Shahriar Tabrizi Documentary: From Human to Divine Love

Added: 2026-05-18

[00:00:31]Mohammad Hussein Behjat Tabrizi, known by his pen name Shahriar, was a modern Iranian poet born in Tabriz in 1907.

[00:00:41]In this documentary, [music] I'm going to be taking you into a journey, a journey to Tabriz, to the tomb of Shahriar, and through the labyrinths of his poetic thought.

[00:01:03]>> [music] [music] >> He passed away in September 1988, and per his will, he's buried in the mausoleums of poets in Tabriz, Amagbaratusuara.

[00:02:20]>> In his childhood, due to a widespread epidemic, he had to spend his early life in the village of Khoshkanab, which is close to Bostanabad city around Tabriz.

[00:02:30]His strong attachment to the environment in that village shaped the foundation of his later poetic inspirations.

[00:02:41]In his poems, he nostalgically recalls listening to his grandmother telling him stories, which shaped his poetic imagination from his early childhood.

[00:02:58]After completing his early education, in 1921, he moved to Tehran to study in Darolfunun, a prestigious medical school of the time. However, despite his career in military medicine, destiny had a different path for him. In the early years of his education, Shahriar experienced a deep love for a woman named Soraya, but this love story ended tragically for him.

[00:03:25]A cousin of Reza Shah rivaled him and unfortunately prevailed, leaving a mark on Shahriar's heart that continued to bleed on fire through his poetry until the end of his life. Shahriar left his medical studies just before graduation.

[00:03:43]This emotional turmoil would influence [music] his entire life and later works, infusing them with deep emotional intensity.

[00:03:52]So much so that he often cannot finish reciting a poem without shedding tears.

[00:04:01]He later became a famous poet, so respected that the University of Tabriz offered him a PhD from the faculty of literature. In 1953, Shahriar returned to his hometown Tabriz after so many years, and he was greeted warmly by people.

[00:04:19]One year later, when he was 48, he married Azizeh Abdkhaleghi.

[00:04:24]The couple had three children, two daughters, Shahzad and Maryam, and a son named Hadi.

[00:04:33]Shahriar attributed his poetry to spirituality, often stressing that true knowledge is elmi ladunni, that is, a divinely bestowed knowledge, something that cannot be learned merely from books and schools.

[00:04:51]According to Shahriar's son, he said, "I was made for poetry. My poems erupt out of me. I have no control over them."

[00:04:59]Shahriar also attributed much to his mother in shaping him. She was a sensitive woman and often recited poetry to him.

[00:05:08]In his last years, Shahriar's fame continued to grow. His poems became integral to Iranian cultural identity, and the date of his death, September 18, was declared as National Poetry and Literature Day in his honor. His poetry is celebrated in Iran, Azerbaijan, and Turkish-speaking countries, and his legacy inspires poets, musicians, and scholars worldwide.

[00:05:35]Shahriar's first love, Soraya, broke his heart when she left him, which had a devastating and life-changing influence on his life.

[00:05:45]>> [snorts] >> Years later, when Shahriar was old man, yet he still carrying the wound of this lost love in his poetry.

[00:05:52]In 1969 and her life had changed, Soraya wrote him two letters and Shahriar's response came in one of the most memorable and famous poems in Persian literature.

[00:06:19]You have come. May my soul be a sacrifice for you. But why now, disloyal one?

[00:06:25]Why now when I'm broken and fallen?

[00:06:29]He compares her return to a tragic myth in Persian literature.

[00:07:07]He recalls the endless nights of sleepless longing when separation itself felt like death.

[00:07:28]After his mother's death, Shahriar poured his grief into one of the most emotional poems in Persian literature, "Avoy Madaram".

[00:07:37]Alas, my mother. In this poem Shahriar illustrates a mother whose presence refuses to leave her son's world entirely. He begins with the ordinary scenes, his mother quietly climbing the stairs, worried about preparing food for her sick child. Yet, suddenly we realize that she has already passed away.

[00:08:13]She is gone, but she is still caring, moving through home like a guardian angel.

[00:08:20]Shahriar recalls her daily sacrifices, her patched socks, her humble purchases of carrots in the snow.

[00:08:30]Behind the simple imagery lies the grandeur of love.

[00:08:43]Each day she would pass down these stairs, stepping softly so as not to disturb my gentle sleep.

[00:09:15]Even after the funerals, after all the condolences, the son couldn't believe that his mother is gone.

[00:09:24]He hears her voice in the night, feels her hand pulling a blanket over him, and listens to her secret whispers with God.

[00:09:38]>> Pass in Cabo.

[00:09:43]Leave on all as bug element cannot set.

[00:09:47]That is the whole issue.

[00:09:50]You call the salmon curry down the whole of town. That's the whole issue.

[00:09:56]Who bought zero volume journal necessities?

[00:10:00]I always stay by her door rather than yours does.

[00:10:04]No. No matter what else.

[00:10:09]No matter what else can I send them home or send them down the whole issue of human?

[00:10:19]Mira Sasha and I am a man her to her status is call me her mom again me shower time wash.

