Khwaju Kermani (Persian: خواجوی کرمانی; December 1290 – 1349) was a famous Persian poet and Sufi mystic from Iran.[1]
He was born in Kerman, Iran on 24 December 1290. His nickname Khwaju is a diminutive of the Persian word Khwaja which he uses as his poetic penname.[1] This title points to descent from a family of high social status.[1] The nisba (name title) Morshedi display his association with the Persian Sufi master Shaykh Abu Eshaq Kazeruni, the founder of the Morshediyya order.[1] Khwaju died around 1349 in Shiraz, Iran, and his tomb in Shiraz is a popular tourist attraction today. When he was young, he visited Egypt, Syria, Jerusalem and Iraq. He also performed the Hajj in Mecca. One purpose of his travel is said to have been education and meeting with scholars of other lands. He composed one of his best known works Homāy o Homāyun in Baghdad. Returning to Iranian lands in 1335, he strove to find a position as a court poet by dedicating poems to the rulers of his time, such as the Il-Khanid rulers Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan and Arpa Ke'un, the Mozaffarid Mubariz al-Din Muhammad, and Abu Ishaq Inju of the Inju dynasty.[1]
