A. Navoi

A. Navoi from "Parasang" copyright. 1997.

Everyone has an aim in life and can aspire to it all his life. Some, who do their best to reach their goal, can become a hero.  My favorite heroes can be found in the poems Farkhod and Shirin by A. Navoi. A. Navoi wrote his most important work, five works entitled “Quintuple,” between 1483-1485. During that time, Navoi wrote his best stories and novels. One of the novels was Farkhod and Shirin in which the writer described the love between Farkhod and Shirin. In addition to writing about their love, he also wrote about the problems of his country. Life itself was shown in his plays, which explains why Navoi’s heroes are still depicted on the stage. His works have made me think about our history as well. Farkhod is my favorite hero in this novel because he was a very clever, honest and kind man. He liked the people of his country and was very kind to them. When the people needed help, Farkhod helped them.

Farkhod’s father was a rich man, however, Farkhod isn’t interested in his father’s riches. He is, however, in love with the poor girl who was named Shirin, who also is in love with him. Farkhod was stronger and more handsome than most of the other people, but was also kind and smart. These traits make me like this character. This novel teaches us to be good and clever, to take care of the neediest people, and to be kind to poor people.

In February of 2000, President Karimov of the Republic of Uzbekistan invited the people of his country to join in the Navoi anniversary celebration. Here is what the press release stated:

This year marks the 559th anniversary of the great poet and thinker Alisher Navoi. However, his humanism and poetry have not lost their significance. President Karimov noted the creative legacy of this poet at the first session of the Oliy Majlis, saying that it is our spiritual duty to study his works. He is a symbol of our spiritual and national pride. The dreams of this poet for a just society and harmonious development of mankind have become a reality thanks to independence.

February 9 is the birthday of the poet and is being marked by meetings and evenings of Navoi's poetry. The main celebration in Tashkent was opened by hero of Uzbekistan and chairman of the Union of writers Abdulla Aripov. The Presidential state adviser N. Djuraev, Hero of Uzbekistan and people's poet Erkin Vahidov, literary critic N. Komilov and others noted that all around study of Navoi's works is a great help in building a democratic society and educating people in the spirit of harmonious development of mankind.

On August 24, 2001 Uzbek President Islam Karimov was in Navoi in Central Uzbekistan to take part in the opening ceremony of a memorial complex to the great 15th century poet and thinker, Alisher Navoi. There President Karimov met with journalists. He was asked the following question by one journalist:

As one of the initiators of this project: in what way do you think the image of Alisher Navoi which is perpetuated here will inspire the people of the town of Navoi?

President Islam Karimov's reply:

What I ask myself is this: Navoi is no less great, no less immortal and no less respected around the world, but do we, the people, the successors of Navoi, who is a great son of the Uzbek people, do we know our great poet who 560 years ago left us a legacy which should be studied every day, studied profoundly, studied so that this heritage helps us in our every day life to chose the correct path.

I am confident that if every young man who embarks upon life knows by heart most of the works by Navoi or knows his hero, Farkhod, the great legendary figure who has made a huge impact on the perception of the world and on the formation of the characters of millions and millions of young people, if we have all studied the works of Navoi such as Farkhod and Shirin, Layli and Majnun and Saddi Iskandari and others - I am confident that those young people who have studied Navoi profoundly would never set out on a bad path or stumble somehow or go against some moral values.

Unfortunately we sometimes act against those moral values. We see this from examples amongst our young people. This is our fault, our misfortune. If, I repeat, if we studied Navoi in schools profoundly, I am confident, this would be a great support or, if you like, our most specific guide. And there would not be any need to speak very much. Simply one should learn Navoi so as not to do anything one might regret.

During the 14th century, present-day Uzbekistan rose to prosperity. Samarkand and Bukhara became glittering cities because of Timur Lenk's patronage of the arts. A number of mosques and medrasses were built, which can still be seen today. Samarkand was one of the biggest cities in the world with a population of 150,000 people. Ulugh Beg, Timur Lenk's grandson and a famous astronomer, studied over 1,000 stars in his observatory in Samarkand and drew a star chart, which was used by Chinese and European astronomers for four centuries after his death.

Around this time, certain Mongol tribes took the name Uzbek. In the 14th century they began moving south, eventually conquering Timur's empire. By 1510 they had control of the territory stretching from the Amu-Darya to the Syr-Darya. The majority of Uzbeks have stayed in this territory ever since. The oldest Uzbek literature arose during this period, when religious activity gave birth to a literal tradition. The language of poetry at that time was Persian. Alisher Navoi, the greatest national poet of Uzbekistan, was the first one to write his poems in medieval Turkic dialect - chagatai.

Alisher Shaykhov
Head of the Nato Mission
of the Republic of Uzbekistan
states on the Nato mission's Web page:

We are sure that only the development of multilateral, mutually beneficial relations with all the interested states and international institutions can be the ground for the creation of favorable conditions to strengthen stability and security in the world.

This is not only our opinion, this idea has been proved throughout the history of humankind. Let me remind you of the words of our countryman and world-renowned poet and philosopher of the Middle Ages Alisher Navoi:

Know, all humankind: The greatest curse is enmity; the greatest blessing - amity.