Melayê Cizîrî (Kurdish:مەلای جزیری,lit. 'Mullah Jaziri', alsoSheikh Ahmad Jaziri;c. 1570 –c. 1640), bornAhmad Nîşanî, was aKurdish poet who laid the foundations forKurdish poetry.[1][2][3]
Born inCizre ofBohtan[4] around year 1570, Cizîrî was aSufi[5] who spokeKurdish,Arabic andPersian. He only expressed himself literarily in Kurdish. He began his studies in his hometown before traveling toBaghdad,Syria,Egypt andPersia to studyphilosophy,astrology anddivination. During this period, he became familiar withHafez who would become an influence in his poetry.[1] Other influences includedRumi,Saadi Shirazi andJami.[5]
When he returned toKurdistan, he established himself inDiyarbakır and began teaching until his death. He was buried in the city nearSur but his burial place has since then been destroyed by theTurkish military.[1] Cizîrî was a friend ofSharafkhan Bidlisi ofPrincipality of Bitlis and celebrated him in two poems.[6]
His love forKurdistan was also explicitly expressed in his literature.[4]
The poetry of Cizîrî had a well-established technique based on the forms of Arab-Persian poetry, using thebayt and the meter frequently used by Hafez in hisghazals. Inspired by the dominatingNaqshbandi order during the period, Cizîrî wrote about"pure love, the wine of ecstasy, metaphysical rapture, and the joys and sufferings of mystical love."[1] He was the first Kurd to use theqasida genre and the first to write a completediwan of roughly 120 poems.[5]
During his lifetime, Cizîrî's poetry was popular.[7] Cizîrî would also become the father of a Kurdish literary school and was admired by later poets likeAhmad Khani andCigerxwîn.[4][8] As he was one of the earliest users ofKurmanji in literary work, he also served as model for other poets including Ahmad Khani who wroteMem and Zin in the same dialect.[2] He would also lay the foundations for the Kurdish qasida which emerged in the subsequent centuries.[3]
AmongKurdish nationalists, Cizîrî is a symbol of national pride.[9]
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