Malak Jân Nemati
Encyclopedia
Malak Jân Nemati was born in 1906 in Jeyhounabad
, a village in Iranian Kurdistan. Also known as Sheikh Jâni and Saint Jani, she was a charismatic figure and a mystical writer and poet in Kurdish and Persian language. She was the daughter of Hajj Nematollah
and the sister of Ostad Elahi
. There are few written sources about her life. Some elements can be found in the words of her brother Ostad Elahi
whom she was very close to. A biography in French was published on the occasion of the centennial of her birth, including the translation of some of her poems and sayings.
(literally “Friends of the Truth”). Her father Hajj Nematollah
was an outstanding spiritual personality who gave up a comfortable life a few years before she was born to devote himself to finding the Truth. So from a very early age, Malak Jan was initiated with the rest of her family to asceticism and prayer, but also and above all to ethical and spiritual reflection.
While in those days and in those remote regions of Kurdistan, new-born girls were greeted with condolences, it is noteworthy that Malak Jan received the same comprehensive education as her elder brother. With Kurdish as her mother tongue, she learned Persian and Arabic and set about studying the revealed books and the extremely rich Iranian poetry from which she would later draw her inspiration when writing her own poems. She was also given a musical education as she learned to play the tanbur
(Kurdish lute accompanying Ahl-e Haqq sacred chants) and the setar
(classical Persian lute). Hajj Nematollah
was particularly fond of her. In keeping with his wish, she wore a white habit and bonnet “so that people could not tell whether it was a boy or a girl”. She actually wore that outfit throughout her life.
When she was fourteen, she had to suffer the grief of losing her father. Shortly afterwards, she went through a very painful eye affection and by the age of twenty, she was completely and permanently blinded. The loss of her eyesight, though, seems to have coincided with the awakening of a form of mystical passion that led her to progressively draw closer to her brother Ostad Elahi
and she became one of his most accomplished followers. When Ostad Elahi
died, she quite naturally took up the torch of his spiritual teaching.
Progressively, Malak Jan's personality, her meaningful spiritual reflection and constant practice of charity earned her a reputation for saintliness in her deeply religious milieu. People around her wrote down what she said and the advice she gave, and a certain number of their notes have been translated into French.
Despite her handicap, Malak Jan spent her whole life studying anatomy, science, history, geography, using, for instance, audiotaped courses. This passion for knowledge amounted to a spiritual as well as an intellectual approach. Malak Jan was opposed to what she called “superstitious spirit” and attempted to tackle spirituality with reflection and knowledge. She refused to blindly accept principles turned into dogmas: "In the beginning, I would say to myself: 'I have to understand by myself'. I would not believe what other people said. For instance, I had to understand by myself that there is a world beyond, that there is a God, that there are spiritual laws, that the soul is eternal… I first resolved the question of the existence of God, then I understood that there is an Account and that no being will be wronged…"
Malak Jan first endeavored to progressively develop this way of dealing with spirituality among the peasants of Jeyhounabad, known in the country since then as "the village of philosophers". In the same spirit, she contributed to improving to living conditions of the villagers by having electricity brought or by inventing an interest-free microcredit system.
Although living in a deeply patriarchal society, she used her spiritual authority to defend more specifically women's rights, by gradually teaching mothers to look after their daughters as much as their sons, by getting fathers to leave them a share of inheritance equal to that of their brothers. Towards the end of her life, Malak Jan brought a certain number of reforms to the Ahl-e Haqq
form of worship that contributed to attributing women the same level of dignity as men on the ritual plane. To Ahl-e Haqq devotees these reforms amounted to a doctrinal revolution and the most traditionalist branches of the order expressed their hostility.
Malak Jan Nemati died in 1993 in France
after having open-heart surgery. She was buried in the Perche
region of France
, in a small village called Baillou. A stone and glass shrine has been erected on her grave in her memory: the Saint Jani Memorial.
