FUZULI                

       Fuzuli was born in Hille town of Iraq, in 1494. He is from Turk Bayat tribe in origin. He is the son of Hille Mufti Suleyman. His real name is Mehmet. He passed his whole life in Baghdad and Kerbela and did not leave Iraq. He lived on the maintenance of the oil-lamp of Huseyin's tomb. He got married with his Hodja, Rahmetullah Effendi's daughter Rahime and had a son named Fazlullah. His most well-known book is Leyla ile Mecnun, a love story full of myths of the East. This valuable book was translated into several languages. Fuzuli died in Kerbela of plague in 1555. His tomb is still there.

 

       Mehmet was such a humble person that he used the penname Fuzuli (superfluous). When people asked why he did so; he answered "Everybody shows others' poems as if his. If my penname is this, no one condescends to mine, or nobodies poems would be considered mine".

 

       Fuzuli was a very well-informed and hard-working person. He worked hard to make his son Fazil like that. But he could not. Because Fazlullah was a very lazy and unskillful child. Therefore, one of the poets of his times, wrote in Persian the line:

 

       Fazlî peder ü püser Fuzûlî

       That is, the real wise one is the father, the superfluous one is the son.
Fuzuli, who devoted himself to Divine love in all of his poems, was depressed in struggle to make a living. When Suleyman the Magnificent conquered Baghdad, he presented eulogies, praising poems to his commander for the sultan. Thus, they gave him a regular salary of nine akçes daily from the excess of Baghdad foundations, that is the money remaining from the expenditures of the foundations.

 

      Poor Fuzuli, since he did never take this money, could not be able to live in Baghdad. He went to Hille, a district which was considered as a suburban place. He tried to earn his living by guarding the tomb of Huseyin Tomb.

 

      However, he could not help sending his letter known as Şikayetname, that is, Statement of Complaint. which was an example of touching criticism to Nişancıbaşı Celalzade Mustafa Çelebi, who was drawing tugras for Sultan Suleyman's decrees. This book constitutes a document with literary arts and high literary value showing how people did not work in official departments of the day.

 

      The sentence "I saluted, they did not take it because it was not bribes" is a still living fact. Fuzuli had presented to Safavid Ruler Shah Ismail, a poem titled Beng ü Bade, meaning Opium and Alcoholic Drink, when he conquered Baghdad. Fuzuli makes opium and wine talk in this poem and each of them praises itself. The true reason for Fuzuli's writing this poem was to give a literary form to the letter duel between Yavuz and Shah Ismail. So, symbols fitted their places well: Shah Ismail was represented with opium, and Yavuz with wine in the poem.

 

       Apart from his book named Hadikatü's Süeda, talking about Kerbela event, his most important work is his poem named "Leyla vü Mecnün". Common subjects is visible in the literatures of communities which accepted Islam. As a matter of fact, many poets, like Ali Şir Nevai, either Turk or Arab or Persian, had used this subject in 15th century. But none of them could reach the understanding of "Neo-platonic love" understanding, Sufi view and lyric expression of Fuzuli.

 

      We can say that in world literature, Leyla and Mecnun is the one and only:

 

       His lines such as:

Git, derdime sen devâ değilsin
Bigânesin, âşina değilsin
Gördü ki bir avcı dâm kurmuş
Dâmına gazâller yüz urmuş
Bir âhu esir-i dâmı olmuş
Kan yâşı karâ gözüne dolmuş
Boynu burulu ayağı bağlu
Şehlâ gözü nemlü cânı dağlu
Sayyâd sakın cefa yamandır
Bilmezsin mi ki kana kandır?
make the whole work one poem.

      Fuzuli, in the introduction of his Divan, says that "Knowledge without poem is like a wall without essence". Fuzuli took love in a high and divine level with his poems. For him, the origin of poem is God. You cannot say poems without God's gift and help. His line "Aşk imiş her ne var alemde, ilim bir kil-ü-kal imiş ancak" show that he prefers love to everything. For him, the spirit heads through maturity as it is kneaded with agony, sorrow and longing. This is brought about by constant pains, poverty and changes his people suffered.

 

       In the same century, in Baki's poems, who lived in Istanbul, there is magnificence, pride, seniority and colors. The third peak of our Divan literature, who lived in Istanbul two, had life, joy, color and merrymaking in his poems. However, Fuzuli's poems make us feel living in the vast deserts, desolation with images, burning and poverty.

 

       Fuzulî, bu girişte şöyle der: Arabs and Iranians wanted to claim our great poet Fuzuli. However, he is a pure Turk from Bayat tribe of Oghuzes. He had clearly stated that he is a pure Turk in the introduction chapter of his Persian divan. "My origin is Turk, and my native language is Turkish. I use Arabic during scientific talks, and Persian whenever I desire. My poems in my childhood were always written in my native language, that is, Turkish..."

 

       Fuzuli had learned the scientific and medical knowledge of his era very well. As a matter of fact, his booklet named Ruhname or Sıhhat ve Maraz shows that he was engaged in medical science too.