Imadeddin Nasimi in the Medieval Sources and Literary Criticism

The personality of the great Azerbaijani poet Imaded- din Nasimi aroused interest not only among his con- temporaries during the years of his life (1369 – 1417) but also in later centuries. The study traces the state- ments and the most diverse opin-ions about the poet’s life, the dates and places of his birth and death, his wander-ings, and many other biographical details pre- sented both by medieval authors and by the writers of more recent times. The author emphasized the appro- priateness of following the single concept in studying the poet’s heritage that has been put for-ward in the late XIX – early XX century and adopted by all the leading scholars of the country already by the middle of the XX century; this concept is aimed at studying the poet’s work in three historical and geographical aspects: Middle Eastern (Turkic), Azerbaijani and, fi- nally, Shirvan context, in order to communi-cate to the world Oriental Studies the indisputability of the poet’s belonging to the Azerbaijani people.