"Ma Main à sa main amarrée: figures de l'Aimé dans la poésie de Malek Jân Ne'mati" in : Poésie des Suds et des Orients, L'Harmattan (2008).
"Malek Jân Ne'mati. La mystique éclairée" in : Le Monde des Religions, n°39, January-February 2010.
Jeyhounabad
Jeyhounabad is a city in Kermanshah Province , in the middle of the western part of Iran. It is from Tehran.The city lies in close proximity to Mount Bisotoun, known for its rock relief in which Darius the Great, the Achaemenian King, had the narrative of his exploits engraved around B.C. 500...
, a village in Iranian Kurdistan. Also known as Sheikh Jâni and Saint Jani, she was a charismatic figure and a mystical writer and poet in Kurdish and Persian language. She was the daughter of Hajj Nematollah
Hajj Nematollah
Hajj Nematollah was born in Jeyhounabad, Persia and is considered one of the greatest leaders and mystics in Kurdish and Ahl-e Haqq history. Two of his most famous works of poetry and history are Furqān al-Akhbar and Ḥaqq al-Ḥaqāyiq yā Shāhnāmah-ʾi Ḥaqīqat...
and the sister of Ostad Elahi
Nur Ali Elahi
Nur Ali Elahi was a spiritual thinker, musician, philosopher and jurist who dedicated his life to investigating the metaphysical dimension of human beings....
. There are few written sources about her life. Some elements can be found in the words of her brother Ostad Elahi
Nur Ali Elahi
Nur Ali Elahi was a spiritual thinker, musician, philosopher and jurist who dedicated his life to investigating the metaphysical dimension of human beings....
whom she was very close to. A biography in French was published on the occasion of the centennial of her birth, including the translation of some of her poems and sayings.
Biography
Malak Jan was born into a family belonging to the mystical order the Ahl-e HaqqAhl-e Haqq
The Ahl-e Haqq or Yârsân , are members of a religion founded by Sultan Sahak in the late 14th century in western Iran. The total number of members is estimated at around 1,000,000, primarily found in western Iran and Iraq, mostly ethnic Kurds and Laks, though there are also smaller groups of Luri,...
(literally “Friends of the Truth”). Her father Hajj Nematollah
Hajj Nematollah
Hajj Nematollah was born in Jeyhounabad, Persia and is considered one of the greatest leaders and mystics in Kurdish and Ahl-e Haqq history. Two of his most famous works of poetry and history are Furqān al-Akhbar and Ḥaqq al-Ḥaqāyiq yā Shāhnāmah-ʾi Ḥaqīqat...
was an outstanding spiritual personality who gave up a comfortable life a few years before she was born to devote himself to finding the Truth. So from a very early age, Malak Jan was initiated with the rest of her family to asceticism and prayer, but also and above all to ethical and spiritual reflection.
While in those days and in those remote regions of Kurdistan, new-born girls were greeted with condolences, it is noteworthy that Malak Jan received the same comprehensive education as her elder brother. With Kurdish as her mother tongue, she learned Persian and Arabic and set about studying the revealed books and the extremely rich Iranian poetry from which she would later draw her inspiration when writing her own poems. She was also given a musical education as she learned to play the tanbur
Tanbur
The term tanbūr can refer to various long-necked, fretted lutes originating in the Middle East or Central Asia. According to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "terminology presents a complicated situation. Nowadays the term tanbur is applied to a variety of distinct and related...
(Kurdish lute accompanying Ahl-e Haqq sacred chants) and the setar
Setar
SETAR N.V., is the privatised full telecommunications service provider for the island of Aruba. The services provided by SETAR include: telephone, internet and GSM-related wireless services. SETAR also owns Tele Aruba....
