Layeq Sherali

For the village in Tajikistan, see Loiq Sherali, Sughd.

Layeq Sherali
Лоиқ Шералӣ
Personal details
Born	20 May 1941 Mazar-e Sharif, Panjakent, Tajik SSR (now Tajikistan), USSR
Died	30 June 2000 Dushanbe, Tajikistan
Profession	Poet

Layeq Sherali (1941–2000, in Tajiki/Persian: Лоиқ Шералӣ/لائق شیرعلی, sometimes also Romanised as Laeq or Laiq or Loiq) was a Tajik poet, Iranologist and one of the most celebrated Persian literary figures of Tajikistan and central Asia.

Loiq Sher-Ali had expertise in classical Persian poetry. The influence of Firdowsi, Khayyam and Molana Jalaleddin-e Balkhi is evident in Shir-Ali's works. He also translated several literary master pieces into Persian.[1]

He was the head of the Tajik-Persian Language International Foundation in Middle Asia and he was called as Shah-Poet of Tajikistan. A chosen collection of his works is published in Iran, 1994. Another collection, "Rakh's Spirit" is published in Iran, in 1999, by Mirzo Shakurzoda.[2]

Poetry

An excerpt from one of Sher-Ali's most famous poems, about three years before his death:[3]

یکی گفتی تو ایرانی، دیگر گفتی تو تاجیکی
Яке гуфтӣ ту эронӣ, дигар гуфтӣ ту тоҷикӣ
جدا از اصل خود میرد کسی مارا جدا کردست
Ҷудо аз асли худ мирад касе моро ҷудо кардаст

English:
Once you said "You're Iranian," then you said "You are Tajik"
May he die separated from his own origin, who has separated us

See also

• Persian literature
• Persian culture
• Greater Iran
• Mohammad Jan Shakouri

References

1. Элегия солнцу / Сост., систем. и кор. Ориѐнфар.- 2-е изд.- М., 2001.- с. 266.
2. Асозода, Х.Таджикская литература в XX столетии /Х. Асозода.- Душанбе: Маориф, 1999.- с. 18(на тадж. яз.).
3. "Пайкараи Лоиқ Шералӣ". cit.tj (in Tajik).

External links

• Shir-Ali, combining old and new styles in Persian poetry (BBC Persian)