Teresa Nocetti was born in Montevideo, capital of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay. She has been a retired teacher for seven years and is a mother and grandmother. She loves to travel, get to know different cultures, read and talk.
Since 2017, she has been a member of the group of international writers “Junto por las Letras,” counting hundreds of participants from different languages to date. In 2018, she published “La visita de Perseo”. She’s published in the anthologies: “Women on the brink of the abyss” (collection), “Vida de Piedra”, “When letters mature”, “A story for a smile” Volume Three, “Uniendo Fronteras” (Bolivia). In 2019 she was awarded a Special Mention from the Outstanding Women in Culture for her cultural trajectory and human values.
As of 2020, her works have been virtual. She continues to participate actively in the Virtual Book Fairs, in the virtual book Immortales, and in all the proposals of the “Juntos por las Letras” Group as Cultural Manager. They will publish her next book: “Sinuous Soul.”
An article about the life and work of Mawlana Lutfi, who wrote in two languages until the second half of the 15th century, and his activities, poems and ghazals, as well as his legacy that has survived to this day.
Keywords: Poems of Mawlana Lutfi, life and creative path, divan and heritage.
Input
Mawlana Lutfullah Lutfi [1366-1465] was a great Uzbek poet and thinker. He was recognized as the “malik-ul kalomi,” that is, the “king of words,” of his time. He was considered the most famous poet of Uzbek literature until the second half of the 15th century. He served in the Timurid court and was close to Shahrukh Mirza, the ruler of Samarkand. Lutfi is a bilingual writer, that is, he writes simultaneously in both Turkic and Persian.
Main part
The famous Uzbek poet, the “malik ul-kalam” of his time, Lutfi, was born in 1366 in the village of Dehikanor, near the city of Herat. He spent almost his entire life in Herat, in the Timurid court. After the discovery of Sheikh Ahmad Tarazi’s work “Funun ul-balogha,” dedicated to Mirzo Ulugbek, based on the phrase “ul-latoyif” by Lutfi Shoshi, the idea was put forward that Lutfi’s homeland was Tashkent. Lutfi took an early step into secular sciences and literature. The future poet diligently studied not only Turkic-language literature but also Persian and Arabic literature. His interest in the heritage of Hafiz, Kamal Khujandi, and Nasimi was especially great. Like other poets of his time, Lutfi wrote in two languages: Persian and Turkic. Even Kemal Khujandi and Hafiz paid great attention to it. In his youth, he studied secular sciences. Later, he became interested in Sufi teachings and led an ascetic lifestyle. The poems of this poet, accustomed to a simple lifestyle and possessing the humility characteristic of dervishes, were distinguished by the ability to express profound thoughts with simple words in high artistic colors, and his poems in this respect attracted the attention of such patrons of literature as Navoi and Jami. Lutfi in the poetic form of the biography of Amir Timur in the epic “Zafarnama” but the manuscript texts have not been preserved. Hazrat Alisher Navoi
“Majolis un-nafois” testifies to Lutfi’s epic poem called “Zafarnama,” which has not reached us, and writes: “Mavlono’s translation of “Zafarnama” contains more than ten thousand verses of masnavi. Researchers of Lutfi’s work note that the source of the above-mentioned translation of “Zafarnama” is Sharafiddin Ali Yazdi’s “Zafarnama,” written in Persian about the life of Amir Timur. Professor E. E. Bertels says that the poet must have planned this masnavi as a heroic work in the style of Ferdowsi’s “Shahnameh.” But for some reason, the poet did not transcribe it. Navoi also says that he did not gain fame “because he did not write it on paper.” For a long time, it was said that the divan “Gul and Navruz” belonged to