Fuzûlî (1494?–1556), a Divan poet of Azeri origin

Mehmed bin Süleyman Fuzuli, most commonly referred to as Fuzuli, was born around 1494 in Iran (Safavid era), although his actual date of birth is unknown. He is one of the more famous Ottoman poets, and is considered by many to be one the greatest contrbutors to Turkish literature, especially to the genre of lyrical poetry. It is said that he had a perfect knowledge of Turkish, Arabic and Persian, the three great eastern languages of the time, and wrote his collected poems (Divan) in each of these. In 1556 Fuzuli died of cholera in Karbala. Image File history File links Fuzuli. ... Image File history File links Fuzuli. ... Azerbaijanis (Azerbaijani: Azerbaycanlilar), also known as Azeris, are a Turkic-speaking people numbering ca. ... 1494 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Safavids were a long-lasting Turkic-speaking Iranian dynasty that ruled from 1501 to 1736 and first established Shiite Islam as Persias official religion. ... Imperial motto (Ottoman Turkish) Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (the Eternal State) The Ottoman Empire at the height of its power (1683) Official language Ottoman Turkish Capital Sogut (1299-1326), Bursa (1326-1365), Edirne (1365-1453), Ä°stanbul (1453-1922) Imperial anthem Ottoman imperial anthem Sovereigns Padishah of the Osmanli Dynasty... A poet exists within a cultural and intellectual tradition and usually writes in a specific language, but the qualities of good poetry are to some extent timeless and address issues common to all humanity. ... A page from the Dîvân-ı Fuzûlî, the collected poems of the 16th-century Ottoman poet Fuzûlî Turkish literature refers to literature written in the Turkish language, either in its Ottoman variety—which was heavily influenced by Persian and Arabic and used a variant of the Arabic... Lyrics are the written words in a song. ... Arabic (; , less formally, ) is the largest member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family (classification: South Central Semitic) and is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ... Persian (known variously as: فارسی Fârsi, local name in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan, پارسی Pârsi, older, local name still used by some speakers, Tajik, a Central Asian dialect, or Dari, another local name in Tajikistan and Afghanistan) is a language spoken in Iran, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Bahrain, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Armenia... Poetry (ancient Greek: poieo = create) is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. ... Events January 16 - Abdication of Emperor Charles V. His son, Philip II becomes King of Spain, while his brother Ferdinand becomes Holy Roman Emperor January 23 - The Shaanxi earthquake, the deadliest earthquake in history, occurs with its epicenter in Shaanxi province, China. ... Cholera (also called Asiatic cholera) is a water-borne disease caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, which are typically ingested by drinking contaminated water, or by eating improperly cooked fish, especially shellfish. ... Karbalā (Arabic: ; also transliterated as Kerbala, Kerbela, or Karbila) is a city in Iraq, located about 100 km southwest of Baghdad at 32. ...

Fuzuli is one of the most famous and greatest poets of Turkish literature. Fuzuli has written his collected poems (Divan) in three different languages. Besides his "kaside", each being a monument, he has given us the best and the most sensitive examples of lyrical Turkish poetry, "Leyla ile Mecnun". This famous love and pain "mesnevi", which is considered to be the most important work of Fuzuli, occupies a special place among the work on the theme of these tragic and legendary lovers by numerous Turkish and Iranian poets. In his work titled "hadikad-üs- Sueda he decribes the tragedy of Kerbela which is an extremely sad incident of the Islamic history. This literary piece is one of the best works produced in Turkish. He also has numerous other works of importance.

Life

We know almost nothing of the childhood and early youth of Fuzuli. It is generally considered that he was born circa 1494 in Karbala (in what is now Iraq). Fuzuli belonged to the Turkic tribe of Bayat, one of the Turkoman tribes scattered throughout the Middle East, Anatolia, and the Caucasus at the time, and which stands in the roots of the Azerbaijanian people. Although Fuzuli’s ancestors were of nomadic origin, Fuzuli’s family had long been town-dwellers. At that time the area where Fuzuli lived was a part of the Azerbaijanian Safavid State headed by the leader of the Turkoman Shiites Shah Ismayil Safavi. When young Fuzuli devoted a poem to Shah Ismayil named Bang-u-Badeh, where he praised his reigning.

