Hunar-nāma ('the book of excellence', also transliterated Honarnāme) is a 487-distich Persian mathnavī poem composed by ‘Uthmān Mukhtārī at Tabas in the period 500-508 (1105-13 CE), when he was at the court of Seljuqs in Kirmān.
The poem is dedicated to the ruler of Tabas, Yamīn al-Dowla (aka Ḥisām ad-Dīn Yamīn ad-Dowla Shams al-Ma‘ālī Abū ’l-Muẓaffar Amīr Ismā‘īl Gīlakī, and can be read as a 'letter of application' demonstrating Mukhtārī's skill as a court poet.
Moreover, is also unique for including a series of riddles (ten in all) on the spiritual, intellectual, and military ideals for a king.
[5] The poem begins of a cosmological survey, which descends from heaven to earth before culminating in praise of God and his Prophet.
The second half of the poem narrates the reverse process: the striving of the poet's persona to proceed from a mundane existence to spiritual perfection.