Tahira Safarzada

Saffarzadih, Tahirih (1936-2008), poet, researcher, and Qur’an translator born in Sirjan. She composed her first poem at the age of 13 and was awarded her first prize, a copy of Jami’s Divan, from the director of Education Administration of the province in her fourth year of high school at the behest of Bastani Parizi, the then teacher of the Bahmanyar High School. Having obtained her BA in English language and literature, she went to England and America and was appointed a member of PEN at the University of Iowa and obtained her MFA degree. She served as a translator of technical texts at the Petroleum Company and owing to a lecture delivered by her at a summer camp for worker’s children she had to resign from her office. Having completed her studies abroad, she found an employment at the Melli University (present day Shahid Beheshti University) and after the Islamic Revolution was elected as the Dean of the Faculty of Letters and the Chancellor of the University. She implemented the teachers’ training program while she served as the Dean of the Faculty of Letters and it was under her supervision that textbooks were for the first time compiled for all university programs in English, French, German, and Russian. She was the founder of translation programs as an academic discipline and held the first conference on academic critique of translation at universities in Iran. As the fruit of her studies of literature and poetry, she introduced a novel diction and style of poetry, entitled ‘Reverberation Poetry’ (Shi’ir-i Tanin) and established The Cultural Center of the Islamic Movement, in the advent of the Islamic Revolution, with the collaboration of prominent Iranian writers. She was elected as the model professor by the Ministry of Higher Education in 1992 and was awarded the title of ‘Servant of the Qur’an’ (Khadim al-Qur’an) following the publication of her translation of the Qur’an. Coincident with holding Women’s Day by the International Afro-Asian Writers Organization in March 2006, she was appointed as an elite Muslim woman and struggling poet. Besides her interviews and scholarly and social articles, her works include 14 collections of poetry, 10 translations and critiques of translation on literature, academic disciplines, Qur’anic sciences, and hadith. Selections of her poetry have been translated into different languages. Her works include Rahguzar-i Mahtab (1962); Chatr-i Surkh (in English, 1968); Tanin dar Dilta (1970); Sadd va Bazuvan (1973); Safar-i Panjum (1977); Harakat va Diruz (1978); Usul va Mabani-yi Tarjumih (1979); Biy’at ba Bidari (1987); Mardan-i Munhani (1987); Didar ba Subh (1987); Dar Pishvaz-i Sulh (1996); Guzidih-yi Adabiyyat-i Mu’asir (1999); Tarjumih-yi Mafahim-i Bunyadi-yi Qur’an-i Majid Farsi va Ingilisi (2000); Tarjumih-yi Qur’an-i Karim (Arabic text with Persian and English translations, 2001); Tarjumih-yi Qur’an-i Karim (Arabic text with Persian translation, 2003); Mafahim-i Qur’an dar Hadith-i Nabavi va Guzidih’i az Nahj al-Fasaha (Persian and English translations, 2005). Her attempts at translating the Qur’an and Nahj al-Balagha into English was not simply a cultural activity but she also looked into the literary aspects in that regard. She inspired a new approach in poetry after Nima Yushij aiming at appreciation of religious and Qur’anic meanings which may be regarded a turning point in the development of modern Persian literature in Iran. She accorded particular significance to concepts like revelatory teachings, man in the sphere of existence, movements, and prophetic goals and was one of the founders of social poetry in post-revolutionary Iran. In fact, she may be regarded as one of the founders of that poetic trend, deriving from religious themes and aiming at social justice. She was mainly a modernist poet and composed quite meaningful poetry. Her poetry is marked by commitment, thought and meaning orientedness, and belief in religion. Her fearly poetry was influenced by Parvin I’tisami, then she tried to impart moral-social messages, begining in 1956 by the publication of her first collection of poetry, Rahguzar-i Mahtab, and extends to 1962. The second era of her poetical career begins in 1968 upon the publication of her collection of poetry, Tanin-i Dilta, spanning to 1977. The second era is marked by her tendency towards narration and linguistic sophistication. Her collections of poetry written in this era, e.g. Sadd va Bazuvan and Safar-i Panjum, reflect her tendency toward narration which forms the structure of her poetry, though she accords less significance to similes and metaphors. The third era begins in 1977 by her publication of two collections of poetry, Biy’at ba Bidari and Didar-i Subh. In this era, she has an independent, efficient, consistent, and unadorned style and thus reaches the pinnacle of her literary activities, since the poet had passed the stage of ‘trial and error’ after many years of incessant endeavors and thereby attained to the last station. She died in Tehran in 2008. 

Sukhanvaran-i Nami-yi Mu’asir (4, 2320-2328); Karnama-yi Zanan-i Kara-yi Iran (521-522).