Literary Portrait of Abdurahman Jami in I. Yusupov's Interpretation: An Analysis of Creativity, Philosophy, and Poetics

Literary portraits serve as an effective genre for capturing the philosophical, artistic, and cultural essence of prominent historical figures by combining biography with critical and artistic interpretation. The work of Abdurahman Jami, a towering figure in Persian-Tajik literature and Sufi philosophy during the Timurid era, remains underexplored through this lens in contemporary Central Asian literary studies. Although Jami's poetic and philosophical legacy has been studied, there is a lack of analytical focus on how his image is constructed through the genre of literary portraiture, particularly in the work of Karakalpak literary critic I. Yusupov. This article analyzes how Yusupov, in “Abdurahman Jami’s Testament,” crafts a comprehensive literary portrait of Jami by using historical-contextual, biographical, comparative, and structural-semantic methods to explore the poet’s worldview, poetic style, and philosophical influence. The study reveals Jami's deep engagement with Sufi thought, humanistic ideals, and artistic mastery, and highlights his spiritual connection with contemporaries like Navoi, as well as his literary kinship with Saadi and Hafiz. Yusupov’s approach enables a multifaceted understanding of Jami’s identity as a poet, thinker, and cultural figure. The article demonstrates how literary portraiture, as applied by Yusupov, allows for an integrated exploration of Jami’s legacy that bridges historical biography with aesthetic and philosophical analysis. This research contributes to the understanding of literary-historical interpretation and offers a methodological model for analyzing classical figures in Eastern literature through interdisciplinary and culturally grounded frameworks.