Mastoureh Ardalan (1805-1848)
Mastoureh Ardalan, also known as Mah Sharaf Khanom Kurdistani, a Kurdish poet, historian, and writer at a time when many women were illiterate. She is noted to be the only female historiographer of the Middle East until the end of the 19th century. Born in Sine (Sanandaj) in Rojehlat (eastern Kurdistan) in 1805, she was a member of the feudal aristocracy in the court of the Ardalan principality centered in Sina. Her father, Abolhassan Beig Qadiri supervised her journey of learning Kurdish, Arabic, and Persian literature at the time.
Painting of a young Mastoureh by Kurdish artist Rebwar Khalid.
Mastoureh married the ruler of Ardalan territory Khasraw Khan Ardalan for political reasons when she was 17. Khasraw Khan was succeeded by his son, Reza Qolikhan after he passed away at the age of 29. Being deeply affected by the loss of her husband, Mastoureh turned to religious books for solace, which pushed her to write a book on Islamic jurisprudence, making her the first woman to write a book on the subject.
When Qajars conquered the Ardalan territory in the 19th century, Mastoureh and her family left Sine for Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdistan Region (southern Kurdistan). Mastoreh was a revolutionary figure who challenged patriarchal and cultural norms during her time in Sine, being regarded as an icon of the spirit of revolt against such norms. She died aged 43 in 1848 in Sulaymaniyah.
Mastoureh wrote several books of poetry, history, and literature, mainly in the Hawrami or Gorani dialect of Kurdish and the Persian language. She also had a few poems written in Central Kurdish. In the 20th century, most of her Kurdish poetry was forgotten and was rediscovered and published by the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century. One of her poems is included in the 8th-grade school curriculum in eastern Kurdistan, making her a household name in the area.
Scuplture of Mastoureh in Sine, Rojhelat.
The historian woman and poet is still remembered in her hometown of Sine, where a 4.5-meter statue of Mastoureh designed by Hadi Ziaeddini was installed in 2011 near Khasraw Garden to commemorate her memory. In 2005, to commemorate her 200th birthday, another statue of Mastoureh was unveiled in the city of Erbil located in Sami Abdulrahman park – also sculpted by Ziaddeine.
Masture’s works collated by Farhang Muhammad :
Masture wrote several books devoted to history and literature.
Her diwan (collection of poems) entitled “Diwan-i Māh Šaraf Ḵhānom Kurdustani-Masture”8 inclu9des twenty thousand of beyts (verse) in Persian and in Kurdish, which have been first published in Sanandaj by Shex Yahia Ma’rifat in1926.
She is an author of the history of Kurdish Ardalan dynasty (Tāriḵ-e Ardalān), which have been published in Tehran by Nāṣer Āzādpur in1946. and translated from Persian to Russian by Evjeniya I. Vasilieva as (Khronika Doma Aradalān), Moscow, 1990. Later, the book were, republished again by the Aras Press & publishing house collected all this works in two volumes which were printed in Erbil, Kurdistan, in 20059.
Ideas, (Birura ) a book about religion, related to a doctrine and Shari’a law,which have been published in Sweden by Abdullah Mardukhi, 1998.
She wrote a book a bout cultural and scientific biography of poets, entitle Zindagīʹnāmah va khadamāt-i ʻilmī va farhangī-i which have been published in Tehrān by Anjuman-i Ās̲ār va Mafākhir-i Farhangī, 2006.
