Qabus-nama

Nasihat Nama (Persian: نصحیت نامه), also known as Qabus Nama (Persian: قابوس نامه), is a book in the Persian language from the 11th century. It was authored by Amir Keikavus. The book was completed in the year 475 AH. Qabus Nama is an advice book, and its contents are presented in the form of counsel and advice.

The author of Qabus Nama, Keikavus, was a prince of the Ziyarid dynasty. He wrote this book for his son, Gilanshah, in 44 chapters and one introduction; with the intention that if his son were to maintain the rule after him or take care of other affairs, he would know how to fulfill his duties. Keikavus also covered topics such as the upbringing of a child, the customs of military expeditions, governance, social etiquettes, and the common knowledge and skills of that era. Although the primary audience of the book is Gilanshah, Keikavus explained in the introduction that others could also benefit from this work, and he strived to make the book accessible to all.

Qabus Nama is one of the earliest advice books in Persian Dari and one of the most prominent ones. Five manuscript versions of Qabus Nama are known, which have differences in their compositions. This book has a simple text that is close to contemporary Standard Persian, and throughout the book, advice, proverbs, stories, and poems are interwoven. Although most of Qabus Nama is written in simple prose, there are also quatrains in the middle of the text, mostly by Keikavus himself. However, these poems are of lesser quality compared to his prose. The book uses Arabic sparingly, and the author only employs this language for technical and specific terms. There is only one verse in Arabic and one verse in the Tabari language in the book.

In contemporary times, various editions of Qabus Nama have been published in Iran. For the first time, Reza Qoli Khan Hedayat published a lithographed version of it during the Qajar era. Subsequently, editions with corrections and introductions by Saeed Nafisi and Gholamhossein Yousefi were also published. Qabus Nama has been translated into various languages. The earliest translations were into Turkic languages, including Ottoman Turkish and Tatar, and later translations were published in German, French, English, Italian, Russian, Arabic, Japanese, Georgian, Uzbek, and Azerbaijani.

The prose style of Qabus Nama influenced Persian literature after its time and led to more complex literary texts. Additionally, the storytelling style and the inclusion of short poems within the prose impacted writers such as Saadi. The translations of this book into Turkic languages gave rise to a style in Ottoman Turkish literature known as Nasihatnama. The German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was also influenced by this book in his work West–östlicher Divan.