Assar Tabrizi

He is principally known for his poem Mihr u Mushtari, which was completed in 1376.

Assar was born in Tabriz under the Ilkhanate. He studied astronomy with Abd al-Samad Tabrizi, and Sufism with Shaykh Majd al-Din Sisi. Following the death of Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan in 1335, the Ilkhanate fell. The northwestern region of Azerbaijan was soon captured by the Jalayirids, who were based in Baghdad. Assar became one of the panegyrists of the Jalayirid ruler Shaykh Uways Jalayir, dedicating some qasidas (odes) to him. In his poem Mihr u Mushtari, Assar says that he disliked writing panegyrics, rarely reciting the ones he had written. The poem, entitled Ishq-nama, but commonly known as Mihr u Mushtari, was composed in 1376, and is the most famous work of Assar. It was translated into Turkish twice, once by Ibn Umm Walad (died 1502), and then later by Pir Muhammad Azmi and his son Halati (died 1629), who dedicated it to the Ottoman sultan Selim II. Besides poetry, Assar has also written a few treatises on rhetoric, as well as a short manual of Persian rhymes, named al-Wāfī fī teʿdād al-qawāfī. The death date of Assar is uncertain. He either died in 1377 or 1382.