hshan. He is last known to have been in Yumgan in 1061 but the date of his death is uncertain and "fell sometime between 1072 and 1078."
The great majority of Nasir's writings, which constitute a major contribution to Persian literature of this period, date from the period following his return to Khorasan in 1052. All his writing is related to the expression of his faith. The poetry consists of either "homiletic sermons in verse exhorting to self-purification and the pursuit of spiritual rather than material riches" or sometimes bitter reflections on "the falsity of this world" and the poet's misery in his exile in Badakhshan. The prose writings vary considerably and include such works as the Wadjh-i din, an exposition of the major Islamic principles and practices that explicates the use of the tawil, the hermeneutic method of Ismaili thought; the Zad al-musafirin, which surveys ancient philosophers, such as Plato and Aristotle, and argues against views held by early Muslim philosophers; and the Shish fasl, a brief summary of "the Ismaili int
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