TEHRAN – Persian media reported on Friday that Tajik Iranologist and scholar Mirza Molla Ahmadov died in Dushanbe on Wednesday.  He was 75.

For many years, he served as the head of the Tajikistan-Iran Friendship Association and a member of the National Academy of Sciences as well as the Writers’ Union of Tajikistan. 

Upon graduation from Tajikistan University's Department of Oriental Studies in 1969, he worked in the fields of Iranology, Indology, and literature history at the Rudaki Institute of Language and Literature. 

Besides publishing more than 30 books on contemporary and ancient Persian poets and writers, this Tajik scholar has left 450 works. 

Ahmadov was an expert in researching and reviewing the works of Rudaki, known in Tajikistan as ‘the head of Persian and Tajik literature’.

Additionally, he has written and researched about Ferdowsi, Nasser Khosrow, Rumi, Lahuti, Farrokhi Sistani, Forughi Bastami, and Qa’ani Shirazi.

He introduced the Iranian audience to the works of famous Tajik poets through his books. Besides serving on the editorial board of Rudaki magazine in Tehran, he has published numerous articles in prestigious Iranian literary and research journals.

Ahmadov was one of the authors of “The History of Iranian Literature in the 19th and 20th Centuries” (Moscow, 1999), and his works were published in Moscow, Tehran, Washington, Baku, Mashhad, Karachi, Kabul, and Tashkent.

A number of international symposia and conferences have also been held under his supervision.

Photo: Tajik Iranologist Mirza Molla Ahmadov in an undated photo

ABU/