Wafaei

Wafaei or Wefayî, (1844-1902), was a Kurdish poet. His real name was Abdorrahim. He was born in Mahabad in present-day north-western Iran. He finished religious studies in Mahabad and became a cleric, and a teacher in the local school. He moved to Sulaimaniya in 1900 and stayed there for a while. He travelled to Mecca three times, the last one in 1902. He was accompanied by the Kurdish poet Piramerd. During his last pilgrimage, he became ill and died in the region between Iraq and Syria.

Works

He followed the classical rules of poetry in terms of rhyme and rhythm. He wrote most of his poems in the forms of Ghazal and Qasidah. The content of his poems are about Love and Nature. In some of his poems, he also mentions sufism. He was instrumental in introducing the Sulaimaniya sorani school of poetry (in particular Nali's poetry) to the Kurds of Mukriyan region and western Iran.

References

• Wafaei in The history of the Kurdish Literature, pp. 347-379, By: Dr. Marouf Khaznadar, Aras Publishers, Hewler, Iraqi Kurdistan, 2004 (in Kurdish).