(classical Persian lute). Hajj Nematollah
Hajj Nematollah
Hajj Nematollah was born in Jeyhounabad, Persia and is considered one of the greatest leaders and mystics in Kurdish and Ahl-e Haqq history. Two of his most famous works of poetry and history are Furqān al-Akhbar and Ḥaqq al-Ḥaqāyiq yā Shāhnāmah-ʾi Ḥaqīqat...
was particularly fond of her. In keeping with his wish, she wore a white habit and bonnet “so that people could not tell whether it was a boy or a girl”. She actually wore that outfit throughout her life.
When she was fourteen, she had to suffer the grief of losing her father. Shortly afterwards, she went through a very painful eye affection and by the age of twenty, she was completely and permanently blinded. The loss of her eyesight, though, seems to have coincided with the awakening of a form of mystical passion that led her to progressively draw closer to her brother Ostad Elahi
Nur Ali Elahi
Nur Ali Elahi was a spiritual thinker, musician, philosopher and jurist who dedicated his life to investigating the metaphysical dimension of human beings....
and she became one of his most accomplished followers. When Ostad Elahi
Nur Ali Elahi
Nur Ali Elahi was a spiritual thinker, musician, philosopher and jurist who dedicated his life to investigating the metaphysical dimension of human beings....
died, she quite naturally took up the torch of his spiritual teaching.
Progressively, Malak Jan's personality, her meaningful spiritual reflection and constant practice of charity earned her a reputation for saintliness in her deeply religious milieu. People around her wrote down what she said and the advice she gave, and a certain number of their notes have been translated into French.
Despite her handicap, Malak Jan spent her whole life studying anatomy, science, history, geography, using, for instance, audiotaped courses. This passion for knowledge amounted to a spiritual as well as an intellectual approach. Malak Jan was opposed to what she called “superstitious spirit” and attempted to tackle spirituality with reflection and knowledge. She refused to blindly accept principles turned into dogmas: "In the beginning, I would say to myself: 'I have to understand by myself'. I would not believe what other people said. For instance, I had to understand by myself that there is a world beyond, that there is a God, that there are spiritual laws, that the soul is eternal… I first resolved the question of the existence of God, then I understood that there is an Account and that no being will be wronged…"
Malak Jan first endeavored to progressively develop this way of dealing with spirituality among the peasants of Jeyhounabad, known in the country since then as "the village of philosophers". In the same spirit, she contributed to improving to living conditions of the villagers by having electricity brought or by inventing an interest-free microcredit system.
Although living in a deeply patriarchal society, she used her spiritual authority to defend more specifically women's rights, by gradually teaching mothers to look after their daughters as much as their sons, by getting fathers to leave them a share of inheritance equal to that of their brothers. Towards the end of her life, Malak Jan brought a certain number of reforms to the Ahl-e Haqq
Ahl-e Haqq
The Ahl-e Haqq or Yârsân , are members of a religion founded by Sultan Sahak in the late 14th century in western Iran. The total number of members is estimated at around 1,000,000, primarily found in western Iran and Iraq, mostly ethnic Kurds and Laks, though there are also smaller groups of Luri,...
form of worship that contributed to attributing women the same level of dignity as men on the ritual plane. To Ahl-e Haqq devotees these reforms amounted to a doctrinal revolution and the most traditionalist branches of the order expressed their hostility.
Malak Jan Nemati died in 1993 in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
after having open-heart surgery. She was buried in the Perche
Perche
Perche is a former province of northern France extending over the départements of Orne, Eure, Eure-et-Loir and Sarthe, which were created from Perche during the French Revolution.-Geography:...
region of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, in a small village called Baillou. A stone and glass shrine has been erected on her grave in her memory: the Saint Jani Memorial.
French
Leili Anvar, Malek Jân Ne'mati. La vie n'est pas courte mais le temps est compté, Diane de Selliers, Paris (2007)."Ma Main à sa main amarrée: figures de l'Aimé dans la poésie de Malek Jân Ne'mati" in : Poésie des Suds et des Orients, L'Harmattan (2008).
"Malek Jân Ne'mati. La mystique éclairée" in : Le Monde des Religions, n°39, January-February 2010.