Mashrab’s life and a ghazal

Boborahim Mashrab (1640–1711) was born in Namangan into a family of weaver-craftsmen; his father died early and his mother Bibi Salima supported the family by spinning thread. He received schooling, studied religion, the history of philosophy and Persian under Bozor Oxund, and then from about 1665 for seven or eight years studied the Sufi path with Hidoyatullo Ofoq Khoja of Kashgar. Mashrab wrote in two languages and in genres such as mulamma, mustazod, muxammas, musaddas and musabba‘, but his fame came from his ghazals and murabba‘s. His works have reached us in manuscripts and lithograph books under names such as “Devoni Mashrab,” and in some accounts of his life fact and fiction are mixed. In his poems love is the main subject, but criticism of social problems also has a large place, and his language is simple and lively, rich in proverbs and folk expressions.