manuscript, dated Of
Persian stock, Iraqi was born in 1213/14 in the village of
Komjan, close to
Hamadan, one of the major cities of
Persian Iraq. He was the son of a certain Buzurgmihr ibn Abd al-Ghaffar Jawaliqi, and belonged to a religious and well-read family. By the age of six, Iraqi had reportedly memorized the
Quran. He was then educated in religious sciences, and was by the age of seventeen a teacher in a
madrasa (religious school) in Hamadan. During one time when Iraqi, still at a young age, was teaching
tafsir (interpretation of the Quran), a group of
qalandars (wandering
dervishes) attended his teaching session. They convinced him to abandon his teachings and join them in search for spiritual knowledge. They eventually went to the city of
Multan in
India, where Iraqi met
Baha al-Din Zakariyya (died 1262), the leader of the Multani branch of the
Suhrawardiyya, a Sufi order. Iraqi first became his disciple two years later, after wandering in India. He continued to stay as Baha al-Din's disciple for 25 years, eventually marrying the latter's daughter and having a son named Kabir al-Din. Following Baha al-Din's death in 1262, Iraqi succeeded him as the head of the order. However, due to the envy of Baha al-Din's son, Sadr al-Din Arif, and some of his disciples, he was shortly afterwards forced to leave Multan. Along with a group of loyal companions, Iraqi made a pilgrimage to
Mecca. While they were on their way in
Hijaz, the sultan of
Oman unsuccessfully attempted to hold Iraqi back. After the pilgrimage, Iraqi went to the city of
Konya in
Anatolia. There he started studying with
Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi (died 1274), the most prominent disciple of the
Andalusian mystic
Ibn Arabi (died 1240). It was during this period that Iraqi started writing the ''Lama'at
("Divine flashes"), a book which Sadr al-Din highly admired. Iraqi watched the sama'' (spiritual concert) sessions that the prominent Persian poet
Rumi (died 1273) organized. He also reportedly attended Rumi's funeral. Another figure who attended Rumi's sessions was
Mu'in al-Din Parwana (died 1277), an administrator of the
Mongol Ilkhanate. He became a follower of Iraqi and had a
khanaqah (Sufi lodge) constructed in
Duqat for him and his students. Iraqi also became acquainted with
Shams al-Din Juvayni (died 1284), who served as the minister of the Ilkhanate rulers from 1262 to 1284. Following the disgrace and execution of Parwana, Iraqi was accused of having hidden state property for Parwana, and thus forced to flee. With the help of Shams al-Din Juvayni, Iraqi escaped to the city of
Sinope, which was ruled by Parwana's son Mu'in al-Din Muhammad, who was known for his support of Sufis. Iraqi then went to the city of
Cairo, where he stayed for some years and gained the support of its ruler, the
Mamluk sultan
Qalawun (). Along with his son Kabir al-Din, Iraqi later went to the city of
Damascus, where he died at the age of 78. He was buried next to Ibn Arabi in the cemetery of the
Salihiyya district of Damascus, but nothing of his tomb remains today. == Works ==