Make a Shield from Wisdom

This book “Make a shield from Wisdom” is the translation of selected verses from Nasir-i-Khusraw’s Divan, by Annemarie Schimmel, who was the Emeritus professor of Indo Muslim Culture at Harvard University and Honorary professor at the University of Bonn. She has a wide range of books published on Islamic literature, mysticism and culture and has also translated work from Persian, Urdu, Arabic and Turkish into English and German.


Nasir-i-Khusraw was a Persian poet and thinker, and is quite well known among the historians of modern and medieval Islam. Although he was well known but, not well understood by them. His philosophy and poetry is deeply rooted in Shia Ismaili Muslim interpretation of Islam, which is more of the esoteric understanding of revelation of Quran than exoteric. His poetry and his work is based on his belief. His love for Prophet Muhammad’s family (ahl-al- bait and his successors) is clearly the center of his writings.

He believes that intellect, reason, speech and virtue should be the highest attributes of the thinkers, poets and writers; and they should practice these attributes for the betterment of society, not for reward or fame just like he was doing.

“Tear off the rope from the unbridled masses!

You’d better bring about something in writing!

You are the pen of God, the true Creator-

Well done and bravo, o you sober reed!

To Intellect your word became the writing;

So, make a covenant and do not leave it!

Give only letters of advice and wisdom

To mankind’s ear, be they low, be they high.

Without a robe of honor you are noble,

For you are known for writing, not for robes!



His work reflects that it is difficult to read the Qur’an according to its true inner meaning; and it needs a guide or a true interpreter to explain the Tawil (inner meaning); and that guide should be from prophet’s own family and should be very close to him. He claims that anyone who denies this right of prophet’s family is the enemy of Islam. His beliefs and understandings about the prophet’s family put him against the political environment of that time and he was thrown in exile in Yumgan. This isolation made him bitter which was evident in his expressions for those Muslim rulers who denied the right of Ahl-i-Bait (prophet Muhammad’s family).

His love for prophet’s family was very deep rooted and echoed through his writing loud and clear.



“O Lord of the dark blue mill

A hundred thousand thanks be to thee from this slave

That Thou has saved me through the family of Thy Messenger

From the flock of these half men! (284)



His understanding of Islam was very deep and based on reason and intelligence. As Annemarie Schimmel explains

“Deep as Nasir-i-Khusraw’s faith was, it is never ‘the faith of the old women’; rather, it is built upon the fundament of reason, of intelligence. Therefore Nasir-i-Khusraw invites men to think, to weigh the different possibilities, and to acknowledge that the true treasure of wisdom is given to those close to the faith. Time and again he leads the reader to the conclusion that the Fatimid ruler of Egypt, as the descendant of Fatima and ‘Ali, is ‘the keeper of God’s garden’, and that he has drawn the sword of true religion from the scabbard.”

Another beautiful aspect of Nasir-i-Khusraw’s work visible in this book is the use of unique comparisons of things to explain difficult concepts. Annmarie Schimmel did the beautiful job in finding close vocabulary words to bring this beauty into English while translating.



“your body is the child of grass

And grass the child of dust.

That’s why it’s constantly inclined,

Toward it’s ancestors. (303, ef. 522)



Nasir’s poetry is very inspiring and his thoughts about reason, intellect and virtues inspired many poets after him. Such as Allama Iqbal, a sufi poet from Sub continent (Indo Pak) in 19th century.

The biggest tragedy of Nasir-i-Khusraw was that his words of wisdom were little heard because of his isolated life.

Nasir-i-Khusraw’s mission was not to be famous instead his true focus of writing was to improve life of the people and bring inner truth of Divine message out to the people. He strongly believed that the people with the wisdom are obligated to support this cause. His Divan is not only his words instead it grew out of his personal experiences, which reflects his hopes and pains, and firm faith in the Fatimid cause.

Annmarie Schimmel’s choice of verses is excellent and clearly reflects multiple dimensions of Nasir’s work. Her selection clearly shows Nasir-i-Khusraw’s expertise in poetry and deep view of his inner being. She justified her work as a translator wonderfully and certainly deserves applause.