Lutfi. According to assumptions, this dastan was written as a response to the epic of the Persian poet Jalal Tabib with the same name, it has a fairytale theme and has a happy ending, and its volume is 595 verses. However, later it was proven that this dastan belonged to Haydar Khorezmi. It should be noted that Lutfi’s work also influenced Alisher Navoi. Even Navoi considers him his mentor and, in his biographical dictionary “Majolis un-nafois,” mentions that at the end of Lutfi’s life, he wrote a ghazal with the radif “Oftob,” that many poets of that time wanted to write like him, but none of them could “touch Lutfi’s hand.” Lutfi created fruitful works throughout his life. The total number of poems belonging to his pen is 2774 bayts, that is, more than 5548 lines. Among them, 2,086 couplets were written in the ghazal genre. The main theme of Lutfi’s divan was love, and the main goal was to describe the lover’s profession. In each of his poems, he approached the theme in a new way, created unique melodies, and used unique artistic devices. In Lutfi’s divan, the art of tashbeh, talmeh, tazod, iyhom, in particular, irsoli masal, is manifested. Lutfi also elevated his rubaiyat, tuyuq, and qit’as to the status of an example of art. The influence of Lutfi’s poetry reached not only Central Asia, but also the countries of the Near and Middle East. According to the famous Turkish scholar M.F.Kuprulyzade, Lutfi’s poems were read not only among Chagatai poets, but also among Ottoman Turkish poets, up to the author of “Harobot” Ziya Pasha. Mawlana Lutfi was a prominent representative of Uzbek classical literature of the 14th-15th centuries and a wordsmith who gained great fame in the East with his works in Uzbek and Persian-Tajik languages. Important notes and reflections on the life and work of the poet are found in the works of his contemporaries Davlatshah Samarkandi, Shamsiddin Sami, Khondamir, Abdulla Kobuli. In particular, the information provided in the works of Hazrat Alisher Navoi, who knew Lutfi closely and was connected with him through the ranks of teacher and student, is extremely valuable. In subsequent centuries, the sphere of influence of the great poet Lutfi’s mastery expanded. Many of Fuzuli’s naziras and several mukhammass are known to Lutfi’s ghazals. Mashrab, using the matla of Lutfi’s ghazal with the radif “whether you believe it or not,” created a whole new ghazal. Mawlana Lutfi held great reverence for the great poet Abdurahman Jami. He also dedicated a qasida to Jami with the radif “Sukhan.” At the end of his life, having managed to write only the first verse, he bequeathed to Abdurahman Jami the completion of the ghazal with the radif “Aftad” and its inclusion in his divan.
Jami fulfilled this testament of the elderly poet, and the ghazal with the radif “Aftad,” which still lives in Jami’s divan, is valuable as a testament to the creative collaboration of these two great artists of the word. Lutfi left no significant literary legacy. Sources say that the poet wrote more than 200 works, but only one of his divans is known to us (preserved in Konya, Turkey). At the suggestion of Shahrukh Mirza, he made a poetic translation of Sharafiddin Ali Yazdi’s “Zafarnama” (1437). Fitrat, E. Rustamov, E. Fozilov, S. Erkinov, Y. Ishoqov, E. Ahmadxo’jaev, and others studied the poet’s work. Thirty-three copies of the poet’s Turkic divan, transcribed between the 16th and 20th centuries, have survived and are currently preserved in libraries and manuscript collections in Tashkent, Dushanbe, London, Tehran, Istanbul, and Paris. Lutfi’s poems and ghazals were popular among the people and even set to music as songs. One of them is the ghazal with the radif “Whether believe or not.”
You are my beloved, believe it or not. Believe it or not, my dear, my heart bleeds. On the night of separation, the wheel of fate reaches you, oh moon, My morning sighs, believe it or not.
