Mirza Alakbar Sabir

Mirza Alakbar Sabir was born on May 30, 1862 in Shamakhi into a poor family. At that time the religion Islam dominated in the society. His mother, Saltanat, was a true Muslim believer. His father Zeynalabdin Tahirzadeh was a merchant. He had 7 sisters and a brother. He received his primary education in a theological school. Sabir was brought up in a patriarchal-religious atmosphere. In 1874, when he was twelve years old, Alakbar entered the school of Seyid Azim Shirvani, a poet and teacher, where unlike traditional schools, general education subjects, as well as the languages of Azerbaijani and Russian were taught. At that time, this school was considered very progressive. Personal contacts with this man greatly influenced the formation of Sabir as a poet. Encouraged by Seyid Azim, Sabir began translating [works written in Persian by Azerbaijani (Turk) poets] and wrote poems in Azerbaijani (Azerbaijani Turkish language).

In 1900, after studying abroad, the modern-minded young poet Abbas Sahhat returned to Shamakhi, in whose house the local intelligentsia often gathers. Sabir attracted the attention of Abbas Sahhat and they began a close friendship that lasted until the death of Sabir. Abbas Sahhat, appreciating Sabir's talent, always encouraged and supported him.

Mirza Alakbar Sabir revealed his poetic talent at a very young age. When he was eight years old, he wrote his first poem. His works reflected both positive and negative features of life in Azerbaijan. In the early years, he wrote only lyrical ghazals, elegy, laudatory and mourning poems. His first work was printed in 1903 in the newspaper "Shargi-Rus" ("Russian East"). Between 1903 and 1905, Sabir collaborated in several newspapers and magazines such as "Debistan" (Sad School), "Zenbur" (Ovod), "Irshad" (Guide), "Hagigat" and "Hayat" (Life).

On April 11, 1908, the poet, who took exams at the Spiritual Department of the Baku Province, went to Tiflis and received a diploma for a mother tongue and a Shariah teacher from the Caucasian Sheikh-ul-Islam Office. However, after a letter he received from Gori, he worked for some time as an assistant teacher in a Shamakhi school.

Poverty, overstrain, endless cares of his large family and persecution adversely affected his health. He boiled soap for a living and was often ill. In 1910 Sabir's disease of the liver took a serious turn that turned out to be irreversible. Even when ill, Sabir continued to write. Not long before his death, he said to his friends who stood at his bedside: "I laid my flesh down for my people. But if God would give me more time, I would lay my bones down too..."

After his death, in honour of Sabir's memory, his wife Bullurnise, and his friends Abbas Sahhat and M. Mahmudbeyov collected Sabir`s poems and published them under the name "Hophopname" in 1912. Two years later, the second, better edition of the “Hophopname” was released by the people. Using a wide range of expressive means, some of which were introduced by him to Azerbaijani poetry for the first time, Sabir made a gallery of social types of carriers of various vices of ignorance, inertia, and moneymakers who betrayed the interests of the people in this book.