Nalî, also known as Mallah Xidir Ehmed Şawaysî Mîkayalî , was born in Khakoo Khol, a village of Sulaymani province. He was a Kurdishpolymath; a poet, linguist, translator and mathematician, who is considered to be one of the greatest Kurdish poets in the Kurdish classical period.
Early life and career
Nali was born in Khaku-Khol, a village belongs toSharazur in Sulaimany, Kurdistan region of Iraq. As was the custom in the old days in Kurdistan, he started studying the Quran first and Arabic language in mosques in Kurdistan, then he became a Faqi. “Faqi is a Mullah’s student, which is the name of students in mosques. During the process of becoming a Faqi, he visited many cities in the whole of Kurdistan or Iran and Iraq, cities like; Sennah, Mahabad, Halabja, and Sulaimany. In Qaradakh he studied under Shaikh Muhammed Ibin al Khayat, in Sulaimany in Saiyd Hasan Mosque, he studied under Mullah Abdoullah Rash, also in Qaradax he studied mathematics under Shaikh AliMullah. He spent long time in the Khanaqa of Mawlana Khalid in Sulaimany. He also studied under Shaikh Awla Kharpani.
Nali’s birth and death years
There are doubts about his birth year; Muhammed Amin Zaki Bag said that this date is about 1800–1856. Dr. Marif Khaznadar and Dr. Kamal Foad both point to the same date too, but Aladdin Sajadi says that he was born in 1797 and died in 1855. In a modern lecture about Nali’s death; Many people who lived during Nali’s period talked about Nali, Alexander Hodiszkov was a Russian empirediplomat in 1857, he published an oration in Asia Magazine, with name ; “A Philological Research about Kurdish language” he mentioned that;. In Nazhat al Fikr a historical book says that, he mentioned these two references refuse Nali's death day in 1855 or 1858, in Nazhat al Fikr the year we can consider it from 1280-1289 is about 1863-1873. In the Muhammed Tahir Borsali’s book talks about Nali’s return from Hijaz or Saudi Arabia to Istanbul, he mentioned that Nali was return in 1290 that means 1873. Even before finding these books the researchers doubted Nali’s year death, 1856.
The name of Nalî is word going back to the Sanskrit, a proto-Indo-European root or 'nala' or 'nalika' that is a 'species of reed, 'nali' wind instrument, which in modern Kurdish refer to a Kurdish folk musical instrument, similar to a type of flute called Shimshal; as well as pencils which traditionally were made of reed. Clearly, this reveals two important aspects of both the pseudonym and the Kurdish language. One is that the Kurdish language has a cognate as deep-rooted and antiquated as Sanskrit. The other is that this particular pseudonym was apellated to him for his poetry and literary skills to enchant his listeners like a reed player as the wind instruments are considered to be ecstatic.
Nali and his Lover
Nali had a lover, he mentioned her name in more than eight poems, and he mentioned her name as , Aladdin Sajadi mention that in Qaradax Nali had another lover her name was Aisha, this was always proud of herself because she was Nali’s lover, even Shaikh Nuri Baba Ali mentions this subject too that he says he met her alive. But still now there is not any sign or word in whole Nali’s poems for this. Many times Nali mentioned Habiba’s name, but sometimes he mentions her name as too. But there are big doubts in the real name of this woman, both of Aladdin Sajadi in his book and in Abdul Karim Mudarris and his son they mentioned this doubt. The reason is Nali’s period a “Mullah” was a village’s leader or peoples’ leader he couldn't mention somebody's name in public because of costume traditional this was hard for a Mullah. Habiba was a secret name Nali used it. Sometimes Nali talks about their nights together; A Mullah couldn't talk about his night with a girl or a woman in a village or in those small old cities in Kurdistan. Here are some of Nali's poems that mentioned Habiba's name:
Cenanî wek cînan kirdim be Mawa, Hebîbey Malîyawa malî awa
Xendew demî Mehbube kewa zor nimekîn, Bes xoşe eger xo nimekî zexmu birînin
Pêm delên Mehbube xêlu qîçe meylî şer deka, Xêlu qîçe ya tirazuy nazî nextê ser deka?
Some say that Nali married Habiba, but if were true, there is not any sign that Nali took Habiba to Hijaz, Damascus, or Istanbul. Aladdin Sajadi mentions that Habiba may have died before Nali's left for Hijaz. Also they didn't have any children. For explanation Aladdin Sajadi brings one of Nali's poems which talks about his losing friends:
It is widely accepted that Nali's literature contributed significantly to bringing about a renaissance in the Kurdish language. His most famous works were written in the lower Kurmanji dialect, Sorani, within the context of the turmoil caused by the Ottoman oppression. To this day Nali's influence on Kurdish culture can be recognized as Sorani is the primary dialect of Kurdish in Iraqi and Iranian Kurdistan.
