During a significant period of his life--perhaps the last thirty years of his life--Shahriyar spent his beautiful, mystical and spiritual life bonding with Quran and seeking self-perfection. That is, he improved himself and tried to perfect his own inner self and spirituality.
He, himself, clearly expresses this meaning in his poems during his last 20 or 30 years. Even as I heard--maybe I had heard it from him; I do not remember now--he transcribed Quran in his own handwriting. Perhaps he did not finish it ... anyway, I can remember he had started transcribing the Qur'an. When the revolution triumphed, he welcomed the revolution with the same religious spirit and clear mentality. Perhaps in the first one or two years of the revolution, no one thought about Shahriyar. Everyone was too busy to remember. All of a sudden, Shahriyar's poems, in praise of the revolution, reached us from Tabriz. His poems showed that he had followed all the details of the revolution.
He played an important role in all the sensitive events of the revolution. An eight-year war was imposed on us, which was one of our most difficult experiences after the revolution.
A number of poems that Shahriyar wrote were about the war; his presence in war related events--such as congress on war, war poetry and his praise of public mobilization, the army or the IRGC--is so great that if you did not see it firsthand, you could hardly believe it. At about eighty years of age, Shahriyar wrote a poem or poems for every occasion or event and attended poetry gatherings; although, no one really expected him or others like him to actively participate. This reveals the ultimate sincerity, good-heartedness, and magnanimity of that man.
Anyway, Shahriyar was an Islamic and revolutionary poet. I received some news that as Shahriyar wrote poems for the revolution, a number of intellectuals dependent on the former regime, who used to be friends with him, were constantly pressing, wrote letters to him, and wrote poems against him. I even knew that they had blamed him by saying, "Why are you so sympathetic towards the Islamic Revolution!?" And he had stood against them like a mountain.
I was truly astonished. I personally knew some of those who pressed him; I knew their poems and background. Some of them depended on the former regime. They directly related to that position; and they were considered as part of the Pahlavi regime. Some others were members of the Tudeh Party, who were fed by the USSR. All of them, though in appearance, were different in terms of ideology, shared the same approach in pressing Shahriyar; however, Shahriyar resisted strongly.
Shahriyar was a modest poet. He was not looking for fame; he worked for God and his duty, and now the Almighty God rewards him. Today, Shahriyar is considered as a great religious person in our country. A few days ago, there was a program on the television, which showed a ceremony during the event of the Basij week, in which Shahriyar was present. During that week, at one of the Basij ceremonies, Shahriyar was reciting poems and it was broadcasted on television. I am sure that everyone watched that part of the program, everyone who could. I was going to bed, when I noticed the children’s television was on and I heard Shahriyar. I went in to watch, and I saw the children were standing and watching;--all of them. Shahriyar earned extraordinary popularity. This was due to the service and work he did for God. Shahriyar’s fame will definitely persist. He is a poet like Sa’adi and Hafez, and he may become more famous later. So, we can never praise him too much. His presence, in any nation or country, is a happy and beneficial presence.
December 02, 1992
For more than half a century, Shahriyar blessed the minds and hearts of the lovers of literature and art, with his poetry and its purity. He livened up enchanted hearts with a language, which even if it was not his mother tongue, was the language of his heart and soul, and his feelings. He created and gathered the greatest treasures of contemporary sonnets and couplets, which were tied and woven from silk of his fancy, thought, and language. When the Persian speaking Turk started reciting Azeri poetry, he doubled all these features, and they manifested through artists and art scholars with his unique mastery.
During the last ten years of his life, this great man and experienced poet--with a young heart filled with enthusiasm and emotions, understanding the great task of poet's during the revolutionary period--served all his great wealth of art and talent for the goal and direction that his country and his people had chosen, and he self-sacrificed for it. He wrote about the revolution, jihad, and martyrdom in his clear, fluent poetry: he included the ultimate theme of his life in the final section of his poems. He welcomed the message of the Islamic Revolution with a heart that heeded the message of the Quran, since childhood, and had spent the final decades of his life thinking and deliberating on Quran’s secrets and teachings. He loved the Quran and saw the Quran embodied and alive in the Islamic Revolution and the Islamic system; therefore, he desired and placed himself in the service of the revolution and responded positively to the people who lived for it. The most brilliant art of Shahriyar was how he recognized his historical duty and acted with great devotion and purity.
September 25, 1988