It should be especially noted that Lutfi, as a ghazal writer, skillfully combined the principles and methods of the experience of oral folk art with the literary and aesthetic traditions established in Eastern literature. Therefore, in his ghazals, national feelings are illuminated, and the depiction of human pain, regret, sorrow, and joy acquires a unique expressiveness. The great poet Lutfi, not only in his ghazals but also in poems of other genres such as rubaiyat, tuyuq, qit’a, and fard, expressed a sense of refinement and celebrated the thoughts and feelings of intelligent and life-loving people with high taste and intellect. When reading the poet’s lines like: Sensan sevarim, xoh inon, xoh inonma, Qonur jigarim, xoh inon, xoh inonma, sometimes it’s hard to believe they were written several centuries ago. Because they are so simple, close to oral speech, and far from bookish ornamentation and sincere. Speaking of Shaim’s quatrains, his tuyuqs deserve special attention. It can be said that Lutfi’s poetry vividly expresses the art of creating tuyuq through tajnis (zulma’niayn) words, mostly related to Turkic poetry. The subtle nuances of meaning in many tuyuqs found in his divan introduce the reader to the rich possibilities of the native language, captivating them with imagination and giving them aesthetic pleasure.
From your grasp, O heart, I am your servant,
Oh, when will I reach that beloved,
You made me captive to the unfaithful ones,
You are my sultan, oh heart, I am your servant.
Mawlana Lutfi died in 1465 in Dehikanor, his residence. His Holiness
According to Alisher Navoi, his grave is also there. Streets, schools, and libraries in our republic named after the great poet are immortalizing his memory.
Conclusion
Lutfi was considered one of the creators who deeply mastered both external secular and religious Sufi sciences, was able to look at his time and era with an open eye, and was devoted to truth and enlightenment. In Navoi’s words, he was an outstanding poet in Persian and Turkic. Although Lutfi became famous for his poems written in his native Turkic language, he also managed to acknowledge many people for his poetic talent and skill in Persian.
References
1. S. Erkinov. Lutfi. Life and work. T:1965
2. Selected Works [2-edition], T., 1968; You are my beloved. – T., 1987.
3. Taken from the book “Stars of Spirituality” (publishing house of folk heritage named after Abdulla Kadiri, Tashkent, 1999).
Choriyeva Oynur was born in Muborak district of the Republic of Uzbekistan. She is a student at the Faculty of English Philology of the Uzbekistan State World Languages University.
Said the storied teacher, ‘In this parable see your loathes’
Spelling the situation of a householder’s tower
And the husbandmen planning their plot for power
The vineyard owner inquired twice to know
What the husbandmen mocked with a fatal blow
Sending his son, trusting they’d have new eyes
The husbandmen again killed with more despise
The teacher then turned, asking what of the husbandmen’s fate
Realizing themselves the husbandmen, the teacher’s enemies took hate
And the chief priests admitted their plot against the teacher
Who knew and taught against their murderous feature
Brent Yergensen, Ph.D., is a Professor of Communication at The University of Texas at Tyler. His poetry has appeared in Academy of Heart and Mind and Bewildering Stories. As a scholar his research on aesthetics has appeared in numerous academic journals and anthologies.
Her face appeared, Moons in her veil, In rosy, red like coral…When she removed a veil from her full moon, and shyness adorned her gaze…
Ah, my beloved…!! After you, Will I see…? A full moon I converse with in the sky of my horizon, And love asks: Where is the reader of the verse of passion…?! In embrace and union…
For your eyes, A poem tempts me…From the clarity of your intoxicating glance. My soul is reborn, and for your union, I wrote poetry as ink. The hunter of your heart. I strive towards that heart, And the eyes’ confession Of longing openly To a beloved… who stood at my door…And what she hid from my eyes openly, I see in her beauty the chapter of embrace…
Fadi Sido is the editor in chief of Raseef 81 magazine in Germany.
Short biography: Amb. Dr. Priyanka Neogi from Coochbehar. She is an administrative Controller of United Nations PAF, librarian, CEO of Lio Messi International Property & land Consultancy, international literacy worker, sports & peace promoter, dancer, singer, reciter, live telecaster, writer, editor, researcher, Literary journalist, host, beauty queen, international Co-ordinator of Vijay Mission of Community Welfare Foundation of India.
