Homam-e Tabrizi or HOMĀM-AL-DIN B. ʿALĀʾ TABRIZI (1238/39 to 1314/1315) was an Persian

Persian people

The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...

 poet of the Ilkhanid era. He was a follower of Saadi

Saadi (poet)

Abū-Muḥammad Muṣliḥ al-Dīn bin Abdallāh Shīrāzī better known by his pen-name as Saʿdī or, simply, Saadi, was one of the major Persian poets of the medieval period. He is not only famous in Persian-speaking countries, but he has also been quoted in western sources...

 and his poetry was mostly in form of ghazal

Ghazal

The ghazal is a poetic form consisting of rhyming couplets and a refrain, with each line sharing the same meter. A ghazal may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. The form is ancient, originating in 6th century...

.

Biography

His birthplace is unknown as are details of his life and education. Most sources following Dowlatshah Samarqandi claim that he was a student of Nasir al-Din Tusi. He is also said to be a student or associate of Qutb al-Din Shirazi. He roses in prominence in the political and intellectual circles of Tabriz

Tabriz

Tabriz is the fourth largest city and one of the historical capitals of Iran and the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. Situated at an altitude of 1,350 meters at the junction of the Quri River and Aji River, it was the second largest city in Iran until the late 1960s, one of its former...

 and was close to the Jovayni family. He also founded a Sufi lodge house (Khanghah) in Tabriz which was endowed by the Jovayni family. Homam mentions a travel to Baghdad

Baghdad

Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...

 and is said to have made a pilgrimage to Mecca

Mecca

Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...

. He is buried in the poet's monument Maqbaratoshoara

Maqbaratoshoara

Maqbaratoshoara or Maqbarat al-Shu'ara is a mausoleum for poets, mystics and famous people located in the Surkhab district of Tabriz in Iran...

 in Tabriz. An important book detailing cultural activities of Tabriz in the Ilkhanid era called Safina-yi Tabriz

Safina-yi Tabriz

Safīna-yi Tabriz is an important encyclopedic manuscript from 14th century Ilkhanid Iran compiled by Abu'l Majd Muhammad b. Mas'ud Tabrizi between 1321 and 1323....

 sheds more light on the cultural activities of the city.

Works and influences

Homam left a prose, a commendation (Taqriz) of Rashid al-Din's "Esharat" contained in a manuscript in the library of Tehran university. He is most well known for his Divan which is around 3944 verses. The Divan contains Persian, Arabic poems and also macaronic ghazal in Persian and the Iranian old Azari language. Homām is best known for his ḡazals, which follow those of Saʿdi in style and tone. Many of them are replies (jawābs) to specific ḡazals of Saʿdi (see, e.g., Ḥabib al-siar II, p 564; IV, p. 653), and later Homām was called “the Saʿdi of Azerbaijan” (Ātaškada I, p. 146). The Ghazals in the Divan are his most important contribution to Persian literature

Persian literature

Persian literature spans two-and-a-half millennia, though much of the pre-Islamic material has been lost. Its sources have been within historical Persia including present-day Iran as well as regions of Central Asia where the Persian language has historically been the national language...

. Many of them are replies to the Ghazals of the Persian poet Saadi

Saadi (poet)

Abū-Muḥammad Muṣliḥ al-Dīn bin Abdallāh Shīrāzī better known by his pen-name as Saʿdī or, simply, Saadi, was one of the major Persian poets of the medieval period. He is not only famous in Persian-speaking countries, but he has also been quoted in western sources...

 and later Homam was called the "Saadi of Azerbaijan". Among his Mathnawi

Masnavi (poetic form)

Masnavi, or mathnawī, is the name of a poem written in rhyming couplets, or more specifically, “a poem based on independent, internally rhyming lines”. Most mathnawī followed a meter of eleven, or occasionally ten, syllables, but had no limit in their length...

s, two stand out in particular. One is a in the meter of Sanai

Sanai

Hakim Abul-Majd Majdūd ibn Ādam Sanā'ī Ghaznavi was a Afghan Sufi poet who lived in Ghazna, in what is now Afghanistan between the 11th century and the 12th century. Some people spell his name as Sanayee. He died around 1131.-Life:...

's Hadiqat al-haqiqa and focuses on similar themes. The other, "Sohbat-nama" is a disquisition on love. Homam's poetry was influenced by Saadi

Saadi (poet)

Abū-Muḥammad Muṣliḥ al-Dīn bin Abdallāh Shīrāzī better known by his pen-name as Saʿdī or, simply, Saadi, was one of the major Persian poets of the medieval period. He is not only famous in Persian-speaking countries, but he has also been quoted in western sources...

, Sanai

Sanai

Hakim Abul-Majd Majdūd ibn Ādam Sanā'ī Ghaznavi was a Afghan Sufi poet who lived in Ghazna, in what is now Afghanistan between the 11th century and the 12th century. Some people spell his name as Sanayee. He died around 1131.-Life:...

 and Anvari

Anvari

Anvari , full name Awhad ad-Din 'Ali ibn Mohammad Khavarani or Awhad ad-Din 'Ali ibn Mahmud was one of the greatest Persian poets....

. In turn, he influenced Hafiz and Kamal al-Din Khujandi.

Sample Persian poetry

A sample quatrain from Homam in Persian:

پس از سال به خوابت ديده ام دوش

مبادا هرگز آن خوابم فراموش

هنوزم هست ديدار تو در چشم

هنوزم هست گفتار تو در گوش

A sample Ghazal from Homam in Persian:

چو ما به ديدن رويت ز دور خرسنديم

نسيم با سر زلفت چرا كند بازي

به دست باد سر زلف را تو باز مده

كه هست پيشه آن هرزه گرد غمازي

اگر حريف مني يك زبان و يك دل باش

مكن كه خوش نبود ده دلي و طنازي

مكن تفرج سرو سهي ، همان بهتر

كه عشق با قد و بالاي خويشتن بازي

Old Iranian Azari language

Homam also wrote in Iranian Azari language

Ancient Azari language

Azari is the name used for the Iranian language composed of groups of dialects which were spoken in Azerbaijan at one time. Some linguists have also designated the southern Tati dialects of Azerbaijan like those spoken by the Tats around Khalkhal, Harzand and Keringan as a remnant of Azari...

.

A Macaronic(mula'ma which is popular in Persian poetry where some verses are in one language and another in another language) poem from Homam Tabrizi where some verses are in Khorasani (Dari) Persian and others are in the dialect of Tabriz
.
Another Ghazal from Homam Tabrizi where all the couplets except the last couplet is in Persian. The last couplet reads:
Standard Persian:

بهار و گل با روی یار خوش است

بی یاران نه گل باشد و نه بهاران