Mujir al-Din Bilaqani

Biography

Baylaqani, Mujir al-Din, Abu al-Ma’ali, Abu al-Makarim (d. 1190), a poet composing in Persian in the 12the century. Born in Bilaqan, a region in Shirwan, to a mother of Ethiopian descent, he chose the nom de plume was Mujir and was a contemporary of Athir al-Din Akhsikati, Jamal Isfahani, and Zahir Faryabi, and a student of Khaqani Shirwani. He studied in Shirwan and learned the art of poetry from Khaqani. Favored by Qizil Arsalan, he gained the enmity of Zahir al-Din Faryabi and they wrote lampoons for each other. He was not on friendly terms with his contemporary poets, such that controversy arose between him and Khaqani lampooning each other. He was on such terms with poets from Isfahan, e.g. Jamal Isfahani and Sharaft Shafarwa. It was in the course of such controversies that Jamal Isfahani lampooned Mujir and his master, Khaqani. Informed of such controversy, Khaqani distanced himself from such controversies and his student. Further, Mujir slandered his master and claimed superiority over Khaqani. Mujir wrote elegant qasidas and eulogized some of the Saljuks of Iraq and the Atabeks of Azerbaijan. Mujir Bilaqani traveled to Isfahan representing Atabek Ildigiz, though his friendship with poets from that city turned into animosity and he wrote lampoons of people from Isfahan. In turn, some poets from Isfahan lampooned him. He was attached to the courts of the Atabeks of Azerbaijan, namely Shams al-Din Ildigiz (1160-1172), Nusrat al-Din Jahan Pahlawan Muhammad ibn Ildigiz (1172-1185), and Qizil Arsalan Ildigiz (1185-1191), and also the Seljuk Rukn al-Din Arsalan ibn Tughril (1160-1175). His collected poetry includes qasidas, ghazals, qit’as, and quatrains. His poetry is eloquent, devoid of erudition and mysticism, and imbued with poetic hyperboles, similes, and masterly analogies. He experienced hardships in his life and complains about poverty, agony of life, envy, and spurns of the lowly in some of his poems. His death date is mentioned as 1181 or 1193. His collection of poetry (divan) runs to about 5000 couplets of elegant qasidas and delicate ghazals. It is reported that the rogues and rascals of Isfahan murdered him in 1190. His tomb is at the Maqbarat al-Shu’ara’ (Cemetery of the Poets) in Tabriz reflecting that the reports of his murder in Isfahan are unfounded. His divan includes 150 quatrains, some of which are attributed to other poets, e.g. Anwari and Khayyam.

Tarikh-i Adabiyyat-i Iran (1/ 298); Da’irat al-Ma’arif-i Farsi-yi Musahib (1/ 2666).