Fuzuli was a versatile and learned man, and was both ambitious to possess these qualities, and proud in possessing them. He wrote: "…I am master of all the arts in discussing beauty of expression and in disputing agreeableness of style with those who are masters of one art only. Well, all this demonstrates the total "presumption" ("fuzuli" in Arabic), but also the perfection of Fuzuli". Thus, the poet explains his nom de plume, which literally means presumptuous, but which also brings to mind fuzul, the plural of fazl meaning "virtue". He chose this pseudonym in order not to be confused with others and be "unique". He was sure that because of its unpleasant meaning nobody else would adopt it.

Fuzuli had left us writings in Azeri (Turkish), Persian and Arabic. This trilingualism was not rare among the Turkic writers of the medieval period and is explainable by their cultural formulation, which was based, in fact, on Arabic religious and scientific tradition and on Persian literary tradition. In Fuzuli’s case the use of the three languages was conditioned also by his particular environment, because all three tongues were in use in Iraq, which as known from history was in XVI c. first a part of the Safavid State and later in 1534 became a part of the Ottoman Empire. The ability to write in more than one language was one of the things of which Fuzuli was most proud and one of his favorite habits was to use two or three languages alternately in same of his poetry or prose. Fuzuli wrote in Azeri Turkish not only by the fact that it was his mother tongue but also by political circumstances. Shah Ismayil Safavi, who conquered Baghdad in 1508, has left us a divan in Azeri Turkish. After the Ottoman conquest of Baghdad Turkish literature acquired even greater importance in this region. Fuzuli expressed Turkish prestige in words, which at that time was not exaggerated, "the high ranking of Turks constitute a large part of world order and a numerous category of the human species…". Nevertheless, he complains that to write "delicate" verse in Turkish rather than in Persian is difficult because the Turkish language is hard to be put in lines, since the words are mostly without connection and lacking harmony. Therefore, the language of the Fuzuli’s poems are extremely persianized. Today a Turk in Azerbaijan or in Turkey could not read many of his works without the help of dictionary. However, Fuzuli’s fame rests mainly on his work in Azeri-Turkish and his masterpiece world-wide famous poem "Leili and Mejnun" is written in Azeri-Turkish too.

Fuzuli lived in constant need, which we know from his numerous poetic complaints. The great poet died of cholera in Kerbela in 1556.

Works

Some of Fuzuli's more famous works include the kaside; the Leyla ile Mecnun, a famous work about love and pain inspired by the tale of Leyli and Majnun; the mesnevi, which is considered to be one the most important works of Fuzuli and has influenced numerous Turkish and Iranian poets; and the hadikad-üs- Sueda in which Fuzuli describes the tragedy of Karbala which is an extremely sad incident in Islamic history. Categories: Pages needing attention | Persian literature | Stub ... Islam (Arabic: ; ( â–¶ (help· info)), the submission to God) is a monotheistic faith, one of the Abrahamic religions and the worlds second-largest religion. ...

A piece of his work in Azerbaijani Turkish–

Dost bi-perva felek bi-rahm devran bi-sükun

Derd çok hem-derd yok düşmen kavi tal'i zebun

Saye-i ümmid za'il afitab-ı şevk germ

Rütbe-i idbar ali paye-i tedbir dun

Translation–

Friend don't care, life is cruel, time goes by so complicated

Many problems, nobody to share, enemy is strong, luck is weak

Even the shadow of the hope is lost, the sun of the desires burns,

The ranking of weakness is high while the one of safety is low.

Works Cited:

• Turkish Ministry of Culture
• Poetry Portal
• Encyclopedia Britannica

External links

• www.osmanlimedeniyeti.com/Edebiyat/ Many Examples of Ottoman Divan Poetry