[00:10:29]I'm sure he's on the mirror.

[00:10:32]Who shall we all the sword?

[00:10:34]How can I get them in her daughter to send them in her daughter to send them in her daughter?

[00:10:40]The most devastating moment comes when he returns home.

[00:10:44]Finding his mother back home seated by the pool.

[00:10:49]I want to send them home and she hardly know them in her daughter.

[00:10:54]Did I miss your sister miss her home and she cannot hold?

[00:10:58]Pira her name is her daughter to send them in her daughter to send them in her daughter.

[00:11:04]She smiles faintly saying that she would never leave her poor little boy alone.

[00:11:10]And then the truth is strikes. It was an illusion.

[00:11:18]And God can take her by the sister to send them in her daughter.

[00:11:22]What do you mean her daughter to send them in her daughter to send them in her daughter?

[00:11:28]Can her name is her daughter to send them in her daughter to send them in her daughter?

[00:11:34]Me for I'm the kind of that I am the shape of real food a while mother and In these lines that he had universalizes personal morning the undying presence of a mother in his child's memory the inability of love to accept death and the final collapse into the recognition of loss a while mother and is the eternal echo of a son's heart where death cannot silence love.

[00:12:15]In another poem named Hannah Nana that is grandmother Shahriar speaks in Azerbaijani Turkish to remember his grandmother the figure of love and kindness in his childhood the poem shines with nostalgia [music] for the warmth that shaped his earlier dreams.

[00:12:33]When she died Shahriar's family to protect him from the grief took him to a different place where he spent some time upon his return and he discovered that his grandmother was not there they told him that she has gone to a pilgrimage in Iraq a trip that is going to last for a long time.

[00:12:59]Hannah Nana I am the golden Hannah Nana I am the golden The young Shahriar was devastated.

[00:13:29]He says, "She wouldn't go anywhere without me. How was it possible then that she left alone this time?"

[00:14:06]The pain lingered through his early childhood. Only later he realized the truth.

[00:14:13]She had died.

[00:14:21]From that moment, an emptiness, a haunting void, took roots in his heart.

[00:14:27]A wound that burned silently and gave rise to this magnificent, iconic poem.

[00:15:26]>> Shahriar tells his grandmother, "Do you remember once you told me that in paradise whatever you ask God gives? If I'm given that chance, I would ask for nothing but going back in time and living my childhood once again with you."

[00:16:50]Perhaps Shahriar's most famous Azerbaijani masterpiece is Heydar Baba, an Azeri Turkish epic poem that celebrates Shahriar's love for Heydar Baba, a mountain near his childhood village. This poem [music] remains as one of the most significant works in Azeri literature. Using the poetic device apostrophe, Shahriar addresses the mountain directly giving it life.

[00:17:19]The poem weaves together nostalgia, longing for home, and loss.

[00:17:33]May the sun escort you back.

[00:17:36]May your face laugh, your springs weep.

[00:17:38][music] Shahriar recalls the joy of village life, its children, festivals, gardens, but sets those memories against the inevitability of fate, death, and separation.

[00:18:07]Emotionally, the verses carry both warmth and sadness. Warmth in the blessings he gives [music] to the mountain and the village, sadness in his recognition that time has passed, roads have turned, and he cannot return to what was once familiar.

[00:18:29]One of the greatest accomplishments of this poem is that Shahriar elevates a local mountain to a universal symbol of longing and belonging and memory.

[00:18:45]Its resonance is so strong that people from other nationalities, when far from home, recite it, even if they have never seen Heydar Baba or the village where Shahriar grew up, because it carries the scent of home.

[00:19:01]By addressing Heydar Baba directly, Shahriar speaks not only of his childhood >> [music] >> and the village in which he grew up, but also the deep human experience of exile and change and the wish that even when we are gone, the places where we love would remain safe and full of life.

[00:19:33]A similar poem to Heydar Baba is Sahandim, that is my Sahand. This time dedicated to Mount Sahand, the great volcanic mountain in the Eastern Azerbaijan.

[00:19:44]Like Heydar Baba, the mountain became a symbol of home, a voice of identity and cultural pride.

[00:19:51]>> [music] >> The poem blends nature imagery and mythic allusions. Its emotional resonance lies in Shahriar's way of speaking to a mountain as guardian of memory and witness to struggle while celebrating its beauty and grandeur.

[00:20:17]My kingly mountain, my tall-crowned peak, >> [snorts] >> my people's pillar, my glorious Sahand, you whose head is wreathed in storms.

[00:21:15]>> Shahriar was particularly passionate to express his love in his poetry for Imam Ali, Imam al-Mahdi, for Iran and its cultural heritage.

[00:21:31]Among Shahriar Tabrizi's most popular poems is a devotional ghazal dedicated to Imam Ali, the first Imam of the Shiite Muslims.

[00:21:41]The poem named [music] Humay-i-Rahmat, that is the auspicious word of mercy, is a combination of theology, mysticism, and philosophy.

[00:21:51]In this [music] poem, Shahriar portrays Imam Ali not just as a religious leader, but also as a divine sign, a perfect man, a [music] mirror in which the full spectrum of divine names and attributes can [music] can be contemplated.

