Fuzuli (poet)
Fuzuli, born Muhammad bin Suleyman (1483–1556), was a famous poet of the 16th century who wrote in Azerbaijani, Persian, and Arabic. He is considered one of the greatest poets in Turkic literature and had a big influence on Azerbaijani and Ottoman poetry.
He lived in a time when his homeland changed hands between the Aq Qoyunlu, Safavid, and Ottoman empires. Fuzuli never joined a permanent royal court, though he had many patrons. He died in 1556 from the plague and was buried in Karbala.
Fuzuli’s best-known Azerbaijani works are his ghazals (short love poems) and the long masnavi Leylī va Macnūn (Leyli and Majnun), a love story turned into a lyric poem. He also wrote a large Azerbaijani divan (a collection of poems), and did substantial work in Persian (including seven-part masnavi Haft Jām) and possibly Arabic.
Leylī va Macnūn, written around 1535–1536, made his fame. He based it on earlier stories but changed the ending: in his version, the lovers are reunited in heaven. The poem helped popularize Turkic poetry and is often called the peak of the Turkic masnavi tradition.
Another important work is Hadīqat al-Suʿadā (The Garden of the Blessed), a maqtal about Husayn ibn Ali’s death at Karbala. It is one of the most famous Turkic writings about Karbala.
Fuzuli’s poetry is known for intense feeling, mysticism, and vivid imagery. He drew on Persian poets like Nizami, Hafez, and Jami, and helped elevate the Azerbaijani language. His work influenced later Turkish, Persian, and Central Asian literature.
His son Fazli followed in his footsteps as a poet. Fuzuli’s fame spread far beyond his homeland; his Leylī va Macnūn inspired music and even became the basis for the first Turkish opera, Leyli and Majnun, by Uzeyir Hajibeyov in 1908.
Today, Fuzuli is still celebrated in Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iran, and Iraq. There are places named after him, and his poems have been translated into other languages, helping keep his legacy alive.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 21:18 (CET).