Huma-yi Shirazi

Huma-yi Shirazi, Muhammad Riza Quli Khan, Riza Quli Khan (1797-1873), son of Badi’ Khan. Litterateur, mystic, and poet with the nom de plume Huma. Biographical sources disagree as to his name. He was originally from the Bayat tribe of Fars. His father was the chief of the Zand tribe of Fiyli who resided in Shiraz and his lineage traced back to the Zand dynasty. His mother was a relative of Fath’ali Khan, son of the Zand Karim Khan. Huma-yi Shirazi was born in Shiraz. He was a high ranking officer in his youth, but he retired from the military and studied under Mirza Visal, among others. He showed his poetical talent in his youth and was a contemporary of Riza Quli Khan Hidayat, Qa’ani, Surush Isfahani, Shihab Isfahani, and Furughi Bastami. Having received his education in Shiraz, he traveled in quest of knowledge. He traveled to the Holy Shrines in Iraq where he studied from 1814-1840 intellectual and narrational disciplines under Shaykh Muhammad Hasan ibn Shaykh Muhammad Baqir Isfahani, the author of Jawahir al-Kalam, among other masters until he distinguished himself as a mujtahid and judge. He departed Najaf for India, Shiraz, Isfahan, Tehran, Khurasan, Turkestan, and Kirman. Finally, he settled in Isfahan in 1843 on the orders of Mu’tamid al-Dawla Manuchihr Khan Gurji, the governor of Isfahan and the persistent suggestions of Hajj Sayyid Muhammad Baqir Shafti Bidabadi. He declined the offers of the Qajar Muhammad Shah and Nasir al-Din Shah to serve as their companions. Following the death of Surush Isfahani in 1868, he succeeded him in Tehran as the poet laureate and companion of Nasir al-Din Shah upon the latter’s order. He retired from the court after a while and died in Isfahan where he was laid to rest at the Shrine of Imamzada Ahmad in Maydan-i Shah quarter. The date of his death has been reported in Hadiqat al-Shu’ara’ as 1871 or 1872. His divan of poetry, running to 18,000 couplets, was posthumously collected by his son, Mirza ‘Anqa at the Zill al-Sultan and was entitled Shikkaristan.

Hadiqat al-Shu’ara’ (3/ 2082-2090); Danishmandan wa Sukhansarayan-i Fars (5/ 852-859).