Assar Tebrizi, Shamseddin Khadzhi Mukhammed

Dates of birth and death unknown. Azerbaijani poet and scholar of the 14th century. He wrote in Farsi. He was a student of the Tebriz astronomer Abdulsamed. Among the artistic works of Assar Tebrizi that have been preserved is the romantic verse narrative Mekhr and Mushtari (written in 1376); it expounds upon the inner beauty of man and the richness of his spiritual powers, which are made manifest in the struggle for friendship and happiness and against the forces of perfidy and evil. The poem makes good use of the motifs of the heroic folk dastans (epics).