Ayyuqi (Persian: عیوقی) was an 11th-century Persian poet. A contemporary of the Ghaznavid ruler Mahmud of Ghazni (r. 998–1030) he wrote the epicVarqa wa Golshāh (ورقه و گلشاه) in 2,250 verses, which is a story of the love between a youth named Varqa and a maiden, Golshah.[1] In the introduction, he eulogizes Mahmud of Ghazni.[1] According to the poet himself, the story is based on the Arabic work ‘Orwa wa ‘Afra. The work survives in a unique manuscript dated to the mid-13th century and made in Konya (Seljuk Rum), which is now located in the Topkapi Museum (Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi, Hazine 841 H.841).[2] Ayyuqi also wrote some qasidas. No reliable information about Ayyuqi has come down.[1] His works are characterized by paired rhyme interspersed with ghazal.
^ abcKhaleghi-Motlagh, Dj. (1987). "ʿAyyūqī". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Volume III/2: Awāʾel al-maqālāt–Azerbaijan IV. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 167–168. ISBN978-0-71009-114-7. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
Contemporary Persian and Classical Persian are the same language, but writers since 1900 are classified as contemporary. At one time, Persian was a common cultural language of much of the non-Arabic Islamic world. Today it is the official language of Iran, Tajikistan and one of the two official languages of Afghanistan.