Ehmedê Xanî ( ku, ئەهمەدێ خانی , Ehmedê Xanî; 1650,

Hakkari Hakkari or Hakkâri may refer to: *Hakkari (historical region), a historical region in modern-day Turkey and Iraq *Hakkâri (city), a city and the capital of Hakkâri Province, Turkey *Hakkâri Province Hakkâri Province (, tr, Hakkâri ili, ...

– 1707, Bayazid), was a

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

intellectual, scholar, mystic and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

who is considered the founder of

Kurdish nationalism Kurdish nationalism (, ) is a nationalist political movement which asserts that Kurds are a nation and espouses the creation of an independent Kurdistan from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. Early Kurdish nationalism had its roots in the Ottoman ...

. He was born in the Hakkâri region in 1650 and died in Bayazid in 1707. The most important work of Xanî is ''

Mem and Zin ''Mem and Zin'' ( ku, Mem û Zîn) is a Kurdish classic love story written down in 1692 and is considered to be the épopée of Kurdish literature. It is the most important work of Kurdish writer and poet Ahmad Khani (1651-1707). ''Mam and Zin'' ...

'' which is considered the national epic of Kurds. Other important works include ''Nûbiharan Biçûkan'' and ''Eqîdeya Îmanê.'' These works were studied in Kurdish schools from the time of Kani towards the 1930s. Xanî admired

Melayê Cizîrî Melayê Cizîrî (born Shaikh Ahmad), penname Nîşanî ( ku, مەلای جزیری, translit=Melayê Cizîrî, born; Cizre, c. 1570 – died c. 1640) was a Kurdish poet who laid the foundations for Kurdish poetry. Biography Born in Cizre of ...

and Feqiyê Teyran. Joyce Blau called him the spiritual son of Cizîrî, Teyran and

Ali Hariri Ali Hariri or Sheikh Ahmed Bohtani (; 1009 in Harir, Iraq, Harir – 1079/1080) was a Kurds, Kurdish poets, poet who wrote in Kurmanji and considered a pioneer in classical Kurdish Sufism, Sufi literature and a founder of the Kurdish literary trad ...

Biography

Xanî was born in the village of Khan near Hakkari in 1650.

Nationalism

Xanî is considered the founder of Kurdish nationalism and supported an independent Kurdistan. In a

mathnawi Mathnawi ( ar, مثنوي ''mathnawī'') or masnavi ( fa, مثنوی) is a kind of poem written in rhyming couplets, or more specifically "a poem based on independent, internally rhyming lines". Most mathnawī poems follow a meter of eleven, or o ...

from 1694, he chose not to devote parts of the introduction to praise the rulers of his time, which was typical in classical Oriental literature. Instead, the preface of the mathnawi was dedicated to his opinions on Kurdish nationalism. He explained the subjugation of Kurds by the Ottomans and the

Safavids Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...

, their occupation of

Kurdistan Kurdistan ( ku, کوردستان ,Kurdistan ; lit. "land of the Kurds") or Greater Kurdistan is a roughly defined geo-cultural territory in Western Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, Kurdish la ...

which he argued had become a reality because of the lack of a Kurdish monarch who could rule Kurdistan. Such a ruler could liberate Kurds from the 'vile'. He also believed that an independent Kurdistan could safeguard the

language for scientific and intellectual purposes. In the epic ''Mem and Zin,'' he writes:

Works

*''Mem û Zîn'' (Mem and Zin) * ''Eqîdeya Îmanê'' (The Path of Faith) * ''Eqîdeya Îslamê'' (Basics of Islam) * ''Nûbihara Biçûkan (The Spring of Children)'' * ''Erdê Xweda'' (Astronomy and Geography book) * ''Dîwana Helbestan''

References

External links

*
''Ahmad Khani''
Kurdish Academy of Language KAL

Noahs Ark Holidays Khani, Ahmad Kurdish-language poets Kurdish-language writers Kurdish scholars Kurdish philosophers Kurdish scientists Kurdish historians Kurdish people from the Ottoman Empire 1650 births 1707 deaths Lexicographers People from Hakkâri Province 17th-century Kurdish people 18th-century Kurdish people {{Kurd-poet-stub Kurdish nationalists