Saib of Tabriz

(pen name of Mirza Muhammad Ali). Born 1601 in Isfahan; died there in 1677. Azerbaijani poet.

Sa’ib of Tabriz wrote primarily in Persian. He traveled widely and spent eight years in India. When he returned to Iran, he was given the honorary title “prince of poets.” From 1642 to 1666, Sa’ib lived at the court of Shah Abbas II and wrote poems about military campaigns, didactic verse, and philosophic ghazals. He also wrote the famous narrative poem “Qandahar na-mah,” which deals with the battle of Gandhara. Sa’ib wrote verses in Azerbaijani in the poetic tradition of Fizuli.

Many eastern poets emulated the work of Sa’ib. His extensive poetic legacy of approximately 120,000 bayts has not been sufficiently studied.