Muhammad bin Suleyman (, ; 1483–1556), better known by his pen name Fuzuli (, ), was a 16th-century poet who composed works in his native Azerbaijani, as well as Persian and Arabic. He is regarded as one of the greatest poets of Turkic literature and a prominent figure in both Azerbaijani and Ottoman literature. Fuzuli's work was widely known and admired throughout the Turkic cultural landscape from the 16th to the 19th centuries, with his fame reaching as far as Central Asia and India.
Born in 1483 in modern-day Iraq, Fuzuli studied literature, mathematics, astronomy, and languages as a child. During his lifetime, his homeland changed hands between the Aq Qoyunlu, Safavid, and Ottoman states. He composed poetry for officials in all three empires, writing his first known poem to Shah Alvand Mirza of the Aq Qoyunlu. Fuzuli wrote most of his poetry during the Ottoman rule of Iraq, which is why he is also sometimes called an Ottoman poet. Throughout his life, he had several patrons but never found one that fully satisfied him—as he wrote—and his desire to join a royal court was never realised. Despite wishing to see places like Tabriz in modern-day Iran, Anatolia, and India, he never travelled outside Iraq. In 1556, Fuzuli died from the plague and was buried in Karbala.
Fuzuli is best known for his Azerbaijani works, especially his (a form of love poem) and his lyric poem , which is an interpretation of a Middle Eastern story of tragic love. He also wrote (collections of poems) in Azerbaijani, Persian, and possibly Arabic. His style has been described as being distinguished by his "intense expression of feelings" and his use of mystic metaphors and symbols. His poetry shows influences from Persian poets like Nizami, Jami, and Hafez, as well as Azerbaijani poets like Habibi and Nasimi.
Fuzuli played a role in the development of the Azerbaijani language, with his writings being described as elevating Azerbaijani poetry and language to new heights. His work has been characterised as a reconciliation of Azerbaijani, Persian, and Arabic literary practices, as well as of Shia and Sunni beliefs. He remains a popular poet in Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iran, and Iraq.
Life Fuzuli, whose given name was Muhammad and whose father's name was Suleyman, was born in 1483. He wrote under the name Fuzuli, which can be translated either as "presumptuous, superfluous" or "exalted, superior, virtuous". In his Persian (a collection of poems), he wrote that he picked this name to stand out, knowing that no one else would choose such a pen name. Little is known about Fuzuli's youth. He was probably a Shia Muslim of Azerbaijani Turkic origin, descending from the Bayat tribe. Although some contemporary sources refer to him as (), suggesting he was born or raised in that city or its surroundings, other sources cite the nearby cities of Najaf, Hilla, or Karbala as his birthplace. His father was reported to have once been a mufti (Islamic jurist) in Hilla, which suggests that Fuzuli likely came from an educated family. As a child, he studied literature, mathematics, astronomy, and languages, learning Persian and Arabic in addition to his native Azerbaijani. He had an interest in poetry since his childhood, with his poems suggesting that his initial inspiration was drawn from the works of the late-15th-century Azerbaijani poet Habibi.
Fuzuli lived in Iraq under the Aq Qoyunlu confederation, which ruled the region between 1470 and the conquest of the region by Shah Ismail I of the Iranian Safavid dynasty in 1508. By the time of the Safavid takeover, Fuzuli was already a popular young poet and had dedicated his first known poem, a Persian (eulogy), to Shah Alvand Mirza of the Aq Qoyunlu. After 1514, the poet received patronage from Ibrahim Khan Mawsillu, the Safavid administrator of Baghdad, whom he met during Mawsillu's visit to Najaf and Karbala. He dedicated his first known Azerbaijani poem, a (a poem written in rhyming couplets) entitled (), to Ismail I and two and one (a poem with repeating verses) to Mawsillu. After Mawsillu was murdered by his own nephew in 1527, Fuzuli lost his patron and moved to either Hilla or Najaf, likely because he could not find another reliable patron among the Safavid nobles. During this time, he worked as a custodian of the Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf. Despite his employment, he did not have much money and relied on different patrons for support. His life between 1527 and 1534 is largely unknown.
When Sultan Suleiman I of the Ottoman Empire captured Baghdad in 1534, Fuzuli was already in his fifties. He presented the sultan with a long and also wrote to Ottoman officials in his entourage in order to earn their favour. One of these officials, , was appointed (head of the Ottoman Empire's imperial chancery) while in Baghdad and arranged for the poet to receive a daily grant of nine from the excess of donations made to Shia shrines. When Fuzuli was unable to obtain the money from the officers of the Ministry of Evkaf, who were responsible for distributing it, he expressed his disappointment in a poetic letter called (), written in Azerbaijani and addressed to Çelebi. In the letter, he declared that he had abandoned all hope, explaining that he had been greatly affected by the political and theological instability of his age. His stipend was restored following the letter. At the time, he was working as a candle-lighter at the Bektashi convent in the Imam Husayn Shrine in Karbala. He wrote in his poems that he had never found a patron who satisfied his needs and his desire to join a royal court had never been realised. Despite expressing a strong desire to see places like Tabriz in modern-day Iran, Anatolia, and India, he never travelled outside modern-day Iraq. In 1556, he died from the plague, either in Baghdad or Karbala, and was buried in Karbala near the Imam Husayn Shrine, in a (a small tomb-mausoleum). According to Bektashi oral tradition, the was built by Abdü'l-mü'min Dede, the Bektashi (a spiritual guide) of Fuzuli, and the poet was buried next to him.
