Salman Mumtaz

Salman Mumtaz (; May 20, 1884, Nukha – September 6, 1941, Oryol) — Azerbaijani poet, literature historian, bibliographer, and collector of medieval manuscripts. He was a member of the Union of Azerbaijani writers since 1934, a researcher in the 1st category of the literature sector of the Azerbaijani Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union, and the director of the Azerbaijani Literature Department of the Azerbaijani National Institute of Scientific Research from 1929 to 1932. Salman Mumtaz (pseudonymous of Salman Mammedamin oghlu Asgarov; May 20, 1884 – September 6, 1941) was a renowned Azerbaijani literary scholar and poet. He was born in Shaki in 1884. In his efforts to collect, publish and promote the classical literary legacy, he discovered unknown manuscripts of a number of Azerbaijani poets and ashugs. Falling a victim to repressions, he was arrested in 1937 and killed by shooting in 1941 while imprisoned in Oryol.

Mumtaz studied in Ashgabat. Since 1910, he began speaking against religious fanaticism and superstition with his poems and feuilletons in the ''Molla Nasreddin'' and other magazines. In addition to his native Azerbaijani, he was fluent in Persian, Arabic, Russian, Turkish and Urdu languages. Mumtaz prepared the works of Imadaddin Nasimi, Qovsi Tabrizi, Molla Panah Vagif, Gasim Bey Zakir, Mirza Shafi Vazeh and other Azerbaijani classic poets for publication. In 1927-1928, he published two volumes of Azerbaijani ashik poetry. He also compiled scientific texts of Khatai, Fuzuli, and others.

In October 1937, Mumtaz became a victim of the Great Purge when he was arrested and sentenced to ten years of imprisonment. He was shot in September 1941 in the city of Oryol while in prison. The 270 manuscripts collected by him were destroyed during his arrest. On November 17, 1956, he was posthumously exonerated by the USSR Supreme Court. Provided by Wikipedia