Hidir Lutfi


Hidir Lutfi was an Iraqi poet. Born in Kirkuk in a Konyan Turkish family, he studied Arabic, Persian and Turkish. He has an unprinted Diwan of poetry, many literary researches, and a book in the history of Kirkuk. He died in his hometown and was buried there.

Life

Hidir/Khidr Lutfi bin Samin ibn Isma'il was born in 1880 in Kirkuk, in a Konyan Turkish family descendants from Rumi. His grandfather emigrated from Konya to Kirkuk during the reign of Sultan Murad IV. Lutfi studied in his hometown and learned Arabic, Turkish and Persian and tended to literature and learning languages. At the age of fifteen, he joined the army and served in his hometown and Baghdad, then lived in Istanbul and returned to Kirkuk in 1924.
Lutfi died on June 23, 1959 in Kirkuk and was buried there, as a Yarsani.

Poetry and mysticism

His works, thoughts, and researches were published in Iraqi and Ottoman newspapers and magazines. Mir Basri described him as a mystic poet, although his mysticism compelled him to take care of human affairs, old and young, such as knowledge, compassion, hope, health, faith, philosophy of good and evil, etc. He was tender and depressed, desperate and miserable.