A Critique of the Biographies of Ahli Torshizi

Ahli Torshizi is a poet of late ninth century A. H. and contemporary with Soltan Hussein Bayqara. His Divan was published about 50 years ago by Simon Israeli and OmraniChamraghi; yet, the biographical notes about his life are discordant, confused and at times distorted.In the later books, he is named as Muhammad ibn Yusuf, and Nafisi and consequently HadjSeyedDavoodi believe that he went to Tabriz after the decline of the Timuriadsand entered the court of SoltanYaghoub. He is also named as the author of Saghinameh and the translator ofTohfatolSoltan Fi ManagebolNaman.Akhtar Khan Hogoly, ModarresTabrizi, NazmiTabrizi, and OmraniChamraghiall have also claimed that he was originally from Tabriz but because he was born in the city of Tarshizi, he is known to be of this city. On the other hand, some great biographers claim that there is a poet known as AhliNavaei or AhliChagatai who was contemporary with Ahli Tarshizi.Investigation and analysis of allthe differences and the diversions in the biographical notes on Ahlicannot be explained here. However, this paper aims to carefullyanswer the following questions: 1. Was his name Muhammad ibn Yusuf?
2. Did Ahli compose Saghinameh?
3. Has Tarshizi translated the book of TohfatolSoltan Fi ManagebolNaman?
4. Is he originally from Tabriz?
5. Does a poet called AhliNavaei or Ahli Chagatai exist?
6. Has Ahli entered the court of SoltanYaghoub?