[00:22:09]Ali-i-Humay-i-Rahmat, Ali, oh auspicious [music] bird of mercy, what a divine sign you are, that upon all [music] creation you cast the shadow of bliss. Shahriar addresses his own heart saying [music] that if you want to truly know God, contemplate him reflected on Ali's face, a mirror that shows the entirety of divine attributes.

[00:22:45]>> [music] >> Oh heart, if you truly seek to know God, behold all in Ali's face.

[00:23:05]By Ali, I came to know God. By God, I swear.

[00:23:24]This verse alludes to a Hadith where the prophet says, "I am the city of knowledge and Ali is its gate." The city of God knowledge possessed by the prophet and entered through Ali.

[00:23:36]Shahriar blends theology and mysticism here.

[00:23:40]Saying that Imam Ali holds the fountainhead of >> [music] >> subsistence in God, that is baqa billah.

[00:23:47]A [snorts] spiritual station a bow and following fana fillah, that is annihilation in God.

[00:24:04]>> [music] [music] [music] >> By God, in both worlds, no trace of annihilation remains when Ali has grasped [music] the fountainhead of subsistence.

[00:24:41]>> [music] [singing] >> Shahriar invites beggars to go [music] to Ali's door saying that he would offer his lordly ring to a beggar out of his limitless grace.

[00:25:16]This refers to [music] actually historic happening where a beggar comes to mosque where >> [music] >> you know Ali was saying prayers asking people for help and Ali moves his finger while in prayer signaling that take this.

[00:25:35]So he [music] gives his lordly ring to that beggar and Shahriar is capturing that poetically.

[00:25:47]>> [music] >> Go oh poor beggar, knock at Ali's door for from his grace he will give a beggar the golden ring.

[00:26:11]>> [music] >> Following these lines Shahriar points to [music] Imam Ali's unmatched justice and mercy.

[00:26:21]The man who in his own deathbed asked his son to treat the person who had struck him with a sword with leniency and clemency.

[00:26:36]>> [music] [music] >> Who but Ali would say to his own son, "Now that my killer is in your captive, [music] treat him with leniency."

[00:27:09]>> [music] [music] [music] >> Shahriar says, "Only Ali could father such a son as Hussein, who refused to bow down before the oppressor, fighting them, fighting injustice, and sacrificing himself and his [music] family in Karbala, shaping the very destiny of faith."

[00:28:00]>> [music] >> Who but Ali could bring forth a son of wonders who would raise the martyrs of Karbala before the world?

[00:28:27]>> [music] >> Shahriar [music] is confused.

[00:28:37]He cannot put Imam Ali neatly in a certain category.

[00:28:43]He says, "I cannot call him God, nor can I call him a human.

[00:28:49]What do I call you?

[00:28:54]>> [music] [music] [music] >> I cannot call him gone.

[00:29:15]Nor can I call him human. I am bewildered what name I shall give to the king of the land of bravery.

[00:29:30]The poem ends with a deep longing.

[00:29:32]Shahriar imagines the morning breeze carrying dust from Imam Ali's street.

[00:29:38]He stays awake at night hoping that downwind will arrive with a message of nearness.

[00:29:44]It's a deeply personal ending. An intimate prayer of a lover at the threshold of a spiritual beloved.

[00:30:15]All night I wait in this hope that the morning breeze will bring the message of intimacy to me.

[00:30:30]>> [music] >> In this unique poem, Shahriar portrays some traits of Imam Ali.

[00:30:35]His mercy, >> [music] >> his justice, his refusal of and fighting against oppression in his life and nurturing his sons to act so, God knowledge and a superhuman spiritual station.

[00:30:49]>> [music] >> Yet Shahriar's religious poems were distorted in neighboring countries, says Hadi, Shahriar's son, stripping them of their religious hue and [music] using them for political purposes. A distortion that Hadi strongly condemns.

[00:31:18]The authentic texts, Hadi stressed, are now available on Shahriar's official website.

[00:31:27]Shahriar's life, as echoed in his poetry, portrays a journey of love from the love for the surrounding in his childhood, to his mother, to his grandmother, to his lost love, to religious figures like the prophet and the imams.

[00:31:45]And finally, his strong love for God, embodied and manifested through these worldly loves.

[00:31:54]His life began in human love, trembling, wounded, and unanswered, and ended in a love [music] vast enough to outgrow loss, exile, and even death.

[00:32:05]From the aching absence of a beloved to the eternal presence of a mother and grandmother, from the dust of village paths to the summits of Sahand and Heydar Baba, his poetry traces a single ascent, [music] a graceful transformation of pain into meaning.

[00:32:22]In Shahriar's world, love does not vanish when it breaks. It deepens. It remembers. It rises.

[00:32:29]What could not remain on earth [music] returned to him as verse.

[00:32:33]What could not be held in time found refuge in eternity. And so Shahriar remains among us, not merely as a poet of words, but as a witness to this truth, that a heart awakened by love never dies, and that through poetry the human voice may still learn how to speak with the divine.