Abdolhossein Zarrinkoob

Abdolhossein Zarrinkoub (Luri/Persian: , also Romanized as Zarrinkoub, Zarrinkoub, ; 21 March 1923 – 15 September 1999) was a scholar and professor of Iranian literature, history of literature, Persian culture and history.

He was born in Borujerd, Iran, received his PhD from Tehran University in 1955 under the supervision of Badiozzaman Forouzanfar, and held faculty positions at universities such as Oxford University, Sorbonne and Princeton University.

Research works

Some of his works in English are:

The Arab Conquest of Iran and its aftermath: in Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 4, London, 1975. "Sufism in its historical perspective", Iranian studies III, 1970, p. 137-220 Nizami, a Lifelong Quest for a Utopia, 1977, Rome.

Literary criticism and comparative literature

Zarrinkoob wrote a book called "Naqd-e Adabi" (, "Literary Criticism") covering comparative literature and Persian literary criticism.

Rumi and Erfan

Zarrinkoub also wrote about the Persian poet Molana Jalaleddin Balkhi (Rumi) and his works. Zarrinkoub's "Serr-e Ney" (, "Secret of the Reed"), "Pelleh-Pelleh ta Molaqat-e Khuda" (, "Step by Step until Visiting God") and "Bahr dar Koozeh" (, "Sea in a Jug") are critiques and comparative analyses of Rumi's Masnavi.

Zarrinkoub's research works on Hafez and Persian mysticism resulted in several books including "Az Kuche-ye Rendan" and "Arzesh-e Miras-e Sufiyeh" .

History of Persia

Zarrinkoub wrote "Two Centuries of Silence" on Islamic history and Ruzegaran (The Ages) (Iran's history from the beginning to the fall of the Pahlavi dynasty), which covers the 3,000-year history of Iran since the Aryans migrated to the Iranian plateau.