beloved father. Despite the overwhelming sorrow and psychological blow over his father's passing, he continued with his studies under the tender loving care of his mother, and did not stop learning and doing research into Persian poetry and prose throughout his lifetime.

After his father's death, Ehsan never stopped talking or writing about the profound influence his eminent father had on him in respects of education, art and literature; as at the end of one of his ghazals he says:

In 1937 he fell in love with a pure and beautiful young lady by the name of Zarrin Taj with whom he married later that year. The progeny of this marriage were 9 children by the names of: Maryam, Fereshteh, Mahvash, Farideh, Khosrow, Shirin, Farhad, Fariba and Kamran, who have followed their parents' footsteps based upon love, humanity, humility and service in everyday life.

In 1938 Ehsan left his birthplace Shiraz for Tehran in order to start working for the government. He began working for the Ministry of Finance and a few years later he transferred himself to the Ministry of Agriculture Where he became one of its highest ranking civil servants. Ehsan was very patriotic; he loved Iran and Iranians and he deplored the degradation of his country. For his part, he was absolutely determined to do his level best to improve his country socially, economically and culturally. For example, in 1963 he was one of the principal executives of The Land Reform and annulment of Feudalism in Iran.

In 1943, owing to the second world war and the arrival of foreign forces in Iran, life for Iranians was very tough as the price of everything was exorbitantly high! Among them, the civil servants fared the worst, for they were supposed to carry on living on the scanty salary they used to earn before the war; and all the ministries had also left the decision on any improvement or increase in the salaries of the civil servants to a Dr. Milespo who was an American Adviser(Mostashar) and at the time, the Director General of the Ministry of Finance of Iran. No doubt Ehsan was very upset and concerned about this situation; he therefore wrote a poem that depicted the plight of the civil servants fully:

This poem was printed in most of the tabloids of the day and in some cases the story became a major topic for cartoonists. As a result, it did not take long before civil servants got a well-deserved raise in their salary.

In 1951, when the exploitation of Iran's oil by the British came to an end and Iranian oil was nationalized, like the rest of his countrymen, Ehsan was jubilant about the outcome and wrote the following poem:

(* refers to a speech given by Ernest Bevin in which he had said: "Iranians must be kept hungry". He died soon after!).

It was at the beginning of 1960 when by chance Ehsan had to research on a few principles of Iran's constitution. He went to a few book stores to find a book on Iranian constitution, but no one was able to help. He went on searching until finally he found a couple of old books full of errors, typographically inferior, and printed on very cheap paper! Naturally Ehsan became very shocked about this, thinking that after 52 years since the dawn of Iranian democracy, there was still not a reliable book on the subject, betoken of Iran's social, cultural, political and economic principles; thereby he and his countrymen had no chance of knowing their rightful legal rights. So, he decided to correct and re-compose the book and present it in his beautiful Persian calligraphy. The prized book of "Iran's Principles of Constitution, Supplements and Addenda" which was printed in 1963, is the fruit of the efforts of Ehsan and his patriotic nature.

Ehsan loved Iran's national festivities, in particular "Nowruz" (New Day), the ancient celebration that goes back over 5000 years and begins on the first day of spring when nature in Iran is beautiful. He always spent nowrooz holidays with his family. On the first day, he sat around "Sofreh ye Sal-e Tahvil” (Transition into the new year's Tablecloth) with the family, recited the Koran and then mentioned the following prayer time and time again:

He prayed thus for his family and the rest of the world. Nowruz was also an opportunity for frequenting with family, friends and acquaintances. It was in 1942 that Ehsan decided with the advent of spring and arrival of Nowruz every year, put together a New Year's card which consisted of a poem in praise of spring, touching briefly on some major events of the country, and written in his calligraphy, so that he could send to his numerous friends and family. This story was carried on for the next 62 years, thus making Nowruz happier for everyone with his poetic pearls of wisdom and his beautiful calligraphy. In a quatrain, he says thus:

Many of his poet friends, men of letters and literary scholars of his time who valued Ehsan's friendship, every year waited impatiently to receive his Nowruznameh. Apart from personal and telephone communications in praise of his poetry and handwriting, some poets even responded to him poetically in the same metre and rhyme. The late Ali Asghar Hekmat, the renowned master of Persian literature, diplomat and politician who was proud to have been a disciple of Shourideh Shirazi himself, was one of them.

Two years after the passing of his beloved wife, Ehsan departed this life himself on the 1st day of May 2004, and with his death made the world of Persian literature, the learned and the plebeian sorrow-stricken. He was buried next to his father Shourideh, in Saadieh of Shiraz, along the colonnade portico to the tomb of the great poet of Iran, Saadi.

Throughout his lifetime, despite all his personal, ministerial, cultural and literary commitments, Ehsan never stopped serving the needy and the oppressed and standing up to the oppressors and bullies. His eloquent poetry indeed is a reflection of his true feelings towards others and his endeavor to make life better specially for the young through his advice and direction.

Ehsan was a gentle, broad-minded, fair-spoken poet, and his forename "Hasan" as well as his pen-name "Ehsan" meaning Good & Goodness respectively, are in truth betoken of his great personality:

Ehsan was proficient in different types of Persian poetry; his Divan (Complete Works of Poetry) consists of: Odes, Ghazals, Ghatahs, Masnavis, Rubaiyats etc. etc. comprising of over 7000 lines of poetry. His odes are eloquent, his love poems are soft and delicate, and his other poems are smooth, humane and very fluent.

The learned professor, scholar, diplomat and senator, Dr. Rezazadeh Shafagh who was an old friend of Ehsan, in a foreword to his Divan, commends his verse thus:

"Ehsan is an adept, creative and a master of different forms of poetry such as: odes, ghazals and Masnavi; and portrays life's pleasures and displeasures in a mould of elegant speech. Human emotions like care and consideration for others specially for the poor and the needy, is apparent in all of Fasihi's poetry. His political and social verse is often a direct portrayal of his own life's observations and experiences which are pure and sincere and not configured just for the purpose of adornment of words alone.

At the end of this short epistle that is betoken of my longtime friendship, I'd like to say that Fasihi's Divan not only has eloquent and beautiful pieces of poetry, but those poems represent a sense of human nobility and a reflection of a divine inspiration".

An important fact that separates distinctively Ehsan's poetry from other contemporary poets, is his ability to write his poems in his own beautiful handwriting; therefore, no distortion or tampering of any kind would be possible in his works.

The followings are some of Ehsan's published books:

Ghzaliyate Shourideh Shirazi (Fasiholmolk) /1946/ Majles Publishers. / Shourideh's Love Poems in Ehsan's Calligraphy.

Ghanoone Asasiye Iran va Motammam va Zamaeme An /1963/ Sazmane Mostaghelle      Chapkhanehye Dowlati / Iran’s Constitution & its addenda.

Armaghane Ehsan / 1971 / The Divan (complete works of poetry).

Bargozideh ee Az Ashare Hasan Fasihi-Ehsan / 1993 / An anthology of Ehsan's Verse.

Ayenehye Hagh Nama / 1998 / Shourideh's spiritual poetry, written in calligraphy by Hasan Fasihi

Koliyate Divane Shourideh Shirazi (2 vols.) / 2009 / Calligraphy& Annotations by Hasan Fasihi. (This book was published by Dr.Khosrow Fasihi after his father's passing in 2004 and printed by the Institute of Islamic Studies( Universities of Tehran, Iran & McGill of Canada ).


Author: (Dr.) Khosrow Fasihi

(Khosrow Fasihi is Hasan Fasihi's son and the grandson of Shourideh Shirazi, "Fasiholmolk").

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