Poetry Fuzuli composed poetry and prose in Azerbaijani, Persian and Arabic. Fifteen of his works are extant. The Encyclopædia Iranica distinguishes his work by "the way in which he integrates the mystic and the erotic, in the combination of the conventionality of his topics with the sincerity of his style, and in his intense expression of feelings of passionate love, of pity for the unfortunate, and of patience in the face of adversity". His frequent use of love themes in his poetry has earned him the nickname poet of love by scholars. Abdülkadir Karahan, a scholar of medieval Turkic literature, notes that what distinguished Fuzuli was his "sincerity, enthusiasm, simplicity, sensitivity, and power of expression". Alireza Asgharzadeh, an academic studying Iranian and Azerbaijani culture, describes Fuzuli's poetry as having "manifested the spirit of a profound humanism, reflecting the discontent of both the masses and the poet himself towards totalitarianism, feudal lords, and establishment religion". His poems have also been described by the literary researcher Muhsin Macit as having a "multi-layered structure" because of his "skillful use of metaphors and mystic symbols". Macit has also stated that Fuzuli's poems in Azerbaijani "have a multi-faceted structure, which, combined with perfection of expression, gives them permanence". His works show influence from Persian poets like Nizami, Jami, and Hafez, as well as Azerbaijani poets like Habibi and Nasimi.
Fuzuli is best known for his works in Azerbaijani, especially his (a form of love poem) and his (). Written in 1535 or 1536, the latter is a lyric poem that interprets the Middle Eastern story of the tragic romance between Leylī and Macnūn. Fuzuli reveals in the work that he was prompted to write it upon the request of some Ottoman poets who had accompanied Sultan Suleiman during his invasion of Baghdad. Accepting the request as a challenge, he completed the work within a year. Before beginning the work, he studied Persian versions of the story, particularly drawing inspiration from the 12th-century poet Nizami's rendition. Despite this, Fuzuli made significant changes to the narrative. For instance, while Nizami's work concludes with Majnun's death, Fuzuli's version sees the two lovers reunited in heaven and their graves transformed into .
His interpretation of the story generated more interest than previous Arabic and Persian versions, which the Turkish literature scholar İskender Pala attributes to the sincerity and lyricism of the poet's expression. The work has been described by the Encyclopædia Iranica as "the culmination of the Turk[ic] tradition in that it raised the personal and human love-tragedy to the plane of mystical longing and ethereal aspiration". Through his interpretation, the story of Leylī and Macnūn became widely known and Fuzuli's poem is considered one of the greatest works of Turkic literature.
Other Azerbaijani works
Another well-known work by Fuzuli is the (a poem about a historic death) (), which is about the death of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, in the Battle of Karbala, which he fought in 680 CE against the second Umayyad Caliph Yazid I. In the introduction, the poet explains that while there were existing works about the battle in Arabic and Persian, there were none in a Turkic language, leaving the Turkic people deprived of this knowledge. Adapted from the 15th-century Persian poet Husayn Kashifi's (), it is considered a masterpiece of the Turkic genre and is the most popular among contemporary works covering the Battle of Karbala. It was written before 1546, as library records show that the oldest available copy, the Cairo manuscript, dates back to that year.
Fuzuli was also the author of a in Azerbaijani, which is his most extensive work in this language. It comprises around 300 , 40 , 42 (a form of monorhyme poetry), several dozen (four-line poems), and more. In the preface of his , he emphasises the importance of science to poetry, writing that without it, poetry is fleeting and compares it to a wall without a base. Karahan regards several of the in the as masterpieces, including the radif (couplet poems with same end-word) eulogies to Muhammad titled (), (), (), and (), as well as the composed by Fuzuli to commemorate Sultan Suleiman's capture of Baghdad. Nonetheless, the in the were more popular. Karahan states that Fuzuli "reached the peak of lyricism, mystical love and excitement in his ".
Other works by him in Azerbaijani include the allegorical-satirical poem , which is over 400 couplets long and imagines a dispute between wine and hashish over their respective merits; a translation of the Persian poet Jami's Forty Hadith titled (); and an allegorical titled (), which depicts vineyard fruits engaging in self-praise and arguments. Additionally, he wrote a poetic letter to Sultan Bayezid II and four others to his Ottoman officials.
Persian works
Fuzuli also wrote several works in Persian, including a that comprises 410 , 46 , several dozen , over a hundred , and more. Karahan states that this collection of poems demonstrates that the poet's proficiency in Persian was equal to that of any classical Iranian poet. The collection opens with a prose preface, where the poet praises the merits of poetry, his enduring fascination with it, and its ability to turn pain into pleasure. In the , he shows influences from Persian poets like Hafez and Jami.