Reynold A. Nicholson

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| birth_date = {{birth date|1868|8|18|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Keighley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England

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| death_place = Chester, Cheshire, England

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Orientalist
translator
scholar

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| parent = Henry Alleyne Nicholson (father)

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| awards = Porson Prize (1890)

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Reynold Alleyne Nicholson, FBA (18 August 1868 – 27 August 1945), or R. A. Nicholson, was an eminent English orientalist, scholar of both Islamic literature and Islamic mysticism, and widely regarded as one of the greatest Rumi (Mevlana or Mawlana) scholars and translators in the English language.

Life

The son of Henry Alleyne Nicholson, he was born at Keighley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England and died at Chester, Cheshire. He was educated at University of Aberdeen and Trinity College, Cambridge,{{acad|id=NCL887RA|name=Nicholson, Reynold Alleyne}} where he won the Porson Prize twice."Obituary: Professor R. A. Nicholson", The Guardian, 31 August 1945, p. 8. Retrieved 16 July 2020.

Nicholson was professor of Persian at University College London from 1901 to June 1902,{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=University College London |date=7 June 1902 |page=12 |issue=36788}} then lecturer in Persian at the University of Cambridge from 1902 to 1926, and Sir Thomas Adams's Professor of Arabic at the University of Cambridge from 1926 to 1933.H. A. R. Gibb, ‘Nicholson, Reynold Alleyne (1868–1945)’, rev. Christine Woodhead, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35230, accessed 24 Oct 2016] Reynold Alleyne Nicholson (1868–1945): doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/35230 He is considered a leading scholar in Islamic literature and Islamic mysticism who exercised a lasting influence on Islamic studies.[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9055742 Reynold Alleyne Nicholson, Britannica.com entry]{{Citation

| last = Gibb

| first = H. A. R.

| contribution = Nicholson, Reynold Alleyne

| year = 2004

| title = Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

| place = Oxford

| publisher = Oxford University Press

}} He was able to study and translate major Sufi texts in Arabic, Persian, Punjabi and Ottoman Turkish to English. Nicholson wrote two influential books: Literary History of The Arabs (1907) and The Mystics of Islam (1914).

He was one of the original trustees of the Gibb Memorial Trust.[https://archive.org/details/tajribalumamor05ibnmuoft/page/n12 The Tajârib al-umam; or, History of Ibn Miskawayh], Volume V, Leiden: E. J. Brill and London: Luzac & Co., 1913. Retrieved 20 December 2022.

Works

Studies in Islamic Mysticism, Cambridge University Press, 1921.

=Works on Rumi=

Nicholson's magnum opus was his work on Rumi's Masnavi, published in eight volumes between 1925 and 1940. He produced the first critical Persian edition of the Masnavi, the first full translation of it into English, and the first commentary on the entire work in English. This work has been highly influential in the field of Rumi studies worldwide.

=Work on Ali Hujwiri Daata Ganj Bakhsh=

Nicholson translated the famous Persian book on sufism Kashf ul Mahjoob into English which was written by the famous saint of the Subcontinent,

Ali Hujwiri Daata Ganj Bakhsh{{cite book|last=Nicholson|first=Reynold|title=Kashf al-Mahjub of al-Hajvari|year=2000|publisher=E. J. W. Gibb Memorial}}

=Works on Iqbal=

Being a teacher of the Indian scholar and poet, Muhammad Iqbal, Nicholson translated Iqbal's first philosophical poetry book, Asrar-i-Khudi, from Persian into English and titled it,The Secrets of the Self.

=Other significant translations=

The Sufi treatise of Hujviri
Rumi's Mathnawi
Rumi's Divan-i Shams-i Tabrizi (Divan e Shams), 1898
Ibn Arabi's Tarjuman al-Aswaq (1911)
Poetry by the Sindhi language poet Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai{{Cite web|last1=Н.wrote|first1=Ходжа|last2=hojja_nusreddin|first2=Ходжа Н.|title=Reynold Alleyne Nicholson (August 18, 1868 – August 27, 1945)|url=https://hojja-nusreddin.livejournal.com/2947040.html|access-date=28 January 2022|website=hojja-nusreddin.livejournal.com|language=en-us}}
Poetry by the Punjabi language poet Bulleh Shah{{Cite book|last=Pakistan Journal of Language Studies|url=http://archive.org/details/article-5-v-3-1-pjls|title=Pragma-Stylistic Analysis of Bulleh Shah's Translated Poem "Ilmon Bas kren O-Yaar"|date=28 April 2020}}{{Cite book|last1=Amir|first1=Dr|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339676837|title=Suggested Socio-Religious Reforms by Regional Sufi (Mystic) Poets: Analysis of Selected Poets of Punjab|last2=Dr|first2=Ahmad|date=4 March 2020}}{{Cite web|title=Bulleh Shah - The Love-Intoxicated Iconclast {{!}} PDF {{!}} Sufism|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/519882149/Bulleh-Shah-The-Love-Intoxicated-Iconclast|access-date=28 January 2022|website=Scribd|language=en}}{{Cite journal|last=Das|first=Sisir Kumar|date=2003|title=The Mad Lover|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23341676|journal=Indian Literature|volume=47|issue=3 (215)|pages=149–178|jstor=23341676|issn=0019-5804}}

=Students=

Among Nicholson's students was A. J. Arberry, a translator of Rumi and the Quran. Another student, Muhammad Iqbal, was a famous poet and has been called the "Spiritual Father of Pakistan".

References

External links

{{Gutenberg author | id=39176}}
{{Internet Archive author |sname=Reynold Alleyne Nicholson}}
{{Librivox author |id=15413}}
[https://archive.org/details/cu31924083936561 A Literary History of the Arabs (1907)] at Google Books
[https://books.google.com/books?id=TXX9IM0wbsoC The Mystics of Islam (1914)] at Google Books
[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9055742 Encyclopædia Britannica's entry for Reynold Nicholson]
{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928142921/http://www.dar-al-masnavi.org/about-nicholson.html |date=28 September 2007 |title=Bio from Dar-al-Mathnawi }}
[https://web.archive.org/web/20061017141204/http://www.globalwebpost.com/farooqm/study_res/rumi/intro_nicholson.html Short bio of Rumi by Reynold Alleyne Nicholson]
[http://www.allamaiqbal.com/works/poetry/persian/asrar/translation/index.htm The Secrets of the Self], from Iqbal Academy