Today marks the birthday of the Azerbaijani playwright and public figure, Mirza Fatali Akhundzade.
According to sea-news.az that Mirza Fatali Akhundzade, the founder of Azerbaijani dramaturgy and literary criticism, was born in 1812 in the city of Nukha (the city of Shaki was long known as Nukha).
His father, Mirza Mahammadtagi, and mother, Nana Khanum, moved to the town of Khamneh, near Tabriz, in 1814. He lived with his family in various regions of South Azerbaijan until the age of 13. In 1825, he returned to Shaki with his mother. In 1832, Akhund Haji Alasgar, the uncle of his mother who wished for Fatali to become a clergyman, took him to Ganja.
There, young Fatali learned logic and jurisprudence from Mirza Shafi Vazeh. However, Mirza Shafi’s influence on young Fatali went beyond this; the encounter had a profound impact on Fatali’s life, his creative work, and his overall formation as a thinker.
Interested in the modern sciences of his time, Fatali enrolled in a Russian school that opened in Shaki in 1833, where he studied for a year. In 1834, he moved to Tiflis and was appointed as a translator of Oriental languages for civil affairs at the main chancellery of the Caucasus Viceroy, a position he held until the end of his life. In 1873, he was promoted to the military rank of colonel.
In 1851, Akhundzade was elected a member of the Caucasus branch of the Russian Geographical Society and was later involved in research at the Caucasus Archeographic Commission. He placed great importance on the publication of the “Akinchi” newspaper, where he published articles under the pseudonym “Vakili Millati-Namalum” (The Representative of the Unknown Nation). As a renowned playwright, M.F. Akhundzade’s comedy Monsieur Jordan and Dervish Mastali Shah was performed at a private theater in St. Petersburg in 1851, while his comedies The Bear-Baiter and The Vizier of Lankaran were staged at the Russian theater in Tiflis, winning great acclaim from the audience.
One of M.F. Akhundzade’s greatest wishes was to reform the Arabic alphabet. Unable to realize this dream during his lifetime, the writer wrote: “Alas, a thousand times alas, that the leaders of Islamic nations in neither Iran nor the Ottoman Empire took the initiative to change the Islamic alphabet for the sake of the people’s progress—by which, the population, both women and men, could become fully literate within a few months, and by which all contemporary European sciences could be translated into the languages of Islamic peoples within a few years, thereby leading them onto the path of happiness.”
By creating his six famous comedies between 1850 and 1855, M.F. Akhundzade laid the foundation of dramaturgy not only in Azerbaijani literature but throughout the entire Turkic-Muslim world, from the Balkans to India. With these comedies, the great master provided an example of how to write drama in the Eastern world.
Azerbaijani theater was born on the foundation of Akhundzade’s immortal comedies. In 1873, Hasanbey Zardabi, together with his students Najaf bey Vazirov and Asgar agha Gorani, staged the famous work Haji Gara at a school in Baku, marking the beginning of the theater movement in Azerbaijan and the broader Turkic-Muslim world. In Akhundzade’s comedies, the stage personas of Eastern women were created for the first time through the characters of Azerbaijani women.
In the 19th century, showing an Azerbaijani woman on stage laughing and speaking alongside men required great courage. Azerbaijani enlighteners were able to achieve this monumental task for their time by bringing Mirza Fatali Akhundzade’s works to the stage.
It is clear that Akhundzade’s theoretical and aesthetic views were profoundly influenced by the environment in which he lived, the progressive intellectuals he associated with, and the classic and world literature he read. His mastery of the works of classics such as Homer, Ferdowsi, Nizami Ganjavi, Saadi Shirazi, William Shakespeare, Jami, and Pushkin played a major role in shaping his aesthetic taste regarding art and the artist.
M.F. Akhundzade married Nana Khanum, the daughter of Akhund Haji Alasgar; the deaths of their children at a young age caused deep sorrow in the family. Only his son, Rashid bey, and daughter, Nisa Khanum, lived long lives. After the death of Akhund Haji Alasgar, Mirza Fatali took his family under his care. Since he had no source of income other than his salary from public service, his financial situation became difficult.
M.F. Akhundzade utilized his influence with the Caucasus Viceroy to secure the release of Qasim bey Zakir and his children from imprisonment and exile imposed by tsarist authorities. He also defended the rights of the wife and daughter of the last ruler of Karabakh, Mehdigulu Khan, regarding their inheritance. Likewise, after the son of Javad Khan Ziyadkhanoglu, ruler of the Ganja Khanate, died in battle against tsarist forces, Akhundzade succeeded in having a portion of his property returned to his heirs.
Devoting his entire life to the progress of his people, M.F. Akhundzade passed away on March 9, 1878, after a severe illness. According to his will, he was buried next to his teacher, Mirza Shafi Vazeh.
