Saib Tabrizi

Saib Tabrizi (Persian: صائب تبریزی‎, Ṣāʾib Tabrīzī, میرزا محمّدعلی صائب تبریزی, Mīrzā Muḥammad ʿalī Ṣāʾib, Azerbaijani: صائب تبریزی), was a Persian poet and one of the greatest masters of a form of classical Arabic and Persian lyric poetry characterized by rhymed couplets, known as the ghazal. Besides writing in Persian, Saib was known to have written 17 ghazals and molammaʿs in Azeri.

Saib was born in Tabriz, and educated in Isfahan and in about 1626 he traveled to India, where he was received into the court of Shah Jahan. He stayed for a time in Kabul and in Kashmir, returning home after several years abroad. After his return, the emperor of Persia, Shah Abbas II, bestowed upon him the title King of Poets.

Saib's reputation is based primarily on some 300,000 couplets, including his epic poem Qandahār-nāma (“The Campaign Against Qandahār”). (The city of Qandahār or Kandahar in today's Afghanistan was in Saib Tabrizi's lifetime a long-standing bone of contention between the Mughal rulers of India and the Safavid rulers of Persia - both of whom were at different times the poet's patrons - until definitely given over to Persian rule as a result of the Mughal–Safavid War of 1649–53.)

Saib Tabrizi's “Indian style” verses reveal an elegant wit, a gift for the aphorism and the proverb, and a keen appreciation of philosophical and intellectual exercise. Saib was especially well known for his Persian panegyric poetry during the reigns of Persian Emperors Safi, Abbas II and Suleiman.

A line from Saib's poem on Kabul provided the title for Khaled Hosseini's 2007 novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns.

Early life

Growing up Tabrizi was a privileged child. His father, Mirzā ʿAbd-al-Raḥim, was a successful merchant, and his uncle, Šams-al-Din, was known for his calligraphic talents. Tabrizi's family was among those evacuated by Abbas I in response to Ottoman incursions. Tabrizi settled in Isfahan with his family. He was educated in Isfahan and began his literary career. During this time Tabrizi also made pilgrimages to Mecca, Najaf and Karbala.

Travels abroad

Tabrizi felt the Mughal courts of India was the best choice to enhance his literary career. Sometime in the middle of the 1620s, he arrived in Kabul and met with the governor of the city, Mirzā Aḥsan-Allāh Ẓafar Khan. He formed a close friendship with Zafar Khan who was his primary patron over the next few years. Tabrizi accompanied Zafar Khan and his father on military campaigns in the Deccan Plateau, before returning to Isfahan in 1632.

Return to Iran

Tabrizi returned to Iran in 1632 and spent the rest of his life there. He maintained a relationship with the Safavid courts and dedicated poems Abbas II and Shah Soleyman III. Abbas II appointed Tabrizi to the post of poet laureate.

Tabrizi died in 1676 and was buried in Isfahan.

He developed a method which called Indian method.

پاکان ستم ز جور فلک بیشتر کشندگندم چو پاک گشت خورَد زخم آسیا

همچو کاغذباد گردون هر سبک‌مغزی که یافتدر تماشاگاه دوران می‌پراند بیشتر

اظهار عجز نزد ستم پیشه ابلهیستاشک کباب موجب طغیان آتش است

به فکر معنی نازک چو مو شدم باریکچه غم ز موی‌شکافان خرده‌بین دارم

پر در مقام تجربت دوستان مباشصائب غریب و بی‌کس و بی‌یار می‌شوی

Persian poems

آب خضر و می شبانه یکی‌ستمستی و عمر جاودانه یکی‌ست

بر دل ماست چشم، خوبان راصد کمان‌دار را نشانه یکی‌ست

پیش آن چشم‌های خواب‌آلودنالهٔ عاشق و فسانه یکی‌ست

پلهٔ دین و کفر چون میزاندو نماید، ولی زبانه یکی‌ست

گر هزار است بلبل این باغهمه را نغمه و ترانه یکی‌ست

پیش مرغ شکسته‌پر صائبقفس و باغ و آشیانه یکی‌ست

Azeri poems

مین دل محزونیله بیر تازه قربانیز هلهزخم تیر غمزه مستینله بیجانیز هله

اولمادان غم چکمه ریز دور زمانیندان سنینناله و آه ایتمه ده دل ایندی حیرانیز هله

لطف ایدرسن، گر چه سن اغیاره هر دم دوستیمروز و شب بیز فرقتینله زار و نالانیز هله

عید وصلینه مشرف اولمادان اغیار دوندستینی بوس ایله دیک بیزاونلا شادانیز هله

دام دوزخ ایچره اغیار اولماسین اصلاً خلاصصائبا بیز جنت دلداره مهمانیز هله

• J. Newman, Andrew, Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire, I.B.Tauris, 2006, ISBN 1-86064-667-0, ISBN 978-1-86064-667-6.
• "Ṣāʾib." Encyclopædia Britannica from Encyclopædia Britannica 2007 Ultimate Reference Suite .(2008)
• Etelaat newspaper, 2014