Melayê Cizîrî (, also Sheikh Ahmad Jaziri; – ), born Ahmad Nîşanî, was a

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

poet who laid the foundations for Kurdish poetry.

Biography

Born in

Cizre Cizre () is a city in the Cizre District of Şırnak Province in Turkey. It is located on the river Tigris by the Syria–Turkey border and close to the Iraq–Turkey border. Cizre is in the historical region of Upper Mesopotamia and the cultura ...

Bohtan Bohtan was a medieval Kurdish principality in the Ottoman Empire centered on the town of Jazirah ibn 'Omar in southeastern Anatolia. The official religion of this principality was Yezidism in 14th century, although the rulers eventually conv ...

around year 1570, Cizîrî was a

Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

who spoke

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

and

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

. He only expressed himself literarily in Kurdish. He began his studies in his hometown before traveling to

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

to study

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

astrology Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...

and

divination Divination () is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic ritual or practice. Using various methods throughout history, diviners ascertain their interpretations of how a should proceed by reading signs, ...

. During this period, he became familiar with

Hafez (), known by his pen name Hafez ( or 'the keeper'; 1325–1390) or Hafiz, “Ḥāfeẓ” designates someoone who has learned the Qurʾān by heart" also known by his nickname Lisan al-Ghaib ('the tongue of the unseen'), was a Persian lyri ...

who would become an influence in his poetry. Other influences included

Rumi Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (), or simply Rumi (30 September 1207 – 17 December 1273), was a 13th-century poet, Hanafi '' faqih'' (jurist), Maturidi theologian (''mutakallim''), and Sufi mystic born during the Khwarazmian Empire ...

Saadi Shirazi Abu Mohammad Moshrefoldin Mosleh ebn Abdollah ebn Mosharraf, better known by his pen name Saadi (; , ), also known as Saadi of Shiraz (, ''Saʿdī Shīrāzī''; born 1210; died 1291 or 1292), was a Persian poet and prose writer of the medieval p ...

and

Jami Nūr ad-Dīn 'Abd ar-Rahmān Jāmī (; 7 November 1414 – 9 November 1492), also known as Mawlanā Nūr al-Dīn 'Abd al-Rahmān or Abd-Al-Rahmān Nur-Al-Din Muhammad Dashti, or simply as Jami or Djāmī and in Turkey as Molla Cami, was a ...

. When he returned to

Kurdistan Kurdistan (, ; ), or Greater Kurdistan, is a roughly defined geo- cultural region in West Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages, and national identity have historically been based. G ...

, he established himself in

Diyarbakır Diyarbakır is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province. Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortress, it is ...

and began teaching until his death. He was buried in the city near Sur but his burial place has since then been destroyed by the Turkish military. Cizîrî was a friend of

Sharafkhan Bidlisi Sharaf al-Din Khan b. Shams al-Din b. Sharaf Beg Bedlisi (, ; ; 25 February 1543 – ) was a Kurdish Emir of Bitlis. He was also a historian, writer and poet. He wrote exclusively in Persian. Born in the Qara Rud village, in central Iran, bet ...

Principality of Bitlis The Principality of Bitlis, also known as the Bitlis Khanate, and the Bitlis Emirate (1182–1847), was a Persianate Kurdish principality centered at Bitlis. It originated from the '' Rojaki'' (or ''Rozagî'') tribal confederation. History The R ...

and celebrated him in two poems. His love for

was also explicitly expressed in his literature.

Style

The poetry of Cizîrî had a well-established technique based on the forms of Arab-Persian poetry, using the

bayt Bayt (Arabic: or Hebrew: , both meaning 'house'; there are similar words in various Semitic languages), also spelled bayit, bayyit, bait, beit, beth, bet, etc., may refer to: All pages with titles containing ''Bayt'' Jewish religious terms * Te ...

and the meter frequently used by Hafez in his ghazals. Inspired by the dominating

Naqshbandi Naqshbandi (Persian: نقشبندیه) is a major Sufi order within Sunni Islam, named after its 14th-century founder, Baha' al-Din Naqshband. Practitioners, known as Naqshbandis, trace their spiritual lineage (silsila) directly to the Prophet ...

order during the period, Cizîrî wrote about ''"pure love, the wine of ecstasy, metaphysical rapture, and the joys and sufferings of mystical love."'' He was the first Kurd to use the

qasida The qaṣīda (also spelled ''qaṣīdah''; plural ''qaṣā’id'') is an ancient Arabic word and form of poetry, often translated as ode. The qasida originated in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry and passed into non-Arabic cultures after the Arab Mus ...

genre and the first to write a complete diwan of roughly 120 poems.

Legacy

During his lifetime, Cizîrî became poetry was popular. Cizîrî would also become the father of a Kurdish literary school and was admired by later poets like

Ahmad Khani Ahmad () is an Arabic male given name common in most parts of the Muslim world. Other English spellings of the name include Ahmed. It is also used as a surname. Etymology The word derives from the root ( ḥ-m-d), from the Arabic (), from ...

and

Cigerxwîn Cigerxwîn or Cegerxwîn (, ; 1903 – 22 October 1984) was a Kurdish writer and poet. He is known to be one of the most influential Kurdish writers and poets in the Kurdistan region of the Middle East, and his work has been renewed for the cre ...

. As he was one of the earliest users of

Kurmanji Kurmanji (, ), also termed Northern Kurdish, is the northernmost of the Kurdish languages, spoken predominantly in southeast Turkey, northwest and northeast Iran, northern Iraq, northern Syria and the Caucasus and Khorasan regions. It is the ...

in literary work, he also served as model for other poets including Ahmad Khani who wrote Mem and Zin in the same dialect. He would also lay the foundations for the Kurdish qasida which emerged in the subsequent centuries. Among

Kurdish nationalists Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

, Cizîrî is a symbol of national pride.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaziri, Malaye 1570s births 1640 deaths People from Cizre Kurdish-language poets Ciziri, Melaye Kurdish people from the Ottoman Empire Naqshbandi order Kurdish philosophers Kurdish Sufis 16th-century Kurdish people 17th-century Kurdish people